Moondance of Stonewylde

by Kit Berry

  ‘Well, possibly. But her distress on the rock is genuine.’

  ‘Oh no doubt it’s a little uncomfortable for her, but this time we’ll lie her down after a while so it’s not such a strain and more of her body will be in contact with the stone. She can even sleep if she wants and she’ll barely notice it then. Are you happy with that?’

  ‘Alright, alright, you’ve persuaded me, just like you always do,’ laughed Clip, his pupils dilated. He waved his hands expansively. ‘Just don’t be cruel, will you? I hate it when you’re cruel, Sol, and you so often are.’

  ‘I think the cakes have affected you, Clip,’ said Magus smoothly, his eyes gleaming. ‘I’m not cruel at all.’

  ‘Come on Sol, I’ve known you all your life, remember? I understand what you’re capable of, and it’s why I have to leave sometimes. I can’t cope being around you for long – you’re too demanding, too overwhelming. In fact, I might as well tell you this now – I’ve decided to leave Stonewylde after the Winter Solstice so you’ll need to find someone else to help you out with the ceremonies and things.’

  ‘I expect I’ll manage until you come back – I usually do.’

  ‘No, you don’t understand. I’m planning an extended stay in the Outside World this time, not just a quick trip.’

  Magus looked hard at him.

  ‘This is a very bad time for you to be away for a long period, Clip. There’s so much going on and I need you – we agreed this.’

  Clip closed his eyes, blotting out his brother’s handsome face and the ruthless eyes that bored into him so relentlessly.

  ‘No we didn’t! You know how I get when I’m trapped in one place for too long, Sol – I need to get away. That’s why I handed everything over to you in the first place. I don’t want the pressure and responsibility of Stonewylde. You can’t make me stay! You know I can’t take it.’

  His voice had started to crack. He’d only found the courage to stand up to his brother because of the cakes, and even their effect was limited. Magus watched him carefully, eyes narrowed, gauging how far he could push.

  ‘Don’t get upset, Clip,’ he said soothingly, his voice soft. ‘I’m sorry – don’t even think about it now. We’ll talk another time. It’s just that with all my plans for expansion there’re going to be some big changes at Stonewylde in the New Year, and you’re so good at getting difficult people to comply with my wishes.’

  He sighed, gazing through the window at the huddle of gardeners still raking up the endless fallen leaves on the misty, dew-soaked lawns.

  ‘I don’t know, Clip, I do my best for these people and sometimes I wonder if it’s all worth it. I’ve such dreams for Stonewylde, but does anyone appreciate my efforts? I’m going to build another school to accommodate all the children, and more cottages in the Village, larger ones for the bigger families. Do you know the average Villager family now has seven children, and that’s risen every year?’

  ‘Maybe you should encourage more birth control,’ said Clip glumly, toying with another cake.

  ‘Oh no, on the contrary – I’ve been urging the women to produce more children,’ said Magus. ‘There are some really large families now and that’s what I want. We need more labour and skilled craftspeople for the future if Stonewylde’s to expand, and we’ve plenty of food to feed the extra mouths. No, I want lots more Village children and I shall be offering lovely new cottages with loads of space and extra amenities as an incentive to women to keep on having more babies. They’re all so healthy and fertile, and just imagine how rapidly our community will expand when this new generation starts to reproduce! We’ll have to do something about the gene pool then, but I’ve some good ideas about how to bring in fresh stock.’

  ‘We’ll be over-run with Villagers,’ murmured Clip, rolling his eyes.

  ‘Not over-run – supported by their labour and skills. And I intend to build a complex of holiday homes up here for Hallfolk so we can get all of them to stay more frequently. We need to keep their money pouring into the coffers and holiday homes will generate excellent revenue. The wind farm will have to be expanded to cope with the extra power needed. And then there’s the quarry – I really need that stone. Jackdaw proved to be an excellent site manager back in the summer and got so much work out of those men before that damn accident. I’m planning to re-open the quarry properly next year, with experienced workers this time. So you can see just how much I’ve got on my plate and that’s why I really need your support. You’re my right-hand man, Clip. There’s no one else – please don’t leave Stonewylde.’

