Chapter 20 - Llewel the Loser.
Flintock had returned home to Wrth y Môr. He enjoyed life by the sea, even if there wasn’t one there. He was the senior of the seven elders who came under High Elder Trevonn Brice. Trevonn Brice had been elected High Elder following the downfall of Llewel the Loser, although he would not say it out loud, Flintock quite liked the new title that Tom and Jon had given the diminutive wizard. He had himself been nominated for the post of High Elder, but he refused to stand. He had all the power he needed as a very accomplished and gifted wizard, he was far more magic than any of the High Elders, but he did not want all the politics, bickering and stupidity of their procedural bureaucracy. He was more than happy being an Elder, he did not want a high office as well.
Wrth y Môr was a peaceful little city, always an abundant supply of fresh fish, Pike, Brown Trout, Perch, Zander, Eels from the freshwater rivers which fed the sea and of course, an abundance of fish from the vast saltwater lake. Flintock liked to eat fish, he liked to catch fish and he liked to mess about in boats, he just liked peace and quiet, he and Trig chose the quiet bachelor life and enjoyed it. Unfortunately, Llewellyn, as usual, had other plans for his friend.
He and Tryg sat quietly in an alehouse garden by the sea watching the little waves splash gently on the pebble beach. He had his ale; he had his long clay pipe and a full stomach. Tryg, like all trygalls, did not take alcohol, so instead sipped on a cool fruit and herb drink of his own design. What more could they want?
“Hail to you Elder Flintock, and hello Tryg.”
Llewellyn’s voice boomed across the garden. Flintock had half a mind to apparate away but decided that would be very rude, and it would leave poor Tryg there, Tryg, of course, could disappear into a wisp of smoke if he wished, but that would also be rude. So, he stayed sitting there and gave Llewellyn a very world-weary smile and returned the greeting.
” Hail to you too Llewellyn, old friend,” he paused for a second and sighed, “don’t tell me, let me guess, you have a small favour to ask.”
“But yes, how did you know," Llewellyn said with a smile, “am I that obvious?”
“It is normally the only reason you seek me out, otherwise, you leave me to live out my lonely existence here on my own.”
The two men hugged, it was only banter, Flintock was as usual, pleased to see his friend, but he had just settled back home after the last adventure and was not ready for another just yet. Llewellyn was tall, just over six feet, he shared the red hair of his boys, Flinty, however, had a good three or four inches on him and was much more powerfully built, his black skin shone in the sunshine, especially his shaved head which complimented his short and well-trimmed beard.
“It’s your ex, he’s giving a little trouble to my boys.”
“My ex?” I don’t have an ex!” he exclaimed.
“I’m talking about your old friend Llewel.”
“Oh him? Well, he’s not my ex as you call him and he’s not my old friend either,” he then added for good measure, “and he never will be.”
Llewellyn set invisible magic boundaries about them and filled them with white noise so no one could eavesdrop on their conversation. It was beautifully quiet and peaceful within the boundary, but anyone trying to eavesdrop in would just hear an indiscernible hissing note. He then told the tale of the two boys and their capture, imprisonment, and subsequent escape from Dolydd Castle.
“I’m as much worried about Bangers Binning as Llewel. She was very complicit in this affair. There was, what can only be called a show trial, with only Bangers as judge and only Llewel being allowed to speak. She then threw two minors into a dungeon which is illegal. She made vague threats about what was to happen to them and put them in fear of their lives. For a legal trial, there should be one High Elder and two elders as a minimum. She had no right to put the boys on trial anyway, not without them having parental representation, so the whole thing was a sham.”
“So, what do you want me to do?” Flintock asked.
“I don’t actually know. But we need those two closely watched, to see if and what they are plotting together. Llewel certainly had the crowd going and he is stirring up dissent amongst townsfolk all over Trymyll. I know you have a good network of trusted people, both elders and wizards. Can you see what you can find out, not only in Dolydd but in all the towns and cities where Llewel has been stirring up trouble?”
“Can’t the council just bring Llewel in for questioning? Even if Binning was at council, she wouldn’t show her hand there.”
“Well yes, we could ask for that, but I don’t think we would find out anything from either of them, Llewel would lie through his teeth and Bangers would back him up whilst denying anything and everything. Let’s face it, the lady farmer didn’t even speak up or defend Llewel when he was last before the council, so I’m not sure yet what game she is playing. And if someone is controlling their minds, then that could easily obfuscate Aneta from seeing the truth.”
