by Mark Hayden
Medbh carried on speaking to me as if this was something that needed reporting beyond the family. Ethan was being tight-lipped, and Kenver was troubled. ‘She had a thing for octopus, you know. Thought they were the bees’ knees, she did. Wanted to create a species that could survive in tidal waters. It was more of a hobby than anything.’
She was being very flippant. I don’t like that. ‘My hobby is cricket. Breeding mutant octopuses is not a hobby.’
‘She got a bit carried away with one of the brood. Some of them turned out huge. A dead end. She’d separated the males and females to stop them breeding, but she was too attached to them. A lot of Mages would have killed them out of hand.’
Kenver couldn’t take any more. ‘Why did Dad say that it all happened in the Lab?’
Medbh’s eyes narrowed. ‘To keep the King’s Watch out of it, you eejit. Those pens should have been licensed and they weren’t.’
Ethan looked troubled. For now, he kept his counsel.
Medbh rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath. ‘Long story short, I was fascinated by the great creepy things, and I was trying to make friends with one of the females. I was only nine and they looked cute.’ She paused again. ‘I didn’t fall in, I got dragged in. Ma had to dive in to save me. Look.’ She lifted the skirt of her dress, all the way to the waist. I am used to Conrad’s scars, and I have my own. These were different. From her knee, up her thigh and disappearing round her back were white disks. Ethan gasped. I shuddered. Kenver looked like he was going to be sick.
She held the dress up a while longer and said, ‘There’s no Healing can get rid of these bad boys. At least the red hair gives me an excuse to cover up in the summer.’ She dropped the skirt and we all breathed out. ‘Ma had to jump into the pen to get me. She chucked me out and tried to shock them all. Dad thinks she panicked and some of the Charm blew back onto herself. He says she drowned.’
Ethan recovered first. ‘So where have you been, and why the secrecy?’
‘Do you remember Granny, Kenver?’ It seemed an odd question, and it was.
‘Why are you asking me? I never knew her. Dad said she blamed him for what happened to Mum and wouldn’t have anything to do with us.’
‘That’s all true, but it’s not the whole story. He wouldn’t let her come near you because she was hiding me.’
Ethan and Kenver could see where this was going and looked both angry and upset.
‘Hiding you?’ I said.
‘I was sick,’ said Medbh. ‘Octopus poisoning, if you’ll believe it. The police fella who found me got the station nurse to check me over and she saw nothing. It was all going on under the surface. The marks had just started to appear when Granny took me away. I fainted on the plane, and when I woke up, I was underground.’
I twigged. ‘The Fae!’
‘I was in the sídhe of the Princess of Corrib herself. It was my life for nine years.’ She lifted her hands as if to say this is who I am. Take it or leave it.
Kenver knew. Ethan had guessed. The pain on Ethan’s face came out in sweat on his brow. He wiped it with his hand and looked away.
‘Forgive me, Medbh,’ I said. ‘What does that mean?’
‘It means they treated me like Cinderella for four years. A complete slave. When I got magick, they taught me as best they could. They don’t really understand human magick. I still had to work, as well. On my eighteenth birthday, they threw me a party. I walked out the next day.’
I nodded. ‘That is half your whole life that you have dismissed in a few sentences, Medbh.’
‘Aren’t you the nosey one?’ She said it with some asperity, and she was looking at my nose when she said it. I held her stare. Only Conrad, Myvvy and Vicky are allowed to make jokes about my nose. She blinked first and looked down. I don’t think the men had even noticed. Typical.
‘I took a taxi to Galway city,’ she said, staring at her dress. ‘I spent the next three years in therapy and learning copper magick.’
‘Copper?’
Ethan answered. ‘The Fae don’t like copper much. It’s in their biology, same as ours, but they’re vulnerable to it in some way. They call human magick copper magick. Where were you? In Galway?’
She shook her head. ‘Away up the coast with the …’ She said something in Irish that went over my head. ‘That’s a coven of Irish Witches in Donegal. After I’d finished with them, I did go to Galway. For one thing I had to re-learn English. The Fae don’t use it in the sídhe, and neither did the Witches.’
‘So why are you here now?’ I said. ‘And why have you left Ireland behind?’