  Clip gazed helplessly at his younger brother, so vibrant and determined. He felt worn out and frail just looking at him and knew that he must stick to his plan or Magus would talk him round, as he always did. But it was so difficult to stand up to him and go against his wishes; Magus commanded obedience.

  ‘You don’t get it, Sol. I hate all that. I just want to live in a simple hut in the hills and devote my life to my calling. I’m a shaman not a businessman. All this empire-building stuff – I hate it, so please don’t look to me to get involved. You need to find someone who shares your passion and who’ll want to help build it all up – that’s certainly not me. And obviously I won’t be having children either, so it’s up to you to pass it all on. I know you were considering Buzz; that must’ve been a disappointment to lose him.’

  Magus’ face darkened.

  ‘Buzzard was a complete waste of time. He’d no backbone at all, the snivelling wretch, and he cared nothing for Stonewylde. I’m better off without him.’

  ‘Are there really no others? I know you abstained from procreating for years, although you’ve two on the way now, haven’t you?

  Magus shook his head.

  ‘There’s nobody. After Buzz, I … well, I decided to wait a few years. It would’ve been tempting to father children all over the place of course, but that would’ve been irresponsible and a genetic nightmare too. I just hope that either Rowan or Miranda’s baby proves to be a worthy heir, although I probably won’t stop there. But that’s all years away – they’re not even born yet.’

  Clip sat up suddenly, his face brightening.

  ‘Of course!’ he said excitedly. ‘Why didn’t we think of this before? I always forget about him, but what about the Village boy Yul? They don’t come much tougher than him and he seems bright and intelligent, from what I’ve noticed. There’s something special about him, something steely there. I know he hasn’t been brought up as a Hallchild, but—’

  Magus glared at Clip, his black eyes glittering.

  ‘Yul? Why mention him of all people?’

  ‘Because he’s yours, isn’t he? I remember he—’

  ‘You’re mistaken, Clip – he’s not my son.’

  ‘Come off it, Sol, of course he is! It’s obvious! I know he’s as dark-haired as his mother, but in all other ways—’

  ‘I repeat: Yul is not my son. I’ve been through this with you before and he can’t be my son, so just leave it, Clip. We don’t talk about this.’

  ‘But you know he’s yours! Your grand passion with his mother all those years ago, not long after you’d taken over here – your lovely little dark-haired Maizie, with her pretty grey eyes and joie de vivre. I remember it so well. That Moon Fullness – it was a Blue Moon too! You took her up to Mooncliffe and the stone and you couldn’t stop talking about it the next day, in far too much detail as I recall. What a night for her first time! It was that spectacular Blue Moon – you must remember it! The moon had the most enormous moon-bow arched around it, absolutely huge and glowing – remember? And everyone was saying it was a special sign from the Triple Goddess in her blue robes, and you and Maizie—’

  ‘Nothing came of that union,’ said Magus in a dangerous voice. ‘Maizie did not conceive that night.’

  ‘Of course she did – she had Yul!’

  ‘Oh for Goddess’ sake, she didn’t conceive that night! She couldn’t have because she was already pregnant.’

  ‘A
lready pregnant? But you know that’s not true! She was a very popular girl, being so pretty, but you were the only one she had eyes for. That night was her initiation, you told me so. She was mad about you and you were pretty keen on her too, I recall. She’d only just reached adulthood and she’d been with no one else. She couldn’t possibly have conceived before that Moon Fullness.’

  Magus regarded him coldly.

  ‘You’re completely wrong, confused. She was very popular, as you say – I hadn’t appreciated just how popular. And Alwyn was always in the picture, sniffing around her and trying to muscle in. Maizie lied to me – Alwyn had her first. I thought at the time that I was her first, but in fact she was already pregnant with his child when we made love during that Blue Moon. She must’ve been; Yul was born eight months later. Eight months, not nine, at the Winter Solstice. He was born on the Solstice itself.’

  ‘Oh yes! It was so long ago but it’s coming back to me now! It was a full moon that Solstice too, and a total eclipse at that. A blood-red moon, so dark, and the owls calling and calling, all that wild noise echoing around the Circle. Remember, Sol?’

  Magus shook his head, refusing to look his brother in the eye. Clip continued excitedly, cake crumbs flying as he gesticulated.

