Chapter 4. Lady Sage and the Dark Spell.

The caravan of horses, carriages and carts made their way down through the low hills to the soft countryside approaching the Summer Palace. The River of Light meandered its way along the plains which were dotted with the occasional small farmstead. Long horned cattle, sheep and horses grazed in the lush grass then slowly went down to drink the clear water at dusk. Many stories and songs had been told about this ancient roadway and the strange and wonderful things that had happened there over hundreds of years. As they approached the flood plains the river widened and there were several great crossings which spanned the widest reaches of water with old stone bridges. Beside one bridge was a large standing stone that was worn down with age and weathering, you could still just about see engraved symbols of Greta-Rosetta. Travellers and locals alike would leave posies of flowers and small bowls of water beside the old stone as offerings to the deities.   

            Towards nightfall as the soft light was fading the royal company reached the Summer Palace near which was the steadfast Tor. Despite Genia’s sorrow and weariness, even she sat up to look at the glorious palace as they approached it. The road widened near a cluster of tall pine trees where the gateway to the Summer Palace presented itself. The plain grass gave way to cultivated gardens where every flower and shrub grew with ease in the rich clay soil. The beauty of nature and life itself freshened their hearts.

Genia would rather have been married and enjoying a playful sea voyage to Sante Oranga with Demetri than to be running away from her childhood home in the castle. The noise and chatter of the group was heightened as everyone came closer to the palace. Of course, the whole company was concerned and sorry for Princess Genia; they all hoped that the restorative nature of the palace would help her spirits. It was a worrying time as, after all, war had now come out of the blue and all the strong men and warrior women had gone to fight. Who could predict when this unease would end and what cost they would all have to pay? Sadly Genia slumped back in her carriage. She could still feel the power and beauty of the intimacy she had shared with Demetri, it was so overwhelming that she found herself muttering and whispering as if he were there and not riding to a battlefield so many miles away. Nothing could take away the pain of being without him. These feelings had never come upon her before and she did not know how to think or remove the pain from her heart. 

Entering the delightful palace there was fresh water to wash the dust of the road from their hands and faces. There was a succulent meal ready for them. They had airy rooms to sleep in, all of the young women had their own quarters together away from the main halls. Lady Sage and the Queens had rooms beside them. Lady Sage had been Queen Rosemary’s teacher when she was a child and often looked after Genia. She was indeed wise, the young women trusted her completely and wouldn’t hesitate to share their worries with her.

The Summer Palace was not a place for lazy indulgence, it was the most industrious of palaces. The walls of fine rooms for music and dancing were inlaid with smooth, golden  walnut and pale oak. Music was enjoyed by all and when there were no minstrels present most of the young men and women could play the beautiful instruments. There was also a long library with books old and new. The sun fell through the high library windows so that reading was a warm pleasure. Every evening the chandeliers were lit so that reading could continue until the end of the day. After all, who wants to put down a marvellous story before one has to?

Beyond the library was a vast dining hall. No seats were reserved for prince, groom or blacksmith. In the summer palace there was equality between all and this was particularly enjoyed by everyone at meal times. Meals were noisy affairs with everyone eager to share the news of the day. At the side of the room was a wall of doors through which servers could bring fresh food, replenish fruit and vegetable dishes and fill jugs with wine and berry drinks. On the opposite side of the dining room were glass doors to the gardens which were left open throughout the summer evenings. Woodnymphs’ harp music wafted in from the terraces while muslin curtains rippled softly in the warm evening breeze. 

The palace was a hive of activity. Behind the kitchen was a productive garden where anyone could assist the gardeners. Celeste who had power over rivers and streams was often to be found in the gardens creating healing potions both light and dark. After all, these folk were of a fairy nature, they practised magic, they heard the soft whispers of nature and could feel the pulse of danger through field, sky and sea. These were not ordinary folk. They had hundreds of years of magic behind them.

By day they could hear the thwang, thwang, bash, bash from the smithy. The blacksmith used ancient powers to create wonders in metals that no fully mortal man could do. Honeybee, the sorceress, and the blacksmith made weapons together. She had learned how to temper the steel of her sword. Nearby, Diana, the great huntress would work with the fletcher to make her arrows. She made her bows from hazel, ash and willow. Honeybee had endless curiosity. She would also visit the old Miller who was a master wizard. Old Man Miller lived in the wonky old mill and by day he was often to be found grinding his flour. On most evenings he was in his upper chamber writing down ancient spells and crafting new ones. He was one of few fairy folk who had discovered how to travel through time. It was an exhausting and specialised art so he only shared this knowledge with someone who had great emotional wisdom. After all it would not suit everyone to travel through time, especially if mistakes or accidents were to occur. She kept her visits to the Miller and her deep secrets very well. She was  powerful with the sword. Last summer Old Miller had taught her how to shape shift, although so far she only seemed to be able to change size, but she did keep practising. The wonderful thing she had learned this year was how to travel through time and she was very, very good at it, that is to say she had been sent through a worm hole and managed to come straight back. It sounds like a small triumph but it was in fact a tremendous achievement.

