Harold jumped as Martin suddenly appeared – he hadn’t knocked and moved silently on the thick Aubusson carpet. Pushing his glasses back up his nose Harold swung round in the swivel chair to face the tall, silver-haired man who stood near the door staring at him.
‘Martin! You scared me for a minute,’ he said awkwardly. ‘Can I do something for you?’
‘I doubt it,’ said Martin, moving into the room and coming closer to the screen. Harold’s instinct was to try to block it as he was working on some rather confidential figures at the moment, but that would’ve been very rude. Martin’s wintry grey eyes flicked over the screen but showed little interest.
‘If you’re looking for Yul he’s out with the youngsters,’ said Harold.
‘I know,’ Martin replied coldly. ‘My son Swift is there. ‘Tis his Rite of Adulthood this Solstice.’
‘Ah yes, I’d forgotten.’
There was a pause and Harold wondered what Martin wanted.
‘Didn’t you want to join them?’ he asked eventually. ‘I thought the fathers usually—’
‘I’m far too busy on Solstice Eve to go off drinking in the Wildwoods,’ replied Martin stiffly. ‘There’s work to be done and I can’t rely on these youngsters and their rotas to do things properly. ‘Tis not like in the old days when staff were trained properly, is it? Not that you ever finished your training, did you?’
To Harold’s astonishment, Martin sat down in the other leather swivel chair – Yul’s chair.
‘Well, no I didn’t, but then …’
‘I know – everything changed and you started school again. Pah! Though I seem to recall they found you could already read and write a bit, didn’t they?’
‘A little,’ said Harold. He had no idea why Martin was here and talking like this to him. Normally the older man maintained a dignified and formal distance.
‘Always did have ideas above your station,’ muttered Martin. ‘And look at you now; in on everything, thinking you control it all—’
‘No!’ said Harold, pushing back his glasses and jerking his long wrists in dismay. ‘I don’t think that, Martin. I do what I can to help, that’s all.’
‘You were just a pot-boy,’ said Martin bitterly. ‘Someone to clean out the fires and polish the Hallfolk’s shoes. And now you’re sitting in the magus’ office with all his private things at your fingertips thinking you rule the roost. I know what you’re up to, young Harold!’
‘No, that’s not it!’ cried Harold, his voice squeaking. ‘I don’t—’
‘If you recall, it were on this very night thirteen years past that I asked you to help me as I lay on the floor in Magus’ chambers bleeding. This very night that you refused to help and locked me in there, left me for dead!’
‘No, Martin, I—’
‘Yes you did! They didn’t find me till the next morning and I were almost dead! ‘Tis a wonder I didn’t die in the cold night with that head-wound. I haven’t forgotten, Harold, don’t think I have. Every Solstice Eve I think on it, and tonight’s no exception. I warned you at the time there’d be consequences. As I said, I know what you’re up to and I shall put a stop to it. You won’t get away with it.’
Martin rose and glared down at the younger man whose Adam’s apple was working furiously in his throat.
‘The vipers will be cast out!’ Martin muttered, leaving the room. Harold stared at the door long after it had closed, trying to make sense of his words.
*
As darkness fell, Clip hunched over the kindling in the Dolmen and nursed the small fire into life. He fed sticks into the flames, gradually adding larger ones until the warmth spread and permeated his thin limbs. The back of the Dolmen was shadowy, the bracken and rug that Leveret had slept on at Samhain still there. He sat down on a log next to the fire, making sure he could still see outside; it was important to see the stars if he could. He took a swig of water from his bottle and glanced at the bag of fruit and nuts. But he had a journey ahead of him tonight and had been fasting for three days as he generally did – food would have to wait until the Solstice tomorrow. Clip was so used to this aesthetic lifestyle that it was no hardship at all. His body had long since learned that sending hunger signals to his brain would make no difference. His abdomen was hurting right now, though