‘Dad came. It was him who had the taxi waiting outside the sídhe. I know this hurts, Uncle Ethan, but Dad wanted me to make my own choices, and I’m afraid that I chose not to see you until today. I first came over a couple of years ago. I met Kenver then.’
Ethan was hurt. He stood up and went into the cottage.
Medbh wasn’t finished unburdening herself. ‘Before you ask, Mina, I know I haven’t said why I’ve shaken the dust of Galway off me shoes. It took me a while to figure it out, and several visits, but in Wessex, I’m a Mowbray. In Ireland, I’m just an ex-Fae bitch. I’ll even give it a go learning Cornish, but it’s very different to Gaelic, hence the Princess of Corrib naming me Medbh instead of Morwenna.’
‘Why now?’
‘Dad. He wanted to bring me back at the Election. I jumped the gun because I wanted the spotlight in Old Sarum to be on him, not me. I didn’t reckon on things being quite so edgy here, but it’s done now.’
Ethan returned from the cottage, rubbing water off his hands. ‘Have you met Kerenza?’ he said with an edge to his voice.
Medbh shook her head. ‘I wouldn’t dare see Dad’s woman before I saw you. It was different with me little brother.’
I really was beginning to feel like an intruder now. Medbh had allowed me to hear her story for the very good reason that it would go straight from me to Conrad and then to the Constable in London. It goes without saying that she must be hiding something, but what? I believed a lot of what she said. Everything, probably. And the hurt and pain I’d seen in Ethan, Mowbray and Kenver was also real. Medbh would use that pain to exclude me from now on. Family business. I am very used to that.
I stood up. ‘Where’s the bathroom, Ethan?’
‘Left inside the door.’
‘I’ll get more tea, too.’
When I went into the cottage, my plan to inspect the kitchen was foiled by the utility room. The small bathroom was off a room full of muddy boots and waterproofs. I would have gone further after paying a visit, but Scout was doing his early warning bark when I flushed the chain. By the time I got outside, we could see the Smurf coming down in a graceful arc. It disappeared behind the chimneys of Pellacombe and we started moving towards the buggy for the trip back to the ferry.
I fell into step beside Medbh when she paused to admire the view. ‘It’s beautiful,’ she said. ‘It was still being finished the last time I was here.’ She gave me a grin. ‘I hope they’re not in a rush over there. I need to get changed.’
‘You and me both. And they can’t do it without me, so they’ll have to wait.’
‘Sounds like a plan. Are you wearing another sari, Mina?’
‘This isn’t a sari, It’s a kurti, and I shall be wearing a suit.’ I realised something. ‘Are there more scars on your arms? Is that why you’re wearing a jacket?’
‘No flies on you, are there, Mina? It’s not scars, it’s a rather unfortunate tattoo on me shoulder. Cap sleeves cover enough of it. Talking of outfits, is it really true about Eseld and the pirate get-up?’
When we got in the buggy, I showed her my phone.
‘Would you look at the state of that,’ she said.
I couldn’t possibly comment. That, I’ll leave to Conrad.
Part Four — Agreement
Chapter 22 — Putting a seal on the Day
There were already two people waiting at the pier when I got down – Ese
ld and Cador. Eseld fished a tin out of her jodhpurs and offered me a hand-rolled cigarette. It seemed churlish to refuse. I thanked her and said nothing. After all, I was waiting for Mina. It would have been rude to intrude.
‘What’s she like?’ said Eseld.
‘I only saw her for a minute. Less.’
‘Dad showed us a picture. She’s the spit of her mother if the portrait is anything to go by, but you haven’t seen it, have you? I told Dad to take it down when he started dating Kerenza.’
Another contradiction from Eseld. I’d expected to resent her stepmother-to-be, not be solicitous of her feelings. ‘Don’t you remember Medbh or Aisling?’
‘I was still at Glastonbury when Aisling died. I remember her having a little ginger kid that I met once.’
‘Well, she’s still ginger. Does that help?’ Eseld thought that was much funnier than it deserved. ‘She’s got an Irish accent. A strong one.’
Cador had moved as far away from the smokers as he could while remaining in earshot. ‘That’ll be the Fae,’ he said.
