Chapter 27 - How to get your magic back.
Tom and Jon arrived back at their hideout at the same time. Both excitedly told the other about their day and their dragons.
Both experiences were so different. Tom’s had been a meeting of minds, Jon’s a battle Royale!
Tom told of how Ren had had difficulty in breaking through his barriers, he told of how he could see right back to the moment Ren had broken out of his mother’s egg and how he could see all the way back to when he opened his eyes and first saw his mother and father and watched his father cut his umbilical cord. He fell silent for a few moments as he said this, welling up a little, but he soon settled down again and continued his story. He completely left out the mind-bending bit. He didn’t want the others to know that. He decided he would tell his dad when he was ready and alone. He would tell Jon only if he had to, but he wouldn’t tell any of the others. He would also know when Howel was ‘eavesdropping’ and how to block him. But he told them all that he wanted them to know for now.
Jon told of the fun they had had in the quarries, how when Bevon told him to pick a boulder for him to blast.
“I picked him one the size of a small car, but Bev looked around and picked another that was no bigger than a watermelon!”
He told them how Bevon melted the rocks into a pool of white-hot liquid granite with a mighty and long blast from his chest. He told them of the flying lesson and how they moved as one around the quarries blasting out tonnes of granite and the cave he envisioned, flying through it, closing it up again behind them. He told them that Bevon was a firemaster, but without the detail of how he acquired the skill. He told them how they could communicate with each other just by thinking. Not forgetting, of course, their battle with the twelve, no fifteen, no, maybe as many as twenty Blue Dragons and how they had defeated them. He particularly relished the battle part of his story and told every detail, twist and turn, plus a few extra bits to make the story more interesting!
The two boys told their stories, each trying to outshine the other until at the finish, they both ended with the same words, "Together we will be invincible!”
“I think,” said Llewellyn, “that together, you two brothers would be invincible, with or without dragons.”
Tom then stood up and said nervously.
“I need to talk to the council. Can you get them together tomorrow for me?”
“What? You can’t just call the council in on a whim. They run a great bureaucracy and have long and drawn out procedures, it really is not that simple. It is highly unlikely they would assemble tomorrow even if a war were declared, let alone at the request of a thirteen-year-old, still green behind the ears wizard.”
“Well call them anyway. Just tell them it’s important.”
“What do you want them for anyway?”
“It’s not that simple. Ren has a message from Máthair, but I’m only allowed to tell the council and no one else.”
“Not even me?” he said with some dismay.
“Not even you. Her message was quite specific.”
“Well at least give me a clue.”
“No, I can’t. I can only tell only the council.”
Llewellyn shook his head in disbelief but said he would go and see the Elder tomorrow and request an audience.
“But don’t get your hopes up. I doubt very much if he will acquiesce.”
The next day, after breakfast Llewellyn left the hideaway. He apparated out and then returned about half an hour later.
“The Elder says he will not at this stage ask for a full council meeting but will grant you an audience to discuss the matter with him. If after that, he thought it necessary, then he would call them together.”
“But Máthair said only the council.”
“Well, the only way to get a full council meeting is by either telling the Elder about it first or killing someone.”
“Will you come with me dad? That bloke gives me the willies.”
“Unfortunately, no. When the Elder grants an audience, it is only with the person whom he has called. Not his family or his mates. I will take you to the chamber, but you have to see him alone.”
“Okay, I suppose I’ll have to man up and see the creepy old man on my own. When will it be then?”
“Now," his dad replied.
“What now? Okay, let’s do it.”
The two of them apparated out and reappeared outside the castle walls. They then walked in unchallenged right to the council chamber where he would meet the Elder.
“Are you sure that you can’t come in with me? I’m scared. Don’t you think he’s a creepy old man as well?”
“No, I don’t, now in you go and good luck,” Llewellyn said.
Tom walked into the chamber and looked around. It was completely empty, spooky, and cold. A few moments later a door behind the biggest chair opened and in glided the Elder and stood before him.
