Merry Christmas and here's wishing for us all a much improved 2021!
Chapter 7
At the house in the dining room three women, one husband and a boy drank tea (which was very welcome) and ate some of, if not, the finest honey-cakes any of the guests had ever tasted. Even her Ladyship had to think that cook had excelled herself with them. ‘Note to self,’ make certain that Robert does not find out about the cakes. Who knows what mischief he would get up to for a taste of them.
John found that he could not take his eyes off Jessie. He wanted so much to talk to her, to learn from her, but the time to do so had not arrived.
Julian had waited long enough. He wanted to know what was happening, so he broached the subject. Her Ladyship, delicately put down her teacup and said, ‘that it was not her position to explain, that would be up to David.’
“So where do I find David?” He didn’t mean to sound so abrasive, but it just sort of slipped out that way.
“If you go out through the patio windows, over the lawn and the road beyond you will see a lake. I believe David is down there sorting things out.”
“Is it all right if I take John out and show him around?” Asked Jessica. She, like John, wanted to get away from the grown-ups for a while and clear the air. She didn’t like that she had too keep secrets from John until now. Her silence had been part of the deal her Ladyship had insisted on before she sought help from David for John and his family.
Now they were all here, so there were no more secrets. She knew John had questions, much like his parents must. They all wanted to know what had happened and how, that was obvious to her.
Julian stood up, said he would like a walk and departed, swiftly followed by Jessica and John. It wasn’t that Jessica disliked the adults. It was that she liked John and wanted to make certain that she could share the wonder of this other world in full with him.
Julian followed her Ladyship’s directions and reached the road. He looked along it to where they had arrived. Seemingly miles away he could just make out the distant gates. He had thought that they would be much closer because it had not taken long to drive what he took for a short distance. It certainly hadn’t taken long by car to get from the other house front and gates to here. But looking now it was a heck of a long way. He crossed the raised road, stepped up a grass embankment and once standing at the very top he looked out.
The lake was there, but it was a good hike to get to it. ‘If you don’t start, you never finish’ he thought and set off towards the lake at a brisk farmer’s walk. The lake closed. The ground from where he had started diminished and less than ten minutes later he was fast closing on a group of people. To his intense shock he recognised Santa Claus (who was dressed in his traditional way for comfort) standing before him. The great Santa, mythical being and feature of every Christmas was actually real and here! Now the world did spin for him. The impossible seemed to have become reality.
He saw a man sitting in a wheelchair (David he presumed) with a woman and an older man and of course Santa all looking out towards a huge floating docked houseboat, of a kind and size he had never before seen. The gathering followed David up a ramp onto the boat where they disappeared from his sight before he could approach them. ‘At least I know where they are,’ he thought, walking slightly faster towards his destination.
Julian arrived at the wooden extending dock as David wheeled out alone (from within the boat) and down to meet him.
“Julian, how nice to see you, and that must be John I can see over by the rocks with Jessica. They look as thick as thieves. Welcome, be assured you are all more than welcome.”
“I have…”
David raised a hand and said, “wait a second please and all will be revealed. I think we need Vindec here. After all, most of this is down to him.”
David called and Vindec arrived. David knew he was in a controlling mood because he had appeared, not next to them as he had expected him to, but on the top-deck seating area of the houseboat.
Vindec waved his hand towards them and David felt the effects of gravity disappear. Julian who had never been in an aircraft, let alone been levitated by an ancient Mage, windmilled his arms to try to stabilise his very unexpected flight.
David laughed. “The Mage does like to make an experience of his arrivals.”
Jessica liked the rocks. Hidden within them was an ancient carved stone bench. She led John to it and sat down. She looked at him and smiled. It was up to him to start the conversation she decided, after all she had told him to wait no less than three times whilst walking over here. She wanted this talk to be perfect and that time had arrived. She gave him all of her attention. She expected him to ask about the farm, the changes… everything. Instead, he asked about her rocking horse dragon and how she got her?