‘What?’
Eseld looked across the river. ‘Here they come.’
The Ferrymistress had the tide with her and I’m sure she opened the throttle further than normal. The ferry hit the fenders with a big bump that nearly threw her daughter overboard. Ethan led the party off the boat and down the pier. Except Scout, who was already letting me know how glad he was to be back.
I stepped away from the pier to give them some room, and Mina dodged round the back.
‘Careful,’ she said when I hugged her. ‘You don’t want to detonate that egg.’ We hugged some more.
She looked at the Mowbrays, who were moving slowly across the dock towards the old cottage. ‘You first,’ she said. ‘I’m saving my story until Saffron is with us … What are you doing?’
I had my phone out. ‘Ordering coffee to be served in the summerhouse.’
‘You are not! You can order it to be served in the King’s Watch suite. Some of us need to get changed.’
Lena brought the coffee herself. She was now on to her fifth dirndl, a plum number, and she amazed us all by collapsing on to the sofa. She closed her eyes for a second, then realised that she was in Mina’s place. She held out her hand to Saffron and said, ‘Pull me up. I may not stand on my own again.’
Saffron jumped to it, and Lena reverted to hostess mode long enough to pour four coffees. She took one and sat on a spare chair. ‘How is Ethan?’ she said.
‘How long have you got?’ said Mina.
‘Alles ist gut. Nothing is happening for an hour. For now, they need to be alone.’
Mina looked at me. I shrugged and picked up a sausage roll. Coming up here was either the wisest or most stupid thing Lena had done since we arrived. With a deep breath, Mina started her story.
When she’d brought us up to date, Lena was very quiet for a minute while we discussed what some of it all meant. Then she shook herself and said, ‘Forgive me. I must go. Also, I have a message.’ She stood up and looked at her watch. ‘You are invited to meet the Eldest Daughter at one o’clock in the morning room. That is the new name for the Aisling suite, apparently. Lunch is at one thirty. The Agreement will be sealed straight after.’
Mina rearranged her hair and frowned. ‘Tell the Eldest Daughter we’ll be there at one fifteen.’
‘A pleasure,’ said Lena.
When she’d gone, Mina said, ‘Are you really going to wear your combat uniform for the ceremony? Both of you?’
I was already getting ready to head outside for a smoke. ‘Yes.’
‘And me,’ said Saffron. ‘The alternative is too horrible to contemplate.’
‘Wise choice,’ said Mina. ‘Be in the hall at one fifteen, Conrad.’
Rather than head to the summerhouse, I wandered through the woods to take a break. It was shady in there, and there were more interesting smells per square metre than in the formal gardens, so Scout was happy, too. Plus, there was no problem about him digging holes.
I went as far as the stables and checked on Evenstar, then turned round to go back. At the edge of the wood, close to Pellacombe, I heard a familiar caw caw from the tallest tree. Scout heard it as well. He was hiding behind my legs and whimpering as fast as he could run. What interest does Odin have in these proceedings, I wondered? I dug in my pockets and found half a sausage I’d purloined from breakfast. Being a dog owner makes you do things like that. As we left the trees, I placed it on the ground and made a bow to the raven.
I wasn’t the only one in the hall at 13:15.
Hedda had sent the rest of her sisters packing, and they were milling around making conversation. It was painfully obvious that they’d formed two groups around Raven and Alys with Síona and Isolde in the middle. Literally.
Raven was with Cordelia, Brook and Georgia; Alys with Zoe and Morning. These were obviously their core supporters, and I’m guessing that Síona and Isolde didn’t want to pick sides. Yet.
If you’re keeping track, there were three missing, all of them inside the morning room. Hedda was sitting by the round table where the negotiations had taken place, resting one hand on the wood and holding her staff in the other. Signe was seated behind her and Kiwa had been at her side. Kiwa stood up when we entered and moved away. What did Kiwa have that the others outside didn’t?
Saffron closed the doors behind us, and Hedda gestured to three empty seats that would leave us facing her when she turned to face the table. She didn’t get up; we nodded and sat down.
‘Please excuse my behaviour this morning,’ said Hedda. ‘I know that I rushed away when we met. I didn’t want to linger while the children introduced themselves, or worse still waited for me to introduce them.’
