“Can you tell me where I might find him?” Claire inquired with a hopeless sound. “No, my Lady,” Jason responded. “After the first wave of attacks the first Lady sent him off to seek out the Alfa male of the Griffin pride to warn him that Darksiders had entered his valley.” “What happened to the Lord White Robin?” she replied. “He went off with the members of the Board and the Robin’s cauldron to perform the equinox visual. Then the group would have fasted until sunset, when the Robin would perform the passion,” Lisa told her. “Were did they go?” Claire asked. “No one knows, my Lady,” Lisa responded. “The ceremony is performed in a cave that is lit only at sunrise on the morning of the equinox. Because of the passion the location is always kept secret.” Claire leaned against the wall. Emotion was replacing reasoning again. Her chest tightened and she was having trouble breathing. The situation was so desperate. Claire turned and rolled against the cold stone wall. “No one survived?” Claire asked. “Three made it back,” Jason answered. “One of the members of the Robin’s cauldron was carried by two others. The one they carried was mortally wounded. The other two stood and fought with us. They vanquished hundreds of Darksiders before they were worn down by the numbers.” “They said,” Lisa added, “that a dark lord using a wand and wizard’s craft attacked them by surprise, that he trapped the White Robin in a Merlin’s Cave! Do you know what a Merlin’s Cave is, my Lady?” Claire shook her head no. “I know who Merlin is, of course but I never heard of such a cave. A dark lord wielding a wand and using wizard’s craft,” she thought out loud. “That’s a warlock! A warlock in America, how did this happen?” She looked up at Lisa and Jason. “What of the first Lady Sara and the children?” Claire asked. Jason answered her with pain in his voice as Lisa began to cry. “Lady Sara led the student attack against the Darksiders when they breached the main gate. She and the student senior class fought them to a standstill and blocked them from invading the commons. But they breached the walls, and she and all of the rest of us were overwhelmed!” Jason bowed his head and began to cry. Claire looked at them. “She led the charge, did she?” Claire asserted. “You’re bloody damned right she did!” Claire spoke loud with pain and pride in her voice as tears came to her eyes. “What about the children?” Lisa looked up. “They are trapped inside the Robin’s quarters. There are nearly three dozen Darksiders outside there trying to get past the Robin’s barrier.” “The barrier is holding?” Claire asked quickly. “Yes, my Lady,” Lisa replied. “Do you not know what that means?” Claire told them as both looked up at her. “That means that wherever he is, the White Robin must still be alive! Thank God for that!” Claire looked across to the window on the opposite side of the corridor. She stood upright and walked across. After waving her hand the window abruptly opened. Then she shouted out, “Cara, Cara duinn An seo mo Glaoigh An seo mo guth Tabhair aird uirthi mo Amhran!” Claire pulled a pen and paper from her robe and began to write. Cohan, There has been a battle. Many dead from Darksider attack including most of staff and many students. Harry and Sara lost. Philo is missing. Board and cauldron wiped out. A dark lord using a wand and wizard’s craft is thought responsible. —Claire As she finished writing a large bald eagle appeared at the window. It screeched an eagle noise at them. Claire rolled up the note and handed it to the bird. “Take this to Lord Cohan,” she told the eagle. With the note, the creature leaped into the air and disappeared into the sky. “I have to go and help the children,” Claire said. Page 28
Adventures for the Average Woman