by Chris Page
‘Indeed so, only he was best known in these parts as the long magus,’ Twilight interrupted.
The young man studied the young veneficus for a long moment.
‘So that’s why my animals don’t know you’re here. I heard that Merlin had passed on—you must be his replacement. You must be the new Wessex veneficus. You are a proper wizard!’
Twilight nodded.
‘Imagine that,’ said the young man almost to himself. ‘I’ve had a visit from the Wessex veneficus himself.’ He shook his head in amazement before continuing. ‘To tell the truth, I’ve always fancied being called Desmond Kingdom Biwater. I made it up— took Desmond from a man called that in Salisbury, a big man and a blacksmith but a braggart and a bully. Tried to rob me having put a fresh shoe on Sir Valiant here. Didn’t realize the two bears were in the cart. He was rummaging around our few belongings when my back was turned when Combi bit him. Took four fingers off his right hand as clean as you like. Very powerful, the jaws of a fully grown bear. I wasn’t lying when I said Combi had removed a man’s four fingers, only about the date. It must have been at least a hundred days ago. You could hear his screams the other side of the valley. I don’t suppose he’s doing much blacksmithin’ now, eh?’
‘And how did you come by the bears?’
‘I joined a small travelling show. It was a bit bigger than mine here but not much. That’s where I learned magic tricks and how to entertain. I’ve always been able to play music on any instrument made. Two years I was there travelling all around. It was owned by a humpbacked Jute from Kent called Felix and his wife, Nelly, but they gradually fell to drinking the mead, and the animals began to suffer. He kept those two bears in heavy chains all the time and didn’t feed them. They got very thin and mangy and were close to dying of starvation. Then he started to beat me, and I decided it was time to go. So one dark night I left and took the bears and horse with me. Scoopy came later. Just turned up. I awoke one morning, and there he was perched on Sir Valiant’s head facing backwards. The silly old bird’s been there ever since, although I have managed to teach him to speak a few words.’
‘Well, Desmond Kingdom Biwater,’ declared Twilight solemnly, ‘you certainly have a way with animals.’
‘Thank you. Tomorrow I can be the King of the Avebury Rings in honour of this region.’ He waved his hands around to encompass the surrounding area. ‘This is a most magical and fascinating place, the like of which I have never come across before in all my travels around the West Country.’
‘Tomorrow, my friend, I will personally show you around the mighty stones of Avebury and tell you the story of each one of them, including the resting place of the mighty Merlin himself. As for magic, well, let’s just say that some people can produce a little more than an apple from a boy’s ear, eh?’
The following day they met by the stone circle, and, leaving the small cart, Sir Valiant, and Lord Scroop under the watchful eye of the two bears in the nearby Savernake, Twilight walked the agog Desmond around the mighty sarsens, giving a brief outline of each venefical inhabitant. When they finally came to Merlin’s great Obelisk they sat down.
‘And yours will be the next one?’ asked Desmond.
‘Yes, just there,’ replied Twilight, pointing to the spot.
‘I counted ninety-nine stones. You are the one hundredth Wessex veneficus?’
‘Yes, a tradition stretching back ten thousand years with my death in seventy-seven years’ time. I will repeat to you the words my teacher said to me when he first brought me to this place.’
Twilight tapped the great Obelisk stone at his back, and his dark eyes flashed a tall image of the long magus in all his silver-haired glory.
‘He said, ‘We stand now among the epic echoes of thousands of years of human folly and imagery and their mighty attempts to cease its restless quest for death; we stand among the frailty of sorcery in the face of the vitality of warfare; we stand among the bones of the few who have given their all to halt the spread of evil; we stand among those who understood, enchanted, transformed, moved, reshaped, and changed . . . yet seemingly made no difference.’’
Desmond Kingdom Biwater was silent for a while as he absorbed this.
‘I want to be a veneficus like you. I will make a difference,’ said the flaxen-haired entertainer finally.
