< Back
Prologue
Three years earlier
Lights flickered. Branches rustled. Eyes watched, unseen, as the wind whispered secrets that carried through the forest. Something was afoot, it was clear from the enveloping, echoing silence which seemed to stretch for miles. It was broken only by the rustle of the wind, as if all life had been spirited away from the ethereal wood.
Shrouded in an enveloping, midnight blue cloak, a hooded figure moved through the trees. Gnarled branches reached out leafy hands towards this enigma, but their aura of mystery seemed an almost tangible - yet untouchable - thing. They continued to move, striding through the thick, stifling undergrowth as they trod a precarious game trail. Eventually, a clearing came into view.
Crystalline, a waterfall rushed down a sheer cliff into the glittering lake far below, which reflected the night sky’s infinite canopy. Pausing a moment to take in the idyllic scene, the figure continued their brisk walk until they reached a narrow ledge in the rock face. Inching carefully along the edge, they reached a fissure in the rock which opened into…
A library. Two facing walls were covered in all manner of books with stately cloth and gilt-edged binding, and even the occasional yellowed scroll. Another wall contained a crackling hearth and featured a polished desk of elm littered haphazardly with papers and the occasional stray flask of phial. Instead of a final wall, however, the comfortable cave had a curtain of water - the other side of the waterfall.
Not bothering to take in their surroundings, the figure grabbed a book off one of the shelves and flicked through the pages with a sense of urgency until reaching the one they sought. Text in some ancient tongue flowed across the pages of the tome as the cloak-wearer stepped into the centre of the room, murmuring under their breath in an eldritch language. There was a flash of light, and a faint whoosh!
Then they were gone…
Part One - A Stitch in Time
“Come on, slowcoach,” teased the curly-haired boy standing a few metres below her. “We’ll never defeat the orcs if we can’t even make it past one teeny cliff!”
Lottie rolled her eyes, judging the distance. Where her brother Jamie had scampered down the rock face like a mountain goat, she preferred the way of caution. Around five metres - not particularly difficult for experienced rock climbers like them, especially given the gentle angle. Still, she tucked her golden hair behind her helmet straps before beginning the climb. It was a nervous habit, and Jamie knew it. “James Watson, Orc Slayer, is about to go official!”
“But all the more discerning readers have noticed that Charlotte Watson does all the work. Kind of like Hermione Granger.” She slipped down to join him.
“I still beat you here,” Jamie said, smirking. That smirk was wiped right off his face, however, when she noticed the cave. A narrow opening in the cliffside, which they cautiously moved towards. Every time they thought they’d discovered every cave on their family’s enormous estate, they were proved wrong.
But this one seemed different. Different in a way which sent tingles running across your skin and ice flooding your veins. Moving as one, the twins slipped through the narrow opening and were stunned to find… a library?
“It looks like a wizard’s study,” Jamie mumbled.
Lottie nodded, speechless. (Jamie, of course, was never speechless, but rather lost the ability to speak coherently on occasion.)
Timidity evident in his posture, Jamie immediately gravitated towards the large desk across the room, where a book lay open, dust motes dancing around pages which had remained untouched for what seemed like years. The words were in Latin - a language which the unfortunate children were quite familiar with, thanks to their overbearing tutor.
“Divisio temporis ante me aperta est, et introibo per providentiam.” Lottie whispered the words and felt something, some power, coursing through her. She slipped her hand through her twin’s.
“Tintagel Castle. Anno DCL. In mense oct- nono? Via sapientium coniungitur infirmis, ut omnes bene faciant.” Jamie added, reading from what seemed to be a handwritten portion. He reached for the book. “The way of the wise is to unite with the weak, that all may prosper? What does that mean? And what about that thing you read before, about time and-”
A flash of light.
Then they were gone, leaving no trace…
Radiant. Light blossomed across every surface like a slow-motion explosion. It was a sweet, pure light, like a star - a star which was going supernova all around him. Images streamed across Jamie’s consciousness: a man with a long grey beard, bent before a simmering cauldron; a hooded figure moving through a wide, cobbled street; a dungeon, heavily barred; a lonely tower rising out of thick trees.