“Silvertip? She was a present from Santa…” It was a long story, but she told John it all and let him make his own mind up. Clearly, he had fallen (like she had) in love with the magic of her other world. She was pleased, very pleased. Lovely as this world was she had really missed company of her own age. Boy, she thought, we are going to have some wonderful adventures together. Then a thought flickered candle-like in her mind, a thought she would give more attention to later.
Together David and Julian floated up and over the water, landing side by side on the boat’s top deck, where chairs and a table were spread with glasses. Vindec had an eye for detail and he knew that this conversation needed to be handled perfectly in all respects, just as David would want it to be. The old Mage waited for them, the time for explanations and answers to questions had finally arrived.
Julian looked at the strange cowl swaddled Mage, with his staff and knowing look and realised he was about to learn the answers to all of his questions. Perhaps even answers to questions that had not yet formed in his thoughts.
David mouthed a single word to Vindec. He said, ‘everything’. Vindec nodded and pointed to a seat for Julian. He sat opposite gathering his thoughts. He looked out over the beach to the distant rocks. He had seen the youngsters arrive and now they were deeply engrossed in conversation. He could imagine what was being said.
Vindec looked at Julian and then pointed towards the distant rocks. “There is the true cause of all that has happened, the young girl started the process that led to this conversation.”
Julian looked where the strange man was pointing and saw his son listening as Jessica talked, using both her mouth and her highly animated hands. Clearly, they were getting on, which pleased him and also pleased Vindec and David, for they knew much more than they would say.
The story got told in clear words, magical pictures filled the air around them as and when they were needed. Vindec showed Julian a new and different world. He had already come to accept that his life had been changed drastically, now he learnt how and why. He looked across at Jessica and silently said ‘thank you.’ John had played his part he realised, when he heard about his crying episode at school. Really John had been the real start point, which somehow made him proud of his son and his choice of friends.
David listened, he knew all that was being said, but he liked making Vindec do the explaining, it somehow brought the Mage down to Earth. That was saying something he thought, for the most powerful magician and knowledgeable Mage on this or any world. Vindec finished as a splash was heard coming from the side of the boat.
Santa and Mrs. Claus were looking out over the large lake, watching the first hint of early evening as it appeared (it came later in this world of magic than in the world of humanity, mostly because Vindec decreed it so for the party). If you lived out most of your days in the frozen North Pole the sight of beautiful clear water was stimulating. Santa heard a bump. He looked down and to his pleasure he watched a small sailboat bob up and down, as though eager to cut a path through the ripples on the lake’s surface.
There was a slight but pleasant breeze blowing, just enough to fill the sails Santa thought, as he took his wife’s hand and led her down a set of stairs to where the craft was moored. They clambered aboard and Santa set the sails pushing the boat free once his wife had released its single tether. The sail filled and the craft reacted. Santa pushed the tiller hard over and they were sailing.
A head popped up from the deep looking at the small boat. The long neck remained hidden. Water-dragons can be shy of people even in this magical world, this one looked and then realised who was passing over its domain. The dragon slipped beneath the ripples creating very few by its action. It followed the craft watching from beneath as the wooden hull skittered across the lake. Perhaps it would make itself known, after all even water-dragons knew about Santa. The chance to actually meet him was possibly too good to miss.
“So, it’s all real? I haven’t gone mad or am lying in a coma dreaming all this?” Julian waved his hand about encompassing the land around them.
“It’s all real and permanent. Your son and his friend’s desires for helping your family have been acted upon and now you have become a part of our world. Now we three will run the most successful environmentally positive business it has been possible to create, on short notice that is!” Vindec stated before he vanished into thin air, his duty done and other mystical responsibilities calling to him.
David waited. He watched as Julian processed everything he had been told and shown. Julian looked out to the children and smiled before waving to them.
The neat little sail-craft performed beautifully as it raced across the large open expanse of the lake. There came into sight a small protruding rock, with a flat top and a neat landing beach. Santa swung right intending to round the prominence, when to his shock the boat tilted upwards as though a giant hand had lifted it from the water. The hand turned out to be the dark mottled grey and red back of a water-dragon.
