The Indigo King - James A. Owen [93]
“I don’t know that he does,” said John. “We don’t even know that it’s an object, really. It’s a translation conundrum that no one, not even the Caretakers, have been able to sort out.
“One way of reading san greal means ‘Holy Grail,’ or the cup of Christ,” he explained, “but the other way, sang real, means ‘royal blood.’ What we need might be a person. An actual descendant of Jesus Christ himself.”
“The legend of Joseph of Aramathea,” said Jack. “He was Christ’s uncle, and supposedly took his nephew’s children away from Jerusalem to Glastonbury, in England.”
Hugo started. “That night in the tent,” he began, excited that he could add a piece of the puzzle, “Merlin and the Lawgiver were arguing about how betraying the Grail meant betraying Holy Blood. And Merlin said something about the children of the Grail.”
“So is it the cup, or is it the bloodline?” Jack asked rhetorically. “Not that it will help to know, since I haven’t the faintest idea where it can be found.”
“But I do,” a voice said behind them, “and if you are worthy, you may yet find out the truth for yourselves.”
The companions turned as Taliesin the Lawgiver stepped up out of the stone passageway.
“Taliesin,” Hugo said in greeting. “How has this happened?”
The Lawgiver’s eyes were filled with tears, and he deliberately avoided looking at Arthur’s body. “A journey of a thousand regrets,” he said simply, “begins with a single step. Follow the path of your adversary to the beginning, and perhaps you will find the means to alter his course.”
“If you are who I think you are, then you had as much right to claim Caliburn as Merlin and Mordred,” said John. “Why didn’t you stop this three decades ago?”
The Lawgiver briefly raised his hand to his forehead, touching it. “I was Bound, and was kept from doing all I might have had I been released. And now the future is certain unless you find the Grail and restore the true king.”
“Where?” Jack wondered. “Where can we find it?”
“At your adversary’s beginning,” said Taliesin, “and my own.”
“In the Archipelago?” asked John, his heart sinking as he anticipated the possibility of a long, arduous journey ahead. “Do we need to find Odysseus? Was that the beginning you mean?”
Taliesin shook his head. “Our father is long gone,” he said flatly, “but our mothers remain. The Grail may be found with them.”
“Calypso and Circe,” said John. “They’re still alive?”
“They, or an aspect of them,” answered Taliesin. “On an island of glass, that is both here and not here. In this time, they are often called the Pandora, after our ancestor.”
“The Morgaine,” Jack declared, shaking his fist triumphantly. “The Morgaine! Of course! That means the Grail is on Avalon!”
“And of course,” Hugo said, “you just happen to know how to get to Avalon.”
“Of course,” John told him. “Why wouldn’t we?”
“Just asking,” said Hugo.
“There’s a river near the great stone,” Jack said to Hank. “Are there any boats nearby? Anything we might use?”
“They’ve all been destroyed,” Hank said. “Used for raw materials in the siege. I don’t think there’s even a toy boat to be had for a thousand miles.”
Jack scratched his ear. “Huh,” he murmured. “What do you know.”
“What?” said Hank.
Jack stuck his hand in his pocket. “We do have that much at least, right here,” he replied, removing the miniature ship in a bottle he’d been given by the Serendipity Box. “Take us to the river.”
Taliesin offered to stay with the body, to protect it, and the companions bade him farewell and reentered the stone tunnel. Jack followed last, pausing only to retrieve Mordred’s spear. “I don’t intend to use it,” Jack told the others, “but I’d rather that Mordred didn’t have the chance to use it again either.”
At the other end of the passageway, as before, the forest was empty. “Thank God for small favors,” said Hank. “They’re all massed at the gates.”
It was not far to a sloping path that led the companions to the flowing water of the river. It was thickly clotted with debris