ARTHUR'S SEED, THE RETURN (Chapter Six)

ARTHUR’S SEED

THE RETURN

Chapter Six.

Jacob and Jimmy Collins, surprised by finding the bodies of James and Alison Moorefield in Gorawen’s old chest freezer instead of frozen meat, decided to leave Lillian’s body where it was, and deal with it later. Jacob’s prime concern now was to get Tyler safely out of the car and into the house. The thought of his son waking up in a strange place and roaming out onto the main road worried him that the police might get involved and the game would be up.

As they climbed the stone steps of the cellar and closed the door, making sure it was locked they heard a car approach the house. Jacob, followed by a nervous Jimmy, rushed to the dresser to retrieve his gun. As Jacob moved toward the front door with the trigger cocked, he heard a car door slam shut, followed by someone banging on the front door. He turned to Jimmy and whispered to him to get a gun for himself from the bag under the stairs. Jimmy did as he was told and returned a few seconds later to stand by the side of his boss.

The rapid banging on the door stopped, quickly followed by shouting, “Open the dammed door, let me in.”

Jacob and Jimmy sighed with relief when they recognised Tyler’s voice, but before opening the door to let him in, Jacob gave his gun to Jimmy and told him to hide both guns back in the bag in the cupboard under the stairs.

As Tyler continued with his tirade of banging on the door and shouting, Jacob unbolted the latch and opened the door to let his son in.

Tyler was not happy, he burst in and pushed past his father saying with an English accent, “Why did your fuckin driver leave me in the fuckin car?”

A surprised Jacob, annoyed by his son’s language, peered outside to see the car parked in the driveway with the engine still running and called on Jimmy to turn it off and bring Tyler’s bags in from the car.

As Jimmy pushed passed them in the doorway to do his boss’s bidding, Jacob asked Tyler, “Did you drive the car over the causeway yourself son? I had no idea you could drive.”

Tyler stood in silence for a few seconds looking at his feet, then turned around to face his father, “Of course, you and mother think I’m an imbecile because I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome when I was small. That’s why you placed me in that fuckin school…well, I’m not…I grew out of that years ago…but you wouldn’t know that, would you? You hardly ever spent any time with me on those odd occasions when you visited…” Tyler was interrupted by Jimmy trying to squeeze past with his bags, but Tyler stopped him, and said as he snatched the bags from him, “They’re mine thank you very much driver, don’t like people handling my stuff.”

An embarrassed Jimmy lowered his head and disappeared back into the sitting room as quickly as he could while Tyler carried on with his tirade of verbal abuse to his father, “I was born in the States, I’m an American citizen dam it…yet you and mother decided to hide me away in that fuckin English school so I wouldn’t embarrass you in front of your posh friends back home…”

Jacob had heard enough so slammed the front door shut and bolted it. He felt his anger intensify so much that he clenched his fists ready to hit out at his son but soon thought better of it. The last time he felt that angry was with Lillian when she tried to leave, he certainly didn’t want to have another dead body on his hands. But before he had a chance to rebuke his son for his outburst, Tyler said in a relaxed and calm manner as he picked up his bags and began to walk out of the hall into the sitting room, “Any chance of a cup of tea and some sausage sandwiches Pops, I’m starving...Where’s mother?”

Jacob, stunned by his son’s sudden change of attitude followed him into the sitting room and replied, “Oh, she’s staying in a hotel, she will be here later. Yes, of course, sorry, how rude of me, what a terrible father I am.” He looked at Jimmy who was sitting on the chair beside the fire and said, “Jimmy, would you like to grab the shopping I asked you to get from the car and bring it in please, Tyler’s hungry."

“Yes boss, certainly,” an eager Jimmy replied as he quickly made his way back out to the car.

Tyler placed his cases neatly on the floor by the side of the fireplace and stood looking at the framed photographs on the mantlepiece. He began to reorganise them so they were all in a straight line and facing outwards towards the room. He then spaced them out equally, measuring the distance between them with his hands. Jacob, mystified by his son’s behaviour shook his head in disbelief as he stood watching him in silence.

Jimmy returned a few minutes later loaded with several bags of food, “Shall I put this stuff in the kitchen boss? Got another load of bags waiting in the car to bring in.”

Jacob nodded and said as he walked towards the kitchen, “Hang on, I’ll come and give you a hand.”

Jimmy placed the bags on the floor and began to fill the fridge with food while Jacob peered around the door frame to keep an eye on his son’s weird antics. Jimmy whispered to him, “A little odd, your son boss…Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to be disrespectful.”

