The Knowledge Stone

by Jack McGinnigle

  ‘Get out of my room. Do you think you can frighten me? You’ll see …’ Her face was suffused with rage.

  Her brother did not move: ‘This is the truth. You will be very sorry if you attempt to damage my astrarium. Listen to me and be warned.’ With that, the boy left, closing the door quietly behind him.

  The following week, it was the time for a complete cleaning of the Master’s sleeping area in the Great Hall. The work involved the removal of the heavy curtaining that surrounded the large rectangle of raised flooring adjacent to the Great Hall fireplace and then moving the many items of heavy furniture – bed, tables, chairs and storage chests – from the area. The heavy curtains would be taken outside and beaten to remove all the dust, after which they would be examined carefully and any necessary repairs made. All items of furniture would be carefully cleaned and polished. Meanwhile, the exposed flooring area would receive a thorough cleaning. All this work involved many house servants and the operation was always overseen by the Mistress who delegated the detailed organisation of the tasks to her Personal Maidservant.

  The maidservant had carried out her mistress’s instructions on this activity a few times before the trauma of the theft accusation. She recalled that the very first occasion of the cleaning had been a nerve-racking experience for her; she was worried about her ability to command the workers (what if they would not obey her?) and whether the result would be in accordance with the Mistress’s standards. In the event, she need not have worried. The house staff recognised her authority and no-one, not even those she had rather feared in the past, generated any difficulty for her. Although young, the maidservant had a very pleasant natural authority and was always reasonable and fair in her dealings with everyone.

  The Mistress, while observing the progress of the work, had noted how effective her maidservant had been in dealing with the other staff. Now she congratulated herself: ‘I certainly chose well when I made her my Personal Maidservant.’

  So the curtains were removed and the large platform was once again stripped bare. The maidservant now carried out a personal inspection of the area before the cleaning work started. It was then that she noticed something gleaming in the light. On investigation, this proved to be a very small gold ring embedded in a crack in the floorboards; looking at it closely, she could see the ring was twisted and broken.

  The maidservant had some difficulty retrieving this object as it was firmly wedged in the crack but eventually, she managed to lever it out with a thin knife blade. She thought it must have come from the Mistress’s jewellery box, perhaps part of a piece of a long-broken jewellery; then, more recently, perhaps the broken ring had become attached to another item as it was taken from the box and then fallen unnoticed on the floor. She placed the small item carefully in her pocket. She would go right away to speak to the Mistress about this.

  The Mistress was working at her desk and smiled at her maidservant as the girl entered the room after a gentle knock: ‘Mistress, I have found this small gold ring wedged in the floor of the Sleeping Area.’ She handed over the ring. ‘As you see, Mistress, it is broken. I saw it was broken like that before I lifted it. I do not recognise it as any part of your jewellery, Mistress.’

  The Mistress examined the ring carefully: ‘Will you please go to the Master’s room and ask him if he would attend me?’

  Minutes later, the Master arrived and the Mistress showed him the small broken gold ring: ‘I have thought about this, Husband. I think this may be the fastening ring from the missing medallion.’

  The man looked puzzled: ‘But how … Who …,’ he faltered.

  ‘I think we should have an immediate thorough search of the area,’ the woman said, ‘let us go and do this right away.’

  As they left the room, they met their young son in the corridor outside: ‘Come with us, my son,’ the man said, ‘you can help us to search, too.’

  When the three family members and the maidservant arrived at the Great Hall, the Master said: ‘Show us where the little gold ring was lodged.’ They all examined the spot carefully. Then, each person began to scan the wooden floor carefully.

  The boy was particularly meticulous and searched on his hands and knees, so that his eyes were closer to the floor. Then, in one corner of the area, the boy noticed that a wide crack had opened up in the floorboards: ‘I wonder if anything could have fallen down there,’ he thought, craning his neck for a closer look. The boy could see nothing except darkness below. ‘Father,’ he called, ‘is it possible something could have fallen down here?’ Everyone joined the boy.

