by A. E. Wright
Merrydian's Gate
Book Two: The Spell and the Scythe
A.E.Wright
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.
First publish 2015 by Amy Wright
UK
Copyright ? 2015 Amy Wright
Cover Design by www.thecovercollection.com
All right reserved. No part of this book may be produced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Prologue
Chapter One - The Disappeared
Chapter Two - Madge's Spell
Chapter Three - Report from Forge Gate
Chapter Four - The Moonstone Scythe
Chapter Five - The Waters of Roseworth
Chapter Six - Embraced May She Be
Chapter Seven - The Dungeon and the Night Thief
Chapter Eight - Airmid
Chapter Nine - The Barghest
Chapter Ten - Reflections
Chapter Eleven - The Unforeseen
Chapter Twelve - Revelations
Chapter Thirteen - Castle Crag
Chapter Fourteen - Confidence
Chapter Fifteen - The Cabin
Chapter Sixteen - Friends and Enemies
Chapter Seventeen - Waves
Chapter Eighteen - The Girls
Epilogue
Prologue
The Boundary between Blossomdown and Thistlewick Forest
Many years before the creation of Merrydian's Gate
"Oww!"
"Shhh."
The two young girls had been waiting in the prickle bushes at the very edge of Thistlewick Forest a long while now. Their feet ached and the rain beat down relentlessly upon them.
"I'm sorry, I pricked my finger."
"Well, be quiet. It's coming closer, are you ready?"
"I don't know." The first girl admitted.
"Now is not the time for this, we do this as we agreed, ok?"
The second girl looked younger although they were both supposedly the same age, her innocent face didn't reconcile with the evil deed she had in mind.
"Okay." The first girl agreed out of fear, she was scared of her friend, more now than ever before.
"Good. Now Shhh." The second girl put her finger to her lips as the Bugul Noz approached the edge of the forest.
It was old, even for a Bugul Noz with wiry grey hair twisting into a thin beard on his chin. A few white hairs poked from its otherwise bald head. Its moon-like eyes searched the bushes for berries. It picked at one juicy, purple berry and then popped it into its mouth with a squelch followed by a satisfied smile. The second girl's lip curled in disgust at the creature. The first girl felt the sharp stab of guilt, how had they got here, in the bushes, waiting for the poor old Bugul Noz?
She had always thought 'the plan' was a joke. Just two young girls making up mean plans against a world that had shunned them both, but on this cold and rainy day here they were, waiting. The Bugul Noz edged closer to their position as it reached for a particularly plump berry,
"NOW!" The second girl shouted maniacally as she leapt from the bushes, a small hunting knife in hand. The first girl froze in horror. The Bugul Noz had no time to react as the petite girl thrust the knife upward into its chest. The howling wind picked up speed, whipping the second girl's hair around in the air. She looked wild to the first girl, more fearsome than before. Salted tears dripped from the first girl's eyes. Thick silver blood oozed from the Bugul Noz's fatal wound and the Noz dropped to its twisted knees, a look of sadness etched on its features. A mixture of guilt, shock and remorse made the first girl feel weak at the knees, she was sad and she was desperately sorry but the second girl laughed excitedly. It was a sweet chuckle that might have been the laugh of a child that had just been given a new toy, not the laugh of a child who had just brutally murdered an innocent creature.
"Quick you fool." The second girl hissed as she held out her chubby, blood-soaked fingers for the vials they had brought along with them. The first girl scurried from the bushes, the sound of the clanking vials could only just be heard through the whistling wind. The second girl clumsily caught the blood in the vials but the first girl didn't help as they had agreed. She couldn't. Instead, she placed her small hand on the neck of the Bugul Noz. Its rubbery skin was nothing like she had felt before. The Bugul Noz looked at her calmly. It had not tried to defend itself against its young attackers, although it was still conscious as its life ebbed away.
"I'm sorry." She sobbed "Please, please forgive me, I'm sorry."
The Bugul Noz was growing frail, she could feel as its neck muscles became too weak to support its head which lulled forward. "I'm sorry." She repeated.
"What are you doing? This foul creature isn't important to us." The second girl snapped, not even bothering to take her eyes away from the cork lid as she secured it on the vial.
"You are important." The first girl whispered. "I'm sorry and you are important."
