‘Well done,’ a deep, rough voice with a slightly Scandinavian accent rasped after the laughter had ceased. ‘Well done, little worm.’
55
SIGURD
13th October 2020. A mansion outside Salem, Massachusetts, USA
‘There is an energy here,’ Lightning Bird said as he stared out at the phalanx of ancient trees below, their green speartips bronzed by the slow-burning fire of the late afternoon sun. ‘A strong energy. An old energy.’
Maksim pulled a diamond-studded hipflask from his jacket, taking a hefty swig before speaking.
‘So you think there is something to those old witch stories they tell about Salem, about this place, yes?’
Lightning Bird continued to study the trees as he answered.
‘Perhaps. Stranger things abound in this realm. I can tell you that much.’
Maksim opened the hip flask, imbibed another slug of the liquid inside, and then burbled an appreciative sigh before wiping his mouth off with the back of his hand. He then offered the hipflask to Lightning Bird.
‘Vodka, my friend? It is the finest. Grey Goose, very smooth, very smooth indeed!’
‘I must refuse your generous offer, friend. I do not partake.’
Maksim shrugged, grinning.
‘More for me then, yes?’
He laughed boisterously, clapping his left hand onto Lightning Bird’s shoulder as he brought the hipflask to his lips.
‘I would like to go for a stroll around the grounds,’ Lightning Bird announced after Maksim’s laughter had subsided. ‘Please keep an eye on my friends, if you don’t mind,’ he said, gesturing with a nod at Parvati, who was snoozing in her wheelchair, which had been reassembled and given a service by Maksim’s mechanic, and Jun, who was sitting next to her, reading a book. ‘If anything seems strange, call me. But be aware, her mind does tend to … wander. She may start a sentence and then simply stop speaking halfway through. If you introduce yourself, she may have a long and in-depth conversation with you about your life and your past, but seconds later she may forget your name and recoil from you in fear, as if you are a complete stranger. This is normal for her, sadly.’
Maksim stared at her, his eyes filled with unabashed pity, and he shook his head.
‘My grandmother had Alzheimer’s,’ he confessed, his formerly brash joviality all but dissipated, replaced now by a sombre severity. ‘I know how it is. What about the boy, anything I should know about him?’
‘I do not think he wishes to leave Parvati’s side. You needn’t worry about him.’
‘I understand. Go, go, my friend, have a walk. It is beautiful out there, and it will do you good. And you are safe; my men are patrolling the grounds. A helicopter is being readied to fly you two out of here in the early hours of the morning; it is the soonest I could arrange one. From there William has arranged you passage to somewhere else. I don’t know where; he wouldn’t say, and it’s not for me to know anyway. I understand this. But don’t worry, while you’re here you’ll be safe, so make yourself at home. What is it the Spanish say? Mi casa, su casa.’
‘Thank you,’ Lightning Bird murmured, dipping his head in a gesture of gratitude. After this he turned and, taking slow, loping strides, headed out of the opulent front doors of the entrance hall, exiting onto the expansive grounds of the estate.
He strolled down to the perimeter fence, where the huddled-together trees peered over the steel bars, like curious onlookers staring into a zoo enclosure containing a hidden animal. When he reached the border he paused, glancing left and then right over his shoulder, making sure none of the men were watching him. Assured that he had some privacy, he dropped down and dug his fingers into the soil, and immediately felt a jolt of energy crackling through his fingers, and then running up his arm and spreading throughout his body.
‘Mm, yes,’ he whispered, ‘it is immensely strong here, as it is in the old forests where we Chimariko once roamed. Very few places like this remain in the world.’
He stood up, feeling energised and recharged after this brief communion, and knew at once what he needed to do. With an intense focus directing his every step he headed back up to the mansion, returning a few minutes later with Parvati following in her chair, gently awoken from her slumber. Jun trailed along behind the pair of them, mute and expressionless, but his eyes never once left the woman in the wheelchair. Daekwon, meanwhile, was training on a heavy bag in the mansion’s gym with some of Maksim’s men.
When they reached the edge of the trees, Lightning Bird indicated that Parvati should stop. When she did, he took one of her stiff hands in his right hand and then plunged his left hand into the soil. Closing his eyes to enhance his concentration, he was able to see the network of colours and lights that linked every one of the trees, stretched out in long, innumerable strands of glowing, ethereal spider silk from every single leaf and bough, each connected to all the others, all shimmering with a dazzling array of all the colours of the spectrum and more. And there, below the rich, moist boundary of topsoil the roots probed, delving like slow miners into the subterranean depths, each root a blazing lightning vein of coloured neon, frozen in motion as it streaked forever down toward the hot core far beneath, or connecting, like a paralysed charge of electricity, with the roots of other trees.
Lightning Bird, falling into a deep trance, began to draw the light up through the soil and out of the air, plucking it from between the leaves and boughs, dragging it up from under the earth, and filtering it through the conductor that was his body. He focused all of the