The boat rested, trapped and delicately wrapped in twin coils of flesh. A head reared out and up over the boat. The sail providing no movement. The water-dragon shook its dog like head, its mouth open revealing long pointed inward facing teeth, perfect to catch and hold its prey. Its mottled grey, silky smooth coils realigned themselves to provide a better resting place for the boat. The creature turned and headed back towards the moored boat, carrying the little boat effortlessly.
Mrs. Claus had first grasped her husband’s hand, then she found her attention fixed on the rearing head; until with resignation she looked forward and watched as they swiftly flashed across the lake. They were at the manor, at David Stevens’ magical home, nothing would actually harm them. None of the creatures, including this water-dragon posed any sort of threat to them, she realised. She relaxed and enjoyed skimming the lake whilst being held well clear of the actual water.
David watched the sailboat with his guests onboard drive forward and away. He saw a swirl and a head rise and then vanish, he realised what it was and smiled to himself. It seems the water-dragon wanted to play a little, which was rare. Santa was in for quite a shock and a heck of a ride for the dragon would return them and the boat to their starting point, probably quite soon he realised. He told Julian that he was about to get a treat and he also called the children, Theresa, and her dad over to enjoy the upcoming show.
Held twelve feet above the lake surface on a rippling wave of dragon flesh the little boat accelerated across the lake. A bow wave formed at the point that the dragon’s long neck sliced through the water. In the distance the boat came into view, Santa had not realised that they had sailed quite so far. The boat closed on the houseboat, the Claus’s rode in perfect comfort, feeling the breeze in their faces. The dragon slowed at a short distance from the houseboat, it lowered its neck and turned away lowering the sailboat back into the turbulent disturbed water.
The dragon vanished to cheers from the top deck of the boat. The water settled, the sail billowed and readjusted itself, with a little help from Santa. He steered the craft up to the landing platform at which it had been moored, and perfectly slid it sideways in as he lowered the sail and readied to leap aboard the houseboat. ‘Leaping’ was not something Santa often did, his rotund physique made certain of that.
The sailboat stopped with a slight jerk as the rope Santa had secured around a cleat pulled tight. He reached out and helped his wife out of the small craft and took a bow at the applause coming from high above his head.
From the distant hills the sky filled with flying shapes. Leading was the huge form of Royal. Beneath his body swung a massive lump of tree stump, closely following was Farloft carrying a large bundle of talon gripped lengths of dead wood. Following on carrying only slightly less was the red figure of Robert and trailing them all was Silvertip. Her load was the smallest, but then who could expect more from her.
Clearly the dragons were talking as they flew to deliver their cargo. David wondered what mischief they were up to. ‘Note to self,’ he thought, as he cast his eyes on the recently appeared barrels of beer. I must get Vindec to lower the alcohol content of the beer. He wanted the dragons to have a great party and even hoped that they might perform the thunder-dance for his other guests, but, he also did not want to have to deal with four grumpy, hung over dragons tomorrow.
The gathering guests turned as one to watch the demonstration of perfect flight control. Royal turned slightly in the air, then with the precision of age he released the dead tree stump he had earlier wrenched from the ground. It tumbled and hit the sand beach causing a small explosion as the stump dug upside down into the ground.
Farloft dropped half of his load against the far side of the stump, then he circled and deposited the rest against the nearside. Robert, not to be outdone by his elders zoomed in low, his wings extended and slowing his speed; he released and his load of dead wood tumbling down, coating the other dragon’s donation. The fire was built and apart from a few lengths of branch to tidy up it was as near as perfect.
The dragons had clearly seen the barrels and were heading down intent on setting to. Three landed and looked, then Robert saw one lone barrel that was a lot smaller than the others. Vindec had placed it in a wooden frame with a single claw sized tap. Stencilled in burnt charcoal across the barrel it said just one word, it was a word that brought fear and shame to the older dragons when they saw it, it said ‘SHERRY’.
