Ancient Images Part 19

The woman from the Ear of Wheat stood outside the porch of the pub, staring toward the smoke and wiping her hands nervously on her ap.r.o.n. Sandy veered onto the concrete and got out of the car. "What's happening, do you know?"

The woman gazed at her as if it didn't matter who knew. "It's Lord Redfield's chapel. They heard him smashing stones down there while the son wasn't at the house to stop him, and then he set fire to it and wouldn't come up out of it, G.o.d save him."

She was talking about the family vault, whether or not she realized. He must have smashed all the plaques to make sure the fire reached in. "Couldn't anyone reach him?" Sandy said, though she thought she already knew more than the woman could tell.

"His father went down after him, then the son tried to rescue the both of them. n.o.body else could get near for the fire, and Lord Redfield wouldn't let them. The whole family were in there, and n.o.body could save them."

And that was the end of Redfield, Sandy thought, and found a tear creeping down her cheek. Had he planned that his father and son should die too? Remembering his last words to her, she wasn't sure that she wanted to know. She felt almost as stunned as the woman looked, but the woman seemed also to feel robbed of meaning. Sandy wondered how the townsfolk must feel--how they would fare now ------------------------------------311 that the spell of the land had been broken. "Don't despair," she said awkwardly, and was glad of Roger's hand on her arm as they turned back to the car.

She thought of driving to Redfield to make certain it was all over, but she would be even more unwelcome in the town now. As she swung the car toward Toonderfield she saw the smoke drift across the tower, which looked abandoned, a symbol rendered meaningless. It always had been, she thought, and it had taken her so long to realize.

She drove over the humpbacked bridge, and the tower seemed to collapse into the smoke. As the car pa.s.sed under the trees, a leaf fluttered across the windscreen, and then another. When she ducked her head to look up through the foliage, she was sure she could see more of the sky than she had been able to see that morning. Autumn was already here, she thought, but would spring come to Redfield? Her throat grew unexpectedly dry, and she steered with one hand while she held Roger's with the other. He smiled at her, but she didn't think he was sharing her awareness. All the way to the edge of Toonderfield, until the car sped up into daylight that felt like a return to life, she sensed the land dying.

OTHER WORKS BY RAMSEY CAMPBELL.