Overcomer - The Battle - Judy Colella (best love novels of all time .TXT) 📗

possible. He had to be established at the Hub, taught, trained, and prepared for the work he was chosen to do. For not only did he play back the darkness, he also, as you now know, escorted certain individuals through the various Doors. He did not age while he was playing on this hill, but whenever he re-entered the world of humans, he progressed in age like everyone else. Eventually, we offered to…to change him so he would remain the same forever. He chose an age at which he would be content to stay, and the day he reached it, the change was made complete.”

She paused, gathered her hair back with one hand in an oddly human gesture, pulling the shimmering strands off her shoulders and releasing them to cascade down her back, then sat straighter before continuing.

“Ever have there been those evil ones that have tried to make incursions into the Hub,” she went on, “but the faithfulness of the Keeper who guards the Doors and thereby maintains the balance of Time has never been seriously challenged – until the day that Cian’s ancestor defied his god so. . .unexpectedly. As you have been told, there exist evil ones who disguise themselves as gods, and who can influence those who worship them to do that which is almost as evil as they. Cian’s ancestor, as one of these people, was influenced by one of the most powerful and vile spirits that ever existed, one who answers to no other spirit but the ultimate Evil One. Defiance by this weak human was so shocking to that hideous being that he became filled with rage and determination to make an example of the man. So he pursued him across space and time, but the Keeper always kept the man a step or two ahead.

“Eventually, ignorance in the world began to be replaced with knowledge, and the gods were no longer considered living beings. Instead, people either worshipped the God of Abraham and His own Son, or they worshipped things like power, wealth, their own bodies, their own intelligence, even, as in Celeste’s time, their vehicles! How silly humans can be!”

“Uh-oh – Dad’s in trouble,” Katie muttered.

Celesta smiled at this interruption, and then continued, her expression growing serious once more. “In spite of this, that greatest of the evil ones whose name I refuse to speak – it is not worthy of being named – found the last of the priest’s line. It had already killed Cian’s older brothers with a fever that should have healed, but although its main appetite was for the very, very young, yet it spared Cian, thinking it would be easier to harm him at some later point. I knew of this plan, and determined to counter it with one of my own, so I went to my Glorious Lord, who agreed with what I had devised. This spirit had to be put in its place once and for all, kept out of the Hub forever, and left useless and scattered in a world that no longer practiced human sacrifice. And if it tried to resurface to do any more harm, it would be banished to the outer darkness until the Time of the Burning Sea.

“For this, one was needed whose victory over it would mean the most, and be the most humiliating. Any of the other descendants of this priest might have been called upon, but none of them had the right heart, the right kind of strength, characteristics which only appeared in this last of his line, Cian MacDara. But like the Keeper, he would need someone to assist him with the Songs of Light, to play the final, most powerful of the Songs at the end of the battle when the boy would be the weariest and in greatest need of help. I know the outcome, for my Lord has told me, but I must not tell you or him, for to do so could possibly change what should be, whether for bad or good.

“Katie, dear Katie, you, too, have a work to do. Celeste will herself grow weary throughout this confrontation, and must be kept from becoming discouraged. The evil will do all it can to cause her to stop playing, to give up in despair. Only you know her well enough and love her deeply enough to prevent this. I trust what I have explained answers your questions about the danger. Neither of you can afford to forget the gravity of these things, or underestimate the power against which you must all prevail.

“Keeper, we have another job for you when this begins. But for now, we must teach Celeste how to release the Songs which are already living inside of her so she may play them until they are as familiar to her as her own hands.”

The angel stood and indicated with a wave that Celeste should take her seat on the stone. The girl hesitated for a fraction of a heartbeat, then sat down, surprised to find it quite comfortable.

“Keeper, your student awaits,” Celesta said and – to Katie’s utter astonishment – sat on the grass on Katie’s left side.

I’m sitting next to an angel! I can’t believe this! The girl swallowed the shriek of joy and disbelief creeping up her throat, and gave Celesta a tight smile.

The Keeper stood and from the other side of the stone, picked up a lovely harp of crystal and rosewood. He had Celeste adjust the instrument properly on her shoulder, and the lesson began. First, she learned that:

Each string had a name.

Each name had a meaning.

Each meaning had a sound.

The order in which the strings were played and the melody that resulted formed a musical soliloquy when unchallenged, a commandment when defied, an irrefutable law when accompanied by words.

Each Song without words released Light from the invisible end of the spectrum, and contained controlled, specific power.

Each Song with words released double the power of those without.

Altogether, there were 490 Songs of Light, half of which had words; as of now, 489 of them were known.

Then he taught her the names of the strings, one by one, making sure she had committed each to memory before moving on to the next. Once this had been accomplished, he taught her the meaning of each string, and finally, the sound associated with every string’s name and meaning.