"Were important maybe." The second girl laughed as she collected up the vials. She walked into the bushes, finding leaves that were large enough to wipe away the blood and soil, she tried to
"You are important. What is your name?" The first girl asked the Bugul Noz who was beginning to fade, as his life ebbed away.
"Bundul," The Bugul Noz breathed. "My name is Bundul."
And then he was gone.
Somewhere on the northern coast of Britain 555 AD
The night struck a chill in Queen Hervra's bones. The witch Agrona had been defeated, yet still, Hevra felt her maleficent presence around her. It whispered dark secrets in the cool evening breeze, it cackled in the rustling of leaves overhead, it gazed from the darkness, waiting. Hevra shuddered. Perhaps it was something that Hervra would never be able to rid herself of. She was glad she had brought the Moonstone Scythe with her now on this chilly autumn night. She felt safer for it. She couldn't blame the humans for wanting to banish all magical creatures from their lands. She had, along with others, spent hundreds of years trying to convince the humans that magic was safe, a force for good that could help them progress and in the space of a few short years, the witch had proven them wrong in the eyes of the humans.
"Mother, where are we going?" The young princess Rosamaylind tugged at Hevra's thick, heather-coloured travelling robe, her lilac eyes were ablaze with both curiosity and fear.
"We are going to an island my love, an island where we can settle with all other beings like us. Our people are already there, they have sent word of the most wondrous castle built on a beautiful and mysterious marsh." She smiled, but there was sadness in the queen's tone when she spoke to her eldest daughter.
"Why do we have to leave?" Evanglista, the queen's eldest daughter asked. She was, in Hevra's eyes, still a babe, yet in reality she was becoming a woman now. A fierce one at that, even in her few years she had met the Gnarls on the battlefield with a force greater than Herva had expected of her. She had the makings of a great queen indeed if only she could reign in her impulsiveness.
"Because sweatheart, there will be trouble if we stay." She frowned.
"Why would anyone wish to harm us mother? I don't understand." Rosamaylind shook her head as she questioned her mother.
"Because they do not understand us and anything humans do not understand, they fear. Our new home will be peaceful." She soothed, gently tucking the young girl's auburn hair behind her ear.
"I'm not scared of the humans." Evangelista
said belligerently.
"We are not leaving because we are afraid of them my dear, we are leaving to protect them." Hevra answered, her conviction had not wavered on this throughout all of the discussions and negotiations with the wizard Merrydian, the humans, the Worlens, and all other races affected by the monumental decision they had come to, she had stood firm on this. Agrona hurt all races in all kinds of ways, but against her, the humans had not stood a chance. They were humiliated, terrorised and decimated in a way that other races were not. Hevra empathised with their fear, although she felt great sadness at the prospect of all magical creatures being wiped from the human history books.
"I don't want to go away mother, I like our home." Rosamaylind pleaded. Her big lilac eyes filled with tears that rolled down her chubby youthful cheeks. Herva wiped away her daughter tears but did not answer her plea.
A rustle from the foliage behind made the children jump. Hevra did not react other than to twist her fingers more securely around the Scythe, internally her stomach dropped; she had hoped they could pass through the gate before any Worlen arrived. The young princess Rosamaylind hid herself away in Hevra's traveling cloak, she was naturally nervous of Worlen, most Banshees' were.
Two muscular Worlen soldiers emerged from the brushes. Both were unusually tall, even for Worlen. One wore an eye-patch; Hevra wondered in which battle he had acquired his injury. Being Worlen it could simply be the result of a family dispute she thought. There wasn't many of them left on the mainland now but that was nothing new, they had been settling on the island for years, preferring not to live around humans wherever possible, Hevra wasn't surprised by how easily they had agreed to vacate their mainland homes.
Hevra inclined her head to acknowledge their presence. The soldiers pretended not to see the queen, Banshees were as popular with the Worlen as humans yet she was a queen. Inside the fires of fury were kindled within her, outwardly she remained stoic.
Merrydian was late, it had taken two full seasons to escort every emigrating magical being onto the island and Hevra now understood why. She looked up at the unassuming Belfry tower and wondered if it would stand the test of time. Merrydian had pointed out that his portal gate would only be safe for two people to pass through at a time; one of which had to be Merrydian himself. Herva doubted the small tower could hold much more than two people as she observed it. The grey stones at the bottom were made well enough but the staircase running up the tower was narrow, flimsy even. Hevra supposed it had been fashioned that way on purpose. If the detestable Gnarls ever found the gate, it would be very difficult for them to ascend this tower in any meaningful number. Not that their number was many since Agrona death, several of them died on the battlefield with her, some took their own lives after her defeat but they would be back, of that Hevra was convinced. She exhaled a breath of white vapour into the cold air and watched as it danced away up the steps of the belfry toward the thin hairy leg of a Spinner.
