And so it came to pass that they found themselves moored at Foyers pier, just down through the woods from Crowley’s pad of Boleskine House. It was high summer, and in 1905 the world of the Highlands wasn’t that far removed from many of the places they had already travelled in. To everyone’s distress and concern Thetis had gone to stay at Boleskine, to “keep an eye on” Victor. None of the Indigo-ites felt that Victor was sufficiently of interest to merit such concern, but Thetis was a stubborn woman and couldn’t be swayed on this subject. Personally, the others felt that if Victor was daft enough to sleep out on the gorse at night because Crowley told him to then he deserved everything he got, including tuberculosis, which was the dire word that Thetis threw at them any time any one of them complained about her kindness to such an undeserving specimen.
The worry that their behaviour in general might cause ripples of discontent in the neighbourhood, leading to possible arrest, imprisonment, and several years of breaking rocks, turned out to be unfounded. Life on the Loch was a private affair, and they even had access to their own small shingled beach which was relatively free from prying eyes. The natives on the whole showed no interest in Crowley and his bohemian friends (probably from London anyway) as long as they showed no interest in the natives, most particularly in their whisky stills buried up in the hills. The visitors went to strenuous efforts to be polite but uncurious, and were rewarded with a courteous distance from the locals.
Several days into their stay on Loch Ness, Adam thought it was time they went out and saw something of the area. What was the point of having the heady excitement of time-travel he surmised, if all they did was stay on the boat and do everything that they did everywhere else. One morning he assembled Lonts, Tamaz, Bengo, Bardin, Joby and Kieran in the galley. First off, he expressed concern about Bardin’s apparent weight-loss.
“You were only skin and bone to start with”, said Adam, twirling him round “And now you’ve lost even more over these past dreadful months. We don’t want anymore anorexics on our hands, thank you very much”.
“I’ve always been thin”, said Bardin.
“Kieran says that and all”, said Joby, much to Kieran’s annoyance.
“Well it’s not good enough”, said Adam “I think double helpings of plum duff and custard for you over the next few weeks”.
“Oh not custard!” said Bardin “I’m sick of the sight of custard, I’ll be happy if I never see any ever again!”
“Not likely”, said Bengo, with gloomy resignation “You’re a clown”.
“Where are we going anyway?” said Tamaz.
“Well Aleister has very kindly lent us his car for the day”, said Adam.
“Oh yeah?” said Joby, looking very cynical.
“Don’t look like that!” said Adam “It’s not what you’re thinking at all. I didn’t have to DO anything for it! Aleister said”, and he affected an exaggerated deep plummy voice “’What’s mine is yours dear boy. After the events of the recent times we are blood brothers now don’t you know’”.
“Oh Christ, he’s turning into Codlik now!” said Joby.
“Extremely unlikely”, said Adam “Aleister doesn’t have much positive going for him, but we can rest assured he will never be like Codlik!”
“I’m going to fetch my fur-stole”, said Tamaz.
“You’re not wearing that!” said Joby “I’ve told you til I’m blue in the face that you have to be a boy or a girl whilst we’re here, you can’t be both. And you chose to be a boy”.
“I’m not wearing skirts all the time, that’s what you said”, said Bengo.
“If you can go out looking bloody ridiculous all the time, I don’t see why I can’t wear my fur-stole”, said Tamaz.
“You can’t wear it with trousers, nor your jewellery”, said Joby “I’m not having this conversation again, Tamaz”.
“You can still wear your frillies”, said Adam “No one can see them”.
“Unless he takes his clothes off”, said Bengo “Like he used to”.
“Oh poor Tamaz”, said Lonts, who felt that the others weren’t doing enough to understand Tamaz’s dilemma “He’s a unique person”.
“Thank God!” said Bardin “More than one of him would be too much to bear!”
They all walked up through the woods to Boleskine, where Aleister had ordered his car to be got ready for their pleasure. It was standing in the driveway, looking a miracle of Edwardian elegance and technical ingenuity.
“Do you know how to drive this?” said Joby.
“One car is much like another really”, said Adam, waving his hand dismissively. “This car don’t look like nothing we’ve been in before”, said Joby.
“At least it can’t get very fast”, said Kieran “So Adam can’t kill us all by driving like a maniac”.
“I do not drive like a maniac anyway!” said Adam.
Crowley emerged from the house dressed in full Highland regalia.
“Good grief”, said Joby “It’s the big grey man of Ben MacDui!”
“Ah Aleister”, said Adam “I see you’ve got your laird’s costume on!”
“I thought I would surprise you”, said Crowley.
“You can say that again!” said Joby.