Had they been anywhere on Earth, this lesson alone would have taken at least a week. But the Hub, while connected to it, existed outside of Time, so nothing moved forward. This was the paradox of the Hub, something the Keeper couldn’t explain to either of the girls because he frankly didn’t understand it fully himself. Celesta understood, but with an inner sense that was impossible to relate in words. At that point, Celeste was too absorbed in learning and Katie on grasping as much as she could, for either of them to consider the complexities of Time and the Hub.

Next, Celeste was instructed in hand placement, the proper plucking and strumming techniques, glissandi, and other technical aspects of the actual playing.

After this, she learned how to use the strength in her hands and arms to produce various dynamics of sound so that she could play so softly that the notes were barely discernible, so loudly that the instrument sounded like two, and every dynamic in between.

Finally, the Keeper gave her a simple melody to play and told her to hum along with it.

“I – I don’t think I’m much of a singer,” she said apologetically.

“Well, now, I didn’t ask you to sing, Celeste – I asked you to hum.”

The girl shrugged, played the melody first on the harp alone, then repeated it, humming. Her voice was actually quite pleasant; it had a sweet, light timbre with a silvery shimmer to it that blended beautifully with the sounds of the strings. It was, in short, the quintessential female Irish voice.

Katie, who had been thoroughly enjoying herself, applauded quietly when her friend finished singing. “You sound really good,” she said, meaning it. “I didn’t realize you could sing like that.”

Turning her head so she could look at Katie past the harp, Celeste replied, “Probably because we usually only sing when we’re plugged into our iPods and can’t even hear each other.”

Katie giggled, nodding. “Too true. And – hey, how long have we been here? I mean, I really hadn’t noticed, but now that I think about it, you’ve been learning an awful lot since he started teaching you how to play. And yet,” she held up a finger to emphasize her point, “my butt is so not sore, even though I’ve been sitting in practically the same position the whole time. What’s up with that?”

Celesta drew Katie into a sideways hug. “How I love the way you talk,” she whispered, smiling brightly.

Katie snuggled closer – Cian had been absolutely right: a person couldn’t really say she (or he) had been hugged until that person had been hugged by an angel. It felt like nothing else, and was absolutely wonderful.

The Keeper grinned, remembering the first time he had realized how long he’d been sitting on that stone, yet had physically felt as though he’d gotten there only moments before. “The Hub is a great place,” he remarked. “In Earth time, had we been there instead, these lessons most likely would have taken about two or three weeks straight without a break for her to accomplish all she has. Of course, she’s a very quick study.” He smiled down at Celeste, honestly impressed with her talent. It had taken him somewhat longer, he believed, when Celesta and another angel had begun his tutelage in the Songs of Light, and certainly longer still to learn the harp itself.

Katie pulled herself straight and looked first at the angel and then at the Keeper, her eyes wide with astonishment. “So you’re saying that, basically, we’ve been sitting here for what amounts to like two or three weeks? But – but I’m not hungry, and I haven’t had to go to the bathroom!”

Both the Keeper and Celesta broke into peals of laughter at this. And for the Keeper, at least, it felt really good to laugh.

“What! What did I say?”

Suddenly Celeste doubled over, laughing hysterically.

“Celeste!” Katie exclaimed, slightly indignant.

“I’m sorry,” her friend gasped. “I – ” She laughed so hard this time, there was no sound at all and tears sprang to her eyes.

In spite of her mild ire, Katie started to laugh a little too, even though she had no idea what she was laughing at.

At last, Celeste started breathing again and forced herself to calm down. “With all the Doors in this place,” she got out between chuckles – she really was trying to control herself – “I still doubt you’d find one – one marked…‘Rest Rooms’!” And began laughing once more.

Now Katie’s laugh was as hearty as her friend’s, and she added, “Yeah, and if you went through the wrong one, you’d either get an outhouse – ”

Celeste actually screamed with laughter at that.

“ – or maybe a huge shrubbery!”

At this point, the Keeper and the angel shook their heads, grinning at the girls, and were very, very glad that the Hub existed outside of Time.

 

*******

 

Into the spirit mind of the one called Moloch, its Master spoke angrily. “Your arrogance has very possibly become your downfall,” it hissed. “Had you allowed the boy to remain where he was, he would have become evil; then you could have seduced him, made him think you were a friend, and finally destroyed him easily.”

“But those people were teaching him too much ‘good’ nonsense and the ways of our Enemy,” Moloch whined. “I had to step in before he became powerful with that other Light.”

“ARE YOU DEAF? DID YOU NOT HEAR WHAT I SAID?”

“I heard.”

“And yet you dare question me?”

No reply.

“Listen, dear Moloch, dear, sweet, cruel Moloch. My dearest and most reliable idiot. Not only did you err egregiously – you do know what that means, do you not? – but