Stone Warrior

Chapter One

Chapter One

Sydney’s stomach churned. Fear and excitement twisted together as they entered yet another room in the museum. She slowed her steps so most of the class was now ahead of her and Chelsea. The curator stopped in front of a life sized stone statue and the two of them stayed at the back of the group. She checked out the Dark Age display and a smile slowly formed. This part of the exhibit was perfect. She turned towards Chelsea, whose grin matched her own.

“Here?” Chelsea nodded her head towards the statue as she spoke. She had bleached blond hair just past her shoulders, pale blue eyes and fair skin.

Sydney nodded. “In the area behind the statue. No one should see me if I hide in the shadows behind him.” Her dark brown hair fell to her shoulders, almost black in colour. She had eyes a similar colour to her hair, an oval face and light brown skin.

Chelsea linked her arm with Sydney’s. “Are you sure you want to do this? If you get caught your parents will ground you for the entire September school holidays. Two weeks of boredom. Besides, I need you to be my chauffeur. My parents said I could borrow their car when the sun no longer rises. So I’m not holding my breath. Which is unfair since your parents didn’t even ground you that time you brought their car back with a dent.”

“Yeah, but my sister wouldn’t shut up about it. Now quit worrying. I won’t get caught. Absolutely nothing will go wrong. The plan is perfect.”

Chelsea continued to look sceptical. “You say that every time.”

“You make it sound like none of my plans have worked. And they do. Anyway, this time’s different. I’ve got it all figured out.”

Chelsea sighed. “I really hope so. I want to go to the beach tomorrow. That’d be a perfect way to start the holidays.” She fell silent when their teacher rounded on them with a glare.

Sydney glanced at Chelsea and rolled her eyes before turning her attention to the curator. He’d been talking away at the front of the group, gesturing to various areas around the room where illuminated display cabinets showed different items of a long dead society.

The curator indicated the stone statue he stood near. “And now we come to the highlight of our exhibition. This Celtic warrior’s name has long been forgotten but his story is a legend that would make an epic movie. He is said to have stolen his brother’s wife. The husband, unable to kill his own brother, turned him to stone. He sacrificed his unfaithful wife to create the spell. The woman died cursing them and said the spell would one day break and she’d have her revenge. A druid added his own guarantee. The spell would only end by a kiss from a virgin, in gratitude to the stone warrior for a service he had done. Once he is human again he will remain bound to her until he completes a great service for her.”

Chelsea leaned close. “I wouldn’t mind having him come to life.”

Sydney laughed softly. “You’d be bored within a week.”

Chelsea rolled her eyes. “Once. It was only once. Anyone would think I’d never been with a guy for longer than a week the way you go on about it. Besides, you can’t talk. At least I’ve beaten your six week record.” Another look of annoyance from their teacher ended her protests.

The curator took a step towards the students who stood restlessly in front of him. “So do we have a grateful virgin willing to give this stone warrior CPR?” A twitter of laughter travelled through the group as the museum curator glanced at each of them in turn. “None?”

Sydney raised her hand. “I’ll give it a try.”

The curator smiled. “You’ll have to blow him a kiss. No touching the exhibits, I’m afraid.”

“Now where’s the fun in that?” Sydney asked.

“It wouldn’t work anyway. You have to be a virgin,” one of the boys in the class called out.

Sydney gestured towards him with her middle finger as she muttered to Chelsea, “You’re right, a week was way too long. You should have dumped him after a day.”

Chelsea grinned. “That certainly leaves you out, Justin.”

“I’m not a girl,” Justin said.

Chelsea’s grin remained in place. “That’s debatable.”

Justin took several steps towards her. “You want-”

“Okay, calm down.” The teacher stepped in front of Justin. “No fighting in the museum.”

With a wink to her friend, Chelsea stepped away from Sydney and moved closer to Justin. “He started it.”

“And now it’s finished,” the teacher said.

The curator moved forward. “If everyone will follow me, we have several more displays to look at.”

“How can it be finished?” Chelsea demanded as she walked beside the teacher. “Finishing implies something was completed. This wasn’t. Why should he get away with saying crap like that? I never do.”

When everyone’s attention was on Chelsea and Justin, Sydney slipped quietly into the shadow cast by the warrior. She stared at the back of the cloaked figure while she listened to the sounds of her class moving away, hoping no one could see her. His hair was tied at the nape of his neck, falling below his shoulders. She wondered what colour hair the original model had. Whoever he’d been, he would have been worm food centuries ago.

When the sounds of her classmates faded, Sydney started to step past the warrior. She paused and looked up at him. A glance around the room showed it was empty and she smiled, unable to resist. Besides, the curator shouldn’t have asked who was willing if he was just going to tell them no.

“Thank you for your help.” Her hand rested on his arm as she leaned towards him and pressed her lips against the smooth, cool stone of his cheek. “Without your help my plan might have failed.” She took a step backwards. As she was about to move away, the lights went out sending the room into complete darkness.

Sydney froze. A rush of wind swirled around her and she reached towards the statue to steady herself. Her hand met warm skin and she inhaled sharply as she wondered who was in the room with her. Had she been turned around in the dark? She was almost certain she hadn’t moved. She took a large step backwards, her hand falling away. In the darkness she heard voices call out from other display rooms. Some sounded scared, others laughed nervously and several called out for everyone to remain where they were. Another voice said the backup generator should kick in at any moment. Yet it remained dark. She kept still when all she wanted to do was run. The last thing she needed was to crash into something, or someone, in the dark. She took a cautious step backwards.

Over and over she silently told herself to remain calm as she fumbled in her pocket for her house keys, which had a slim torch on the chain. Relief filled her as she pulled out the torch, turning it on. The narrow beam was pointed at the industrial carpet under her feet. Her relief was short lived. She shone the light on a pair of leather boots and slowly moved the beam upwards to see woollen breeches. The figure wore a striped cloak, a long sword hung from a bronze chain on his right and his tunic was embroidered. The light caught on the brooch that held the cloak at one shoulder. The light had also caused gold jewellery to glitter on his fingers, arms, wrists, neck and ears as it had travelled up his body.

Sydney’s heart raced as she took a step backwards. Her mouth opened, but not a single sound escaped. Escape! That’s what she needed to do. There was no way a Celtic warrior could be standing in front of her. Maybe it was a terrorist attack and they’d released some kind of drug into the air-conditioning to make people see things. She wasn’t about to wait around to find out for certain. She spun and started to run from the room.

“Wait. Who are you?”

Sydney shone the narrow beam of light behind her. The warrior followed, a long oval shield held in one hand. She sped up, forcing her legs to obey. Her heart raced faster, her breath caught in her throat and she realised she was almost sobbing. Where was everyone? Why had she wanted to leave the group?

It had been a great plan. All she’d had to do was hide until her class was out of view and then head for the bus stop. Shawn was waiting for her to meet him at his place. It had been foolproof. How had it gone wrong?

Maybe her parents were right. She should forget all about Shawn. Find a boyfriend they’d like. She burst out the main doors. The bright sunlight made her blink as she stopped to let her eyes adjust while taking in large gulps of air. The noise of engines competed with the sound of cascading water from a nearby fountain.

People hurried by. No one looked in her direction. Some were sitting on benches, gazes focused on mobile phones and one leaned back on his hands, eyes closed, face towards the sun, as he listened to his music. Everything looked normal, right down to an empty wrapper being blown across the concrete in front of her.