Wearing a kilt must have gone to Crowley’s head because he suddenly impulsively seized Kieran and picked him up in his arms. Adam sighed and said it would be best if he put Kieran down again. This was at the same time as Hillyard and Julian pulled into the drive in a dog-cart (again donated by Crowley) pulled by one of their own horses. Adam thought that Julian might cause a scene by this unwelcome show of impulsive familiarity on Crowley’s part and said that it would be best if they all got moving.
Julian had hitched a lift with Hillyard in order to go over to Boleskine and scrounge some cigars. He felt this was reasonable, considering Crowley had had enough of his cigars over the previous few months (ignoring the fact that most of Julian’s cigars had been filched from either Starhanger or the house in the mountains). So Julian followed Crowley into his study and had to put up with Crowley demonstrating an old Magick ritual of his, in which he was apparently trying to rejuvenate a skeleton by feeding it bits of animal flesh. Most of the time this unsightly specimen was kept hidden away in a cupboard, but Crowley brought it out to show Julian.
Meanwhile, Hillyard was doing what he had specifically come over to Boleskine for, namely to persuade Thetis again to come back to the sloop.
“You can’t enjoy being over here”, said Hillyard, gesturing around the living-room.
“It’s not a comfortable place to live”, said Thetis “Things happen here that even I don’t understand, and I’ve assisted Aleister in many of his experiments in the past. There are vestiges here of past rituals of his. You don’t see them all the time, but just occasionally you get glimpses of negative energy that simply shouldn’t be here. The rooms will suddenly go very dark and shadowy in the middle of the day for instance. It’s not a healthy atmosphere. The staff hate it”.
Hillyard heard Julian walk past the window on his way back to the hay-cart. Hillyard decided to take immediate action. He seized Thetis round the waist and half-carried her out of the building.
“Are you coming home with us?” said Julian, when they got outside.
“She can’t stay here”, said Hillyard.
“But what about my things?” Thetis protested.
“We’ll send some of the others over for ‘em later”, said Hillyard.
“I don’t know what you’re protesting about”, said Julian to Thetis “Just think, you’ll get to live with Joby again. I can’t see the appeal myself, but it will obviously appeal to you”.
“Ignore him”, said Hillyard “He spends enough of his time trying to get at Joby”.
“I like to break that surly attitude of his”, said Julian “For a brief moment he is almost amenable”.
“I don’t have any expectations where Joby is concerned”, said Thetis “Have you noticed what happens when he gets drunk?”
“He throws up usually”, said Hillyard.
“No”, said Thetis “He fancies people if they remind him of Kieran. I remember back down in the caves he came onto Bardin because he said Bardin’s hair reminded him of Kieran”.
“Bardin’s size’ll remind him of Kieran if Bardin loses anymore weight!” said Hillyard.
“And Mieps is just going to ignore me”, said Thetis “She hasn’t forgiven me for coming back here”.
“If the old girl gives you any trouble”, said Julian “Just tell me and I’ll sort her out. It wouldn’t be the first time!”
- b - WHAT IS AND WHAT SHOULD NEVER BE
Mieps was currently on an important mission, although when it started out he couldn’t have foreseen just how important it was going to be. Codlik had asked to meet him on the shingle beach at Lower Foyers. This was far from an appealing invite for Mieps, who at first had refused, but something in Codlik’s voice and eyes made him feel that there was going to be something final about this request.
Mieps walked along the shore to the beach, which was secluded from the outside world by the woodland behind it. The Indigo-ites had left the skiff on the beach here, in order to take it out for fishing expeditions on the Loch. Codlik was sitting in the lea of it when Mieps got there, dressed in his monk’s habit. He got up and approached Mieps, and Mieps felt a thudding in his heart that wasn’t at all pleasant.
“I have something to tell you”, said Codlik.
“Kieran is the one who takes confessions”, said Mieps.
“I want to tell you”, said Codlik.
And so he did.
“I cannot believe what a liar you are”, said Mieps, when Codlik had finished the settling up of his tariff with life “You have been with us all these past months, and never once let on that you were the one we were fighting all along! What was the Gnome?”
“An elemental”, said Codlik “Get Aleister to explain it all to you, he knows the ins and outs of such things. The Gnome was merely a servant, a tool to do our bidding. It was a creature entirely without any inkling of human scruple and principle. We had no cause to ever doubt it’s loyalty to us. With others”, he was referring to Brother Iggy now “That wasn’t always the case”.
“You and the Church were the ones in charge of Silling Productions?” said Mieps.
“No one ever knew”, said Codlik “Not Aleister, not deSade, no one. In their complete lack of scruple they were only too keen to come up with whatever depravity was required, as you already know. What fools wicked men can be!”
“But you are such a liar!” said Mieps, who couldn’t comprehend the scale of the double life Codlik had been leading amongst them all along. Not once, not ever, had he given the remotest hint that he was the brains behind Silling Productions “WHY?”
