A Darness

Welcome brave adventurer, to the uncharted waters of my imagination. Hereafter is a story that does not require any foreknowledge, but you might enjoy it a little more if you read its predecessor.

The ideas for this tale frothed like the quantum foam at the boundary of the real, and I had the devil's own job resolving them into some sort of coherent... narrative. What that pseudo-scientific gobbledygook boils down to is that I didn't plan this very well so there a few (minor) continuity errors betwixt the previous instalment and this. Such is the lot of the hapless writer. I will (I promise!) get around to resolving them at some point but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy what I've written.

Dialogue in other languages - except for the argot of Creation - is as per Google Translate. Suggestions for vernacular (the vulgar, the better!) are welcomed and will be incorporated into a subsequent revision.

As ever, any resemblance to mundane or fae, living, dead, or in some terrible unresolved Schrödinger duality, is purely coincidental.

Constructive criticism is very welcome.

Divination

Other than every waking minute, the Wizard was not thinking about his upcoming nuptials. He loved Frances, there was no doubt about that, but he fretted about the future. His lifespan was unknown but there were legends of practitioners that had lived for over a thousand years. The Iskian battle mage Manjate was around the five century mark. This meant living unchanged while Frances aged and ultimately died. This was what most mundane humanity expected and was - more or less - prepared for. He took a deep breath. The future is, what was that lightning Skazen phrase?

'The future is tekkon!' (Best translation: 'not only stranger than we suppose, but stranger than we can imagine').

So, one day at a time, best foot forward, and all the other clichés that dealt with living in a non-determinate universe. But practitioners did have a foot in the door...

"I think," he said, looking at his apprentice, "that it is time to test your ability for divination."

Melissa took an equally deep breath. She knew that this was not a trivial Work. How 'not trivial' rather depended on her ability.

"Will I see the future?"

"The future

and

the past."

She thought about this for a bit. The Wizard liked this in his student. She was a Queen and a strong-willed young woman but not afraid to admit ignorance and take instruction.

"If I can see the past, can I change it?"

"The past is dead, nothing lives there," he said, shortly.

Melissa looked at him. "But how can that be? I remember-"

He cut her off. "Yes. You

remember

. What is it you remember? You remember the things you saw, the things you heard and felt with your senses, you remember your feelings. But do you remember all the things you

didn't

see, the things you

didn't

feel? The feel of the lichen on the stones in the graveyard, the taste and smell of the meal the serving staff ate in their dining room, the sound of the storm lashing the walls of Hekaa in far Lonyan... in a word,

everything else.

What we remember is an imperfect fraction. Think what the past would be like if it were built out of our memories. There is a charming Acapeste folk song, "

I remember it well.

"

"I know that song!" said Inaya.

"That brilliant sky."

"We had rain!"

the Wizard responded in a surprisingly good baritone.

"Those Etian songs!"

"From sunny Hain?"

Melissa rolled her eyes. Her assistant and her mentor could egg each other on endlessly. "Shut

up!

" she whined.

The Wizard and Inaya grinned at each other. He continued, "Only a God could encompass the whole. So, believe me when I say that all life is here, in this instant."

Melissa nodded, trying to process what Edmund was saying. He continued.

"Now, the past is fixed, like a picture. But the future is different. There is some certainty about what might happen in the next few minutes, the next few hours, but as the viewpoint moves further and further away, the possibilities multiply one on top of another until all is a blur." He hesitated. "Although some events loom out of the murk, too difficult to see clearly but enough to give a sense of foreboding. It does not do well to dwell on the future. To do so can lead to paralysing indecision."

He looked sideways at her and chuckled. "Sometimes I forget how young you are. Let me stop waffling and give you something practical to do."

Melissa's face lost its distant look, and her eyes focussed on his face. She smiled. "I love listening to you talk. Which is most fortunate because you talk a lot!" He had quite taken the position of favourite uncle.

"Very well, then! A lot of divination looks for patterns, hoping to find some resonance with the universe. They cast bones or yarrow stalks, deal cards or slaughter chickens and then pretend to interpret the patterns. As above, so below, and all that nonsense. True divination means opening yourself up to infinity - and hoping you have the capacity to withstand it."

