'That's me.'
LAST KEEPER OF THE DOOR.
'Well, I suppose so.'
Death hesitated.
YOU ARE OR YOU AREN'T, he said.
Deccan scratched his nose. Of course, he thought, you have to be able to touch yourself. Otherwise you'd fall to bits.
'Technic'ly, a Keeper has to be invested by the High Priestess,' he said. 'And there ain't been a High Priestess for thousands o' years. See, I just learned it all from old Tento, who lived here before me. He jus' said to me one day, 'Deccan, it looks as though I'm dyin', so it's up to you now, 'cos if there's no-one left that remembers properly it'll all start happening again and you know what that means.' Well, fair enough. But that's not what you'd call a proper investmenting, I'd say.'
He looked up at the sandy hill.
'There was jus' me and him,' he said. 'And then jus' me, remembering Holy Wood. And now... ' He raised his hand to his mouth.
'Oo-er,' he said.
YES, said Death.
It would be wrong to say a look of panic passed across Deccan Ribobe's face, because at that moment it was several yards away and wearing a sort of fixed grin, as if it had seen the joke at last. But his spirit was definitely worried.
'See, the thing is,' it said hastily, 'no-one ever comes here, see, apart from the fishermen from the next bay, and they just leaves the fish and runs off on account of superstition and I couldn't sort of go off to find an apprentice or somethin' because of keepin' the fires alight and doin' the chantin' ... '
YES.
' ... It's a terrible responsibility, bein' the only one able to do your job ... '
YES, said Death.
'Well, of course, I'm not telling you anything ... '
NO.
' ... I mean, I was hopin' someone'd get shipwrecked or somethin', or come treasure huntin', and I could explain it like old Tento explained it to me, teach 'em the chants, get it all sorted out before I died ... '
YES?
'I s'pose there's no chance that I could sort of ... '
NO.
'Thought not,' said Deccan despondently.
He looked at the waves crashing down on the shore.
'Used to be a big city down there, thousands of years ago,' he said. 'I mean, where the sea is. When it's stormy you can hear the ole temple bells ringin' under the sea.'
I KNOW.
'I used to sit out here on windy nights, listenin'. Used to imagine all them dead people down there, ringin' the bells.'
AND NOW WE MUST GO.
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