The Dragons Egg : Chapter II - Fortunes Fool Draft

II

Fortunes Fool

Theodore

The small cottage which lay but a half a mile from the edge of the Derwentwater Lake, was basked in the darkness of the night, but for the small flickering flames, which softly kept the small living room warm and alight, confirming to Mary that life still drew breathe from within. As she came to the gate of the cottage, she took in a deep breathe. Strange occurrences and happenings had been going on within the town of Keswick, with residents claiming to witness the sightings of strange men, hiding in the shadows, their tall frames hidden beneath heavy cloaks, some even claimed that the men followed certain residents. It had all started when the minister and the young Eveline had left the town but a week ago, leaving Theodore bereft and Mary confused. She did not fully understand why the two had secretly left the town, and so she had spent the last week, rummaging through her employers belongings, trying to find clues. As she opened the cottage gate she felt a coolness sweep over her and turned her head of grey curls around slowly. Her brown gaze stretched out over the vast emptiness that surrounded the cottage. She could see nothing that should have worried her, but she indeed felt something strange and unearthly lurking within the darkness, a strangeness she had felt often in the last week as she ventured to and fro from the rectory and the cottage. Some residents silently whispered their anxieties to each other, a few encountering the strange men at their own doorsteps, in search of Eveline.

A groan from inside the cottage brought Mary’s senses back and urged her forwards. Quickly she made her way up the garden path and with trembling hands, she opened the door of the cottage and entered, closing it behind her and locking it firmly. With a gulp, Mary quickly took off her black leather gloves and set down her basket of food, entering the living room to find Theodore, slouched in his chair, with an empty bottle of Scottish scotch and an empty glass upon the small, circular table which lay beside his chair. Upon the floor, close to his bare feet lay two sheets of paper, haphazardly atop one another. Mary looked over at the exhausted and drunk young man, his white shirt unbuttoned and covered in brown stains. His usually smart, blonde hair was crumpled about his angelic face, now pale and drawn, the bags under his eyes, purple and strained. Tears prickled at her eyes as she made her way over to another chair and picked up a heavy blanket. With gentleness, she wrapped the blanket over the young RAF soldier, and picked up the empty scotch bottle and glass and made for the kitchen, picking up her basket on the way. After seeing to the unkempt kitchen, Mary re-entered the living room again and got to work on the fire, bringing it to life once more. When the fire had resurrected itself, Mary began to tidy the contents of the room, skirting around the two sheets of paper, still upon the floor. Her gaze returned to the two sheets of paper several times as she whizzed about the room. With a furrowed brow, she stopped skirting about, the unspoken urge to pick them up prompting her curiosity to boil over. Her heart beat wildly under her chest; she had been looking for clues for the last week and with a speculative hunch, the more she pondered over what seemed to be the contents of a letter, she believed with certainty that it could possibly be from Eveline. Making sure that Theodore was well and truly asleep, Mary quietly bent down and picked up the sheets of paper, taking them and herself off to the kitchen, were a small gas lamp glowed. Taking a seat at the kitchen table, Mary began to read the contents of the letter.

Theodore,

When you read this, myself and Matthew will be long gone from these parts and you will be left confused and broken by my actions and decision to leave you behind. I am leaving you this letter as a means to help you understand why it is that I have left you. When we married one another, we married as two different people and now it is too late to return to those two, happy and quite unstained friends and lovers. You married Eveline, a shy and reclusive young women with strange looks and equally strange gifts and you were my champion, always defending my unearthly being from those who would see me succumb to the gutters and I loved you for that. I in turn married Theodore, a young man who shared in my unearthly gifts and was as I am, orphaned. I believed that there would never be another who would better understand me as you did. But the cloak of falsehood has fallen away and we have been exposed to our true self’s and in revealing our true self’s too one another, I cannot but believe that a vast and deep river separates us, no matter the bonds of marriage.