They passed too fast for Jamie to register any details, and then he was dissolving, particles of light glimmering around him as if refracted from some unseen prism. All he was aware of was Lottie’s hand, tight around his own. Until the blinding light dimmed, revealing…
Three years earlier
Lights flickered. Branches rustled. Eyes watched, unseen, as the wind whispered secrets that carried through the forest. Something was afoot, it was clear from the enveloping, echoing silence which seemed to stretch for miles. It was broken only by the rustle of the wind, as if all life had been spirited away from the ethereal wood.
Shrouded in an enveloping, midnight blue cloak, a hooded figure moved through the trees. Gnarled branches reached out leafy hands towards this enigma, but their aura of mystery seemed an almost tangible - yet untouchable - thing. They continued to move, striding through the thick, stifling undergrowth as they trod a precarious game trail. Eventually, a clearing came into view.
Crystalline, a waterfall rushed down a sheer cliff into the glittering lake far below, which reflected the night sky’s infinite canopy. Pausing a moment to take in the idyllic scene, the figure continued their brisk walk until they reached a narrow ledge in the rock face. Inching carefully along the edge, they reached a fissure in the rock which opened into…
A library. Two facing walls were covered in all manner of books with stately cloth and gilt-edged binding, and even the occasional yellowed scroll. Another wall contained a crackling hearth and featured a polished desk of elm littered haphazardly with papers and the occasional stray flask of phial. Instead of a final wall, however, the comfortable cave had a curtain of water - the other side of the waterfall.
Not bothering to take in their surroundings, the figure grabbed a book off one of the shelves and flicked through the pages with a sense of urgency until reaching the one they sought. Text in some ancient tongue flowed across the pages of the tome as the cloak-wearer stepped into the centre of the room, murmuring under their breath in an eldritch language. There was a flash of light, and a faint whoosh!
Then they were gone…
Part One - A Stitch in Time
“Come on, slowcoach,” teased the curly-haired boy standing a few metres below her. “We’ll never defeat the orcs if we can’t even make it past one teeny cliff!”
Lottie rolled her eyes, judging the distance. Where her brother Jamie had scampered down the rock face like a mountain goat, she preferred the way of caution. Around five metres - not particularly difficult for experienced rock climbers like them, especially given the gentle angle. Still, she tucked her golden hair behind her helmet straps before beginning the climb. It was a nervous habit, and Jamie knew it. “James Watson, Orc Slayer, is about to go official!”
“But all the more discerning readers have noticed that Charlotte Watson does all the work. Kind of like Hermione Granger.” She slipped down to join him.
“I still beat you here,” Jamie said, smirking. That smirk was wiped right off his face, however, when she noticed the cave. A narrow opening in the cliffside, which they cautiously moved towards. Every time they thought they’d discovered every cave on their family’s enormous estate, they were proved wrong.
But this one seemed different. Different in a way which sent tingles running across your skin and ice flooding your veins. Moving as one, the twins slipped through the narrow opening and were stunned to find… a library?
“It looks like a wizard’s study,” Jamie mumbled.
Lottie nodded, speechless. (Jamie, of course, was never speechless, but rather lost the ability to speak coherently on occasion.)
Timidity evident in his posture, Jamie immediately gravitated towards the large desk across the room, where a book lay open, dust motes dancing around pages which had remained untouched for what seemed like years. The words were in Latin - a language which the unfortunate children were quite familiar with, thanks to their overbearing tutor.
“Divisio temporis ante me aperta est, et introibo per providentiam.” Lottie whispered the words and felt something, some power, coursing through her. She slipped her hand through her twin’s.
“Tintagel Castle. Anno DCL. In mense oct- nono? Via sapientium coniungitur infirmis, ut omnes bene faciant.” Jamie added, reading from what seemed to be a handwritten portion. He reached for the book. “The way of the wise is to unite with the weak, that all may prosper? What does that mean? And what about that thing you read before, about time and-”
A flash of light.
Then they were gone, leaving no trace…
Radiant. Light blossomed across every surface like a slow-motion explosion. It was a sweet, pure light, like a star - a star which was going supernova all around him. Images streamed across Jamie’s consciousness: a man with a long grey beard, bent before a simmering cauldron; a hooded figure moving through a wide, cobbled street; a dungeon, heavily barred; a lonely tower rising out of thick trees.
They passed too fast for Jamie to register any details, and then he was dissolving, particles of light glimmering around him as if refracted from some unseen prism. All he was aware of was Lottie’s hand, tight around his own. Until the blinding light dimmed, revealing…