The Hypogeum Ch. 14-15

Alma remained rooted to the spot, unable to take in what was happening.

Baphomet shook Loki like a rag doll and his tentacles tightened round all three of his hostages, forcing air from lungs and making ribs creak. He bellowed, "Come to me feeble woman, come to me or they all die. Now!"

Alma couldn't resist, she had to face the demon or he would kill her friends. She barely heard Ranulf croak out a strangled, "No... He'll kill us anyway... Taika get her... away."

Ignoring him, Alma took a step forward and found herself outside the protection of Taika's barrier. She was shaking like a leaf as she took faltering steps closer to the demon that held her friends. Once she was within his reach, Baphomet released on tentacle from Ranulf and snaked it toward her, "Good, you don't understand the power at my command silly human female. You presume to call yourself the Mother, yet you come to me powerless as a mouse before a cobra. The power of the ley is mine to command!"

In desperation, Ranulf sank his teeth into one of the tentacles that held him and ripped out a lump of flesh. Baphomet loosened his grip in surprise and Ranulf fell to the floor, he could feel the gorge rising in his throat as the taste of the vile substance made him feel sick. He spat it out and then leapt in between Alma and the demon. He grabbed her and pulled her back toward the safety of Taika's wall of energy.

Baphomet howled at the indignity and threw both Loki and Aloysius against the walls, which they hit with a dull thud before falling to the floor, unconscious. The demon stormed forward and reached out with his tentacles to grab Alma, but Ranulf saw him and pushed her to the side, taking the full force of the blow, which crushed him against the barrier. Taika immediately let her defence down so that Ranulf wouldn't be crushed to death and threw a ball of ice toward Baphomet. Unlike the fireball, this attack did hurt him and he staggered backwards again, but did not fall.

Ranulf came unsteadily to his feet and moved between the demon and Alma, through clenched teeth he snarled, "While I live, you will not touch her!" Another ice ball exploded against Baphomet's chest and he lurched backwards again. Taika readied another attack, but Baphomet struck first with a blast of dark light that engulfed the old woman and threw her back through the door to the robing room. Then he turned to face Ranulf and Alma.

Ranulf raised his fists, ready to continue the fight, but was surprised as Alma stepped in front of him and said, "If I come to you will you let the others live?"

Ranulf was astounded, "Alma, no!"

She ignored Ranulf and asked the question again.

Baphomet regarded her, the tiny woman who was willing to sacrifice herself in order to save her friends, the silly naïve little human, "Yes," he said, "Offer yourself to me and they may live."

She walked forward to stand directly in front of him and said, "Then here I am."

Ranulf screamed in desperation and threw himself forward, but was thrown straight back by another blast of Baphomet's dark light.

Alma stood silent, shaking with fear as she felt the tentacles wind around her tiny body. She could feel their slimy touch against her skin and also the power of the ley node that infused the demon's flesh.

But something wasn't right.

The grip tightened and Alma felt her feet leave the floor.

This was not right...

The power she could feel was not for Baphomet, he had stolen it. He had usurped it.

Closer and closer came the gaping maw.

The Earth was weeping because of the vile perversion of her energies by the evil monster. She could feel the hot breath on her face. The demon was a liar! He wouldn't let her friends live; he was going to kill them just as he was going to kill her. Alma felt the broken tooth graze the side of her face. He was a liar! It wasn't his power, it was hers!

Baphomet brought his teeth together to bite Alma's face and a flash of white light where his teeth touched her skin made his head snap back as though he had been struck a mighty blow. He fell backwards and dropped Alma, who landed lightly on her feet. She looked at him and for the first time in her life understood who she was. He bellowed and threw himself at Alma, who held up a hand and once again a flash of white energy threw the demon backwards, with a smell of burning putrid flesh.

Serenely Alma watched him fall, she said, "I am not the weak one. You are. You steal and you lie, because that is all you can do," he face was filled with wonder, "I can feel the power of the Earth and... I can use it."

Fear filled Baphomet's face as he scrambled to his feet and started backing away from Alma, who took a single step forward, "Come to me Baphomet, come to me liar, thief, murderer. Face your destiny."

The demon was desperate to escape now, with wild eyes he saw that the stones beneath Alma's feet were cracking and tiny shoots were growing at a rapid rate into small green plants.

"I know who you are, I know what you are. And I know who I am as well. I am the Mother, I was born to use the power of the ley, the power that you tried to steal."

Another flash of white energy struck the demon, forcing him back against the rear wall of the vault.

Aloysius and Loki were slowly coming back to consciousness and then joined Ranulf as he watched Alma and Baphomet with wonder in his eyes.

