The Gift of Magic Pt. 02

Hilda's manager had now come over to the table, irate at the noise, and told Hilda off for neglecting the bar.

"I quit, Mr Gustav," she said. "I've had enough of serving drunks. Come on Hans." Hilda linked her arm with Hans, and the two walked out of the pub.

Chapter 9: The wedding

"Mum and Mr Neilson are getting married - I'm so excited."

It was three weeks later, and Lucy was making one of her regular visits to Jade. Now that the school holidays had arrived, and the days were long and warm, she had more time to go visiting. She had told Merrin she was sorry for neglecting her, and renewed their friendship. She and Merrin had visited Jade together on a few occasions, and Merrin and Jade had played duets. Jade had composed a tune for the wedding, and Merrin had learned to play it on her violin, and later recorded it. Jade of course was not able to use recording equipment in her house.

Lucy had also continued to play chess at the old people's home. She was winning more now that her magic had improved and she could tell more easily what the other players would be doing next. Jade had told her that this was not very fair on her opponents, so now Lucy would carry her second-hand mobile phone in her pocket - the one Sophie had bought to replace the Smartphone.

The phone was not modern enough to totally negate her magical ability, but since her opponents were better natural players it meant that they were more evenly matched and Lucy won about as many games as she lost.

"I'm pleased for your mum," said Jade. "And what's happened to Mr. Nees?"

"He's found another girlfriend. The bar maid at the pub. She seems really smart. He came round a few days after he had taken the phone back and introduced her. He and Hilda - that's his girlfriend, asked me if I wanted to visit his farm. He's often asked me before but I thought he was a creepy vestment digger so I always said no, but now he seems to be much more decent and Hilda is really nice, so I said yes. He's got horses and goats, and mum and me and Mr Neilson all went round there and we took it in turns to ride the horses, and Mr Nees was really laughing and jolly, much better than I have seen him before.

"Oh, and mum's got more money now. The bank manager said he had made an error, but Hilda said don't trust that bank, so now mum is putting her vestments somewhere else where they're more interesting."

"You mean where they get more interest."

"Yeah, that's what I said. Oh, and I nearly forgot." Lucy handed Jade a large embossed white envelope. Jade opened it. Inside was an invitation to the wedding and reception of Sophie Andersson and Peter Neilson. It was set for a date in two months time.

"Thank you Lucy, that's very nice of you. And please thank your mother and Mr Neilson as well. But I am afraid I can't come. As I told you, I'm not able to leave the grounds."

"Oh we know that, Jade. I didn't tell mum you were a witch because I promised not to tell anyone. But I told her you have a rare condition that means you can't leave your house. Which is true really, isn't it?"

"Yes it is true. But if you both know I can't leave the house, why have you invited me?"

"We would all like to hold a separate ceremony here so you can take part. After all, it was you who helped bring mum and Mr Neilson together. You seem to have helped Mr Nees as well, 'cos he's so much happier now. We'll have the main wedding in the house of worship, because Mr Neilson's family are very religious, and we'll have the reception in the hall so lots of people can fit in, but then we thought we could bring some food and drink and just have special friends here."

"You're very thoughtful, Lucy," said Jade. "Which special friends will you be inviting?"

"Just you and me. And of course mum and Mr Neilson. And Merrin. And geeky Nils if he'll come and isn't too shy. And Mr Nees and Hilda now we're friends. Mr Nees said something very funny. He said he's always been afraid of this house, ever since he was a boy, but now suddenly he's not frightened any more and he'd like to meet you. Strange, isn't it."

"Very," said Jade. "I think I know why he was frightened as well. There's still something I need to sort out. You did very well getting Mr. Nees to take back the phone. I told you he was not evil, but he did do some things that were not very wise and he came under the influence of someone who is. Do you still use Smartphone now?"

"I just have the cheap mobile now and I use it to call mum if I'm going to be late. I don't miss the Smartphone. Sometimes I play on Merrin's computer at her place, but there are actually other more interesting things we would rather do."

