Enchantress Awakening: Part One of the Book of Water (The Elemental Cycle 1) (13 page)

Fortunately, when she looked up she saw that the arms belonged to Ceolwulf and he was shepherding her from the hall away from further temptation. They reached her room in silence before she turned imploringly to her saviour. “Why did you take me from the hall?”

“It seemed that you were under siege on many fronts and I did not want our friend Master Gideon to give himself away further by using his powers to protect you.”

“Did you see the magic?” Caleigh asked dreamily.

“No, but it was not hard to deduce what was happening. Forgive me for not being at your side sooner. I should have attended to you afore a rescue was required.”

“It is not fair. I have done no wrong why should I be removed?”

“You are right ‘tis not fair yet I had either to remove you or ten score of lusty men.”

“Why remove me at all? Who is to say that I do not seek to be ravished?” Caleigh put her fingers to Ceolwulf’s collar. “Or is it that you wished to reserve that pleasure for yourself?”

“Alas, I cannot.”

“Why can you not? I can feel how much you want to.”

“Tovrik warned us what the nature of your power is, and he warned us that to begin with there may be times when it overcomes you. To take you now would be no better than taking you insensible with drink or in the midst of a malady.”

“If you know the nature of my power then you know I could make you take me.”

“Yes, I know this. I trust that you will not do so.” Caleigh sighed and stepped away from the knight; the call on her conscience washing over her like cold water on her libido.

“You are an honourable man, Ceolwulf.”

“You may call me Ceol.”

“Well then, Ceol, Sir Ceol, knight of virtue. I thank you for your consideration, truly, and now I must ask you to leave for I will shed my garments and I think both our resolves will be shattered if you remain here as I do so.”

“I think you are right in this. Sleep well, Caleigh.” Thus Ceol departed with his eyes fixed ahead never risking looking round and witnessing Caleigh’s baring form. For her part, Caleigh closed the door fast behind him and clambered onto the bed in a kneeling position. The memory of the lust that had filled the hall was fresh within her and thinking on it she was able to come at the merest touches with her hands and fingertips to her breasts and hardened nipples.

14. Into the Elements

Caleigh woke with the bed sheets coiled up and sodden between her legs. Her dreams remained vague although she was sure Loreliath had figured in them. There had been much love-making, some of it in the forest she had dreamt of prior, some of it within the many chambers of this very hall. A small part of her felt cheated that for all the lust that had come her way she had not been part of any of this enjoyment.

Once dressed and cleansed she made her way to where she thought the training yards would be in the hope of finding Penric and Ellie there. On her way she was intercepted by Ceol wearing the most unsure of expressions. He was torn by the peculiar mix of shame and regret that assails a man who for principle passes by the chance to lie with a beautiful woman. Somehow the knowledge that the right thing was done is of little solace afterwards. “Good morning, Caleigh.” He began stiffly.

“Good morning, Ceol.”

“Forgive me if I was abrupt or seemed to be unfeeling last night.”

“Put aside your worries, Ceol, you did what you felt was right. How could I think less of you for that?”

“I thank you, though now I am not so sure it was right.”

“It must be preferable to doing something you felt to be wrong. Would you rather I now believed that your ideals could be easily overcome?”

“You are most understanding.” Caleigh could feel his relief expanding out from his chest. Little did he realise that Caleigh did not feel as one spurned for, unlike other women in this position, she knew for certain that he had not declined for lack of wanting. “I did not seek you out for this reason though. My father sent me to bring you to him he thought you might have things to discuss ere you leave Crowbridge.”

Ceol led her not to Cynric’s council chamber as she might have expected, instead he took her out into the grounds behind the great hall to a hill below which the riders had assembled the day before. As soon as Caleigh was face to face with the Earl, Ceol took his leave and hurried back down the slope.

“He seems troubled.” Cynric remarked at his son’s departure. Caleigh did not comment, which in itself told the Earl he was right. “I gather he had to rescue you from a clutch of uninvited advances last night.” 

“Yes, I am grateful to him.”

“Forgive me; I should not have departed ere seeing that you were safely returned to your chamber. I should have foreseen this.”

“My lord?”

“Tovrik told me the nature of your powers and how you may be affected by them. It is fortunate that Ceol had the wit to realise what that would mean in a room full of drink-addled men.”

“I know not what to say to that. I did not realise the nature of my gift was so well-known.”

“Ah, I see. The young often have this fanciful notion that their elders are more easily embarrassed then they are by such matters, forgetting that if they were so unworldly in this way then they themselves would have not been born.”

