The Enchanter's Forest

by Alys Clare

‘You have tampered with the bones,’ the tall man said in the same chanting tones. ‘None may do that and live.’

  ‘I came here to help!’ Josse shouted. ‘We went to Armorica to seek proof that this was not Merlin’s Tomb and to make sure it was closed down! We found the proof but, on our return, we discovered that the man behind the pretence was dead and the tomb already safe behind a secure fence.’

  The tall man studied him for what seemed an age. Then he said, ‘My brother here followed you all the way from this place to your destination. He had kept his ears and his eyes open and discovered that his quarry would be crossing the narrow seas and so he followed you until it was clear from which port you would embark. He noticed the party of monks waiting to board the vessel that you selected and it was easy to arrange his dark, hooded cloak so that it looked, to the superficial glance, like a monk’s habit. He made a mistake on board the boat, for he allowed the woman to become aware of him. In his own defence, he had not expected her to be so sensitive and so skilled; usually, when he casts that aura of unobtrusiveness over himself, most people barely even realise he is there.’

  ‘A monk!’ Josse breathed. He could hardly even recall the party of monks, let alone details such as one of them looking slightly different from his brethren.

  ‘He dogged your footsteps all the way to the fountain in the Armorican forest,’ the tall man continued, ‘and he followed you back on the homeward journey, right up until the time when he made his presence known to you.’

  ‘I thought he was dead!’ Josse stared at the man with the staff.

  ‘Death indeed came looking for him.’ The tall man eyed his companion with dispassionate eyes. ‘He fought an assailant whose power was even greater than his own. He lay down in the forest in the land over the water and he waited for death. As he lay there he sent out his thoughts to those who sent him and they heard. They went to find him and they did what had to be done for him so that he might find a little strength. Then they bore him up to the coast and found passage over the water.’ Again, that curiously disinterested glance at his wounded companion, as if the tall man’s emotions were not in the least engaged by this harrowing tale of his brother’s dogged and dangerous mission and his brush with death. ‘I went to meet him on the shore beyond the Downs so that I could bring him home,’ he concluded. Then, turning suddenly back to Josse, he drew a long knife from beneath his cloak.

  ‘No!’ Josse shouted. The Domina beside him stood unmoving; with a part of his mind wondering why she did not act – performing some kind of spell to release his sword from its scabbard would have been a start – he lunged forward towards the two men.

  As he raced across the ground he sensed someone at his side. The Domina, he thought, at last spurred into action.

  But it was not the Domina; it was Joanna.

  She had something in her hand and he saw it was her wand with its brownish crystal. She pushed in front of him, screaming out some words that he did not understand, and two things happened.

  His sword suddenly came loose from its sheath and, without an instant’s hesitation, he raised it above his head in a two-handed grip and brought it down in a swinging blow of such force that the tall man’s head must surely have been severed from his shoulders. Just as the steel made contact with the man’s flesh, he experienced a sort of tingling in his hands. It extended right up his arms and he felt the muscles in his shoulders quiver. And his blade seemed to meet with no resistance whatsoever.

  At the same time Joanna leapt on the man with the staff, knocking it away so that he slumped to his knees. Her own knife in her hand, she struck down in the direction of the man’s throat to finish what she had begun back in the Brocéliande.

  There was a sudden brilliant light in the clearing, so powerful – so painful – that it was as if the noonday sun had descended to earth. A white mist emanated from it and within the mist there seemed to be flashes of lightning. Josse, his sword still in his hand, could make out the shape of Joanna crouched close to him and he hastened across to her, putting his free arm around her. ‘Are you all right?’ he asked urgently.

  ‘Yes!’ She sounded surprised. ‘But I have no idea what’s happening . . .’

  There was a clash in the milky-white haze above them and another flash of light, so searing that Josse threw himself on Joanna. His body covering hers, he closed his eyes tight against the pain.

  He waited for the killing blow. There was something, some terrible pressure on his head. Then the world went black and he passed out.

