The Dark Age

by Traci Harding

  Maelgwn was a Leo and thus a fire sign, so he was sent to hide in the south, armed with a large rod, because in the old rituals of the druids, fire was summoned by the rod and was represented by the similar symbol of wands in the sacred tarot.

  Aunt Rose, a Pisces and therefore of water, hid in the west, holding a chalice that represented the cups of the tarot.

  Brian was a Taurean, like Tory, but Brockwell had been born under the sign of Aquarius. So, belonging to the element of air, he headed east with White Hilt, the Sword of Rhydderch, on the proviso he did not use it for anything but the summons.

  Myrddin, having strong associations with the Earth, awaited the confrontation to the north. He had in his possession a sanctified stone of crystal, which was represented by the pentacles in the tarot.

  Tory stood in the middle of the sundial, holding her saxophone and a doll wrapped in a blanket. Myrddin had cast a spell on the bundle so that when the witch saw it, she would believe it to be the real heir of Gwynedd. The circumference of the sundial performed the same function as the ‘casting of a circle’ in Wiccan practice. This was to protect and harness one’s own power, which in Tory’s case was positive. At the stations of north, south, east and west, a torch burned brightly to acknowledge the four elements and the four winds. Once inside this circle, Mahaud could be contained and she could not call upon any other dark forces to assist her in her struggle. The trick was to entice her to step into the fairy ring, and this was Tory’s task.

  As they heard the sound of a car tearing into the driveway Myrddin bethought them all. Now whatever happens, do not reveal thyself until Tory hast Mahaud in the circle. Save the evil crone eluding us again.

  Teo stormed down the hill dragging Naomi along with him. He clenched the back of her neck and her hands were bound behind her back. ‘What trickery is this?’ he hissed upon viewing the set-up.

  Teo and Naomi walked straight past Brockwell, who was hiding in the east near the house. Upon seeing Naomi, Brockwell was tempted to do her captor in there and then. Tory, however, had insisted that Teo must not be harmed; they must draw the crone out.

  ‘This be merely a precaution to protect myself, Mahaud. I want Teo and Naomi back please,’ Tory requested politely.

  Teo laughed. ‘Nothing can protect you,’ he told her, his voice so deep and husky it was nearly inaudible. ‘Give me the child.’

  ‘But if you are so powerful you can take it, surely?’ The doll in her arms was heard to cry — a nice touch on the Merlin’s part. This seemed to make Mahaud all the more anxious to get hold of the baby.

  ‘Foolish child. Do you think me an amateur?’ Teo became angry, pacing to and fro with Naomi in tow. ‘Place the child outside the circle and I shall cast forth this whimpering mass.’ He shook his hostage like she was a rag doll.

  ‘Please Tory!’ Naomi begged her.

  The girl was hysterical, not that she could blame her, yet Tory demanded calmly, ‘But what of Teo?’

  The beast erupted into laughter again. ‘He’s not talking to you.’

  ‘Why, he knows I love him. I miss you, Teo.’ She looked straight into his burning eyes.

  Teo let loose a long growl, indicating that there was a struggle going on within him. Naomi screamed also, as the volume of his protest was overwhelming.

  It works! Tory surprised herself, not that she’d ever doubted it. ‘Teo, listen to me.’

  ‘No, he’s not interested,’ the beast snapped at her. ‘Place the child outside the circle, or she’s toast.’ Teo raised his fingertips to Naomi and they began to redden.

  ‘Alright!’ Tory gave in. She moved to the perimeter and kissed the doll in her arms, before raising her tearful eyes to view the crone. ‘I’ll place the child outside and back away, and you let Naomi walk.’ Tory set down the bundle and then backed away with caution, watching the crone carefully to make sure she complied.

  Teo thrust Naomi on ahead of him and she ran to the safety of the circle into Tory’s awaiting arms.

  Mahaud snatched up the bundle, most impressed with herself, only the Merlin had designed the spell to wear off upon her touch. The beast’s holler of aggravation rocked the very pillars of hell. The doll ignited into flames and the witch cast it aside. ‘Now you die!’ Teo turned his ravaged sights to Tory.

  ‘Teo wouldn’t hurt me,’ Tory said, and she seated Naomi on the ground in the centre and approached the edge of the circle again. ‘Who be the least afraid, Mahaud? Shall I meet you on your ground, or you on mine?’