“Maybe it is that the young realise they are unworldly and feel embarrassed to speak of it openly to those who may not be so. Or perhaps they prefer that their elders believed them to be unworldly.”

“Both are possible, I concede. Do not be troubled that others know; your gifts are not a statement of your character. That is only decided by how you choose to use your gifts. That talk is for another time, however, and with those whose wisdom in such matters is deeper than mine. I called you hear so you could have the chance to ask me any questions you might have free from prying eyes and ears.”

“Is that why we are so far from the hall? Do you have reason to distrust your people?”

“No, although discretion does no harm, it is for my leg. I find that if I sit for too long I stiffen up. So come Caleigh, I know these lands and their tales well. Is there anything you would wish to know?”

“Yes, were there many wizards in Caerddyn’s time? Everyone says of how they were hunted down, which means there must have been many more once. Do you know much of this?”

“Hmm, this is more a question for Tovrik but I can answer some of it for it features in the story of how the Kingdom came to be and of its fall. After perceiving the White Lady at the Shrine of Lost Souls, Albion and Caerddyn set out creating the Kingdom that they had spoken of. Many great deeds were done in that time but I shall restrict my telling to that which concerns Caerddyn most, as this is your interest. Albion raised a fortress beyond the Great Henge named Helmgard and here came many young men inspired by his vision of a Kingdom built of valour and virtue and not simply on tribal ties. These warriors became Albion’s knights and rode to all corners of the Kingdom to protect its people from harm. In the same way, Caerddyn reached out to the magically gifted drawing them to Helmgard where they would be protected and where they could assemble a great store of knowledge in libraries greater than any known before in these isles.

Amongst those to come were the warrior-mages of the west and in Helmgard they formed the Order of the Dragon. Indeed, they may have been the first of the knightly orders to be founded. So it was that the gifted and the valorous alike came from far to reside within the walls of Albion’s capital. I cannot say how many wizards there were at that time for some of the gifted may have served principally as knights within an order, whilst others though able were never able enough to be famed to the height that Caerddyn was. I know of two only who were mentioned with any measure of the same reverence and they were named Benifran and Ranevark. Have you heard these names afore?”

“I have read a letter from Ranevark to Caerddyn. I think he was an Enchanter, like me.”

“Yes, he was. It was Benifran who Caerddyn met first, when the borders of the Kingdom moved into the most western lands of are isle, where the line of druids remained the strongest. The Kingdom grew in part by war it is true yet also by shared ideals. Benifran’s people had oft been oppressed by the Danarians from over the waves and Caerddyn was able to persuade him that they would have a freer and more peaceful life under Albion than they would have under eternal tribute to those that harassed them. Benifran was respected amongst his people and in turn he persuaded many more to join with the Kingdom. Thereafter Benifran joined the court of Helmgard and his voice was considered chief in wisdom, save only for Caerddyn.”

“Benifran was a druid?”

“Yes, his lore was that of nature and all growing things. Ranevark joined with the Kingdom a little while later and in doing so sparked the events that would make Albion the foremost king of the western lands.”

“How did he do this?”

“Ranevark had been in contact with Caerddyn before he flocked to Albion’s banner. The letter you read was likely from this time. He was an influential advisor in the eastern fens after the people there had rebelled against their Senatian overlords. For a time they were able to manage their own affairs until Lucentanius decided to bring them back under control. Ranevark convinced the fen people to beseech Albion for aid rather than submit to a rule doomed to be harsher than before.

Albion did not refuse their request for aid and in doing so brought himself into direct conflict with the Governor he had once served. It is said that this was no easy thing for him; to raise a sword against a former master is never easy for the true of heart. Yet his love of the people his Governor had long abused was greater than his former ties of loyalty and in the end he defeated Lucentanius upon the field. With that victory all the lands that had been once a province of the Senatian Empire was now part of the Kingdom of Albion. With Caerddyn, Benifran and Ranevark all sitting on the King’s highest council this was likely the best time for wizards known in many an age.”

“How did it turn so ill?”

“The Kingdom failed and wizards like all those who had prospered under its protection, suffered at its demise.”

“What happened to Caerdynn, Benifran and Ranevark?”

“Ranevark was assassinated, Benifran died in the wars against the Danarians and Caerdynn vanished, some say he was killed others that he withered away alone and broken. Each death was in part tied to the demise of the Kingdom and to tell their story in full is to tell that tale. That is for another day and mayhap for others to tell, though I should happily continue the tale of the earlier days of the Kingdom if you have time to hear it ere you leave.”