Had I known that the true Theodore had been previously engaged to another and that that other was as lovely and endearing as Jophiel, I should never have agreed to marry you, not when the bond of love between yourself and Jophiel was strong and unyielding. She was a brave, courageous and beautiful women, with whom you should have honored your agreement and married. And now, I have her blood upon my hands and see in your eyes the tormented anger you have for me, for taking the only women who ever truly understood you, away, never to return. I am truly sorry for all that has past and will live with her blood upon my hands until death avenges me. The mess that you now find yourself in, is all my own doing and I am sorry. It is for this reason that I leave you behind, not wishing to put you into further peril on account of me. You gave up the love of Jophiel and your true identity to travel through time and space and retrieve me from Unas and my dead parents, to bring me to safety, here on earth and for this I cannot thank you enough, for the sacrifice you made was great and deep.

Do you remember when we were younger, we used to roam the hills, to try to find the deer during the winter? When I was fourteen and you sixteen, we both roamed the hills one morning, after a heavy snow storm had covered everything in white, crisp clean snow that seemed to shine and sparkle whichever way you looked. The sun was high and the sky very blue, so blue I could almost imagine myself at the very pinnacle of the north. You were so very happy and merry, your eyes were a filled with joy and wonder and we ran and danced as though the world of pain and suffering did not exist. Groups of equally merry children also took to the hills with their sleighs and the air about us was potent with laughter, it was as I remember it, a moment in which I believed that the snow held some magical element to it, it covered the troubled world in a sheet of pure splendor. It did not take us long to find the deer and off course the great stag, Prince Edmund. We sat a while, close to a tree for cover and watched on in still awe as they grazed lightly, the young deer close to their protective mothers. Above us, the branches, also slightly a glazed with snow, were filled with the winter birds that I so lovingly watched. As we watched on, the stag turned his eyes to me and I for some unwarranted and unexplained reason felt myself drawn to it, and took to my feet as though consumed with curiosity. I made my way out towards him, unafraid and in some type of trance. Prince Edmund made his way towards me and you called out that I should turn, for the stag was wild and untamed.  But I found my feet would not stop and as I drew closer to the stag, the deer about him, began to rustle as though threatened by me. The air grew tense, this I felt and the deer began to beat their hooves upon the snow in warning that I should turn. I could feel you from behind me as they began to charge and then I fell to the ground, a heavy weight upon my body as it molded itself into the snow, the icy prickles of the grass beneath, paining my skin as though a thousand minuscule daggers had entrenched themselves within it. You had saved me many times before, when Milly Irwin pulled my hair or when Margret Green and her brother threw me into the deep end of the lake, you where there and you saved me, just as you saved me from a herd of deer. I cannot think that they were acts unattached to the true Theodore and I do not forget them.

The world then turned upon its axis and you and I turned with it. I felt it on our wedding day, when I stood before you and swore to bind myself to you always. When I walked down the aisle, it felt as though a thousand years had passed and the closer I came to you, the further apart I felt from you. Shame and guilt swept over me, for who else could I or would I bind myself too? I loved no other and yet my heart and soul bid it otherwise. When you left for the war, I cried for my friend but sighed in relief for my lover. The world went on and I returned to my everyday life, with you always in my mind. And then I met him and I understood for the first time why fate it seemed had made that walk up the aisle so long and perilous as though the magnetic force that I share with Galean became strained and rigid, the further I walked away from him. There are no words to describe the pain and shame I feel for breaking your heart, but I hope that somewhere deep, beneath the pain you can understand how it is that you have no say over the one you love. I believe you of all people understand the position I now face. It is my fault that you stabbed him, it is my fault that you feel such hatred for your once good friend that now dies.

