It seemed that the Elvish armies waited for an age for anything to happen. There sat Gwyn on his magnificent white stallion, his armour and weaponry shining in the sun, with all present resting their eyes on him waiting for the signal to move. Only Sarah’s occasional ‘hic’ broke the silence around them.
It was not until well after seven that they noticed mists rising from the old Blue Stone quarry at the foot of the Prescellys. Far away a vague clamour could be heard, as if the huntsmen were out. Horns were blowing, metal clashed on metal and voices were raised in anger – shouting; but what were they shouting? Peter and Sarah could not hear.
It was the farming community marching down to Mynachlogddu. The mists issuing from the quarry began to thicken and rise upwards. Peter shivered;
“This is no ordinary mist,” he whispered, “this is from the enemy.”
Gwyn looked down at him.
“You are right Peter. Arddu is making ready to attack. Soon I shall signal our reply.”
He raised his sword above his head where it shone so all could see it. The voices and general commotion from the angry farmers grew louder, the mist in the valley thickened.
A faint sound as of a trumpet blast came from deep in the ground beneath their feet. Gwyn brought his sword down sharply until it pointed to the ground. Straightway about half those on foot went down the sides of the mountain in order to draw whatever was under Mount Prescelly out from it, and to make sure they were caught between Elves and farmers.
For a while this plan worked very well. Arddu was not ready to reveal himself at the start and most of his creatures, which issued forth from the mountain, were easily dispatched by Elven archers.
Peter and Sarah felt superfluous. The battle was going very well and looked to be soon over. There had been no need for them to attend after all. A hand touched Sarah’s arm. It was Anir at last! Peter and Sarah smiled with relief as he strode over to Gwyn to report on the battle below them. They could not quite hear what was said but things seemed to be going well.
Gwyn-ap-Nudd was nodding and smiling. An Elf brought a horse for Anir and he took up his position in front of Peter and Sarah. So that they could no longer quite see what was going on. After another hour or so more Elves left the hill to assist those below. Screams and yells of the most bloodcurdling kind could be heard.
The mists coming from the front gate of Arddu’s kingdom grew thicker. Because all were looking down to see how the battle below was going, all but the scouts forgot to look up. A huge cloud, like a thundercloud, was growing over their heads.
Eldol suddenly appeared on the Roman road that comes from Foel Drygarn. He ran as fast as he was able for the many obstacles on the way. A first rumble of thunder was heard. Peter was watching the Elf King whose face became suddenly stern and grim.
“The Twenty-fifth Maniple must take up their positions,” he ordered, and almost immediately, Eldol went off with them towards Bedd Arthur and Foel Drygarn.
“Why?” thought Peter, “Why are they going away from the battle that is raging below us to some old pile of stones?”
But this time neither Gwyn nor Anir answered as the first drops of rain from the impending storm began to fall.
If Peter and Sarah had thought that they were in for ‘just a storm’ they were badly mistaken. The whole of the sky to the southeast appeared to have turned completely black. Peter noticed that rain already fell on the villages eastwards of the Prescelly range.
Because the sun was still shining over Newport and Cardigan, this made the skies look even blacker, or was that the entire truth of it? The valleys below were also pitch black with a mist or cloud or other kind of noxious steam issuing forth from the gloomy portals of Annwm, the very gates of that which some have called ‘the nether regions’ or ‘Hell’.
“Arddu is about to reveal himself and his plan. Stand firm Peter and Sarah. Guard them well, Anir! And Peter, do not seek the power of the Stone too early, until I or Anir tell you.”
“Why should Gwyn need the Stone? Aren’t Arddu’s creatures having the worst of it down there in the Quarry?” asked Peter.
Gwyn was looking round about him, preoccupied with his own plans. Anir provided the reply.
“The creatures that poured from the Front Gate have been worsted, but that is only the beginning. The farming people are now searching for the Beast in earnest; but there is more than one doorway into Annwm. Another gate is at ‘Bedd Arthur’. Somewhere in history, I suspect, the name was changed from ‘Bedd Arddu’ and the two were confused. Gwyn has a good idea of what the Dark One may do. He may try to drive us into the Quarry. He can try, but as long as we hold the Stone, he cannot succeed. Look out , here comes the storm.”
Anir was right. The black clouds had filled all the sky. Thunder cracked, lightning crackled and the rain came down in torrents; filling cracks and gullies and flowing like rivulets down the mountainsides. All anyone could do was huddle in the saddle and brace themselves against the storm.
