Chapter 28

"I name you Sean àn Tàcheart, King of Scania!"

A little shriek escaped from Brenda, and she gripped my arm extremely tightly.

"I don't wish to sound ungrateful, Highness ... but why?"

"I have no love for the kingdom of Scania. I fear the people wouldn't have a wholly committed king if I kept it for myself. Besides, it's a desert. I much prefer the beauty of Axon.

"Mary here tells me that you've figured out that your wife is descended from the Barns royal family, so Scania is thicker in her blood than it is in ours, perhaps?

"You will recall my 'vision', Sean. The vision made it clear that it was you who had your standard flying over Scania, not me. While Scania might be a curse that you have to deal with, if I don't give you the kingdom, then I'm going against what I've been shown. I don't want to do that."

This was more explanation than I had ever received before when I'd asked a question on Gael. Normally the answer to a question simply gave rise to three more, but not this time. Kenneth had clearly thought about this a great deal.

The King's plan to release the Scanian prisoners in small groups worked exactly as he had envisaged it. They passed on the news of Malcolm's death and my assumption of the Scanian crown as they made a weary trek back to their homes. It wasn't long before the other occupied cities in Axon were also free of the invaders.

I wasn't at all sure about what kind of reception Brenda and I would receive in our new kingdom. I put off the day we would test that out by accompanying Kenneth on a tour of his kingdom. The scars of the Scanian occupation were plain, but the Axonites were already working to repair what they could.

I continued to try to enter dreamtime but with no more success. The fact that there was still no sign or even any reports of Ingrid and Eva was also a concern.

Eventually I couldn't put off the inevitable any longer. We had reviewed the city of Randall, the closest of Axon's cities to Scania, and Kenneth took matters into his own hands.

"Sean, you have put this off too long, already. You should have shown yourself to the people of your new kingdom long before now. I know there are risks, but you need to impose yourself.

"Without a king, Scania will be in an even worse state than it is already. Think of all the good you can do. With your affinity for nature, perhaps you can reclaim the desert, and turn Scania into the beautiful place it once was."

King Kenneth didn't fight fair! I had watched how he subtly manipulated people by knowing exactly what to say to them, and now he was doing the same to me.

In three sentences he managed to play on my concern for others, my love of nature and my sense of responsibility, to make me feel guilty for not having already left for Scania. I accepted my fate.

"Will you give me an escort? I probably don't need it, I could use magic after all, but perhaps a show of conventional force would be better than shocking them with my wizarding abilities from the outset.

"Of course. Will one hundred cavalry be enough?"

"Yes, thanks. There is one thing I'd like to ask. Would you and Mom look after baby John for a few weeks until we can satisfy ourselves that it's safe for him?"

Mom's story about the assassination attempts on me when I was a child, had come back to haunt me. I didn't want to put the toddler at risk unnecessarily. Brenda and I had discussed this and although she wasn't at all happy about it, she agreed it was the best thing to do.

So it was, that, two weeks after the liberation of Gower, Brenda and I set out with an escort of one hundred Axon cavalry. Kenneth's phased release of the Scanian prisoners hadn't even been completed yet, but I asked another favor of him.

"To mark the fact that I have taken the kingdom of Scania, will you release all of the remaining prisoners and let them return home, now?"

Kenneth agreed that this would be a very positive gesture. He made sure the remaining prisoners were told that it had been I, their new King, who had secured their early release.

There were tears, of course, when we parted. Mom and Brenda had grown very close, and leaving baby John behind was a big wrench for both of us, also. We had to suck it up. I helped Brenda up onto Mòr Dubh's back, and then lifted myself up behind her. With one final wave, we set off.

This far north, the River Anesta was both broad and deep. The road from Randall into Scania led to a ferry crossing. Transferring a hundred men and their horses on the simply built flat-bottomed craft, took quite some time.

Once we were across, I could feel the difference in the soil beneath our feet, but this time I focused on Kenneth's words to keep me positive. Brenda and I would do something to restore this land. In fact, The Mother had already provided me with the means to start that recovery! I would waste little time in using it.

The city of Gorg was almost exactly at the center of the kingdom of Scania. It was by far the most obvious place for a capital and the royal palace. The place depressed me however, and as we rode, Brenda and I discussed my plans to build another palace somewhere else.

Gorg held memories of my imprisonment by Hassan, and the deaths of both Hassan and Prince Aiden, yet Brenda wasn't in favor of moving.