  ‘Teo hates you!’ The witch snarled, avoiding her challenge.

  ‘Does not.’ Tory played along.

  ‘Why didn’t you help me, Tory?’ Teo’s own voice returned for a second, and the evil fell from his face. He appeared exhausted as the evil again came over him, and the beast that was Mahaud laughed to mock her adversary’s pain.

  ‘Teo is a far stronger soul than you, Mahaud. I still believe he can beat you. You’re no threat to our friendship.’ Tory confidently stepped outside the circle and took a stand. ‘I am not afraid of the likes of you.’

  Teo approached her and to ensure he had her full attention, he pulled her chin up so she had to look into his eyes. ‘You should be.’

  A cold, sharp knife punctured her skin and bore into her stomach, then Teo twised the weapon up to her ribs to ensure the strike was fatal. The afflicted area went numb, it was as if she was just a spectator and someone else had been wounded. She felt her blood gushing from her body, and for a moment reality became a total blur.

  Naomi screamed. Maelgwn and Brockwell, despite specific instructions to the contrary, divulged their presence as they came screaming towards the crone.

  ‘Stop where thou art!’ Tory demanded their restraint and her tone was so sharp that both men halted at once. She lifted her head to view Teo’s expressionless face as she withdrew his blade from her body. ‘I know it wasn’t you, Teo.’ She placed a hand on his shoulder and crouched over as if she were going to die, yet her wound was already healing. Tory looked back up to him, her eyes filled with compassion as she grabbed him by the pressure points in his neck and squeezed as hard as she could muster. ‘Nice try, Mahaud, but not good enough.’

  When Teo’s body began to lose power, the beast roared in protest as he shrank down to the ground.

  ‘Sorry Teo.’ Tory shut out the bloodcurdling screams, dragging his motionless body into the circle. ‘Get out, quickly,’ Tory urged Naomi.

  Teo began to lose consciousness, his eyes still ablaze, then a red and black haze slowly escaped through his eyes, nose, mouth and ears.

  Maelgwn was left totally bewildered by the scene he’d just witnessed. Still, as the crone began to materialise before him, he put it to the back of his mind and stepped forward to execute his role. He pointed the rod towards the circle, and when engaged it took on a strange glow. ‘I am Maelgwn, King of Gwynedd, and I hold thee Mahaud in this sacred ring by the power of fire, by all that is creative, brave, and strong.’

  ‘I am Brockwell, King of Powys, and I hold thee Mahaud in this sacred ring by the power of air, all that is knowledgeable, free and of speed.’

  Naomi was rather surprised to hear Brian address himself thus. He looked mighty fine, nevertheless, as he pressed the button on the hilt of his sword and a laser beam of red extended from it, which he aimed towards their foe.

  Rose came forth from her hiding place. She held out her chalice, which was illuminated from within, toward the sundial. ‘I am Rose, confidant to the spirits of the Otherworld. I hold thee Mahaud in this sacred circle by the power of water, by all that be feeling, understanding, and sympathetic.’

  With this, Teo seemed to have excreted all the poisonous gases from his body, and Tory dragged his comatosed form back out of the circle and well clear of it.

  Myrddin emerged from his cover, his crystal ablaze. ‘I am Myrddin, High Merlin of the Druids, second only to Taliesin. I hold thee Mahaud in this sacred circle by the power of earth, the great mother of all that be pro
ductive, nourishing and balanced in this world. Thou art constrained by the four elements of creation and are bound by life itself to comply.’

  Mahaud’s body, still lacking enough density to be totally solid, took the form of a beautiful maid — the maid to whom Myrddin had once lost his heart. ‘And where hast thou been hiding thyself my love, in a tree perhaps?’ She laughed, rather sweetly.

  ‘I forgive thee, Mahaud. I bear thee no malice,’ he stated very sincerely. ‘In fact, thou taught me an invaluable lesson.’

  ‘Stop it!’ she shrilled, annoyed that she hadn’t vexed him. Mahaud again changed form into a hideous beast with seven heads, snarling and breathing fire, but not even the flames seemed to be able to extend beyond the circle.

  The Merlin grinned at this as he quietly began to recite a healing incantation.