It felt as if it went on for ever. Sarah thought she would rather be under her horse than on it, and Peter wondered when the next move would be made.
As the thunder passed overhead and clouds began moving over Cardigan, Peter noticed dark shapes to the south of them. They looked like a forest, but they were moving!
“Now we know what happened to the shape shifters, Anir,” said Gwyn.
Peter and Sarah noticed the forest move again.
“I never did think there were quite so many trees over there when we walked over these tops at the beginning of our holiday,” muttered Peter, “there’s the forest to the west, but there wasn’t one down there.”
“Can you see what sort of trees they are?” said Sarah.
“No!” said Peter, squinting in the rain, “It’s too dark and they are not near enough to us yet.”
A huge crack of thunder peeled overhead at the same time as lightning lit up the hill tops to the north. They saw a black shadow moving atop one of the cairns.
“Arddu shows himself at last!” said Gwyn.
“The Beast of Annwm comes!” cried Anir with a great shout.
He was answered from below:
“The Beast! The Beast comes!”
The farmers, not having found the beast at the Quarry, had begun the ascent of Prescelly Top.
“The Beast!” roared back Anir and Peter and Sarah and the army of the Elves.
Gwyn was smiling again, a secret smile. Then he laughed at the height of the storm and Sarah heard him singing.
Lord of the Thunder! Lord of the rain, Oak trees come marching To hills from the plain.
Sure footed is my horse On the day of battle. I have seen your plan And shall not flinch in the saddle.
Oak may be felled Or crushed under stone. Arddu; this days end Shall witness your ruin!
Crack! Lightening flashed overhead once more, illuminating the whole mountain range. The great Beast was moving towards them from the direction of the cairns. He was at the head of a huge army of every kind of strange creature: witches and their familiars, half human looking monsters, wolves, pigs or boars and many other weird animals. Orddu was not far behind.
Peter could feel their presence before he could see them. Twisting round in the saddle, he saw the trees travelling swiftly towards them. Soon they would cross the road and be on their way up to Prescelly Top. He shuddered.
“Forward!”
Gwyn signalled the attack. Peter and Sarah did not know whether to follow or not. Anir decided for them by taking hold of their reins.
“The trees are coming to push us off the top and down to the old Quarry, or so the Dark One plans. Gwyn’s attack, he supposes, will be beaten off by the army coming from his northern gate. However, we shall have assistance from Ederyn and the others, and the farmers are still on their Beast hunt. We are going to follow Gwyn, But…!” he looked round taking note of the situation.
“Get down off your horses!” he commanded them, “We are going roundabouts! Follow me!”
They left the horses, who immediately ran off behind the attacking Elves. Anir led them down the other side of the hills, not too far from the tops but far enough away from the action that they could not be seen. He made them walk at first, but as they got nearer the centre of the battling armies, he made them crouch down and crawl among the heather, bracken and bilberry bushes.
“Take this ring!” said Anir to Sarah, pressing something into her hand, “If you keep the stone inside your hand, it will make you invisible. Have you the Stone of Gardar, Peter?”
“Yes!”
“Do you know what to do?”
“I think so.”
“Come then, this is the last gasp.”
As they walked towards the battlefield, the noise was terrific! Thunder and lightening played and through the storm the two opposing armies were now drawn to hand to hand fighting. It was not a nice thing to see.
The Beast, Orddu who had assumed the form of a she wolf, and all their creatures, had had the best of several hundred of Gwyn’s troops. Any of the farmers who were close to the Old Ways had joined in. The others worried the Beast but could never get near to him. Some had brought shotguns but of course, as it was not a flesh and blood animal, bullets just went straight through.
Sarah turned the stone of the ring into her hand and vanished. She felt too afraid to follow Anir any further, and chose a large rock to hide behind. She closed her eyes and hoped that Peter really did know what to do with the Stone!
The fighting was desperate. Anir hacked a way through to Gwyn who was making a stand on a small cairn opposite Arddu who was getting nearer and nearer. Orddu was at his side, laughing and howling in joy at the Elves discomfiture.
Peter followed Anir as best he could, turning the Stone over and over. The trees had come up behind Gwyn’s troops, just as everyone had feared, forcing a confrontation. There was no escaping the Dark One.
Finally, Arddu came face to face with Gwyn. He had transformed his shape in part to be half a man. They did not speak, they just looked at each other for an interminable time. The whole battlefield became silent. This was a battle of wills. Gwyn raised his sword, Arddu replied with his, and they were at once locked in mortal combat.