  ‘It was very potent magic – solstice, full moon and total eclipse all in conjunction. An auspicious time for a baby to be born, especially in the middle of the ceremony with the Earth Magic at its most powerful. I remember Maizie giving birth in the Circle right up by the Altar Stone. Blue and red, blue and red, Mother Heggy kept screeching it out like a mantra, with poor Maizie squatting on the ground groaning and pushing. Her labour lasted only as long as it took the moon to be completely shadowed. The blue moon and the red moon – conceived under the one and born under the other. Out came the baby and Old Heggy held that tiny boy up to the eclipsed moon, and said that one day when your son reached adulthood, he would—’

  ‘WILL YOU SHUT UP!’

  Magus’ face had turned white and he sprang up from the sofa, his hands trembling as he raked them through his hair.

  ‘We don’t talk about that!’ he shouted. ‘I told you years ago to never mention it! It’s all rubbish anyway, just a crazy old biddy’s rantings that no one ever believed for a moment. Enough, Clip! Yul is not my son, he’s Alwyn’s! Maizie was pregnant before I had her and Yul was not conceived under that Blue Moon. Heggy’s mad, her insane prophecies are pure nonsense, and Yul’s just a stupid, ill-bred Village boy. He’s no threat to me; never has been and never will be!’

  Clip regarded Magus warily, shocked by his reaction. He’d never seen his brother quite so shaken.

  ‘If you don’t believe the prophecy, Sol, then why are you so scared? Why do you hate the boy so much if he’s nothing more than an ordinary Villager?’

  Magus glared at him and sat down again, taking a deep breath.

  ‘I’m not scared! But I’ve had enough of Yul’s bad behaviour, his defiance and disobedience. He’s got above himself in the past few months and he’s over-stepped the mark once too often. I intend to finish him off before he reaches adulthood.’

  ‘Finish him off? What … kill him? Surely even you wouldn’t go that far!’

  ‘No, not kill him – don’t be ridiculous! I don’t go around killing members of my community.’

  ‘And you couldn’t even if you wanted to, could you, Sol?’ said Clip slyly. ‘Now I remember! Mother Heggy put a binding spell on you that night.’

  ‘ENOUGH!’ snarled Magus, his face once again dangerously pale and pinched. ‘I don’t—’

  ‘If you killed Yul before he reached adulthood, the Dark Angel would take you too!’ Clip continued gleefully, enjoying this rare opportunity to gain the upper hand over his brother. ‘Even if you organised his death indirectly, you’d die yourself, and—’

  He stopped abruptly as Magus snatched up one of the empty coffee cups and smashed it down full force on the table. Magus looked nearly as shocked as Clip at this unexpected act of violence. His dark eyes locked into Clip’s pale ones in a look almost of supplication as he tried to bring his ragged breathing under control. His hand trembled as he began to carefully gather together the shattered pieces of bone china that now lay all over the coffee table and carpet.

  ‘What I meant, Clip,’ he said shakily, ‘is that I’m going to crush the boy completely. There’s no place at Stonewylde for someone who defies me the way he does. I am the magus and if he can’t accept my absolute authority, his days here are numbered. I’ll take pleasure in subduing him once and for all, or banishing him forever.’

  ‘Surely,’ said Clip quiet and sober now ‘rather than trying to destroy him, it’d be better to have him on your side? Heggy may be wrong. Her prophecy may never happen. If you had Yul as your ally, working by your side, maybe none of it will happen as she predicted. Maybe, when he reaches sixteen, he won’t rise up against you. Think about it, brother.’

  ‘I have,’ said Magus shortly. ‘I’ve thought about it a great deal. There’s something about Yul … some dark flame burning in him that I have to snuff out. He and I could never work together and I will never, ever let him become magus after me. Consequences or not, I’d see him dead first.’

