by Mark Hayden
‘Let me guess: you were nice to her.’
‘Shocking, isn’t it? I’ll be losing my reputation. I said, “Are you okay? Is there anything I can do to help?” She nearly fell over again.’
‘I’ll bet. What did she say?’
‘Dunno. It was in German. Then she said, “If you mean it seriously, go to the guest wing and sort them out. I give up.” I nearly told her to jump off the Point, then I thought You’ve got to earn this, Eseld. I said, “I’m on it,” and she jogged off.’
‘Hang on,’ I said. ‘You agreed to go and talk to the Daughters? You must really want to get on Lena’s good side.’
‘No good deed goes unpunished, does it? There’s been so much going on, I just didn’t have the energy to hate her any more, and Lena saved Hedda’s life.’ She shrugged. ‘Anyway, I ran up the stairs, through the fire doors and into the frying pan.’ She gave a thoroughly malicious grin. ‘The temperature dropped twenty degrees when they saw me.’
‘What was going on?’
‘Do you remember that floor?’
‘Yes. There were four bedrooms, two bathrooms, two extra toilets and a store room.’
She gave me a look. ‘Really? You remember shit like that?’
I wondered how much she’d already had to drink. I shrugged and smiled as if it were an affliction.
‘Yeah, well, there are ten of them and Lena had arranged the beds as 4/3/2/1. She’d got in a state because they wanted her to start moving the beds around.’
‘Are they really so entitled?’
She paused and put down her champagne. ‘Not normally. If they’d been able to agree, it wouldn’t have been a problem. It was war by proxy, though. Raven and Alys were keeping to the back while Georgia and Zoe slugged it out. When they couldn’t agree who got the single room and the triple room, they’d called Lena.’
‘Georgia and Zoe? Why them?’
‘Georgia’s signed up for Team Raven. Zoe does what her twin tells her.’
‘They’re completely divided, are they?’
‘Totally. Raven has Cordelia, of course, and Brook. She bought Brook by getting her into Homewood. Brook is a good lawyer but not much of a Mage. Ironic really.’
‘Why?’
‘Because Raven’s pitch is to make Homewood the premier centre of Circle magick in the world. No non-Mages allowed.’
‘Interesting. Why is Georgia on board with this?’
‘Because today, Raven announced that it should continue as women only.’
‘And Alys? What’s her pitch?’
‘Business as usual, basically.’
‘Do many people agree with Kiwa? That men should be admitted?’
‘In Homewood, no. Outside, in the affiliated covens, a small but vocal minority.’
I took that all in for a while. ‘I have to ask, how do you know all this?’
She looked around to make sure no one was listening. A bit late for that. They weren’t, as it happens, because the Daughters were preoccupied with their own issues.
Hedda’s stroke had been a supernova in Glastonbury, and the Homewood galaxy was reforming. Raven and Alys were the proto-stars, the ones with all the gravity, and the others were being drawn into their orbits.
Since my last visit, Isolde had joined Team Alys, which left only Kiwa, Signe and Síona floating freely. My brain ran with the astronomical metaphor – were Raven and Alys proto-stars or black holes? Would they give light and life, or would they suck the Daughters into a dark future?
Eseld leaned in to me. ‘It’s Morning. She was my tutor here when I left Glastonbury. She only got promoted to Homewood after she’d finished with me. We’ve kept in touch. Don’t tell anyone.’
‘So what did you do about the beds?’
‘I said that in Hedda’s absence, Signe should have the single room. Then I said that if they weren’t happy with the other arrangements, Raven could move the beds on her own because all our staff were busy.’
‘How did that go down?’
‘They agreed. It would have been a loss of face if one faction had argued. Do you know what the best thing was? Lena said thank you.’
‘And here she comes.’
Lena looked slightly dazed, as if she’d reached overload. It was easy to forget how young she was when you saw her being so competent and organised. Eseld’s left hand twitched, as if she were going to put her arm round Lena. Then she thought better of it. Too soon.
‘Five minutes,’ said Lena. She looked at both of us when she said it. ‘I thought you would like a warning.’