Giant spiders that lived in the dark caves of Cragsley beaches, they had a fearsome reputation. Hevra wouldn't admit this aloud but it was partly because of the presence of the Spinners that she had chosen to build her castle on the Marshes, as far away from Cragsley as it was possible to get on the island. She shuddered softly. Her fingers held the scythe tighter still, but she wouldn't react until she had assessed the situation properly, that was her way. More legs followed the first, barely touching the steps as the spider descended the tower followed by the unmistakable Merrydain. He spoke briefly to the spider before it scuttled off toward the forest, on the hunt no doubt, there would be plenty of fox and badger out this night for the Spinner to feast on. Merrydian approached the queen; she noticed a permanent frown had taken up residence on his face in recent years. He was undoubtedly very old, he had looked old for many years but now he also looked frail and drawn. Hevra felt sympathy for the old man; he had lost more than most because of Agrona.
"Which one first." He said abruptly.
"Good evening to you Merrydian, if you would be so kind as to accompany my daughter Evangelista through the gate first and then she can wait for her sister on the other side." Hevra was courteous. It was bad form in Banshee society to be rude to someone of great age, not that she was unwise enough to be impolite to Merrydian in any case.
Merrydian led the young Banshee away to her new home. Only minutes passed before he returned alone.
"This one next?" He pointed to Rosamaylind who quivered under her mother's cloak.
"We're next. We've waited long enough for these Banshee harlots." The gruff voices of the two Worlen soldiers spoke in unison. Hevra realised that they were twins, something she hadn't noticed before because of the eye patch. She felt her anger rise again yet she controlled it for the moment, she was good at that.
"If you don't mind, my daughter is scared, the sooner this ordeal is over for her the better." She stated calmly.
"Why should we wait for some spoilt Banshee brat?" They spoke as one once again.
"You will wait because it is not your ruddy turn." Merrydian lost patience. He took the frightened Rosamaylind by the hand and led her toward the top of the tower without another word.
After a few brief moments Hevra turned to the soldiers, she would give them a chance to apologise. They stared her dead in the eyes belligerently; Hevra was astounded by their arrogance.
"That's a nice shiny sword you have there." They made their intentions clear in the tone of their voice, they wanted the scythe. "If you give it to us now, there is no need for us to hurt you."
Hevra's eyes searched the tower for signs of movement, Merrydian was not back yet.
"Indeed this is a formidable weapon," she nodded. "Would you like to see how formidable my weapon is?" Her eyebrows flicked upward with the challenge. It was a subtle facial movement but it didn't go unnoticed by keen eyes.
The Worlens' charged toward her. They barely made it away from their starting point before Hevra heaved the weapon into the air, twisting it once, a silver beam shot from one of the precious stones and hit both Worlen soldiers in the chest. Hevra had worried that commissioning a weapon such as the Moonstone Scythe would create tension between the Banshee and Worlen kind but now she was nothing other than glad.
The Worlen soldiers, who had been stopped in their tracks by the blast, stood unnaturally still, their huge palms unmoving from the sides of their thighs where they had fallen. Their feet brought together, they would not even blink without permission. Hevra would keep one, he may come in useful but the other, she had no need of.
"You climb that tree." She pointed to the brother on the left and then to a particularly large fir tree some distance away. Towering over the rest of the forest, it must have been a thousand years old at least, "And then jump." She commanded. The soldier instantly turned his on his heels and disappeared into the darkness of the forest. His twin brother was statuesque apart from one solitary tear that trickled down the side of his bristled face.
The clonking sound of unsteady footsteps descended the tower stairs caught Hevra's attention. A confused looking Merrydian surveyed the placid face of the soldier,
"I must be seeing double in my advanced years; I could have sworn there were two."
Hevra smiled politely. "Shall we?" he offered his hand to the Banshee Queen who left behind her mainland to the sound of the Worlen soldier screaming as he plunged toward the unwelcoming floor of the forest below.