Peter looked round. Anir was leaning on his sword, breathing hard. The trees were strung out on the hilltops driving a good part of Gwyn’s army and the farmers right into the path of Arddu’s creatures. The situation seemed irretrievable. Many of the Elves were dead or very badly wounded.
Eldol would never return to Arx Emain and Ederyn appeared to have been mauled by the Beast, he was covered in blood. It is not pleasant to see friends suffer in such a way. The Stone glowed in Peter’s hands. The Ogham letters burned his brain until he instinctively knew what they wanted him to say:
“It is time!” he thought and trembled, “I can read the words, I know what they say.”
And as he stood beside Anir, without waiting for any word of command from Anir or from Gwyn, he began to read aloud in a trembling voice.
“Oak that grows on battle mound, Where crimson torrents drench the ground Bring woe to him in darkness drowned.
Oak that grows through years of woes Mid battle’s broils unequalled throes, A dreadful death his reign will close.”
Peter’s voice rose louder and louder. Arddu and Gwyn ceased their fight. All stood as if transfixed.
“Oak that grows on hill and plain Where gushes blood of warriors slain, See! The Samildanach come again!”
Peter’s voice rose to a shriek. Sarah peeped through invisible fingers.
The glowing Stone dropped through Peter’s hands as it became heavier and heavier. As in a trance he saw the Stone grow, form and transform itself. Larger and larger it grew until the aperture in the top of the Stone formed itself into a gateway once again, but this time it was huge! Beings appeared from within; similar in form to the Elves, but translucent and shining with golden light. In all there were about nine of them.
“Who calls on the power of the Samildanach?”
“I suppose I did,” said Peter, shaking all over with fright.
“Who asks the power of the Samildanach?”
“Gwyn-ap-Nudd, King of the Elves, Lord of Arx Emain!” shouted Gwyn, taking charge.
“What is your bidding,” sang the Golden Beings.
“The destruction of the Evil One, Arddu!” said Gwyn, “And all his armies.”
“It shall be as you will,” replied the beings.
However, before they began, Anir who had woken from the trance like state which had befallen them all, took up his sword and thrust it into the chest of Arddu. The shadowy figure staggered as the leader of the Samildanach stepped through the Stone portal just in time to finish him off.
“Ugh!” thought Peter, as something like black blood seeped from the wounds. The body of Arddu half man, half Black Beast turned into a dark fog and was gathered into the blackness of the storm clouds, which were passing overhead, and he was never seen again in those regions.
Gwyn-ap-Nudd, the Elves and the golden Samildanach then fell on the rest of Arddu’s army with extreme fury. Orddu was slain by Gwyn himself. The golden people had the power to turn many of Arddu and Orddu’s creatures into what they really were: pigs, dogs and cats and the like. Then the farmers and the Elves were easily able to dispatch them. The trees were also returned to their own shapes and sent packing.
At the end of the afternoon not many ‘creatures’ were left on the Prescelly Tops. Those who were able to escape made for the North gate or the Quarry gate, but very few were fortunate enough to do so.
Peter felt extremely pleased as he had personally killed several half goblin/half pig things and something that was the size of a large hound, but looked like a werewolf. Anir was by his side, leaning on his sword, but this time there was a cut on his shoulder from which blood oozed slowly.
Gwyn had returned to the stone portal with the leader of the Samildanach. They exchanged looks then conversed in a strange language.
“I expect he’s saying ‘Thank you’,” thought Peter to himself, “but it seems to take a long time.”
A hand squeezed his. It was Sarah, who had decided that it was safe to stop being invisible.
“It’s all turned out all right, then,” she said.
“Seems so,” said Peter.
And together they watched Gwyn and the chief of the Samildanach as they stood by the stone portal. The rest of the Golden Beings were already starting their return journey through the gate to wherever it was they came from.
Gwyn turned sharply to look at Peter and Sarah.
“Come!” he said, “You have earned a reward. Is there anything you wish for?”
“Oh yes!” said Peter, and without thinking at all, “I wish that Father and Mother were here.”
“And I wish that Aunt Myf could be quite safe,” said Sarah.
“Your wishes are granted. May the power of all powers ever be with you,” said the leader of the Samildanach.
Then he bowed to Gwyn.
“Keep the Gardar Stone safe. Farewell, Lord of the Elves,” he said.