“T-to get the world manipulated as we wanted it”, said Codlik “To make them powerless against authority, feed them up with drugs and depravity until they don’t know their own minds or have any confidence in what they feel and believe. Aleister can explain all that to you too, he lived it himself”.
“But not everyone was going to fall for it!” said Mieps.
“Those that didn’t would be in a very small minority”, said Codlik “And easily outflanked and ridiculed by everyone else. And then, sooner or later, we would be able to create the world we desired”.
“And to do that Kieran had to be destroyed?” said Mieps.
“He represented too well the small minority”, said Codlik.
“When was it you realised that it wasn’t going to work?” said Mieps.
Codlik bristled at this. Even now, at the end, he still couldn’t fully accept that he was in the wrong.
“When we failed to get the Devil on side!” Codlik spat.
“No one can manipulate him!” said Mieps “You call yourself a good man, did you never get disgusted by what was happening?”
“I believed in the end result”, said Codlik “That was what I saw”.
“I’m going to walk away”, said Mieps “You’ve told me what is necessary, and I don’t want to hear anymore. I have no more words for you. I don’t care what you do, I just want you to go away and never hear of you again. I’m a Ghoomer, I’m not filled with human sentiment and superstition, I’m going to leave you now”.
Mieps retraced his steps along the shingle, and didn’t once look back. He kept on until he got back to the sloop, but his heart had never felt so heavy and full of anger at the evil in the world.
Codlik fitted the oars into the skiff and struggled with them as he steered himself out onto the Loch. He had heard that the Loch, which could start very shallow, could get extremely deep very suddenly and quickly, and that was what he desired. When he was sufficiently far out, he pulled out the bung at the bottom of the boat. The water seeped in far quicker than he had bargained for, he had hoped for more of a moment of repose and reflection, but what was the point of all that now anyway? In no time at all the cold waters of the Loch had closed over his head.
R.I.P Codlik. - c - WHOLE LOTTA LOVE Bardin had been nervous throughout their trip up to the inn at Whitebridges on the main road, convinced from all the tales he had heard of life in 1905 that he and Bengo were bound to say and do something that would land them in prison. They had been so quiet during the pub session that the others had got quite unnerved. When Adam asked them why they were being quite so extremely reticent, Bengo had replied that he and Bardin had to concentrate quite hard on their lines, and make sure they didn’t fluff them in any way.
When they had returned Crowley’s car to Boleskine, he and Bengo went across the road to the old churchyard, where the other clowns seemed to be having some kind of coven meeting down by the abandoned kirk. Much to Bardin’s annoyance Hal and the other Village of Stairs entertainers had hitched a ride with them into 1905, along with the continually wailing Dobley. They slept on the deck of the sloop, and spent their days roaming around Foyers, successfully ensuring that Bardin hadn’t been able to relax for a single moment since they had all arrived there. There they now all were, along with Farnol, Rumble and Hoowie. They were sitting in the grass, surrounded by the tombstones of deceased members of the Fraser clan, discussing Dobley’s career, or rather what could be done about it. Bardin felt almost driven to screaming impatience by the ongoing topic of Dobley’s ill-fated career.
“You are never going to appear back on television”, said Bardin “Never. Your day’s gone. Just get over it”.
“Bardy!” said Bengo, with an appalled look on his face “How can you be so cruel!”
“He’s got to face it sooner or later”, said Bardin “I’m being cruel to be kind”.
“No, you’re just being cruel actually”, said Bengo.
“I’m saving him from endless further humiliation”, said Bardin “An entertainer should know when to bow out with dignity, when it’s time to leave the stage”.
“I have nothing else”, Dobley sniffed.
“You have us”, said Bengo.
Farnol and Rumble barely stifled a snort of laughter at this one.
“What if I stayed in this time?” said Dobley, grasping at straws “No one knows about me here”.
“For fuck’s sake, Dobley!” said Bardin “Television won’t even be invented for another 20 years! What are you going to do in the meantime, twiddle your thumbs?!”
“And if he’s the first thing that appears on it, it’ll bomb the moment it starts!” said Rumble.
Mieps could be seen coming into the graveyard through the main gates. He looked such a forbidding figure that Bengo nearly gave a cry of alarm.
“Oh he looks really angry!” Bengo exclaimed “Is he coming to get me for something?”
“What have you done this time?” Bardin barked.
“I don’t know”, said Bengo, helplessly “I can’t remember!”
Mieps walked purposefully over to Bardin and said to him that he had to speak to him alone. Bardin suggested they go into the remains of the old kirk. This was a tiny building, barely bigger than a fishermen’s hay-loft. The two of them went up the wooden steps to the floor above, which contained a fireplace and a pentagram carved into the mantelpiece. No one knew if this was Crowley’s handiwork or not. The graveyard was rumoured to be haunted by witches, so it could be anybody really. In this bleak atmosphere Mieps told him about his meeting with Codlik on the beach.