“Good point. I’ll put out some feelers and see what I can find out. I don’t want to go myself as both Llewel and Binning know me too well and I appreciate that you can’t go for the same reason.”
“No, I can’t go because next time I see the little miniature excuse for a wizard, I might end it there and then on the spot.”
“Another good point,” said Flintock.
Flintock sat there quietly, head bowed, for a good five minutes, his staff resting across his lap, the stone set firmly on the top pulsing light in different colours. If you listened carefully, you could hear what sounded like a babble of voices chatting over a bad phone line with all the wires crossed with everyone listening and talking to each other at the same time.
“My team is now alert and tapping into their own little webs for information.”
“How’s the new boss? Shaping up well I hope as I need a new ally, not another enemy.”
“You’ll be all right with Bricey, He’s one of us. Straight and true as an arrow. Or I wouldn’t have let him get the job.”
“Excellent” Llewellyn smiled.
Llewellyn knew that what Flintock had said was true, Flintock had in the past always had such a great sway in the ‘democratic’ decisions of Wrth y Môr, that it was hardly worth going through the process. They should just ask him who would win and save all the bother of an election.
“You’ll let me know when you have some news then?”
“Sure will. I’ll send you a Jackdaw.”
Llewellyn dropped the boundary of sound, finished his beer, said his goodbyes, and disappeared. No one else in the garden was any the wiser.
It was two days before Llewellyn received news from Flintock.
“News from Flintock the Elder,” the Jackdaw announced, "High Elder Binning and Llewel had an interesting visitor for afternoon tea today. Asmodeus, the Dark High Elder! We are attempting to find out why.”
Interesting indeed, thought Llewellyn, perhaps I might involve at least some of the council.
On what can only be described as a group conference call using the neither here nor there trick, Llewellyn, Aneta Stepanek, Traveon Baughan and the new High Elder Trevonn Brice conversed. Llewellyn first told them the story of what had happened to his sons when they visited Dolydd. How High Elder, Brangwen Binning had imprisoned the boys and of their escape, but without detailing the actual escape. All three were as shocked and horrified by what had happened, as they should have been. He then disclosed that Llewel and Binning were in conference with Asmodeus. That surprised them even more.
“What do you want us to do Llewellyn?” asked Aneta Stepanek.
“Nothing now, I am just making you aware as High Elders of what has happened so that you may use your own good offices to see what you can find out as well. I don’t see that we can do anything anyway, it’s not illegal to have a meeting with Asmodeus, just unwise. It is illegal to set up a sham court against minors but moving against them now could stop us from finding out what is going on between the three of them. They would deny everything and anything anyway.”
“Okay, it’s agreed then, we keep our heads down until we have more information," Aneta Stepanek said with authority. Llewellyn loved the way that she always assumed the lead role. He was sure that she would one day be the Elder of Elders.
“I have spoken to Aneta Stepanek, Traveon Baughan and Trevonn Brice,” Llewellyn told Flintock, "they have agreed, or maybe they were told by Aneta Stepanek, to do nothing until we have more information and some idea what the three of them are up to,” reported Llewellyn.
“It is quite out of character for Binning to behave like this, what do you think has happened to her for such a dramatic personality change?” Flintock asked.
“I don’t know, but I do know it’s beyond Llewel’s powers to bend her mind, it may be the work of Asmodeus, but I don’t even think he is capable or powerful enough to change Banger’s personality.”
“Perhaps then there is a force at work here we don’t yet know about,” concluded Flintock.
“My theory exactly, my friend, my theory exactly," Llewellyn repeated.
Llewellyn returned to the place they called home, and to his boys. Both were now becoming very accomplished wizards, far more powerful than many wizards twice or even three times their age. He was pleased with and proud of them. Jon had really connected with his wand and was able to do some amazing magic. The two boys worked as a team and complimented and balanced each other perfectly. Jon was feisty and ready for a fight, ready to defend themselves and others no matter what happened. Tom was a gentler soul, always trying to find a way out without violence. It’s not that he couldn’t fight, he could, he could summon fire dragons, and if so controlled, the fire dragons could destroy whole villages and the people in them, not that Tom ever would. He could send mighty bolts of power enough to vaporise solid rock, but Tom was a healer, he liked to repair, restore, rebuild, regrow, and renew. Where Jon was impulsive, Tom was contemplative in character. Both, however, had learnt the power of a good strategy. Often, they would come up with diametrically opposed ideas on a problem, but sometimes, taking bits from one, and pieces from the other, they were unstoppable.
