The Wyvern Street Irregulars

Marny moved the screen aside and put some logs on the fire, while Maurice smiled and said "oh, that. Yes, I suppose I can tell you about that now." He poured himself a coffee, added a liberal splash of Irish whiskey and a dollop of whipped cream, selected a chair, made himself comfortable. Marny finished fussing with the fire, poured himself a hot chocolate.

"First," said Maurice, "lets remember that it need not be your concern, at least as long as it does not encroach within the boundaries we just drew out for South Wyvern Street. Take that as a given, for now. This is Unarmed Forces stuff, and so far you are just our resident coven, not on-duty Unarmed Forces operatives. Do you still want to hear about it?"

"Of course." Marie replied. "It is pretty obvious we're heading toward the Unarmed Forces side of things. So we might as well get a glimpse of the kind of thing that could entail." She looked at Marny.

Marny nodded agreement. "I'm intrigued. Do tell."

"The bottom line," said Maurice, "is that sometimes when spells are cast to kill people, the people the spells are intended to kill do die. Whether there is any causal relationship between the spells and the deaths is open to conjecture, of course."

Marie and Marny exchanged a glance. Maurice raised his eyebrows. "Someone died? People die every day. Nonetheless, who came to mind?"

"A teacher at Marie and Jason's school." Marie answered.

"Aha." Said Maurice. "That is exactly the kind of thing the Wizard will be looking for. New kid arrives, tells other kids how they killed teachers by magick at previous school, kids try it, it works, the tale spreads."

"It is ancient wisdom though," said Marny, "that if children could kill teachers just by wishing or praying then teachers would have died out long ago! That is a standard teaching used to show that there must be more to wishes and prayers than simply earnest desire or even so-called innocent - like unto a child - wish or desire or prayer."

"Of course." Said Maurice. "That is what makes it not just sinister but fascinating. Why does it work? Under what conditions does it work? Do souls that are planning to leave this world anyway co-operate to teach the children a lesson? Is it simply coincidence? As I said, the matter of whether there is a causal relationship between the spells and the deaths is open to conjecture."

"What kind of timeframe?" Marny asked. "How fast do the spells seem to take effect?"

"Usually it is said to be two weeks and a few days." Maurice replied. "Which would seem to leave quite a bit of room for coincidence if it were not for the specificity of the intent and the effect."

"Something like this had happened in the spring and you were waiting to see where the story would pop up next?" Marie asked.

"Exactly." Said Maurice. "I want to make it clear though that there might not be anything diabolical involved. It is disturbing that causing harm by means of magick can seem so easy, maybe easier than doing good. But in at least some of the cases it seems as if the children did not really believe that it would work, and might have been trying to prove to themselves that it could not work. In such cases they tend to be scared and horrified that it does seem to work. They call in an exorcist, repent, and hey presto, another generation has been created of people who know that harmful magick works and want to prevent it. Thus the theory that at least in such cases, the higher selves of the victims co-operated in order that the death they had already intended would also serve as a lesson to a new generation."

"Hmm." Said Marny. "An interesting theory. How often does it seem applicable though?"

Maurice shrugged. "We do not have enough data yet to figure that out. So far we figure there are three main options. One, it works when the kids involved have a natural talent for magick. Two, there might be experienced people behind it sometimes. Three, of course, is coincidence. Finally of course there is the option any fan of murder mysteries would expect: sometimes the deaths might be murder, no magick actually involved."

"I don't suppose anyone really knows how often people try to use magick to kill or harm," said Marny. "So I can see where it would be hard to figure out how often it tends to work. I don't doubt that in the right hands it can work though. Don't most traditions suggest that workings of that kind tend to backfire though?"

"As far as we know this is not a very common occurrence," said Maurice. "There are quite a lot of books that give at least some hints about how to do various harmful kinds of magick, but the ones that feature the most spectacular results tend to be fiction and they tend to end up nastily for the people who intend the harm. Think of Dennis Wheatley's Satanism novels for example. But Dennis Wheatley also tends to stress the forgiveness of God. At the end of the novel some of the evildoers have only to pray to God for forgiveness and they escape the catastrophes that tend to wipe out the rest of the evil gang. I don't think a lot of kids are reading Wheatley lately though. The last few decades most kids playing around with the idea of Satanism seem to just be teen rebels, not really serious about magick at all. Also of course Neopaganism and Wicca are so widespread lately that they are almost becoming mainstream, so most kids that get interested in magick usually find their way to some reasonably wholesome magickal community."