"What do you mean?"

"This is a cousin of your fire cantrip in the same way that a drop of water is akin to an ocean."

Melissa paled and he took her hands. "Do not worry. I am not about to invite a firestorm, nor am I going to leave you to do this alone. This may be a Great Work. Your first. If you are successful, it will change you irrevocably and you will be the first Witch practitioner in more than a thousand years."

The young Witch's eyes gleamed with ambition, and he held up a cautionary finger.

"Be warned. When you are an ant, you are beneath notice. When you are a fly, you may be ignored. When you are a mouse, you are prey for cats, owls and snakes, but you may, with care, still pass by unseen. But these are mere metaphors. You are none of these, you are a practitioner, and you have teeth and claws to match. Do you see where I am going with this?"

"That there are more powerful mages than myself? Yes. Although I have only met you."

He chuckled. "And you are fortunate in that, although..." He grew serious. "I still wonder about the unseen hand."

"Your notion that this is all more than coincidence?"

"Yes, but that is a matter for another time. I mean that you will become

visible

in the wider world; much more than if you were only (only!) the young Queen of Hain. If you successfully perform a Great Work, then you may even come to the attention of the

fae

."

Melissa sobered. "Am I a danger to those around me?"

"We are all dangerous in our own measure. Do not shy away from knowledge. Learn, understand, control. Now, are you ready?"

She composed herself and nodded.

"Does the Fastness have an observatory?"

Her forehead wrinkled. "I don't think so."

His eyes twinkled with merriment. "I think you may be surprised at what the Fastness can contain. Have you explored the basement?"

"Basement!"

"Come!" he chuckled.

They made their way to the special doorway to the Fastness that only the

fae-

touched could see. Once inside the Wizard tried not to wince at the decor which Melissa had insisted was not be interfered with. If the Fastness wanted lilac, then the Fastness would

have

lilac. Tibs poked his head through the hatch to the workshop and meowed loudly. Inaya made kissy noises at him, and they ascended to the Turret.

"Come with me, both of you," the Wizard said. "Inaya, your Queen is about attempt a Great Work and you will be witness to it. Request an observatory of the Fastness, your Majesty!"

Both women looked at him blankly and he shook his head. "

Ask

her."

Somewhat hesitantly the young Queen said, "Can I have an observatory? Please?"

There was a distinct lack of anything happening.

"You have to use her name, Majesty," the Wizard said, gently. "And be a little more assertive."

Melissa steadied herself and looked up. "I should like an observatory, Bovarieux."

There was the minutest shiver in the fabric of the building, an otherworldly ripple, as if there had been an eldritch earth tremor. The cat looked most affronted and disappeared down the ladder into the room below. And now there was a set of stairs starting on the opposite wall to the hatch and rising to a door. The Fastness seemed to have grown an extra yard in radius as everything apart from the bookcases was exactly where it had been.

Melissa squealed and clapped her hands. "Thank you!" she shouted at the ceiling before grabbing the startled Inaya by the hands and twirling them round and round.

The Wizard watched her with a wistful smile. It was at times like these that he was reminded that the Witch Queen of Pantanal was only 24 years old. So much had happened to her already and he thought she was intended for a life of great consequence. And it would either make her or break her.

"Shall we go up?' he said, gesturing in the direction of the stairs.

Melissa composed herself and went ahead to the door at the top. There was a key in the lock, but the door opened to her touch. Fresh air blew in and she ascended quickly to whatever lay on the other side. Following her up, the Wizard and Inaya emerged on to a circular platform exposed to the elements. The view over Anassas was spectacular. However, it was windy and while it was quite invigorating, it was not conducive to what the Wizard wanted his protégé to achieve. The young woman in question was twirling round and round, her head flung back, and her blonde hair being tossed by the wind.

"It just feels like my birthday, over and over again!" the young Queen shouted while Inaya watched her with obvious affection.

"I think that must be at least partly due to the Fastness," he observed.

She came to a halt, breathing hard, the colour high in her cheeks, her eyes bright and fierce.

"What do you mean?"

"Having been dormant for so long, Bovarieux wants to be useful. And she relishes having a Talent as her practitioner."

