Curious Case of a Horseless Headman

"Quite."

"And Izote told me that he'd also tried to seduce her, promising that what happened between them would never reach my eyes or ears and, if she complied, he'd make sure that licence for us to marry would follow directly, so we would not have to wait another year and a half for her to reach one and twenty."

"You have done no wrong, my boy, nor does Izote's honesty or unwarranted attentions debased her honour. Devotion and trust between blessed couples is a solid foundation for matrimony and family life."

"Alas, though I love Isote, we cannot afford the marriage licence and the lawyer's fees to draw up the bond required to guarantee it. Her father works on the estate and is forced by Sir Valentine to deny his consent to marry until she is of full age. That is why I have no horse and reduced to being a musket man in the militia, rather than a mounted junior officer as befits the Borough's elected Headman."

"A half-crown from my stipend, and my own one hundred pound bond on the marriage licence, will allow you to marry your betrothed, Benjamin, either here in Swainley or when you are well and at home in Dellamere."

"I cannot thank ye enough, Sire, and cannot marry soon enough."

"The happy smiles of you and your betrothed are thanks enough, boy, though Headman you be."

Taking his leave, Ferdinando rides back to the Hall, conscious that he must soon pass judgement, whether to go to trial on the Knight accused of attempted murder, and due a proper hanging; or incarcerate him in the Bethlehem Hospital; or leave him as at present, in the safe charge of his housekeeper and servants until the Demon or sickness leaves him, through devil's boredom or the natural passage of time upon mortal beings.

At the Hall, Briant is surprised to see Lord Albury and his daughter-in-law, the Lady Arabella, at the Hall, with Albury's knife held at housekeeper Mary Durnley's throat.

"Are you mad, Albury?" Ferdinando demands an answer.

"So what if I am, Briant? This bitch refuses to release the key to the tower. My son must die, 'tis the only way to rid him of the Devil Incarnate within, and ye'll not stop me!"

Albury pushes the servant away, draws his sword and attacks Ferdinando with it.

Their fight is short. Briant is remarkably quick and agile for his apparent age and by far the better swordsman. After just three clumsy thrusts from Albury, matched with expert parries, the Judge runs the older Lord through, though with care to avoid damaging vital organs. Albury collapses, all fight gone, though not with any life threatening injury. Briant asks Mary to send a servant and carriage hotfoot for the busy but capable doctor of Swainley.

The woman with Albury indeed turns out to be Sir Valentine's wife, the Lady Arabella. She confirms, under questioning, that the couple had married when she was with child, but the baby was lost early in the pregnancy. So there is no Albury heir to the estates unless Valentine eventually recovers his wits about him and does the deed to ensure succession. They decided early in the marriage, Lady Arabella says, that they were quite incompatible, so she moved to their London house to join polite society, and was introduced to Court circles by her father in law Lord Albury. Although admitting she did not love Valentine, she was insistent that her husband be freed immediately from the tower. Lady Arabella also wanted Mary Durnley sacked as housekeeper and removed forcibly from the Hall, as she had not allowed her Master's father and Mistress to enter the tower when she was order to do so.

A voice in his head, one he recognises as the elder of the two female voices he was regularly conversing with, begs him that he not comply, for all humanity's sake.

Ferdinando refuses Lady Arabella's request, clearly stating, particularly while the case remains under investigation, the status quo will be maintained, including Valentine's restraints. So she storms off in Albury's coach, probably to comfort the King, leaving her husband and wounded lover Lord Albury to their separate fates.

Thomasina flags down Ferdinando's coach, as it passes Rose Rent Cottage heading from the Hall to Swainley, and asks leave to see Izote Durnley. Ferdinando has no need to inform her of current circumstances as she has already heard the gossip anyway. So they ride off together.

At the Lamb Inn at Swainley, Ferdinando and Ben's mother share a private wedding breakfast with the fforde newlyweds. Together, they tell Ferdinando why Valentine must not die before his time.

"Izote is a White Witch," Thomasina explains. "Her spells are exclusively for helping others and cannot bind spells for her own benefice, that is why she couldn't avoid Shands' vile attentions. She has second sight and followed Ben and Sir Valentine in their progress to Passenvale in her dreams. It was the strength of her mind that diverted Sir Valentine's attention enough for her spell to turn Sir Valentine mad, and rouse Ben from sleep to protect Sir Valentine from the villagers and self harm."

