Sigfried Smith, as his many fans know, is a fan of King Arthur.
So, for his birthday, Rachel’s parents arrange for Siggy and Rachel and Siggy’s girlfriend Valerie, along with her older brother Peter, to travel to Glastonbury—where King Arthur is thought to be buried. Sigfried hoped to use his All-Seeing Amulet to see if he could find the bodies of Arthur and Gwenhwyfar, but things do not go exactly as planned.
It is difficult to describe fairyland after describing Heaven. Had I thought it out, I might have reversed the order. Still, here is the beginning:
Beyond the arch, a silver path, much like the one moonlight leaves across water, stretched into the distance. The four of them walked warily along it, while Lucky flew overhead, eyes bright..
Lily-of-the-valley lined either side of the path. The bell-like flowers rang like crystal bells, high and soft. Slender silver birches grew beyond the lily-of-the-valley. Beneath these saplings, bluebells stretched as far as the eye could see. In the periwinkle twilight, the bluebells—clusters of trumpet-shaped flowers on green stalks—shone a perfect sapphire and rang with a deeper chime than the “white coral bells” of the lily-of-the-valley. Here and there, among the bluebells, peeked snowdrops or a marsh lily. Only, instead of delicate white blossoms and elegant, curving petals of yellow, the snowdrops were of pure silver and the marsh lilies of shining gold.
What Rachel beheld was so dream-like and beautiful that she might have feared she had wandered into dreamland, except that the enchanted landscape, the lovely perfume, and the ringing chimes all remained in harmony. Had this been dreamland, the scents and sounds would not have matched. And yet there were strange noises in the distance that made her skin crawl and occasionally whiffs of rotting vegetable matter. The Foothills of Heaven, this was not.
There is much more magic and wonder that comes after this.
After this, however, Rachel and Sigfried will return to Roanoke, and things will be quiet for a time. Our next A Year of Rachel post will be on Walpurgisnacht itself!
Happy fifteenth birthday, Sigfried Smith!