Solstice at Stonewylde (46 page)

Sylvie’s peer group watched her the whole time with undisguised envy. They were too far away on other tables to make conversation with her but they followed her every move, staring at the expensive couture dress and the heavy diamond choker and wristbands that glittered as she moved. They commented to each other on her thinness and beauty and her air of complete detachment from everyone, even Magus. Each of them would’ve loved to have been in her place wearing those clothes and jewels, sitting alongside a man so clearly obsessed. Magus watched her closely as well, frowning as she accepted a second helping of the main course.

‘Don’t overdo it, Sylvie,’ he said quietly. ‘I’ve just told you that you’re perfect.’

‘I’m hungry!’ she retorted, feeling safe from his bullying with so many people about. ‘You’ve been starving me and I need food.’

‘Yes, and I want you to eat today, but you’ll make yourself sick if you have too much.’

‘That’s a change from you making me sick with all that mead. Leave me alone, Magus – I’ll eat what I want.’

‘Don’t speak to me like that, Sylvie,’ he said very softly. ‘You might get away with it here, in front of all these people, but you
know I’ll make you pay for it later when I’ve got you alone.’

She glared at him and continued eating, knowing it was annoying him and feeling glad. When this was all over, she vowed that she’d never miss a meal again.

Yul raced up the track to Mother Heggy’s cottage. He was very busy today but knew he must see her. It was turning colder, he noted, although the sun shone brightly. There’d be a hard frost tonight, he was sure, for the December Frost Moon. He knocked at the battered and rotten door and went in.

Mother Heggy was crouched in a corner poking at something on the floor. She peered up at him and rose creakily to her feet, her back still bent almost double. She shuffled towards him and, to his surprise, embraced him. She felt like a tiny bird. Beneath the layers of grimy, ancient clothing, there was barely anything left of her.

‘The time is here,’ she wheezed. ‘The brightness in the darkness. ‘Tis all up to you now, Yul – are you ready for it?’

He nodded. ‘I am, and everything’s in place. Will you come to the sunrise ceremony tomorrow morning, Mother Heggy? I’d love to have you there and it’d be fitting too – full circle.’

She shook her grizzled head.

‘I can’t be out in the cold and dark with my old bones, Yul. Maybe the Summer Solstice, when Sylvie’s sixteen. ‘Twill be warmer then.’

‘Alright, but we’ll both come and see you tomorrow. You’ll be looking at the new magus then!’

She felt the excitement and certainty flowing in him, but shook her head again.

‘I need your help, Yul. Will you drag the table over to the wall?’

‘Yes … but why?’

He pulled the heavy oak table, scraping it over the uneven flagstone floor. She picked up an ancient besom and began to brush feebly at the debris that littered the floor.

‘That’s why,’ she said breathlessly, pointing to the floor. ‘You do it for me, Yul. I feel so weary today.’

She sank into the rocking chair whilst he swept the floor, with the crow crouched on the table watching. Yul saw marks scratched into the flagstones and gradually a large pentangle within a circle was revealed. He automatically made the sign in the air, touching his heart to signify that his spirit and the elements were as one, bound by the same laws and the same love of the Goddess.

‘There, Mother Heggy. Anything else?’

She pointed to the things she needed, her breathing laboured in the dust raised by Yul’s sweeping, and he set up the magic circle ready for her. He placed a small candle in a green glass jar at each point of the pentangle, and a bowl of salt in the centre. He knew that before she started her ceremony, she’d sprinkle it carefully around the perimeter from within, to keep the dark forces at bay and protect herself inside her circle. He placed her special symbolic objects at each point of the star, next to the candles. There was one each for the four elements – earth, air, fire and water – and one for the spirit, the fifth element. He placed matches and a taper next to the salt, ready for her to light the candles. Finally he added a cushion for her, placing it within the pentagon formed at the heart of the pentangle.