  He was aware of the wren’s song and he had an awful headache. But he was alive and so was Joanna; so close to her, he could feel her breathing. After some time he risked opening one eye. Then the other one.

  The mist had gone, there was no sign of the two Long Men and the Domina stood beside the grave, alone.

  Josse got shakily to his feet, putting out his hand to help Joanna up. Together they walked slowly forward until they stood before the slim, straight figure in the grey robe.

  Joanna gave a gasp, pointing. Josse followed her finger. The grave had been filled in.

  Before either he or Joanna could say a word, she spoke. ‘I had to stop you for you would have killed them. One is already dying and the one who drew his knife to attack you just now does not deserve death, for he acted as a result of a misapprehension.’

  ‘What?’ Josse demanded, but he noticed that his voice sounded weak.

  The Domina smiled softly. ‘The man who pursued you had very specific instructions. He was to follow you, see where you went and what you did there and, if you believed you had found proof that the blasphemous Merlin’s Tomb here in the forest was in fact the true burial place of the enchanter, then at all costs he was to prevent you reaching England with that information. For, they told him, if the man Josse returns saying that he has found proof that the bones there in Armorica are not those of Merlin, then we are done for and all hope is gone.’

  ‘But what I was shown at the fountain near Folle-Pensée proved the very opposite!’ Josse protested weakly; his head was hurting so badly that he could barely see.

  ‘The tall man made a fatal mistake,’ the Domina said. ‘Observing the two of you as you returned from the fountain on the hilltop, he misunderstood the cause of the mood between you. He saw deep sadness on your faces, read distress in the very way you moved. Knowing that you, Josse, were connected with the Abbey, he appreciated that you must therefore have hoped for proof that Merlin could not lie buried in England because his true resting place was in the Brocéliande forest in Brittany. Your clear distress on returning from the hilltop, he reasoned, was all the proof he needed that the opposite had happened: he believed that you had been shown some totally unconvincing pretence at a tomb of Merlin, so that you were faced with the unwelcome fact that there was no reason now not to say that this site here was in fact the magician’s true burial place. In addition to what he observed,’ she added, ‘he actually overheard you, Josse, speak the fatal words.’

  ‘What words?’ Josse demanded.

  ‘As far as I recall from what I was told, the words were Say what you will, I don’t believe Merlin the Magician is buried up there.’

  ‘But I don’t believe he’s buried anywhere!’ Josse protested. ‘I didn’t mean I wasn’t convinced by the stone slab and the spring – I was, believe me!’

  The Domina smiled. ‘I do,’ she said. ‘Unfortunately, it was not I who had to decide.’ She paused, staring from one to the other. Then, very softly, she added, ‘You were both clearly affected by some strong emotion. That your sorrow had a very different cause never even crossed your assailant’s mind.’

  Josse’s sword arm drooped. Putting his free hand to his thumping head, he said, ‘How do you know all this?’

  ‘The Long Men just told me,’ she said serenely. ‘They are sorry for the mistake and they hope that you will understand. They are not,’ she added, ‘well versed in the ways of men and women.’

  But something was still
not quite right . . . fighting the growing sense of confusion, Josse said, ‘You prevented us from killing them, lady, before they told you this. Why did you—?’

  Joanna, close beside him, dug her elbow into his side. ‘Enough,’ she murmured.

  ‘They were about to attack us!’ he cried, refusing to leave it. ‘The one in the lead stopped me drawing my sword! And where are they?’ He spun round, trying wildly to look in every direction at once.

  ‘They’ve gone,’ Joanna said, putting her arm round his waist and hugging him. She glanced at the Domina. ‘I don’t think they’ll be back.’

  ‘You will not see them again this day,’ the Domina confirmed.

  Josse sank to his knees, then, the agonising pain behind his burning eyes at last overcoming him, lay down on the ground. He was aware of Joanna’s concern and he heard the Domina say quietly, ‘Tend to your man, Beith, for he is hurting and he needs you.’

  Your man, he thought. I like that.

