Chapter seventy-one

The Radical Numerologists’ Headquarters

The door swung open easily, far too easily for such a large object. An exceptionally thin redheaded woman was waiting for her just a few steps in front of the door.

‘Thank you Thelma’ she said, nodding to the old watchwoman. She shut the door softly. She turned to Lily.

‘I’m Braith’

Lily stared wide eyed. The woman looked young enough to be one of her class mates.  Her answer was blurted out carelessly.

‘I’m Lily’

Lily did a double take.

‘I mean Molly…’

Braith frowned, sympathetically.

‘I know who you are, Princess’

For the first time in her life she hated that name. It felt wrong for her now, faced with someone who was so much more powerful than she. What did the title mean anyway? She hadn’t earned it.

‘Lily’ she mumbled, embarrassed, ‘just call me “Lily”’

Braith’s frown transformed with a minimum of movement into a flicker of a smile.

‘Lily’ she repeated.

Lily looked beyond Braith’s shape at the room. It was a well-lit dry cave. There were no torches, just a general glow. She was no longer in the house on Stanley Street.

‘This is our headquarters. You have just found one of the entrances to it’

‘Where are we?’ asked Lily

‘In the far west’ Braith answered in the western tongue. Lily shook her head.

‘I only know a very little Rhylic’

‘I know. You have just begun your studies at ECU’

A shiver of worry ran through Lily.

‘How did you know that?’ she asked

Braith laughed dryly,

‘Everyone has spies these days’

Lily felt glum.

‘I suppose that they do…’

She only just managed stop herself from saying – I just wish they wouldn’t spy on me.

‘Anyway’ said Braith, ‘I know all about you and the group you represent. I have been waiting for you to make contact’

What group do I represent?  wondered Lily to herself.

‘The Hybitor coven, you mean?’ she ventured, her voice almost too soft to be heard.

Braith looked mildly surprised, as if Lily had suddenly pulled out a bunch of flowers hidden in her sleeve

‘That is who sent you, isn’t it?’

Lily nodded vigorously.

‘Councillor Williams, sent me’

‘Covener Myfanwy Williams… She is known to us’

Lily was about to ask how? But Braith continued before she could interrupt.

‘You are all known to us’

‘Oh’ said Lily, dumbfounded.

Braith smiled at her. It was the sort of smile that a kind owner would give to a beloved pet dog.  Lily had never been subject to such a smile before. It made her melt and bristle in equal measure.

‘So, Lily, apprentice witch, why are you here?’

Lily’s heart leapt when she heard this title – so much better than being a princess!  It emboldened her.

‘I’ve come to find out who you are – and what you’re doing’

Braith thought about this for a minute or so and then she turned to walk away.

‘Let me show you,’ she said.

Braith led her down the cave until they reached a door. Beyond the door there were four rough-hewn stone passageways, branching out like the folds of a fan. She went down the second one, apparently choosing it at random.

They walked for a little while. The passageway sloped upwards until they came out into a large sunny conservatory. There was a hubbub of singing and musical instruments; in the centre of the room a couple were dancing. Sitting at the edges were   the musicians; two of them with fiddles and another was vamping on an accordion. Another figure sat over a book; she seemed to be memorising lines. They all wore Ethian peasant clothes, but entirely in grey. It was clearly a sort of uniform. They took no notice of the sudden intrusion at all.

‘Can they see us?’ asked Lily

Braith nodded, ‘if they choose to’

One of the fiddlers began playing; the notes skipped off his bow and the dancers took up the rhythm. It was an idyllic scene but there was something about it that made the hairs on the back of Lily’s neck stand proud. 

‘Who are they?’ she whispered.

‘They are our volunteers’ answered Braith

‘What have they volunteered for?’

‘A lifelong commitment to the commonweal’

That seemed awfully vague to Lily.

‘I meant – what for in particular, madam?’

Braith shook her head

‘I am not your teacher, Apprentice Lily’

Lily lowered her head in apology.

‘What do they do?’

‘I cannot tell you that. But I can tell you what my order does’

‘Yes, what do you do?’

‘We look for the nagas…’

‘What are they?’