Yul surveyed the magical space marked on the floor and respectfully stepped out of it. He didn’t cast the circle or call upon the elements; he didn’t need to. Yul felt the power of nature everywhere; the Earth Goddess spoke to him directly through the green magic at the special places all over Stonewylde. Clip needed the dragon lines within the dolmen and the ridgeway. Sylvie needed the full moon and the magical spirals in the hill marked by the Hare Stone. Many people simply needed a wood, a beach, a hill top, or just blue sky on a sunny day. And others, like Mother Heggy, cast their circles with salt and flame and called upon the powers to visit them and bless them. Yul respected each way of communing with the force of nature, the magic of creation, the life energy that throbbed and snaked and sparkled everywhere all over the earth. Each to their own – there were many paths to the same destination.

‘Blessings, Yul. You’re a good lad and I’m proud of you. I’ll be within my circle tonight as the sun sets and the moon rises and I’ll do all I can for you. No! Don’t say you need none o’ my help! We all want that man gone and if I can call upon any of the forces, then I will. Don’t imagine tonight will be easy, Yul. Don’t think that because I made that prophecy sixteen years ago, ‘twill all come to pass as you hope.’

Mother Heggy sighed heavily and the crow hopped onto her lap. She stroked its glossy plumage with a twisted finger.

‘Your father is still very powerful. That man has dark elements on his side that only he can use. And there are ancient echoes of energy and ancient story patterns at Stonewylde still in play. Nought is set in stone. Anything could happen once my spell of protection comes to an end. You could fail tonight, my dark one, and Sylvie could be taken. Did you give her the charm bag? My Raven’s magical things?’

‘Yes, Mother Heggy, she has them and she’ll wear them tonight for protection.’

‘Well enough – let’s hope they do protect her. Didn’t help my girl in the end, mind you.’ She hung her shrivelled head, her breathing obstreperous. ‘And you, my boy, glowing there with the green magic all sparkling about you – don’t make the mistake of thinking all will go to plan just because Stonewylde loves you. Stonewylde has had her dark times afore, terrible times when all seemed lost and gone. ‘Tis possible we’ll enter those dark times again.’

Yul stared at her, worry creasing his face. He knelt before her as she crouched in the rocking chair and took her withered hands in his young, strong ones. He looked into her milky eyes, his fierce spirit blazing from within.

‘Thank you for your wisdom, Mother Heggy. I heed what you say and I’ll do my best and fight my hardest. I don’t know how this will end but I must trust that the Goddess will watch over me, just as you’ve watched over me my whole life. And if … if I should fail tonight, please help Sylvie. She’ll need you.’

The old crone nodded.

‘Go, Yul – I must sleep for a while. I feel so tired and ‘twill be a difficult night. I’ll look out for the bright one, just as I’ve always looked out for you, the dark one. Bright blessings, young magus.’

She made the sign of the pentangle over his head and prayed silently to the Goddess to keep him safe. After he’d gone she dozed for a while and when she felt a little stronger, she rose slowly, muttering to herself, and began to prepare everything she needed for the night ahead. She was very frightened; earlier that morning she’d found five black feathers lying on her doorstep. The scrying glass still wouldn’t show her what would happen that evening at sunset, when her binding spell was finally unravelled. Despite a lifetime of magic and practising the craft, the Wise Woman was now as much in the dark as the next person. Except for the message of five – that was as clear as spring water.

‘This is all my fault,’ said Hazel sadly as she removed the cuff from Miranda’s upper arm. ‘Your blood pressure’s a little high, which is hardly surprising.’

Miranda rolled down her sleeve and patted Hazel’s hand.

‘It’s
not
your fault. Don’t even think it.’

‘But I brought you here! It was my idea.’

‘And what was the alternative? Leave Sylvie to die in London? Come on, Hazel, you did what you thought best and despite everything, I’m pleased you did.’

She looked down at her enormous pregnant bump and sighed. The baby was kicking again and had been agitated all day. She and Hazel had shared lunch in the hospital wing whilst she had her check-up, unable to face the clamour of the Dining Hall and the oblivious Hallfolk.

‘Try to get some rest, Miranda. You look exhausted.’

