Summer Lawns Ch. 11 - Travel to 1745

"What Magic lived in my time that cannot be summoned this day?"

"One that concerns itself with the darker side of human nature. A side we do not look upon willingly. Here lies our darkest secret." Fanshaw wondered if Sarah had grasped the importance of the statement and waited.

"You once told me there was no good or evil power, just a balance of how we handle that power. So is the evil with us? Is it part of our balance? You do not have to answer that question Master Fanshaw, I think I already know the answer."

They walked through the maze in silence for a while, the tension growing.

"Is it your wish to look upon that side of your self, Sarah? There is no pressure."

"In truth, yes. I cannot leave my memories behind with my dead family. I cannot leave them to such a fate. Were their deaths for nothing? Or should I try to avenge them?"

"Sarah, I beg you not to seek revenge simply for its own sake. Please try to look upon the problem wisely."

"Truly I will. But I cannot let the matter rest. If not for the simple reason of my own curiosity. I have to know what went on." She turned to the man and stopped him in his tracks.

"Sarah no! You do not want to go back to that time. Please move your life on, and grieve for your family in a normal way."

"Sir, I do not propose to seek revenge for the deaths of my family, or for my predicament now. No, I want to know why they did it, and how they thought they could escape retribution. Someone took that ring from the hand of my mother, for me to follow it's path."

"Whom do you mean Sarah?" Fanshaw wanted to know.

"Why Master Cromwell and his Roundhead devils! Why seek to destroy us? Why try to upset the cosmic balance of all things? It is simply alien."

"My dear girl you cannot put right such terrible wrongs, no matter how powerful you are." Fanshaw allowed himself a friendly smile, as he saw how she wrestled with the problem.

"Powerful? I sir?" She was taken back by the remark.

"Yes, you possess the natural Magic which we have to spend a lifetime acquiring. Your whole family possessed it and knew how to use it. That is why they buried the magical tools. Your Father knew what lay on the dark side of his soul. He was a great man."

"Then it is to that end I must go to correct the imbalance." Sarah talked more to herself now, as she thought about the problem.

"The most powerful Magic we ever perform is that we carry out upon ourselves. I have always tried to teach you that, and I am pleased to say, upon you, it has worked. For truly you are a stronger person than the weak girl we saw coming through the corridors of time a few months ago."

"And what of my dark side? Tell me something about that Sir?" As Sarah looked at the man she saw for the first time, he could not look her in the eye. "What terrible horror must I face about myself?"

"You are growing up, you are no longer a young girl but a beautiful woman. You are leaving behind the world of innocence, to enter upon a greater Kingdom. Think upon that." It pained him to utter the words but knew they had to be said.

"Good and evil, within me? What could be terrible about me?" Sarah gave a nervous laugh.

"Sarah think upon the way the young men of the house look upon you and reflect that you are coming into full womanhood. Sadly I cannot help you with such Magic, for that, I have to hand you over to a darker force."