Taika staggered back through the doorway and held herself up with one hand gripping tightly on to the doorframe, she was smiling.

Alma spoke again, "Your mistake little imp, was to think you could command the power of the ley, the life energy of the Earth, that is the difference between us, I do not command the Earth to give of herself, I ask humbly to direct that power where it is needed."

Yet another energy ball struck the demon, who was howling and clawing desperately at the wall, trying to escape the implacable young woman who moved ever closer.

"Sometimes, feeble demon, the branch must be cut away so that the tree may survive."

Baphomet turned to face Alma and then screamed as a huge blast of white light surrounded him. Everyone watching could see his flesh start to smoke as he fought to free himself from the ball of energy that held him in place. Thick smoke billowed out as his flesh grew hotter and hotter and hotter until all that could be seen was a brilliant white ball of fire. The screaming grew louder and then started to fade until it finally disappeared altogether. The energy followed it and all were left standing in silence at the small figure at the other end of the room with flowers growing at her feet and a huge smoky image of a demon in the stonework.

She turned to face them and smiled.

Ranulf covered the ground between them in seconds and wrapped her in his arms, looking like he would never let her go. Alma in turn held him in exactly the same way.

EPILOGUE

"Until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words; Wait and hope." – Alexandre Dumas

Alma stopped buttering the bread and looked out of the window, where she saw Ranulf and Loki, once again being beaten black and blue by the giant Aloysius.

She smiled to herself, boys will be boys. Even though the threat had passed, they still kept on with their training regime. On a whim, she decided to step outside and take a little of the New Forest air.

Once outside, she wandered away from the house and just stood next to the trees that surrounded the house on all sides. A breeze blew out of nowhere and she heard the familiar voices that had become her friends, "We greet you little Mother."

The honorific Little Mother that had been an insult from the mouth of the demon had become a title that the Forest used with love. "And I greet you back my friends. How is Taika?"

"She is well and sends her regards."

Alma frowned slightly, "I am sure that you haven't come just to pass the time of day. What is it?"

There was a definite pause before the voices spoke again, "Baphomet is gone and will never return, but he was not and is not the only threat to this Earth. We must remain vigilant and we may need your services again."

The young woman was wide-eyed as she asked, "Now?"

"No. You have time yet for enjoyment before we must once again look to continue the fight. After all, we know that time is what you need at the moment. You have our congratulations Alma McNab. Have you thought of a name?"

She blushed and put her hands to her belly, "Thank you. Yes, we have thought about names. But we don't know whether it's a boy or girl."

"Would you like to know?"

"Yes."

"You carry a girl child."

"Then her name will be Nadia. I dunno why, before you ask, I just like the sound of it."

"Names are important, they are the labels for who you truly are. Find out what your name means in order to truly know yourself. Your own name means 'Fostering Mother' and Ranulf means 'Shield', but we are sure that you could have worked that out yourself."

Alma laughed and said, "I thought it might be something like that."

She paused a moment before speaking again, "May I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"Where did the prophecy come from?"

"We started it and implanted the seed of doubt in the minds of our enemies."

Alma was suddenly angry, "You started it? You set things up so that Baphomet would come after me? So that he would kill Jonathon?"

"Yes. But you must understand that it was needful. We have little power to fight enemies such as Baphomet; we have only persuasion and guidance from the wisdom of years. We did what was needful. After all, the only weapon strong enough to defeat Baphomet was one that he had helped to forge."

The young woman burst into tears, "You're as bad as he was! You caused all this pain, just so I would fight your battle!"

"Yes. It is to our eternal regret that we had to shape a time where your husband had to die."

"And what about my baby?"

"We mourn his loss, it was not foreseen that you would be with child when the time came. We know you have grief in your heart that will never quite leave and we share that grief with every breath of wind that blows and with every drop of rain that falls, both your husband and your son will be remembered and revered."

Somewhat mollified, Alma wiped her tears away. "It still hurts."

"We know. But we also know that the strength of the Fostering Mother flows in your veins and you will move on, like you already have."

Another thought struck her, "You said names have power."

"Yes."

"Like I said, I don't know why we chose it, but what does Nadia mean?"

The Forest was silent for a moment and then answered Alma's question.

A short time later, she appeared at the back of the house she shared with Ranulf and placed a huge pile of ham sandwiches on the garden table. Ranulf presented her with a thank you kiss and then joined the other two men as they dove into the food. Alma stood and watched them with a small smile playing about her lips.

She was carrying Ranulf's daughter and her name was Hope.