Chapter 55

After the informal meeting I returned home where my wives were fully engaged in using their powers to do some housecleaning, despite the Brownies we used to keep the place in sparkling condition. No, I didn’t fully comprehend why, but was wise enough to simply get out of the way before they involved me. I took Mark as well as the infant Maria to the pool area. I also noted our family of Brownies cowering in the scrub trying to keep calm and unnoticed by my wives and offered them a glass each of a fine malt whisky that I had stored away for ‘emergencies’, just to calm their nerves.

Eventually I was joined by Jukar who asked if she could practice her fencing. We set off to the Null circle to go at it hammer and tongs with Mark watching and copying a few moves and while Maria was asleep in a bassinet, oblivious to the noise we made.

“So, what’s all that about?” I indicated back to the villa during a break.

“We wanted a talk without you being around,” she giggled.

“You could have just asked,” I chuckled. “Not gone about terrorising the Brownies.”

“Oops, never thought of that, just figured you’d try to avoid anything resembling work,” she replied with a slight blush.

“I was looking after Mark and Maria, that’s work,” I grinned.

“Hardly.”

“So, what were you discussing?”

“Babies.”

“Thought it was Brianna’s turn.”

“She’s a little stressed over her Dad’s revelation.”

“Merlin might have sired her, but he was hardly her Dad. He only took note of her when she emerged,” I snorted. “Besides, I’ve invited Benjamin and Rowenna over to check her over as I was warned there might be issues.”

“You did? That was nice of you,” she replied with a happy nod.

“I do know how to do nice,” I chuckled, referring back to the time Jukar had pointed out that it had never occurred to me to ask my wives to marry me.

“Yes, you do, my John,” she laughed.

“Ah, they’re on their way,” I noted at a mental message from Rowenna.

“I’ll let the others know,” Jukar replied as she scampered off to the villa and no doubt a shower as well.

It was a subdued bunch of ladies who turned out to greet my guests, though the feeling of relief from the Brownies was almost palpable. I sorted out drinks before explaining why I’d invited Benjamin in particular on the advice of Morgana.

“Thought it was too good an idea to have come from you,” Jukar teased, getting a few smiles from Róisín, Imelda and Abi.

“I just thought it might help as Brianna is not herself at all,” I shrugged.

“I was a loved child with brothers and sisters and he just robbed me of them,” Brianna added with a voice a little more than a whisper, as well as a single tear rolling down her face.

“It has happened to us all ... except for Jukar, my Lady,” I replied, stretching out to hold her hand.

“Yes, but at least you remember your parents, brothers and sisters,” she choked out as I immediately moved to hug her as the sobs began.

“That’s why I asked Benjamin here ... not that it’s not lovely to see you too, Rowenna.”

“I understand, John,” Rowenna nodded.

“In good time,” Benjamin added. “Talking about your feelings will help and will mean what help I give will not need to be extensive.”

“I went through the internet on what I could find, but it didn’t help, they were all just strangers to me, not even a hint of a memory,” Brianna sniffled. “I think that’s what hurt the most, if I’d been a peasant girl there would have been no records at all and I could have lived with that easier.”

“You must have known to an extent just what a ... monster Merlin was,” Imelda replied.

“He was cold, formal and correct, but he did love me in his way and ensured that I didn’t end up in the gulag breeding camp.”

“That’s true, though the likes of Elymas and Gilles creeped you out, you mentioned in the past,” I noted, referring to the old Coalition leadership.

“Ugh, yes! Gilles in particular was always attempting to take liberties with me, though didn’t dare go too far because of my father,” she shuddered.

“Elymas was no saint either,” Rowenna added. “Look at his treatment of Mary, Alcina and Ceridwen.”

“True, but with him all the impression he gave was like a cat observing a mouse. I just avoided him if possible, whilst Gilles would often turn up on anything I was doing to get ‘touchy, feely’ with me,” she replied.

“What exactly did the Coalition do when they weren’t actively undermining the Council?” I asked out of curiosity.

“We kept an eye on politicians and the court mostly. The underlings, as Father called them, were tasked with suppressing dissent and rebellion.”

“As well as attacking Council Mages as and when you spotted them,” Rowenna added.

“Well, yes, but to be frank, we didn’t spot that many as the underlings mostly fought amongst themselves or tried to bring down their boss; that was the way you got promotion ... unless you had protected status like me,” Brianna explained.

“We had a few issues with you, but it appears that a lot of that came from supporters of Queen Oonagh via Heinrich,” Rowenna nodded.

“And vice versa I believe,” Brianna agreed.

“So, what memories do you have of your early days?” Benjamin asked, moving the conversation back on track.