Braith shook her head

‘If you do not know, then we cannot tell you’

‘What do the nagas things do?’ asked Lily

‘They are guardians: there were nine of them’

‘And you wish to destroy them or capture them?’

‘No, they are redundant; their power is faded; they are not important to us’

‘Why do you seek them at all, then?’

‘We need to find what they guard’

‘To protect it?’

Braith shook her head sadly

‘No – not that at all’

‘But, why then?’

‘If you do not know, then we cannot tell you’

‘Do you know where any of them are?’

‘Yes, we do’

‘How do you know?’

‘Some are obvious, some are known to have been destroyed; one was revealed by an unexpected emanation’

‘An unexpected emanation, what’s that?’

‘An entrance that was not a breach and by a being of great power’

‘You talk in riddles…’

‘No, I do not. What I say is entirely clear. I would never knowingly mislead – it is not my way… let me show you’

She walked over to the woman hunched over her book. She still didn’t seem to have seen them. Lily glanced down at the book – it held the words for a song. She just caught the first line …There’s a shadow beneath the sea… before Braith spoke again.

‘This is Sian, she is preparing for a role; a vital role, but one that we hope will be long delayed if not, in the end, unnecessary’

‘What role?’ asked Lily

‘She will become a Prime’ whispered Braith. Lily had no idea what that was but it was clearly something both important and, perhaps, a bit creepy.

Sian shook her head. Her eyes focused on them, but she showed no hint of surprise.

‘And it will be soon. I sense it…’

Braith looked startled. This was the first time that Lily had seen her anything but entirely cool.

‘Is the naga gone?’ she asked

The woman shook her head.

‘Not yet – but I feel our enemy approaching’

‘Who is your enemy?’ blurted out Lily

‘The Archwitch Bea – she is trying to destroy the guardians and the…’

‘Say no more, Sian’; ordered Braith, but Lily carried on questioning, anyway.

‘Is she like the other Archwitch, Kratos? I have encountered him’

‘How is that possible, girl?’ asked Braith

Lily smiled the smile of someone who has just learned how to use a knight effectively in chess.

‘If you do not already know, then I cannot tell you’

Braith glared at her for a split second and then the moment passed.

‘We know little of Archwitch Kratos, but, yes, he is a similar being to our enemy and I believe that they help each other’

Sian ignored all of this.

‘I am preparing to go’ she murmured.

‘Go where?’ asked Lily

‘To  Karyodendron’

‘Ortia’ whispered Braith; it may be that no-one was meant to hear it.

‘Auntie M’ blurted out Lily, ‘that’s her city’

Both Sian and Braith looked at her.

‘You know someone who lives in Ortia?’ Braith asked

‘Vaguely’ lied Lily, fear and caution allying inside her.

‘It will be safe’ asserted Sian, blandly

‘How can you be so sure?’ asked Lily.

Braith took Sian’s hand. It seemed to Lily strangely incorporeal, almost translucent.

‘Yes, how can you be so sure?’

‘The plan is set; the way is clear; all will be well, all will be well and all manner of things will be well’

‘Is Ortia safe? Are the people who live in the city in danger?’ asked Lily

Sian shrugged.

‘I have no idea; they are not my concern…’

Fear surged through Lily. What if this woman succeeded but at the cost of Marthian’s, and all her citizens’, lives? What use would that be? She forced herself to speak.

‘The coven can help you – I’m sure. They will fight the Archwitch and save the city’

Sian shook her head but Braith looked concerned.

‘It is so soon after the last one, Sian. Perhaps we should ask the coven to help us? If only to buy some time’

‘It is fate’ murmured Sian, ‘there is no going back’

‘I just need some mail paper’ insisted Lily, jumping up and down, worrying that she would be treated like a child. She would not be ignored, not now.

 ‘Who will you write to?’ asked Braith

Lily didn’t hesitate

‘To President Ismay. He’ll know what to do’

Braith hesitated no longer. She went to a drawer in a desk at the far end of the conservatory, opened it, and pulled out from it a greyish sheet of paper. She beckoned to Lily and once Lily was at the desk she pointed to a pot of ink and a quill sticking up from inside it.

‘Go on, then’ she said, ‘let’s see what this famous coven can do…’