'I'm not joking. No one is allowed in the library.'
'No one? What's the point of having a library, then?' Mallory tried to appear disarming. 'You must be bored out of your mind locked up with only the silverfish for company.'
James couldn't help a chuckle. He leaned out to look up and down the corridor, then opened the door quickly to allow Mallory entrance. Once inside, he drew the bolts and quickly turned the key before hurrying Mallory out of sight of the window.
As they entered the new section, the temperature dropped a degree or two and their footsteps took on an eerie echo that susurrated for an unnatural period. The dark closed in around them, bringing with it the suffocating smells of leather, dust, candlewax, damp paper and great age. Mallory couldn't have raised his voice if he'd wanted to.
James led a maze-like path through the stacks to a table bearing a flask, a Tupperware box containing sandwiches and a hissing lantern.
'Most people have to commit a crime to get this treatment,' Mallory said. James' expression suggested he felt the same way. 'If I didn't know better I'd say they preferred you in here instead of out there.'
James' eyes narrowed and his guard came up a little. 'Who would they be?'
Mallory dismissed the question with a laugh. 'You know what I'm talking about, James.'
James pulled a couple of chairs up to the table and poured Mallory a cup of tea from the flask. Mallory paused when he felt the touch of the plastic lid on his lip. 'This stuff will be antique soon. You'll be able to haggle for it down at die market, along with the polystyrene McDonald's boxes and Perspex shed windows.'
James lightened. 'If I know human nature, we'll be knee-deep in non- recyclable litter again before too long.' He sat back in his chair and surveyed Mallory with a strange smile. 'Now, Mr Mallory, what exactly are you up to?'
'Can I speak freely?'
James sighed. 'I have obligations to the Church authorities-'
'But you… we… surely have a greater obligation to a Higher Power. To the religion itself, and its teachings. And if the Church authorities are working in opposition to that — not consciously, of course-'
'Are you leaping to judgement, Mr Mallory?'
'All I'm saying is that the only thing we have to answer to is that Higher Power.'
'God. Why don't you say God?' He could tell Mallory was choosing his words with caution, but James' attempt to divine his purpose couldn't penetrate beneath the surface. 'This religion operates within a structure. It cannot exist without that structure. By being part of it, we tacitly accept that structure-'
'And what if that structure's wrong?' Mallory pressed. 'What if… God… never intended that structure to come into place? What if that's all politics?'
'What if, what if.' James waved a dismissive hand. 'This is what we have.'
'This is it, right or wrong?'
James bit the inside of his lip, stared along the racks of books.
'How about if we just talk? No harm there.'
James gave a conciliatory smile. 'That would be nice.'
'So let's start with a discussion of comparative theology.' Mallory sipped on the hot, sweet tea — not tea in the true sense, but an infusion of various herbs and spices.
'You're a strange man, Mallory. Why are you interested in these things? Most of your compatriots couldn't care less.'
'Religions around the world are all driving towards a comprehension of a Higher Power. God.' He smiled. 'To an uneducated person, it would seem that the differences between them are only a matter of mechanics. Different vehicles to reach the same destination.' James began to disagree, but Mallory waved him quiet. 'Several religions have things in common, but there's one thing you can find in Eastern and Western traditions: the power of the spirit. Something that might seem from one perspective to be a kind of energy that perhaps could even be quantified one day, from another point of view looks like magic, affecting things separated by great distance.'
James' eyes narrowed. Mallory felt he was on the right lines. 'The religion that existed here before Christianity came… a kind of nature worship, I suppose-'
'You're being disingenuous, Mallory. You know exactly what it is. I'm asking you to treat me with respect and to speak honestly of what's on your mind.'
Mallory nodded. 'OK. I'll be straight. That religion, like the Eastern traditions, believed that spirit-energy existed in the wider world… in the wider universe… and in man. It linked the inner and the outer, above and below. And it believed it ran in channels across the world, along which were established sacred sites where the power was strongest. The stone circles, the cairns, the raised hills. Leys, right? You've heard of leys?' James gave nothing away. 'And along these leys ran-'
'The Blue Fire.'
'That's right. You know about it.'
'Go on.'
Mallory finished his tea. 'I'm guessing there are books here that could tell me all about this.' When James didn't respond, he continued, 'The pagan camp just over the walls… it's here because Salisbury is on a powerful ley, apparently. The Blue Fire here is very strong. And the Christian church decides to re-establish itself here, in Salisbury. Not in Winchester, or Glastonbury. Here. Coincidence?'
'Glastonbury is on a powerful ley. So they say,' James pointed out.
'Now you're being disingenuous. But your answer shows we're on the same page. Anyway, the old Glastonbury site is in ruins. What was needed was a complete structure that could focus the energy. Not a stone circle, but a massive stone building with a spire like a lightning conductor. As far as I know, there's nothing in the Bible that mentions this Blue Fire, yet somebody in the Church knows about it.'
James shook his head firmly, his lips clenched tight.
'I'm a good judge of character,' Mallory continued. 'I'm not saying this to flatter you, because I do have respect for you, but I can tell you're a good man, with the best interests at heart. And I would guess injustice probably gets you down. I would think you wouldn't want to perpetuate injustice, or misdirection, or conspiracy, for whatever reason. Not in a religion that makes so much of truth and honesty and shining the light of righteousness on the world.'
'Why have you come to see me about this, Mallory? Why do you feel that strongly about it? Most people are just concerned with staying alive.'
'Because I think this is about staying alive. I don't know why, or how… it's just a hunch. But there's something going on at this cathedral that's the root of all our problems, and I think it's linked to this.' Mallory tried to be as honest as possible, hoping it would sway James, but it wasn't something that came easily to him. 'I don't know how much you know about what's going on, but I think you have suspicions. I think you're at least uneasy. And I certainly know you want things to turn out well-'
And if you find the information you want, you think you might be able to do something that might help us?'
'I don't know,' Mallory replied truthfully.
'What could you do, Mallory?'
'At least I want to try. There aren't many out there saying the same.'
James' smile was a forensic dissection of Mallory's character. 'That doesn't sound like the Mallory I've heard so much about.'
James sat silently for a moment, then rose sharply and began to prowl back and forth in thought; he looked as if he was tearing himself apart. Finally, he returned to his seat and began speaking animatedly as if a dam had broken. 'This stays between us. I don't know you well enough to know if you do have best interests at heart, but you're right in your assessment of how I feel about the truth being hidden, or glossed over, or bent. But it must stay between us, is that understood?'
Mallory nodded agreement to his terms.
'You talk about conspiracy,' he began. 'Someone once said that the history of civilisation is the history of conspiracy. What you learn… established knowledge… is not always the truth. Secrets lie behind everything we pass down, sometimes big secrets. Everyone thinks they know something of history. The truth is, they know nothing. It is a facet of human nature that the most important actions and events are hidden away so that all we see are their
