The Eighth Court (The Courts of the Feyr - By Mike Shevdon Page 0,5
that I’d found you, but I wasn’t even sure myself. I thought maybe I was cracking up – hearing your voice when it wasn’t there. And then, when I knew you’d been taken away, I didn’t know where you were or how to get you back.”
A hand crept out from under the duvet and I held it in mine.
“We cope with loss in different ways, and for your mum, having your things in the house with her every day was just too much. It reopened her wounds, and the only way she could cope was to clear it all out and try and move on. I know it was your stuff, but you have to understand – try and see it from her perspective. It wasn’t that she wanted to forget, it was that the memories were too fresh, and too painful to bear.”
“How can I go back?” said Alex. “How can I go back there when there’s nothing left for me?”
I squeezed her hand. “Things are not important. It’s all just stuff, Alex. You can replace it, or do without it. What’s there for you is your mum. I was wrong to keep you from her, and it’s time you re-connected with her. I’m not saying it will be easy. You’ve both been changed by what’s happened and you’ll have to work out where you are with her. You’ll both carry the scars for as long as you live, but she’s still your mum, Alex, and that’s what really matters.”
She sniffed, and then said, “OK.”
“Good,” I said. “Now, you have ten minutes to get up and dressed and be downstairs ready to go. I’ll wait for you at the Ways.”
She sat up in bed. “Ten minutes! I can’t get ready in ten minutes! What am I going to wear?”
I stood up and went to the door. “You have clothes on the bed. Your mother won’t care what you’re wearing. It’s you she wants to see, not your clothes.”
“But–”
“Ten minutes,” I repeated, and shut the door behind me.
Outside I took three deep breaths and went downstairs to wait for her.
The figure slipped into the open-sided barn, melting into the shadows within. “Are you there?”
“Are you sure you weren’t followed?” The voice was almost a whisper.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
There was a long pause.
“Tell me,” instructed the voice.
“What about my side of the bargain?”
“All in good time.”
“There’s nothing happening. Nothing significant.”
“I’ll decide what’s significant,” said the voice.
“The discussions are endless. The courts are in stalemate. Teoth and Krane are opposing them, while Kimlesh, Yonna and Mellion are in support. Barthia doesn’t know which side to choose. It’s the same as last time.”
“That in itself is informative,” said the voice. “And you?”
“I don’t have a choice.”
The voice laughed softly. “No, you don’t. How is it?”
“The same.”
“Nothing is certain. The sooner the better.”
“I need to know.”
“And risk exposure? The time will come soon enough. Have faith.”
“Easy for you to say.”
There was another long pause.
“Are you there?”
When there was no reply, the shadow slipped away.
In the basement, ten minutes had come and gone. I paced up and down, wondering how long to wait before I went back up and tried to oust Alex from her bedroom. Going back up would re-set the clock and she would be at least another 15 minutes after that, but equally she could have retreated back under the quilt with no intention of appearing, leaving me to pace up and down.
I glanced again at the door, steeling myself to go back up there, when it opened. Standing nervously in the doorway was an Alex I’d never seen before. She’d somehow tamed her hair into a style that framed her face with dark curls. There were gold studs in her ears, which I couldn’t remember ever seeing. She had a royal-blue sweater over a long, flowing maroon skirt that came down to her ankles, and she was wearing a pair of low-heeled court shoes.
“What do you think?” I shook my head and she looked panicky. “You think it’s too much?” she asked.
“No, no. It’s not you, it’s me. For some reason I thought I was the father of a young girl. Then this woman appeared and I… Your mother’s not the only one who’s got some adjusting to do.”
She smoothed her hands down her skirt and smiled hesitantly at that. “We should go,” she said.
I stepped forward to the Way-node, glancing back to her. “You know where we're going?” I asked her.