  The seven heads of the beast took on human faces, one of which was the wicked crone’s. The creature’s tail began to lash out violently, as all seven heads screamed and cursed in pain. Then it began to emit the foulest odour, worse than the smell of death — more like that of the already decomposed. ‘Thou art a fool, Myrddin! Thy betrayal was so easy,’ the witch taunted him.

  Yet the Merlin remained focused on his purpose, because with every attempt to vex him the witch grew a little weaker. Maelgwn, Rose and Brockwell had joined the Merlin in his verse.

  Mahaud was obviously having no luck with Myrddin, so she turned her eyes to Maelgwn. ‘Thy wife never told thee of her immortality, did she, Dragon?’ The witch laughed; she didn’t miss a trick.

  Maelgwn struggled to concentrate on his words of peace, love and healing, though her tone was so cutting it was hard to ignore.

  ‘She longs for the arms of another.’

  Tory confronted the witch on his behalf. ‘Our love be eternal, Mahaud. One should not offer views on matters thou could not possibly understand.’

  ‘I understand everything!’ she roared, feeling Maelgwn’s faith strengthen.

  ‘Then why are you like this?’ Tory tried to reason with the old witch, for she truly couldn’t fathom why one would choose to be hurtful, it seemed so useless and unnecessary, illogical even. ‘You could be beautiful.’

  Mahaud roared with laughter, weakened by Tory’s concern. ‘And thee could be a whore hound to the satanic forces, just look into my eyes, little girl.’ The witch stuck out her long tongue and started wriggling it around in an attempt to disgust her.

  This was not the prettiest of sights really, and the odour was becoming insufferable. Yet Tory kept her humour. ‘Quite frankly, my husband be proving enough of a handful at this time.’

  ‘Well, he’s had so much practice. Hast thou any idea how many lovers he had before thee?’ The witch turned an eye to catch Maelgwn’s reaction, and she felt him again straining to concentrate. ‘Did he tell thee about his more debauched activities in Cornwall?’ She swung back round to vex him, the groans from the other heads turning into mocking laughter.

  Tory blasted out the note of F on her saxophone. Then G, C and by the last note of E-flat, Tory had Mahaud’s full attention.

  The witch swore and cursed in protest, yet Tory paid her no heed. She repeated the sequence over and over, as the other four intensified their efforts. The crone was in pain, so she changed her form continuously from one vile manifestation to the next in an attempt to thwart the tranquillity they sought to create.

  But she was too late. A green mist rose out of the ground all around them. A million tiny lights encompassed the circle, gracing it with their lustre, and the voices of fairy folk sang to the tune that Tory played.

  The witch was so weakened by the enchantment that she was obliged to resume her true form, which was nothing more than a dark mist. This was quickly swept away by the swirling beams of light, the witch’s evil noise and odour along with it.

  Those left in her wake wondered at the spectacle surrounding them. The healing energy that emanated from the etheric matter was so exhilarating it made them tremble, and the scent of spring flowers filled the air.

  The Merlin thanked all the elements in turn, the others echoing his appreciation, before he dismissed them and the mist dispersed.

  ‘Brian!’ Naomi went racing over to Brockwell, smothering him in kisses. ‘Is she gone?’

  ‘Pardon?’ Brockwell asked in the old tongue, not understanding a word she’d said.

  ‘What? Speak English, darling,’ she said, thinking that he was teasing her.

  Brockwell frowned. There must be an easier way of communicating, he thought, resolving, with a shrug, to kiss her.

  ‘Is it over?’ Rose asked Myrddin.

  The Merlin raised his eyebrows. ‘Until such time as humankind hast perfected itself, we shall never see the back of these low-grade beings, I am sad to say. Though Mahaud, as we know her, hast definitely been neutralised.’ Myrddin gave Rose a hug of assurance as he escorted her to the house. ‘So you can add another to your long list of talents, sister.’

  Tory approached Maelgwn and they held each other for some time. It was he who pulled away first, looking to the bloodstained tear in her shirt. He caressed her skin, soft and smooth underneath. ‘How, Tory?’

  ‘Taliesin,’ she confessed. ‘I should have died at Arwystli, but he gave me an immortality potion of the ancients. I found out later.’ Tory looked up at him.

  ‘Be there anything else thou hast failed to tell me?’ He remained very calm.

