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‘I’m happy for you,’ I said. ‘Even so, this doesn’t solve our problem, does it?’
Nightwing called out and flew off. For a moment I thought she’d changed her mind about being reunited with her old master, but then I realised she’d landed on the floor by the far wall. She looked at it then at us.
‘Do you think she knows something?’ I asked, hardly daring to believe it was possible.
‘I’d bet on it,’ Phoenix said. ‘She never lets me down.’
‘But I can’t see anything.’ Wren moved cautiously to the wall, keeping a wary eye on the raven. She pressed the stones, but nothing happened. ‘And it’s as you say, the remainder of this wall isn’t even tall enough to hold a door.’
I stood, staring in frustration at what was left of the wall. That door had been there, though, I was sure of it. I closed my eyes, trying to remember what it had looked like back in the twenty-first century. I saw it clearly. I remembered us opening it, going through it, heading down those steps…
‘Wulfram! Look!’
Wren’s excited cry made me open my eyes and I was full of relief to see the wall had repaired itself and there was a door clearly visible, as if it had always been there. Which, I supposed, it always had. I just hadn’t realised it.
‘You clever girl,’ Phoenix said to Nightwing, who hopped smugly back onto his shoulder and gave us all a satisfied look, as if perfectly aware we’d never have found it without her help.
‘Go on,’ Wren said, nodding at me. ‘You first.’
I pushed open the door and sure enough there were the steps leading down to the crypt. Surprisingly, they seemed to be in excellent condition, as did the walls. We headed down below the chapel, glad of our winter coats, and looked around in amazement. Torches burned on the walls, and it looked to be as whole as it had been when I’d last been there. However derelict the chapel became, it clearly didn’t affect the crypt.
‘Look at that!’
Phoenix’s cry made me swing round and my heart thudded. Against the far wall, where years in the future both Zephyr and Bob would one day lie, was a stone sarcophagus, with an effigy of a man lying on top of it. But what held my attention was the sword that was standing erect, plunged through the chest of the effigy.
‘The Sword of Feidhlim!’ The words were out before I could stop them, and Wren and Phoenix stared at me in surprise.
‘What sword?’
‘You can’t see it?’ I could hardly believe it. ‘But it’s right there! It’s embedded in the effigy of that man. You must be able to see it?’
They stared at the sarcophagus then slowly shook their heads.
‘Honestly, we can’t see any sword,’ Wren said.
‘But don’t you see? That proves it’s the Sword of Feidhlim,’ Phoenix said excitedly. ‘You’re the Great Guardian. It’s only visible to you and those you wish to see it.’
‘Well, I wish you two to see it,’ I said immediately.
Honestly, I really didn’t expect anything to happen, but Wren’s hands flew to her face and Phoenix’s jaw dropped.
‘Oh my word!’ Wren breathed. ‘It’s true. It’s really here.’
‘You can see it?’
She nodded and she and Phoenix took a step closer to it. ‘It’s beautiful, Wulfram. Come and look at it.’
Now the moment was upon me I was seized with an attack of nerves. All right, I’d found it, and I could see it, but what if I couldn’t remove the sword from the stone? What then?
‘I wonder who this man is?’ Phoenix said, peering at the effigy with interest. ‘It couldn’t possibly be Arthur, could it? I mean, with the sword being there with him.’
‘Arthur’s buried in Avalon,’ I said firmly. ‘That much I do know. Still, whoever this is, he must be someone important. Someone very important, connected with the sword and with Arthur.’
‘Wulfram,’ Wren whispered, hardly daring to take her eyes off the sarcophagus, ‘you need to come and read this.’
Hesitantly I joined her at the side of the huge stone tomb and followed her gaze to the writing on the side panel. At first it was illegible to me, written in a language I couldn’t understand. Slowly, though, the letters seemed to rearrange themselves into familiar words. It seemed the translation spell applied even to writing.
Here lies the great sorcerer Merlin,
