Solstice at Stonewylde (42 page)

Now, as Magus looked at the young man sitting on the Altar Stone, he felt the hatred flowing in his heart as strong and blood-red as ever, and the same desire to smash his skull. The binding spell that Mother Heggy had cast that night at the Winter Solstice red moon only enabled Yul to grow up in safety. The spell expired at sunset on the eve of the Winter Solstice when its purpose was fulfilled and the boy attained adulthood at last. Finally Yul would stand alone and unprotected and Magus smiled at the thought. Then, at last, he’d free himself of the horror that had haunted him since childhood – that cold, lonely haemorrhaging in the darkness.

The sky was palest apricot to the south-east horizon where the sun would soon rise. Shredded ribbons of cloud lay above the skyline, glittering pink and bright, mirroring the sun that had yet to clear the rim of the earth. Yul’s body yearned towards the horizon, his hollow-cheeked face serene, his eyes shut. Suddenly great rays of golden light beamed up around the skyline and the boy’s eyes flashed open as the light washed over him. Magus frowned in disbelief, blinking in the blinding light. It seemed that Yul himself glowed, giving out light and brightness. He stood in a fluid movement facing the glorious sun, his slim frame arched to accept the caress of light.

Then Magus felt something moving, a rumbling beneath his feet. The glowing boy quivered as the force thrust up in an explosion of energy from below the Circle, through the silicate
molecules of rock and into his body. Sparks shot from his outstretched fingertips and his hair stirred with a crackling charge. Yul shuddered violently as he received the energy bestowed upon him by the aligned magnetic fields of the earth and sun. He stood several minutes longer as the sun glittered brighter and brighter, rising in the pink sky. Then with a respectful bow he jumped lightly from the rock, as if gravity had been altered just for him.

Magus was overwhelmed at what he’d witnessed. Such power! And it wasn’t even a festival; even in his early days he’d never been so powerfully blessed. He stepped forward into the arena of the Stone Circle. Yul turned to him, his eyes burning like stars, and Magus felt the confidence and magic surging within the boy.

‘I want to speak to you, Yul.’

Yul merely raised his eyebrows.

‘Come and sit with me on the stone.’

‘It’s a sacred altar, not a seat. I’ll stand.’

‘Very well. I want to speak to you about the future of Stonewylde. I know you have some notion about taking over from me at the Winter Solstice, but let’s be frank here – we both know that could never happen. But I want to see if we can work something out together, some kind of partnership which will benefit the whole community. I see just how very strongly the Earth Goddess loves you.’

‘And no longer loves you,’ retorted Yul, looking his father straight in the eye, ‘which is why you want to share my power. You’re a stealer of energy – Sylvie’s moon magic and my Earth Magic. If the Goddess wanted you she’d still be blessing you, and not me. But the energy has stopped coming to you and now you’re finished.’

Magus watched the boy in bemusement. Yul had blossomed; metamorphosed from a simple Village boy into a powerful young magician. As Magus had seen yesterday in the Galleried Hall, his son was no push-over.

‘Yul, you have no concept of what it is to be magus of Stonewylde. It’s more than just standing on a rock as the sun rises and feeling a tingle in your fingertips. It’s about leadership of the
people, stewardship of the land, guardianship of the magic. Yes, I’ll grant you, the Goddess loves you and you’ve been abundantly blessed with the magic, but that’s not enough on its own to make you magus.’

Yul shrugged and Magus gesticulated impatiently.

‘Listen to me, Yul! You need wisdom and experience. You can’t even read and write and you haven’t the remotest idea how much organisation and paperwork’s involved in running this place. You must’ve heard tales of how bad it was in the days of my father, my uncle and their father too, when Stonewylde was falling apart and the people were starving. That was due to poor management and lack of organisation and I’ve spent my life putting that right. I’m very good at it now and I have a wealth of experience and knowledge. I’m also a very rich man, thanks to my business interests in London, and I use much of my personal wealth to subsidise the community. How could you do all this? You wouldn’t know where to start – you don’t even know what money is! But together, Yul, we could run Stonewylde perfectly.’