  He felt Joanna’s cool hand on his head and then there were other small noises as she opened the leather pouch at her belt; he thought he heard that running water sound again. Presently something almost too chilly for comfort dripped on to his brow and then, pressing a little cup to his lips, Joanna whispered, ‘Drink this, Josse.’

  He drank. It was cool and tasted of moss. Or herbs. Or something. It made him very sleepy. He let himself relax on to the short grass. Something soft was placed beneath his head and he thought he felt Joanna’s lips on his cheek in a tender kiss. This is all very pleasant, but I must sheathe my sword, he thought dreamily. The dew will fall and the blade should be covered . . .

  Then he fell asleep.

  Chapter 22

  Aware as if in a dream of Joanna helping him on to Horace’s back, Josse sat slumped in the saddle as she led the big horse along narrow forest tracks, twisting and turning this way and that, until at last they reached her hut in its secret clearing. He felt a sharp stab of pain in his head as she got him off Horace and inside the hut, where it was all she could do to make him drink an infusion that she hastily prepared from her stocks of herbs on the shelves in the hut.

  He lay stretched out on the sleeping platform and she covered him with soft blankets. He tried to keep his eyes open – there was so much he needed to know – but sleep was overcoming him relentlessly.

  ‘It’s all right, dearest Josse,’ Joanna murmured.

  ‘But how—?’

  ‘No more questions till the morning,’ she said very firmly. Then she lay down beside him, curled up against him and, immeasurably comforted by her warmth and her presence, at last he surrendered.

  He woke to the lovely sensation of having his forehead massaged with a feather touch by very small fingers. There was the sweet, sharp smell of lavender oil. Seeing his eyes open, his daughter said, ‘Does it still hurt, Josse?’

  He was not entirely sure but he thought not. To test this out he raised his eyebrows and lowered them very quickly four or five times in quick succession, which amused Meggie so much that he did it several times more. Then she had to try, and in the resulting laughter one of them managed to upset the little dish of oil.

  ‘Sorry,’ he said to Joanna when presently she came into the hut. ‘Some of the oil got spilled.’

  She sniffed. ‘It doesn’t matter. This hut always smells of some remedy or another and lavender is one of the better ones.’ She came up to stand in front of the sleeping platform. ‘You look better. How’s the head?’

  ‘It’s fine,’ he assured her. ‘Whatever you dosed me with last night has mended me.’

  ‘Just a pain killer,’ she said.

  ‘A strong one, and it made me sleep like the dead.’ She did not reply. ‘Were you, I wonder,’ he added softly, ‘hoping that it would also serve to confuse me, so that I could no longer tell what really happened late yesterday from the weird and unlikely things that cropped up in my dreams?’

  Her dark eyes were steady on his. ‘Yes.’

  ‘It didn’t work,’ he told her. ‘I can still see that image of my sword swinging down in a blow that should have beheaded him, yet—’ No. Whatever had happened next had completely gone, if indeed it had ever been there in the first place. ‘And you with that lethal knife of yours, I could have sworn you cut the other man’s throat.’

  ‘Sssh!’ She put a warning finger to her lips and belatedly he remembered Meggie, sitting just behind him. He turned but she seemed absorbed in making a very neat plait from the fringed ends of one of the blankets.

  ‘Meggie, Josse and I are going outside for a while,’ Joanna said. ‘We won’t be long, then we’ll come back and I’ll prepare some food. I’ve put a pot of water over the hearth to boil and, because fire and hot water can hurt, you must stay up there where it’s safe, yes?’

  ‘Yes. Stay,’ the child agreed.

  ‘She’s very obedient,’ Josse said as he and Joanna walked slowly over to the far side of the clearing.

  ‘She’s very sensible,’ she replied. ‘When I tell her to do or not to do something, I try to explain why, and usually – not always – she accepts without too much complaint.’

  Something within Josse protested at the thought of a child not yet three years old being sensible. ‘Does she never just play or be naughty?’ He could hear accusation in his voice.

  Joanna smiled, not to be ruffled. ‘Oh, she does both of those.’