‘Tomorrow, when this whole nightmare is over, I’ll rest. Clip’s coming to fetch me in a minute and you know where we’re going.’

She stood up and held out her arms to Hazel, who bent in an awkward hug over Miranda’s belly. Unexpectedly the young
doctor began to sob silently, the strain of the past weeks released at Miranda’s unexpected show of affection.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Hazel mumbled through her tears. ‘So very sorry it all turned out like this. I was completely fooled by him. I was
horrible
to poor Sylvie and I blamed her for everything. All the time he’d been making her suffer terribly at the Moon Fullness and I didn’t believe her.’

‘We’re all guilty of that, Hazel, me more than anyone. I’m her mother and I should’ve been protecting her. Do you think she’s alright? I’m still so worried about her up being there alone with him. Clip is sure Magus won’t harm her, but …’

Hazel pulled away and found a tissue.

‘I’m sure she’s fine. Just a few hours more and she’ll be safe for ever.’

‘But what if it goes wrong this evening? Why won’t Yul do what we all wanted? He should’ve agreed – how can he possibly deal with Magus alone?’

Hazel shook her head.

‘That boy – that young man – is as determined and iron-willed as his father and he insists that he alone must challenge Magus. He says it’s part of the prophecy and although he has the folk behind him, the conflict itself has to be resolved one to one. What can we do?’

‘He’ll make a good magus, I’m sure,’ said Miranda, ‘despite his lack of education. We’re all here to help run Stonewylde, but he’s got what it takes to lead the community. There’s something very special and powerful about Yul.’

‘Green magic,’ said the doctor. ‘Yul has the green magic now and that’s why he’s so adamant about what must happen tonight. With the Goddess on his side, how could he fail?’

As soon as the long lunch was over, Magus dragged Sylvie back upstairs. Once they were in his rooms with the door shut, he turned on her furiously, jabbing his finger at her aggressively.

‘You need to learn how to behave, young lady! When I allow you downstairs to mix with the Hallfolk, you’ll be sociable and
gracious, both to them and to me. You’re
never
to speak to me in that disrespectful way in front of them. And you’re never to be so greedy either, stuffing food down your throat as fast as you can. Where’s your sense of refinement and decorum? If you behave like that when I let you out, then you won’t go out at all. You’ll stay locked in these rooms until your manners improve. Do you understand?’

She nodded, her defiance gone now they were alone again. She looked out of the window; it was still bright and sunny but the wind looked cold.

‘I’d like to go out for a walk,’ she said. ‘You haven’t let me outside for ages and I need some fresh air.’

‘Well you can’t. You’ll get plenty of fresh air tonight.’

‘Then I’ll change. This dress is too tight and it’s cutting into me.’

‘That’s because you ate too much. No, keep it on – if it’s uncomfortable it serves you right, and maybe it’ll teach you not to be so greedy. I want you to rest for the afternoon, so sit down and read your book.’

He picked up her book where it lay on the table and handed it to her. Sylvie took it carefully, unsure if the photo was still inside. She went over to the window seat and he followed, unable to leave her alone.

There was a discreet knock at the door and Martin appeared. He stood respectfully before Magus, paying no attention to Sylvie.

‘You said you wanted to speak to me after lunch, sir.’

‘Yes, it’s about Mooncliffe tonight.’

Martin’s glance flicked to Sylvie.

‘I’d be glad to assist you, sir.’

‘Of course. I want you to go up there now and stack all the eggs around the rock.’

‘Yes, sir. Will that be all?’

‘No – take a couple of blankets too, and put up the little pavilion ready for us, and the brazier and wood for a fire. I’ll need to keep my moongazy girl warm as she’s going to be there most of the night.’ Magus patted her knee, smooth under the
crêpe de Chine. ‘I did warn you, Sylvie – it’s going to be a heavy night.’

She turned her head away pointedly and gazed out of the window. Magus smiled and looked at Martin, standing so impassive and cold-eyed.

‘Oh, and one more thing, Martin.’

‘Yes, sir?’

‘Take the other things up there too.’

‘The usual, sir?’