Inaya listened to this exchange with bemusement. The language was so different from Court, yet it

spoke

to something inside her, something dark and primal, something that made her think for possibly the first time in her life that she might mean something other than by the accident of her birth.

~~

As Melissa prepared herself for the ritual, the Wizard and Inaya retreated to the edge to give her space. The young Queen had requested a font and Bovarieux had obliged with small pillar with a basin on the top in the centre of the observatory. The font was filled with water like any baptismal and despite the wind, the surface was quite still.

"Wouldn't any reflective surface do?" whispered Inaya.

"Yes," the Wizard murmured. "Opinion varies on the matter, but I think that a mirror smacks too much of human artifice and invites personal introspection at the cost of the wider picture. The ideal is a still pool happened upon by accident, somewhere far from human interference, deep in the greenwood perhaps. This, however, is a good second. Crafted by an ancient entity, long since forgotten by the world and set in a high place."

Melissa orbited the shallow basin, spiralling slowly inwards, her gaze fixed upon it, her concentration absolute. The Wizard marvelled at her natural ability. She seemed to grasp the ritual instinctively and he entertained a minor qualm that she might be seduced into becoming an Oracle. However, the die was cast, and he and Inaya watched, in reverence, hoping that Narcissus would not... be turned...

to

a

flower.

Time stopped. The basin became the focus of all things, the eye of the needle through which the cloth of Lachesis was pulled. Melissa's expression became ecstatic as she comprehended the true nature of infinity.

The Wizard frowned. This was the peril of the ritual, the temptation to simply dissolve in the rapture. "Focus," he murmured. "Focus!

Remember why you are here!"

He did not know whether what he had said had penetrated her exaltation, but she abruptly became intent. The two observers reeled as images torrented through their heads. The Wizard clutched Inaya's hand to offer his support in the maelstrom and she seized it gratefully. Then it was over, and they realised that the Witch Queen was collapsed by the plinth. Rushing to her side, they discovered that her eyes were open, staring at the sky.

"Are you alright?" quavered Inaya.

"I never knew how beautiful it was," Melissa whispered.

The Wizard took her hand. "And now the student becomes the master!" he said amusedly.

She sat up and gathered him into an embrace. "Thank you, Edmund! Thank you so much!" A spare hand patted the stone floor. "And thank

you

, Mistress!" The Queen looked up at the awestruck Inaya. "Come! Join the company. You are part of this now."

Her assistant knelt beside them and an arm came out to pull her into the huddle. They stayed like that for a few moments before Melissa broke free and scrambled to her feet. She rushed to the edge of the platform and stopped, her eyes tight shut, her clenched fists straight down by her sides, her back arched and her face raised to the sun.

"I feel like I can fly!"

The Wizard swiftly rose and moved to take her arm. "You need to rest. You have performed a Great Work, and its ecstasy is still upon you. More than one practitioner has over-exerted themselves in this state. Come, accept my counsel on this."

She turned to look at him, her face radiant and he gave thanks for the love of his wife and the many decades of his maturity, or he might have fallen smitten at her feet.

"Must I?"

"Yes," he said, gently. "You must."

She allowed herself to be led back down to the laboratory below and made only token protest when the Wizard went to the new set of steps that went down to another newly revealed floor below. Inaya followed uncertainly. Where exactly were they going? And how was this possible when the only thing below this level was the foundations of the palace? They emerged into a well-appointed bedchamber.

"The Fastness must like you very much," the Wizard chuckled. "Now rest. It does not matter too much if you do not sleep but it will be good for you to avoid further stimulation. I remember going a bit mad the first time I did it, wandering around naked in the meadow, pronouncing the universe in every blade of grass and crumb of dirt!"

Inaya giggled and Melissa smiled absently, her eyes far away. They laid her down on the bed and then the Wizard took Inaya to one side. "Stay with her. Be calmness itself. Let the rapture fade. In a couple of hours she should be well enough to re-enter society, although she will be a little

fae

from time to time over the next few days."

Inaya nodded, and the Wizard made his exit.

~~

The following day it was judged that the Queen was recovered enough to return to Court.

