Hexult

by Perry Aylen

  The mayor looked slightly alarmed, but before he could say anything, Gabriel broke in again.

  ‘Perhaps it would be better if I were to question them,’ he suggested calmly, and the mayor nodded, relieved. ‘Magic, as you know, Mayor, can be very dangerous. Only those qualified in the arts of sorcery are equipped to defend against it. Even as we speak, these two may be laying a hex upon you, or extracting important information from your mind without you even realising it.’ The mayor’s eyes widened with surprise. The sheriff was trying to look as if he didn’t believe a word, but shifting uncomfortably all the same. Even Aulf looked a little taken aback. ‘I will take them to my apartments and ascertain the truth of the matter.’

  The sheriff made to protest. ‘I think they would be more secure in one of my cells.’

  ‘They will be perfectly safe in my keeping,’ returned Gabriel, freezing the sheriff with an icy glare.

  ‘Actually,’ interrupted the mayor, a hint of exasperation in his tone, ‘I am the mayor here, and I will decide what should be done!’ Everyone looked round in surprise. Even the mayor seemed taken aback by his own assertiveness, but having seized the advantage, he now hung onto it.

  ‘It seems to me we are being very heavy-handed about this. These two young people arrive on our shores with an offer of help, and we greet them with suspicion and hostility. The fact is, they have made a very useful proposition that may well go a long way towards solving our problems, and for that we should be grateful to them, not threatening to lock them up! If they really are able to build magic towers, then I, for one, will be glad to support them. That’s the kind of useful magic these islands need right now.’ He fixed Gabriel with a meaningful stare.

  Although the wizard’s face remained as unreadable as ever, it seemed to everybody in the room that he must have understood the implied criticism in the mayor’s words. After a strained silence, Gabriel finally inclined his head gracefully in the mayor’s direction. ‘You are perfectly right, Mayor.’ He turned his inscrutable gaze on Jacob and Elya, his mouth shaping an apologetic smile as he spoke.

  ‘If you have felt unwelcome, I beg your pardon, young friends. You must understand that these are difficult times for Hexult, and vigilance sometimes makes us over cautious. And we have always to be mindful of the words of the Vajra.’

  The mayor raised his eyebrows, the eagerness fading from his face. There was a lack of comprehension in the faces of the twins.

  Gabriel continued. ‘You appear unfamiliar with the wisdoms of our people, but my fellow islanders here will appreciate what I am saying.’ He did not need to look at the other three men in the room to know the effect his words were having. The sudden tension was almost tangible. ‘Especially, perhaps, the Third prophecy of the Vajra.’

  There was an uncomfortable silence. Gabriel’s gaze did not flinch from the twins’ faces. When no one else spoke, the smile on the wizard’s mouth broadened, becoming as reassuring as the tone in which he now addressed them. ‘Nothing to worry about. It is simply that the teachings of the Guardians warn that the only true magic is found in the power of the Vajra.’

  Jacob opened his mouth to speak and shut it again. Clearing his throat he made another attempt, and his voice came out sounding young and small. ‘Not magic; science.’

  ‘So you say,’ agreed Gabriel, looking sympathetic, ‘and we want to believe you, which is why we need to get to know each other a little better. I would suggest we adjourn to my apartments and discuss this messaging system in a little more detail so that we can put a convincing case to the council.’ He looked to the mayor for approval. Mayor Sleetfoot, after his sudden earlier outburst, was again looking anxious and harassed.

  ‘A council meeting. Of course. My thought exactly. I will arrange that without delay.’

  ‘In the meantime,’ continued Gabriel, ‘I will consult the Vajra.’ Before anyone could say anything else, he stepped between Jacob and Elya, took them by the arms and marched them out of the room.

  Attempting to look as if this had been his plan all along, Mayor Sleetfoot became suddenly brisk and business-like. ‘Well, that’s all in hand, then. Back to your duties, Proctor.’

  The sheriff’s scowl darkened again. He fixed the mayor with a venomous glare before turning on his heel and marching out.

  Aulf made to follow him, but the mayor called him back. ‘Aulf, a moment please.’

