Snow White and Rose Red (23 page)
Read Snow White and Rose Red Online
Authors: Patricia Wrede
“I’ll not forget, be sure,” the Widow said, and her eyes were very bright. “And thou mayest help me first by telling me what’s said of Masters Dee and Kelly in the town.”
“So ‘tis they who worry thee so much? Nay, I’ll not press thee for an answer. Master Dee hath been made much of these past months; ’tis rumored that he’s found some new and potent marvel. There’s many from the Queen’s court who’ve come to see him, Lord Grey, and Mr. Edmunds of the Privie Chamber, and Sir Francis Walsingham and his lady wife among them, and I know not who else. And, scarce two weeks since, Queen Elizabeth herself rode by Dee’s door and called him out to her, and he walked beside her stirrup for the length of the town.”
“The Queen herself,” the Widow murmured, impressed. “And what of Master Kelly?”
“He hovers near, when he may, and tries to please whome‘er might be of use to him,” Mistress Hudson said with a derisive snort. “Though of late he hath had gold aplenty for his needs; ’twas much remarked on before the strangeness of the bear hunt drove all else from people’s lips.”
The Widow frowned. “I see. This likes me not, though Heaven knows ‘tis not so bad as it might be.”
“Then Heaven knoweth more than I,” Mistress Hudson said, somewhat exasperated. “What is it that thou fearest?”
“I hardly know,” the Widow answered in a low voice.
Mary rolled her eyes. “An that’s the way of it, belike thou shouldst take thyself to Bedlam straight, and save thy time and trouble.”
“My thanks for thy advice,” the Widow said, smiling slightly. “I’ll think on’t.”
“Do thou so, but later, for I think thou‘st not yet come to the end of what thou wouldst learn of me. What more?”
“Knowest thou the man John Rimer?”
“Very little; he’s but newly come to Mortlak. An thou hast an interest in him, I’ll discover what I can. Come see me in a week.”
“Nay, thou dost mistake my meaning,” the Widow said quickly. “I know somewhat of him already, and ‘tis mostly good.”
“Then why ask me of him, thou muddlehead?”
“Because he will be often at my house these next few months, and I would give out some reason ere idle tongues devise their own,” the Widow retorted. “Thou‘rt known to be my gossip; an thou dost mention that Master Rimer suffers from a failure of the blood, and seeks my tonics to relieve it, thou wilt be believed.”
“So?” Mistress Hudson gave her friend a penetrating look. “And why does he visit thee? Or are thy daughters the magnet that draws him thither?”
“‘Tis just such speculation that I would avoid! Wilt thou do it or no?”
“I’ll do’t. Will it seem likelier, thinkest thou, if I let slip that he was known to thy late husband?”
The Widow smiled in relief. “‘Tis well thought on, and again, my thanks. Thou art a true friend, Mary.”
“Tcha! Did I not say as much within these last five minutes? Thou shouldst attend with greater care to my speeches.”
The two women chatted amiably for another hour before the Widow left to complete her errands and start home. Mistress Hudson was as good as her word; by the time talk of the bear hunt gave way to less unusual topics, word had spread that John was an old friend and customer of the Widow Arden‘s, and there was little consideration of his merits as a suitor to one of the girls.
Relieved of her vexation over possible gossip, at least, the Widow was able to turn more of her attention to developing a spell to set Hugh free. This was no simple task. “A complex spell requires a complex remedy,” the Widow warned John and her daughters. “And this spell’s both complex and powerful.”
“Where should we begin?” John asked.
“With Hugh,” Blanche said firmly. “Begin with Hugh.” The others looked at her in surprise and she flushed a little. “If Masters Dee and Kelly began with their desire, which was of Faerie power alone, or so we think, then is’t not fitting that we should start with Hugh?”
“We’ll go by opposites!” Rosamund said, her eyes lighting with quick excitement. “Master Dee worked his enchantment on All Hallows‘; let us work ours on May Eve, at the contrary time of the year. ”
“‘Tis well thought of,” the Widow said approvingly. Her expression changed, and she glanced at John. “Unless thy Faerie lore gives thee a reason why ’twould be unwise.”
“The power of Faerie’s great on both those nights,” John said. “Yet they are a time for dancing and for revels, not for spells. I think that’s nothing that would hinder us.”
“Then tell us of thy brother,” the Widow commanded. “For Blanche is right, and Hugh must be the beginning and the basis of our spell. We’ve known him only as a bear; tell us of Hugh, the man.
“He’s tall,” John said after a moment. “As tall as I, and somewhat like to look at, but more polished in his manner. Swift to laugh, and proud, and gentle ...”