Eseld immediately snatched my cigarettes and lit up. ‘Thanks for that.’ Lena nodded and left.
I took my cigarettes back and said, ‘I’ll see you later.’
In my absence, the rest of my team had taken different approaches to the party. Erin had barely moved from the bar and appeared to be chatting up one of the staff. Saffron had managed to penetrate the event horizon around Raven and appeared to doing something with magick for some reason.
Saffron had a small hairclip in her hand and Raven was peering down at it. Cordelia was expressing a polite interest and Brook had wandered off to talk to Síona. And Mina? She had ended up with Grace, Kerenza’s eight year old daughter.
‘There you are,’ said Mina. ‘Grace was telling me about her new pony and I said that you knew more about horses than I do.’
‘So does your Auntie Eseld,’ I said.
Grace giggled. ‘Mummy says I’m not to call her that but she likes being called Auntie. She’s coming with me to choose one.’
‘You’d better go and find your place,’ I said. ‘Dinner’s nearly ready.’
She skipped off, already looking a little overtired. It had been a long day for her. ‘How did you end up with the small child?’ I said.
‘Kerenza is very worried about something. After two minutes of small talk, she excused herself and left her daughter with me.’
‘What’s bothering her?’
‘I have no idea.’
Ethan boomed across the room. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, please take your places.’
Lena had opted for three tables of eight and managed the difficult feat of neutralising any potential hostilities. It also made the conversation rather bland, and I spent most of the meal talking to Kenver about Geomancy. On Mowbray’s table, I think Mina was talking weddings with Lena, and that was one consolation: being separated from Mina meant that I could eat the mouth-wateringly pink Beef Wellington. Bliss.
The fun and games began as the last of the Wellington was cleared away; dessert and cheese was going to be a buffet after the formal part of the evening. I scraped the mushrooms and flaky pastry off two slices of beef and took them outside for Scout while a small dais was being set up.
I slipped back into the room, and instead of disappearing, I noticed that the staff had grown in number. A lot of chef’s whites were now visible, along with office staff and the girl from the stables. I sat down, and at that moment, Mowbray moved to the dais, flanked by Lena and Kerenza. What?
‘I’ve been asked to keep this very brief,’ said Mowbray from the floor. ‘In fact, I’ve been ordered to do so.’ He looked around the room. ‘That doesn’t apply to you. You can applaud as loud and long as you like. Please join me in showing our thanks to Lena for organising this banquet, and to the Pellacombe staff for delivering it.’
When the applause had died down, he continued. ‘Today marks many new beginnings and a few endings. I will never stop mourning the loss of my uncle, Ethan’s father. Kellysporth will not be the same without him. It will be different, and that difference starts on Monday, when Ethan and Lena will become the new heads of the Kellysporth community. A new beginning for them, and a new start at Pellacombe. Lena? Would you like to hand over?’
Lena swallowed hard. I could see You can do this running across her forehead like a ticker-tape (in German, of course). She stepped forward and looked over the seated guests to the staff lining the walls. ‘I would like to
thank you all for what you have done. I will miss you. If any of you want a job at Kellysporth, you have my number.’
There was gentle laughter, which Lena acknowledged with a curt nod, then she reached into her dress and lifted out the heavy badge of the Steward of Pellacombe. She turned and handed it to Mowbray, and the staff began a raucous cheering and stamping of feet. With a crimson tide washing over her skin, Lena bowed to them and walked back to her seat.
Mowbray let her have it all. He didn’t move to calm things down and let the cheering run its course. Only when the last whoop had faded did he speak. ‘A house needs a Steward. I give you the new Steward of Pellacombe.’ He placed the ribbon over Kerenza’s head and stepped back.
It was bound to be an anti-climax. Kerenza was applauded warmly, but not cheered. There was no hollering or ironic cries of Alles ist gut. For one second I forgot that Mina wasn’t next to me and murmured, ‘I wonder whose idea that was.’
‘Ethan’s,’ said Kenver. Oops. Interesting, though. Kenver is still very young, and didn’t think it odd that I should be asking him awkward questions.