"That's good." said Jade. "And I'm glad you've not totally lost your skill with computer searching. I've hired a web designer myself to tell my story. If anything happens to me, and you want to find out more, then use your search skills to find it online. I think that you and Nils together will know how to find it. Have you got that?"

Lucy nodded. "But what will happen to you, Jade? It frightens me when you speak like that."

"There's no need to be frightened, Lucy. Remember I am over a thousand years old, and half elves don't live forever. Nor do we want to. You are still very young, and for you there is not enough time in the day to do everything you want to do and experience everything you want to experience. Even the old people you play chess with still have things they want to do with their lives. Maybe they want to see their grand-children grow up, or feel the warmth of just one more summer before they pass away.

But I have tasted everything this life can give me several times. I have buried my adopted children, and my grandchildren. I'm the last of the elves and the last of the half elves. Even my lover died before me, and he was a full elf. He had been under the influence of the dark elves and their evil Spider overlord for longer than I had, so the crab growths claimed him, though we made sure his end was peaceful and painless.

"I've really enjoyed your visits, they've brightened up an otherwise dull spring, but in a very short time you too will have moved on to other things. So I don't want to live forever. If you learn of my death, then don't mourn for me, but rather rejoice that I have gone to a much better place, where the new experiences will be fresh every day."

"So you believe in Heaven and Hell?"

"I believe in Hell. I've been there, remember. You've seen the painting. And what sort of Creator would allow a Hell without a Heaven. It wouldn't seem fair really, would it?"

"No I suppose not. But I don't want you to die Jade, I want you to go on forever. You're my friend." Lucy ran up to Jade and put her arms around the old woman.

#

The day of the wedding dawned bright and clear. It was high summer, and the sun shone through the stained glass windows of the little house of worship, as the guests gathered in their best clothes. Peter's extended family sat in their little group, dressed very sombrely in black, but nevertheless looking cheerful. They seemed pleased that Peter had found a good woman after his first disastrous mistake.

Some of Lucy's classmates, those that had not gone away for the summer, were poking each other and giggling, highly amused at the sight of their teacher in a top hat and tails. Hans Nees and Hilda sat in the second row, holding hands. They had announced their own engagement a few days before. Former colleagues of Emil, some of them still in the army and dressed in their best uniform, filed in at the rear and sat on the bride's side. Peter frowned when he saw the uniforms, but said nothing.

A young and attractive woman slipped into the small chapel just as the service was beginning and sat quietly at the back. It was Peter's first wife Anna. Her accountant boyfriend had just dumped her for an even younger version, leaving her sadder but wiser as she sat through the ceremony, glad to discover that Peter had moved on from the hurt she had caused him.

Then Jade and Merrin's bridal march started up. Not the normal sombre piece common to these events but a lively syncopated tune suitable for dancing to. Which is what the bride was doing as she progressed up the aisle. Skipping behind her were the bridesmaids, Lucy and Merrin, who fidgeted all the way through the ceremony, gazing around them at all the pageantry. As the service ended, Anna slipped quietly out the back of the chapel.

The reception was held in the shady grounds of the village common. The couple had used the unexpected windfall from George's bank to make sure it was an event to remember, and the guests lounged about, drinking, gossiping and dancing to the band until the sun started to sink below the horizon.

When most of the guests had left the reception, the bride and groom, plus Lucy, Merrin, Hans and Hilda piled into Hans's car and drove to Jade's house. Nils had also received an invitation, and seemed pleased to have been considered, but just as Lucy had thought, he had been too shy to accept.

Jade appeared more listless than usual, but she nevertheless got into the spirit of the festivities and played some songs on her lute. Lucy listened to the music totally enraptured, though Merrin the musician told Lucy afterwards she could sense that Jade's playing, while still very moving, was not up to her usual standard.

"What is that picture in the hallway?" asked Sophie. "It's most uncanny. The artist has really caught the essence of the emotions present in the painting."

Jade looked closely at Sophie. She did not have the Gift. But maybe art itself, like her music, was a form of magic. "The picture is of me, when I was young. I was going through a rough time. I think the artist captured my feelings well."