  His father knelt down and placed his eye close to the crack: ‘I can’t see anything, it’s completely dark down there.’ He looked at the maidservant: ‘Girl, would you fetch a long, thin knife from the kitchen?’ The knife was fetched and the Master inserted the long, thin blade into the crack, exploring the area below with the tip. After a moment, he said: ‘I can feel something moving but it’s impossible to tell what it is.’ The man thought for a moment: ‘We must find out what it is. Girl, will you now fetch the carpenter?’

  The carpenter was located and appeared about fifteen minutes later with his bag of tools. He bowed respectfully to the Master: ‘What work would you have me do, Master?’ The problem was explained and the carpenter examined the location. ‘Master, I can remove part of a board in this area. You will then be able to see what is below.’ The work took some time since the carpenter did not wish to damage the floor any more than was necessary. Finally, the man said: ‘All is now ready for the cut floorboard to be lifted. Do I have your permission to do so?’ The Master acquiesced and the board was prised out carefully and removed.

  All present peered down into the void, immediately seeing the large gold disc of the medallion glinting in the dim light.

  Kati had checked. Her brother was not in his room. She already knew her mother and father were downstairs in the Great Hall. A further quick check revealed that her brother was there, too. They all seemed to be very busy.

  ‘The perfect time!’ Kati breathed this with gleaming eyes. ‘I’ll show him. I’ll destroy his stupid machine and, just like I did when that medallion was stolen, I’ll just say I don’t know anything about it – after all, no-one would ever suspect me. I’ll pick one of the estate workers and say that I saw them in the Manor House. That should solve it.’

  Kati was very pleased with this plan. She accepted it would be pointless to accuse her brother of the destruction. He was now such a favourite of her father’s that her accusation would never be believed. On the other hand, one of the workers …

  The girl had already prepared for the event. She had acquired a small but heavy hammer which she knew would be perfect for smashing the delicate parts of the astrarium.

  ‘He said he’s protected it against attack. My hammer will smash through anything,’ she chortled with glee at the thought. ‘I just wish I could see his face when he finds it!’ Quickly, she fetched the hammer and, before making her way to her brother’s room, made one final check on the other members of the family in the Great Hall. She was pleased to see that they were all still there – in fact, now one of the estate workman was there also and seemed to be carrying out some work on the floor. ‘Wonderful,’ she breathed, ‘that will keep them busy while I do my work.’

  Within a minute, she was inside her brother’s room and standing beside the astrarium, hearing its soft whirring tick.

  ‘You are about to die, little machine!’ Kati thought it very amusing that she was speaking to an inanimate object and laughed gaily. She raised the hammer above her head and was about to strike a mighty blow on the astrarium case when suddenly she thought: ‘It really would be much better if I opened the case and then smashed the machine to pieces. I’m sure I can do a lot more damage that way.’

  As Kati placed her hand upon the case handle, she read the large warning notice in her br
other’s clear handwriting:

  This instrument is protected.

  Do not attempt to move or open the case.

  You will suffer serious injuries if you do.

  She laughed sneeringly as she tore this notice from the case and threw it to the floor. Then she twisted the handle to open the case.

  Kati found it difficult to remember what happened next – events moved so very quickly. She remembered the case falling open to reveal the elegant and delicate machinery within, pulsating and alive with its mysterious beauty and power. Almost in the same instant, her eyes focussed on the details of its construction, planning with devastating precision where the first of many bludgeoning blows would strike. As this decision was being made, she was raising the hammer above her head in a movement reminiscent of the deliberate elevation of an executioner’s decapitating blade.

  The very next instant totally transformed the static reality around the astrarium into a maelstrom of sound and movement. As Kati’s hammer reached its zenith, a very loud click heralded the almost invisible appearance of many thin flexible steel wires, rotating around the astrarium case at incredible speed while cycling rapidly up and down to create a beehive-shaped volume of whirling motion, extending to two metres in diameter and reaching two metres high above the machine. Any object within this dense volume of rotating wire would be struck grievously very many times.