There are no justifications for the behaviour of my heart. But when the storm of uncertainty and death claimed me this last year, I found refuge in him, a refuge I have never before found. He helped me to understand all that was and is, he gave me strength to withstand the poison that seeped into my blood and body. I tried to make peace with you, to find that friendship that we once had, but you changed when the veil of deceit fell from you and you were once again, yourself. I understand a little that the prophecy turned your heart and mind against Galean and myself, but I believe you too felt the keen pain of being separated from the one you truly loved. Do not lay the blame upon his feet, for he is and has always been honorable. He left so that our marriage could find its foothold once more. But we were already separated by truth. I once was a quiet, peaceful, soldier’s wife and am now an heir to a kingdom and granddaughter of the God, Heiden. The weight of the universe is upon my shoulders and all those who seek to plunge it into the depths of despair and darkness, now hunt me and will always hunt me, until I become the slave of death.

I feel there is no way in which to make amends, in such that we could be what we were once. And so I do this for you. I do not entirely believe in the prophecy and I cannot believe that you would see me die because of Galean. And I in turn, will not see you die for me, when you have given up so much already, to have little left with which to find peace. You have spent your whole life saving me, now I wish to save you. I am not sure if I will ever rule or become a Queen, I am not sure of anything, only that I must return to him. The four knights of Lagar are on our tail, they will kill anyone in their way and I will not have you die by their swords. Please, you must flee and not follow me to Anglesey. I must do this alone. I promise you this in return, that I will never swear an oath to another and that our vows will stay true until my last breathe, no matter the love I share for Galean. This I pledge to you.

With all my love and friendship,

Eveline.

Mary felt the second letter fall from her fingertips as a bud of water dropped from her eye and fell upon her cheek. The letter was stained with tears and Mary herself could feel the pain and regret in Eveline’s words. It made sense, all that she had heard and seen over the last six months, and now with the letter to prove her worries, she understood who the four men were and why they were here. With sudden awareness she drew fresh worry as it dawned upon her that the four knights were here and close to Theodore. Eveline had left Keswick in order to save her estranged husband’s life. Gazing up from the sparse table, Mary looked about her and sighed. She needed to contact Matthew’s friends in Keswick and quick. Without a minute to spare, Mary arose from the kitchen table and made for the telephone. Slipping through the kitchen door, Mary made her way through the living room and crossed to the telephone which lay close to the cottage door and quietly she whirled in the numbers of Matthew’s close confident, Mr Williams, the local headmaster. She turned her head away from Theodore and held the telephone close to her graying curls and waited for an answer.

“Hello?” a deep voice yawned in answer.

“Mr Williams is that you?” Mary enquired with a whisper, her eyes upon the sleeping Theodore, whose body roused slightly as she spoke.

“Yes, who is this?” Mr Williams replied promptly.

“It is Mary.”

“Mary? What on earth is the matter for you to be phoning at this time?” Mr Williams asked with an air of firmness.

“The men in the town, do you know who they are?” Mary asked, turning her mouth away from Theodore, and shielding her voice with her hand.

“Do you know who they are?” Mr Williams asked with a suspicious voice.

“The knights of Lagar,” Mary muttered beneath her breathe. “They are here for Eveline.”

“How do you know this information Mary?”

“It does not matter how I have come to acquire the information Charles, I am concerned that the knights will come here and kill Theodore,” Mary answered curtly. “Are you and your friends aware of their presence?”

“Do not fret Mary, we have the area under protection, they will leave soon when they fail to spot Eveline,” Charles said with a softer voice. “Are you with Theodore now?”

“Yes.”

“And is he alright?”

“He has been drunk these last two days,” Mary sighed deeply. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Can you stay with him tonight?” Charles asked with an anxious quiver in his tone.

“I can stay with him until the morning, yes.”

“Good, I will be over before nine,” Charles said with a slight yawn. “Until then, shut the windows and bolt the doors. Do not let anyone it.”

“Okay, I shall do as instructed,” Mary replied before putting the phone down. With shaking hands, Mary closed the curtains of all the windows and made for the chair opposite Theodore. Carefully she placed the letter down beside his feet once more and made herself comfortable in the chair, gazing upon the troubled face of Theodore for a while, until her eyelids shut.