"Very well," agreed Sophie. "I wish I could paint like that." All the others except for Lucy had been looking blankly at Sophie and Jade through the conversation. It was just a painting as far as they could see.

Jade handed over wedding presents for the couple before they left. To Sophie she presented a set of paint brushes; beautifully soft with ornate ebony-black handles carved with intricate shapes. "The artist who painted my portrait used these exact same brushes," she said.

Sophie looked at the pristine bristles. Surely no paint had touched their surface. "You mean the same type of brush," she said.

"Yes, that's what I mean," Jade corrected herself.

To Peter she presented a gardening spade, lighter than titanium and as tough as carbon fibre, which she said was forged using an ancient art that was no longer practised. Then Jade gave presents to the other guests. A child sized lute for Merrin, the surface as soft as silk; matching gem-encrusted bracelets for Hans and Hilda, and to Lucy she presented the star brooch she had been wearing the first time Lucy had met her.

The adults had demurred over Jade handing out the presents, especially such beautiful ones, but had eventually accepted. As they agreed with each other when they compared notes on the way home, Jade could certainly be very persuasive.

#

Sophie and Peter left for their fortnight honeymoon at a mystery destination. Jade had made it clear that she was feeling too sick and weak to have guests for an extended period, so Lucy was sent to Merrin's place, though the two children promised Jade they would visit her regularly.

As it turned out the children were too distracted to visit Jade the first day. The weather had taken a turn for the worse, squally and cold, and the children had spent the day inside in front of the fire, chatting, eating and playing chess.

Lucy listened while Merrin played her new lute. It soon became obvious that the lute had magical qualities. Merrin was already a gifted violin player, but when she started to pick out a tune on the lute, Lucy just listened open mouthed. It was almost as good as Jade's music to her untutored ear. Merrin's mother came over to listen, and exclaimed to her husband was a genius her daughter was, dreaming of concert performances and standing ovations.

Lucy discovered that her brooch enhanced her capacity to read minds, but here was the interesting thing; it only worked when mind reading would be of advantage to the person being read. So Lucy for example knew straight away when her friend wanted encouragement and what sort of encouragement, but could not figure out what chess moves Merrin would make.

Lucy wondered if the gifts Jade had given the others had similar magical properties. In their shared bedroom that night, Lucy told Merrin that Jade was a witch. Lucy had promised Jade not to tell, but something told her that it didn't matter any more. As expected, Merrin was sceptical at first, but then when Lucy pointed out how much her playing had improved on Jade's instrument, and her own ability to read minds, she started to become less incredulous. "Let's see Jade tomorrow and she will prove it to you," said Lucy. They agreed to visit Jade first thing after breakfast.

#

The next morning the weather had turned again, and it promised to be a fine summer day. The children walked to the old house, holding hands and singing. They noticed the door was open, which gave Lucy an uneasy feeling; Jade had always kept it closed. They rang the door bell, knocked at the door, then shouted hallos till they echoed down the hall.

"It's not like Jade to be out," said Lucy finally. "She told me she can't leave the house. We'd better go in and look for her. She may be in trouble, like what sometimes happens to some of the old people where I play chess."

The children walked through the lounge, past the picture and then into the kitchen. Jade was sitting upright in the hard chair, her lute cradled in her arms. When the children approached and stared into her unblinking eyes they knew why she had not come to the door.

Chapter 10: The last spell casters

The state officials rifled through Jade's house and found a will on her writing desk; a single sheet of old parchment, inscribed with a quill pen. Jade had left her house and grounds and all effects to the Conservation Department to be used as a park for visitors. After some deliberation the Conservation Department officials decided to keep all her furniture and effects to add to the authenticity of the historical experience when visitors were shown through the house. The painting of Jade and the Spider remained on the wall. Most visitors to the house would walk straight past it with hardly a glance, though occasionally a child, or more rarely a grown-up would comment on how spooky it was.

Since no relatives could be found, Jade was given a simple state ceremony and buried at the local graveyard outside the house of worship in the village. Apart from the priest and the state official, the only mourners present were Peter, Sophie, Lucy, Merrin, Hans and Hilda; the same people who had last seen her alive.