  Aulf stopped and turned back to the mayor’s desk.

  ‘Message towers sound like a wonderful invention to me, but, in the meantime, we must make the best of what we have, and you are the fastest and most reliable mailman on these islands.’ He gave Aulf a friendly smile. ‘After your father died, I was worried that standards would slip, but do you know, I think they may actually be even higher than before! No, don’t look so modest, my boy. With diplomatic relations between these islands the way they are at the moment, swift and reliable communication is vital!

  ‘Now, I have to send an urgent reply to Orking Do, which needs to go back to Mayor Potts with all speed. If I have it sent down to your boat, will you be able to take it straight to Orking Do? I’ll make it worth your while, of course.’

  Aulf nodded. ‘That shouldn’t be a problem.’

  The mayor cleared his throat conspiratorially. ‘Now, on that other matter I spoke to you about. Did you hear anything pertinent on Orking Do when you were there the other day?’

  Aulf shook his head. ‘No. But Orking Do really is suffering at the hands of the raiders. The docks are half empty because people are too scared to take their boats onto the open ice. Do you really think they would try to double cross you, Mayor?’

  The mayor looked dubious. ‘I hope not, Aulf. But with things the way they are, who knows, my boy? Who knows?’

  Chapter 11

  Back at the boat, Ingar was waiting, uncertain what to do next. When the sheriff’s men had marched Jacob and Elya away, Aulf had hurried after the crowd, calling out to Ingar to stay with the boat. Now she had no way of knowing what had happened, but she didn’t dare leave the Aurora in case Ivor and his sons returned, looking for more trouble. From her perch in the rigging, she had watched them all until they disappeared from her line of view between the buildings of the town, then she climbed down, and busied herself, dealing with the mail and tidying the boat, lifting her head anxiously every few minutes to check along the length of the dockside.

  Finally, after what felt like an age, she saw the tall, unmistakable outline of Aulf in the distance. He was alone, but she was relieved to see him, all the same.

  ‘Where are Jacob and Elya?’

  Aulf had reached the side of the Aurora. He looked back along the quayside to make sure nobody had followed him.

  ‘Come inside,’ he said, ‘and I’ll tell you what happened.’

  ‘Gabriel the Wizard took Jacob and Elya away,’ Aulf told Ingar, as they sat in front of the small stove, drinking tea. He held the mug close to his face and watched the steam rise in little swirls from the hot liquid. ‘I got the feeling he didn’t believe their story of how they got here.’

  ‘I don’t trust Gabriel.’ Ingar wrinkled her freckled nose to emphasise how she felt about the old wizard.

  Aulf’s frown lifted. He looked at her, amused. ‘You don’t trust anyone,’ he reminded her.

  She gave him a grin. ‘Not true. I trust you, don’t I?’

  ‘Possibly,’ he laughed, teasing her.

  She took a mouthful of her tea. After a moment’s thought, she added, ‘And I trust Jacob and Elya.’

  Aulf considered this. ‘Do you?’ he asked, and she nodded without hesitation. Ingar relied on her instincts when it came to judging people. Aulf wished he could find it so simple.

  ‘We don’t really know a lot about them,’ he pointed out, dubiously, ‘apart from what they’ve told us. The sheriff thinks they could be spies. What if they’ve been lying to us?’

  ‘Do you think they’re lying?’

  Aulf considered for a moment and shook his
head.

  They sipped their drinks in silence for a few moments, then Aulf said, ‘What do you make of this magic stuff, Ingar?’

  ‘I don’t really know what magic is,’ she confessed simply. ‘There’s so much I don’t know and I don’t understand, but I don’t think that makes it magic.’ She saw the doubt still clouding his face. That disturbed her. It wasn’t like Aulf to worry. She wondered what else had happened at the town hall.

  After a while, he looked up at her again, and asked, ‘When we first found Jacob and Elya, out on the ice, did it occur to you about the prophecies of the Vajra?’

  Now it was Ingar’s turn to frown. ‘I’m not really sure what the prophecies are. I know people talk about them, but I’ve never given them much thought. To be perfectly honest, I don’t really know what they actually say.’ She gave an embarrassed shrug. ‘Me and school, we didn’t really get on, remember.’

