The Ddraig-Cyfrinachau - 4. Chapter 4

“Thomas, what you have just read is an extract from one version of the story of the arrival of Yddraigfawr; the Welsh version. It is one of the most secretive documents in our archives; if the full story ever saw the light of day, it has the potential to cause the complete collapse of our order. For the past two centuries, the very existence of this document has been denied by everyone who has knowledge of it. In recent times, we have severely limited access to this document. Only three people these days are permitted to even know of its existence: the First Servant which at the moment is me, the head of the council, and the Ceidwadwy; actually, this is the first time it has been read in nearly thirty years.

“The other Celtic orders have their own similar story, but each varies in one small detail, that being that Yddraigfawr first appears in a village in their own region. In the Irish version she appeared near modern day Waterford, in the Manx version she appeared near modern day Douglas, in the Scottish version she appeared near modern day Thurso, and so on. Each of the other sects has the same deniability policy we do, for the exact same reasons we do.

“You need to understand that as First Servant I only care, as have all First Servants before me, that Yddraigfawr, and those dragons who followed her, appeared to the Celtic people. For the most part we have enjoyed three thousand years of harmony, brotherhood and love, a love which she inspired and nurtured. This story, and the equivalent stories, were written by playwrights in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Yddraigfawr’s remains were found in 1642 AD, which confirmed the belief held by some that she was not really a deity, but a real live flesh and blood creature. That discovery spurned a large volume of literature, primarily downplaying her spiritual role. There were a few who, with misguided intentions, wrote literature such as the story you have just read which tried to reinforce the spiritual belief in her and the dragons. However at the time this and the other stories were written it only served to reopen some of the old wounds among the councils; consequently they were buried in archives.”

“First Servant, forgive me for interrupting, but what difference does it make where Yddraigfawr first appeared? As you say, surely all that matters is the love she has spread?”

“To those who choose to follow her message of love, nobody does care where she first appeared. When she was worshipped as a deity, the specific location of her appearance wasn’t a point felt worthy of being debated over; hence, why the Ddraig Llyfr, in all of its incarnations, at no point mentions the location of her arrival by name. The problem is, once she was proven to be flesh and blood, suddenly the location of her appearance became of paramount importance to some; the discovery of her tomb proved to be yet another fractionation point in our history.

“You see, once her remains were found, her status as demi-god disappeared practically overnight. She was no longer seen as the protector of an entire people, for reasons that have never been explained it was felt she appeared to one sect; the one sect she favoured over the others. The historians of the time had a field day sifting through archival documents trying to find the exact location she appeared in, archival documents which are now kept under lock and key. The thing was the documents only provided tiny clues, and clues which are open to such wide interpretation.”

“So it’s like trying to find Atlantis. All the researchers and archaeologists and stuff are coming up with such wildly different locations because the clues suggest different locations depending on how they are interpreted?”

“Exactly Thomas.”

“You said the discovery of her tomb was ‘yet another fractionation point in our history’, just how many fractionations points have there been?”

“We have seen three major events which have fractured our order since the appearance of the dragons. The first was around 2600 years ago when the Celtic nations began developing their own languages from the language that scholars call proto-Celtic, and consequently that was when the various sects were created. So we all went from speaking one common language to suddenly having almost a dozen different languages. You need to realise that in the Celtic speaking areas of the time the population was only about a hundred thousand people or so, with only three or four thousand of those being followers.”

“I see. With such a small population speaking perhaps a dozen different languages which perhaps their neighbours no longer understood, I can only imagine the effect it had on alliances. People may begin to feel that their neighbours are talking about them and people could say things in front of others who don’t understand their language with near impunity.”

“As hard as it is to understand Thomas, that event probably did far more harm to our order than any other event that happened. The second major event happened around 1360 AD. Following the earlier establishment of the varying sects each with their own council, it was felt that there needed to be a joint council; a United Nations of sorts. It was established around 105 BC and it ran smoothly for about a hundred and fifty years. However, certain . . . events . . . transpired which were not supported fully by the joint council. It would seem that orders were being issued in secret and actions were being taken to circumvent the authority of the joint council.

