The Intercessor

by Miriam Davison

  I hoped I had got the balance right. Gwion Bach’s words rang in my ears; forceful but courteous, arrogant but humble, and strong but meek. I waited and watched as they looked at each other. They seemed to be silently talking to each other, but I couldn’t be certain. At last it was Queen Grian’s turn to speak; ‘follow us and we will listen to what you have to say.’

  We moved to some kind of board room, but it was unlike those of mortals. It was so ornate and comfortable. There was no big table, just lots of huge armchairs dotted around. A rather old man sat in the corner at a small table and held a feather quill pen over a long parchment of paper; much like a stenographer at a court. When we were all seated I was told to begin.

  CHAPTER 33

  I began recounting all the events that had taken place over the last few months. I told them about Caileach Bheur and her plans to take over. I relived the battles of London, Manchester and Hexham, to name a few, and explained the ferocity of the battles had been mainly due to Dagdar. I looked around when I said this but not one of them showed any emotion. I didn’t know if I was getting through to them or not, but I saw the little old man writing it all down.

  At last I told them of Taliesin, and how we spoke to Gwion Bach and how it was him who said I must gain Royal council. I then explained about my meeting with my predecessors, to help with a spell to travel to this Realm, and now, here I was, to get their help to remove the hex from Dagdar.

  Once again they looked at each other and slight nods could be seen, I knew then, they did have a kind of telepathy. Queen Grian once again spoke; ‘Go to your bed now Intercessor, we need to discuss this. We will call you in the morning and tell you of our decision.’ I was dismissed, and although I was frustrated at yet another delay, I could do nothing but obey.

  The next morning, true to their word, I was told to dress and come straight to the meeting room. I stood in front of them and was told to sit. ‘We decided to look into the mortal world to see for ourselves what was going on,’ said King Ilbhreac. ‘You have described the events well, and we saw for ourselves the bewitchment of Dagdar and the devastation of our country. We have all agreed that releasing Dagdar and stopping Caileach Bheur is way beyond your power.’ I was about to argue when Queen Aine jumped in; ‘how dare this witch!’ She turned to me and softened her voice. ‘My dear, rather like a Vampire gaining strength from blood; Caileach Bheur has become powerful by draining the magic from others. She now has a very strong bond with Dagdar and is using his great power to make hers stronger.’

  I was beginning to feel worried, I was sure I had left it too late, and I had failed in my first task as Intercessor. Queen Aine, however, continued; ‘You must first do something for us, and we will remove the hex and take care of Caileach Bheur.’

  They went on to explain what I had to do in great detail, and told me to return to my world immediately. I had to be ready by May Days Eve. They said a spell over me and once again I felt the sickly dizziness descend over me. This time I didn’t fight it and, keeping my eyes straight ahead, I shot through the plane, and once again, found myself in my kitchen.

  CHAPTER 34

  The call went out, and all my friends rushed to the kitchen. I was hugged and kissed, and the relief that I had returned was evident. I told them about my meeting with Guene, and how she was safe and happy, as were the other mortals there. I laughed and joked, at their happiness to see me, after all, I had only been gone a couple of days, or so I thought. In the mortal world, I had been gone almost three weeks, and my friends had thought I may have been caught or killed. I asked the date; it was now the 16th of April, I didn’t have long to complete my mission. I calmed everyone down and told them what had happened to me in my absence and what we must now do to make the Fairy Royalty plan work.

  We had to somehow lure Dagdar to the Ribble Valley, which was near Blackpool. Once there, we had to travel to the top of Pendle Hill. At the top of this hill, the Fairy Kings and Queens would surround him and remove the hex. All this had to be done by May Days eve for the spell to work.

  We got straight to work, trying to come up with an idea that would work. Hours had past and we still could not think of a plan that would fool Dagdar. Clax came in and started preparing some food for us. He didn’t look himself, there was something wrong. I left the kitchen, and called to him, I wanted to talk to him privately. He came into the room and I noticed he seemed smaller, and his brown hair had become lighter.

