by Aline Riva
Chapter 12
After the bones had been taken away, it was a few weeks before the police could clear up the case, and when they did, Kyle was only too happy to talk to them about his great great grandfather, and later on, he did the same in several interviews with the local papers, and each time he condemned the actions of his ancestor, he felt more certain that he had indeed put right the terrible wrong that had been done to Thornton Ravencroft.
And once the story of the vanished warlock had been uncovered, and then laid to rest, it was time to lay the bones to rest.
It was Zack who scattered the ashes of Thornton Ravencroft as the others stood back and watched as the ash caught on the wind and scattered about the garden at the back of Ravencroft cottage.
As the last of the dust had been blown away, Zack felt a sense of peace descend on the garden, and he knew at once he would never dream of death and horror again, because his bones now knew peace, because Thornton's mortal remains would forever be a part of the cottage and the garden he had so loved.
He looked back at the others and smiled.
“I think I can safely say my bones are happy now,” he said, and then as Sarah and Sally walked back towards the cottage, Kyle stayed at his side as the sun shone down and the birds sang in the treetops, and the garden remained peaceful with no ghostly whispers carried on the wind.
“I got the test results back,” Kyle said, “I'm all clear.”
“I knew you would be,” Zack replied, “You never have to worry about that curse again. It's gone.”
“I know it is, “ he agreed, and then Kyle's smile faded.
“But not the damage done by the treatment,”he replied, “My sperm count is zero. I know this sounds ungrateful, and I know it's asking a lot, but you did lift the curse and you know I really do want to be a father. I know I can't have kids of my own and it's killing me. I thought it wouldn't matter now I have my life back, but when I think of the future all I can see is this big empty void because I know I'll never have a child of my own. So...I was wondering...”
He hesitated.
Zack looked at him in confusion.
“What are you asking me?” he said.
Kyle took in a breath and gathered up his courage, and then he just came out with it.
“You lifted the curse. Surely you still have some magic left in you? Can't you make me fertile again, at least enough to have one baby with Sally?”
And as Zack recalled that power that had flowed through him in the open grave, and he remembered how he had uttered ancient words to lift the curse, he knew some trace of the cunning man of old still resided within him – but he also knew that power was gone now, and that his only attempt at performing a ritual of his own had done nothing at all. The power had come from the bones, and the power was now spent...
“What happened in the grave...I can't explain it,” he told him, “And I couldn't make magic happen again if I tried.”
“Please,”Kyle said, and as he looked at him, something stirred inside Zack, it was not the power of ancient magic, but it was a stirring of a memory of his life as Thornton, as he recalled the cunning man of Ravencroft Cottage had many ways of employing the use of magic....
“Maybe I can help,” he said, “I can't promise anything but there is a..conjuring... I might be able to perform. But you can't tell anyone about it, nor can you attend. It has to remain secret, okay?”
“Of course I'll keep it secret,” Kyle promised him, and as Zack smiled back at his best friend, there was something about his eyes as looked at him intently, something that was very much like the look often seen in the eyes of Thornton Ravencroft...
One Year Later:
The summer before, the path outside the front door of Ravencroft Cottage had been a mess of rubble and earth and there had been a big hole where the skeleton had been dug up. But now that hole was filled in, the cobblestones had been replaced and the front path looked perfect again. By now, Zack had become engaged to Sarah, and their wedding was planned for later in the summer. And Kyle and Sally had come over often to enjoy the garden, and to spend time with friends, because that cottage garden was a wonderful place to sit and enjoy the peaceful summer days, especially now their much longed for child had come along...
“She's so beautiful,” Sarah said to Kyle as he sat at the patio table cradling his daughter in his arms, “And she's got your eyes too.”
“I think she looks like me,” Sally added, and Kyle gazed down at his baby and then looked to Zack as joy shone in his eyes.
“She's our miracle,” he said, and Zack cast him a knowing look and nodded. Then Kyle handed the baby to his wife and as they got up and prepared to leave, Sarah started clearing away plates from dinner, and Zack walked with Kyle and Sally to the front door.
As they stood on the porch, Kyle hugged Zack tightly.
“See you soon,”he said, and gratitude still shone in his eyes, it was a look Zack was sure would never fade, even though he had thanked him enough times for the use of his magic, and now the ferarri that stood outside the house was his too, a gift from Kyle. It gladdened his heart to see his best friend so happy now the curse was lifted – and now he had become a father, his joy was complete, and to see Kyle so happy and to think of how he had done so much to brighten the life of his best friend, always made him smile.
Then he said goodbye to Kyle and Sally and watched as they went back to the car. Kyle spent some time ensuring his daughter was safely strapped into the baby seat, and then as they drove off, they gave him a wave and he waved back, and then he cast his mind back to exactly how he had made the magic happen to turn Kyle and Sally a family:
It was the article he had read on the cunning man that had given him the idea. After all, not all magic was real magic – he certainly knew the real magic that had seeped back into him from contact with his old bones had all been spent as he had lifted the curse from Kyle, but that had not stopped him from employing a little of Thornton's ways, which he felt sure were now embedded firmly into his soul forever more.
They had both agreed to the ritual, and Sally had sworn to keep the details of it secret for the rest of her days. Kyle had been only too glad to accept this, because he had already seen evidence of his best friend's magic...
As soon as she had seen the flickering candles and the circle drawn in chalk, she had taken one look at Zack and seen him in a whole new light as he had cast aside his black silken robe and her gaze had wandered over his naked body. He had taken her hard and lustfully inside that circle, and after three months of repeating this meeting when Sally was at her most fertile and thankfully Sarah was out visiting family who lived a fair distance away, it came as something of a disappointment that their secret rituals had to come to an end, because Sally then excitedly told him that she was now pregnant.
Kyle would never know the truth, and neither would his wife, because both believed in magic, and Sally had blindly followed his every command, being dazzled by the dark and romantic allure of the occult. And if she wanted to think he had magically given her a child by her husband, and Kyle wanted to believe their ritual had involved no more than innocent candles and chanting, what harm was done by employing a little deviousness?
Everyone was happy, and most of all, he had enjoyed Sally very much indeed, and now Kyle had a child to call his own, too...
As he thought about what he had done, a sly smile came to the face of Zack Stirling, as he guessed that even though the old magic that had seeped from Thornton's bones was gone, he was still not short of a trick or two remembered from his past life – and it was accurate to say a cunning man once again lived at Ravencroft Cottage.
That thought kept that sly smile on his face as a devious gleam came to his eyes as he closed the door of the cottage.
Yes, a cunning man did live here. A very cunning man indeed...
End
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