so deeply Church felt uncomfortable. 'Is this the one?'
'It is,' Tom replied.
'Yes. I can see it. In his eyes, always in the eyes. The one good man.' He cupped Church's right hand in both of his. 'May God go with you, my boy.' Then he did the most curious thing: he dropped to his knee and gently kissed Church's hand.
Ruth, who had been watching the scenario intently, inexplicably grew angry. 'What's going on here?' she snapped.
Church looked around puzzled. 'That's a very good question.'
'It's time, Jack.' There was a strange cast to Tom's face that Church had not seen before, and it took him a second or two to realise what it was: Tom's features were unguarded; completely open.
Church was a little disturbed by this out-of-character intensity. 'What do you mean?'
'Time to tell you something I've been keeping a secret ever since I've known you. A big secret.'
Church thought of the Celtic dead talking of the traitor in their midst and his hand instinctively went to the sword.
Tom smiled and shook his head, as if he knew exactly what Church was thinking. 'A big secret, Jack,' he said softly. 'So big you might not be able to take it all in. From the very beginning, this has all been about you, more than anything. You're on a journey to enlightenment. You think you've been doing one thing, but instead you've been doing this.' He took a deep breath; there was a faint tremor in his voice. 'You need to gain illumination for what lies ahead, to prepare you for the next step. The biggest step of all. There will be a long period of trial, but after that..
'So what are you saying? That he's some kind of Messiah?' Fury waiting to burst forth was buried in Ruth's voice.
'That's a particularly stupid way of putting it,' Tom said sharply.
'But it's essentially true.' There were tears in her eyes. What is she thinking? Church wondered.
Tom dismissed Ruth with a curt wave of his hand and turned to Church. 'Jack, you have died and been reborn. You have the essence of the gods in your veins. You are the next step.'
Church felt sick; his head was spinning and he couldn't breathe as the full weight of what Tom was saying finally crushed down on him.
'What you are about to embark on is the final stage of your transformation.' Tom's words were droning like flies. 'This is what the old alchemists were talking about. You, Jack. The transformation of lead into gold was a metaphor for what you are undergoing.'
'This was all about nze?'
'The future of humanity, the rising and advancing of our race towards the next stage, depends on you. The prophecy has been with us since the earliest times. In Britain's Darkest Hour, a hero shall arise. You will arise, Jack. You will awaken the land, and through your tribulations you will make the next step of spiritual evolution that will lead humanity from the shadows to-'
'Godhood?'
'Perhaps. The Watchmen were established to help defend the land against incursions by the old gods, but they were also brought together to see this through. To find the one on whom the whole of the future rested, and to help shape him.'
'I've been manipulated by the Tuatha De Danann, the Fomorii and now humanity?' Church felt like he was going to be sick. It was too much, both of comprehension and responsibility. And it was stupid! So many people had called him a hero, but he knew what he was like inside: flawed, unsure, conflicted. And now they were trying to thrust all of humanity's future on to his shoulders. Who could cope with that?
'Not manipulated. You had a choice every step of the way. You still have a choice. No one would blame you for turning away from this. But you need to know what rests on your decision.'
'Am I going to change?'
'Physically? No, it's much more subtle than that-the great leaps forward always are, at the time. But inside, you will change, and you will wish that change in all humanity. It will move through people like a virus, altering their thought processes, making them look up from the gutters to the stars-'
'It's not fair!' The hurt in Ruth's voice was almost painful. 'How can he turn away? Who could throw down that responsibility for selfish reasons?'
She was right. He tried to comfort her, but she was having none of it.
'We just wanted to be together, to appreciate what we've got now, to appreciate life, if we ever sort out this mess we're in. That was always the slim hope that kept us going, but now what you're saying means there's never going to be any rest! Not for Church, who deserves it the most. Not for me.'
'Some things are more important-'
'Don't give me that!' Her eyes blazed, and away on the mainland a wind rushed wildly through the trees. Church stealthily signalled to Tom not to anger her further.
'We've all sacrificed so much! We deserve a break!'
He tried to take her in his arms, but she fended him off. 'Ruth, it's okay-'
'It's not, Church. It's not okay, and it's never going to be okay. This is like some stupid, sad old story where the heroes go through hardship and end up sacrificing themselves so everybody else can have a good life. It's just not fair!'
Her tears were flowing freely now. She couldn't bear to look at any of them. She wandered away and faced the sea, her head bowed as if she had been struck.
'Why couldn't you tell me all this before?' Church said to Tom.
'You wouldn't have reacted the same way in your trials if you knew they were trials. All your achievements are wholly your own. Your choices were made by your own sense of goodness.'
Church rubbed his eyes, overcome by what he had been told. 'Baccharus told me the gods were afraid humanity would come up and take their place.'
Tom rested a friendly hand on Church's shoulder. 'They know. Thousands of years have led to this one point. Millions of variables falling into line. No coincidences, Church. Make no mistake, there are no coincidences. The gods may not have known you were the one, but they knew the whole game was coming to a head-'
'It isn't a game!' His voice broke.
'I'm sorry, that was the wrong word.' As Tom shifted, the sun fell behind him so Church could not see his features in the dazzle of light. 'But I knew you were the one, Church, from the very first moment I met you. As Michael said, you can see it in the eyes. I knew you were the one, good man.'
The note of respect and friendship in his voice brought a swell of emotion in Church. He looked over to Ruth, frail against the rugged surroundings, and he felt both love and sadness at the same time. More than anything he wanted to spend the rest of his days with her, but the obligation was too much. He had no choice. He never had a choice from the moment he was born.
'Ruth.'
She ignored him, wrapped her arms a little tighter around herself.
Standing behind her, he hesitated briefly before putting his hands on her waist. 'Don't do this.'
'Why not? You're going to do it.'
'Of course I'm going to do it.'
'That's typical of you. No doubt at all.' Her voice trembled. 'You're throwing us away.'
'I'm not going to do that. You're more important to me than anything.'
A long pause. 'You never said that before.'
'There are a lot of things I've not said. I'm not very good at expressing my emotions in words. But I do love you, Ruth.'
Another pause, and then she turned slowly and rested her head on his shoulder. 'This thing isn't like anything else. It's too big. Christ, the responsibility for leading humanity into the Promised Land!'
'You're mixing your Biblical stories.'
She took a deep breath to regain her equilibrium, then cuffed him gently on the shoulder to break the mood. 'They'll never let you back after this. It's like the Mafia. You're a Made Man. You don't get out alive.'
'I believe things have a way of working themselves out.'
'That's a very childish and naive view of existence.'