Tom tried to see under the hood, but it was all darkness. He tried to look inside the Elder's mind to see if he could get any thoughts from him.
The Elder spoke, softly, “Thomas Jones, son of Llewellyn the Brave. Before we start, there are a few things you need to know. One,” he said sharply, "do not try to probe my mind or try any mind weaving tricks on me or you will be the worse for it. And two, I am not a creepy old man,” he made the second point with a small giggle, “thirdly, this had better be good. What do you want that is so important that you can’t even tell your own father and you need the whole council for? Please explain.”
“It’s Máthair, Queen of the Golden Dragons and Queen of all Dragons. She has sent a message for the council concerning why magic is fading and failing in Trymyll.”
“And this news is such that you could not tell your own father? Could he not have brought me the message?”
“No, it was too upsetting, I couldn’t tell him. On my journey to the city, Llewel the Elder...”
“Llewel is no longer worthy of that title. Do not use it again!”
“Sorry, Llewel said that it was probably my father who was responsible for the magic disappearing, and I hated Llewel for it.”
“So, what is the message?”
“Well, it might be my dad after all, which is why I couldn’t tell him first.”
Tom could feel the Elder stiffen up as he said that.
“You won’t be hard on him, I’m sure he didn’t do it on purpose, he didn’t know,” Tom began to snivel a little.
“What did he not know?”
“When he visited me and my mum, he would take things back from the other side and had quite a trade going in things like trainers, watches, calculators, keyrings, souvenirs and stuff like that, even mobile phones, but I don’t know why, phones don’t even work here.”
“They were a status symbol. No use at all but for showing off,” the Elder explained.
“Even silly little things like ballpoint pens and pencil sharpeners. None of them was necessary, but wizards, elders and even High Elders used to buy them from him and pay good money for some things. But bringing in things from the non-magical world was ruining your world just as science and a lack of belief have ruined my world.”
“And how did Máthair, Queen of all Dragons come to this conclusion?”
“She is very old and very wise I suppose.”
“She is incredibly old, so old that she might have lost a few marbles. No. Sorry. If I call the council for this, they will laugh at you and think me a fool for calling them in. Where is your evidence?”
“I know two things which Máthair made me understand. One. Llewel would not or more likely could not fly because he had lost the ability as his powers had faded, though actually, I saw little evidence that he had much magic at all in the time I was with him, the only thing I ever saw him do was to set a bush on fire and then set fire to half the countryside. Obviously, he never admitted it to anyone, but once he was rid of his trainers even, I could feel his power growing, and then I heard that he was able to fly to Blaenoraid after he dumped Flintock.”
“How can you prove this?”
“Ask him, he is in your keeping, bring him in and ask him. Even if he won’t tell you, I know that you can get into his weak little mind and find it yourself.”
“How do you know that?”
“You just told me.”
“When?”
“By asking me how I knew.”
“You, young man, are too clever by half. You should be a lawyer, not a wizard.”
The Elder turned and rang a small handbell which was on the central table. In came his clerk. the Elder explained what he wanted, and a few seconds later there was a sliding of stone and up popped the cage with Llewel inside. His eyes looked wild, mad even, and a look of pure hate when he saw Tom in the chamber.
“What do you want with me Elder of the stupid Elders? Whatever it is, I won’t tell you anything. Because I don’t know anything!” Llewel literally spat the words out.
“My question is a simple one. After you abandoned your ridiculous trainers, did your power return?”
“What do you mean? How dare you suggest I ever lacked or lost any of my power. My beautiful trainers were nothing to do with it.”
“To do with what?”
“No comment!” Llewel knew he had said too much.
“No comment necessary. You have told us what we needed to know.”
The Elder waved his hand as if to dismiss him. With that, there was a sliding of stone as the central table opened and folded back, Llewel then disappeared back to the dungeons below.
“What did he tell us?”