His voice trailed off and he looked down at the rough planks of the Widow’s trestle table. Blanche turned her head away from the expression on his face, her own eyes thoughtful, but Rosamund was unable to do the same. Her hand moved forward half an inch, as if in an uncertain offer of comfort or reassurance; then John took a deep, shaky breath and went on with his description.
The work continued on the next day, and the next. Progress was slow but steady, despite John’s impatient urgings, for the Widow and her girls had other things to do as well. The lamb had grown into a young sheep and arrangements had to be made to pasture it with Master Hardy flock; there was spinning and mending and cooking to be done, and portions of the garden had to be dug over in preparation for the coming year.
Despite all these delays, the pattern of the spell began to grow, and with it grew John’s respect for the mortal magic that was so despised in Faerie. Part herbery, part ritual, part prayer and poetry, the Widow’s spell was as strange and wonderful to John as Faerie itself was to Rosamund and her sister. Slowly, almost without his conscious knowledge, he allowed himself to hope.
Several times Blanche and Rosamund took John and Hugh to the place where they had watched the wizards at work, to study the ground and to see whether there were any lingering traces of the spell. They found none; too much time had passed since All Hallows‘. They were, however, able to decide in advance where and how to arrange the tools they would use in their own spell. Their excitement grew as the end of April neared, and with it the chance to put their plans into action.
Kelly’s confidence in the performance of the crystal seemed at first to be well justified; the coins and lead rods that he had laid beside it had turned heavy and golden by the following night. His jubilation over the success of the alchemical transformation was short-lived; a day later they were all base metal once more.
“Faerie gold,” Kelly said with disgust. “And we were so close!”
“‘Tis as well we spent so little of it,” Dee said.
“As well? I’d rather we’d sold it all! Then we’d at least have some profit for our pains.”
“More likely we’d have constables at the door, to take us up for witches,” Dee said. “Have done, Ned!”
“Have done?” Kelly swung angrily around to face the older man. “I’ll have done when that curst globe is mended, not before!”
“Perhaps we should abandon this entirely,” Dee said, shaking his head. “‘Tis longer work with the other sphere, but ’tis sure, at least.”
“The older globe doth not make gold,” Kelly said. “Nor will it ever, for it has not the power. An we want gold, ‘tis this that must be cured!”
“Why does it make you so distraught?” Dee asked slowly. “The spirit’s knowledge is a greater loss than gold, to my mind. What have you done, that it means so much to you?”
Kelly hesitated, eyeing his colleague carefully as though assessing his temper. “I’ve told some few of the court what we could do,” he said at last. “They’ll come to us for proof, no doubt, and soon.”
“‘Twas not wisely done.”
“How should I guess that our crystal’d fail? Now, an we can find no remedy, we needs must use some trick to make gold for those who look for proof.”
“I do not like this talk of trickery, Ned,” Dee said, frowning deeply.
“What other choice have we, an we’re not to look like fools?” Kelly demanded.
“We can do several things, I think. May Eve’s six weeks from now; an all else fail, we may repeat our spell then. Meanwhile, I’ve found descriptions of a powder which may help to strengthen our first spell. It may be, too, that the charms we’ve set about this room to hinder Faerie entrance have in some way harmed the crystal.” Dee turned away from Kelly to pick up a book from the carved oak desk behind him as he said mildly, “There’s no need yet to talk of deceit.”
Kelly grimaced at Dee’s back and said smoothly, “Aye, John, you’re right. I had not thought.”
“We will succeed, Ned, never fear. Now let’s to work. Who knows but we may have the answer by tomorrow morning?”
But as the days went by it became more and more evident that the magicians’ efforts were having no effect. Kelly’s temper grew shorter and shorter, though he tried not to show it in Dee’s presence. The pressures on the two men were increased by the news, brought by a traveler, that Prince Albert Laski of Poland had expressed great interest in meeting them on his forthcoming visit to England, and in learning more about their wondrous process of making gold.
It was the chance that Kelly, at least, had been waiting for, and both men considered it a cruel trick of fate that it should come just as something had gone wrong with the best example of their craft. They worked in a kind of frenzy, trying to restore the crystal’s powers before the Prince’s arrival, but without success. Finally they had to admit that they could think of nothing more to try except to duplicate their original spell on May Eve.
With grim concentration, they set about their preparations. Every part of the spell was examined and argued over, for John Dee still felt sure that the fault in the crystal was due to some flaw in the original ritual. Kelly made the beeswax tablets himself, melting down the wax in a long-handled dipper and straining it twice before he let it harden. Dee went through jars of dried herbs, choosing whole, unbroken leaves and seedheads. Together, the two men performed the careful cleaning and purification of the dagger and the brazier.
All this activity was watched with sly interest by the water creature, Furgen. A week to the day after Madini set it to the task, it returned to the oak, bringing the news that Dee and Kelly had determined to repeat the spell they’d first cast on All Hallows’ Eve.
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