–I know more of his family than I do of him,†Helga replied. –You know my mother was born and raised in Wessex before she headed north as a young woman. She told me stories of the Lions of Wessex. They are perhaps the oldest and most famous wizarding family in southern England. It’s said their ancestor came over from Brittany to Devon several centuries ago, bringing with him the name Gryffindor, which has been passed from father to son ever since. Every one of them has been a warrior, and a campaigner against magical threats. My mother claimed half the practitioners of Dark magic in England fell to a Gryffindor in their time.
–After one Gryffindor fought alongside Alfred in the war against the Danes, bearing the emblem of a lion on his shield, he gained the nickname the Lion of Wessex, a title that has stuck with his descendants. They have a reputation of being fierce and hot-headed, but with an unshakable sense of justice.
–Godric himself I know less about, but one can’t live in Jorvik for years without picking up a great number of rumours. From what I hear, he follows very much in the footsteps of his forefathers, but that remains to be seen.â€
–Could he really help us?†Rowena asked.
–The Lions are well known and well respected, certainly, but they’ve never really been leaders or statesmen. But a man that close to the king must have some influence and standing, surely.â€
Rowena slept poorly that night, and for once it was not Helena’s fault. She was both excited and nervous at what finding Godric might mean for her cause, and was plotting what their next move might be. But also the strange feeling she had picked up in Westminster niggled at her, like an itch she couldn’t scratch, keeping her from feeling comfortable.
They rose early and Apparated back to Westminster just before dawn. Helga continued to be amazed that Helena suffered no ill effects from their journeys, but Helena was quite unfazed, smiling happily wrapped in the bundle secured about Rowena’s shoulders.
They waited on the edge of the village for Godric. While they did so, Rowena took out her wand and began tracing shapes in the air, muttering to herself. –What are you doing?†asked Helga.
–Seeing if I can pin down this magical disturbance,†said Rowena. –The strange thing is, if I’m right it’s very close to where we are now, but the sensation should be much stronger in that case. It doesn’t make sense.†Helga just smiled as Rowena returned to work. When Rowena got set on solving a problem, everything else was put to one side, and Helga knew it was best to just leave her to get on with it.
The sun rose up above the river behind them and shone its first rays of the day down on the village. Before long, Godric arrived, coming down the path from the monastery. He still had his sword strapped to his side, but was now wearing a simple brown tunic, and on his head sat a pointed hat with a broad brim. He raised the hat in greeting as he approached. –Good morning, ladies, I trust you slept well.â€
–Excellently, sir,†replied Helga. –That’s a fine hat.â€
–Thank you. I always wear it when on wizarding business. It’s kind of the symbolism of the thing, you know, having a proper wizard’s hat. Shall we go somewhere more private to talk? There’s a grove of trees just over...â€
Suddenly Rowena, who had barely acknowledged Godric’s arrival, concentrating on her spell-work, interrupted. –Godric, weren’t you about to say something about an old tale about this place yesterday, before you got called away?â€
–Sorry?†said Godric, momentarily confused by the sudden change in conversation.
–Rowena’s got a bee in her bonnet about this nearby magic she says she feels,†explained Helga. –Trust me, it’s best if you answer her, she won’t give up until she gets an explanation.â€
–Oh, all right,†said Godric. –Have you ever heard of the names Marcus and Blandus?†The two women shook their heads. –The story, as I’ve heard it, goes back to the days shortly after the Roman conquest in AD 43. Marcus and Blandus were two wizards from Rome who came to Britain soon after the legions. They were supposedly the first ever Roman wizards to arrive here. They came to learn what magic existed among this newly conquered people, and to teach Roman magic to the locals.
