Dear Don: But ‘n’ Ben…

Dear Don,

The odd thing is that although the starting point for Erin made absolute sense at the time… I can barely grasp how at this point. Not because I can’t see how… but the crystal clarity of the moment is fuzzed. No doubt all will become clear… and maybe that was all we needed anyway… just a sense of direction and connection to make a start.

I’m sort of hoping it might mean we end up having to visit Iona too… I wonder would it be a but ‘n’ ben there…?

Mind you, if our journeys and adventures so far are anything to go by, wherever we think we are heading will not be where we end up, but as with everything, we have to start somewhere. And tracking down the Bean Sidhe for an interview could be a tad difficult… even though it wouldn’t be the first time a “woman of the barrows” has walked through our story…

Speaking of barrows, had you come across Adam’s Grave long barrow near Avebury? Destroyed for the most part now, sadly, though the mound and ditches remain. Apparently in AD 592, Coel and Caewlin, fought beside it and at the time it was known as Wodnesbeorg. It seems Coel might be our ‘King Cole’ too from some cursory research… I’m assuming that refers to Woden… which makes its renaming to Adam’s grave interesting, don’t you think?

There’s the Alton Barnes White Horse close by too… only 19thC that one, but impressive by the looks of it.

We really are going to have to explore the area better at some point, I feel.

There’s so much to see… I think we need an extension on the three score years and ten malarkey.

The Beast is not happy at present. My current diet does not meet with approval. Not enough cheese, by all accounts. Not that it lets me off the hook for sharing… I’ve never known a Beast with such eclectic tastes.

Love,

Wen and Anu x

***

PC 963 Kraas saw the figure first and instinctively backed away from it, principally because it was there and unexpected but also because it was tall and hooded, and its face could not be seen.

Bark Jaw-Dark was busy watching the rain with a ‘we may be sheltering here for some time look’ still inhabiting his visage but finally realising something was up, he started to turn and as he did so the figure spoke.

“This is the way…”

“I beg your pard…” started Jaw-Dark.

“… Step inside,” finished the figure.

A scrawny arm with a hand clutching a flyer was presented to the pair, who looked at the flyer then at each other momentarily and then at the rain now hammering the pavement before returning their gaze to the figure and then… they both did as they had been told.

Although neither of them could know it, the arrangement of bars and lights above the doorway they had just entered was displaying an announcement; ‘Erin’s New Shorts’ it said, ‘Evening One – The Seely Court’.

“This is the way, step inside…” repeated the hooded figure, after Kraas and Jaw-Dark had disappeared into the cavernous maw of the building and thrust a flyer filled claw out into the rain…

***

Lands of Exile Volume Two

BECK ‘N’ CALL

Stuart France and Sue Vincent

Ben, fast becoming a folk hero after the apparent theft of a standing stone, now languishes in Bakewell Gaol. Don and Wen, suspected of being his accomplices, are on holiday… or ‘on the run’ if Bark Jaw-Dark and PC 963 Kraas, hot in pursuit, are to be believed.

From England to Scotland, the officers of the Law have followed the trail of the erratic couple as they visited the ancient sites of Albion. This time, though, as Don and Wen take the slow boat to Ireland, Kraas and Jaw Dark are one step ahead.

But Ireland is a land of mystery and magic, where reality intertwines with vision and standing stones are still open doors…

How long can Don and Wen continue to evade the long arm of the Law?

Who are the men who wear the Templar emblem… and what are they doing in Derbyshire?

In the shadows, a labyrinth of secrecy shrouds a mysterious figure. What is Montgomery’s interest in a small standing stone? Just how many high-level strings can he pull… and why?

And what is the dark, winged creature that is now on the loose?

Join Don and Wen as they continue their adventures in the sacred and magical landscape of Albion.