*

Theodore felt the cloud of alcoholic oppression fall upon his eyes almost as soon as he opened them. Feeling a tide of nausea sweep over his body, he sat forward and pulled the blanket from him, letting it fall to the ground. Running his long fingers through his unkempt, ice blonde hair, he looked up from the floor, which circulated before him. Upon the opposite chair was the sleeping figure of Mary.

“Mary?” he coughed roughly, trying to find his feet as he forced his body upwards. Wiping a sheet of cold sweat away from his forehead, Theodore walked over to Mary and stared down at her sleeping face. “Mary?” he asked again, this time with a firmer voice and sterner brows. The smell of scotch whiskey fumigated the room like poison as Mary began to rouse from her heavy sleep.

“Theo…Theodore?” Mary yawned as she widened her brown eyes and stretched her plump body.

“Mary what are you doing here?” Theodore enquired as he placed his hands upon his hips, his gaze registering how poorly attired he was.

“I came by last night to bring you a basket and found you intoxicated,” Mary answered as she sat up straight and looked up into the angelic face of Theodore, whose eyes were strained and lips pale and chapped. “You were in a bad way so I decided to stay and watch over you.”

“I assure you I am well Mary,” Theodore lied, the reality of his entire life now washing over him like a terrible flood of icy water. Feeling as though a tonne of bricks stood upon his head, he turned away and rested his forearm upon the mantle of the dying fireplace. His eyes found the scattered sheets of Eveline’s letter and he felt an instant bolt of anger arise.

“You are not well sir, you have been drinking these last six days,” Mary replied with a matter of fact tone. She shed away the fear of talking boldly and donned her cap of motherhood. “I have as good as nursed you since you were a boy, I’m not about to let you fall into the gutters of alcoholism, god knows too many of our men lick the rim of the bottle in want of a better feeling, well not you. Especially not when these four knights of some Lord is on the loose and sneaking about the town like hooded ghosts of the dark ages.”

“What did you say?” Theodore asked seriously, turning his gaze to the ageing old housekeeper.

“I said, I aint about to watch you throw yourself into the …” Mary began.

“No not that part, the latter part of your lecture if you please,” Theodore said with frustration, waving a hand in the air.

“Four strange men have been seen sneaking about Keswick, causing the residents to fear for their lives,” Mary muttered, her bold eyes unable to hide her own fear. “They have even knocked on some of my friend’s doors, asking for a woman named Eveline.”

“Why hasn't anyone told me of this?” Theodore thundered loudly, almost running to the windows and throwing the lace curtains back. With a bent back and sweat ridden brow, he looked out of the paned window and scanned the countryside.

“Well sir you aint allowed anyone in since…since…” Mary stuttered lightly.

“Since my wife left me.” Theodore added, a wave of nausea causing his body to sway. Mary ran forward and wrapped one of her strong and sturdy arms about Theodore’s waist for support.

“Come and sit down whilst I make you some breakfast,” she ordered kindly, helping Theodore over to his vacant chair. Theodore fell into his chair with a thud.

“You haven’t explained to me how it is you know that they are four knights?” Theodore asked aloud as Mary made her way into the kitchen, keeping the door ajar.

“Well that is neither here nor there sir,” Mary retorted, her cheeks warming with shame as she brewed up a pot of tea, glaring out of the kitchen window into the small garden filled with newly sprung flowers. Theodore blew out his cheeks with irritation and began to button up his week old shirt. As he finished buttoning his shirt he bent down and picked up Eveline’s letter, suddenly stopping still and raising his gaze to Mary’s back. Crushing the letter in his fingers he rose quickly from his chair and made his way to the kitchen.

“You read her letter, didn’t you?” he accused heavily, throwing the sheets of paper down upon the kitchen table. Mary stood still and silent, simply nodding her head. “Why?”