"You talk as though this is common knowledge," Ferdinando asks in despair, "yet every so called witch I have ever investigated has been simply the deranged or charlatans trying 5o profi5 by pretence of Witcher's."

Thomasina leans across the table and squeezes his arm affectionately.

"There are Dark Witches as well as White, Ferdinando, but few in number are they that serve on our side. We have concentrated here, to prevent a tragedy, the ultimate tragedy for mankind."

"I see." Ferdinando nods, "And your role?"

"Merely observer, as one who knows the parties involved, Ferdinando. We believe in keeping the Dark Magic at bay."

"I learned spells from my late mother," Izote, contributing for the first time since becoming Mrs fforde, says. "Valentine is the most powerful Dark Witch in this coven and assumed Lady Arabella would give birth to an even more powerful one. We were wrong, as she lost her baby. The King has been Arabella's lover for the last few months as well as Lord Albury, but no pregnancy results from her liaisons. We believe that her earlier miscarriage has rendered Lady Arabella barren."

"So Izote was chosen by Valentine as mother of this Dark Witch?" Ferdinado asks.

"We believe so, but in stopping Valentine from killing my beloved, I was left ... vulnerable," Izote sobs, held tightly by her comforting husband.

"The Dark Witches are legion," Thomasina says, "while White Witches are few, we strike where we can. By keeping Valentine secure, we nullify a coven. We cannot allow Valentine to die. His coven are sworn to free him and will continue to attack, unable to give him up as lost. Usually if thwarted times enough, they join new covens."

Chapter 6. JUDGEMENT

Ferdinando and Thomasina head back to the village in his coach. It is late afternoon.

"You look sad, Ferdinando. Are you not glad to finish this nonsense and leave this place behind, able to return to the comfort and company of Whitehall?" asks the lady sitting opposite him.

"Nay, I think I am now ready to retire, once I've written my report on this Curious Case of the Horseless Headman for the King's Privy Council."

"Home to your estate and your honey bees, my Lord?"

"Maybe. But ... I don't buy all that White Witch nonsense back there at The Lamb at all. Who are you, Thomasina, who are you really?"

"Me?" she replies innocently, with that knowing smile on her lips that Ferdinando has come to know so well.

"I've seen my fill of the 'Possessed' these last few days, enough to warn me when one has been in front of me all this time."

"Ah, of course, you have been 'talking' in your mind with the fair Thomasina," the voice box of the woman sitting next to him says, "I've no idea of what she has been saying to you, but I agree with you that she is a remarkable girl."

"Yes, she speaks to me inside my head, the first person who has, before even Mary Durnley got into my head and started to warn me off."

"I know, Ferdinando, Mary's Angel told me that she'd conversed with you, mind to mind."

"Angel?"

"You are right, my Lord Briant, there are no such thing as witches, white or black magic, we were trying to avoid the real reasons, naturally, they are too much for mere human mortals to conceive."

"Why not try me?" Ferdinando challenges, "you might be surprised what I might be able to conceive."

"Yes, you do appear to be different to most other people," whatever possessed the body of Thomasina says and smiles, "If you can bear to believe me, Ferdinando, some humans have Guardian Angels," she adds, "but then you don't really believe in God, do you?"

"I said that I don't believe in religion, but in God, an almighty being? Yes, of course I understand such a being exists."

"Quite so, only the One who you mortals call 'God', we call 'The Maker', because he made us all, including the devil that you call Satan."

"And Satan is trapped inside Valentine's body?"

"Not quite. We believe Valentine still carries Satan's Seed, if passed to a fertile woman, the child would be Satan's Son. Valentine tried to pass it to Lady Arabella, but the Seed failed in fallow ground but only after Thomasina was sown with an ordinary seed and forced The Maker into tying up his most powerful Archangel all this time, But now, the carrier Valentine, and Satan's Seed within him, will live long, frustrated by their imprisonment of the flesh, force-fed through a leather hose, if necessary, for 40 or 50 years. The Maker can leave this earth to its own devices for that while, and my job is complete here."

"So, what happens to Thomasina. Her body and the frightened girl within her, that you have suppressed for so long?"

"She is here in this body, safe, but she'll be weak. She will need to learn all over how to walk, talk, and fend for herself."

"I'll look after her. For how long have you been—?"

