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Chapter 38 - The Last Chapter.
Tryg had prepared a light supper for them all, and by the time they returned home, that was all they needed before a good night’s sleep.
The following morning there was an urgent calling of the council to discuss the previous evening’s activity,
Once the council had been brought up to speed, they turned to the betrayal of Trymyll by the people of Kenefick.
“Have Elite Big John brought here to appear before us to explain the treachery of his people,” Llewellyn demanded.
Big John appeared from the dungeons below.
“Big John,” Llewellyn started, “we welcomed you into our land, we offered you hospitality, we gave you every courtesy we could extend to you. So why turn against us after we greeted you as friends?”
“It was the Master, he destroyed most of our land and most of our people, he threatened to lay waste the rest of it unless we bowed the knee to him and accepted him as our master. What else could we do?”
“Well, once on this side of the portal, you could have thrown your lot in with us, we told you that we had defeated him before, joining with us you could have enjoyed the final victory and our friendship would have continued. Now, by your actions, you have instead proved yourselves untrustworthy and not worthy of our companionship.”
“What will become of us now? We have indeed betrayed you and told terrible lies to you as well.”
“Lied? In what way?”
“When we told you that we learnt from the dragons all about you and the people of Trymyll, we didn’t, we have no such power, the Master told us about you, your family, the council and of course your disgraced Elder Llewel Gaynor. Also, we speak the same language, no one speaks the ancient tongue we pretended to speak, in fact, we cannot really speak it at all, some of the words we used were made up.”
“But Glynda understood what you were saying.”
“We know enough for her to understand, she just didn’t understand every word.”
“What about your magic? You said you use no wands and staffs were purely ceremonial?”
“Also, a lie, we use wands and staffs just as you do, I didn’t want to sound less powerful than a fifteen-year-old girl, so I embellished a little.”
“And the fancy robes?”
“Ceremonial only, we wear pretty much the same as you all do most of the time. But we do wear our robes at the council, we would never hold a meeting dressed as you are.” Big John said with a certain amount of haughtiness.
“Well, what are we to do with you all now? We can’t imprison you all, we don’t have enough space, we can’t let you get off without any redress, what you did was wrong and even if you acted under duress, it cannot go unpunished,” Llewellyn continued.
“We know we did wrong, but we were subjugated to the Master and could not do otherwise. We knew, by your admission that you would capture him and not kill him, so we knew that the ordeal would just continue. At the end of the day, we put all our money on the wrong horse.”
“We indeed had no intention of it ending the way it did, but what has happened has happened and cannot be undone. You will all be returned to your encampment, then the council will discuss what is to be done.”
“All rise,” the clerk announced.
All the prisoners were returned to their camp, watched over by half a dozen Wizard Guards, food and beverages were provided, and they settled down for the night to await their fate.
The next morning the council met again.
“All rise for the Elder of Elders,” the clerk said, with almost a look of satisfaction on his face.
In swept the Elder from his vestry, but this time in his wizard robes.
“I’m glad you all got my memo,” Llewellyn said looking around, smiling.
Llewellyn was dressed in his purple robes with gold piping and a Purple Dragon, edged in gold, emblazoned on the back, Flintock was looking fine and dandy all in black and gold, Aneta, beautifully turned out in black and crimson with gold trimmings, and so it went on, Asmodeus was the most outstanding amongst the elders, instead of his normal lamentable and nondescript black cloak, he wore a vivid blue satin cloak with the moon, stars, and planets embroidered in fine gold thread. Even the clerk was happy, he now wore his scarlet robe, black scarf, and scarlet tippet with a bob-wig on his head made of white horsehair.
“We may be returning to the traditional clothing in council, but do not think for one moment we are reverting to the old ways of doing business. No prevaricating, no filibustering, no points of order.”
The council then debated what was to become of the two-hundred and twenty-four who came through from Kenefick.
Eventually, Aneta Stepanek rose to speak.
“Many here have had the same thought, but not the courage to say it out loud, so I will say what others have been thinking. Why don’t we just send the whole lot of them back where they came from and then disable the portal? While we’re at it, why don’t we send Llewel with them, that would be punishment enough for anyone.”
“What if they don’t want him?” asked Penvro Dey.
“Then we threaten to build a jail large enough to house them all and put him in there with them.” Aneta Stepanek replied, much to everyone’s amusement.
Llewellyn nodded to the clerk. The clerk spoke…
“All those in favour of the proposal of Aneta Stepanek say aye.”
“Aye!” went up around the room.
“All those against say nay.”
There was silence.
“The ayes have it!”
The council adjourned and left the city for the camp where the people of Kenefick were staying. With them, shackles on each hand were Big John and Llewel, whining and whinging as usual.
Llewellyn spoke, “People of Kenefick, we have come to our decision, you are to return to Kenefick on the promise that you never attempt to return. After you have gone, the portal will be destroyed and the portal of Mynydd closed forever. Your punishment is,” he paused for a smile, “that you take Llewel Mathias Gaynor with you, perhaps you might teach him some humility and even a little magic.”
“How dare you suggest that I have no magic, I am one of the finest wizards ever to walk in Trymyll, anyway, what if I do not wish to go? What will you do with me then? Eh?” Llewel said in his normal whining voice.
“That is simple, if you do not agree to go through to Kenefick, you will spend the rest of your days incarcerated in your tiny cell with only the guards for company. And I know for a fact that they like to spend as little time as possible in your company. And just to set the record straight, your wizarding skills are as great as your stature, diminutive, you can’t apparate, you won’t fly, all you can do is cause fires. So, Big John, I wish you well in having Llewel for company, there is no right of return.”
“We will take him if we must,” Big John said, smiling, “but it is a harsh punishment for us all. I am sure we can put him to work rebuilding our cities and towns, and if he refuses to do so, I assure you our dungeons are nowhere near the luxury of yours.”
The portal which had been hidden in Ren’s firebox was opened and the wizards of Kenefick returned to their own land, accompanied by Llewel the Loser. The portal was closed and then destroyed by Llewellyn. Meanwhile, in the mountains of Mynydd, the portal there was destroyed by Govannon Staley of the Elven community himself and the castle closed and secured as all the inhabitants returned to the warmth of the valley.
“Come,” said Llewellyn, “it is time to bury our dead.”
The party returned to the city and Flintock, Llewellyn, Gwen, Glynda and the members of the council went down to the city morgue to collect the bodies for burial.
They arrived in the morgue, there were the two stretchers laid out in the cold room where they had left them. But only one had a body, one was missing, they were identical twins, and no one could tell them apart.
They remembered the riddle of Songhai Chen “Both will die and yet one will live.”
Everything will be okay at the end, if it's not okay, then it's not yet the end.
…. or is it?
Thank you very much for reading this book. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. The story, however, is not yet over. The finale, Book three, Glynda and the Dragon Slayer, is on the way and will be available as soon as I can finish it, hopefully in time for Christmas 2021.
Each one is a story on its own but following on from the previous novel.
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Joseph.
February 2022.
Other books by this author:
Thomas, Wizards Son – Book 1 of The Tales of Trymyll.
Jonathan, Dragon Master – Book 2 of The Tales of Trymyll.
Glynda, Dragon Slayer – Book 3 of The Tales of Trymyll.
Little Book of Pomes, Volume One. – A selection of my poetry.