“Well, listening is a great skill which few master. When he said that his beautiful trainers were nothing to do with it. He inadvertently told us that he did have a problem. Also, I was inside his head, so I could see everything he was trying not to say. But what else have you for me?”
Tom related the story of the map and produced the crumpled-up piece of paper out of his pocket. The guards were still moving around, and everything was still as they left it except that there were now builders repairing the hole in the guardroom wall.
“When Jon and I tried to draw a plan of the castle using a ballpoint pen and paper, we got nowhere, Jon accidentally broke the pen and all we had left was a quill and ink. The quill took over and produced this amazing map for us.”
“Why are there builders repairing the guardroom wall and chimney?” the Elder asked.
“Well, Jon accidentally blew a hole in the wall while we were there rescuing High Elder Brangwen Binning.”
“Accidentally? Your Jon must be very clumsy,” Tom couldn’t see the smile, but he felt it coming through the dark hooded cloak.
“Can anyone collaborate on what you have told me?”
“Well, Jon and dad can tell you about the map. But why are you being so awkward about this? You know the truth; you can see inside my mind just as you saw inside Llewel’s.”
“No, I can’t actually, your mind is quite closed and impenetrable. I need collaborative evidence. Send in your father, I will talk with him," the Elder turned to leave but before he did......
“I can’t.”
He turned slowly back.
“Tell me child, why can’t you? It is a simple request; he is waiting outside.”
Tom was sweating by now and breathing extremely fast.
“Because he’s already here. You are my father.”
The Elder turned again and left. Moments later Llewellyn entered the chamber.
“How’d it go then, what did he say?”
“Oh, come on dad, don’t play the innocent, you were here, you know what happened.”
“Sorry, I don’t know what you’re on about.”
“You are the Elder. You two, you’re never in the same place together. When I was questioned by the council, you had urgent business elsewhere, at Arvel Mordecai’s trial, you were there but the Elder wasn’t. The Elder looks and smells the same as the figure I met when you called me in my dreams, and when I saw you in the neither here nor there. At our robing ceremony, the Elder was there but you were nowhere to be seen and then after, at the celebration, you were there, the Elder was not. Shall I go on? Also, as pointed out by Flintock, no one else seems to have the access to the Elder apart from you. No one else knows where to find him but you. He doesn’t have an Elder of Elders palace or mansion, or a little blue plaque on the wall of his house saying ‘Here lives the Elder’ does he? Apart from when he appears at the council, no one except you ever sees him.”
“But the Elder is hundreds of years old, he shuffles about like an old man....”
“No dad, their minds have been made to believe he is hundreds of years old. No one hears him speak, no one knows his name. If that is true, how was he chosen as the Elder of Elders? You can’t exactly vote for someone without knowing their name. Come on dad, tell me what’s going on, I’m not as stupid as you think. Please.”
“Sit down and calm down, I’ll tell you the truth. Yes, I am the Elder. No one knows apart from Aneta Stepanek, she can not only be trusted but is probably the only person apart from you and Jon that I do trust.”
“What about Flintock?”
“Well yes, I do trust Flintock, up to a point, but not with everything.”
“You haven’t had a fling with this Sputnik woman, have you?”
“No, I have not. Don’t be so rude, you’re not too old not to get a clip round the ear. And her name is Stepanek.”
“The reason that Aneta knows is that nothing is hidden from her, just as nothing is hidden from Máthair, Queen of all Dragons.”
“But you said Máthair was losing her marbles.”
“Yes, well, that may be a slight exaggeration, but Aelwyd, Queen of the Red Dragons, she really is as daft as a brush, but still wise though.”