  ‘Clax, my dear friend, how are you? I hope you haven’t been doing too much while I have been gone.’ Clax smiled at my concern, but gave nothing away. ‘Just my duties Abigail,’ he said. I knew I would get no more out of him, I wanted to hug him and beg him to tell me what ailed him; I knew it would do no good.

  I vowed when this war had ended, I would make him relax more and help him with the household. Now, though, I had to get back to finding a solution to our problem. I went back to the kitchen, where the others were still deep in discussion. We thrashed out several plans and discarded them all. Tiredness brought about silly arguments and I decided we should call it a night. We needed to sort this out quickly to be ready for our deadline; but we would gain nothing by driving ourselves to exhaustion.

  I fell in to my bed that night, but I tossed and turned, I couldn’t sleep. I thought of everything that had happened during the last few months. We needed an angle that the enemy would believe; and we were running out of time. My mind must have shut down, because I eventually fell asleep.

  I woke up the next morning, tired, but full of hope. We would work it out in time, after all I was the Intercessor.

  CHAPTER 35

  I decided to jot down all that had happened, everyone chipped in with various battles and occurrences. At last we had written down a very good account of the last few months. With all this information in front of us, we could look back and see if the past events could help with new ideas. As it turned out; this actually initiated our breakthrough.

  We had sat around the table for hours when we were discussing my journey to the other Realm. Bay suddenly spoke up; ‘what if they have found out about your meeting with the Royalty? They would know they were helping us and not believe anything we said!’

  We hadn’t thought of this at all, and realised Bay was right. If they knew of my journey, then they would most definitely be on their guard. ‘It would have been better if the Kings and Queens had decided not to help at all,’ lamented Grenville. His words seemed to repeat themselves in my head.

  ‘That’s it!’ I shouted, and everyone jumped in shock and surprise. ‘I think I know how we are going to do this. We have to make sure they do know about my meeting, but only we know what was said at that meeting.’

  I set about telling them my idea, they listened, the smiles growing on their faces. The kitchen erupted with ideas, and with a lot of input from everyone, we came up with, what we thought was, a workable plan. To make this as authentic as possible, we couldn’t let anyone else in on what we were going to do; the less people who knew the truth, the more it would be believed. We knew it was going to be hard on us, everyone had to be in agreement. We had to keep to the same story to enemy and allies alike.

  Clax set about preparing food and drink for our last meal, before our greatest performance so far began. We couldn’t stretch out the meal though, as much as we wanted to, we knew we had to begin straight away to pull this off. We ate, hugged, and wished each other luck. The next minute, my friends grabbed me and dragged me out to the garden. They screamed and shouted at me, pushing me down to the ground. I got kicked and hit, although nowhere near as hard as it looked.

  ‘Why didn’t you tell us sooner?’ Shouted Eirickr, ‘you would have us die for nothing?’ I tried to reason with him, but he wasn’t listening. The others all joined in; ‘were you trying to make a name for yourself Intercessor?’ growled Grenville. The insults went on; Luna shouted,’ we came from Spain to help a deceiver, I am calling to my clan, we can not even leave immediately as we would be killed
. You have signed our death warrant Intercessor!’

  Some of the nearby wood nymphs revealed themselves with all the commotion and Oswald shouted to them; ‘Look at Abigail, she is no longer an Intercessor, we have no need for one any more. She has been to see the Royalty, and she thought to delay telling us what happened.’ The wood nymphs moved closer to hear what was been said. ‘The Royalty have wiped their hands of the mortal plane; it bores them now. They said Cailleach Bheur could have this realm, she was welcome to it. Now what do we do? We will be surely killed for going against her and siding with the Intercessor,’ The nymphs looked terrified, they too had sided with Abigail, they didn’t know what to do.

  ‘We could kill her,’ said Bay, ‘but they might just kill us after it is done. We are doomed!’