‘It cannot be so,’ replied Twilight.
‘Why not?’ There were instant tears in his eyes.
‘Because you do not have an aura.’
‘I’ll get one from somewhere, anywhere . . . what is it?’
‘An aura cannot be ‘got.’ True venefici are born with it. A potential veneficus has to have a signature aura in order to understand the enchantments and be able to manipulate phenomena. That is how we identify each other and the next one chosen—the tyro veneficus or novice wizard—for training to be the next in line. It is an underlying power pulse with a unique signature to each holder. This signature, in a lesser form, extends to the animals in ligamen to each veneficus—in my case the pica—and also to any images that the astounder places. My pica can detect any images I have placed because my unique aura will surround the image. They can also detect the auras of others. If it’s any consolation to you, my own children do not have it and neither, as far as I can tell, does anyone else in Wessex.’
The boy looked glum.
‘So there is absolutely no way that I can become a tyro wizard.’
‘No . . . but there is something else that may interest you, something not far removed from the full role.’
‘What is it,’ said the lad eagerly, his face brightening up instantly.
‘My wife, Rawnie, a high-born girl with a sharp perception, told me recently that I need a companion. Someone to share the considerable burden of venefical decisions with. Someone with judgment, a good worldly understanding of people and the issues that matter to them, someone with an affinity with animals who . . .’
‘It’s meee . . . I want it, say I can be that person, say it, Mr. Twilight, oh please say it . . .?’
He looked at Twilight with his blue eyes shining.
‘It could be you . . .’
‘Yesssss. Yes, yes, YES.’
Desmond leapt to his feet and went on a merry dance around Merlin’s Obelisk stone, flinging his hands in the air.
Twilight, chuckling at his antics, continued.
‘Just a moment. There are some things you need to know that may change your mind. Your life will be in constant danger. You will come into contact with the most virulent, violent, bloodthirsty, obsessed, and, as I found out only a few days ago, rabid killers of innocent people on this turning earth. And you will not be popular with common folk. They will always view me, and by association, you, with suspicion.’
‘You sound as if you don’t want me to be your companion.’
‘It is important that you understand what you are getting into. This veneficus business is more than just playing with magic. I am, among other things, the venefical protector of the Wessex Celts and that means engaging with anyone who would seek to damage them or this region.’
‘Who did you engage with a few days ago that were rabid killers of innocent people?’
‘A raiding party of Viking came from the sea and killed two hundred villagers in Lyme Regis.’
Desmond’s eyes opened wide in disbelief.
‘Two hundred in Lyme Regis! My little troupe and I have entertained there.’
‘Well, now they are all dead, and the settlement has been burned to the ground,’ said Twilight gravely.
Desmond Kingdom Biwater went very quiet for a while as he digested this news.
‘Will my animals be able to stay with me?’ he asked eventually.
‘Of course,’ replied Twilight. ‘Unless I transform them elsewhere because of danger, but remember this, they are just as vulnerable as you to those who woul
d oppose us. However, along with my pica and others, humans and animals, who would attach themselves to our cause, they will be a part of our merry little band. A bit like your spectaculum but without the entertainment.’
‘Death does not frighten me, nor them. As a small travelling group we live with its threat every day and can look after ourselves when the going gets tough. I know I speak for them. We would all like to be your companions . . . please.’
Twilight’s dark eyes flashed.
‘So be it,’ he said softly.
‘I have placed pica sentinels along the coast of Wessex,’ Twilight said to Rawnie and Desmond as they sat on the long bench in the compound. ‘To keep a lookout for other Viking raiding parties.’
‘D’you think they will come again?’ asked his wife.
‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘It’s a question of when and how many.’
They all reflected on that whilst watching Eleanor and Harlo rolling around on the ground with the two bears, who treated the two children as gently as if they were dandelion puff-balls that mustn’t have one spore damaged. Since their arrival, the children had played incessantly with the bears.
