Gemini Thunder (26 page)

‘I don’t think luck had much to do with it,’ said Alfred.

‘Oh?’

The king nodded toward Twilight.

‘This young man saved you. He is the Wessex veneficus and has remarkable powers. Making and destroying bridges instantly being among them.’

Jack Cat turned to the Wessex astounder and nodded.

‘Then me and my men are indebted to you,’ he said quietly.

‘What we would like you to do, Jack,’ said de Gaini, ‘is take a couple of days to rest and then return with your men to the Combe Castle area. We will make up your numbers by adding fifty of our own men with one of my most trusted and brave commanders. His name is Samuel Southee and he has faced the Viking twice in battle and will not be found wanting. That should give you enough for two groups of one hundred men each if you decide to split them. The Viking appear to have settled for the winter in Combe, and we would like to keep them on their toes, harass them with quick, incisive raids, disrupt their supply lines, release their horses, set fire to their food stores, and take lives wherever you can. That should keep them busy throughout the winter whilst we build up our manpower for a spring onslaught. Twilight here tells us that you and your band are good at that sort of thing.’

Jack scratched his head.

‘The pay would have to be better than that offered by your emissary. It’s dangerous work. As you know we exist by selling our services to the highest bidder. If we don’t get what we want, we’ll go elsewhere or take what we need.’

‘We are under no illusions about the terms of your fealty, Jack,’ said Alfred. ‘I will double the pay for each of you to four gold pieces per month if you take this on. You can also have any Viking booty you recover.’

‘And if we get into trouble? Does this young man with the remarkable skills help us again?’

King Alfred looked at Twilight with his eyebrows raised.

‘Yes,’ said the shape-shifter. ‘But don’t forget that they have my equivalent as well, and she is just as remarkable.’

‘She?’

‘Freyja is ninety years old and still a powerful veneficus. It was she who exploded the first bridge as you were heading for it.’

Jack Cat shook his head in amazement. It took some believing that a ninety-year-old woman was responsible for killing Baby Giant and around fifty of his men.

‘We’ll require the first month’s gold up front,’ said Jack finally.

‘So be it,’ said Alfred, motioning to the far corner of the room for Hywel and Classen to bring one of the saddlebags.

As Alfred counted out the gold pieces, Jack Cat fought every demon in his nature to keep from looking greedily at the huge cache of gold pieces in the saddlebag. He’d never seen so much gold, and by the looks of it there were more heavy saddlebags over in the corner. With a supreme effort of will he kept his face still as Alfred counted out the gold pieces into his huge hands. Finally Hywel closed the saddlebag and returned to the corner with Classen.

‘We’ll leave in two days,’ Jack said, standing and pocketing the

gold. When Jack had left, de Gaini chuckled. ‘We’ll have to watch ‘em. Jack nearly burst a blood vessel trying not to look at the gold.’

Twilight smiled. ‘I think it’s time to have a duplicate set of saddlebags with coins in them that are not, shall we say, the real thing.’ King Alfred again motioned for Hywel and Classen to join them.

Twilight left Desmond on Avalon for a little while longer than the ‘three weeks and nine days’ due to Gode and Edward de Gaini going through the hand-fasting ceremony of marriage. He didn’t think the young troubadour would want to see their betrothal ceremony at which Bede, the leader and now senior monk at Tintagel Castle, officiated. Although Desmond had only been on Avalon for six weeks, the company of Guinevere, Rawnie, Twilight’s brothers and sisters and two children seemed to have brought him back to his old self again. Being among the severely maimed lepers didn’t seem to bother him either, and he had been quite happy to work alongside them with Guinevere. One night he even put on his
spectaculum
for everyone on Avalon, which was enthusiastically received. Although the animals were a little rusty, especially Combi and Nation, the severely diseased inhabitants of the leprosoria had a wonderful evening and according to Guinevere hadn’t stopped talking about it since.

Twilight told Desmond about the ceremony between Gode and de Gaini when the two of them were walking around Avalon one evening, and he took it well.