Yul looked at his father and knew that what he said was true – he had no idea how to run Stonewylde. But he also knew this was a man unable to compromise, a man who’d allowed his darkness of spirit to overrule his sense of decency and morality, and certainly a man who couldn’t be trusted, however honeyed his words now. Yul shook his head.

‘I don’t know how to run a community, but there are many people here to help me and I’ll learn. Being magus doesn’t have to mean managing the community alone just because you’ve done it that way. The magus is the magician, the wise one, the one blessed with the Earth Magic, and that’s me, as you must’ve just seen. I didn’t choose or ask for this honour but it’s come to me and I accept the responsibility that goes with the power. So save your breath – whatever you say, you can’t change what’s going to happen.’

Magus regarded him steadily, keeping his temper reined in.

‘Are you angry because I lied to you about Sylvie?’

‘I’m angry about everything you’ve ever done to Sylvie.’

‘Can you understand why I pretended she was your sister? I’m sure you can – and remember, by doing that I was also denying myself.’

Yul shrugged again.

‘You don’t really want Sylvie, not for herself and all that she is. You only want to steal her gift of moon magic.’

‘It’s true I want to share her gift, but only because it benefits the community. When I’ve tasted her magic, I’m full of energy. Have you felt the power in those moon eggs? I have some left up at Mooncliffe – we’ll go up there now and you can feel just how strong they are. It’s different from the Earth Magic, more exciting and wild somehow.’

‘I’d never take the moon magic and it isn’t for you either – it’s for Stonewylde. Sylvie must channel it into the hill at Hare Stone, where the spirals are strong. But you make her feed it into the moon rocks and you’ve become evil and greedy, thinking only of your own needs and not those of Stonewylde. And that’s why you’re finished.’

Magus sighed, turning so that he stood face to face with Yul, who was only very slightly shorter than him now. It seemed only a few months ago that he’d been looking down at a boy – a tousle-haired, surly boy who defied him with his smouldering eyes and curled lip. And now he faced a young man who pulsed with power and confidence.

‘Yul, together we could run this place like it’s never been run before! I have the wisdom and experience, the money and the knowledge. You have the Earth Magic, the energy, the youth and the power. Think of it – father and son, ruling together in harmony. The day after tomorrow you’ll be an adult and you can have any woman you choose for your Rite of Adulthood. I’d even let you have Sylvie, though she’s a little young. A moongazy girl is special and to be prized above any other woman. She’s unique and magical, but I’d be prepared to give her to you to prove just how much I’m willing to sacrifice for the good of Stonewylde.’

The sun had risen well above the horizon now and shone into
the Circle, its glittering mid-winter light gilding everything it touched. As Magus watched, the sunlight turned Yul’s skin to gold, his dark curls to glossy sable. The boy laughed, his eyes flashing sparks as he looked at the shadowed face of the great man before him.

‘Do you really think I’d let you be part of my life and my future? All you’ve ever wanted is my death and suffering – you hate me and you’ve always hated me. And as for offering me Sylvie – she’s not yours to give away. You can’t use her as a bribe to get what you want.
She
has chosen
me
and
you
don’t come into it at all!’

His grey eyes flicked over his father with contempt.

‘Two more days, Magus of Stonewylde.’

Yul turned and left the Stone Circle, heading for the Village.

Magus walked up to Mooncliffe and gazed out to sea, still struggling to curb his anger. It was cold and breezy, the wind whipping the sea into sparkling waves that danced in the sunlight. He was furious at the cavalier way that Yul had rejected his offer of partnership, but as he calmed down he decided that maybe it was just as well. It’d been a stupid, spur of the moment decision to spare the boy’s life and suggest a joint rule. It could never have worked, and nor could he ever have let Yul have his moongazy girl. Sylvie might think she loved Yul but he’d enjoy showing her the error of her ways.

