going at it hammer and tongs, the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons had to hit the ground running.’
‘We all had our special abilities, which we had to hone,’ Shavi continued. ‘I was the spiritual one, the seer. Ruth Gallagher mastered the Craft to become quite formidable-’
‘I know about her,’ Mallory said. ‘She became the big witch-queen. Trained up my girlfriend.’ Mallory was overcome with a deep sadness. Sophie would have loved it there in Glastonbury, with its peace and abiding spirituality. He had thought his grief would diminish, even if only a little, with each passing day; instead it was growing stronger and more difficult to contain.
‘There was Laura DuSantiago, who gained great powers over natural things. And Ryan Veitch, who became a fearsome warrior.’ Shavi’s face darkened. ‘Ryan died in the Battle of London. He was manipulated to betray us.’
‘And the fifth? He was the leader, wasn’t he?’
‘Jack Churchill, though we knew him as Church.’ Shavi grew sad. ‘A good man. A great man. The Blue Fire burned in him the strongest. He filled the symbolic role of King. He died in the final battle, too, though we never found his body. And Ruth, who loved him dearly, was broken-hearted. She put on a brave face and attempted to get on with her life, but the last time I saw her she still looked as if she’d had a part of her cut out.’
‘You’ve made yourselves quite a reputation,’ Mallory said. ‘The word’s gone around about the Famous Five Who Saved the World.’
‘We were just normal people, trying to do the best we could.’
‘Try telling that to everyone out there. These days you’re on a par with the gods. Everyone keeps talking about how you’re going to come back, save the world again.’
‘That’s your job now,’ the Bone Inspector said.
Mallory ignored him. His attention was fixed on Shavi. On the surface he appeared to be a calm, simple man, but beneath that facade lay complexity, Mallory was certain. If Shavi had once been a ‘normal man’, Mallory didn’t believe that was the case any more. He had grown into the role thrust upon him, and even sitting there on the hillside enjoying the dawn he exuded a great strength and charisma that made him a natural leader.
‘There’s even a movement out there that’s elevated Ryan Veitch to some kind of Anti-Christ,’ Mallory said. ‘The Great Betrayer, who’s going to come back and put the world to rights. Or wrongs. Everything gets twisted in the telling. Your story keeps doing the rounds, with little bits added here and there. You’re all mythical now.’
‘Poor Ryan is not coming back,’ Shavi said. ‘He was misunderstood, troubled, but not really bad. He simply could not overcome his failings. He was buried on a hillside in North London.’
‘Better not spread that around or they’ll be digging up his body for the resurrection.’ Mallory could see that Shavi was enjoying the peace he had found. After so much sacrifice, how could Mallory ask him for more?
‘I still can’t understand what happened.’ The Bone Inspector shook his head, perplexed. ‘We all thought Jack Churchill was destined for big things — someone who’d lead us on to the next level. There were prophecies, stories passed down from the earliest days of the Culture. I was sure they referred to him.’
‘He had great power inside him, certainly,’ Shavi said. ‘He wasn’t allowed to reach his potential — he could have changed the world.’ Mallory could see that the death of Jack Churchill still affected Shavi deeply.
Shavi broke the conversation by asking Mallory to come for breakfast with them. They wandered down the Tor in the warming sun, with Shavi greeting everyone he encountered by name. Mallory saw respect in all the faces, and in some, something approaching reverence.
They ate porridge sweetened with honey in a large roundhouse at the foot of the Tor. It was a communal dining area, and throughout the course of their meal men wandered in and out to grab a bite. All kinds had made their way to the college, from teenage boys to grizzled, white-haired men in their seventies and eighties. Some resembled old hippies, with faded clothes and sandals, while others had the clean-cut elegance of barristers or the tattooed swarthiness of motor mechanics.
‘No women?’ Mallory said. His memories of the disturbingly testosterone-heavy regime of the Salisbury Knights Templar were still raw.