“Farewell,” said Gwyn and returned the bow.
The leader went back through the portal but before the gateway disappeared, through it from the other side came—
“Mother!” said Peter.
“Father!” said Sarah.
Their parents stood on the hilltop completely ‘gobsmacked,’ as Father said later. Peter and Sarah just took each of them by the hand and held tightly on to them while the Stone portal closed and Gwyn went to pick it up. He then gave it to Peter.
“Let your parents touch the Stone, it will help explanations later on.”
Peter gave it to Father who passed it to Mother who passed it back to Gwyn. He bowed low to all then placed the Stone inside his jerkin, under his tunic. Then he turned to Anir.
“You are to escort these people to their rightful dwelling and then meet us at Arx Emain as soon as you are able. I am sure your return will be swift.”
Gwyn leapt on to his horse, which Echel had brought to him. Ederyn and the other wounded were being borne away on stretchers and on horseback. The army of the Elves prepared to leave for Arx Emain. Once again, as the storm clouds cleared away, sun glinted on armour and weapons, though now they were all battle stained.
The farmers left for home also, satisfied that the Beast had gone and a few had got wild boar carcasses out of it.
“Nothing like a nice piece of roast pork!” they said as they went off to celebrate their victory at the Crymych Arms.
Anir stood with Peter and Sarah and Mother and Father watching Gwyn and the army pass Prescelly Top and make for the Nevern to Haverfordwest road. They would march by the side of it, too exhausted not to risk the occasional sighting, until able to take to open land and the hidden paths that lead to Arx Emain.
Someone coughed behind them, which made everyone, except Anir, jump nearly ten feet in the air. But it was only Eri, Gwyn’s messenger, with their horses and two more for Mother and Father. They all mounted and made straight for the road to Nevern. They picked their way down the hillside very gingerly, until the horses were on the tarmac of the B road.
Eri waved in farewell.
“I must return to the others. You are quite safe now, I think. May you come safely to journey’s end.”
He waved again and rode off in the opposite direction. Anir spurred his horse on and led Peter and Sarah and their very surprised parents to Dinas, via Newport. By the coast the sun was shining on the beaches as if it had never been away.
Tourists thronged the town of Newport and no one had noticed the great battle on the Prescelly Mountains.
“Wasn’t it awful weather yesterday?” was all that was remarkable to them, it seemed! “What a great storm!” they said.
Anir’s party remained silent. Mother and Father were truly astonished. They had been packing up archaeological items into the boxes they had brought with them to the Summer School. Their enforced removal and sudden transformation to the wet mountaintops of Pembroke had caused them to think a great deal. As they rode into Dinas, all sorts of questions were forming in Mother’s head.
All Sarah wanted to know was: Aunt Myf; where was she? Was she still safe and sound in the halls of Arx Emain? It was no good asking Anir now but when he left them at the top of the drive that led to Aunt Myf’s cottage, she whispered her anxious query to him.
He tried to reassure her by saying that he was sure all was well, and Sarah gave him a big hug. Anir withdrew his arm sharply.
“Oh I’m so sorry, you’re hurt.”
“ It’s nothing,” said Anir, “but don’t squeeze me so hard!”
Then he shook Peter very warmly by the hand.
“Don’t you need some attention to your arm, Mr. Anir?” said Mother.
This was the first time that she had spoken since being deposited on top of the mountain.
“No, thank you. I shall be quite all right very soon. It will not take me long to get back. Indeed, I really must be going. Farewell to you all for the present.”
Anir bowed from his horse and clattered down the road to Arx Emain as fast as he could go.
“Well!” said Father, looking at Peter with ‘eyeball to eyeball contact’, “I think you have some explaining to do!”
“And the first thing,” thought Sarah, “is to explain what has happened to Aunt Myf!”
They came all too soon to Aunt Myf’s cottage. The door had been replaced but still bore the signs of the attack by Orddu’s creatures. The horses they left outside to graze, having tied the reins to their saddles.
Sarah found a spare key under a shell in the garden. She opened the door.
“What on earth has been going on?” said Mother, “And where’s my sister?”
“Um, Er…” said Peter, dumb with embarrassment.
But fortunately for him this question was answered almost immediately with a ring of the telephone. Father took the call, then said to Mother:
“Your sister appears to be in the Willow Tree hospital at Haverfordwest.”
“WHAT!” yelled Mother.
Peter and Sarah could not imagine what had gone on.