‘Ma’am,’ I said. It was a way of avoiding reference to her obvious physical frailty. ‘It’s Conrad, please. You’ve already met Saffron, and this is the Peculier Auditor, Mina Desai.’
‘A pleasure to meet you, Mina.’
‘Namaste, Eldest.’
‘May the blessings of the Goddess be with you, Mina. Are you ready for your part, my dear?’
‘I would have preferred to practise, ma’am, but suitable treaties are hard to come by.’
‘Well, you look the part, and that’s half the battle inside, isn’t it?’ She turned to me. ‘I saw that Georgia endeared herself to you, Conrad. I make no excuses for that. Or apologies.’
‘Neither are needed, ma’am. The 3rd of Oak does not have to like me, she only has to let me guarantee her safety.’
‘Nicely put. I’d ask you to call me Hedda, but no one else does. Except Signe, of course. She calls me Hedda because everyone else calls me Mother.’ She turned and smiled at her daughter, who smiled back as if this was the first time she’d heard her mother say that. They must be devoted to each other.
‘I have a question for you, Conrad. Have my children behaved themselves?’
She said it with a smile and almost a twinkle. I replied in the same vein. ‘No one had to be put on the naughty step.’
‘Good. I ordered two of them not to mention certain events. They all know about you and the Dragon, of course, and they all saw Gwen and Elowen, but of the first group you brought here, only Raven and Síona know about the Lunar Sisters, and that’s why Kiwa is here.’
Kiwa bowed fractionally. ‘Thank you, Mother. The daughter covens are my responsibility, and without your help in Lancashire, I dread to think what would have happened. I know that you didn’t go up there to save the coven, but you did, and I am very grateful. Please also pass my gratitude to your colleague, Victoria Robson.’
‘I will, but it’s Vicky, not Victoria. How’s Abbi Sayer getting along?’
‘She’s getting there.’
Mina cleared her throat. ‘Please excuse me for interrupting. What Conrad is trying to find out is whether Abbi blames him for what happened to her mother. He likes to keep track of potential enemies.’
Hedda tried to stifle a smile. ‘A sad situation to be in
. I also ordered them not to use the word Witchfinder. Now that the others are here, I can’t guarantee that.’
‘It goes with the territory,’ I said.
‘As for Abbi, she blames Keira Faulkner, not you. She also forgives her. Is that what you wanted to hear? Good. You chose a difficult path, Conrad. You too, Saffron.’
‘Mine wasn’t an informed choice,’ I said. ‘The Allfather was light on the downsides of the King’s Watch.’
Hedda looked up. ‘Thank you, Kiwa. No need to stand there anymore.’
The Traveller left us, and Hedda relaxed ever so slightly. ‘You were also in the presence of the Goddess, weren’t you, Conrad?’
‘I was. Mina has felt her, too.’
‘How was that, my dear?’
Mina moved her hair round from the back to hang over her shoulder. ‘In Lakeland. A Witch made a Goddess braid for me, and I felt the Goddess move in the wind over the water.’
Hedda nodded slowly. ‘We live in very strange times. Have you ever wondered why you have Odin’s number in your phone, Conrad, yet we only ever talk about being in the presence when it comes to the Goddess?’
‘I find that thinking too much about the gods causes unnecessary headaches.’
‘How do you think I feel, then? It’s because the Goddess does not need to manifest herself. Many of us have dedicated our whole Spirit to her, and through us she speaks. In Homewood, it is through Verity. Mostly. The Goddess is not at all similar to the Allfather. You should remember that. And you don’t need to pretend that his raven isn’t here. I felt Odin’s interest as soon as the bird arrived.’
‘Ma’am.’
‘Does flying give you an appetite, Conrad? It does me. Let’s go and get this circus started.’ She smiled at her own metaphor. ‘Lord Mowbray makes a good ringmaster, does he not?’ She put her hand on the table, and Signe moved to help her stand. ‘And you are a proven lion tamer, Conrad. I will let you decide who fills the other roles. Juggler. Acrobat. Contortionist. Sword swallower.’ She moved towards the doors. ‘And of course, there are plenty of clowns.’