Kerenza resumed her seat on our table and practised her smile while she watched Mowbray fetch the props for the next part of the performance. The staff king of Wessex took one of the two tubes containing the Deeds with him on to the dais. I shifted my chair so that I could get a better view of the room. I knew what was coming and wanted to see the reactions.
He took out the new Wessex Deed and unfurled it so that the two seals dangled off the bottom on their ribbon. With a little Lux, Mowbray made them light up. ‘Here is the new Deed for the staff kingdoms of Wessex, duly sealed by Mina and myself. I will leave it here for your inspection, and to save you the bother of decoding it, I’ve just messaged the full text to a few people. As it was agreed, so has it been delivered.’
He stepped off the dais to lay the unrolled parchment on a table, then took the other tube and a velvet pouch. He pointed down at the Wessex Deed. ‘That document has one section you won’t have been expecting. The old Deed was light on geography. It didn’t specify which of the ancient kingdoms had been brought together. This one does.’
He picked up the second tube and slowly extracted the other parchment while he spoke. ‘We’ve all got used to England being a magickal Heptarchy. Seven kings. No more. From tonight there are eight kingdoms and eight kings. An Octarchy, if you’re classically inclined. The new kingdom is also an old kingdom, and this is the new Deed of the staff kingdom of Kernow.’
There was a stunned silence. Not a single person had seen this coming. Shock, fury and sheer delight in the devilment of it passed across the faces, and soon each table had descended into murmurs and gesticulation. I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder as Kerenza leaned over and dug her nails into my flesh.
‘Did you know about this?’ she hissed. ‘Or you, Kenver?’
‘No, nothing,’ said Kenver.
‘No, ma’am. Not until six forty-five tonight,’ I said, rubbing my shoulder and checking for tears in my shirt.
‘What’s he doing?’ said Kenver.
‘Ladies and gentlemen!’ said Mowbray. The discussions stopped and we turned back to the stage. ‘This Deed also follows the terms of the Agreement, as you’d expect. It makes it very clear that Kernow is its own kingdom, and I am proud to be its staff king. The new Deed also provides for separate Marshals, and I hope that Ethan won’t think it a slur that I am relieving him of Kernow.’
He looked at Ethan. Ethan’s face looked back. What the man behind the face was thinking, I have no idea. After a pause, Ethan nodded.
Mowbray took a short staff from the table and said, ‘She doesn’t know I’m about to do this, and I hope she accepts. I would like to appoint my daughter, Eseld, as Marshal of Kernow.’
For a fraction of a second, Kerenza had thought that she was going to get the job, and for a fraction of a second her anger showed before the smile came back. Eseld was on her way to the dais. She bent the knee to her father and accepted the staff of office. She didn’t make a speech, but she did stand up and kiss him.
‘Your first job,’ he said, ‘is to present the new crown. It’s there.’
With nervous glances at the room, Eseld took out the crown. This time Mowbray bent his head and allowed his daughter to place the crown on it. A perfect fit. She backed away and sat down as quickly as she could. If Mowbray was expecting applause from his family or the Mages, he was disappointed. What he did get was three cheers that started with the loyal staff. They roared it out, and we joined in more politely
‘To also be king of Wessex also would be too much for one man,’ said Mowbray, ‘and so with immediate effect I am abdicating from the other kingdoms. I’m sorry, Ethan and Mina, but there’s going to be another election.’ Before more murmuring could break out, he took off the crown and said, ‘The time for speeches will be at the Proclamation banquet.’ He looked around, as if there were something he wanted to say. He shook his head and looked up again. ‘Tonight’s public business is done. Thank you.’ He looked over at our table. ‘Kerenza is now in charge.’
Kerenza’s smile didn’t falter as she stood up and thanked the staff. She then invited us to help ourselves to desserts and coffee. The second she sat down, chaos broke out. Polite chaos, but chaos nonetheless.
I leaned over. ‘Don’t forget Grace. I had to send Scout to escort her to her room.’
‘She’s quite capable, but thank you for taking the trouble. I’ll send one of the girls to check on her.’ I watched her snag one of the waitresses and whisper something, then I got up and turned to face the room.