  ‘In regard to what?’ Tory asked in her sweetest manner.

  ‘Everything, Tory, I want to know everything about thee.’

  ‘Well, be that not the whole idea behind being wed? So we can spend the rest of our lives getting to know each other.’

  ‘But it would suddenly seem that we can expect thy life to be considerably longer than mine.’ Maelgwn’s voice became more tense, though he tried hard to remain civil.

  ‘Maelgwn, this be exactly why I failed to tell thee. Would thee rather I had died, perhaps?’ The events of the past few days piled on top of her and within a second Tory was in tears.

  ‘Nay, of course not.’ He took hold of her and squeezed her. ‘I would prefer thee had confided in me,’ he explained in a softer tone. ‘I know I give thee just cause to doubt me at times.’

  ‘Nay, Maelgwn, I never doubted thee.’

  ‘Well, whatever the case may have been, from now on, no more secrets, agreed?’

  ‘Aye.’ Tory’s crying subsided and she wiped the tears from her face. ‘So art thou going to tell me all about thy debauched activities after thee fled thy father’s kingdom for Cornwall?’

  Maelgwn didn’t seem too keen. ‘Thou dost not want to know about that.’

  ‘Aye, I do, I want to know everything about thee,’ she mimicked him, but Maelgwn was conveniently distracted.

  He appeared concerned as he watched something going on beyond Tory in the distance.

  ‘What be wrong?’

  ‘Dost thou think we should tell Naomi that this be Brockwell, not Brian, before he rapes her?’

  Tory looked at the pair and laughed. ‘Indeed, Brian won’t be at all amused.’

  Teo woke the next day remembering little of his life since Brian had left Australia, over two years ago. He didn’t even know how he’d managed to get to Britain. Brian and Miles had also regained control of themselves by morning. So Brian was there to greet Teo and apologise to him for accusing him; he’d never imagined it would cause such grief.

  Teo was so stoked to see both Brian and Tory that he could bear them no ill will. He wanted to hear all about what had transpired while he’d been out of it, so everyone kept him entertained for the rest of that day with their many tales of the weird and wonderful.

  Miles still kept a close eye on Teo, but this was not necessary. Teo was his own person again, his beaming expression was evidence of this. As expected, he was a little sad to hear of Tory’s marriage. However, he accepted it was his own fault, as he should never have let her go in the first place.

  Tory deci
ded to stay with her family for a few more days, as with the chariot she could cheat time a bit. Now that her secret was out in the open, her kin had faith that she would return to them and were not as reluctant to let her go.

  The entire clan made the trip to Dinas Emrys, and even Aunt Rose managed the hike to the cave. They were not met by a beast or bells this time, for Myrddin knew his way through the mists well enough. He stopped to speak with particular trees along the way. Tory had half expected that her father would accompany her back to the Dark Age, considering Taliesin’s prophecy.

  ‘Oh good heavens, no,’ he exclaimed as they entered the cave. ‘Although I would dearly love to see my old friend, I have much to do before that time. Our reunion will come in due course and, dear daughter, I do believe you’ll be there to witness it,’ he announced with a wink of encouragement.

  Tory hugged everyone in turn, her father, Aunt Rose, Naomi and Teo, who she thought was not going to let her go at all.

  ‘I have just got you back and now you’re leaving me again.’

  ‘I am coming back,’ she repeated for the fiftieth time.

  Brian encouraged his friend to let go, applying a little pressure in the right place, and then took hold of Tory himself. ‘Make the world a better place,’ he whispered, a lump forming in his throat.

  ‘I’ll be back before you know it and we’ll work on it together,’ she resolved, refusing to get upset.

  Brian nodded then took a step back so that Miles might have a moment.

  Miles didn’t say anything, he just threw his arms out wide in his own endearing fashion and Tory melted into them.

  ‘Words cannot express, Professor, so I will not even try,’ she sniffled, releasing him and stepping away. ‘I’ll be back.’ She turned and stepped into the chariot, not sure what to expect. ‘Now, how do I drive this thing?’

  ‘As you are familiar with where you are going, just the thought of your destination should be enough,’ Myrddin instructed. ‘Send Taliesin my highest regards. Tell him all goes splendidly, and to take good care of my treasure until next we meet.’