Read Online One Bright Star to Guide Them by John C. Wright - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: John C. Wright
Ads: Link
then—who? Sally is so afraid.”
“The Elf Prince will bring his harp to her once more, and she will find her courage again. She will sing a song of freedom, and encounter many woes and endure much loss before the final victory is won. She will not be alone. There shall be others.”
Thomas nodded. He was glad.
“As for you, your time as this land's Champion of the Light is done, for you have grown old, and the faith of a child is no longer yours. Two tasks you have completed. Another task I lay upon you now, and it shall be yours for many a weary year.”
“What task is that?” asked Thomas. Then he frowned, for he wished he had instead said:
I am ready.
“Know you why, out of all the years and seasons of the world, the Dark chose this day to come forth from the Winter Country?”
“No.”
“It is because the Wise Old Man of this World sleeps.”
“Sleeps?”
Thomas saw a reflection of light in the surface of the broken blade in his hand. He held the hilt nearer to his eye and looked into the silvery steel, and it was as if he saw into the surface of a still lake of water. In a small chapel nestled in a green valley, behind the tall mansion where, long ago, Thomas and his four friends had spent a summer's afternoon, was a graveyard. There was a headstone, and the words CEDRIC PENKIRK were written on it.
“Professor Penkirk!”
“He was your squire, for he armed you children with the heart you needed to prevail; he was your nurse, for he comforted you when you returned; and one thing more he was — your herald! He went before you into the land of Vidblain, into the Lost Kingdom, and told the animals and dryads of your coming. He was not permitted to strike the blow against the Winter King. That was the task of the Four. His task was to guide, and to advise, and to open the way.”
Thomas whispered. “The Key! This key is what opened the Way of the Well, and let us through the Hidden Door into Vidblain. He meant us to find it. I had always wondered…”
“Now it falls to you to become what Cedric was, for he has gone into my Father's realm. There he has another task you cannot have described to you as yet; but it is a work of long-abiding joy. They have given him a crown and a robe of white, and anointed his head with oil.”
“What am I supposed to do, then?” Thomas grinned. “Find some English schoolchildren and get them into trouble?”
“You will have many roads to walk, and there will be many worlds under your care. There will come a child who leads a Star by the hand, whose voice can still the Lion's rage. It is for him you carry the shards of Angurvadel, the great sword. It is a weapon none may use until he reforges it and makes it anew himself, as with all such weapons of my Father's Kingdom. Now, come! You will find this child is in a world beyond the Pleiades, considered young for his ancient and supernal race, but, compared to humans, old and wise beyond all reckoning: he is rash and eager, and he will come at your word to save this green Earth and all its inhabitants from the Dark Master.”
“Beyond the stars?”
“In his own land, the child is neither prince nor sage, but a humble blacksmith's apprentice: yet men would call him magic, for his art is to forge the stars and set them in their constellations. You will find your way with the book you hold and the key you bear. Say farewell to this land, Thomas. No world will be your home hereafter, but every place the light of the stars can touch!”
“And where I go, shall I see you there?”
“That is for you to say. For I have been with you all these years, my friend, with the signs of my Father's power all around you—you forgot to look.”
“Is this a darker world than Earth? Or brighter?”
“Dark or bright, you shall make it brighter than it was.”
And the great cat swelled into gigantic size, growing dim and bright and vast. He was somehow larger than the whole museum above and around him, and yet he did not
“The Elf Prince will bring his harp to her once more, and she will find her courage again. She will sing a song of freedom, and encounter many woes and endure much loss before the final victory is won. She will not be alone. There shall be others.”
Thomas nodded. He was glad.
“As for you, your time as this land's Champion of the Light is done, for you have grown old, and the faith of a child is no longer yours. Two tasks you have completed. Another task I lay upon you now, and it shall be yours for many a weary year.”
“What task is that?” asked Thomas. Then he frowned, for he wished he had instead said:
I am ready.
“Know you why, out of all the years and seasons of the world, the Dark chose this day to come forth from the Winter Country?”
“No.”
“It is because the Wise Old Man of this World sleeps.”
“Sleeps?”
Thomas saw a reflection of light in the surface of the broken blade in his hand. He held the hilt nearer to his eye and looked into the silvery steel, and it was as if he saw into the surface of a still lake of water. In a small chapel nestled in a green valley, behind the tall mansion where, long ago, Thomas and his four friends had spent a summer's afternoon, was a graveyard. There was a headstone, and the words CEDRIC PENKIRK were written on it.
“Professor Penkirk!”
“He was your squire, for he armed you children with the heart you needed to prevail; he was your nurse, for he comforted you when you returned; and one thing more he was — your herald! He went before you into the land of Vidblain, into the Lost Kingdom, and told the animals and dryads of your coming. He was not permitted to strike the blow against the Winter King. That was the task of the Four. His task was to guide, and to advise, and to open the way.”
Thomas whispered. “The Key! This key is what opened the Way of the Well, and let us through the Hidden Door into Vidblain. He meant us to find it. I had always wondered…”
“Now it falls to you to become what Cedric was, for he has gone into my Father's realm. There he has another task you cannot have described to you as yet; but it is a work of long-abiding joy. They have given him a crown and a robe of white, and anointed his head with oil.”
“What am I supposed to do, then?” Thomas grinned. “Find some English schoolchildren and get them into trouble?”
“You will have many roads to walk, and there will be many worlds under your care. There will come a child who leads a Star by the hand, whose voice can still the Lion's rage. It is for him you carry the shards of Angurvadel, the great sword. It is a weapon none may use until he reforges it and makes it anew himself, as with all such weapons of my Father's Kingdom. Now, come! You will find this child is in a world beyond the Pleiades, considered young for his ancient and supernal race, but, compared to humans, old and wise beyond all reckoning: he is rash and eager, and he will come at your word to save this green Earth and all its inhabitants from the Dark Master.”
“Beyond the stars?”
“In his own land, the child is neither prince nor sage, but a humble blacksmith's apprentice: yet men would call him magic, for his art is to forge the stars and set them in their constellations. You will find your way with the book you hold and the key you bear. Say farewell to this land, Thomas. No world will be your home hereafter, but every place the light of the stars can touch!”
“And where I go, shall I see you there?”
“That is for you to say. For I have been with you all these years, my friend, with the signs of my Father's power all around you—you forgot to look.”
“Is this a darker world than Earth? Or brighter?”
“Dark or bright, you shall make it brighter than it was.”
And the great cat swelled into gigantic size, growing dim and bright and vast. He was somehow larger than the whole museum above and around him, and yet he did not
Similar Books