“You were intoxicated again and these knights your wife speaks off have been following me about the town these past two days,” Mary confessed as she brought the pot off hot water over to the table, keeping her gaze from Theodore's angered face. “I needed to understand why your wife and the vicar had suddenly vanished into the night and I found the answers in her letter.”

“I think you found more than the answers you were searching for,” Theodore said breathlessly as Mary poured him a mug of tea.

“I am very sorry she has gone and left you broken hearted,” Mary said kindly as she began to make toast.

“We have left one another broken hearted I’m afraid,” Theodore drawled out as he sipped on the hot tea, staring into the wall with a glazed expression.

“Are you not going to go after her?” Mary enquired. The kitchen began to fill with the comforting smell of food as Theodore let his head fall into the palms of his hands.

“She doesn't want me too,” Theodore said through gritted teeth.

“If you want my opinion, I’d say she needs as much protection as is possible,” Mary argued, coming over to the table with a plate of brown toast.

“I would only be bringing danger with me if I followed her,” Theodore moaned as he buttered a slice of toast.

“Then what will you do? How can we rid Keswick of these knights?”

“They are looking for Eveline, and we must ensure that they do not know where she is headed too,” Theodore replied darkly. “For the present moment however, I have absolutely no idea as to what I should do.”

“You must create a diversion,” Mary said with her head high.

“How?”

“You must force them to go hunting in a different direction is how,” Mary answered as she bite down upon her toast, watching him closely and studying his eyes carefully. The early morning birds began to sing as the sun rose beautifully cover the hills beyond the cottage, sending a radiant beam of light into the kitchen. Theodore kept quiet as he rummaged through his slightly intoxicated brains for an answer. As he did so, Mary said with feeling. “When they are gone elsewhere you must go after her and make things right before she leaves.”

“She left me for another man,” Theodore said with a grief stricken glare that wounded Mary.

“With whom you may or may not have killed. Go and make things right or else you will both never recover from all that has happened. Surely your friendship is worth the risk?”

“She won’t want to see me after all that I have done,” Theodore explained as he finished his toast and pushed his plate away.

“It seems to me that you have given up on your marriage, even when there is still something to fight for.”

“What would that be?” Theodore asked in a sarcastic manner, his blue eyes sparkling.

“A chance to prove to her that you still love her,” Mary said with rosy cheeks. “Forgive me for thinking that she fell into the arms of this Galean because your eyes were elsewhere.”

“Are you blaming me for this mess?” Theodore thundered once more.

“No marriage is easy, but you have to ask yourself why it is she pursued the wedding, even if she felt it was wrong,” Mary retorted gently. “She must have felt something to go through with it.”

“She made it clear in the letter that she married me because she felt no other could understand her as I do and that we married two strangers,” Theodore moaned into his tea. “She does not speak of love.”

“Because she believes you in love with this Jophiel.”

“I was in love with her.”

“So Eveline is not entirely to blame…”

“We are both to blame for the damage to our marriage.”

“Go to her and salvage what you can or you will always be riddled with regret,” Mary said kindly, placing a worn hand over his fine hand. “You have both lost so much, don’t you remember how close you both were growing up? She trailed behind you in awe. She is facing her toughest challenge and I am willing to bet that beneath her good intentions and pain she needs you now more than ever.”

“What makes you so sure?” Theodore asked with inquisitive eyes.

“A sixth sense we women have,” Mary smiled warmly.

“I will think about it,” Theodore lied, not assured off Eveline’s feelings any more than she was of his own. No the marriage between them could not be fixed but maybe as Mary had said, their friendship could. And there was the added hope that maybe Galean would not make it and Eveline  would resign herself to him, she had promised in her letter to bind herself to no one whilst she drew breathe.

“Charles Williams will be dropping by at nine, he knows of these knights and may be able to aid you in getting rid of them,” Mary added as she rose from the table with the empty plates. “You should go upstairs and wash before he arrives.”