Jacob replied, “Don’t worry, you’re not, why do you think we sent him to that special school…he drove his mother and me mad with his peculiar habits…now look at him…he’s re-arranging the bloody furniture.”

Jimmy peered into the living room and said softly, “I’ll nip out and get the rest of the food shall I boss?”

Jacob replied, “I’ll join you, need a quiet word anyway.” As they left together, Tyler was reorganising the plates and dishes on the dresser humming to himself.

When Jacob and Jimmy got to the car, Jacob pulled him aside to talk, “As soon as we’ve put all this food away, you make Tyler some bloody sausage sandwiches while I make him one of my mother’s special brews. Then, when he’s tucked up safely asleep in bed we can talk…I’m not here for my health, I need to find the tunnel for Tyler and me to escape to my mother’s island so the Feds can’t get at me.”

“Wouldn’t it be better for you to have left him at school boss?”

“I wish…no he is an important part of my plan to get accepted by my long-lost sister and her husband who live on this strange island. Only then, with your help and a few of the lads can I put the final part of my plan into action. Look, I will explain later when Tyler’s in bed…Now let’s go back inside and get this food put away.”

Arthur and Bronwyn were journeying on horseback under escort to the Hunting Lodge for a meeting with Lord and Lady Gochwyban to discuss their planned move from the palace. It was a pleasant release for them to ride out together in the open countryside and relive those precious, carefree moments by racing each other through the forest as they did on many occasions before Bronwyn fell pregnant with Izzy.

While her parents were away, Izzy decided to visit Myrddin’s old quarters at the top of one of the six towers of the palace to prepare for his return. He hadn’t stayed in his room for many years, so she thought she would give it a bit of a spring clean to make him feel welcome when he did arrive. She had no idea what it looked like inside but had brought some clean bedding with her, just in case. She was out of breath by the time she reached the top of the stone steps of the tower and stood silently outside the door for a few moments to recover from the exhausting climb.

As soon as she opened the door, the smell of decay hit her so dropped the bedding on the old chair at the side of the hearth and rushed over to the window to open the shutters to the balcony to let some fresh air in. After expelling the stale air from her lungs, she turned around to study the room, it was very basic. Beside the chair by the hearth, was an old tumbled-down bed at the edge of the circular room with another chair and a rickety old table by its side. She walked out onto the balcony and gazed down at the lake below to think. This was going to take a lot more work than she thought, she was going to have to get some help.

Izzy felt a sudden current of warm air on the back of her neck coming from inside the room accompanied by a low whooshing sound. She quickly turned around to see the back of a human figure slowly materialise out of a green mist before her in the centre of the room. Izzy stood opened mouthed as the room fell silent and the green mist floated up aimlessly towards the ceiling to reveal a tall figure of a man dressed in a hooded cloak and carrying a staff. He lowered his hood and slowly turned around to face her…It was Myrddin.

On seeing her standing there, Myrddin said calmly, “Why Izzy, I know you are desperate to talk to me but to be here in my quarters when I arrived is unexpected, even of you.”

Izzy rushed over to him and hugged him around his waist saying, “Sorry Myrddin, I just wanted to give the place a bit of a clean for you before you arrived.” She pulled away and looked him over, “My, you have changed since we last met…you’ve lost your horrible scaly skin and claws.”

“And so have you child…changed I mean, you have grown up into a beautiful young woman.” He softly caressed her cheek with his hand, “I was told by Ambrosius what you did, I am very proud of you.” Myrddin gently placed the palm of his hand on her head and closed his eyes, finally letting go a few moments later, he continued. “I sense you are troubled by what you did to your grandmother.”

Izzy bowed her head in shame. He put his hand underneath her chin and gently lifted her head to look straight into her now tearful eyes, “You doubt yourself don’t you?” Izzy nodded, “Well, do not…you have not an evil thought in your mind or body, and you will never have. I know she was my daughter but what you did, was for the good of Cuddfan and the people of this beautiful kingdom, the kingdom I created for those born of Celtic blood to live in peace for eternity.”

“Was my grandmother born evil?” Izzy asked.

“No my child, she wasn’t, although she committed evil acts before her death. Her evil grew inside her because I left her alone in a brutal world which didn’t understand the gifts she inherited from me and her mother. It was my fault and my fault alone.”

“But you were unable to help her because you were entombed on Ynys Enlli.”

“Ah yes, I suppose you are right…but it is still my fault for taking her away from her mother whom I rightly or wrongly, judged as evil.”

Izzy took hold of his hand and said, “You mustn’t blame yourself Myrddin.”