‘I do believe that those bears have put on weight in the three weeks we have been here,’ mused Desmond.
‘Nation certainly has,’ said Rawnie with a wink at Twilight.
‘Must be all that lovely food you have been giving us.’
‘Could be, or could be something else, eh, Mister Veneficus?’ Rawnie chuckled.
‘What do you mean?’ Desmond eyed Twilight with a perplexed look.
‘Nation, the female one, is going to do what only females can do.’ The astounder smiled.
Desmond Kingdom Biwater was not a young man who ran very deep; his face registered a number of emotions as he thought that through before suddenly opening up with an ear-to-ear beam.
‘Nation is going to have a baby?’ he exclaimed.
‘She is.’
‘And you knew all the time?’
‘From the moment I first saw you all performing at the settlement of Kennet from my vantage point in the trees.’
‘How can you tell such a thing? I can’t tell even now, and these bears are as close to my heart as anything ever will be.’
Rawnie answered for her husband.
‘A veneficus has amazing and sometimes perplexing powers. One of them is the ability to look inside the body—and the mind—of humans and animals. Believe you me, as a mother of two children, I have been on the receiving end of this internal body searching any number of times during my pregnancies. In both cases he knew before I did!’
‘Shouldn’t Nation be resting, taking it easy or something?’ Desmond looked at the two bears frolicking with the children.
‘Stop acting like a concerned father,’ said Rawnie. ‘She’s a fully grown, strong and vigorous bear. It won’t make any difference to her behaviour. Soon you’ll have three bears, and the children will love the baby to distraction.’
Desmond looked directly at Twilight. ‘Can you tell if the new baby will be a boy or a girl?’
‘Yes.’
‘And?’
‘What I can tell both of you,’ said the Wessex veneficus, ‘is that it’s more than one.’
‘Twins!’ exploded Desmond. ‘Nation is going to have twins?’
‘Nation and Combi—let’s not forget the part he played in all this—are going to have twins.’
‘Four bears. I’ll have four bears to look after.’ Desmond seemed slightly stunned.
‘I think it’s the other way around.’ Rawnie smiled. ‘You’ll have four bears to look after you.’
After a short period of silence as they watched the bears and the children, Twilight began gazing into space, muttering to himself. ‘Strike the stars, the gemini have turned up again. I had not realized. That’s twice now, once with the mad witch and now Nation’s baby bears. What do the fates have in store? Will there be a third set?’
‘What is gemini?’ asked Desmond.
‘Gemini is Latin for twins,’ replied Twilight. ‘Merlin had a theory about them coming in threes. His ‘three sets of two’ theory he called it. The last of three sets of twins in a short period of time means trouble . . . big trouble.’
‘But we have only encountered two sets,’ said Rawnie.
‘So far,’ he said reflectively. ‘So far.’
Chapter 2
‘Behold the king! Behold the king!’
The soft thud of fifty horses’ hooves came to a halt outside Twilight’s compound as the leading horseman announced their arrival in stentorian tones with his hand held high.
Twilight rose from the fallen tree he’d been sitting on with Rawnie, awaiting their arrival. Desmond was inside the compound with the children and animals. The pica had warned him of their coming some time ago and also included the fact that they all had emblazoned on the front and back of their tabards a gold cross on a red background. There was also a standard bearer at the front of the group with a pennant of the same design held high above his head.
The pennant of King Alfred.
A tall, bare-headed young man, with light brown hair to his shoulders and a wispy beard, dismounted and walked purposefully toward the veneficus and his wife. An arms bearer immediately dismounted and followed him, carrying a lance in his right hand, a short sword in his left, and a bow and arrow quiver over his shoulder. The men on horseback tensed and placed their hands on their weapons. Aged in his early twenties, the first man stopped and observed them both with clear, gray-green eyes.
‘You are Twilight, the Wessex veneficus?’ he enquired softly.