“I wouldn't be so sure, these knights are far more powerful than we guardians,” Theodore said with a resigned sigh as he rose from the table.

“You know when I think about it properly, it isn't so surprising to find out that you are an angel and Eveline is an heir apparent,” Mary said with a serious frown as she washed the plates. “Well it is slightly strange to think that the young Eveline is as high and mighty as to be a Queen and granddaughter of a God, if not religiously challenging to myself.”

“I think she would agree with you,” Theodore smiled weakly.

“Try to see matters from her perspective a little, she has been thrown into the deep end quite unwillingly and her behaviour over the last six months makes sense,” Mary lectured Theodore. “The evil of others has marred her good person and she will have to live with what she has done for the rest of her life.”

“I would argue that point,” Theodore said with resolution. “But I should head upstairs.”

*

The music room felt eerily silent as Theodore sat upon the music stool and splayed his fingers upon the fine ivory keys of the piano. He felt afresh in his new clothes and felt the heaviness of his excessive drinking wash away as he bathed his body earlier in the morning. Mary’s words had too washed over him, seeping into the very fibers of his being as he weighed up his two options. He was not sure if Eveline’s behaviour warranted saving, seeing as she had left him for another man, but his words spoken with Jophiel leaned on him heavily, redemption being the operative word used. If he could not muster up the strength or compassion to aid Eveline, he could on behalf of Jophiel who, he knew with all intent would partition her cause. His love and devotion to his wife had altered in the previous six months, but not to such a degree as to warrant hatred or despair towards her, he still loved her and still felt himself her champion. What he needed to rid himself of was pride and anger towards his once best friend and if truth be known the entire universe which seemed to be siding with the prophecy, favoring Galean instead of himself. It had always been a deeply embedded issue which had played a prominent role in Theodore’s life for some time, marring his view of the mechanics of all that surrounded him. Could his King and God side with Galean over him? Was it right or correct that a prophecy should condemn him without fairness? And how was it that despite his hard work and loyalty, he was always overshadowed by greater men with nobility and royal blood to bolster their positions to a greater height than he, who had for so long worked equally if not harder than them. Theodore felt his long fingers curl with anger as the lingering questions imploded within his mind. Had he placed his faith and loyalty in the wrong hands? Had he been deceived and used as a pawn in a game between the Gods? A game in which his life meant little?

A gentle wrap of the door alerted Theodore from his thoughts.

“Mr Williams has come,” came Mary’s voice which echoed softly through the oak.

“I am coming,” Theodore replied coolly, closing his eyelids for a brief moment before lifting his hands from the piano and rising from the stool. With his hands upon his hips, Theodore looked once more about the room, which was imprinted with Eveline’s ethereal touch. He could either allow the prophecy to bind his fate or he could prove to his wife that he was worthy of her love as much as a prince. With a swift turn, Theodore opened the door and exited the room, entering into the living room in which he found Mr Williams, speaking quietly with Mary. “Mr Williams, I hope you can shed some light as to what has been going on in the town?”

“I am afraid it is true, the knights have arrived and are casting a great shadow across our small town,” Mr Williams said with a severe acknowledgment. Theodore came to shake his hand pleasantly before the fireplace.

“Then we must form a plan to lure them away.”

“Matthew only left instructions for us to protect you and the residents of Keswick, he did not stipulate a plan in which to lure them from Keswick,” Mr Williams said hastily, his thick, grey brows furrowed above his large, brown eyes.

“Matthew and Eveline are making for the island of Anglesey and we must ensure that the knights travel in the opposite direction,” Theodore said, squaring his shoulders and holding his head high, happy to be the leader and authoritative voice once again. “To do this, I must lead them astray.”

“And how do you propose to do that?” Mr Williams asked as he sat upon on of the chairs close to the fire. Mary re-entered with a tray of biscuits and tea. Theodore followed Charles led and sat down, waiting patiently as Mary poured him a cup of tea. Once she had exited the room, both men looked into the fire.