–They based themselves in the new Roman capital of Londinium, but shortly after they arrived they learned of an ancient source of magic away to the west of the city. It is said they travelled out to this place and found a deep cave, into which they went and were not seen for days.â€
–Of course!†exclaimed Rowena. –It all makes perfect sense. I am such an idiot!†She punched her thigh in frustration at herself. –Sorry, finish your story.â€
–Well, so it goes, several days later Marcus emerged from the cave, but not Blandus. Marcus refused to say what had happened to Blandus, or what they had found in the cave, as if terrified at the very thought of it. He went on to found the first Romano-British community of wizards, but took the secret of the cave to his grave.
–That’s the story. Personally, I’ve never put much stock in it. It’s most likely mixed up with the story of Ollivander the Greek who brought wandmaking to Britain four centuries earlier. Or the legends of Stonehenge, far away west of here, towards my home. Are you really saying that Marcus’ cave is real, and that it’s around here somewhere?â€
–Whether any of the legend is true, I can’t say,†said Rowena. –But the idea of this source of magic being located underground makes perfect sense. That’s why it seems so close, yet faint. It could be right under our feet. We must find this cave.â€
–Sorry to bring you back to earth, Rowena,†said Helga, –but haven’t we got more important things to do than hunt for caves? Besides, if the legend’s at all true, it could be dangerous.â€
–The fate of the wizarding community can wait another day, Helga. This is just something I have to find out. What do you say, Godric? I’m sure a man like you would not turn down the chance of a dangerous quest.â€
Godric laughed. –You know me too well already it seems, Raven’s Claw. I accept your challenge of a quest. But where do we begin? The legend is nearly a thousand years old.â€
–Follow me,†said Rowena. She led them away from the village to the highest ground she could find. There, handing Helena over to Helga, she knelt on the ground and drew a series of symbols on the earth all around her with her wand. They each glowed briefly as she whispered incantations to each of them in turn.
Godric and Helga stood watching her as the minutes ticked by. –Do you understand what she’s doing?†Godric asked.
–Not a clue,†answered Helga. –You just learn to trust she knows what she’s doing. She always does.â€
–Where did she learn such magic?â€
–Not from me, I can tell you. I can honestly say I taught her everything I know, but not one quarter of what she knows. It all comes out of her own head, I think. Even at sixteen she was well beyond me.â€
–I had heard rumours of the Raven’s Claw,†Godric admitted. –I doubted they were true. But today seems a day for legends to come to life. Maybe she really can make this dream of changing the world a reality.â€
–I’d remind you that you and your family are legends too, Lion of Wessex,†replied Helga. –Between the two of you, I do believe.â€
–I am just a soldier,†said Godric with a shrug. –But I will use such influence as I have. I have already sent a message to one old friend of mine in particular who may have the means to help.â€
At that moment, Rowena stood up and pointed with her wand. –That way.†She set off at a brisk march down the hill and the other two hurried after her, Helga hampered as she was still carrying Helena. Rowena did not stop, nor vary from her course until they came to a ridge, where the ground dropped steeply away in front of them. Below was a wooded area, the trees growing right up to the ridge, so that the tops of them were level with Rowena, Helga and Godric.
Rowena headed along the ridge until they could find a safe way down, and having found one returned along the bottom of the ridge, weaving between the tightly packed trees. Eventually they came to the sheer face of the outcrop of rock, and sure enough, there was a narrow opening in the rock, just wide enough for a man, leading down into darkness. –Remarkable,†said Godric as he stared at it. –Lost for a thousand years and you find it in the space of a morning.â€
–Hand me Helena,†said Rowena to Helga. She took her and secured her back in the sling about her shoulders.
–Are you sure it’s safe to take your daughter in?†asked Godric. –One of us could wait here.â€
–The safest place for my daughter is right here with me,†said Rowena, and that was the end of the matter. –Light your wands.â€
They entered the cave and passed out of sight into the darkness. The silent observer up on the ridge watched them go, then watched the other two men follow them a couple of minutes later, before setting off after them himself.
The passageway was narrow and the ceiling was low, forcing Rowena, Helga and Godric to stoop as they made their way along. Rowena took the lead, the light from her wand cutting only a few feet into the darkness, moving slowly and carefully on the uneven ground. Helga came next, with Godric at the rear, the point of his hat scraping along the ceiling. He impatiently urged the others on, eager to explore.