“Yes, I would like that.” Caleigh stopped to consider for a moment. “Does this not perturb you?”

“What do you mean?”

“The last time Loreliath tried to steer these lands towards virtue the venture failed. Is our present struggle not likewise doomed?”

“The Kingdom may have failed yet not all was lost with its fall. As long as there are some who believe that we should be ruled by conscience and just laws then something will remain of what Albion and Caerdynn tried to build. A vision only dies when there are none left to dream. But this is fanciful talk; let me give you something more solid. Our forefathers failed to perceive the darkness that poisoned the Kingdom this time, should this Beast come before us, then all will know of it and I believe when the choice is made plain between good and evil enough of us will choose good for there to be a fight of it.”

“Will it be enough, simply to fight?”

“It may be. When it comes to conviction more will choose good than evil. Each of us knows what is right in our hearts. Evil must therefore always swell its ranks with the fearful. As long as the triumph of evil is made uncertain their cause will remain uncertain, reliant of the obedience of those who would abandon them if defeat ever loomed near. Mayhap this is a simple judgement of the nature of man but it is one I choose to trust in.”

“How will you prepare for what is to come while we study in Elevered?”

“I will seek to persuade King Aethelwine towards peaceful policies where there are friends to be made and try to protect the gifted when they emerge. And to keep a sharp sword close to my side for if the worst comes to happen.”

Out of Crowbridge the party remained in the company of hills now oft bedecked with thick crops of trees. Daydreaming, Caleigh’s mind sang with visions of yesteryear conjured by the words of Cynric told to her by firelight. Of how Albion, now master of latterday Sommerwold, Medria, Estmarch and Norderlund received the King of Brannoch in friendship and had returned with him over the northern border whereupon he encountered the King’s fine daughter Gwenythar. She saw their first meeting and picturing with absolute clarity how their eyes fell upon each other and how the seed of love soon grew between them.

They moved into chalky cuts in the landscape and her mind went to the Danarian invasion and of how Albion beat them back to the island of Glaerwater where he captured the King of Danaria, who bought his freedom with the Vessel of Life, a cup of great wonder gifted to the Danarians from the Sea God, or so they told. “What was this vessel?” She had asked.

“A great cup of shining crystal that once filled with water would never be empty so long as its owner willed it no matter how much was poured out and that the water from that cup would be the holiest water imaginable, capable of curing all manner of ailments.” Cynric explained in turn. So Albion had treated the wounded of his army with this wonder from over the sea and was able to spread fertility to all the soil of the Kingdom. Such was it at its zenith, little did Albion realise then that all that had made his Kingdom happy, prosperous and peaceful would eventually tear it apart. Cynric had not gone further than this leaving Caleigh to wonder at what it must have been like to have lived in those high days ere the fall.

Leaving behind her reverie for a while, Caleigh looked over her companions. There had been eight in the party since they had left Crowbridge. Alongside Ceol went two other riders from Earl Cynric’s hall named Halda and Saebald who both wore the long mail and low-reaching helms of his honoured personal guard. They did not speak much with her or any on the cart for ever they took position to the fore and rear of the party looking out for any threat that may come upon them. Only when they stopped for lunch did they come close and even then they remained on watchful alert.

So they remained when they halted again for the evening and with this reassurance of protection the rest of the party was able to relax for a while until the time came for the watch duty to pass to another. Ceol and Penric, being both trained to take rest when it was offered, quickly bedded down so that they would be refreshed for the last shift of the night. “You should do likewise, Caleigh.” Gideon advised watching the warriors settle. “Our shift is not for four hours yet.”

“I do not see you doing so and you will have less chance to rest on the move from your saddle than I will in the cart.”

“Very well, then perhaps you would care to join me in some training.” Gideon sat away from the fire with a dish of water between his knees and Caleigh moved to join him.

“I hope you do not wish to practice the shield spell again. I still have not recovered from yesterday afternoon.”

“No, we will leave that for a while, though I deem you have made significant progress with it.”

“It feels not that way when you hit me with spell after spell I cannot perceive or stop even when you use the lightest of touches.” Caleigh remarked lightly. “So what is it you wish me to try tonight?”

“Be not frustrated if this brings no rewards on this occasion, I am merely curious to see if you have come far enough to begin elemental magic. If so, it will be a great achievement so early in your training.” Gideon looked at Caleigh imploringly waiting for the question.