Lucy felt sad at the loss of her new friend, but at the same time, she consoled herself with the knowledge that Jade had not feared death but had welcomed it, and that she was so sure she and Lucy would meet again in a better world.

As always, Lucy was far too busy for her sadness to last long. She and her mother and Peter had used the extra money to move to a bigger house with a garden, a place that her mother said would be large enough for the new baby growing inside her. Lucy spent time helping Peter dig and prepare the garden, and they discovered that any place prepared with the spade Jade had given Peter improved the fertility of the soil so much that they did not need any compost or other fertiliser. Meantime Sophie's fame as an artist started to grow as she used the paint brushes Jade had given her.

Lucy often visited Hans's farm now they were friends. Hans had cut right back on sprays, preparing for his eventual conversion to organics, and he was on much better terms with his neighbours as a result. Hans and Hilda both wore the bracelets Jade had given him, and their farm became more productive when they were wearing them, provided they kept away from sprays and chemical fertiliser.

Between helping in her own house and garden, visiting Hans and Hilda, and her old past-times of playing in the park, cosy home visits to Merrin and chess with the old people, Lucy had no time to look for Jade's final message to her.

It was not until winter had set in, with the hail rattling the windows, that Lucy, Merrin and Nils found time to sprawl on the floor by the roaring wood burner in the lounge at Merrin's place, heads together, peering at the tablet that Nils had brought.

"Let's start by typing 'Jade' and restricting to local", suggested Lucy.

When this first attempt had found nothing but jewellery stores, Merrin suggested adding in 'drow'.

This time the search seemed more promising, and the children read about the legends of the dark elves, how they had split from the forest elves, and the shadowy figure of Jade, who had led an uprising against the evil Spider. The children read a few of these accounts, but soon realised that the stories were vague and often contradictory, and contained far less detail than Jade herself had given Lucy. The children became despondent, and there were still thousands of hits to get through. The legends of dark elves were popular in this part of the world.

"Jade wanted me to look at it. So try typing my name," suggested Lucy.

This time there were no hits. Too obvious maybe.

"Let's think about this," said Nils. "Jade wanted Lucy to find her, but nobody else. We know that Jade got a real web designer to do this for her, so she would have used meta tags for SEO."

Oblivious to the blank looks the others were giving him, Nils went on. "Can you think of anything that Jade said to you that she told nobody else, Lucy?"

Lucy tried to think. She felt the warmth of Jade's brooch next to her and it seemed to be helping her memories come to the surface of her mind. "I can think of one thing," she said. "Jade didn't like to be called a 'dark elf', or a 'drow'. She preferred the term 'grey elf'. She told me that the grey elves originally rebelled against what they saw as excessive frivolity among the forest elves and became a separate race. She said that the grey elves used their talent for innovation to find ways the natural laws could be used to help make life easier. But then she said it was a fine line between using the natural laws and twisting them, and that many of them became the dark elves and were ensnared by the wicked Spider."

"Okay," said Nils, "I think we've got something to work on now. We need to type in 'Jade' AND '(grey elf) OR (grey elves)'".

As soon as Nils had said these words, the screen went dark. Then a reproduction of Jade's painting appeared on it. Lucy found it vaguely disquieting even in its digital reproduction.

Nils clicked on the picture and a story appeared. The children arranged themselves around the tablet and took it in turns to read it aloud.

#

"Hello Lucy," (it began).

"I am very pleased for your mother and Mr Neilson, and I'm glad that you're now friends with Mr Nees. As I said, Mr Nees's new girlfriend seems admirably sensible and I hope she will help him become a decent person. Mr Nees had been manipulated by somebody far cleverer than himself. It goes back a long way, and these evil magicians wanted to get to Peter Neilson and his family.

"You remember how I told you that the elves, the dwarfs and the other races started to be melted down into the general homogeneous human population? Remember how I told you that what the forest elves contributed is a love of the land and a desire to protect it? These elven traits are present in Mr Neilson and in his family, a clan of farmers who use only natural farming and oppose all agricultural chemicals. It was this elven influence that certain descendants of the Spider-followers wanted destroyed.