The tunnel sloped steeply downwards, taking them further and further into the earth. It twisted this way and that, so that very quickly all orientation was lost. Yet the tunnel did not branch, there was only one way forward, and they were compelled to follow it, waiting to see where it would lead.
Eventually, though how much time had passed none of them could say, they saw what appeared to be a light ahead of them, a dim, diffuse light in the far distance. –How is that possible?†Helga asked.
–Let us see,†said Rowena. They edged closer, and the light seemed to grow wider, but no brighter. As they approached it, they realised what it was, an opening in the tunnel into a wider cave.
They stepped through the opening and each gasped at the sight in front of them. ‘Cave’ was too poor a word for the sight they saw, it was a vast cavern, so vast that the light from their wands could not stretch all the way to the far wall. The light they had seen was the reflection of their own wandlight in an array of silvery translucent crystals spread across the walls and up to the ceiling high above them. They broke up the light and spread it out thinly, revealing massive stalactites and tall ornate pillars carved out in stunning and eye-catching shapes by the action of water on rock.
The three stood and looked out on the cavern in awe. –This space is vaster and more beautiful than anything built by Man,†said Helga. –Truly a wonder. And to think we may be the first to see it in a thousand years.â€
–Come on,†urged Rowena, carefully picking out a safe path across the cavern. –There is more yet to see.â€
–How can you be sure?†asked Helga, following.
–This may be wondrous, but it is not magical. That source of magic is yet further on.†Rowena headed right from the tunnel and followed the line of the wall. The others followed. They came across further openings and passageways, leading perhaps to yet more caverns, but Rowena ignored them and pressed on.
Godric was assisting Helga in keeping up with Rowena when he suddenly stopped and looked behind him. Helga looked back too and saw nothing, but Godric took her by the arm and whispered, –Come on, hurry.†They rushed to catch up with Rowena. On reaching her, Godric pulled her down behind a pillar and put a finger to his lips. –We are being followed,†he whispered.
–Are you sure?†said Helga, as quiet as she could.
–I would stake my reputation as bodyguard to the king on it. How many, I cannot be sure, but I think it is more than one. They must be persistent indeed to have followed us down here.â€
–More likely they saw the advantage to do their work where no-one would find the evidence,†said Rowena. –They are here for me.â€
–We must prepare to fight,†said Godric.
–Not here,†replied Rowena. –Too open. We need an enclosed, defendable location where I can cast an anti-Disapparition charm. I mean to capture them, and I don’t want to permit them any means of escape.â€
–Then we should take one of these side passages,†advised Godric. –We should move quickly. So long as they don’t know we are aware of their presence, we have the advantage, but they may choose any time to strike. You go ahead, I shall watch the rear.â€
They moved on, Godric keeping one eye looking behind him at all times. He knew their pursuers had not lit their wands, to avoid giving themselves away, but there was enough light in the cavern reflected through the crystals that they were able to gain ground nonetheless, and if they got close enough, they might attack. Godric mentally prepared a list of defensive spells for use as soon as they were needed.
Up ahead, Rowena reached the opening to another side passage and stopped. –It’s here,†she murmured. –I can feel it.â€
–Rowena, no, not now,†whispered Helga, but Rowena had already turned down the passage, the intense force of magic calling her. She noticed as she went that the walls of this tunnel were smooth and carven; this passage was at least to some extent man-made. The tunnel sloped further downwards and the light from the cavern’s crystals passed out of sight.
–They will have seen us go in here,†Godric said to himself. He tried to keep facing back up the passage as he descended at the rear of the group. –I hope this tunnel comes out somewhere soon.â€
Fortunately his wish was shortly granted. The tunnel opened into another cave, but one much smaller than the one above. It was roughly rectangular in shape and sunken in the middle; the ground on all sides sloped down to an outcrop of rock in the middle. Standing on the outcrop was a stone arch, tall, roughly carven, but still seeming man-made. The arch led nowhere, it just stood on its own in the centre of the cave. –What is that?†said Godric.
