Chapter 36

[seymoure]

Chapter 36
“The Power of the Stones”

They stood outside Screed's hospital room, speaking in hushed tones.

Around the young man’s bed stood five new arrivals from Rollright. These sisters held hands with heads bowed and concentration focused on healing.

Claus had a cane in one hand that he ignored. In the other he was inspecting a piece of white cloth with distain.

“As unlikely as it might have seemed,” He said, “This is probably the way that he gained entry here.”

Harriett gnashed her teeth and looked away.

“You couldn’t have known,” Sebastian comforted her, “You were fighting for your very soul. The enemy is relentless, if he hadn’t done this he would have found another way.”

Fiona rejoined the group.

“The boundaries are set, and the power of the stones and Avalon is in force.”

“Avalon?” Ethel Muntz wondered aloud.

“Our Sisterhood was founded by Mother Iscandia, the last human to find the portal to Avalon that exists in the circle of stones at Rollright, back in the year 1956.”

“I thought the location of Avalon was at . . .” Muntz offered.

“The location on a physical plane is useless unless there is a portal to access it. The only one ever found has been at the stones.” said Fiona, with her hackles only slightly showing, “A later leader of the Sisterhood, Mother Pamela said that the energy of the stones was not a path to Avalon, but a powerful gateway to a pocket universe. It is a controversy within our order, but we know that greatness comes into our hands from the stones, and we must share it by protecting others.”

“We all appreciate the aid you have bestowed on us,” Vaskania quickly inserted into the conversation.

“I never meant to demean your beliefs,” Muntz told the short woman, “What I said was out of ignorance and nothing more.”

Fiona Peters raised her hand.

“We are all under great stress,” She said, with a tone of acceptance invading her voice.

“How is he doing?” Emilio Sanchez asked.

“He will recover, and quickly. He is young and resilient,” the passing Nurse said, though she was obviously unsettled by the trappings of the odd that she saw around her.

“She’s right,” Fiona agreed, “My sisters can protect and heal him in a short period of time.”

At that point one of the first Sisters to have arrived at the hospital joined them.

“Sister Fiona, we have something to show you,” the young woman in black said while pointing to Ethel. Ethel was not happily forthcoming, but nodded that it was true.

The pair of women stepped back and the young sister tossed a napkin towards Muntz. Instead of falling to the floor, the cloth hovered and then crumbled into a ball and then flew back to its source.

The young woman caught the ball of cloth and turned, beaming, to the group.

“I sensed the power in her, and we have been working on it.”

“Well done, Sister Angel,” Fiona told the woman, while taking the napkin from her and inspecting it.

“I don’t know if that will come in handy unless we are attacked by a bunch of waiters,” Muntz said.

“You don’t need to wonder. We will do the counter attack. You will stay here,” Claus informed her.

“What makes you think you are coming?” Dante shot to the fat man, “Your physical problems would make you more of a liability than an asset.”

At that moment Claus’ cane swept Dante’s knees from under her. As she fell she saw the fat man use that same cane to hold Sanchez from catching her.

“I have my mind. It is all I ever really have,” Claus told the woman he thought of as a daughter, “And you will not confront this evil without me.”

“I’m coming too!” Muntz stated.

“No way in Hell,” said Claus, "You, my dear, are, at the very least, a civilian. We cannot take the chance that you could become a liability."

“If I have to follow you I could get caught and used as a hostage.” She told the team.

“And what makes you think we’d invest anything in getting you back?” Vaskania taunted.

“Someday you may need a napkin?”

The group held its breath for a second and then everyone laughed.

It was good to laugh.

It would be the last one for some time.

© 2005 by C. Wayne Owens