“Hi boys, sorry to be away so long, busy, busy, lots to do.”
“You’ve only been gone a couple of days, we’ve been fine, we’ve been using the training room to hone a few skills. But now you mention it, where have you been?” asked Jon.
Llewellyn told them of his meeting with Flintock, his virtual meeting with Aneta Stepanek, Traveon Baughan and Trevonn Brice and all they had found out and what had gone on. But they were not going to do anything until they had more information.
“But that scag Binning threw us in a dungeon. Can’t you arrest her or something?” remonstrated Jon.
“No, or at least not yet. We need more information first. She may have been acting under duress or have had her mind altered in some way.”
“Well, she seemed happy enough when she threw us in the dungeon,” added Tom.
“Yes, maybe, but I’ve known Bangers Binning for a long, long time, she’s just not malicious, it’s not in her nature, she’s a happy gentle soul. She does love to get involved in the politics of Trymyll, she is, after all, a High Elder, but at heart, she just likes to be a farmer.”
“Perhaps we could help, go back to Dolydd cloaked and disguised and see what we can find out?”
“No, bad idea, if you get caught again, Llewel might just let the mob sort you out. Individually, there’s a chance he could take you on, especially you Tom, you always try to find a peaceful, non-violent solution. Whereas Jon has good defensive and attacking techniques and is not worried about using them, but Llewel has both the experience and the mob on his side. With you two together, he wouldn’t stand a chance. But you might get separated, and that would be just too dangerous.”
The boys listened intently, knowing that every word their dad spoke was true, knowing that every word their dad had said was going to be ignored. As soon as Llewellyn left in the morning, they were gone too.
Tom and Jon flew high over the town. To anyone looking up, they would look like a couple of birds circling in the thermal up-currents. Dressed in their light absorbing black, the detail was difficult to pick out, so they circled high above looking down on the town unnoticed. Their clothing was such that they could walk quite openly amongst people and if they had their hoods up, not many would even notice them pass. But they didn’t rely on it, so they cloaked themselves invisible before descending into the town. It wasn’t long before they heard Llewel spouting off in his normal manner.
“Those vile boys who attacked me must have bribed one of the guards and made their escape. I doubt if they can fly or apparate, so they are probably still in the town. I’ll give a bag of silver to whoever locates them so they can be locked up again.”
How little he knew, the boys thought, they could out fly Llewel any day. Especially as, when Llewel did deign to fly, it was always only a few feet off the ground in case he fell off or suddenly lost the ability. They were tempted to fly past him at speed to see if he would follow and then give him an eye-watering aerobatics display just to show off. But decided against it.
They stayed invisible and flew into the castle to see what Binning was up to. Once inside, they dropped the invisibility, their hooded cloaks made them appear almost invisible anyway, especially in the dim light of the castle farm, so they did not expect to be seen, and like their dad had told them, holding invisibility takes a great deal of concentration. They needed to be one hundred per cent alert and on the lookout, not concentrating on their invisibility. They hunted high and low but couldn’t find Binning. She wasn’t in her rooms, no sign of her in the great hall or in her offices either. The boys decided to have a look around the farmyard and the farm. Nothing.
“Perhaps she’s down in the dungeons trying to work out how we escaped?” said Jon.
“Okay, let’s have a peek down below.”
They walked silently down towards the dungeons, past the guardroom, which was full of guards, but none of them seemed to either notice or care. Down and down they went until they found the dungeons where they had been incarcerated a couple of days earlier. It was there that they found Binning. She was as they thought looking for a way of escape, but not in the way they imagined. Binning was chained hand and foot to the wall with no way out. The boys didn’t know what to do. They couldn’t leave her here, but they couldn’t do anything to help either. They whispered to each other to retreat, re-group and decide what to do next. But as they turned to leave, Llewel and a couple of guards were walking down the dark corridor towards them. They went invisible and floated to the ceiling, daring not to make a sound or even breath. They were sure that their heartbeats could be heard in the next village, but Llewel just passed underneath, unlocked the door, and entered the dungeon with two guards. The door swung shut, keys still in the lock. It was too good an opportunity, so they floated down, and quietly locked the door. Tom waved his wand a little, muttered and then they flew off down the corridor and out the way they had come flying straight out of the town to a safe distance before restoring visibility and breathing normally again. Then they collapsed with laughter.
What were you doing after we locked the door waving your wand about?” asked Jon.