Lilliana spent her days with the woodsmen who tended the special trees on the north side of the palace. These trees were revered and respected. They were not for timber or logging. These trees were the woodland messengers. Lilliana was a wood nymph so part of her would always be treelike. She could, of course, confer with trees and they shared many hours where it seemed as if just sat beside one another, but in fact they were communicating. As Lilliana sat in the dappled sunlight under the trees it appeared as if her skin was made of soft and tender leaves.

An extremely interesting feature of the Summer Palace was that at the end of the garden, behind the bougainvillea and the stained glass, wooden gazebo, and beyond the lace-cap hydrangeas was a truly unusual building. It was a red brick observatory with an old metal dome which, with the help of large grinding cogs, could open up to reveal the heavens to a large telescope. In that time many stars had been seen and recorded on vast charts. It was the only observatory for hundreds of miles. The summer skies gave themselves up for exploration. It had been made by The Old Miller’s ancestor and only a few special fairy folk knew how to master it. Every evening Princess Eve of Orion entered the observatory, climbed up and watched what was happening in the night sky. She could read the future from the stars, this was not an accurate art and required mastery of interpretation, but Eve had shown a natural talent for star gazing and would evidently, one day, be an expert. This knowledge was wonderful indeed, but it is a mistake to think that to see into the future is a blessing, in many cases it is much more of a curse. 

Slowly as the weeks rolled on Genia had started to read again and would sit in the sunny library or on the terrace and calm her mind with a good story.

The maidens preferred to be dignified in the presence of the court. It was too difficult for Genia to talk about her deep sorrow, so gradually, when her friends would ask how she was, she began to put a brave face on things, try a simple smile and say,

“ I am well thank you. I eagerly awaiting the return of my Prince, thank you for asking,” then quickly she would change the conversation.

Over time Genia would float around the palace in a dream, it was not always a good dream. Most fairy creatures can float and Genia had some fairy blood in her. When fairies walk it is for a direct purpose. However, if a fairy creature is floating along it usually means that they have something on their mind, they are pondering, they are day dreaming or brewing a creative thought. When in love, fairy folk float and glide much of the time, as they also do when there is death present or some mystical consideration. 

Above the large entrance hall was a dome of coloured glass. This glorious brilliance  was why the grand hall was ideal for dancing and music. Sometimes on the drowsy summer evenings Genia would sit and play her cello. She had a gentle touch and loved the deep and mysterious concertos by Lolali the elfin boy who lived in the shady hollows. He lived in a tree top house and he composed his music at dawn or dusk.  He wrote songs which called to the voices of nature. Genia played her cello of golden wood with her close friend Pascal who would play alongside her with his mandolin. Sometimes the most beautiful creation comes from the pain of lost love. 

For all the love that came from her friend she could not mend the cold, hollow sadness in her breast. She had thought about Demetri so much that she had almost worn out his memory. Some of the time she did not even believe she had been engaged to him. Although she led a special and pleasant life at the palace she did not believe in her own existence, she felt as if she was just standing on the edge of a cloud and could float into nothingness in the blink of an eye. Sometimes she did not really know who she was or what she had done in her young life, she had no idea what she was meant to do next. While she floated around the shrubberies, the rose terraces and sat dreaming by the glistening pools she was aware that the other people looked at her. Sometimes they whispered about their pity for the forlorn princess because her heart had been broken. She wanted to shout that Demetri would come back for her but she was not sure if that was true and then the tears would come again. She was unable to see a future for herself in which Demetri would return. She could not imagine a world where things would be back to normal. The world was upside down. She had no belief that her previous life was real and day by day she felt more and more ill. 

Strangely, as everyone was expecting her to improve she began to look pale, tired, sickly and was not holding her breakfast down. She felt completely different and strange as if she had been taken over by another force. It was more than unpleasant. At breakfast one day Diana sat beside her watching her barely manage a mouthful.

“Let us go to your room Genia, I am a little chilly today and it would be nice to read together this morning.”

Genia could not have been more pleased to escape the sights and smells of the dining room.

As they stretched out on soft couches in the sunlight Diana waited for Genia to speak. She knew there was something on her mind.

“ Diana, dearest Diana, I must tell you a great secret.”