“It all began around 60 AD when a few of the sects issued orders for troops to be sent to Ynys Mon (Anglesey) to help defend against the Roman attacks, which did successfully help to hold back the Roman conquest of Wales by about seventeen years, but ultimately cost the Draig-Cyfrinachau a large portion of its military force. The rest of the joint council knew that sending the troops would only delay the inevitable, which explained their opposition. When they saw the numbers of casualties an investigation was ordered, but since everything had been issued in secrecy, there was no documented evidence to be found.

“Then unsanctioned military strikes were ordered against William the Conqueror in the late 1070s; probably by the Manx and Cumbric sects, but we’ll never really know. This of course infuriated the Breton sect who were ardent supporters of William at the time. Eventually what is referred to as ‘an unpardonable transgression’ happened and it ripped the joint council apart.”

“What was it that happened First Servant? It must have been something huge to result in such a falling out.”

“The records do not indicate; all reference to it is simply as ‘an unpardonable transgression’. There have been a number of theories over the years, but given that it occurred around 1360 AD most of the theories point to it having something to do with the hundred years war; a very complex situation for the sects to deal with. You see Thomas, The Hundred Years War was between France and England, but occurred at a time when Scotland supported France and vice versa. Therefore, there obviously would have been plenty for the various sects to have differed and argued over. The whole situation was overcomplicated by the fact the Duke of Brittany at the time was an ally of England.”

“But First Servant for something to happen to cause the collapse of the joint council . . . .”

“Probably something we’ll never know. As I said, many of the things going on were done in complete secrecy so there were no written records. One of the things I hope is that with all the time that has elapsed, we have reached a point where we can allow bygones to be bygones.”

“So the discovery of Yddraigfawr’s tomb was the third event.”

“Yes, but it wasn’t just the discovery of the tomb, that was just the tip of what turned out to be a very ugly iceberg. Even though she had finally been proven to be flesh and blood, the primary purpose of our order remained what it had been since our inception, to conceal the existence of dragons from the masses. There were a number of highly questionable acts committed over the years to keep her tomb hidden, even once the last dragon died in 1842 AD. Some of these acts were sanctioned by all sects; however, some of the more extreme acts were not. Although the joint council had long since been dissolved by this time, the various sects still tried to get along, and tried to get certain gung-ho council members to listen to reason.

“Yddraigfawr and the other dragons came to be viewed in a similar way that saints are viewed in Christianity, as real live people who play an important role in religion but are not worshipped as deities. The Ddraig Llyfr was written at a time when she was viewed as a demi-god so it reads a lot like a religious text. Although we still keep it, refer to it, and read from it, it has become more of a matter of historical interest; the same is also true of my role. When the role of First Servant was created two and a half thousand years ago, it was to serve as a high priest of sorts, these days we are more like a university professor or museum curator.”

A knock on the door pre-empted Thomas’ next question.

“Enter,” said the First Servant.

“Forgive the interruption but there is a matter requiring your urgent attention.”

“Thomas, remain here. We still have much to discuss.” The First Servant left without even waiting for an acknowledgement from Thomas.

Thomas, although mature for his age, was still only a fifteen year old boy, and as with most fifteen year olds, curiosity slowly began to get the better of him. He started to walk around the First Servant’s office, looking at the all the folders, files and books. He came across a folder that was inscribed with “Cyngor Llygaid yn Unig / Council Eyes Only”, and was covered in dust – it looked as though it hadn’t been read in decades, perhaps even in centuries; it was then, that Thomas noticed many of the documents on that shelf were similarly inscribed. He supposed it was only natural for the council to want to keep certain things secret, but there were so many files, folders and books carrying the inscription, he began to wonder not only what he didn’t know, but also what his late father may have known and never told him.

Before he could stop himself, Thomas had opened one of the files. What he read on the first page made his blood run cold.