Doctor Who_ Wolfsbane - Jac Rayner [87]
Presumably she was; she screeched in frustration as he moved.
He pushed the Grail towards her again. „I don‟t know what evil, unnatural things you‟re doing, but you can stop them right now.‟ Suddenly the words flowed freer. „Nature shouldn‟t be forced into doing things at your bidding. It‟s supposed to be wild and free. It shouldn‟t be controlled by a human, and it certainly shouldn‟t be controlled by a human like you.‟
She took up her chanting again, but the words came more falteringly now. Under their feet, the cave floor rippled, a soft surf of pure white lilies.
„Nature belongs to nature, no one else!‟ Harry yelled.
The ground rumbled as if in agreement.
Harry thrust the Grail right in the chanting woman‟s face.
She screamed in agony, the sound so much sharper than the anguished cries of Emmeline the werewolf.
She stumbled back. The ground rumbled again. And it split open.
Harry threw himself backwards as the cave floor split in two, and into the chasm fell Lady Hester Stanton. He crawled forwards, grabbing hold of the edge with one hand. Below him, the fallen sorceress raised her hands beseechingly. „I will reward you! I will fulfil your heart‟s desire! I will give you everything you could ever dream of!‟ The sides of the chasm began to fall in. The candles began to fall from their perches, one by one, the lights gradually extinguished.
Harry inched towards her. He didn‟t know what to do. Oh, he wasn‟t swayed by her words. And he was pleased he‟d stopped her. But he didn‟t know how to just walk away...
Hester was waist deep in the earth. It seemed to be crawling over her like a million black ants. And then the ground heaved again. The Grail fell from Harry‟s grasp and rolled forwards. As the ground rocked up and down, so the cup span this way and that. Harry could only lie and watch, grabbing hold of the pit‟s edge for dear life but still somehow detached from the whole scene, somehow feeling that for once he had not got it wrong, not made a mistake; that this was what was supposed to happen. And then, the Grail reached the edge of the pit. And fell in.
It span as it fell, spiralling slowly downwards. Harry heard the screams from Hester Stanton, and caught a last glimpse of her terrified white face in the flickering light of the last of the candles, before the earth finally closed.
Harry watched the ground subside. The tiny bell-flower lilies waved from side to side for a moment, and then were still, once more a beautiful ice-petalled carpet. It was if Hester Stanton had never been.
There was a shriek from the entranceway. George Stanton staggered in. The thorns were back on his head, and he was waving the broken branch wildly. He threw himself on the cave floor, pulling up the flowers by their roots, petals scattering like confetti in the air. „Mother!‟ he was screeching.
„Mother!‟
Harry turned and left. He left the rose and white cave, and then he left the crystal and azure cave. Something was calling him. Something wild and free within the trees.
The trees parted as Harry approached. Ivy wriggled out of his way, and thorn bushes bent over backwards to clear a path.
On the other side of the wood, the wolfsbane withered and died.
Harry walked into the wood. He felt calm and content.
On the other side of the wood, the wolf threw back its head and howled as it felt the power drain away through the earth.
In the Doctor‟s cottage, Godric stirred on the bed. Blood started dripping once again from his wounds. On the floor, however, the Doctor didn‟t move at all.
The wolf caught a scent on the edge of the woods. Harry.
Friend. Want. As the trees drew back, it followed the trail in.
Harry, his face serene, stumbled over a tree root. His expression did not change.
The scent was getting stronger now. The wolf slunk into the bushes, its grey fur camouflaged in the moonlight.
The dryad, inside her tree, kept calling Harry towards her.