Over a quiet meal in the royal apartments, Emilia laid a hand on her wife's wrist. "What did you

see?

" she asked, eagerly.

Her beloved huffed a laugh. "Everything."

It was a most un-Melissa-like thing to say, and Emilia felt a chill. Hesitantly, almost fearfully, she asked, "You're not... going...

away

from me, are you?"

Melissa turned her head, and Emilia blinked at the weight of her focus.

"Never."

Emilia laughed nervously. "Never is a long time, my lady."

The endearment rooted Melissa a little more in the here and now and she felt some of the divinity lift from her. She twisted sideways in her seat and fell to her knees clutching Emilia's robe, her head bowed.

"You are my rock, my anchor, you are my compass in all things. If I had to choose between you and the Craft, I would throw off my Art in an instant. Without you I am

nothing

."

There was silence for a few moments and then Emilia gave a shaky little laugh. "So this is what it is like to be worshipped! Come, my love, do not kneel to me." She raised Melissa to her feet, and they embraced tightly, fiercely.

~~

The following day, Melissa attempted to explain the rapture a little better.

"Em, did you ever do mushrooms?"

The other looked at her uncertainly. "I've had mushrooms to be sure. Risotto with chicken and mushrooms is one of my favourite things to eat."

"No, not those kinds of mushrooms! The ones that the shamans eat when they commune with their spirit world."

"You do remember what kind of childhood I had? Trailing around after my father? He never let me out of his sight. I had absolutely zero chance of doing anything he didn't approve of. I was virtually a nun."

Melissa looked contrite. "I'm sorry, darling. I forget sometimes."

Emilia patted their joined hands with her other. "Forgiven. Now, stop spouting mystical bullshit and tell me what this has to do with hallucinogenics."

The Witch Queen leaned in and kissed the Queen of Western Liave. "God, you're wonderful."

"Yes, I know. You were saying?"

"Well, I only did them the once. Classic act of teenage rebellion looking back on it. I was seventeen and ran with a pack of kids of the Court. We drank, we smoked, some of the luckier ones had sex."

"Sex! I

dreamed

about sex! Mostly about Gwinevere. Although it was Siobhan who showed me what it was all about."

"I thought you said you were virtually a nun?"

Emilia gave her a sideways look both innocent and knowing such that Melissa felt giddy. "Ohhh, I so want to take you to bed!"

"Given. But first the mushrooms."

"We had a visit from the Court of Ingsdvir and one of the young men fell in with our lot. He had some dried mushrooms that he made into a tea. It was vile and gave me stomach-ache, but a little while later everything became... became... bear with me, it's kind of hard to explain. I felt so

connected

to everything. Like I was a cog in some vast clockwork. And everything had so much

presence

. Even everyday mundane things were wonderful. Well, the Divination working was like that only much, much...

bigger

."

"That makes zero sense."

"I felt like a god, looking down - no, being

one

with the whole of creation. Seeing every sparrow fall. Every little thing. The vast river."

Her voice grew distant and her eyes unfocussed.

Emilia sighed and stood up. "You need bringing down to earth. Come with me."

Melissa blinked and looked up at her. Then she understood. "Oh..."

~~

After Inaya had been working with the Queen for a while, her husband became curious. Inaya never spoke about what they did, and he felt he was duty bound to know

something

of what his wife was about. He found her in the kitchen and paused a minute to admire her lithe form as she prepared their evening meal.

"What is she like?"

Inaya stopped mashing the lentils and absently licked the fork as she pondered.

"When the Wizard is teaching her, she is like any schoolgirl. When she talks about Queen Emilia she is like a girl in her first crush, oh, and how she blushes! Then when we are cleaning and tidying, she is a friend, gossipy and sweet. When she is working the Craft, she gets this look on her face. It is hard to describe, wonder and awe and gratitude."

"Gratitude?"

"Yes. She has been given a beautiful and terrible gift and it is times like that that I am reminded that I am in the presence of the Witch Queen of Pantanal."

She chuckled and set to mashing the lentils. "Then, when we are tidying up, I feel like her mother. 'Melissa!' I'll chide her."

Michel shuddered. "I could never be that informal with her Majesty!"