“Oh Izzy, I came here from Ynys Enlli to help you and here you are trying to heal my conscience.”

Izzy smiled and said, “It is in my nature to help when I can, as you have now done for me, brought hope where I had doubt.”

“I see you have inherited much good from your parents Izzy. Maybe as my great-granddaughter, there is reason to believe you have also inherited much from me.”

Izzy was surprised, looked at her hands and said, “Do you think I may have inherited your powers of magic in these hands? My grandmother had powers she had inherited from you…the powers that took me from here and brought me back. Alas, there are many things I don’t understand about this magical kingdom of Cuddfan…will you help me to understand Myrddin?”

Myrddin took her hands in his, and replied, “I will be happy to teach you everything I know, so you too, will understand the miracles that make up our sacred world of Cuddfan. But magic is not what you think it is Izzy, and it will take time. Much of it is smoke and mirrors, just ancient relics from the past that our Celtic ancestors created using plants and the voice to impart their wishes into the minds of people who had faith in our ability to perform these magic acts. In the New World you grew up in, you may understand some of these acts as mechanical invention rather than magic.”

“Yes, but grandmother could travel in between both our worlds at will…as you did when you appeared in front of me just now…How is that possible without me being hypnotised or drugged?”

“Ah well, that is magic Izzy…look down at the floor…what do you see?”

Izzy looked down and spun around to study the floor, “Just a plain stone floor is all I see.”

“Look closer Izzy…do you see stones of a different texture and colour in the floor?”

She got down on her hands and knees and looked closer, feeling the stones with the palms of her hands, “Why yes…you are right, there seems to be a small circle of different stones laid into the floor at the centre of the room, and they are also warm to the touch.” She stood up and spun around, pointing to the stone circle with joy.

“There you see my child…these stones are very special to this part of the world. Maybe they might not even be from our world. All I know is that our ancestors gathered larger stones of the same type together from here and placed them in similar but larger circles in many countries to form gateways to many other worlds. There are such stones placed beneath the surface of the sea around Cuddfan.” He paused for a moment then pointed to the stone circle in the room and continued, “So here you see my gateway from my room in the palace to Ynys Enlli, the same type of gateway I have used for centuries, to come and go as I please between our two worlds. Another series of stones are built into the floor in the secret passage you walked into when you retrieved Caliburn from mine and Nimue’s body. That is the place I go to meditate and repair myself when I need to, in secret, away from the prying eyes of the people who live there. Somewhere in this palace is another gateway that your grandmother used to go between Cuddfan and her house in the New World. There must also be a similar pattern of stones in her house for the gateway to work.”

“But surely, for any gateway to open there must be a key.”

Myrddin smiled, “Ah, you have a wise head on your shoulders young lady…I sensed it earlier when I placed my hands on your head and read your thoughts…Yes, you would need a key… that key is a poem from our ancient language, some may call it a spell, but it’s not. You must sing the poem with certain musical notes to stimulate the stones and unlock the gateway. Many have tried but failed because they could not sing.”

“Will you teach me to sing that ancient poem Myrddin? I would like to visit my grandmother’s old house to collect a few of my old things, things a young modern woman needs in her life.”

“Of course, but first, we must find the place where Gorawen’s gateway is hidden in the palace. Do you know if she had her own quarters in the palace as I do here?”

“I believe so, my mother will know but she’s gone to the Hunting Lodge with my father to discuss the move with Lord and Lady Gochwyban.”

“The move?”

“Yes, father has decided for us to move out of here and make the Hunting Lodge into our new home.”

“Oh…Well then, we must wait for her return. While we await her arrival, I will try to teach you to sing the poem that will unlock your own gateway to Gorawen’s house...are you musical Izzy?”

They both laughed out loud and hugged each other.

As they parted and stepped back, Myrddin reminded Izzy of an important fact, “Of course, you will have to know where Gorawen’s gateway is in the house…you wouldn’t want to turn up in some locked cupboard would you,” he laughed.

Izzy reflected for a moment with her hand on her chin before revealing her memories to him, “I do remember the time I spent with her when I was younger. She would often appear from the cellar dressed in a hooded cape. I thought it was odd at the time as she always seemed a little flustered as she walked through the door to see me watching her. And she always locked the door behind her and put the key in her pocket.”

“Then it is almost certain that the gateway for her house, is in her cellar. It makes sense that it would be hidden away somewhere out of view. I do hope the cellar door is not locked Izzy…perhaps you should take Caliburn with you…it will unlock any door with ease.”

Beware of the wrath to come!