Chapter 9½ - Meanwhile, back at the cottage...
“What in the Makers name happened there? Where did he go?” said Flintock.
“What do you mean? Where did he go! What have you done with him, you idiot wizard?” Llewel shouted.
“Me? What do you mean what have I done? More like what have you done.”
“I have done nothing. It must have been you and your dreadful trygall. I have done nothing.”
“Well, that’s true, you’ve done nothing since you arrived apart from upset people and rub them up the wrong way. And don’t bring Tryg into this, he’s not my trygall, he is a free, a free, a, a..," Flintock didn’t know quite what to say, he couldn’t say ‘a free man’ because he wasn’t. But he didn’t like to say animal or beast, because Tryg was much, much more than that. Flintock suddenly got his voice back, "he’s free to come and go as he wishes, and he wishes to stay with me. Your only job was to get the boy safely to Castell y Blaenoraid and you haven’t even managed that. My job was just to tag along with Tryg to provide company and a friendly face for Tom because the council knew he wouldn’t get that from you.”
They had completely forgotten about the two young men and the girl. They stood there open-mouthed in amazement at what was going on.
“Excuse me,” the girl said sharply.
Llewel jumped slightly.
“Yes,” he retorted rudely, “what do you want? Don’t just stand there gawping woman. Say what you want to say!”
“Don’t worry, I will!” she said pointing a finger at Llewel the Elder and jabbing him in the chest, “You are the rudest and most irritating little man, little wizard or whatever you are, I have ever met. I’m not surprised the wee skinny boy cleared off. With you for company, so would I!”
Llewel went to speak, but before he could, she was off again.
“The boy, he wanted to help, he wanted to make sure we were all alright, he was nice. But you, you shrivelled up little excuse for a wizard just wanted to leave me there in a burning house bound hand and foot. I could have died! But did you care?” her voice was now at a pitch that could shatter glass. Llewel the Elder was now more like Llewel the Paler or Llewel the Very Scaredier! Llewel tried to interject again.
“I haven’t finished yet. So, don’t interrupt me,” she continued, “because that is also very rude. Your mate here was willing to help, the boy was willing to help, but you, you, you... Oh. Words just fail me I’m so angry!”
She then stopped jabbing him in the chest and took a step back.
“Well?”
“Well?” stuttered Llewel the Elder.
Before he could get a word out, she was off again.
“And what do you mean by ‘we really haven’t the time to heal poor peasants and eat the few scraps of food they have’? We are not poor as you so rudely put it, we are farming folk. We have plenty, we are not peasants, we are landowners, and we farm several thousand acres of our own land. We have livestock, sheep, cattle, pigs, goats, and hens, we have corn, oats, wheat, fruit, and vegetables in abundance. Our barns are full to overflowing SO WE ARE NOT POOR!!!” she finished the sentence at a crescendo and with a voice loud enough to burst eardrums.
“Well, well, well,” he continued, still trying to think what to say, “well, I’m s, s, sorry?” he said lifting his voice at the end turning it into a question to see if it was the correct answer, "well, yes, I’m sorry. It was all a bit of a shock coming across you and your friends here.”
She stopped him short.
“They are not my friends,” she shouted, "they’re my blooming brothers!”
“Well, yes," said Llewel, missing the point, "but I wouldn’t describe them as blooming, more blooded than blooming when we found them, but they both seem a bit better now.”
“Aaaargh!” she screamed, "You stupid little excuse for a man, that is not what I meant, and you know it!”
With that, she delivered an exquisite left hook that sent Llewel the Elder high into the air and onto his back.
She then turned to Flintock and said, in a completely normal voice as if nothing had happened.
“Excuse my manners,” and turning to her brothers barked, “boys, we have guests, get some lunch on.”
Well, she may have been beautiful, but she had a tongue on her like a bad-tempered blemonpuss and a vicious left hook that would stop most men but was especially suited to a small and diminutive wizard.
Sometime later, when tempers had settled, the six of them, Llewel, Flintock, Tryg, Terrwyn Merrick and her brothers Rhioganedd and Menw sat down to a hearty meal prepared by Tryg and the brothers. Roast Pork with apple sauce, roast potatoes and several different vegetables, Rhubarb, and ginger crumble with custard to follow, and all washed down with some rather favourable homemade sloe wine. Terrwyn ruled the roost here, she dominated both her brothers and the conversation. Llewel said nothing, he ate in silence. After they had eaten their fill, Flintock made sure that they were all healed to the best of his abilities. Rhioganedd and Menw offered to help them look for the boy as they knew the woods around like the backs of their hands. But Flintock politely turned down their offer of help as he knew that wherever Tom was, it was a long, long way from here. So, the two wizards and the trygall went on their way. It was not long until evening, so after walking for an hour or two, they set camp in the woods in the usual manner.
The evening was spent in silence, Flintock had little desire to speak to Llewel and Llewel, for a change, had nothing to say. They had eaten a good lunch earlier with the family Merrick, so they had a light supper of wild mushrooms with polenta and pan seared kale and then they turned in for the night.
The next morning, there was a silent breakfast, they broke camp in the normal manner and continued their weary way.