“But I just grassed you up to the Elder, to you. Sorry dad, I hope you don’t get into trouble,” Tom spouted out before he thought it through.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. If I don’t tell anyone, the Elder promises not to tell anyone as well. Anyway, back to the story. The council was becoming very corrupt, they were all power hungry and only interested in themselves and in looking after their rich and powerful friends. The ordinary wizard or the phobls of the land were of no concern of theirs. We organised a little coup. One by one, the High Elders vanished and were replaced by more trusted people. Even Llewel was trusted in those days, but the power, no, not the power, the prestige went to his head, and he became too self-important. One or two of the others are now also getting a bit pompous, Traveon Baughan, Brangwen Binnion for example, so we may be due for a reshuffle again soon. I was never elected as Elder of Elders. The new council were just made to believe that I was the Elder, that I had been there for centuries and that no one could remember or pronounce my name.”
“So, what happened to the old High Elders? You didn’t kill them, did you?”
“By the Makers name, no! They were sent into exile, forbidden to return.”
“What happened to the old Elder of Elders then?”
“There never was one. Again, that was all part of the deception. I was the Elder of the council and they all thought that it had always been that way.”
“But everyone in Trymyll believes the same thing, you can’t bend that many minds all at the same time.”
“You don’t have to, people believe what they want to believe, they wanted a strong, straight and honest council under an incorruptible leadership. So that’s what we delivered.”
“Who’s we?”
“Aneta Stepanek, Máthair and me. With a little help from a few dozen Golden Dragons to help change the minds of those who weren’t quite following what was happening. If you get my meaning.”
“But that’s terrible, bending the will of the people to suit your own ends. Even if those ends are noble, it hardly makes it right, it’s brainwashing.”
“I know, I know, wise words from one so young, and slowly they are being released from the spells we have woven, and they too understand that life is now better than it was.”
“But what about the stuff you brought in from home which is now affecting the magic?”
“Simple, we will announce a purge of all such items, declare them illegal and burn them in the city squares.”
“But that will cast a bad light on you, dad you that is, not Elder you.”
“I will humbly regret all that I have done, admit that it was wrong and ask the people to understand that I did not know it would leach power from the land.”
“So, you believe me then.”
“Yes.”
“You already knew, didn’t you?”
“I probably did know all along, but I was in denial as I could not, or would not see a connection. Máthair did warn me a couple of years back, but again, I didn’t want to believe her, so I just dismissed it.”
“So, what’s next?”
“I will convene a council tomorrow and you must again present your evidence and they will pass it through into law.”
“Is it really that simple?”
“Yes, if the Elder recommends a course of action, they never vote against it. Especially if Aneta helps a little. Now, all that you have heard and all that you have worked out for yourself today must be a close secret. No one is to know, not even Jon. Promise?”
“Of course, I promise,” replied Tom.
“All rise for the Elder of Elders” the clerk to the Elder barked. The full Council of High Elders stood as did everyone else in the chamber. This was a three-line whip meeting, and everyone was there in person.
The Elder shuffled into the chamber and took his seat. The High Elders took their seats, High Elder Traveon Baughan made a point of bringing a cushion and making sure the Elder had seen it. Then, once Traveon Baughan had arranged himself and his cushion, the others all took their seats as well.
“We are here today to hear evidence from Thomas, son of Llewellyn the Brave concerning the disappearance of certain magic from the Land of Trymyll. Thomas, son of Llewellyn the Brave, please take the floor.”
Tom told the council exactly what he had told the Elder, the council wanted more evidence and moved to call Llewel to the floor, but the clerk intervened and related the story of his confrontation with the Elder, so they settled down again. They then heard about the map and how that had been made. Some were quite impressed, others less so.
“What do we do about Llewellyn the Brave, we can’t let him get off scot-free,” stated Traveon Baughan.
“That’s my dad you’re talking about. Don’t forget, he didn’t know and still doesn’t know because I was told by Máthair to tell you all about the problem, not him," Tom said hoping they would believe him.
“I am sure that Llewellyn the Brave knew nothing of the effects his little bit of trading were having, or he would have stopped it himself. He is a man of great integrity,” said Aneta Stepanek in her strong Eastern European accent. Sending out thought waves of compliance at the same time.
The Elder stood, "Is it not more important at this time to sort out a solution or is it more important to apportion blame? Who of you has not had a trinket or two from the other world courtesy of Llewellyn the Brave?”
