The Hounds of Annwn (3-5)

Chapter 2-1

CHAPTER 2

George was the last one that afternoon to reach the rock outcrop in the orchard just within the palisade. Both his alarm about Angharad’s unidentified enemy and Gwyn’s flurry of activity about the blocked way had to give way to the diplomatic meeting scheduled days in advance.

When he reached the spot where they had decided to anchor the way Seething Magma would be creating, he found Gwyn and his brother Edern deep in conversation with Ceridwen. Rhodri waved him over.

“You’re here in a dual capacity today?” George teased his friend as he joined the group.

“Just call me Ambassador,” Rhodri said with a straight face. “I doubt we’ll have that much use for way-adepts in this crowd.”

Ceridwen looked up at the sun. “It’s time, everyone. George, why don’t you take your spot? The rest of us will give you room.”

George stood in front of the rock outcrop and watched them all back off a good distance. The winter-bare apple trees nearby loomed like scarecrows. This part of the arrangement made him more than a little nervous. Seething Magma was going to home in on him like a beacon, since she knew his feel best, and make the exit of the way come out upslope in front of him. If she miscalculated he’d probably never feel it. Wouldn’t be his problem any longer.

Can you hear me, Mag, he thought. I’m in place.

*Greetings. I’m coming.*

He faced the outcrop to watch. Until a month ago, no one had ever seen a way made before. Of the group there today, only Rhodri and he, and to a lesser degree Gwyn, would be able to see it happen.

A glow appeared on the ground between him and the rock face and widened to about twenty feet, marking a semi-circular opening, a passage slanting into the earth at a gradual angle. Most way entrances were above ground like invisible tunnels, but since they had a choice Gwyn had suggested this underground approach for greater ease of defense.

Rhodri’s face lit up as it completed, and George backed away to give Seething Magma room to emerge. She was the size of a large pickup truck, a featureless flexible slab something like an animated boulder, propelled by short pseudopods on her lower surface.

*Location correct?*

“Perfect,” George said. He walked up and patted her upper body in greeting.

Gwyn and the others joined them and bowed, keeping a careful distance away from her. “We are very glad to see you again, my lady,” Gwyn said. “Please lead on, and we will follow.”

Seething Magma led them out of the way onto a broad rock terrace high on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge.

*Map of surrounding land, ways marked.*

George translated the mental picture for everyone. “Mag says this is in between Greenway Court and Edgewood to the north. Must be near the southern boundary of Edgewood, I think.”

Edern and Rhodri looked at the crest of the slope not far above them with unease. The ways worked by the rock-wights deep within the ridge focused at the top of the ridge line as painful and impassable barriers to creatures with a bit of magic in them. Only completely natural animals, or those closer to full magic, seemed immune. The rock-wights themselves had the same effect.

*Cut-away view of interior of ridge.*

“She’s showing me the ways underneath us. We’re just south of a gap in the ridge, and there are no ways directly under it.” He ran his way senses along the top of the ridge at the gap. “Is this a natural break in the barrier above it, Mag?”

*Yes.*

She tapped once on the bare rock for the benefit of the others. They’d worked out a quick shorthand for her a few weeks ago while rescuing her daughter—one knock for “yes,” two for “no,” three for “I don’t know.”

Seething Magma moved off to one side as they approached the creatures waiting for them and George stepped aside as well to let Gwyn take the lead.

George’s initial thought was, they’re enormous. Mag had shown him her mother Gravel in a mental image so he had some idea of what to expect, but it hadn’t prepared him sufficiently. He felt them first, as presences just like the huge way that exited at the rock face behind them. Then they shifted position, and his eyes rebelled at estimating the size of anything that large that could move on its own. There were two of the giants, one noticeably larger than the other, and a third one, smaller than Mag.

The largest of the three moved forward a few feet to meet Gwyn. She stopped and Gwyn nodded his head. George fell into his role as translator and facilitator. He faced the formidable elemental, as large as a log cabin, and bowed. “Please let me introduce my lord Gwyn ap Nudd, Prince of Annwn.”

*This is Gravel, my mother, she who speaks for our people.*

“My lord, may I present my lady Gravel, speaker for the elementals in this land.”

This dual role wasn’t strictly necessary. While only George could hear the rock-wights, the elementals had no trouble tapping the minds of the smaller beings directly. George wondered what that was like for Gwyn, someone with many plans and secrets.

*Greetings, Prince of Annwn.* A deep mental voice, like a cathedral bell talking, resonated in George’s head. He murmured a quiet translation as Gravel continued.

*These behind me are Cavern Wind and Ash Tremor.*

Seething Magma provided private commentary for George. *My daughter, my older sister.*

Gwyn spoke in his turn. “With me are my brother Edern ap Nudd, my scholar Ceridwen, and Rhodri, my way-adept.” He gestured at each. “My great-grandson George Talbot Traherne is translating for us.”

Gravel spoke, for George’s translation. *We thank you for the return of my granddaughter Granite Cloud.*

“And we thank you for the destruction of Madog, her kidnapper,” Gwyn said, confirming the foundation of their relationship.