  They had moved into the shade of a great oak tree. Birds sang in its dense green foliage and from near at hand came the rushing sounds of a stream. He said, ‘So, what happened? Did the Domina turn those two men to mist just as our weapons struck?’

  He had intended sarcasm, but surprisingly she nodded. ‘Yes, sort of,’ she replied. ‘They had something to do with it too; the uninjured one is a very powerful man and his abilities far exceed those of his brother. Actually I think brother is not to be taken literally, only to imply that they are united in the clan. The men are, I believe, no more than distant cousins.’

  As if, he thought, it made any difference. ‘So why didn’t the stronger one undertake the task of following us?’ he demanded. ‘For one thing, his greater power might have allowed him to realise the truth about what we found out at Barenton so that he wouldn’t have launched his attack on us. For another, maybe if it had been he who fought that – that whatever it was that came to our defence in the Brocéliande, he might have emerged the victor.’

  ‘He might,’ she agreed. ‘They would indeed have been more evenly matched.’

  Still she seemed serene, quite unfazed by his angry comments. With an exasperated sigh, he said, ‘Joanna, I don’t understand supernatural powers and I never will. But, since it seems that twice recently people wielding such powers have tried to kill me, I do think that you might at least try to explain.’

  She smiled. ‘Of course. Yesterday the Long Men were angry because they thought people – you – were again violating the grave of their venerated ancestress. You weren’t,’ she added quickly, ‘but they didn’t know that. We – you and I – saw them and, recalling how the wounded one tried to attack us before, we defended ourselves, once the Domina had released what the Long Man had done to stop you drawing your sword.’

  ‘What did he do?’

  ‘Oh, that’s actually quite simple. You could have unsheathed it all along but he had put the thought into your mind that it was suddenly impossible.’

  ‘How could he possibly do that?’

  ‘Josse, it would take all of today and tomorrow to explain, let alone to tell you how to do it. Just take my word for it that putting thoughts into someone else’s head is quite easy when you know how.’

  ‘Can you do it?’

  ‘I can, yes, but I never do it to those I love.’

  ‘Oh.’ He could not for the moment think what else to say.

  ‘Where was I? Oh, yes. The Domina knew that the Long Men would not wish to harm us once they knew the true story. Once they knew that the information we brought home from the Brocé
liande supported the closure of Merlin’s Tomb and not the opposite, because what you were shown there in the forest of Armorica confirmed your belief that the tomb here was a fake. Also, once they knew that you went there yesterday to apologise to the ancestress for what had been done, even though it wasn’t your fault, and to try to make amends.’

  ‘I suggested to the Domina that I could start to fill in the grave,’ he recalled with a grin.

  ‘I can imagine her reaction. That was a task of great honour reserved for the dead woman’s own people. But you weren’t to know. The Domina knew she must stop our attack on the men because, once everyone knew the truth, there was no more need either for them to try to kill us or for us to defend ourselves and retaliate.’ She paused, then added quietly, ‘The Domina is more far-sighted than most people and she no doubt saw what would have happened had your sword and my knife found their mark. Two of the Long Men would have been slain in their own sacred grove and, even though they are nowadays few in number, still the repercussions would have been terrible.’

  ‘So she turned my man to cloud and my sword passed straight through him,’ Josse murmured. He still could not believe it.

  ‘It’s mind control again, Josse,’ she said earnestly. ‘You thought you did things that, in reality, worked out rather differently.’

  ‘I’ve been a soldier all my life!’ he cried. ‘I know when I’m swinging my sword down in a death blow and you can’t tell me otherwise.’

  She began to speak but then, with a nod, stopped; it was almost, he thought, as if she were listening to a voice within her head giving her instructions . . .

  ‘Let us just be relieved that further harm has been averted,’ she said calmly. ‘Now, what do you want for breakfast?’

  ‘I—’ Breakfast? When his mind was still bursting with things he was desperate to know?

  But she was already moving away back towards the hut. She held out her hand to him and, after a moment, he took it.

  After they had all eaten, Joanna unwound the linen bandage and inspected the wound on his forearm. It had healed well and skilfully she removed the stitches.