The Ddraig-Cyfrinachau - 8. Chapter 8

“Jesus fucking Christ, Jesus fucking Christ” Thomas whispered to himself. The blood had drained from his face and he felt nauseous.

“Thomas, what are you reading?” The First Servant had re-entered the office without Thomas hearing.

“This!” Thomas threw the folio over to the First Servant.

The First Servant glanced at the front and realised exact what Thomas had just read. “Oh Thomas, I’m so sorry. Nobody should have to find out something like this on their own. I had planned on telling you, but I wanted to prepare you first.”

“How the fuck do you prepare someone to hear shit like this! Jesus Christ, this fucking shit is warped! How the fuck could he do that!”

“Thomas, have a seat and try to calm down. I know what you have just read is very upsetting, but if you calm down I will explain what happened in more detail.”

Thomas sat down and took a few deep breaths; that was all it took for his emotional dam to break and he began weeping. “Forgive me First Servant. I had no right to address you in that manner.”

“There is nothing to forgive, Thomas. Your outburst, whilst colourful, is understandable.” The First Servant then went over to Thomas and did something he hadn’t done in years, he hugged Thomas.

Thomas slowly regained his composure, dried his eyes, and blew his nose.

“Feel better now Thomas?”

“A little, thank you.”

The First Servant poured Thomas a glass of water from the pitcher on the table. “There is a lot that happened following Bryn Jones’ actions on that day that is not contained in the folio. When he returned to the Pen-Y-Fal sanctuary and informed the Council about what had happened, they were sickened. The Council members demanded that an immediate inquiry be held, and since it carried the unanimous support of the other council members, Council Leader Elizabeth Tollin had no choice, but to acquiesce.

“The investigations revealed a disturbing side to Bryn Jones’ personality. It was discovered he suffered from severe mental health issues, the least of which were acute paranoia and extreme xenophobia. There was also some debate as to whether these were caused or exacerbated by the time he spent in the army serving during The Boer War, and The First World; he had joined the army with his two brothers at the age of thirteen in the early 1890s. He lost his first brother at the Battle of Belmont in 1899, and the other brother died during the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915. It was also determined that as a result of his mental health issues he had taken the religious aspect of our order, as an absolute doctrine, and anybody who didn’t believe the same thing deserved to die.”

“Dear God, I have never heard anything so fucked up in my life,” Thomas said.

“I know Thomas. Further investigations showed that both Jason Talides and Elizabeth Tollin had been complicit in many of his activities, and had actually preyed on his mental health issues, making him more pliable and willing to carry out commands. Once the full facts had come out, both Bryn Jones and Elizabeth Tollin were arrested for their crimes; Jason Talides took his own life rather than face the judgement of the Council. Obviously, we could turn none of them over to the police, but we charged Bryn with eight counts of premeditated murder and he was held in a mental health facility, where he died fourteen years later.”

“Dear Christ in Heaven.”

“I appreciate he was your great-grandfather, Thomas, and I’m sorry to be telling you these things. This was why I wanted to try and prepare you first.”

“I’ll be all right. What about the leader of the Council?”

“Elizabeth Tollin’s crimes were much more severe. She was charged with perverting our laws, concealing evidence from the Council, conspiracy to commit murder, plotting and planning murder, being an accessory before the fact, being an accessory after the fact, perverting the course of justice and half a dozen other crimes.”

“What happened to her, First Servant?”

“She was executed for her crimes.”

“Fucking hell! How could the Council stoop to her level?”

“You need to remember Thomas, the Chiltern Massacre as it became known, occurred in 1922. At that time, under the laws of His Majesty’s Government of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, she had done more than enough to warrant the death sentence. Once the actions of Bryn Jones and Mary Tollin had been made known to the other sects, they were repulsed and they demanded the right to try her saying we couldn’t be trusted to render a true and honest verdict. However, once the guilty verdicts were announced, the other sects demanded that we adhere to the laws of our country as a sign of contrition; it was actually the first thing all of the Councils had agreed on in nearly three hundred years.

“Once the trial was over, the Council realised that it was necessary to do something, anything, for the families of Bryn’s victims. We ensured the skeletal remains of the entire expeditionary team were discovered, and they each received a funeral in accordance with their respective religious observances. Also by that time, we had managed to have a loyal Council member appointed as curator of the museum that the team had worked in. We informed the families that the museum ensured all of its employees had a life insurance policy with a value of £3000.”

“That’s not much for a human life, First Servant.”

“Again you forget Thomas, this was 1923. The £3000 that went to each of the families is today worth around £120000. We also arranged for a wing in the museum to be renamed in memory of Professor Childs. We were fortunate, that much of this went under the radar of both the media and the academic communities, largely because Tutankhamen’s tomb had been discovered a few months previous and stories still dominated the media.”

“How come none of this is the folio? Just having the folio as it is implies that the Council was complicit and even supported their actions.”

“The folios kept in here only contain the facts of events. But I keep them close to remind me of the dangers of a belief becoming a rigid, unforgiving doctrine. They remind me of mistakes past, mistakes which I hope I, nor you, nor this Council ever repeats. As an order, we have slowly lost the religious aspect of our beliefs and my last wish as First Servant is to see the religious aspect die out completely.”

Thomas was shocked by the First Servant’s statement. “How can you, the First Servant, say that?”

“Thomas, when Yddraigfawr first appeared the Celtic nation worshipped the old deities, and so it was only natural she would be viewed as a religious icon. Slowly, with the decline of the old religions, the advent of Christianity, the discovery of the earthly remains of Yddraigfawr, the religious aspect of our order slowly diminished. As I told you earlier, my role has become much more like that of a museum curator. I don’t think there is a single member, on any of the councils, who is not a member of one faith or another. I was baptised Church of England, I know you and your parents were baptised Catholic, we have several members who follow Judaism; I doubt there is a single follower left who strictly follows our religion.”

“But if our religion died out, what would be left? I’m not saying I’ve been a devout follower, after all, as you said, I was raised a Catholic, but we have followed those observances which did not conflict with our religious beliefs in Jesus and in God.”

“What would be left Thomas is precisely what we should be following; a simple message of love, compassion, and caring. But it grows late, time to turn in, I think.”

“Agreed. Sleep well, First Servant.”

“You too, Thomas. I will see you in the morning.”

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Alex shivered.

“Are you OK, Alex?”

“I don’t know, Mum. I just got this feeling all of a sudden, like someone was walking over my grave.”

“Come on, it’s getting late. Off to bed. You’ve got to be up early tomorrow, if you plan to meet Nancy at the library at eight.”

“Night Mum.” Alex kissed him mum goodnight and went to bed.

Before he fell asleep, he pulled his diary out. He re-read his entry from that morning, and then began writing.

April 12^th – additional entry

I managed not to think about Thomas for nearly two hours today. I managed to focus on the revision we did, and I actually manage to remember the material we looked at. I do miss Thomas, but I’ve survived for three days without him, so there’s hope for me. Right?

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