‘I am,’ acknowledged the astounder, inclining his head. ‘And this is my wife, Rawnie.’
The stranger turned his clear-eyed gaze to Rawnie.
‘Of course, Princess Rawnie, the royal daughter of Penda of Northumbria.’ He dropped his chin to his chest in a gesture somewhere between a nod and a bow.
‘King Alfred at your service.’
‘You are most welcome, my lord,’ said Rawnie.
‘You knew of our coming?’
Twilight pointed to the surrounding trees where a number of pica flapped and watched.
‘My birds act as an early warning system. I have known you were heading in this direction since daybreak.’
‘Remarkable,’ said the king, glancing up at the trees. ‘Is there somewhere private we can talk?’
Twilight and Rawnie led him to a shady corner inside the compound where there was a sturdy oaken table and benches. The weapons carrier was waved away and the men told to rest. Rawnie left to get the king some refreshment.
‘I heard of your heroic efforts at Lyme Regis and how you dispatched two hundred raiders with their own oars,’ Alfred said quietly.
There was directness about him coupled with a complete lack of royal formality. He obviously preferred to engage with people himself rather than work through those who attended him.
‘If only I could have gotten there sooner I could have perhaps saved some of the villagers’ lives. By the time my birds got the message of the attack to me here, the settlement had been burned to the ground and all lives savagely taken.’
‘How did you manage to get from here to Lyme Regis so quickly? By my reckoning that’s a full day’s ride.’
‘You are familiar with the venefical skills?’
‘No. I have heard tales of great sorcery and, of course, listened many times to the tales of Merlin’s prowess with Arthur Pendragon and the Knights of the Round Table, and the both of you against Penda and the wolf woman, but in truth I always felt that much of it was myth coupled with circumstance that grew with each telling. Having learned of your exploits at Lyme Regis and what you have just said, I am beginning to think that I may have been wrong in that assumption.’
‘Venefici have a numb
er of magical attributes that we pass down from one to the other. Merlin was my mentor. One of those attributes is the ability to transform immediately to another place.’
Rawnie brought an earthenware pitcher of cool water and a roughly circular-shaped loaf of maize bread and placed them in front of Alfred. He thanked her and motioned for her to join them.
‘If your father still retains the ambition to add Wessex to his Northern regions, we could find ourselves on opposite sides,’ said Alfred, upending the pitcher of water and taking a long draught. ‘As the king of Wessex it’s my sworn duty to repel any invader.’
‘I doubt if my father will be engaging in any more warmongering,’ Rawnie replied quietly. ‘His foray into these lands was not successful and, due to my beloved husband here and the long magus, he was humiliated. His lesson was well learned. He will not be back.’
‘Good, that’s one less invader to worry about. Which brings me to the reason for my visit here.’
He paused, gathering his thoughts.
‘My spies in the lowlands tell me that the Viking, under their king, a ferociously ambitious individual called Guthrum, is preparing a large fleet of long ships for an invasion. That invasion will be directed at Britain, and the word seemingly on everyone’s lips is that Wessex will be the starting point. The raid on Lyme Regis was a precursor to a much bigger invasion. There have been other raids further East on the Kentish coast. The next time they will come in their thousands and make landfall at different places before sweeping into Wessex, destroying everything in their path. My army is well trained and some ten thousand men strong, but it can’t be in every place they land, at the time they land, to face them. I need an advanced form of your early warning system in order to work out where and when each Viking force will land.’
‘I already have such a system in place,’ replied Twilight. ‘After
Lyme Regis I thought it best to place pairs of my pica at intervals all along the Wessex coastline in case the lowlanders come back. One of each pair will patrol a small distance out to sea each day to pick up any long ships as soon as possible and track them to the shore, whilst the other flies inland to a staging post, where it will pass on the news to another, which will then come here to me. My birds are not fast long-distance flyers and can only fly so far, but they are clever, resourceful thinkers and can read a situation well.’