  Kati’s immediate reaction to the astonishing deployment of these whipping steel wires was to step backwards out of their reach and this is exactly what she did. However, even the fastest human reaction time is not instantaneous. The brain needs to react to sensory information, analyse the event and decide what action to take. Only then will the appropriate limb movement instructions put that decision into practice. By the time Kati stepped backwards to escape the volume of high velocity motion, she had been whipped from head to toe many hundreds of times. Thus, she looked down with bewilderment at sliced clothing and bloodied limbs.

  ‘My face!’ She raised her hands to her face and found that this too was wet; inspection of her hands revealed this wetness to be her own blood. Whimpering, she dashed back to her room and, with a feeling of acute dread, peered in her looking glass. Her worst fears were confirmed immediately. Her face and neck were criss-crossed by an extensive matrix of fine cuts, many oozing blood. Similar injuries covered hands, arms and legs as well as other parts of her body that had been exposed when her clothes were cut apart.

  Kati’s instinct was to scream with terror and sorrow; this is certainly what she would have done in any other circumstance. However she controlled herself with great difficulty because her mother and father would immediately demand to know how she received these injuries and her intention to smash the astrarium would surely be revealed. Sobbing with grief, she removed her pendant and tended to her injuries by gently washing her face, neck and limbs. When she had patted the skin dry, she found that the injuries to her skin were mostly shallow but there were many long and obvious cuts.

  Now she needed to decide upon a plausible explanation for her injuries before her parents saw her. She tried to work out a way of implicating her brother but could think of nothing that would ring true. She considered accusing one of the male workers of the attack and injury but had to reject that idea too. ‘Too similar to the stable boy affair,’ she thought. In the end, she decided she would claim she had slipped near the river and had fallen into a large thorn bush which had scratched her very badly.

  Kati now crept downstairs and slipped out of the Manor House. Then, weeping loudly, she entered the Great Hall where the rest of the family were still assembled.

  ‘What is the matter, Kati,’ her mother called, ‘what has happened to you?’ The story about the thorns was told and her mother immediately sent for her nanny. ‘She will make sure all your scratches are clean and treat your skin with balm.’ She looked closely at the scratches, ‘Some of these are quite deep,’ she said, ‘it will take a long time for the scars to go away.’

  Now Kati howled even more loudly! Then her mother spoke again: ‘Kati, listen to me, I must ask you an important question before you leave us. We have found the missing medallion here beneath the floorboards. But the gold chain is missing. I want to look at that gold chain that you used for your stone pendant. Are you wearing it now?’

  At this, Kati felt a wave of pure panic. ‘No, Mother, I’m not wearing it. In fact, I’ve lost it. I think the chain was so weak it must have broken some time when I was outside. I lost it last week. Anyway, I don’t care about it – it was just an ugly old stone.’

  ‘Are you sure you are telling us the truth, Kati, because I think that chain might have come from the medallion. Your father and I have talked about this and he agrees with me.’

  ‘No, Mother, I found that old chain in a trunk in the storeroom. I told you before. Surely you cannot think that I stole the chain? Why would I do that?’ Kati burst into fresh weeping. Her mother and father looked at her neutrally.

  ‘Well, if you find it, I want you to bring it to me immediately. There are some special marks on that chain and I will be able to tell right away whether it belongs to the medallion or not.’

  Kati was saved from further interrogation by the arrival of her nanny who took her away to treat her wounds. As soon as she reached her room, Kati scooped up the pendant and hid it carefully.