"I think it will give out the wrong signals, Sean. If the first thing the new King and Queen do is to move the capital, it might be seen as a sign that everything was going to change. People don't like change. It upsets them, makes them anxious, and challenges the natural order."

"But Gorg just feels wrong somehow."

"No worse than anywhere else in this desert! What we need to do is rejuvenate the city somehow. I know! Why don't we re-name it? What kind of a name is 'Gorg' anyway? Why don't we rename it John's Town? It is the place where baby John was born, after all."

The birth of our son was a much more pleasant thought. Surprisingly, even just hearing of the city being given a different name, made me feel more positive about the place.

The journey gave me time to think about a number of things that hadn't occurred to me, before. The land we were passing through was desolate and I began to wonder just how the people of Scania survived? Without creatures to hunt or crops to provide both food for the people and livestock, just how did the people feed themselves?

This wasn't something that Charles had covered in any of my lessons, and I knew that I would have to study the economy of Scania if I was going to be able to effectively perform my duties as king.

Malcolm's daughters were (or on the case of Frieda - had been) married. Eva was married to Prince Suliman of Ascari. Frieda had been married to Prince Li, of Pnom. What would the response of these kingdoms be to me becoming king in Scania? Would the princes make some claim to Scania on their wives behalf? Would Ascari and Pnom threaten Scania?

With no ley lines in Scania, how did the Scanians get their 'power'?

The journey was a depressing one, only made bearable because Brenda was riding in front of me. When we reached Gorg, the atmosphere in the city was, if anything, even worse than it had been on my last visit (was that only four or five months before?).

"You know, with a few basic bits of machinery, we could make life so much better for everybody," said Brenda.

The truth of her words became even clearer over the next few days. I was amazed that the people seemed to simply accept the fact that I was now their King. When I asked for advisors to explain to me how things worked, I found that Scania existed through its mining.

The kingdom was rich in mineral reserves. It had large reserves of precious metals and gemstones, but it was having to trade those reserves for basic foodstuffs. When I was told that all of the mining was done by hand (yes, really! They were using picks and shovels) I could only shake my head at the thought of the backbreaking existence the miners must have.

After the first week, Brenda and I were sure that baby John would be safe. She left on the eagle Accipiter's back, to go and collect him and bring him 'home'. Once the toddler was with us, we organised a rally in the city's market square and announced that Gorg was to be renamed as 'Johnstown'. The reaction from the city's population was completely underwhelming!

After the lack of response to the renaming of the city, I decided to keep the next stage of the rejuvenation of Scania as a 'family only' affair. I had selected a spot in what had once been the palace gardens for this next event. Brenda didn't know it yet, but this event was probably much more important for Scania than simply renaming a city.

I had prepared secretly and planned to surprise my girl. As it turned out, she was surprised, but so was I!

"Why are we going outside, Sean? I was teaching John his alphabet."

"Just follow me, both of you. You are about to do an amazing thing for the kingdom of Scania, perhaps the most important thing that's been done for hundreds of years!"

I had Brenda's attention now and she followed. Baby John came, too, holding his mother's hand.

The spot I had picked was in the hollow of a natural bowl of land, at the south end of the palace. When I stopped, Brenda could see that the soil had been dug over and she cocked one eyebrow at me.

"Inside this little bag is a gift from The Mother herself," I began to explain. "I was allowed to remove a small sliver of bark from the last ever Hazeldew tree. I've ground most of it down into dust.

"The Hazeldew tree is a special tree and that particular tree more than any other. I was shown what to do with this dust, but it cannot be me that does it. You are a true descendent of the Scanian royal family. It must be you who starts to repair the awful damage your family has inflicted on this land."

Brenda took the bag when I offered it and then knelt so she could sprinkle its contents onto the soil.

"Fàs!" I cried, a command word in Gaelic meaning 'grow'.

The effect was immediate. I could 'feel' the incredible vitality that returned to the soil and watched as if began to radiate outwards. The dry, dusty, soil before us turned green and lush in moments and it didn't look as if it was going to stop anytime soon.

Brenda got to her feet and turned in a slow circle, watching the regeneration take hold and continue to spread out from the center of the hollow. To my delight, a barely noticeable silver shimmer was also forming ... the ley lines were returning!

A few of the palace staff had wandered over, curious about what we were doing and they too could see the way the soil was apparently repairing itself. They had watched Brenda sprinkle something onto the soil, so they knew it was her doing. Already, they were exclaiming in wonder! This was perhaps the first lush, green land they had ever seen in Scania.