“Oh, nothing really, just soundproofing the door, so the guards won’t hear Llewel’s squeaky little screams when he realises what has happened.”
They both burst out laughing again.
“Right, now what do we do?” Tom asked.
“Well, we can’t just leave Binning there, dad was right, Llewel or someone more powerful is using her and has her under their control. Do you think it’s Asmodeus?”
“Possibly or possibly not. I know we’ll be in deep poop, but we have to find dad and tell him what’s happened," Tom said, knowing what was coming next.
“No, we have to go back and rescue Binning, we can’t just leave her there," exclaimed Jon.
“Well, we could have, if we hadn’t locked Llewel in the dungeon. Now he knows someone is onto him. We may have made things worse. We really need dad now," Tom said insistently.
After a few more ‘buts’, Jon reluctantly agreed and they disappeared, reappearing just outside the city wall, and walked in past the guards, who didn’t notice them entering. It took them ages, but eventually, they found their dad with Flintock and Tryg in the alehouse deep in discussion. They interrupted.
“You did what?!?!” their father exploded, "what did I tell you only last night! I said you were not to go there under any circumstances!”
Despite being enclosed in one of Llewellyn's sound traps, people on the tables near looked round to see what the commotion was all about.
Once he had quietened down and Flintock had reminded him of what they would have done in the same circumstances and gave a few examples from their youth, Llewellyn settled down and smiled.
“Yes, you’re right, tell a teenager they can’t do something, then they always will.”
“Well, we always did,” added Flintock, “shall we muster the troops?”
“No, I think we’ll sort this one out ourselves. If we go in mob-handed, we may be surprised by what we find. If we go in quietly, we may get away with it.”
“What do you mean by that?” asked Tom.
“By what?”
“We may get away with it. Mainly the word ‘may’.”
“Oh, just a turn of phrase. But you can never be sure of success. Now you two have alerted Llewel that someone is onto him, he may set a trap.”
“Sorry,” Tom said quietly, “so what’s the plan?”
“Well, the first part of the plan is that you two don’t get involved and stay well away from it, and this time I mean it!”
“Okay," they said sheepishly. ‘Yeah right’ is what they meant.
They all returned quickly to the place they called home. Llewellyn apparated in Flintock and Tryg as he still had not revealed the whereabouts.
“First, we have to know the layout of the castle. I know where the main rooms are, but I’ve never had the pleasure of a visit to the dungeons. Jon and Tom,” he looked up at the boys, “sketch out everything you can remember about the dungeons, starting right back at the entrance to them, where the guards hang out and all in as much detail as possible. Flinty and I will then discuss how we go about getting Bangers out and hopefully Llewel in for keeps.”
The boys sat down with a ballpoint pen and a pad of paper and tried to sketch out the layout. It really wasn’t that good. They tried to imagine the layout in their minds so the pen could draw it. But it wouldn’t. It was useless. Jon, who was easily frustrated by tiny setbacks swept everything off the table and across the room. The pen smashed against the wall.
“What did you do that for Jon? That was my only pen, not that I ever used it. Now you’ll have to use an old dipping pen and paper.”
Llewellyn gave him a quill, an ink bottle and some old parchment paper. They tried again, this time the pen zipped across the page drawing the whole layout of the dungeons and castle with incredible detail, even showing secret doors and passages, and naming all the guards and others with their current positions right down to Llewel, two guards and Bangers, all still stuck in the cell.
“This is good," said Llewellyn to Flintock, “too good. If they are all still in the cell and we act quickly, we could kill several birds with one stone. And I’ve changed my mind about you two not coming as well. I could use a particular skill which only Tom has.”
“Bring the map, it’s updating every time someone moves,” Flintock added.
“You’re not dressed right!” exclaimed Jon.
“Meaning what?” his dad asked.
“Well, we adapted our wardrobes to this light-absorbing black and we walk about unnoticed by most people, you should do the same.”
Jon produced his wand and worked on the two grown-ups’ clothes. Soon they also were hard to see at all. Flintock, with his already ebony complexion, was even harder to see. In the dim light of the dungeons, they would be all but invisible.
They apparated in as a group.
“Right," Llewellyn whispered, "meet at the top of the stairs which lead down to the dungeons. I’ll lead, Tom with me, Jon, you take up the rear and keep us covered from the back. Tom, give me the keys.”
“What about me?” asked Flintock.
“Can you go to the guardroom and disable all the guards, there are seven of them in there now. But do it quietly and try not to hurt anyone.”
“Okay, I’m on to it.”