‘I expected it,’ said Desmond. ‘It doesn’t matter anymore. I think I’m over her. As you rightly said, being in the company of Guinevere for these weeks has been a wonderful experience. I also feel a part of your family with Rawnie, Eleanor, and Harlo. Guinevere told me many stories of the long magus and Arthur and the battles and even some of your struggles with the enchantments when you first joined Merlin. Also about the fight against Elelendise, the wolf woman. That must have been an abrupt introduction to the venefical world for you, eh?’

‘No different than you being plunged headfirst into a war with the Viking,’ said the young wizard.

Still in thrall to Guinevere and everything on Avalon, Desmond carried on.

‘I was even allowed a few precious hours in the
scriptorium
. It was everything you said it was, although most of it went right over my head.’

‘The long magus described that wonderful collection of literature as the only thing he really owned. He left it to me, but it will always be his. I am merely the current custodian of its contents. Our turn to read in there will come when this cursed Viking has been routed. I did manage a few precious hours in there some time ago reading about the Macedonians. They also had a great battle leader called Alexander, who won many of his battles against the odds. The interesting bit is about Alexander’s mother, Olympias. She was quite a character and one I believe warrants more study.’

‘Why?’

‘She practiced a peculiar and mysterious religion involving the handling of snakes. Naturally this made everyone afraid of her because she was always surrounded by these reptiles, most of whom were poisonous. One bite meant a near instant death.’

‘Why didn’t they bite her?’

‘That’s the interesting bit. As yet I have no way of verifying this but suspect that she was an early example of a veneficus, and the snakes were in ligamen to her. When we get the opportunity to read other works in the
scriptorium
, we will find many other similar examples where spectacular relationships existed between humans and fierce, wild animals that could also have owed much to the principle of venefical ligamen. Great beasts of the world such as lions, tigers, elephants . . .’

‘Fire-breathing dragons,’ interrupted Desmond.

Twilight looked at him.

‘There is no such thing as a fire-breathing dragon,’ he said evenly.

‘What! Of course there is. What about the one Saint George slew? Stories abound about the evil dragons stealing maidens and their fire-breathing deeds.’

Twilight smiled.

‘Fireside legends,’ he said. ‘Believe me, there is no such thing.’

‘Pity,’ said Desmond glumly after a while. ‘I was looking forward to seeing you slay one.’

The miracle monger ruffled his companion’s long, blond hair.

‘Never mind, there will, no doubt, be other monsters to engage us. Talking of which I must bring you up to date with the latest happenings in our battle with the Viking.’

Twilight told him about the raid by Jack Cat’s renegades on Combe Castle and Freyja having now solved the aura trail problem.

Desmond whistled.

‘That’s going to make it harder.’

‘King Alfred has, on my advice, sent Ike Penbarrow back to the Levels with Jack Cat’s mercenaries just in case they need a bolt-hole. Freyja still doesn’t know the existence of Swifty’s Island, and having it available might be useful. She knows we are here at Tintagel and shouldn’t bother Ike on the Levels.’

‘Did Ifor go with him?’

‘No. We all felt that he was too young this time. Even Ike agreed. One of Ike’s older boys called Idris, who’d got immersed in that devil stuff with his mother, has gone.’

‘Bet that upset Ifor.’

‘It did but we put him to work showing some of the monks how to catch fish. To make up Jack Cat’s numbers, de Gaini added fifty Celtic soldiers under Samuel Southee’s command.’

‘Any news?’

‘I’ve been keeping a careful eye on them. Some small raids have taken place, nothing serious. So far Freyja hasn’t seemed too interested.’

‘That means she’s up to something,’ said Desmond.

‘It does and I think I know what it is. Guthrum has been shipping over more Viking from the lowlands, both fighters and women and children. He obviously feels that Combe Castle gives him a stable base as the first of his colonies. Freyja will be shepherding the long boats over with the new arrivals.’

‘So that’s why Guthrum’s not following Alfred to Kernow. He’s building up his army and setting up proper colonies. You always said that our winter was nothing to them and wouldn’t stop them fighting.’