“It seems there was a burglary a week or two ago. Well, while these two were off gallivanting around doing goodness knows what! The thieves must have returned and ‘bopped’ Aunt Myf over the head. Apparently, they found her swimming in the local reservoir, suffering loss of memory.”
“Amnesia?” said Peter.
“Bless you,” said Mother, who thought he had sneezed.
“That was an Inspector Davies. Sergeant Emmanuel was meant to be keeping an eye on Aunt Myf. He obviously failed dismally and Inspector Davies is deeply apologetic. Aunt Myf finally came round this afternoon at about four p.m.”
“Just when the Samildanach left through the portal,” thought Peter, “but how did she get out of Arx Emain? At least they did the trick, though, and she got rescued.”
“I’ll have to go at once!” said Mother, “Have you got your wallet?”
“Fortunately, I have!” said Father, “I’ll call a taxi at once.”
Mother made tea while they waited for the taxi to arrive. When it came, all she said was
“You can explain everything to your Father. I can hear it all later when I’ve sorted out Aunt Myf.”
And then she was gone, having first relieved Father of all the cash in his wallet because, with the suddenness of their forced journey, her handbag had got left behind.
It took Peter and Sarah the rest of the evening to even begin to explain to Father what had gone on. He was very good about it. He was used to ancient relics and mythology and so some of it was not entirely strange to him. He also saw at once that they were telling the truth.
When Peter got as far as the day before the battle, it was eleven o’clock and he sent them to bed. Then Mother phoned from the hospital, where she was going to stay the night. Apparently Inspector Davies had felt so bad about it all, that he had turned up at visiting time with flowers for Aunt Myf and they seemed to get on very well! Mother said:
“She can’t remember anything, though, except waking up in the hospital.”
When Father told Peter and Sarah this the next morning, he could see that they were very pleased.
“I think it has all worked out for the best,” he said, “I shall tell Mother only what she absolutely needs to know, at first. If Aunt Myf really has amnesia, I think we’ll leave her part out of it. It would only upset your Mother more than she is already. However, she will have to KNOW ALL eventually. Tell the truth and shame the Devil, that’s what I say.”
Mother came back the next day.
“I think that Inspector Davies has taken a shine to our Myfanwy!” she said happily, “I just left him with her again. ‘All part of our enquiries’ he said, but he’d brought a box of chocolates with him.”
“Oh good! I scent an engagement, definitely an engagement!” smiled Sarah.
Aunt Myf did not return the next day but when Mother visited her that evening, Sister said she could leave the following afternoon. They all spent the rest of that day making preparations for her homecoming.
The whole cottage was spring-cleaned. Father did the garden, Peter went into Cwm-yr-Eglwys for supplies, and Sarah filled the rooms with flowers. Father went with Mother in the taxi to fetch her. When they returned, no one mentioned Elves or Stones or anything like that.
After a large tea Aunt Myf went to her bedroom to rest.
“Thank you all so very much! Thank you, thank you!” she beamed over the banister, “You must all stay the rest of the week.”
“Hurray!” shouted Peter and Sarah, “Can we?” – their eyes pleaded with Mother and Father.
“Of course,” said Mother.
And that was that. Father had already phoned to the University and explained their sudden removal with perfect truth as ‘owing to a family emergency.’ Real term at University did not begin for ages after school started, so there was plenty of time for a holiday.
Mother and Father bought themselves spare clothes and other things that had been left behind, like toothbrushes! Then they all had the most wonderful week. They bathed, watched seals, visited mediaeval castles, went shopping in Haverfordwest, saw ‘Planet battles, Volume 1: The Ghostly Threat’ at the local cinema.
Though it has to be said they found it rather tame after all they had been through. And they took the boat to Skomer Island to see the puffins. Inspector Davies, whose other name was Tomos came for dinner and they all decided that they liked him, especially Aunt Myf. He was still mystified over Aunt Myf’s burglary.
“We’ll catch them one day,” he said.
All too soon it was time to go home and get ready for school again and Peter and Sarah had seen no sight or sound of any Elf or of Anir. Of course there was no going home by car, as it had not been brought.
“Very irritating!” moaned Father, when he discovered how much the train fare was going to be.
The morning of the twelfth dawned. Aunt Myf felt well enough to see them off at the station. The taxi took them all, but Inspector Davies came to take Aunt Myf home! They waved and waved their good-byes.
“Come again soon!” called Aunt Myf.
But none of the family realised just how soon that would be.