Mines of the Minotaur (The Companions Quartet Book 3) by Julia Golding

Author:Julia Golding [Golding, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-09-23T06:00:00+00:00

10 Cave Paintings

Gard beckoned the minotaur to take a place at Connie’s side. Sentinel sat with his arm around her, good eye roving the shadows, alert for any threat to his charge.

‘It will be very dangerous to enter the mind of the universal. How shall we undertake this journey?’ asked Dr Brock, stirring the embers to send sparks whirling to the ceiling.

‘Our numbers should be few,’ said the minotaur.

‘I will come, of course,’ said Gard, ‘and Dr Brock should accompany us.’

‘That means we need Argot,’ said Dr Brock. ‘I will have to summon him before I can join the shared bond.’

‘What about one of Connie’s guardians— surely either Evelyn or Mack should be with us?’ suggested Gard.

Connie felt uneasy. She had not liked her encounter with the Kraken nor the banshees.

‘I’ll come,’ volunteered Mack quickly.

‘Hang on a minute, Dad, just how are you going to get the Kraken here?’ said Col, reading Connie’s dismayed expression.

‘Col’s right,’ said Connie, trying not to offend Mack. ‘And I think that both the banshees and the Kraken are too unpredictable to be part of this.’

‘So that rules us out,’ said Mack, a shade grumpily.

‘But not Col,’ suggested Dr Brock. ‘As, dare I say it, one of your closest friends, someone who knows you better than any of us, I think he can be helpful.’

‘Yeah, Connie.’ Col grinned at her. ‘After all, you trampled through my mind last year. About time I got to pay a return visit. You won’t mind us, will you, Connie?’

‘No, I think I can cope with you and Skylark,’ she said. ‘If you’re sure you want to do this.’

Col squeezed her hand. ‘I’m sure.’

There was no prospect of bringing Argot and Skylark to the mine until nightfall so the party dispersed: Mack to inform Evelyn of what was happening, Dr Brock and Col to fetch their companions. Connie and Gard remained behind with the minotaur.

Connie sat for a long time watching the light flickering on the walls and ceilings, the horns of the minotaur interlocking in mock shadow-battle with the shovel-shaped head of the rock dwarf.

Connie was the first to break the silence. ‘There are many other creatures down here, Gard. Hurt creatures. I’d like to help them.’

Gard poked the fire with a stick. ‘There are many such colonies in the secret places of the earth,’ he said. ‘All are waiting for healing but the Society has been at a loss what to do for them. I fear we have become too preoccupied by other matters—Kullervo not the least of them. If you can heal these creatures, then you have a great task ahead of you, Universal, perhaps one that will require more than a single person’s lifetime, so brief is your stay on earth.’

He fell silent. Connie guessed that he was still mourning for Frederick Cony. It must be hard for a deathless creature to see his friends pass away again and again. Never to die: it was hard to imagine a life like that.

‘Gard, you’re immortal, aren’t you? What was it like at the beginning of everything?’ she asked.

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