Magus climbed onto the great moon rock and felt only a slight flicker of the moon magic, for it was almost two months since Sylvie had danced here for him. He thrilled at the thought of the Moon Fullness the night after this, on the eve of the Winter Solstice. It would be particularly strong, a mixture of moon energy and solstice power, and he’d drain every drop of magic from the girl. He’d bring her to heel and break her spirit, whatever it took. Once he’d disposed of Yul it would be so much easier, and he’d savour every moment of her misery.

Magus jumped off the moon rock and went over to the two wooden chests where the used eggs were heaped all around in a
great pile of sparkling white stone. There were six moon eggs left, locked away safely in one of the chests. After last month’s fiasco he’d been rationing them carefully and hadn’t touched one for ages. He knew how crucial it was that he had power for the Winter Solstice, if he meant to kill Yul. If by some terrible misfortune he didn’t manage to get Sylvie up here first to energise the moon rock and all the eggs, at least with the power from these remaining six eggs he’d still be able to defeat the boy. Yul had such an unfair advantage, he thought angrily, with all that stolen Earth Magic inside him.

Magus pulled the padlock key from his pocket. One chest was empty, and he opened the other one. Yes, six moon eggs remained, nestling together in a glorious white heap of pure moon magic. He decided to treat himself as he was feeling so low. He needed a boost; he was tired and angry, drained from his unexpectedly humiliating experience yesterday in front of all the Hallfolk, and livid with that damned boy and his arrogance in the Stone Circle.

Sylvie was waiting for him up in his apartments, probably awake by now and crying pathetically in a corner. He’d been a little harsh with her since the incident in the Galleried Hall; it was Clip and Yul he’d really like to get his hands on, but she was a captive target. He must get himself under control and not break her completely before the full moon tomorrow. Martin could help tomorrow night with all the eggs and there’d be no trouble getting Sylvie up here, weakened as she was. And should that jumped-up brat of his try to rescue her, he’d be in for a nasty shock. Magus smiled grimly – he had that covered.

He reached into the chest for an egg, bracing himself for the jolt of quicksilver that would flood through his body and continue for hours while he held the egg. There was no other sensation like it on Earth. His long fingers curled around the white, sparkly rock–nothing happened. He frowned in disbelief and snatched up the egg. No magic at all! He tossed it down onto the pile outside the chest; he must’ve put a used one back in the chest by mistake and now he only had five.

Magus picked up another one and yelled in dismay for this too was dead. In dread, he touched the remaining four eggs one by one. With a scream of pure rage he stumbled backwards, unable to believe it. Somebody had switched the eggs! What if something went wrong tomorrow night? There was no back-up now. His vision dimmed as wave after wave of fury pounded from his head down into his abdomen. Somebody had dared to steal from him, to trick him, and it had to be Yul.

Sylvie looked around the beautiful room that had been a living hell since yesterday morning when they’d returned from the revelation in the Galleried Hall. Magus had been terrifying and the very sight of her seemed to fuel his anger further. Clip had tried to come in but Magus had yelled at him and locked the door, pacing the floor like a caged beast and roaring his fury at her all day and evening. Sylvie had been cooped up alone with him all that time, entirely at his mercy, and had for once been grateful for the mead which allowed her to slip from reality.

She hoped today would be better – perhaps after a ride or whatever he was doing now, he’d have calmed down. She got up from the sofa and hurried through the chain of rooms to her bedroom hoping that Cherry had left her something to eat – she was so desperately hungry. She knelt down and peered under the four-poster bed and her heart jumped at the sight of the tray waiting there for her. Delighted, for she’d eaten virtually nothing the day before nor the one before that, she tucked ravenously into the food. As she crammed cold chicken and ham pie into her mouth, chewing as fast as she could, Sylvie wondered as ever how she’d have managed over the past few days without Cherry’s help.

After brushing her teeth and making sure her breath was fresh, for she knew just how astute Magus could be, Sylvie returned to the sitting room and flung the windows open. The cold air made her shiver but was better than the stifling stuffiness and a welcome relief from the roaring heat that made her so drowsy and weak. She was living a nightmare and her only consolation
was that tomorrow night was the Moon Fullness, when she could finally escape. She could survive anything knowing that the end was now in sight.