"Over 21 years, immediately after Valentine impregnated her. I replaced her guardian angel, who had been turned to evil and was perfectly complicit in the poor girl's seduction. Her child, Benjamin, however, was not the Satan's Child that we feared, so the Seed was still in Val-"

"Are all men therefore possessed by angels?"

"No, and they are not quite possessed, more guided towards the destiny that The Maker has planned for them. Only key individuals have guardian angels, like Izote and Mary. You don't have one, I can tell, because we can see them, even if you mortals can't."

"Maybe that is why I do the terrible things in the King's name that I am able to do, without the goodness of an angel helping me?"

"You treat yourself too harshly, you are a good man, Ferdinando, I sensed that the night we met. Maybe you're another important part of The Maker's Plan?"

"Plan?"

"The Maker has a Plan. No one knows what it is, but Angels must follow his lead, towards His long term goal. We believe when He gets it right, we will have the perfect world, a Paradise, populated only by The Maker's Chosen People."

"So, are you now Thomasina's Guardian Angel?"

"No, Ferdinando, I am an Archangel. I'm not born within a child like other Angels. I go where I am sent by The Maker and have done since being created by Him sixty million years ago. He sets me tasks and releases me from tasks, only when He considers it complete. I am feeling that release coming, so that time is now. Now the crisis is over, Thomasina will not need an Angel."

"What is an Archangel, exactly?" Ferdinando asks.

"Satan was created as the first Archangel, to be a tempter and tormentor, all part of The Maker's Plan, but Satan went beyond his role, and led a rebellion to oust The Maker and dominate the Universe with his own devilish Plan. He was banished to Hell, where he must remain forever, but was permitted to have Devils, recruited from the rank of souls consigned to Hell and employ them in his name. This is how it has been all this time."

"If I accept that Guardian Angels exist, I can understand and accept that Devils exist."

"But the conflict escalated. Ever since the Son of God walked the earth, Satan has sought to emulate The Maker's objective, conversion to worship The Maker. Satan is exiled in Hell but if he achieves having a Child born on earth, converting mortals in their millions to Satanism, he may win this game, immediately leading to Judgement Day for this world."

"Judgement Day has come up in conversation with Valentine," Ferdinando admits.

"We think that when mankind reaches perfection, proving The Maker's Plan, or totally destruction, if the experiment fails." Thomasina/Archangel continues. "That failure happened before, here, sixty million years ago, when this world's dominant species was destroyed in a rehearsal of Judgement Day."

"So, Satan send his Seed through one of his Devils?"

"We believe Satan's Seed was brought to the human world through Lord Albury's Dark Angel."

"Dark Angel?"

"Satan possesses people with evil Dark Angels, like Lady Arabella, Shands, and Lord Albury. There are many kinds of angels, as well as guardian angels. There are not enough to go around, so not everyone has one. Ben was born with an Avenging Angel."

"Why?"

"The Maker wills it," she smiles. "Ben had the Avenging Angel inside him, and wasn't even aware of it. Asleep he was, when attacked by Balentine, even after the Avenging Angel was taken from him by The Maker and entered Valentine. He witnessed the internal torment as Satan's Seed and the Avenging Angel fought for control. Hence the madness, as did two locals from the Inn who stood warming themselves by Ben's campfire."

"So you have lied to me about this possession, when all the time Valentine has been possessed by an Angel for good?"

"We sought only to preserve your sanity, Ferdinando. Izote is not a White Witch, they really don't exist, but Izote's Guardian Angel does have second sight and warned Ben's Avenging Angel of Valentine's attack so he could defend himself. Angels never sleep."

"I still can't see the point."

"The Maker was aware of Satan's attempts to bring Satan's Son into the world though Valentine from his mother. I was sent by The Maker to this body after she was seduced by Valentine, and was able to confirm that Thomasina's son was free of possession. So we concluded that Satan's Son must've been conveyed through Lady Arabella. We were proved wrong, when she lost her baby. The King has been Arabella's lover for the last few months, but still no pregnancy. We believe that her earlier miscarriage has rendered her barren."

"So Izote was chosen by Satan as mother of his child?"

"We believe so. Valentine was supposed to be carrying the Seed and he seduced Thomasina, so The Maker tied up his most powerful Archangel, meanwhile Valentine impregnated his estranged wife instead, but she lost the baby and Valentine patiently awaited another perfect host."