"Plus there are actual Churches of Satan in some areas too," said Marny, "which are supposedly nothing like the kind of Satanism described in Dennis Wheatley's novels."

"Exactly." Said Maurice. "As far as we know there is probably more real danger from terrorist groups these days than evil magickal groups. Killing for Allah is quite popular supposedly. Such magick as is involved in that is more to do with bending people's minds to get them to kill people physically than with killing by magick."

"Creating religious zealots isn't really thought of as magick though is it?" Marny asked. "Isn't that kind of brainwashing considered pretty mundane nowadays?"

Maurice shrugged. "Maybe. But in a technical sense it can be regarded as a kind of magick."

"Okay, but surely you don't think anyone is raising an army of religious fanatics in rural Nova Scotia?" Marie asked.

"No, of course not," Maurice replied. "It isn't even very likely that someone is dabbling with deadly magick either. Considering how swiftly everything has fallen into place this weekend I wonder whether you were simply being manoevered to get you here, instead of anything being wrong out at the Covenstead at all."

Marny nodded agreement. "We've thought that too. Its all very well to have a reputation for doing clear obvious readings with the cards but in reality we're not always any more aware of why things are happening than anyone else is."

"Its nice to be here." Said Marie. "But if the idea was just to get us here the cards could have been a whole lot clearer. So we don't really buy into the theory that it was all just a way to bring us here. Its a fine theory, but the cards usually treat us better than that."

"Personally I think it will turn out to be exactly what the Wizard and I expected," said Maurice. "It seems a suspiciously smooth coincidence but that is precisely what I have learned to expect after dealing with the Wizard for so many years. This is the way things tend to happen. Coincidence gets so far-fetched sometimes that I am not surprised the Wizard thought fiction the best approach to writing about it. Though it might seem too contrived even to make good fiction?" He looked queryingly at Marny.

Marny shrugged. "People would probably think it fiction anyway, so fiction seems as good a mode as any. If editors think it is too contrived we can tone it down I suppose. Then maybe try writing about it for some craft magazines or something. By now there should be quite a few people out there somewhere who would find it easy to believe though, surely, if Dancing to the Melody is actually onto something with its characterisation of adepts and with its suggestion that adepts are not so very uncommon nowadays?"

"An interesting point," Maurice replied. "I am sure some people would suggest that the kind of adept described there is not the same thing as an actual trained adept or a High Priest or High Priestess, heck I'd say that myself and the Wizard says it too. But it does seem to be on to something. I've actually talked to the author about it and I'm hoping to see a sequel that will clear that point up a bit. But the part about living a charmed life definitely rings true to me, and it obviously does to you. An interesting fact you might not have known is that the author gets almost no feedback. Almost everyone who reads it just files it away quietly without comment. Maybe because of the part about the so called 'layman adept'. Those who know do not speak. Maybe it is an affectation, maybe they see something in it."

"We talked about this back at the Old Mokka," said Marie. "The general idea is that Tiphareth is pretty much a birthright, the Sephiroth lower on the tree being pretty much unconscious or subconscious. At least to people brought up in relatively enlightened company. Instead of enlightenment being something rare and difficult and complicated it is almost our natural state, with unenlightenment being the un-natural state, the learned state, a result of unenlightened upbringing and oppressive societies and such. Oppressors have to actively suppress enlightenment, and where it is not suppressed it tends to grow naturally. 'Like unto a child' and all that."

"Agreed." Said Maurice. "As I recall you also noticed that some 'naturals' seemed to get thrown off their stride a bit by having it pointed out to them. As if you pointed out to someone riding a bicycle that the wheels were turning and they hadn't even known they were riding a bike, let alone that it had wheels."

Marny smiled. "That is exactly the analogy that was used back then," he said.

Maurice smiled too. "I know. It is almost hard to believe that it has been so many years."

"It has taken a while to get to where we are now," said Marie. "Back then we didn't think things would move as slow as they have."

"Or as fast, for that matter," said Marny. "Things haven't really been slow for us out at the Covenstead. I doubt that Debbie and John or Susan and Robert think things have been slow. Maybe even in town it is more that things moved out of sight. Like the way the mycellium of mushrooms spreads underground. Maybe there is more going on than meets the eye."

Marie smiled at him. "I hope so. What we've heard so far about One World Cafe is very encouraging. Maybe the slowness I imagine I've been seeing is more to do with formal groups. The 'naturals' seem to be flourishing quite nicely."