*We have noticed your kind using our leftover ways in the past few thousand years, but it has not been a matter of concern to us. My daughter has told me this should change, and I wish to see for myself.*

“We did not fully understand who made the ways until now. They are important to us, and we want to learn more and possibly agree on some arrangement with mutual benefits.” This was more direct than Gwyn usually was, but George thought it a smart accommodation, since they could read his underlying thoughts anyway.

*We also want to learn more about how it was that one of yours was able to seize one of ours.*

“We are afraid for your safety from evil ones among us, both for your own sake and for ours.” Well, thought George, that was stating it baldly.

Seething Magma flowed forward again. *George, I thought a demonstration would be easiest. Will you help me with that?*

He hesitated. If I scare them badly, why wouldn’t they just eliminate the threat, he thought to her.

*No harm will come to you by this.*

Out loud, he said, “Mag wants me to help show the others what we can do.”

Gwyn looked at him. “And if they’re afraid of you? What then?”

Gravel extruded a pseudopod toward George. *Come.*

He walked over.

*Seething Magma says it damages your folk to touch us, but that you are different. May I touch you?*

Go ahead, he thought, bracing himself.

She lay the end of the pseudopod lightly on his head. He could feel her delicate tasting of his mind, like a light breeze on a spring day.

*Strange. Someone else is there.*

He explained about the form of Cernunnos that he carried, both as the horned man and the deer-headed man. He’s not always there, he thought to her, sometimes it’s just the empty forms. He showed her what Cernunnos did in the annual great hunt, creating ways for the quarry and hounds, and destroying them again when it was done. His ways were like doors, direct and without passages.

*I must think about this. But you have nothing to fear from me, for I do not fear you.*

“You should, my lady,” he said aloud. “We can be dangerous to you.”

He walked back over to Seething Magma. “If you’ll make a little stationary way, I’ll kill it for you.” Some ways moved across space through an internal transition point, and those were the ones that the fae used for long-distance travel. Others simply penetrated space, like an underground tunnel. This was how the elementals made their way through rock.

Rhodri took over the role of commentator for the rest of the fae, since he could see the ways directly.

Mag created a way twice her length there on the terrace between them, her body vanishing from view and reappearing as if transitioning an invisible tunnel in the air. The leading edge glowed as she created it.

Rock-wights made open unclaimed ways and had no need for anything else. George showed the elementals how he and Rhodri could claim the way, close it, and prevent even Mag from using it again. Then he took the claim back from Rhodri and moved the way as a whole a few feet closer, putting it on metaphorically like a garment, picking it up and then casting it off in a different place. That created a stir in both groups. Neither Rhodri nor the rock-wights could do that.

Finally, George said, “I’m going to destroy it.” He reached out with his mind and let the surrounding air rush into the unnatural void, and the way was gone.

In the silence, Seething Magma flowed back to him. *Claim me.*

No, he thought.

*They need to know the worst.*

That’s not the worst, he thought.

*I know you won’t unmake me, George. Please, we must show them.*

He sighed. “Seething Magma has asked me to show you what Madog did to Granite Cloud.”

Ash Tremor moved closer. *May I watch through you?* Her voice was crisp and firm in his mind.

He walked over and let her touch him with a pseudopod. She didn’t intrude, but he could feel her intense curiosity.

He reached out with his mind and claimed Seething Magma, as if she were a way. He sent her away from him and summoned her back and then he released the claim. It left him feeling dirty, and Ash Tremor removed her contact.

“Let me be clear,” George said to Gravel. “There are other way-adepts among the fae, like Rhodri. Whatever they can do with a way, they can do with one of you. And now that they know about you, you aren’t safe. I’m something else, something worse. I can destroy a way.” He let them work out the implications on their own.

Gwyn took back control of the meeting. “We know you are not without defenses, as the death of Madog demonstrated.” Seething Magma had opened a way through him. “We want to help you find a better defense against a new threat.”

Ceridwen spoke for the first time, to Gravel. “What do you know of your relatives in the old world?”

*We have had no communication for eons. I am the eldest here, the matriarch.*

George returned to his translator role.

“I know my grandfather met one thousands of years ago,” Gwyn said, “but they’re very rare and I don’t know if they are thriving anywhere.”

*What exactly is it that you want, Prince of Annwn?*

Gwyn said, “I want to see you well-defended and independent. I want to trade with you for practical way-building. I want agreements with you as friends, allies, and neighbors, so that our relationship will thrive. My scholars want to talk about history with you.”

“In turn,” he continued, “there must be things we can offer you. George tells me you are interested in the knowledge of the earth and how it has changed over time. We can share that with you. There may be many things like that which you would find worthwhile.”

He looked at Gravel directly. “Is this something that you also wish to pursue?”

*We are the bones of the earth, but surface creatures like you are its flavor. We are grateful for your candor in alerting us to danger from your own kind. We have never envisioned an alliance such as you describe, but nothing stays the same, not even the land, and we are inclined in its favor. My daughter Seething Magma has hinted at the knowledge your kind has accumulated, and we would welcome an opportunity for learning.*

George translated quietly.