  Aulf smiled at her honesty. ‘Well, there are six prophecies,’ he told her. ‘It’s the third one that Gabriel mentioned:

  ‘“In the days of the brooding, a light from afar will scatter the mists, and all the lands will prosper.

  “But night follows day; born of the same. Fear the cold shadow. In darkness is death.”’

  He looked at Ingar and gave a heavy sigh. ‘We had to learn the Wisdoms at school.’

  Ingar pursed her lips as she thought over the words. ‘What does it mean, “in the days of the brooding”?’

  Aulf shrugged. ‘Some people think it means now, because the Vajra has been quiet for so many years. They say that’s what it’s doing – brooding - biding its time.’

  ‘And Gabriel is suggesting that, because Elya is dark-haired and Jacob is blond, this saying is supposed to be about them?’

  Aulf shrugged. ‘They’re twins, aren’t they, ‘born of the same? And they certainly came here from afar if they really did cross the great plain.’

  ‘It could mean anything,’ retorted Ingar sensibly, but Aulf still looked troubled. The prophecy meant little to Ingar, but seeing Aulf so disturbed bothered her deeply.

  ‘People are good at believing what they want to believe,’ she pointed out, ‘and at jumping to unjust conclusions. There are too many people ready to believe the worst of others.’ A little scowl darkened her face as she remembered back. ‘Look at all the things people say about me. Most of them are completely untrue. Jacob and Elya are our friends now, so we have to stand by them.’

  Her earnestness took him by surprise. Ingar had good instincts; he knew he could trust them.

  ‘You’re right,’ he said, shaking off his fretfulness with an effort. ‘Being different doesn’t make you bad, does it?’

  Ingar gave a short laugh. ‘If only everyone thought like that!’

  ‘I didn’t tell you, did I?’ said Aulf. ‘The mayor’s got a special job for us.’

  And he told her about their mission to Orking Do.

  Chapter 12

  Gabriel’s private apartments were nothing like the mayor’s office. The small, cluttered room was like a cross between a museum and a store room, with some comfy chairs squeezed in among the piles of books and untidy stacks of papers. There were models of boats, buildings, the odd stuffed animal, and strange gadgets designed for unknown purposes, pushed onto shelves and propped against the walls. Along one wall was a bench, with shelves above, full of jars, pots, mortars and pestles, racks of dried herbs and plants. Elya paused there as they entered the room, and peered curiously at the contents of several bowls lined up along the wooden planks of the bench. She picked up a purple plant, with waxy, elongated leaves and a pungent aroma and held it to her nose.

  ‘What are all these?’ she asked Gabriel.

  ‘I’m a wizard. I make potions.’ Gabriel’s voice held an undercurrent of annoyance. ‘That plant you’re holding is a highly poisonous variety. Lethal even in the tiniest quantities.’

  Elya dropped the stem swiftly back onto the table and wiped her hands hurriedly on her coat.

  Gabriel’s mouth twitched in a small smile. ‘Actually,’ he told her, ‘it’s perfectly harmless. But you should never presume too much, my dear.’

  They sat in three armchairs, facing each other, Gabriel leaning back, feet crossed, fixing them with an unexpected smile.

  ‘I apologise, young man, for cutting you short in the mayor’s office,’ he said to Jacob. His voice softened, and there was a friendly twinkle in his pale blue eyes. ‘I had to stop you before you put truth in the way of a good story.’

  Jacob and Elya looked confused.

  Gabriel studied them closely as he spoke. They were both well spoken, despite the unusual dialect to their speech, and the clothes they were wearing were not locally made. Their knitted hats, the girl’s carried in her hand, the boy’s protruding from his pocket, were patterned with an unusual geometric design, and plaited tassels dangled from the ear flaps. Gabriel was no authority on fashion, but the style and the pattern were unfamiliar. The two were undoubtedly brother and sister, but the striking similarities in their features, and the apparent similarity in their age, suggested to Gabriel a closer relationship still. Almost certainly, they were twins.