"Part of it goes back to the old debate about paid clergy," said Maurice. "Part is power trips too of course, plus sometimes marketing types get involved. A lot of money is being made. Traditions that don't take money for the art tend to get lost in the hustle and bustle of the marketplace."

Someone knocked quietly on the northeast door. "I left the apartment door unlocked in case anyone wanted to join us," said Maurice as he got up to open the door. "Aha," he announced. "Janet and Scott! Come in, come in!"

Marie and Marny rose, greeted them with hugs. "I'm glad you came down," said Marie. "Susan said you might want to move in?"

"If you'll have us," Janet smiled. "Rumour has it that you might be forming a new coven?"

Marie glanced at Marny, who nodded assent. "We are," she told them, "and we hoped you'd be part of it."

"We hoped so too," said Scott. He looked at the coffee and dessert trolleys. "We should get some trolleys like those for your apartment."

"They're due to arrive tomorrow," said Maurice. "A housewarming present from the Wizard. Go ahead, check them out and make yourselves something."

Marny smiled and shook his head. "The Wizard never ceases to amaze me." he said. "I suppose he thought it wouldn't do to run a covenstead here without such equipment."

"An absolute necessity," said Maurice. "We expect that you'll be taking over the whole building eventually, but for now the Wizard will still be based in this apartment so he wanted to make sure yours is properly equipped too."

"We've found work already," Scott told them. "I'm going to be working on the new building and Janet will supervise the furnishing. So staying in town is not going to be a problem."

"What about your house?" Asked Marny.

"The Wizard told us to wait until he gets back, as he might have an offer for us by then," Scott replied. "It'd be great if it can be kept 'in the family' so to speak. Then we'll try to turn over some fixer-uppers here in town until we're ready to buy one to live in again."

Marie smiled. "I've glad you lot have everything all figured out. I don't know what I'm going to be up to yet."

"Housemother," Maurice told her. "Organiser. Networker. The Wizard wants to go over some Tarot ideas with you and Marny too. He wants to publish a deck. It will require a book to go with it too of course. Start thinking about illustrations, he doesn't have anyone in mind to illustrate it yet. You should start thinking about tenants for the upstairs apartments too. It looks like you've got Janet and Scott already lined up but there are four apartments up there and as soon as the current guests are gone you can put permanent tenants up there if you can find enough trustworthy people and if the ground floor will suffice for guest quarters. Basically this can become an income property once the new building is ready. You will even be able to drop the secrecy at that point if you want to." He smiled. "That might make it easier to find tenants."

"An entire Tarot?" Marie mused. "That is a lot of illustrations."

Maurice nodded. "That part could take years. There are a lot of books and decks already, so we might not end up publishing. That will probably depend on whether there is something worth writing that hasn't already been written."

Marie looked thoughtful. "Nothing comes immediately to mind," she admitted. "Did the Wizard mention any specifics?"

"I'll let him field that question," said Maurice. "Don't worry about it yet."

"Alright, I won't," she replied. "Is there anything we need to know that cannot wait until tomorrow?" She looked around. No takers. "In that case, I'm ready for bed."

While Marie and Marny took their leave, Maurice poured himself some coffee. As he expected, Janet and Scott stayed.

"What time do you want us in the morning?" asked Janet.

"Lets meet here at noon," said Maurice. "We'll go look at the site and see what you think of it."

"We'll just sit awhile to finish our coffees then be off to bed," said Janet. Scott nodded assent.

They drifted in their own thoughts for a while, warm in the glow of the fire. Eventually Maurice stirred and spoke. "These are good times," he said. "We are some of the luckiest people in the world." He drank the last of his coffee. "With that I bid you good night." He bowed and left.

Scott and Janet sat a while longer then surveyed the room, smiling as they noted that everyone else had returned their used plates, mugs and glasses to the trolleys. They did likewise, then took the trolleys with them to the kitchen. Soon Scott was back to check the fire. Clearly it would take a while to burn out. He fussed a while with poker and tongs, encouraging the remaining wood to burn fast. Reclosing the glass doors of the fireplace he experimented with the flue. Achieving a nice bright flame he smiled and returned to the kitchen. They took their time over the dishes, allowing the fire plenty of time to die down. Finally when they had done all the tidying up they could think of they each took a jug of water and damped down the embers carefully before heading off to bed.