Genia revealed to Diana that she had lain with Demetri before their wedding day was due and now she had come to believe that she was pregnant. All the signs of exhaustion, sickness and soreness were present and she desperately needed to tell someone.

“ Dear Genia , I had wondered if this is what ails you. I shall do everything in my power to help you. You should speak to Lady Sage because she will be able to help you to stay well.”

It was at this very moment that Genia’s fate changed in the blink of an eye. For little did Diana and Genia know but there was a poor Goblin boy outside who had heard every word and he meant to turn this to his cruel advantage.

            Black Shell was the name of this wretched boy. He had one aim in mind which was to benefit from the knowledge he had about the evil Lord Ivy. The wicked Lord who had drawn the Kings to fight in The Ryne Lands thus leaving King Mallus’ castle vulnerable to attack. Yet, as he now sat and secretly listened to Genia sharing her secret with Diana he was much more excited. The news that she was pregnant with Demetri’s child would allow him to blackmail her and have all the riches he could ever want for.

            “Oh my luck, my great good fortune! Today is the richest of days. To think that a few days ago I was under the pain of Lord Ivy and now I shall be a nobleman myself.” He chuckled to himself as he stole back into the woods to plan his evil mission.

Only days before, in the dark lands of Northern Screefell, Lord Ivy had spent all day drunk and nasty. He had been having tantrums and only fools and creepy lords would go near him. 

Black Shell, the poor wretch of a Goblin, is one of those fools and thinks that while other people were leaving Ivy alone he would be in with a chance of getting in his good books. He had been running around fetching and carrying for Lord Ivy all morning, as Ivy drunkenly slept, Black Shell, who had taken a few knocks that morning , heard him mutter in his sleep that he would give anything to someone who could find him evidence that Genia would be unfit to be the future Queen of The Western farmlands. Ivy may not be able to fight Mallus and win but he could be more cunning, and a weak and feeble daughter would be no match for him. His own lords and barons would see how cunning this plan was. He would attack King Alchemela’s land and draw Mallus to the Ryne lands, meanwhile he would send mercenaries to sneak into King Mallus’ castle and kidnap the stupid girl and hold her ransom. The King would give anything to get her back and her reputation as a leader would be ruined before she even started; he could even make her his wife and quickly she could bear him children which would secure his place of leadership in the southern areas of Greigland.

The North was no longer much good to him. His lands in Screefell were ruined by the Dwarves noxious growing potions that had killed the natural resistance of the crops. In the beginning Ivy had been delighted by bumper crops but eventually the soil rebelled and now it produced weak crops and he couldn’t feed the population properly. The people were pathetic and lived their feeble lives in fear of the county Boundary Men. The rivers were dying and the mutated fish were small from the mining residue running off from the land. The lords and barons were becoming uneasy now that there was competition for resources. There was barely any trade with the bordering realms. The main thing they could still trade were minerals and furs from the great beasts that lived in the mountains of the north. The beasts were hard to track and it was a rite of passage for the lords and barons to hunt them from spring to winter. Their meat and pelts were valuable as they were so hard to stalk. The beasts varied from huge wild cats, to yak, to huge black bears and Long Horn’ed Grimsanders. The Grimsanders were twice the size of a Yak and had long and shaggy hair over their hard skin. If a hunt was successful the dead beast would be brought back to the northernmost towns and markets. Great feasts were held and the capture of a Grimsander would be recorded in the Rimmfell Histories. The Histories had been started hundreds of years ago by the lawyers of Lord Ivy’s Northern land. The lawyers had wanted a record of all lands and acquisitions so that they could claim taxes for everything.

Black Shell was not a great thinker but steadily hatched a plan of his own. He would go to King Mallus’ castle and kidnap Princess Genia himself with the help of a little stolen magic and would be rewarded highly by Ivy. He could be rich for life and show all those high and mighty lords what he was made of. 

So Black Shell set off secretly to the north of the Farmlands. He had travelled as far as he could in a day by pony. The woods and stone walls in the north of farm lands created a soft border between the two countries. Black Shell left the tired and thirsty pony and proceeded into woodland by foot. He settled down into the canopy of a large oak for the night, ate his rations and wrapped himself up in his thin brown cloak. Just before he drifted off to sleep he saw some very pretty young maidens walking under his tree. They sat down for a while talking about the herbs they had foraged by moonlight. They were clearly a group of young witches and he would do well not to tangle with them, they were very emotional in all the most difficult ways as far as he was concerned. Before long they had moved away back to their camp and he fell asleep with the idea that as dawn came he would seek them out and use them for his own ends. He was hatching another plan. 

At dawn he crept up to the camp of the maiden witches who lived in the woods. He made himself look as wretched as possible, which was not hard, he cut his own leg and did not cry out, he had felt enough beatings in his time.