"Izote?"

"Aye, and perhaps when she came of age and could not be bribed, Valentine lured Ben away to a quiet hamlet, exhausted from hours on foot trying to keep up the pace and endurance of a horse, and was about to murder him. Ben was warned by Izote, through speaking through his head, something they had shared forever. Ben's Avenging Angel told The Maker and He transferred the Angel from Ben to Valentine."

"So two beings can possess a single human?" Ferdinando asks.

"Aye, apparently so, but this left Izote vulnerable, to revenge by Satan through Shands."

"So, Sir Valentine was possessed by a Devil carrying Satan's Seed, and now he has one of The Maker's Angels in there as well, trying to hold him in balance?"

"Yes," Thomasina/Archangel nods.

"And the Avenging Angel confirms the presence of the Evil Seed?"

"No," she shakes her head, "the internal fight is constant and the Avenging Angel cannot relax his efforts long enough to communicate. We only know that Valentine was courting Izote as a suitable mother and seeking to reduce Thomasina's hold on her non-estate lands through revenge on her son."

"Is the only way Satan's Son can live on earth is through conception and birth?" Ferdinando explains his grip on the scenario, "like The Maker's Son once through an Archangel's intervention with the Virgin Mary?"

"Aye. That or die. We believe only one Satan Seed can exist. If Valentine dies, Satan's Seed goes back to Hell as do all evil mortals, where Satan can find a new way through. We cannot talk any further, The Maker tells me it is time for me to go."

"So what does an Archangel look like?"

"Well, I cannot reveal myself in this tiny box."

"Stop the coach!" cries Ferdinando.

Handley smartly brings the coach to a halt and the unmarrived old man and middle aged spinster step out.

They are in the middle of nowhere. On the right of the road, the bare downs rise above them, to the left is a small wood. Without a word from Ferdinando, Handley drives the coach off at breakneck speed, as if by pre-arrangement, leaving them both standing alone by the road.

Thomasina/Archangel stands to one side with a quizzical look on her face, "Don't trust me, Ferdinando? I will not intentionally harm you or your men."

"Trust is a luxury I can afford for myself, Archangel, but not for those who are dependent upon me for my protection. I prefer certainty of safety in their regard."

"Of course, and that is to your credit, Ferdinando. I must leave this body soon. Thomasina was frightened when I first entered her and she fought me, but I was experienced in this game and far too strong for the girl. Shall we walk away from the road to be out of sight of any passers by? Not too far, though, as Thomasina will be weak and in need of your assistance when I leave her. She has not walked by herself in a long time, half a lifetime."

"I understand."

They walk together through the wood, onto a patch of grass by a stream. A field, dotted with large heaps of abandoned straw from the harvest, lies across the other side of the stream. The grass is damp with dew, the air cool and still after the heat of the day.

"We're all pawns in a game, Ferdinando, waged on millions of worlds between The Maker and Satan. Once, though hard to believe, I too, was mortal. I lived on a world with a yellow sun like this but warmer, wetter. It may even have been this world, it was so long ago! Millions of years ago. We thought we were made in The Maker's image, like you humans do, but we were huge reptiles, some were ground walkers, some fliers, I was a flier with wings. Satan won that battle on that planet, he managed to turn us all to the Dark. The Maker was forced to invoke our own Judgement Day, destroy most of what was there and start his experiment again on our world with a new set of creatures which included Man, although did not arrive for many millions of years. The experiment must go on until The Maker is satisfied with the final result, perfect harmony with nature, or Satan frustrates Him into giving up altogether and thereby end the Universe for good."

"You were made in his image and turned, you believe? Is everything we believe in, mistaken?" Fernando asks.

"Who knows? The Maker talks to me, like Thomasina and Mary do to you, with words forming in my head. I have never seen Him. Maybe He looks like you humans, maybe he looks closer to my true reptilian form. He appears to like it here on this small insignificant world for some unknown reason, as he interferes often, and He has some affection for you creatures, but He will destroy you without mercy, or simply leave Satan to reap the spoils of victory, if you offend Him enough. Satan courted me to join him sixty million years ago, but I and a few of my kind were set aside forgiven on that first Judgement Day. Then, just 21 years ago, The Maker instructed me to pretend to be converted to Satan's ways."

"So The Maker sent you into my Thomasina?"