With that, they all disappeared and reappeared at the top of the steps. They moved off silently.
Llewellyn whispered to Tom, “As soon as I unlock the door, freeze everything, then unfreeze me and Jon as soon as you can.”
“Yes dad," Tom said with some trepidation. He didn’t think he would need Mrs Glyn this time, he was scared already.
Flintock went straight to the guardroom, the door was open and as expected there were seven guards in the room, who were, for some reason, all huddled around an unlit fire. No one noticed his arrival, neither did they notice their departure as they were all apparated away to the far side of Trymyll. Only an incredibly powerful wizard could transport seven people in one go, normally you would need to be touching someone to apparate them, but Flintock was no ordinary wizard. As he once jokingly told Howel when he first met Tom, ‘I am a great wizard, I have sight beyond sight, I have powers beyond power and knowledge beyond knowledge’, and he meant it.
He then hurried silently along to catch up with the others. As he rounded the last corner Jon let go a bolt of energy which Flintock was only just able to dodge.
“Stop Jon, it’s me” he whispered loudly as the bolt ricocheted off the walls taking off chunks of stone as it went before eventually hitting the guardroom and nigh on destroying it.
“Oops, sorry Flintock. You alright? Thought it might be guards.”
“Yes, but it was a close one. Good shot by the way," he smiled. Not that anyone could see his mouth in the darkness of their outfits.
“That’s probably alerted others that something is amiss in the dungeons. Quick, show me the map, let’s see who’s where. Oh dear, we seem to have woken up the guard, there are about ten of them heading across the yard towards the main building area and they will discover the empty guardroom, which now also seems to have a wall missing.”
“Keep a lookout at the rear and we’ll carry on to the cells," Llewellyn could see on the map that Llewel, who had obviously somehow heard the commotion, had moved to behind where the door would open hoping to surprise whoever unlocked the door. Well, the surprise would be his, eventually.
Llewellyn unlocked the door then threw it open with all his strength, knocking Llewel across the room and before he could gather his senses, Tom stepped into the cell and FREEZE! Everything went very still and quiet. Llewel’s wand was suspended in mid-air as it flew from his hand when the door crashed into him. Llewel himself was falling and halfway across the room, as soon as he was re-mobilised, he would crash to the ground and probably hurt himself. Tom had no need to free his dad, Jon and Flintock as they were outside the iron enclosed dungeon.
“Why did you rush into the room Tom? That could have been dangerous,” his dad asked.
“The room is in a cold iron cage, so I had to be in there for the spell to work.”
“Good point.”
Llewellyn took Llewel’s wand from the mid-air point it hung in and vaporised it completely. Tom then touched Bangers with his wand to free her from the spell, meanwhile, Flintock took off the cold iron chains and reapplied them to Llewel.
“Oh my goodness!” gasped Bangers, “how did you get in here? Why am I here? What happened to Llewel and the guards? They’re like statues.”
“Stop. Stop," said Llewellyn, "first, we must get you out of here. There are about ten more guards on the way down here, you must tell them to stop and not attack us.”
“No, I can’t, he’s turned them all against me, they won’t listen to me anymore.”
“Where’s your wand?”
She raised her hand, and her wand appeared.
“Good, we may need to fight, but hopefully we can get out of here without anyone getting hurt.”
“No, we can’t, there’s only one way in and out, so if guards are in the corridor, we’re trapped.”
“No, we’re not, follow me.”
They all turned and followed Llewellyn, but instead of turning up the way, he turned and headed further down into the bowels of the earth.
“It’s a dead-end, you can’t get out this way and we can’t apparate because the whole structure is woven with cold iron,” Bangers said nervously.
Llewellyn was studying the map, he suddenly stopped, looked at the rough stone wall and with his wand drew the shape of a door. As he did, the blocks of granite all started turning and twisting and a doorway appeared. They all walked through the opening and onto a steep spiral staircase. As the last person stepped through, the stones all folded back and formed a solid impenetrable granite wall again.
“Where did this come from?” Bangers exclaimed, “there are no doors or stairs or anything below the dungeon area. How did you know about that door?”
“I’ll explain later, now let’s just get out of here and back to Blaenoraid. We can talk then.”
Exhausted and panting for breath, they eventually reached the top of the stairs and came across another blank wall. Llewellyn drew a door again with his wand and they all tumbled out into the fresh air right next to the moat which ran around the farmhouse castle. Llewellyn held onto Bangers, and they all apparated away back to Blaenoraid.