Whimpering and crying he fell into the first tent he came across. The long and the short of it was that they soothed him and mended him over a few days. He gained their trust by telling them how brutal Ivy had been and that he had escaped, they tested him with a magic draught to see if he was truthful, which he was.

 He told them that he wanted a potion to give to Ivy so that he could barely provide offspring, and that if he did the offspring would be bewitched and therefore would never able to rule in his likeness. Now the young witches were arrogant and quite sure that they were quite capable of making big decisions; they did not need to consult their elders! So they went ahead and gave Black Shell the potion that would turn Ivy’s offspring into half human and half fish. They were very pleased with themselves. They also gave him the antidote which would reverse that magic if he needed to. They were extremely proud of themselves and felt that it was they, and not their elders who could rid Greiglands of the evil Lord Ivy. How foolish these young witches were! Proud and foolish.

By now Black Shell was feeling well healed and with many provisions he set off for The Summer Palace to seek out Genia, laughing to himself as he enjoyed the morning sunshine. 

Creeping out from the woods (on the same evening that Genia had told her secret to Diana), with his latest plan fixed firmly in his small mind, Black Shell crept towards Genia’s private chamber. He would pour the witches’ draught into Genia’s goblet, she would then deliver of a baby that was half human and half fish! Quietly his rough little hand pushed through her curtain and poured every last drop into her cup. Tired and lazily reaching out for her soothing nightly drink she drained the glass and fell into a slumber.

“All is well, and going to my cunning plan,” said Black Shell to himself.

“Tomorrow morning I shall visit the Princess and claim riches to give her the antidote.”

As the next morning broke Black Shell crept towards Genia’s chamber to deal the blow and claim riches to give her the antidote to the dark spell. He peeped his long, grimy nose around the curtain and to his horror she was already up and gone. He did not know this but Lady Sage had awakened Genia early and summoned her to her rooms in order to talk about the secret.

            Black Shell was beside himself with annoyance. Everything always went wrong for him. Well, not this time. He would stay in hiding and approach her again that evening with the offer of the antidote. Oh foolish Goblin, he had laid the trap and it would not be within his weak and meagre power to change the course of history.

Lady Sage had a fresh pot of raspberry leaf tea for Genia and had made her rooms most welcoming for the princess.        

“Dear Genia, come let us be cosy”. What a pleasant half an hour they had and gradually something dawned on Genia. The things they had talked about regarded Genia’s health and her friendship with Prince Demetri. Then Lady Sage asked Genia directly,

“Genia dear, did you lie with the Prince?”

“Yes I did and I think that is what you want to talk about.”

“Genia dear, I think you will be having his baby this year. His kingdom is in grave peril. Lord Ivy is an evil enemy of King Alecmela’s and the minute they hear that you will bear Demetri’s child you will be sought after to be used in this wicked war. The battle is raging against King Alechemla and Demetri. When Lord Ivy hears that Demetri has a future heir you will be in peril. We cannot protect the palace from more than a handful of bandits or robbers. We need to send you away and there is only one harsh way that I can do this.”

Genia shook with terror. She trusted the words of Lady Sage and was prepared to do what she said to help Demetri with the war. She listened carefully to what Lady Sage proposed. She begged for the use of magic to make the palace safe, but as Lady Sage said, no magic could hold wicked Lords away forever. 

“ I shall give you a potion from the old Miller and you shall sleep the sleep of the deepest dreams. When you awake you will have travelled through time and space. I shall send Jack the woodsman with you as well as Kalo the boy. You will go to a secret glade in a secret wood by an unknown lake and there you shall raise the child. Only Demetri can reverse the magic upon you by virtue of his own true love.

 The price you pay for this magic is that after your child is born you will appear only as an old woman, an old crone. Prince Demetri will continue to seek you out and the spell of your aging will only fall from your face if he recognises his own true love . Do not accept this lightly because if you say “yes” to this pact your life will be hard, and if you say “no” Demetri’s life and many others, who you love, will be full of the pain from years of war. You must choose.”

Tears poured down Genia’s face and not a single sound came from her mouth. She knew she loved Demetri, she would love her child, she would love those she had to leave behind. She sat and cried quietly for a whole hour twisting her hands around and wringing her fingers. Then wiping her long red hair from her tear stained face she bowed her head and quietly said,

“Yes.”

As the spell was cast and woven around her she was momentarily able to hover over the palace and look down on her loved ones as if through a crystal ball. She mouthed goodbye and was then taken up by a vortex of kingfisher blue; there was no pain, no feeling , she merely passed from one time and place to another and we find her next in a great Royal park in Londonatis. It was called Hyde Park.