  Sylvie was scared. Restricted to her bed, she could think of nothing but the approaching full moon and almost wished she were still under Clip’s hypnosis and living in blissful ignorance. She was virtually a prisoner since Magus had locked the outside door leading to the garden, and her mother never seemed to leave the sitting room, through which she’d have to pass to leave their rooms. She deeply resented having to stay in bed when there was nothing wrong with her. She wasn’t sick or weak; she felt absolutely fine and had already lost far too much of her life to the sick bed to accept this enforced and unnecessary bed-rest now. The moondancing at Hare Stone had restored her fully and she teemed with the dark red energy of the Harvest Moon, feeling stronger than ever. Lying in bed all day, even with books to read and studying to do, was driving her mad. And the food! Magus had trays of it sent up every meal time and she was expected to eat it all, but had no opportunity to work up an appetite.

  Her mother was driving her crazy with her blind adherence to Magus’s instructions, constantly repeating how they must both do what he wanted and keep him happy. The worst of it was that Sylvie suspected her mother would act like this even without the hypnosis. She seemed to have lost every last shred of her former independence and objectivity. Sylvie was becoming increasingly anxious to see Yul and plan how to escape on the night of the Moon Fullness, which loomed ever closer.

  Yul was frantic with frustration too. He plied Harold with questions and was told that Sylvie was kept locked in her room with all her meals sent up. It explained why he hadn’t seen her out and about, despite having hung around at every opportunity in all the places he might find her. He visited Mother Heggy, desperately hoping that she’d be able to help again. He was disappointed.

  ‘This Hunter’s Moon he’ll take her to the stone and there’s nought I can do.’

  ‘But why can’t you stop him again? It worked so well last time.’

  She wheezed at him, pouring him a mug of some concoction.

  ‘Sit down, boy, and stop fidgeting. Drink this – no, ‘tis just a drink. You’ve grown, Yul, did I tell you that? A young man now, as the Solstice comes closer. ‘Tis as well, for you’ll need a man’s qualities soon enough.’

  She sat rocking back and forth, peering at him fondly as he downed the drink impatiently. The crow hopped along the table, pecking at scraps of meat with its black beak whilst a battered black cat crouched under the table twitching its tail.

  ‘Please, Mother Heggy, you must help! Sylvie can’t go up there again.’

  ‘If there were a way clear, I’d follow it. Do you think I want her to suffer? But ‘tis not yet time for the conflict, and till that day comes, he still rules and he still gets what he wants. Bide your time, boy, and have faith.’

  ‘But Mother Heggy, it
’s dangerous!’

  ‘Aye, true enough, but she’s strong now. ‘Tis why I made sure she had the Harvest Moon at Hare Stone. With that red magic in her she’ll be strong enough for the Hunter. She can take it.’

  He leapt up and banged the table hard with his fist, making the crow flutter aside and the cat growl.

  ‘I don’t want her to take it!’ he shouted, his face dark with anger. ‘I can’t bear her to go through that again! If you could see how she suffers …’

  Mother Heggy nodded her wizened head, rocking fast in the creaking chair.

  ‘I have seen. Not your bright one, but my Raven, my poor little girl – I saw how she suffered. Every moon, every single moon, she were up there for years and years. I watched her getting weaker as first one man, then another fed off her magic, bled her dry. All that life draining from her, month after month. So don’t you think I don’t know! I know better than any what snake-stone does to a moongazy girl.’

  ‘But couldn’t you have stopped it? You were powerful, Mother Heggy, you were the Wise Woman with magic at your call. Why didn’t you stop it?’

  She laughed harshly at this and pulled her shawl closely around her withered body, her eyes faraway.

  ‘Do you think I didn’t try? Do you think I stood by while they took my little one away? Of course I fought them! ‘Twas not so bad with the first one, with Basil. He were softer and he cared for her in his own selfish way, despite the forcing. He only wanted to lie with her at the Moon Fullness, and at first he took her into the woods or down to the river under the willows. But after the baby was born he came across the secret of the snake-stone at Mooncliffe and there was no stopping him then.’

  ‘Couldn’t you have hidden her away somewhere?’

  ‘Aye, I did everything I could to hide her, but then he captured her, kept my Raven in the tower at the Hall so’s I couldn’t see her. Locked my girl away when she had to roam wild and free. ‘Twould kill her to be in captivity so I got her out, one Dark Moon. I cast my circle and I got her out. But then the other one, Elm, he found out the secret too. He saw what went on at Mooncliffe and the magic my girl could draw down to that stone. He saw it one Moon Fullness, and Basil were dead within the month.’