  ‘I will explain, but first, let me ask you something. These signal towers that you spoke of. How far and how fast could they send a message?’

  ‘As fast as sunlight.’ The boy had surprising confidence for his age. ‘How far would depend on the height of the tower, but possibly as far as a boat could travel in, say, two days.’

  ‘If that was achievable, it might well be the bargaining chip that would prevent the islands going to war,’ mused Gabriel. ‘Only we would need to tread very carefully or we might never convince them to try it.’ He saw that Elya and Jacob were struggling to follow his train of thought.

  ‘There’s a deep mistrust between these islands,’ he explained, ‘and it’s worsening by the day. However well-meaning Mayor Sleetfoot is, if he were to send you over to the next island to build a tower, they would suspect you of some subterfuge.’ He brought his fingertips together thoughtfully and rested his bearded chin on the arch they made, regarding the twins with the air of someone who was having trouble making up his mind.

  ‘The people hereabout are very superstitious.’ A small, mysterious smile lifted his narrow lips. ‘No doubt, you’ve noticed that. That’s why they are so suspicious of you. They believe very firmly in magic. They want to believe it. But, they also fear it. They don’t understand science! It’s magic they want to see. Magic is so much more romantic than science, after all. The people of these islands have a healthy respect for magic.’

  Jacob frowned. ‘But we’re not talking about magic. The light towers are based on scientific principles and built of stone and wood. Nothing magical about them.’

  ‘Not in your eyes, maybe,’ returned Gabriel. ‘But to the people here, they will seem like magic. It’s not what something is that matters, it’s what people believe it to be.’

  ‘Deceive people, you mean?’ Elya looked decidedly unimpressed by the idea.

  Gabriel looked at her sharply. ‘Does it matter what something is called? Isn’t what is achieved more important?’

  ‘I suppose so,’ said Jacob, but he didn’t sound convinced.

  Gabriel nodded with approval. ‘Message towers could bring huge benefits to Hexult, but the councils of these islands are bound to be suspicious. They are suspicious of everything another island does, and we will need to tread carefully. However, I hold a position of some authority here in Quayven, and in Pelago too. Obviously, the councils will be more inclined to give you their full support if they know you have mine. They are bound to be wary of your perceived magic, and the strangeness of your looks and your speech, and unlikely, in the first instance at least, to trust you. But they know me. Gabriel the old fuddy-duddy wizard! They trust my judgement on matters of sorcery.’ He gave a little wave of his hand. ‘And once the towers are up and running here on Pelago and Quayven, and people see the benefits, they will love
you then, and Orking Do will be clamouring to join the party and have a tower or two of their own. All we need to do now is discuss the details so we can put a convincing case to the council here on Quayven. Tell me how you would go about building one of these towers, and what materials would be needed.’

  He saw how they looked at each other, as if they were communicating without speech. The boy was beginning to look excited at the prospect of a building project. It was he who answered, his eyes still on his sister’s face.

  ‘We’ll need to decide the best place to build first. We’ll have to make sure we get our calculations right. The lodestones won’t be accurate enough to measure the line of sight. We’ll have to make compasses, and we’ll need some parchment to map it all out.’ He looked directly at Gabriel. ‘We’ll need some needles. What do you use? Metal or bone?’

  Gabriel favoured Jacob with a small, amused smile. ‘You might have to slow down a little. First of all, explain to me about compasses.’

  Chapter 13

  It was mid afternoon before Jacob and Elya left the town hall to make their way back down the hill to the quay. The buildings on either side of them were all made of stone. Some were built into the hill, others around large outcrops of rock, jutting out of the earth, huddled low into the heat that emanated from the rock beneath. Near the harbour, the houses dwindled as the air grew colder. Soon there were only the freezers, squat, white-walled buildings, built to keep the sun out and the food inside frozen.

  As they walked, they drew curious stares from everyone they passed. People muttered to each other and pointed. A mother grabbed a small child out of their path, and clutched him close as if she was afraid they would harm him, but nobody challenged them openly.

  Back at the Aurora, Aulf looked relieved to see them. ‘I told Ingar you would be more than a match for the sheriff and the mayor. So, what happened?’