‘It also gives Alfred a chance to recover. If Guthrum attacked Tintagel now, we would be in trouble.’

They were both silent for a while.

‘Everyone,’ said Desmond eventually, ‘is gearing up for a mighty big battle.’

‘It will begin next spring,’ replied Twilight. ‘Then the Wessex earth will tremble with conflict, and we will be right at the heart of it.’

They walked on for a while until Twilight stopped.

‘Did Guinevere tell you how she nursed King Arthur here for many days in an attempt to save his life after he was badly wounded at the battle of Camlaan?’

‘She did.’

‘That is his final resting place. His casket lies deep in that cave.’

He pointed upward to a small dark spot on the highest point of the headland. Desmond looked at the almost indistinguishable dark outline of the cave.

‘Is there something else in the cave with his casket?’ he whispered reverently. Twilight smiled. ‘There could be,’ he replied enigmatically.

Desmond could hardly bring himself to utter what he thought it was. ‘The holy grail,’ he managed eventually. ‘The holy grail is buried in there with King Arthur?’

Twilight’s black eyes danced with delight, but he didn’t reply. And Desmond Kingdom Biwater could only shake his head at the wonder of it all.

After a month of harrying the Viking, Jack Cat and his band returned to Tintagel Castle. He’d lost twenty-five men but had accounted for at least double that number of Viking. The disruption and occasional chaos caused had worked perfectly, and with the ever-present protection of Twilight, his escape from each foray had been successful. Because Freyja’s presence had not manifested itself due to her other duties, Jack and his men, despite the dire warnings issued by Twilight, were sceptical that she actually existed.

Due to the success of the raids conducted by Jack’s men, the Viking had given up on the idea of corralling Celts for later sale into the slave trade. Every time they secured a suitable number in the pens, or when taking them to the coast for onward shipping to the lowlands in their longboats, Jack and his men would pounce and set them free. ‘Jack Cat’s Renegades’ were beginning to forge a reputation among Celts as a force for everything that was good about King Alfred’s cause, a fact that wasn’t lost on the king and his newlywed battle leader. Many of the Celts set free by Jack and his men subsequently arrived at Tintagel to sign up for the king’s army, and the numbers soon swelled to ten thousand. In a roundabout way by capturing settlement Celts for the slave trade, the Viking were helping to recruit men for Alfred’s army.

The other reason for Jack’s return was that a month had gone by and they were due another advanced pay day. It was also another opportunity for Jack to see the saddlebags of gold pieces that had been burning through his nightly dreams since Alfred first opened them in front of him. The second payment ritual played out the same way as before, and the same people were present. Once again Jack fought every sinew to keep the intensity of his interest hidden.

Later that night having paid his men, Jack sat with Patch, Arrow, and Bullwhip quietly discussing the matter. During their month harrying the Viking, the four of them had spoken privately of the gold many times. What they hadn’t come up with was a plan to steal it.

Yet.

‘Our problem,’ said Jack in a low voice, ‘is that the very person who protects us against the Viking will also be the biggest threat against us stealing the gold. That sorcerer can make himself invisible, change scenery around to suit, see through thick stone walls, hear at great distances, and sense things before they occur. He’s as quiet as a fish and faster than one of Arrow’s shafts. For all we know he’s listening to this very conversation from somewhere up there.’ He pointed up to the night sky.

‘He must leave the castle sometimes,’ growled Arrow. ‘How would he manage to look after us if he stayed here? Even he can’t be in two places at the same time, can he?’

‘What about those other two who guard the gold all the time?’ Patch joined in.

Jack answered. ‘Sam Southee told me about them one night when we were sitting up a tree at Combe. One of them is a deaf mute called Classen. Bit of a handful by all accounts. The other is Alfred’s nephew Hywel. Looks after all the king’s money. They take it in turns to sleep and even then they sleep on top of the saddlebags. They’re both totally dedicated to the king and would rather die than lose a single gold piece.’