“It is possible that they still believe Eveline to be here with me, wouldn’t you agree?” Theodore asked Charles with an optimistic gaze.

“It is entirely possible only for the slight issue of Matthews’s departure and Mary’s knowledge of the whole situation,” Charles replied as he swirled his tea with a silver spoon.

“I can say with comfortable assurance that Mary will not have spoken to anyone about Eveline’s departure or Matthews for that fact,” Theodore said with a slight tilt of his head, his fine ice blonde hair falling over his forehead.

“Can you be sure?” Charles replied with a speculative glance.

“I am quite sure Mr Williams,” Theodore nodded with confidence.

“Well then what are we to do?”

“I was recently a RAF pilot until off course I was injured during a raid,” Theodore began as he shuffled his tea cup around thoughtlessly. “Now that time has passed, I should be returning to London with my wife now that my mother has passed away. If we were to arrange a rumour to spread throughout the town, then maybe it would reach the ears of these knights and cause them to re think their course of action.”

“Do you mean to travel to London then?”

“Yes, but I would need a young woman to pose as Eveline, a woman who is in her likeness,” Theodore muttered as he looked abstractly into the fire, his mind filled with ideas. “If they see us travelling together via the train, then we may lure them away and in the opposite direction, giving Eveline enough time in which to get to Anglesey safely.”

“And if they reach London to find out that the woman who travels with you is not in fact Eveline, what then?” Charles asked with raised brows.

“I have friends who can aid us in London, and if all else fails then there is enough distance between Eveline and the knights in which to give them a head start,” Theodore replied as he fiddled with his wedding band, feeling Mary’s keen gaze upon him.

“Well then we must make arrangements today if that is alright with you?” Charles asked with anxious stare. Theodore raised his gaze and found it resting upon an image of Eveline standing before the window, looking out across the beautiful countryside, her hair finely loose and her eyes sparkling with peace. “Theodore?” a distant voice boomed. Theodore gazed upon the beautiful and regal form of his wife for a moment longer, not wishing to look away.

“Time is no man’s friend as they say,” Theodore answered cryptically causing Mary and Charles to exchange awkward glances.

“We need to ensure that these knights see you leaving by the train, this evening at the latest,” Charles began as he rose to his feet, looking down at the distant Theodore with a speculative glance. “I shall send a rumour about the town and find a doppelganger. If you would stay indoors until I come to you that would be the wisest course of action.” Theodore nodded his consent and rose to follow Charles to the door of the cottage. As he opened the door, Charles turned to him directly. “Make sure to leave no trace of Eveline’s true whereabouts lying around the house if I were you, it is entirely possible that these knights may raid your cottage when you have left.”

A ray of strong sunlight, hit both men directly, guiding their gazes towards the wide world that lay outside of the small cottage.

“Already I can feel the universe begin to change,” Charles said with an air of finality about him, his fine grey hair fluttering about lightly. “A dark age is about to commence and we better hope that your wife makes it to the stone circle before its curtain falls upon this world”

“She will,” Theodore said with certainty as he led the headmaster up the garden lane, opening the garden gate.

“I will off course have to place our doppelganger under an enchantment spell for safety measures.”

“Naturally.”

“It will be your job to make her believe that she is truly Eveline and is your wife, do you understand?” Charles asked with a serious expression, his white hands placed upon the gate.

“I understand Mr Williams,” Theodore said with an expressionless face.

“I shall take my leave then and will return no later than six o clock, the last train to Bristol leaves at eight, and Theodore?”

“Yes?”

“You must only make her believe she is your wife in theory, you understand that it would be a violation to touch her in any improper way?”

“I am a guardian of the highest position, I know the rules and regulations of magic Mr Williams, rest assured she will be protected and looked after,” Theodore returned quickly before turning on his heel and walking back towards the cottage with his head bent. Charles sighed deeply before walking away, placing his tweed hat upon his hat and scanning the nearby environment for signs of anything unusual



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