They scrambled down the slope to the rocky outcrop and slowly approached the arch. –Do you hear that?†asked Rowena.
–Hear what?†asked Helga.
–Voices,†said Rowena. She could hear them clearly, low, quiet voices whispering to her through the arch. She could not make out what they were saying, but they seemed familiar.
–I hear them too,†said Godric. –A host of voices, as if quietly calling from very far away.†He moved closer to the arch to hear better, but Rowena put her hand on his shoulder. –No,†she said urgently. –Don’t get any closer.â€
Reluctantly, Godric turned away from the arch, though the call of the voices was strong. –They will be coming,†he said. –This place will suffice, the only way out is the way we came. Get down behind this outcrop. Rowena, you had better start working on that charm.â€
They crouched down behind the rock, and Rowena began slowly chanting the incantation. But barely had they got into position when two men burst into the cave. Godric fired off a spell at the first man as quick as he could, but in his haste he missed and the man dived out of the way. The second man jumped in the other direction, and both slid down the slope to the rock. Helga stood up and fired at one, but he blocked it.
Helena began to cry, distracting Rowena briefly. As Helga engaged one of the assailants and Godric the other, Rowena tried to begin again. But as she looked up, she saw that Helga was being driven back under the barrage coming from her opponent. The men’s tactics were crude, but vicious, they were fighting to kill. Rowena could not let Helga stand alone. With Helena still strapped to her chest, she stood up and called out, –Hey, coward, I’m the one you want.â€
She fired off a jinx, but the man was too quick and blocked it. Faced with two opponents at once, the man backed away slowly, up the sloping floor of the cave, hoping to gain the high ground and keep both Helga and Rowena in his field of vision. The two witches saw they had him on the defensive and moved in to press their attack.
Below, Godric and his attacker were circling each other on the rocky outcrop in front of the arch. Godric was an experienced duellist, and the man knew he was overmatched, and was waiting in hope that Godric would let down his guard for a brief moment, allowing him to get in a crucial strike.
Godric knew well what he was doing, and sought to manoeuvre the man into an awkward position where he would find it difficult to defend. As the man took a step back towards the arch, his foot slipped slightly on a loose stone, and Godric saw his chance. He aimed his first spell, which the man barely blocked, but Godric followed it up with more in combination and the man was overwhelmed. The last spell struck him square in the left shoulder and the man wheeled round, stumbled forward and with a cry fell through the arch. He vanished.
Rowena, Helga and the other man stopped fighting and stared down at the arch in horror. The last cry of the man hung in the air before fading away like it was receding into the distance, joining the throng of other quiet voices that Rowena could still hear. Everyone was frozen in place for a moment, as if time had stood still, and the only sound other than the whispers was the crying Helena, clinging tightly to her mother.
Then the other man gave a loud scream of anger, and turned furiously on Rowena. With no regard for his own safety or defence, he charged forward, flinging curses out wildly. Rowena at first was still too stunned to respond and the man was on her, knocking her to the ground, her arms wrapped tightly about Helena on top of her.
–I’ll kill you!†screamed the man and raised his wand. But at that moment there was a blinding flash and the man was sent hurtling across the cave. He hit the far wall hard and slumped to the ground. Dazed, he raised his head and, seeing he was alone and hopelessly outnumbered, with Rowena’s anti-Disapparition charm incomplete, he Disapparated.
Rowena sat up to see who her saviour had been. Yet neither Helga nor Godric had moved. Instead, standing in the entrance from the tunnel was another man. He was elderly, wizened, with sloping shoulders and a high, domed bald head. He held a wand firmly outstretched in his left hand. –Who are you?†Rowena demanded.
But Godric ran over to the newcomer and embraced him warmly. –Salazar, Salazar, my old friend,†he said. –Your timing as always is impeccable.â€