By now the effect had already reached the lip of the bowl. It disappeared over it, hopefully to continue to spread throughout the entire kingdom.

"Sean! It's amazing, how is it possible?"

"Don't ask me, it's all down to...

It felt as if I was on the world's biggest roller coaster, hurtling down the steepest gradient ever. One moment I was answering Brenda's question, and the next...

My landing was certainly not gentle. Before I could even look around I felt my arms and legs pinned to the floor and then two voices screamed words of command.

"Prìosanach!"

"Sàmhach!"

I understood both. The first was 'prisoner' and effectively bound me so that I couldn't move. The second was 'silence' and stopped me from summoning up my own spells. I was completely trapped.

The men who had been holding me now lifted me up and tied me to an 'X' frame. At least that meant I could see where I was, and who had brought me here.

When I recognised King Regnald it was no surprise that I had somehow been dragged back into dreamtime. There was a certain irony to the fact that I had been trying to come here for weeks without success, and now my enemies had summoned me.

What was more of a surprise was to see the sea of faces in front of me. At a guess I would have said that the entire council had gathered and they were now staring at me with curiosity. I recognised Charles in the crowd of faces, but he didn't acknowledge me in any way.

Standing slightly behind King Regnald were the recently departed Prince Aiden and King Malcolm. The Prince's death was clearly just another reason for him to detest me (and I had married Brenda!) and if looks could kill, then I would have dropped on the spot.

Beside Aiden and Malcolm were two women. I recognised Ingrid and guessed that the other had to be her daughter, Eva. That was another surprise. To my knowledge, neither of these two were dead. How had they managed to find their way into dreamtime?

My thoughts were interrupted when King Regnald began speaking.

"The council will come to order!"

While I had no idea what was going on, it seemed as if my summoning had been carefully timed. King Regnald clearly had some plan that he was following. The fact that the entire council was here gave me some hope though. A goodly number of them would have to be ancestors of mine, and even more would be neutral surely?

"Sean àn Tàcheart stands before you, accused of meddling with the natural balance of all things on Gael and here in dreamtime!

"Prince Erik will present the case against àn Tàcheart, who will volunteer to present his defence?" asked Regnald.

I scanned the faces, but no one was rushing forward to represent me. I was stunned at what was going on. One moment I was standing beside Brenda, and the next, I was in the middle of some bizarre trial in dreamtime.

At that moment I heard the voice in my head. Charles!

"Whatever happens, no matter what I say, trust me that I will do my best for you."

No one stepped forward and Regnald took control again.

"So no one wants to represent him? No surprise there! He is clearly guilty! Very well. Let me ask the accused if he would like to nominate someone to act on his behalf?"

With no voice, it was extremely unlikely that I would be nominating anybody and I expected the assembled council to comment on that. Regnald looked at me expectantly, but I couldn't respond to him and no one in the crowd uttered a word either.

"All right. In these circumstances it falls to you Teàrlach àn Tàcheart, as his appointed dreamtime guardian, to fulfil that role."

"I have no desire to be associated with this petulant young man any longer," Charles called out.

"You know your duty!" replied Regnald.

It was incredibly frustrating (and not a little scary) to watch everything unfold but not be able to say anything or do anything to intervene. If it hadn't been for the fact that Charles had warned me not to be surprised, I would also have been distraught at his reaction to being asked to represent me.

I couldn't understand what was going on and what Regnald's ultimate plan might be. My hope was that I would be able to figure out what was going on and also find an opportunity to make my escape. I had spent three years in a dungeon and come out alive. For that reason I remained optimistic.

"Very well. Prince Erik, please set out for the council the crimes that Sean àn Tàcheart has committed."

There followed a long list of things that I had done. My ability to fly in the real world and cast spells there was cited as unnatural.

"No 'royal' should have the ability to perform magic. It is only by using extraordinary measures that we are able to guarantee the safety of the council! Àn Tàcheart is a magic user as witnessed in the death of Princess Frieda Barns, wife of Prince Li of Pnom.

"He also summoned his girlfriend from the 'other-world' into dreamtime! Yet another clear example of the use of magic, and this time here in this realm."

There was an outcry in the hall. It was clear that the use of magic in dreamtime was a huge issue. I wondered therefore why no one was complaining about the presence of Ingrid and her daughter and the magic they had used to secure me only minutes before?