  In due course, Kati’s brother was informed about Kati’s injuries; he also heard her explanation for the cuts and scratches. Of course, he knew exactly what had happened. On returning to his room, he found that his astrarium protection had been deployed and he was pleased to see how effective it had been. On the floor, not far from the astrarium case, lay a small, heavy hammer. The boy picked it up and examined it carefully: ‘A lot of damage could have been done with this hammer. I’ll keep it as evidence.’ The boy put the hammer into a chest. Then, smiling, he dismantled the protection system, knowing it had done its work and would not be required again.

  The following morning Kati glared furiously at her brother over the breakfast table. When they had finished she sought him out for a private conversation: ‘Look what you’ve done to me. You’ve cut me in many places. You’ve scarred my face, you horrible little boy. I am going to kill you for this!’ Kati was deadly serious.

  The boy looked at her coldly: ‘You’ve already tried to kill me several times, Kati – and you very nearly succeeded. You certainly hurt me badly many times in my life and made my life a misery. But all that is changed now, because I am no longer afraid of you. Regarding your injuries, I did warn you. And there was a warning notice on the machine. So you have only yourself to blame …

  ‘Now, here is another warning; listen to it carefully. If you attempt to damage my astrarium again, or arrange for someone else to damage it, I will tell Father how you received these injuries. I will be able to show him your hammer, which you left behind on the floor. I will also tell him about all the other terrible things you have done to me throughout my life. I think you know he will believe me. I leave you to imagine what Father might do, Kati, but I don’t think you would be living in this house any more. Personally, I would be quite happy with that outcome.’

  As the boy spoke, his eyes never left hers and she felt real fear building up within her. Then the boy continued: ‘From now on, I want nothing more to do with you. Stay away from me and do not speak to me. In particular, do not go near my room or my belongings. I know you are evil, Kati.’ With that, the boy walked away.

  ‘He’s only a stupid little boy!’ Kati muttered this as she thought of that recent conversation with her brother. Despite her bravado, she had been shaken by her brother’s accurate judgement of her. Her disquiet was not that she had been recognised as evil (she was if anything rather pleased to hear it stated so unequivocally) but rather that her brother had been sufficiently perceptive to recognise that quality in her.

 
It was abundantly obvious that her brother had changed and Kati knew it would be best if she kept out of his way: ‘From now on, I’ll just ignore him,’ she resolved, ‘anyway, I have other important problems to deal with. Maybe later he’ll lose his new-found power then I’ll deal with him and his precious clock or whatever it is.’ In fact, Kati’s “other problems” were twofold and she now concentrated her whole mind on these.

  First, there was the problem of the pendant. Clearly, if her mother was able to examine the gold chain, she would identify it as belonging to the medallion. In that event, Kati knew that the truth would follow inevitably and she would be fully exposed as the thief. Although in fact the medallion had never been stolen, Kati’s utter selfishness and disregard for her parent’s property would brand her forever as unworthy of her position as a loved and respected daughter. She had spent many hours trying to concoct various explanations to fit the facts of the medallion “theft” but, in the face of what had happened, she knew that none of these were remotely plausible.

  ‘The only solution is to lose the chain,’ she thought, ‘and I have already said I have done that.’

  So Kati decided that she should act immediately to dispose of the chain. However she was unsure about the stone; should she keep it or throw it away with the pendant?

  After making sure that no-one could see what she was doing, Kati retrieved the pendant from its hiding place and removed the chain from the stone, experiencing once again that odd jolt as she handled it. She looked at the stone speculatively: ‘Maybe this is a magic stone,’ she thought. ‘Maybe that’s why it makes you feel funny when you touch it. Not many people have a magic stone; I think I’d better keep it, just in case.’ So she wrapped the stone in a piece of cloth and put it into an obscure hiding place in her room. Then she took the gold chain and left her room to walk from the Manor House down to the river. Here, she walked a little way upstream and looked around carefully to see if anyone was in sight. Seeing no-one, she quickly took the gold chain from her pocket and, bunching it into a tight little ball, hurled it into the middle of the river. The chain made no sound as it disappeared into the swiftly-flowing water. Kati smiled: ‘That’s one problem permanently solved!’