most certain thing I have learned in my long life. God has a plan beyond any that yeh may have. To rebel against it for yer own desires is evil’s purpose.”
“I wonder if I will feel the same once I enter the twilight of my own life,” Cormac sighed.
“Twilight, my boy? Twilight can come at any time, regardless of age.”
“I suppose you are right,” Cormac said, not truly believing it. “The others should be gathered by now. Shall we proceed and relate what trouble I’ve started?”
Donato barked a weak laugh and rose on legs grown far too spindly. Holding the withered arm of his oldest friend, Cormac guided Donato out of the room and down the polished hallways of the Vatican, the weight of ages pressing in around them. The two men had walked these same steps countless times, but he knew few such walks remained. Donato only had a few years left. Cormac didn’t want to think on it, but he knew it was coming.
And after would be a darker world.
After navigating the Papal Apartment passages, the men passed two Swiss Guards and, closing an oak door behind them, entered the personal audience chamber of Pope Clement XV.
Cormac knew he would have to play his best game.
“Greetings Cardinal Ramirez, Cardinal O’Connor,” Pope Clement XV welcomed in heavily accented German. “I trust this meeting is as important as its urgency hints at.”
Cormac helped Donato sit at the room’s circular table before finding his own seat. Seven other Cardinals, each from various parts of the world, filled polished oak chairs of their own and nodded to the Cardinal Vicar—some out of amity, others obligatory respect. No windows or vents were set in the walls; it was a private room for meetings of clandestine import. Three chandeliers cast light, the paintings of past pontiffs dead centuries past mingling with life-size statues carved of Saint Peter, Saint James, and the Virgin Mary. Above it all and hanging from a large cross mounted on the back wall, Jesus peered down on the gathered in twisted agony, the wood glowing with a waxy ethereal sheen.
The Cardinals, all of whom were men over fifty and part of the Vigilo, were dressed in similar loose-fitting crimson robes. Pope Clement XV, who wore a simple white robe with gold stitching, sat in the largest and most ornate chair at the table.
“We have what could become a dire situation, Your Holiness,” Cormac began.
“What has transpired?”
Cormac related all he knew about Bran Ardall, what had transpired in Seattle, where the boy had gone and with whom, and what the appearance of the son of the last Heliwr could mean.
When he had finished, a pall of tension filled the room.
“You failed then, in more ways than one,” Clement said darkly.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Cormac said. “The Ardall boy is in Annwn.”
“And you chose not to inform me of this before you lost him?”
The Cardinal Vicar met the hard stare. “At the time, Your Holiness, we barely knew what was transpiring. Archbishop Glenallen in Seattle saw to the knight, but we were unsure about the boy. No Heliwr in the history of the Church has been born of the previous owner of the title. And with the developments in the Middle East and the wars taking precedence there, I didn’t want to draw your attention away from what you are trying to achieve with the extremists.”
“I see,” Clement said with distaste. “I will address that line of thought later. Continue.”
“The boy is in Annwn, as I said,” Cormac resumed. “The Cardinal Seer observed that the High King of Annwn sent a group to capture him. I think the attack on the boy in Seattle was to somehow draw him to Annwn so he could be detained.”
“Could not the attack be retribution for some grievance by Charles Ardall long since passed?” Cardinal Villenza argued, his pate balding and jowls heavy.
“It could,” Cormac admitted. “But Philip Plantagenet knew to send his Templar Knights to the portal at a specific time—and John Lewis Hugo kept the boy alive once captured. No, the anticipation of the boy coming through the portal is the key. And if someone wanted him gone, why go to such lengths to keep him alive?”
“Templar Knights,” Cardinal Tucci spat. “Those the Church failed to kill are a disgrace.”
“The wizard was also a part of this,” Cormac reminded.
“If Myrddin Emrys has taken interest in the son of Ardall, it stands to reason the child is of importance, possibly to us as well,” the Pope said.