  Gwent shouted out; ‘I have it! We could trade her for our lives. I don’t want to deal with Cailleach Bheur though, she may still kill us. If only we could somehow get word to Dagdar. He will follow the rules of surrender.’ Some of the crowd turned to the wood nymphs and told them to spread the word, the war was lost. All should bow to the word of the Witch, for she would be our next Queen. We begged them to take care of themselves, as it was now every man for himself. We no longer had the protection of the Royalty and the line of Intercessors.

  As they were leaving they heard, ‘you are now our hostage traitor until we can think what to do with you.’ I was then dragged back inside the cottage.

  Phase one of the plan was now complete. We knew word of the mutiny would spread fast amongst our allies. It would also get back to the enemy, but in an indirect way. Once word got around that the Kings and Queens no longer cared about us, and the Intercessor had deceived us, Dagdar and Cailleach Bheur herself, would be swamped with surrenders. We only hoped our troops would go along with their leaders and no heroes would emerge to spoil the outcome.

  CHAPTER 36

  If our plan had worked, and the enemy believed us, we knew we would be contacted. The days dragged, however, each one passing with no news and time was running short. It took over a week for the word to come back to us. A note was pinned to one of the large oak trees, and Seth brought it to us. It read; a Gorgades was to come to the edge of the cottage garden the next day to discuss our terms of surrender. As with the terms of surrender discussions, they expected he would be safe from any attack, and be able to leave freely. This had been the news we were hoping for, and left a note in the same place agreeing to the meeting, and the terms.

  That night we went down to the basement, as there were no windows down there, and celebrated our success so far. We couldn’t show any kind of unity, even in the confines of the cottage, to be sure that everyone believed our story and so this was the safest place. During the day, I paced by my bedroom window, to make anyone watching, think I was confined there, and every evening I would sneak down to the basement so we could discuss our plans. We couldn’t make any mistakes now, we had to work together to pull this off.

  The next day, I stood at my bedroom window, and I put a dejected look on my face; it wasn’t hard as I was worried that things may not go our way. At long last the Gorgades appeared at the edge of the garden. He looked much like a man; but was covered, from head to toe, in long wiry hair. I saw my group emerge and they all moved to the middle of the garden, keeping a gap between them and the stranger. My window was open slightly so I could hear the proceedings.

  There was no blizzard or strong wind that day, Cailleach Bheur had stopped her onslaught, in order for the talks to proceed. This was the first respite we had experienced since the beginning of the war, and I felt it was a sign that Cailleach Bheur believed she had won.

  It was Eirickr who stood in front of the crowd, his strong deep voice echoed out as he welcomed the visitor.

  ‘Have you come with news for us from our Queen?’ He said. The Gorgades looked only at Eirickr and answered, his voice seemed to growl as he spoke; ‘The Queen has heard of your plight, what are your demands for surrender? She has agreed to listen and she will give you her answer tomorrow.’ Again Eirickr spoke, trying to sound humble as he did so.

  ‘We know we have lost, the Queen was greater than us, and Dagdar fought the superior battle. If it had not been for the treacherous Intercessor, we would have joined her forces from the beginning. She has led us on a foolhardy quest and we all see that now. She was willing to hide the word from the other Realm, in order to make a name for herself. We will not die in her name. We still fear the mighty Cailleach Bheur, however, and so we have thought of a way to honour her, as well as surrender, so we can show her how much she is worshipped. If she agrees to keep the weather calm for a short time; we also have the perfect way to show all who still might be against her that she is not to be disobeyed.’

  A smirk spread across the Gorgades face and he told Eirickr to continue. ‘We want to take the Intercessor to the Ribble Valley. We will climb to the top of Pendle hill. Everyone knows of the witches who lived there, and the evil past of the hill, even most mortals will not climb it at night for fear of ghosts and spirits. Here we will hand Abigail over to Dagdar, the Queens commander, and he can do with her as he wishes. We are too afraid of the Queens wrath to meet her, but we know Dagdar will honour the rules of surrender. We have thought of a way that would make this surrender an even greater feat for the Queen.’

