Andrea Höst - Blue

Veresan of the Summer Fire, Lord of the Dawn Marches, Ban-Keeper of theSeleighe, flew cattle class with Qantas. After a day spent wedgedbetween a garlic-scented businessman and a youth all elbows andtwitches, he crept through Sydneys snarled traffic to a charmlesssuburban box embellished with a metal plate: "Rumiko Kent,Arrangements". Six hours before the world took up residence in a handbasket, and the witch didnt even answer her door.

After a calming breath, Veresan touched the symbol of the Ban hangingheavy around his neck, then followed a mechanical droning to the rear ofthe house. The need to add a new power to the Ban was too important tobe jeopardised by petty games played with travel bookings, or thefailings of the locals.

Finding a side gate open, Veresan rounded the corner of the house onlyto stop in disgust before a broad expanse of grass dominated by acentral tree. A eucalypt of textured milk rose to sprawl branchesdripping spear-head leaves, its trunk circled with a shimenawa, thesacred rope of purification of a Shinto shrine. Beneath it a diminutivewoman wearing a sunhat was mowing a pentagram into the lawn.

Charlatan tricks. Veresan had been told his contact in this young-oldcountry was a skilled user of power, not one of the many who adoptedmystic symbols wholesale, without thought or understanding. Too aware ofthe scant hours remaining, he studied patience as the woman added anouter circle, the machine cutting into manicured turf. She was a gnat, afacilitator, but this soil was not his, and he could not blithelytrespass.

The engine died away, and the woman approached, dragging the machinebehind her. "Youre the Seleighe?"

"I am Veresan of the Summer Fire," he replied, wincing at what her lightdrawl did to the name of his people. "By Pact and Covenant, conduct meto this lands Power."

"No worries," she said, taking off her hat to free waving brown hair, aframe to skin only a degree lighter, though her eyelids were folded inthe Eastern manner. "Parramattas only a half hour from here. Onceyouve purified yourself we can head out. Youll need these."

A bundle of candles as long as his arm, each a different colour andscent. Rosemary, garlic, heather, geranium, mint.

"For each point," the witch said, adding matches. "Light them, standbefore the tree, and douse yourself three times." She pointed to awaiting silver pitcher.

Veresan drew himself up, fury no doubt turning him as red as his hair.Enough. Too much. He had swallowed his temper so often this past day hewas choking.

"Do you even understand why Im here?" he demanded, the words ringingout. "This matter is too great, too grave, for any further delay. I willnot participate in this this cobbled-together insult to the powers youthink to call upon. By Star and Silence, do what you have agreed towithout delay, if only for the sake of your own skin. Or would you seethis world crumble?"

"Cant say Id ever be keen on some ancient evil god-thing breakingloose to bring on Ragnarok, or Judgment Day, or whatever you call it,"she said, unmoved. "And the Dharug have agreed to lend strength to therenewal of this binding of yours. But if you want to be brought to thePlace, candles, pitcher, douse three times."

Sweat-stained and negligible, she should not be so implacable. And,powerful as he might be, there was nothing Veresan dare do, or say, toforce the issue.

"I will make ready," he said, stiffly.

With a nod she departed, and Veresan fetched his suitcase then strippedto his drawers. Placing and lighting the candles, he tipped tepid waterover his head. Indifferent, the great tree towered above, and he feltonly a lifting wind, chilling the knot of the Ban resting against hischest. A fools charade, but he could not allow the Ban to fail for thesake of pride.

Dressed, he found the witch at his elbow; cleaner, and holding asledgehammer over one shoulder. "Ill drive."

Beyond arguing, Veresan handed her the keys of his insipid rental,glancing at the sledgehammer as she turned. The word "Gabriel" wasinscribed into the handle.

"You think to draw on the power of the Archons?" Was there no limit toher idiocy?

"The power of eighties music, maybe," the witch said. "Veresan meanstrue, right?"

"Truth-speaker."

"Looks like Im not the only one who thinks theyre funny. So whats thename of this god the Seleighe have been saving the world from the lastfew millennia?"

Veresan ground his teeth, more for the implied insult than herignorance. "Can you not know that to speak the name of such a one is togive it power? Its name has been put beyond thought."

"Be interesting to know why it wants to destroy the world, hey?" shesaid, but Veresan had had enough of her inanities and held his tongue asshe took them past a dreary progression of fast-food outlets and usedcar lots until, as the last light bleached from the sky, they parked ata tavern emblazoned in neon. "The Sink".

"This way," the witch said, lifting her hammer. "I asked one of thelocals to meet you, welcome you to country."

She led the way beside the building, down a grassy slope to asalt-tanged river. The light of the building picked up the pale shirtand tie of an office worker, but the waiting man was little more than ashape in the dark.

"Hey Ru." The voice was soft, relaxed. "Expecting trouble?"

The witch shifted her hammer. "Not really. Doesnt sound like theres anopposing team. Trev Wilson, elder of the Dharug, this is Blue,Truth-seeker."

The Australian convention of naming for opposites. Before Veresan couldcorrect her, the elder had reached out to clasp his hand. "Welcome toParra, Blue."

Place flooded over him, all murmur of traffic and artificial lightfading. Unlike the mayfly city-builders, this Trev had a deep connectionto land and power, had given him entry. Veresans senses filled withwater, and the susurrus of sinuous forms sliding through mud. He wouldbe able to complete his task, with ease and in time. Here in the placewhere the eels lie down.

"Come up for a drink after," Trev Wilson said, and faded soft-footedinto the night.

Veresan turned and waded into the water. Slick bodies twined about hisankles, filling him with a power the nameless one would not soonovercome. Opening his shirt, he began to trace the intricate metal knot,reciting the injunction as lines of white fire stretched around him toecho the Bans shape.

"From the past, I bind. From the future, I bind. From the present, Ibind. Know not this nor the next world. From any sense or thought orfeeling, I bind. By my name, V-"

The witch, neglected on the shore, lifted her oversized hammer andbrought it down on the nearest line of force, striking a brilliantflare. As Veresan spoke his name, pouring all his power, and theborrowed power of Place, into the binding, she said: "Blue,Truth-seeker."

Madness! But, by all the graces, her strength was too small. The bindingwavered, but contracted with only the slightest flaw.

The man standing just off the bank of the Parramatta River gaped andshuddered, lifting his hand to the knot of metal he wore around hisneck. "What what have you done?"

"You tell me."

"The binding the binding issealing me. It" He could scarcelybelieve. "It has all along. My own power, used to keep me from knowingwhat what am I?"

"Good question. Since wed given our word to ensure the binding, themost I could do was bring a real truth to your attention."

"You I . The risk!"

She sniffed, ever unmoved. "God or not, you couldnt be any kind ofancient world-destroying evil and have stood a fusion of four separatepurifications. Not without some screaming. And a bit of bursting intoflames."

"But why?"

"Your Seleighe need to know not to play silly buggers on our patch."

Hefting her hammer to her shoulder, she started up the slope. The manfollowed, searching thought, memory, and finding only a false name, anda binding using his own strength against him.