Mowbray was still at his table, messing with the Deeds. Eseld had rushed to his side, holding the Marshal’s staff like a sword. No one had approached them yet. Zoe was heading for our table to re-join Alys, and Cordelia had already found Raven. Ethan and Lena were at the centre of a crowd of staff, shaking their hands and taking selfies. I caught a glimpse of Mina, and her nose was up. She was on the hunt, and Medbh was her target. Mowbray had promised a statement. It had been the thing he’d bottled out of, right at the end.
I started to move in a loop, spotting the red hair and intending to get to the door before Medbh could escape.
‘Excuse me, Conrad.’ It was Signe. I hesitated and our quarry made it to the door before Mina could catch her.
‘Sorry, Signe. How’s your mother?’
‘I don’t know. My phone hasn’t been getting a signal. I wondered if you had some government device on a secret channel. I know you’ve got her number.’
‘Don’t you have mobile signal jammers in Homewood?’
‘What?’
‘Mowbray turned off the Wi-Fi and used magick to jam the regular signal before dinner. He’ll turn it back on in a minute, I’m sure.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Kenver told me. The magick is Kenver’s first contribution to Mowbray enterprises and he’s quite proud of it. I’m afraid the King’s Watch doesn’t have access to GCHQ’s boys’ toys. Yet.’
‘Oh.’ She took out her phone and smiled. ‘You’re right! Thank you. I’ll nip outside and call her. She should still be up.’
That had taken all of a minute. When I looked up, the only Mowbray left in the room was Kerenza, and she was retreating backwards towards the doors. ‘Ladies, Conrad, I’m sure you’ll excuse us. Jane Kershaw is on duty tonight and will handle any of your needs. I shall see you all in the morning.’
‘Bugger,’ said Síona. ‘What do we do now?’
‘I don’t know about you lot, but I’m having dessert,’ said a rather loud and rather drunk Erin. ‘Feel free to compliment my work on the Kernow Deed.’
‘And that is why men are a bad idea,’ said Georgia to Brook. Eh? Erin likes to let her hair down and it’s the fault of the men in her coven?
I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. I grabbed a coffee and made it on to the terrace before Mina and Saffron could stop me going outside, forcing them to follow me.
&n
bsp; ‘What do you make of that?’ said Saffron.
‘Which bit?’
She gestured to the dining room. ‘The whole thing. The abdication. The new kingdom of Cornwall. Sorry, of Kernow.’
‘I think it’s a good job that Cornwall is in Rick’s Watch, not mine.’
Saffron looked disappointed. ‘So that’s it? We eat cake and go to bed?’
‘Cheese, in my case,’ I said. ‘And I saw them putting out bottles of apple brandy.’
‘I think Conrad is being flippant,’ said Mina.
‘You reckon?’
‘What I was trying to say is that this really is none of our business. Not directly. We’ll go back in and try to pick up some more gossip about the Daughters.’
We were on our way in when we heard Alys and Raven arguing. We stopped by the doors and listened.
‘The time for debate is tomorrow,’ said Alys. ‘Now is the time for prayer and sacrifice, and you as First of Ash should be leading by example.’
Raven ignored her. ‘We knew Mowbray was up to something. You heard that woman from Kellysporth this morning, voting for Ethan. I bet he’s stitched it up for Ethan to get the other crown.’
‘No he hasn’t,’ said Brook. ‘Complete opposite. The only votes outside Cornwall that Mowbray can rely on are the three from Ethandun. All his other deals were for one election only, and he’s changed the electors anyway. It’s open season now.’
Alys’s voice was loud and firm. ‘Prayer and sacrifice. The sun has already set. Are you forgetting your obligation, Raven? Would you have the Daughter of Memory hear of it?’
Raven looked as if she’d been slapped. Alys had just threatened to report her to Verity and no one had stepped in to disagree, not even Cordelia. Raven nodded slowly to herself and untied the cord around her waist. She lowered her robe to well below her knees and re-tied the cord. Without a word she led the Daughters out of the house and across the terrace, towards the lawns. We stood back and let them pass.
Inside the dining room, Erin sat in splendid isolation at one of the tables. A tired looking Jane Kershaw and a young girl were looking at the barely touched desserts.