David had seen the dragons eyeing the small barrel and realised that Vindec was having a joke at their expense. The dragons also realised the fact. Sherry was the downfall of the dragons. They had no resistance to its intoxicating properties. Robert and Farloft had cleaned David’s cellar of the delicious liquor years ago. Laughing with echoing force they turned towards the human sized firepit, as from above Silvertip took aim hoping to mimic her companions.
She released her cargo of sticks and circled tight around her target area to watch the outcome. Most landed in the firepit, some bounced and scattered outward and would need to be collected up and added, but overall she was pleased. Especially as her mistress and her companion had been watching and both were clapping her effort. Her elders added to the uproar in dragonish salute. Silvertip would have blushed if she could with pride, instead she flipped a loop and then landed, just as Robert had taught her before they had set to gathering the firewood and before the other two had arrived.
She back flapped, with her talons extended and touched down. ‘Another success for the youngest of the dragons.’ Robert nodded his head and then he spat a single globule of fire towards the huge bonfire. With a satisfying huff of smoke, he watched as it burst into flame. The party was started and would go on all night, and who knows how long into the next day.
Her Ladyship led her chatting female guests down to the beach, collecting the two children as they passed. Their path onboard the boat was highlighted by twin pyres of burning wood. She waved as her husband looked over the side for her. Shortly they were all standing looking out over the lake waiting.
Her Ladyship and David knew exactly what to expect as the last rays of a setting sun sunk towards the distant horizon. Slowly lit from behind, a flat-topped mountain drifted into sight. The rays split by its presence still cast ruler straight beams of deep red light.
Besides David Vindec appeared his gaze locked on the distant mount. Slowly as they watched a glow appeared from the centre of the flat-top, the glow expanded depicting the outline of decayed rock walls. The glow was not from the fast fading sun, it instead appeared from behind the walls, lighting upwards and outwards.
Vindec raised his staff, a glowing river of light exploded seemingly from the wood. He held it aloft as though in greeting, then twisting it he lowered it to his side and the light river faded to nothing. Across the lake the rock light faded equally until all light vanished, at the same moment as the remaining sun fell into the lake and was extinguished until it rose again next morning.
Every evening Vindec saluted the light of the distant structure, only he knew the truth of its presence and power. Only Vindec knew that hidden beneath the walls was a cavern, home to a crystal historically known as The Lifestone, from which the light of the world emanated. He held shards of that stone anchored in his staff. Only Vindec could pass into that place of death and memory, and most important of all, only Vindec knew that though it could and had been seen by all present on the boat, it did not exist in this world. It existed on another, but there was a link that it generated and via that link all that was good and magical lived and yet did not know of it. The tale of Vindec and the Lifestone could only be learned by reading: ‘The Lifestone Chronicles.’
With night having arrived and around the shore fire brands magically burning they all turned landward in time to see the appearance of a cooking tray, hanging over the burning flames contained within the cooking pit. Placed upright at the edge of the cooking pit joints of meat slowly roasted in readiness of the need to eat by all present.
Tables appeared, each heavily spread with every form of sandwich and treat. Cakes topped with icing and cream materialised on other tables. Even Santa’s hot chocolate machine appeared with more than enough mugs to satisfy everyone.
The party began, as music floated up from the lake, bobbing heads appeared playing pipe and string instruments. True to their word the Mermaids had arrived and started to play their ethereal music.
From over the hill having marched along the roadway, the battle dwarfs all dressed in their best armour arrived. Four were to remain on guard duty and would be replaced by others in rotation for as long as it took the party to reach its end. Beer mugs appeared stacked high on another table. Honey-dew beer filled barrels appeared pre-tapped and ready for thirsty battle dwarfs to enjoy.