‘The sexes have different strengths,’ Shavi said. ‘Women are better practitioners of the Craft, at manipulating its subtle energies, its raw emotional power. Ruth Gallagher endeavoured to spread the word to women across the country. The Culture’s power has always been shaped by male energies. But we would never turn a woman away if she felt the call, and I’m sure Ruth would not turn her back on a man.’
‘It’s not a monastery,’ the Bone Inspector said. ‘No bromide in the tea, no rules about stamping on sex, or stopping people drinking or doing whatever they want to do to get out of it. Besides,’ he added with a gap-toothed grin, ‘they’ll be out in the world soon enough when the teaching’s done, and then they can get to know all the women they want.’
After they had finished their meal, they made their way into the grounds of the abbey where the main teaching was carried out. Many had already made an early start. A group of young men sprawled on the grass before an elderly tutor, charts of the night sky spread all around. Near the main teaching roundhouse, a group session of t’ai chi was being conducted.
‘I adopted a very idiosyncratic curriculum,’ Shavi said with a smile as they stood to watch the graceful movements. ‘It seemed to me that we had an opportunity to enhance the long traditions of the Culture with the best of Eastern philosophy and belief systems, thereby creating a profound new wisdom for this dawning new age.’
‘About that new age dawning-’ Mallory began.
But Shavi silenced him with a hand; he did not wish to be rushed. ‘I know some of the reasons why you have come,’ he said. ‘But let’s not discuss them here, where we might be overheard.’
Shavi led the way to a much smaller roundhouse in a secluded spot in a distant corner of the abbey grounds. Inside, the only light came from a small fire that, from the mound of ash and charcoal, appeared to have been kept burning for a long time. The Bone Inspector shut the door and barred it.
‘This is the only building with locks in the college,’ Shavi said. ‘It is also protected magically from external attack, or from any party viewing from a distance. There are many powers who do not want to see this college thrive. We are always on our guard.’
They sat around the fire, the flickering flames casting their faces a dull red against the shifting shadows. ‘There’s trouble,’ the Bone Inspector said, ‘or you wouldn’t be here.’
‘Trouble?’ Mallory said. ‘That’s one way of describing it. It’s called the Void. What is it? No idea. The best description I’ve got is that it’s the opposite of life and it’s here to wipe out everything on earth. Apparently we’re some kind of infestation with ideas above our place. Though I have to admit, there are times when I agree with that estimation.’
‘We are aware of this great darkness,’ Shavi said gravely, ‘and we have known of its approach. I am ashamed to say I am responsible.’
‘What do you mean?’ Mallory asked, startled. The atmosphere in the roundhouse appeared to be growing more oppressive.
‘During the Fall, one of the rules of Existence was broken. I was the reason and the cause. I should take the blame.’ Shavi closed his eyes, remembering. ‘I died during the struggle.’
Mallory felt a frisson at the connection. ‘You look pretty good for a dead man,’ he said wryly.
‘I remember a place of mists and desolation, of a graveyard that went on for ever.’ Shavi shivered. ‘But I was needed. Five Brothers and Sisters of Dragons were necessary for the struggle. Barriers were overthrown and I was brought back to life. But there was a price to pay. There is always a price to pay. Before I departed the Grey Lands, I was told these words. I have never forgotten them. In times to come, you will discover that you cannot evade your punishment, and it will be inflicted not only upon you, but upon your world.’ Shavi swallowed, his throat dry. ‘That voice… that voice hidden in shadows
… So terrible. Beyond the edge of Existence, the Void is stirring. My actions… the breaking of the rule of life and death… brought us to its attention.’
‘ You have been noticed.’ Mallory repeated the words he had heard from one of the gods.
‘Yes. Because of me. And I have carried this burden with me since the Fall,’ Shavi said desolately, ‘dreading the day when I would hear that the Void had arrived, selfishly hoping it would not be in my lifetime. And now that day has come.’
The Bone Inspector read Mallory’s face. ‘You’re surprised we know what’s happening?’
‘You’ve got a little paradise going here, cut off from the rest of the world. You haven’t even got the bad