There was an embarrassed silence to the question. Most if not all had had something from Llewellyn even if it was just a plastic dragon on a plinth marked ‘A Gift from Wales.’
“So, I suggest that first, we live by example and all turn in our little bits and pieces from the other place. We will sit again tomorrow to seek a way forward. Don’t forget to bring your little knickknacks,” the Elder said with a hint of amusement.
As he turned to leave, he threw a ‘We (heart) Wales’ keyring onto the clerk's table.
“There’s a start anyway.”
The next day, the council sat again. This time joined by Tom, Jon and Flintock. All of them and all the High Elders had a bag full of stuff which they had bought from Llewellyn, all except High Elder Traveon Baughan of Gwir, who held no truck with such trinkets. Even the Elder had a small bag of contraband. Tom thought it would look better if even he had sinned also.
“I’ll be wanting my money back of course,” stated Trevonn Brice.
“You’ll expect no such thing,” said the Elder, his own bag under his arm, “we all bought this rubbish in good faith and Llewellyn sold it to us in the same good faith and now we forfeit the money as a penance for doing so.”
‘Nice one dad,’ thought Tom.
“Council in session,” called the clerk.
The Elder sat, The High Elders sat and then everyone else sat. There was quite a large pile in the centre of the chamber, piled up to the height of the central table and several feet in width.
“What do we do with it now?” Flintock asked the council.
“Speak only when asked,” barked the clerk, "Flintock has the floor.”
“What do we do with it now?” he asked again to the same audience.
“We must take it to the city square, build a pyre, read a declaration that you have passed into law and tell all the other wizards to bring out their stuff and add to it. We must then go city by city and do the same," Tom said.
“Speak only when asked," barked the clerk, "Thomas, son of Llewellyn the Brave has the floor.”
The Elder stood up, "Right, that’s enough. Just do what the boy says, and will you stop all these stupid time-wasting points of order and procedural protocols for crying out loud,” he said softly but with much irritation. He turned to leave.
“What do we do about Llewellyn the Brave, we can’t let him get off scot-free,” asked Traveon Baughan the same as he did the day before.
“I will talk to Llewellyn the Brave, give him a severe ticking off and banish him from Trymyll for six months;” the Elder said, and then he left just before Llewellyn entered the chamber.
“Oh, sorry, am I too late? Did I miss anything?”
“You were supposed to be here at ten o’clock precisely, it’s now ten past, you missed everything,” said the clerk, "Elder Flintock, please fill your friend in on the details. Thank you.”
The council dispersed, most of them giving bad, angry looks towards Llewellyn, and some even towards Tom.
“What’s up with them?” he asked.
“Well dad, they’ve all got to give up the stuff you sold them without you having to pay them back,” said Jon, “it’s all got to be burnt in the city square.”
“Well, winner, winner, chicken dinner,” Llewellyn said, then they all laughed and left the chamber last.
“I’d better bring up my stock to add to the pile on the pyre then,” he said with a smirk.
And so, a declaration was made, and all the people were made to bring out their souvenirs and trinkets from Wales to add to the fire. In Blaenoraid, Tryg was on hand to set the fire going and to make sure that everything was completely consumed. There was surprisingly little resistance, a few people grumbled, but none of the stuff had cost them much, apart from the few High Elders and elders who had bought the useless mobile phones not even knowing what they were for.
The High Elders returned to their cities and in each city, the declaration was read, and the fires were had. Even in Castell yr Tywyll where Asmodeus held court the directive was rigorously adhered to. In fact, probably even more so as Asmodeus needed to return to his full power so he could suppress the little lightning bolts which had turned him from Asmodeus the Dark into Asmodeus the bright!
Magic quickly flowed back into the wands and lives of all the wizards in the land.
Now, this could be our happy ever after ending. But the Master was still to be dealt with. The Master was still in Trymyll. His threat still hung over them all. As usual, the council was doing all it could to ignore the situation.