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‘I’ll show you out,’ Emrick said cheerfully. He stood and beckoned to them to follow him. ‘Come with me,’ he said. ‘Let’s you and I have a little chat.’
Chapter 47
Wulfram
Sitting in the snug with Emrick that night I mulled over the problem of how to tell everyone what I knew.
‘How do I explain what happened to Romy and Blaise? How do I tell Keely, Harley and Trinity what became of their sister?’ I asked. ‘It’s huge.’
‘Don’t worry about all that, my boy,’ he said. ‘You’ll find a way.’
I knew Keely was hurt that I hadn’t confided in her anything that had happened since I’d left, but my head was still buzzing with it all. I was still trying to process all that had happened, and to figure out the best way of explaining it.
How could I expect them to grasp it all when I was still having trouble myself? I would never have believed, when I arrived in Gerrenporth in 1673, what lay ahead of me. It seemed unreal. But I knew it was true. I had proof.
I glanced down at the sword that lay by my side. It gleamed as if it had been polished every day for hundreds of years, even though I knew for a fact it hadn’t been. Precious stones adorned the hilt and I had to admit it was a thing of beauty. I still couldn’t believe the others couldn’t see it, but it was obvious they couldn’t. Perrie, I recalled, had told me back in Glastonbury that the sword could only be seen if the Great Guardian permitted it. Evidently, there was a part of me that had wanted it to remain secret. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe it had been a protective instinct when I first arrived back in my own time. Now… I suppose it was bound up with all the other secrets I was keeping. Secrets I would have to reveal very soon.
‘I haven’t even told them about this,’ I said, nodding sadly at the sword, knowing Emrick could see it as well as I.
‘All in good time,’ he said comfortably. ‘I will say, though, that I had to tell the High Council. They needed some good news after the day they’ve had.’
‘I suppose so. I’m glad Sirius and Elinora are replacing Zephyr and Bob. Sirius will do an excellent job, and Elinora seems like a good person.’
‘She is. The Guardians don’t make mistakes.’
‘Maybe the Guardians should choose all members of the High Council,’ I said ruefully, ‘not just the leaders. Maybe they’d have seen Bob’s weakness.’
‘Perhaps. But then, you and I both know that things tend to play out as they should. It was all meant to be, Wulfram.’
‘And what happens now?’ I shook my head. ‘Of course, you don’t know, do you?’
‘Afraid not.’ He smiled. ‘The intelligence from my informants is at an end. I’m as much in the dark as you now.’
I couldn’t help but laugh. It was funny when I came to think of it. Then I thought of everything that Emrick had been through, and my laughter died.
‘I’m so sorry. I can’t even imagine…’
‘Now, now. We’ve been through this. I’m fine. Look at me! And I’ll tell you now, I’ve never been so happy to see anyone in my life as I was to see you in Polkayne, even if you were facing the Pendragons.’
‘Oh, and believe me, I was glad to see you,’ I said fervently. ‘I owe you so much. I owe you—everything.’
‘You don’t owe me anything, Wulfram,’ he said. ‘It’s the rest of us that owe you. You’ve done your duty and saved our world from a war.’
‘I still can’t believe Havok is dead,’ I said. ‘You know, after everything he did to us—killing my parents and Keely’s dad for a start—I always thought it would be me who killed him. I used to play it out in my mind, imagining the moment.’
I’d often seen myself standing over his dying form, saying to him, ‘This is for Ashen, Laragh, and Rodor. This is for Zephyr.’
But in the event it had been Aidan who killed him. No fanfare. No final words. Just a blast of blue light and it was all over.
‘Taking revenge?’ he asked.
‘I suppose so.’
‘Is that what you wanted?’
‘I thought it was,’ I said. ‘But…’ I hung my head. ‘I killed Malliss and I hate that,’ I admitted. ‘I shocked myself. I don’t think I’m cut out for this life. When I was under attack that same green light that Havok produced was coming from my fingers, and I knew I could kill Malliss the same way he killed Zephyr. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it.’
What sort of leader, I wondered, did that make me? A weak one, I supposed.