The dragons were already tucking into the first course of honey infused lamb, which would be followed, when the time was right, by dragon-fire cakes and hot-spiced buns. Beer was of course the chosen drink for the dragons to imbibe to wash down the magically prepared food. The meat slowly roasting on the spit filled the air with rich inviting smells. Bread rolls appeared all buttered and ready to be filled with carved meat. Salad with various dressings added to the first course, so it was that everyone was fed.
David looked at Vindec, and nodded, as his guests circled the tables and fires. Later the dragons would dance and even Silvertip who had never danced before would join in, much to the delight of all-present. From out on the lake a roar echoed landward. The water-dragon was making its presence felt prior to retiring to its deep aquatic cave there to pass the night in dragonish slumber and dreams.
The morning found the sun bright, the sky clear and the lake sparkling as everyone took a seat on the top-deck of the houseboat. They looked at the food provided by Vindec for breakfast. The dragons ‘who as are all dragons’ are slow starters without good reason. They slept partly because they had tired themselves out the previous evening and on through the night, also because they were in effect hung over.
All of the barrels of beer had been emptied. In fact, the only remaining alcohol was the small barrel of sherry, which had remained untouched. David smiled wondering if the culprit of last time had learned a lesson, it would appear so…
“The lake looks so inviting,” stated Hannah, looking out at the clear water. “So clean and calm, perfect for swimming or boating or just watching,” she added wishfully.
“Be my guest,” said David.
She looked at her husband, who looked out and then agreed standing up. The children were not going to be left out of some watery fun and joined them.
Before they departed Santa coughed and then made an offer to everyone.
“I am thinking of having a party at my place. I was wondering if you all would like to come? It would have to start on Boxing day as I am slightly busy the day before, what with it being Christmas day and all.”
The table guests answered as one, loudly and in the affirmative!
David watched as they departed.
“She is right, the lake does look beautiful and clean. Its such a pity the oceans and rivers of the world are not as clean. What with all that plastic and rubbish dumped in them. Such a pity,” Mrs. Claus ended wistfully.
“True,” said Santa accompanied by nods of support from Mrs. Claus.
David turned to face Santa and asked a question that concerned him. “Now that we have converted the toy department to running on rubbish, how exactly do you plan to keep supplied?”
“That’s easy, sort of!” said Santa. “We take all we want from the landfills that the humans create. They will never miss it. Vindec has provided the means to lift and shrink and relocate several hundred of tons at a time. The drop in waste level should go unnoticeable.”
“Sounds like a plan!” David looked at Vindec for confirmation.
Vindec was lost to the world. He was thinking hard about what her Ladyship had said and wondering. ‘If I can make all the nasty rubbish dumped in the sea act like plastic and float to the surface in a selected area, the elves could harvest it by boat. Of course, it would have to be shrunk first, if only for space and handling reasons, but it would kill two birds with one stone and also be a reliable and easy way to power Santa’s production. A conveyor belt could lift the packages into the hopper and there you have it! There would need to be storage, but that would be easy to arrange.’ Vindec reached down for his staff.
One thing had happened before everyone gathered, Jessica had spoken to David and Santa and she had made a request, which they said they would think about.
CHRISTMAS EVE
Santa landed his sleigh outside of David Stevens’ office and waited. David, as arranged, arrived and mounted in his wheelchair joining him for a special delivery.
They landed at a certain farm and together they entered a room with a sleeping boy in it. The boy was John. They silently placed a toy beside the window where it could easily be seen. Then with their job done they departed.
Santa dropped David home. He then vanished at the speed of light to catch up on his deliveries.
David looked at the winter sky. It would snow tomorrow and they all had a long way to go to join Santa at his home. At least the boy’s transport had now been arranged.
In John’s bedroom a piebald rocking horse twitched its mane and went back to a dragonish sleep.
In a bedroom three miles away, a young girl twitched in her sleep as a voice said… “John has his dragon as you requested…
At the North Pole a structure formed on the ice. The storage building was a Christmas gift to Santa, provided to house the soon to be recovered ocean rubbish
The End
No comments:
Post a Comment