Llewel still had not spoken. Even after half a day of walking, not a word. Flintock was quite enjoying the peace but decided that eventually, they had to talk about Tom and where they thought he might be. So, he broke the silence.
“What do you think happened back there then?”
“Oh, I agree with you, probably some passing imp started it all.”
“That is not what I was talking about.”
Flintock really had lost all respect for Llewel the Elder, or he wouldn’t address him this way, “I was talking about Tom, and you know it.”
“Well, I have been giving the situation some thought, which is why I have been so quiet.”
Flintock knew that wasn’t true, he was quiet because of what Terrwyn Merrick had both done and said to him. It was, after all, a most magnificent left hook. Flintock smiled to himself as he replayed the moment in his mind.
“And what have you concluded from your long meditation?” he asked with a hint of sarcasm.
“Well, that’s just the thing, absolutely nothing.”
“Okay, I have to admit I have come to the same conclusion. But what do we do and say when we get to Castell y Blaenoraid?”
“Again, I have been giving that some thought as well but have concluded that again, I haven’t a clue. Any suggestions Flintock old friend?”
‘Flintock old friend?’ Flintock could not believe his ears, he knew that Llewel the Elder despised him, in fact, he knew that Llewel despised everyone. Llewel had no friends, and no one wanted to call him friend either.
“Well, we could always tell the truth and say that he just disappeared before our eyes. We could tell of the great and powerful magic he had been doing without any training or foreknowledge so he probably could have been able to apparate using his own power?”
“Then where would he go? To apparate you have to visualise your arrival point and apart from the cave and the thicket he produced or the wand tree he won’t be able to visualise anywhere else in the whole of Trymyll.”
“You could send Howel Back to the cave to check there, but it would be sealed, so Tom could not enter. But at least Howel could check. I doubt if he would return to the thicket or the wand tree.”
“But! Ah-ha, an idea, the shack! What if he visualised the inside of the shack?”
“No,” Flintock rolled his eyes in disbelief, "the shack is not a real place, just an illusion, so he would not be able to even leave where he was unless the target actually existed. So, it’s back to plan A, tell the truth.”
“Well, I don’t like that idea at all. We still have three days of travel, let’s see what else we can come up with.”
That night, while they were both sitting by the fire warming and just about talking to each other. Llewel was plotting, Flintock could see it in his eyes, in the way he was behaving, in the way he was being friendly. Too friendly.
“How about we come up with a story about Asmodeus? We could say that he suddenly appeared, snatched the boy and disappeared before you could do anything to stop him.”
Flintock thought that was too close to the truth in some ways.
“Before I could do anything? How about before YOU could do anything.” Flintock replied, emphasising the word you.
“Oh no, quite out of the question, the council would never believe that I, a great and powerful wizard could not deal with Asmodeus, whereas you, a very ordinary wizard, could not possibly win against his power and magic.”
“Well, these are the error points in that statement. First. May I remind you that you are the one supposed to be protecting Tom, you are the one tasked with getting the boy to Blaenoraid. And might I ask, where were you supposed to be when Asmodeus popped in to say hello, in the privy? Secondly. I am not an ordinary wizard, I too am an Elder, I am far more powerful than you, and more powerful than you will ever be. But I chose not to seek high office because I know that most of the so-called High Elders are a load of backstabbing sycophants who love power and glory more than anything else! If I were the Elder of Elders and may the Maker forbid, I’d have banished most of you decades ago.”
“Now, now, my dear old friend, it will look far better and be far more believable if you bore the brunt of the blame. I will, of course, speak up for you to make sure they don’t meet out too harsher punishment for losing the boy and the ring!”
“And thirdly,” Flintock bellowed, “I am not your dear old friend, I am not even your friend at all. You have no friends because you want no friends and have always gone out of your way to be as obnoxious as possible to every person you meet! Now, if you would like to step outside for a dual with wands, please be my guest. I will flatten you before you even draw your wand.”
“Now, now,” Llewel said meekly, "that it should come to this, I am shocked and hurt by what you say, of course I have friends, many close and dear friends,” he lied, "but I will not demean myself by brawling in the street to settle a small difference of opinion.”
Flintock could not believe his ears.
“Then how about we say that I was out the back in the privy when Asmodeus popped by, and you lost the boy and the ring.”
“No, no, that will not do at all. For a start, it isn’t true. My version is better by far," Llewel stammered.
“What do you mean ‘it isn’t true’? It has as much truth as your account of events. I’ll tell you again. We tell the truth. The boy just disappeared, vanished, apparated, gone, vamoosed!”
“Oh, have it your way then, but they won’t like it. Mark my words, they won’t like it all."
“They won’t like it if you lie to them either, and remember this, Llewel the Elder, neither will I," Flintock paused to allow that to sink in, then continued.
“Why don’t wait for High Elder Aneta Stepanek, she can then determine which of us is telling the truth.”
“Oh no, no, no, I’m sure it won’t come to that old friend.”
Flintock raised his voice to answer.
“It will if you breath one word of a lie, and you’ll have both me and the boy’s father to deal with. And while I’m shouting, stop calling me old, and stop calling me friend. Because I am not now, and never will be your old friend!”