  The Gorgades seemed very intrigued and was enjoying every minute of the grovelling talk. ‘So let me hear of this great plan and I will pass it all on to the Queen, so she can decide if it is worth her time.’ He looked all around the group then, and each of them played their part well, they looked dejected and beaten. He then looked up to my window. I was standing with my hands and head against the glass. In reality, it was so I could hear better, but to him it looked like utter despair. His grin widened as Eirikr went on.

  ‘We will meet Dagdar at the top of the hill on May Days eve. This is the day the Queen would normally give up her reign and hand over to Brigit. Think how symbolic this would be, instead of Cailleach Bheur giving up her rule; it will be the last day of the line of Intercessors, and this will surely show all how great she is.’

  I could tell, even from this distance, that the idea pleased him. He couldn’t resist making a few sly comments about the superiority of his side, and the stupidity of following a mere mortal. He eventually left telling us, as he went, to be ready for his return the next day. He would have an answer to our demands then. Phase two of the plan was almost completed, we hoped the enemy would go for our proposal. With all I had heard and seen of Cailleach Bheur I really didn’t think she could resist it.

  CHAPTER 37

  The next day dragged. Every minute felt like an hour, and I paced up and down my room. Clax brought me food and drink, to keep up the pretence that I was a prisoner. I longed to sit in the kitchen with my friends, I missed the chatter around the table; but we couldn’t slip up now, we were so close.

  It was not until around two in the afternoon, that the hairy humanoid appeared again. Once more Eirickr led the group into the garden. Greetings over, the Gorgades spoke; ‘Cailleach Bheur, our mighty ruler, has agreed to your terms. She will send Dagdar to meet you and take possession of the Intercessor. She will make no blizzards or winds to hamper you on your journey. In return for this you must swear now, in front of me, to give praise to the rightful ruler, and to follow her and only her from herein.’

  Each of the group solemnly swore this in front of him and he relaxed. Now the details had been agreed, he left. I sneaked out of my room, and we met, once again, in the privacy of the basement.

  Our plan was working, we were jubilant. Not one of the group had lied in their vow to the Gorgades. They would always give praise to the rightful ruler, and even lay down their life for her; the rightful ruler was not Cailleach Bheur, and as she had not been named in the vow, their integrity was intact.

  We now had to finalise our plans to travel to the meeting place. We had to journey as mortals, and set about planning the route. We als
o needed more sleighs, Orchid, Gwent, Grenville and Bay went out to get these whilst the rest of us sat over maps to find the best route.

  After a great deal of consideration, we eventually agreed on the easiest route for us. As there was now no traffic, the best way to travel would be along the motorways for as long as we could. We decided, we would travel down the A1 to Wetherby, then take the A61 toward Ripon. It was here it got a bit tricky as we had to find the A59 to take us onto the A671. After that it was mainly B roads and we hoped they were still passable. The journey would have been easy in normal conditions, and in a car; but it was far from normal outside. We would have to judge where we were, and clear road signs along the way to help us.

  Our next task was provisions. We needed food, drink, warm clothing, and climbing equipment to help us up Pendle hill. For all it was called a hill; it was almost a mountain, it was 1,835 feet high. Seth, Oswald and Eirickr set off in the sleigh to the large town nearby, and, for want of a better word, stole the equipment we needed from a store that supplied outdoor goods. There had not been a great deal left in the store, but we managed to get most of the things we needed.

  Next we had to decide who would be going on the journey. Yet more arguments followed, as everyone wanted to be there. We only had five sleighs, and one of those would have to be used to carry the provisions, and we only had enough shape shifters to pull the five. We also decided three of Jarls men would come with us; firstly, to represent him, and secondly, they could help us as they were used to severe weather and freezing conditions. That only left three sleighs, carrying three people in each.

  I came up with the only fair way to pick those who would accompany me to the Ribble Valley; an old mortal custom. I wrote everyone’s name down and put them in a large bowl. I called for Clax to pick the names one by one until we had the eight we needed.