“I remember waking up in a luxurious house with Merlin at my side, that’s all. After that it was just training and practice.”

“Interesting as there’s no evidence of memory loss in you, no breaks at all,” Rowenna mused.

“Just a blank slate to me,” Brianna replied, looking confused.

“When a Mage removes or deletes a memory there’s a gap created in the subject’s matrix that makes up their thoughts. With you there are no such gaps, not even an indication that memories have been removed, which there should be there even if your early memories were removed wholesale,” Rowenna replied thoughtfully.

“So I may have memories still there?” Brianna asked.

“I don’t know, I’d have to do a deep scan, which is invasive.”

“Please, Rowenna, I need to know,” Brianna more or less begged.

“OK, relax and let me have a look,” Rowenna nodded with a calming smile.

I’m not sure just how deep Rowenna went, possibly Abi did, but Seers don’t generally do deep memory scans in the way that medic Mages do, in the sense of using finesse as in not injuring their patient. The Seers tend to be more called in as a crowbar, rather than a scalpel.

“Ah, yes, there is a lock, though I’m unsure as yet how to open it,” Rowenna finally stated.

“Would Merlin?” I asked.

“Assuming he didn’t will himself to forget. The Coalition used memory tampering far more than we ever did and hence tended to be much better at it.”

“Yes, they used it to keep control of various politicians, at least until their numbers being reduced by our successes made it far more problematic for them,” I nodded.

“I’ve reduced the stress for you, Brianna,” Benjamin added. “But I haven’t removed the knowledge, just made it more liveable for you, at least until you know.”

“Thank you, Benjamin. I’m not sure why it’s bothering me so much, but it is,” Brianna replied, looking a lot less stressed.

“We’ll go and scan Merlin for you to see what he knows,” Benjamin added. “I’d advise you for the moment to keep away from him as it might undo the work I’ve done.”

“You’re the doctor,” Brianna chuckled.

“Would you care to join us, John?” Rowenna asked.

“Sure,” I replied, as I’d also received a telepath from Rowenna on a hidden channel telling me this was a must.

Once outside we made our way to the portal and onwards to Kurukshetra. Excluding me, Rowenna and Benjamin went into a private mental conference.

“John,” Rowenna began tentatively once we were through the portal. “There may be an issue with Brianna.”

“An issue?”

“Yes, both Benjamin and I have noticed this sort of ... clouding of memory used in the past by the higher ranks of the old Coalition where it was used to hide sexual abuse amongst the high ranking of the nobility where they’d often choose a victim then temporarily wipe their minds of the act, until they were ready to resume the abuse,” she explained.

“Oh hell, no,” I sighed.

“It might not be Coalition, but Merlin might have removed the memories if it were, say, a family member.”

“Or one of his good buddies,” I almost snarled.

“That too, as there are several clouded areas in her past, not just the one that cuts off her whole childhood before her emergence,” Benjamin replied.

“Problem is, if I remove one, it will probably remove the rest as well. That’s why we need to scan Merlin, just to find out what might be hidden,” Rowenna added.

“I see,” I nodded.

“This in part is why Brianna is becoming depressed and agitated. She knows something is there ... feels it now and she’s strong-willed enough to eventually break it,” Rowenna warned.

“Then let’s go see the bastard who sired her,” I grated out.

Merlin, other than looking fifteen years older than the last time I’d seen him, was his usual urbane self to us, only his eyes glinted dangerously as they occasionally gave away his thinking.

“John, Rowenna, Benjamin. How delightful to see you all,” he greeted us jovially.

“You don’t seem terribly surprised,” Rowenna replied.

“Not at all, I suspect it’s to do with the ticking time bomb in Brianna.”

“What have you done?” I asked.

“Me? Nothing, nor can I do anything in my current condition, as you well know.”

“That’s all right, I can take what I want anyway,” I shrugged.

“Go ahead, be my guest, and much good as will it do you. I’m not the problem here, just its prophet. I recognised the signs in Brianna during her last visit.”

“I’m not in the mood for your little games, so give or be scanned!”

“Temper, temper,” he chuckled.

“You really, really do not want to try my patience, old man.”

“Ouch, low blow, John.”

“Give!”

“Brianna was being abused by one of my compatriots; you knew him as Gilles. I wasn’t really aware of this until she emerged and the details became clear in her mind. I ended up having to bypass all her early days as her memories refused to be deleted. However, every so often, events trigger a reopening of the memories and I had to step in again several times. Problem is, the patterning Gilles used to control her is embedded so deep within her psyche that it’s now part of her consciousness and the swine, when he became aware of her memories surfacing, would use it to restart the pattern of abuse. Anyone else, you’d have been able to remove it, but Brianna can’t be affected by memory removal and damned if I know why.”