but all his abilities were growing much sharper, as if his mind were learning to use them now he had them at his disposal. He accepted it without question as a gift from some higher authority, and he was determined to use it as best he could.
Shavi found a clearing in the most thickly wooded area and stripped off his clothes, shivering from the chill on his skin. For twenty minutes he worked through his t'ai chi routine to clear his mind and then followed it with twenty minutes of yoga, by which time the sun was beginning to break through the branches. His studies had showed him that ritual and drugs made his abilities considerably more effective, and he had worked hard to develop a shamanistic framework to enable them.
With his mind wiped free of thoughts, his breathing regulated, he stood and raised his arms to the coming sun; the heat from the first rays licked over him in greeting. He slipped the Mexican mushroom onto his tongue, feeling the bitter taste spread, and then chewed slowly. When he finally swallowed, he lowered himself slowly and took up the full lotus, closing his eyes so the only sensations were the sun on his feet and the gentle breeze breathing on his naked skin.
'Come to me, spirits,' he whispered. 'Show me the path.'
Ruth was already up cooking breakfast when Laura emerged from the tent, bleary-eyed and puffy-faced. 'Stay up late?' Ruth asked as she flipped the sizzling bacon in the pan.
'No,' Laura lied, slipping on her sunglasses in the bright morning light. 'I'm just not a morning person like you, Miss Perky.'
Ruth served up a mug of tea which Laura took with a nod and then proceeded to sip halfheartedly.
'Shavi must have been up early,' Ruth continued; Laura grunted noncommittally. Ruth carried on serving up her breakfast, then suddenly threw the plastic plate down in irritation. 'I don't know how much longer we can carry on doing this!'
Laura looked up in surprise at the outburst. 'What do you mean?'
'Church could be dead! Time is running out! And we're just sitting here!'
'Okay, don't blow a gasket.' Laura took another sip of her tea, then added, 'Shavi's going to try something.'
'What?'
Laura shrugged. 'He reckons he can do stuff. You know, spooky stuff. When the world changed, he got super-charged … seeing things, hearing things. He's trying to find a way we can carry on without Church and his little blue lamp.'
'You seem to know a lot about him and what he's thinking,' Ruth said suspiciously.
'That's what talking to a person gets you. You should try it sometime.'
Ruth picked up her plate and took out her frustration on her bacon and beans. She had just decided to have another go at Laura when Shavi emerged from the trees looking tired and haggard. He flopped down next to them, rolled on his back and closed his eyes.
'That's what comes of taking exercise before breakfast,' Laura said.
'There is something here, in Glastonbury,' Shavi muttered.
'What do you mean?' Ruth asked.
'One of the talismans. The energy here is so vital it acts as an ultimate defence. None of the dark creatures can enter the Isle of Avalon, so it was the perfect place to locate one of the most powerful objects.'
'Where is it?' Ruth felt a sudden surge of hope that they weren't as powerless as she'd feared.
'I do not … It would not …' Shavi's eyes suddenly rolled up until all they could see were the whites, and for an instant they thought he was going to have a fit. In his head he flashed back to the ritual in the trees, the moment of awe and terror when the air appeared to fold in on itself and the amorphous cloud which seemed to contain both eyes and teeth suddenly manifested. Somehow he dragged himself back and focused on Ruth's concerned face. 'The abbey,' he croaked. 'There is a sign in the abbey. `Where feet in ancient times walked,' it said.' He closed his eyes and rested as best he could.
By midmorning Shavi had recovered enough to walk with Ruth and Laura into town. The abbey lay just off Magdalene Street, its ruined stone lying at peace amidst acres of well-tended lawns in a tranquil setting that was at odds with its location so near to the bustle of the shops. Despite the bare bones of its once powerful form, it was still easy to see how it had once been the greatest monastic foundation in all of Britain, second only in wealth and size to Westminster. Pilgrims still wandered beatifically along its winding paths as they had done since the Middle Ages, when it had been one of the most important shrines in Europe; even, some said, on a par with Rome itself.
The sun was bright and hot, but a cool breeze made their wanderings easy; the birdsong within the high walls drowned out the traffic beyond.
'It's so peaceful here,' Ruth remarked as she stood in what had been the nave and looked towards the choir. 'No, more than that,' she added thoughtfully. 'It's spiritual.'
'You notice that too?' Shavi replied. 'I wondered if it was a by-product of this new age which seems, to me, to be an age of the spirit after one of materialism. Can we now feel the energy of sacred sites, the cumulative outpourings of generations of the faithful? Or was it always like this?'
'Perhaps it was like this, just muted.' Ruth ignored Laura, who was faintly but obviously sneering at their intellectualising. 'You know, some of the things that have come with the change have actually been good. Perhaps this whole new age isn't as bad as it's made out to be,' she continued.
'Yeah, right,' Laura said, wandering away from them. 'Tell that to the Wild Hunt.'
While Shavi and Ruth mulled over the abbey's uncommon atmosphere, Laura picked her way amongst the stonework until she discovered a sign which made her call the others. It said:
Site of King Arthur's Tomb. In the year 1191 the bodies of King Arthur and his queen were said to have been found on the south side of the Lady Chapel. On 10th April 1278 their remains were removed in the presence of King Edward I and Queen Eleanor to a black marble tomb on this site. This tomb survived until the dissolution of the abbey in 1539.
'I thought he was just made up,' Laura said.
'He was,' Ruth agreed. 'A conglomeration of old heroes that a succession of writers have used to create this romantic myth.'
'Some say,' Shavi added, 'the monks invented this because it would bring in some funds at a time when they were particularly hard-pressed.'
'I've always said you can't trust the religious,' Laura sniffed, before turning away again.
But Ruth felt a strange frisson tingle along her spine. She recalled Tom talking about the sleeping king who needed to be awakened; the king who, in legend, had been Arthur.
Shavi noticed her expression. 'What is wrong?'
'It's nothing,' she said, before adding, 'Coincidences always spook me. I'm starting to see strange connections in all this, recurring themes about legends and religions, Celts and Christianity. But I can't quite fit it all together.'
'These things happen in the subconscious,' Shavi advised. 'Let it come naturally.'
Taking his own advice, he led her among the ruins, hoping inspiration would come to illuminate the cryptic hints he had received in the ritual; as they walked, they mused over the words.
'It reminds me of a line from Jerusalem,'' Ruth noted. '`And did those feet in ancient times …
'And that, of course, is tied in to Glastonbury,' Shavi said. 'It relates to the legend of the young Jesus, who is supposed to have come here to Glastonbury with his uncle Joseph of Arimathea. The stories say they built the first Christian church out of wattle and daub, somewhere in the abbey's grounds, I think. After Jesus was crucified, Joseph gave up his tomb to house the body. It is said he took the Grail which caught some of Christ's blood at the crucifixion and brought it here where he buried it, possibly on Chalice Hill. According to legend, that is.'
'`Folklore is the secret history,'' Ruth muttered distractedly.
'What is that?'
'Something Tom said. That myths, legends and folklore reflected what really happened, although not accurately, or as metaphors. And of course the Grail is part of the Arthurian tales.' She felt oddly uneasy. 'What does it mean? Anything?'
Before he could answer, Laura ambled over lazily. 'Before you two burst your brains with all that heavy thinking, you should see this.' She took them to a wooden cover in the ground in what had been the north transept.
