Here then is the eighth part in our saga of the lives of the people who dwell in the environs of the village Green, in the ancient village of Middlewapping. Herein we learn how a chance encounter on a happy day sets the life of Tarragon, eldest daughter to Keith and Meadow, on a course that she would never have imagined. England is at peace, in stark contrast to the historical part of our story, where revolution and civil war leave nobody unaffected, and his lordship Charles Tillington must somehow steer his apparent parliamentarian sympathies and his tacit support for the King into safe waters, where everywhere there is suspicion and betrayal, lest the war see his own end, and the end of his family. And even in peaceful times there is danger for the Tillington household. An ancient curse, laid long ago at the door of the Manor House, is close now to fulfillment, and the evil and insane acts of the first Lord Tillington threaten the most innocent of all, and threaten in no less a way the end of the Tillington bloodline. Only an uncertainty which exists in the mind of Charlotte, the highest white witch, now stands between the black witch and her intent. Rose seeks solace in her friend, Percival, with consequences which will profoundly effect both of their lives, and there is somebody else who is looking for Percival, with vengeful intent for a crime which was never committed, but by the time this is known, it is too late.
Ordinary People
Part VIII
By PHIL BOASTTrafford Publishing
Copyright © 2016 Phil Boast
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4907-7009-3Contents
Chapter 1 Thermodynamics, 1,
Chapter 2 A Winter Village, 30,
Chapter 3 The End of a Bloodline, 62,
Chapter 4 Inherited Characteristics, 85,
Chapter 5 Of Damien Fotheringay and Others, 114,
Chapter 6 One Fine Day, 136,
Chapter 7 The Missing Words, 163,
Chapter 8 The Wrong Side of the Wall, 189,
Chapter 9 Ice and Water, 220,
Chapter 10 The White Witch, 247,
Chapter 11 Of Damien and Sophia, and in which Tarragon receives an email, 269,
Chapter 12 A Meeting by a Waterfall, and a Funeral, 293,
Chapter 13 All the King's Horses, 315,
Chapter 14 The Virgin and the Priest, 342,
Chapter 15 Zugswang, 377,
Chapter 16 A Winter's Evening, and an Afternoon in Springtime, 404,
Chapter 17 Playing at Home, 433,
Chapter 18 A Witch's End, 453,
Epilogue, 495,
CHAPTER 1
Thermodynamics
Travelling by horse and cart, the same means by which she had arrived there, the old woman had made her slow and thoughtful way back from the house by the mill stream. To the carter on this so well - known and oft - trodden track she was just another passenger; someone he had never seen before; someone visiting relatives, perhaps, and he paid her no mind, so long as she paid her fare. She had kept her identity and purpose a secret, as she had done since she was a young girl, lest she be hung for it, and she had done that which she had come there to do. She had given warning to Edward Tillington and his sister that they must leave as soon as may be, and so had at least made safe the issue of the womb of Anne Tillington. She and her brother were blameless in this, after all, and the murderer must be denied his further insane satisfaction; had he found his daughter with bastard child he may well have meted out his perverted and puritanical justice upon her, and there had been enough death. And the daughter of Jane Mary was safe, as far as could be made so, and so she returned, and called for a meeting of the inner circle. They met by firelight in the late evening, and she it was, as High Priestess of her order, who imparted the intelligence as to that which had occurred in the house by the mill stream, and there were questions to be answered, as best she could answer them.
'So what of the so unfortunate Jane Mary now; what will become of her?'
'She will likely be imprisoned and killed, as was her son, Edward, for what other purpose can there have been for her abduction? She will by now be at the Manor House and at the mercy of the Lord of that household; the madman who is called Henry Tillington, and by now we may surmise that she is already slain. In any case she is beyond our help. If by some chance she escapes or is set free then we will know soon enough, but I do not think that this will be so.'
'But could we not have prevented her death had our actions been more timely and decisive; did she have to die?'
'We do as we may, as we have always done, and ours is not the place to intervene in all things, nor has it ever been, and you know this, Edith. Events must take their course, and one child at least is safe now though we could not save the other. The infant Edward is murdered, but the daughter lives.'
'So who has the child now?'
'Amelia has taken Mary Jane.'
'I do not know of Amelia.'
'She is young, and yet she is strong, though she does not know it, and she is brave and quick of mind; without her Jane Mary's daughter would als