“Codlik was behind Silling Productions?” Bardin exclaimed “And he never let on for a moment? How did he pull the wool over us for so long?”
“Because he’s a professional liar”, said Mieps “He lies so much even he can’t tell what’s a lie and what’s the truth!”
“I would never have thought it could have been him!” said Bardin “He fooled Crowley and Sade as well”.
“It’s not hard to fool the likes of them”, said Mieps “Particularly Sade. They’re led by their dicks. Crowley can protect himself with his Magick though, which must be why the Church never tried to destroy him when he defected to Kieran. They wouldn’t have stood a chance against him, he’s a practised magician”.
Raised voices could be heard outside, and Hillyard appeared in the doorway down below.
“Mieps!” he shouted up at them “What the fuck’s happened to the skiff? It’s disappeared!”
“Do you know”, said Julian, sitting with Adam on the poop-deck later that afternoon “I always thought that if anything unspeakable happened to Codlik I would be breaking out the champagne, but strangely I don’t feel anything”.
“I’ve just felt so drained by Codlik for so long”, said Adam “That I think it will take me some time to fully appreciate that he’s gone”.
“That’s if he has gone!” said Julian “I won’t be able to relax for years, I’ll keep expecting the bastard to turn up again!”
“No”, said Adam, looking out across the loch “He’s out there somewhere now. I’m sure of it”.
“Are we going to have to put up with Kieran moping about the suicide?” said Julian.
“He doesn’t seem to be”, said Adam “Aleister said just now that Codlik going has removed a major negative influence from life”.
“I thought that was him actually!” said Julian “Have you seen a more gloomy dive than Boleskine?”
“It’s just an old house set in the hills”, said Adam “Facing a graveyard too, which is hardly likely to lend it a cheerful air. Aleister only bought it because it’s got a north-facing terrace for his infernal Magick rituals”.
“IS there a tunnel going under the road to the graveyard?” said Julian “That’s the rumour in the neighbourhood”.
“Aleister is very coy on that one”, said Adam “He won’t say”.
“Course he won’t!” Julian exclaimed “We would all know he had been grave-robbing if that turned out to be the case!”
Joby emerged from the galley, stood and gave Adam a filthy look, and then disappeared back below again.
“What was all that about?” said Julian.
“I said I’d only be gone 10 minutes and I think it’s been a little longer than that”, said Adam.
“I thought you were supposed to be the boss down there”, said Julian.
“Joby doesn’t take any notice of such social niceties!” said Adam.
“Poor old Codlik”, said Kieran, as later in the day he and Joby walked along the footpath that ran along the bottom of the loch.
“You’re the bleedin’ limit you are!” said Joby “How can you say that after everything he’s done?”
“Oh I don’t feel any genuine sympathy for him”, said Kieran “It’s just such a waste of a life. He had the potential to do so much good”.
“And all he did was a lot of harm instead”, said Joby, who kept looking out across the waters of the loch, as though he expected Codlik to suddenly re-emerge like the sword of Excalibur “I just want to stop talking about him. I feel he’s taken up too much of our time, far too much of it. I agree with Adam, I just wanted him to go away, and now that he has, I want to forget about him”.
Kieran slipped his small hand into Joby’s and they walked along that way for a while, deliberately choosing to ignore anyone who might see them. The only person who did see them was Sade, who was discovered sitting on the grass nearby. He shouted something at them in French.
“What was that?” said Kieran “It sounded like it might have been blasphemous to me”.
“More ‘en likely, knowing him!” said Joby “Just ignore him. Some people can only get their kicks from watching other people! Anyway, aint it time he went back to his own time?”
“That could be difficult to achieve”, said Kieran “He would probably end up back in prison if he went back there”.
“Best place for him and all!” said Joby “And what about Crowley? Is he staying here, or is he coming forwards again with us when we return?”
“He says he wants to come forwards with us again”, said Kieran.
“I had a horrible feeling you was gonna say that!” said Joby.
“He says the potential for practising true Magick is better in the future”, said Kieran “Madame de Sade’ll be pleased at least”.
“She’ll be the only bleedin’ one who is!” said Joby.
“How does it feel being back here again, by Loch Ness I mean, after all these years?” said Kieran.
Joby shrugged.
“All that before”, said Joby “When we were young, it feels like it happened to another person. I don’t see the point in going over it really”.
“Neither do I”, said Kieran “I’m completely distanced from it. These days I can barely remember what Amy looked like. When I think of women who have meant a lot to me I tend to think of Glynis, or increasingly, Thetis”.
“Crowley’s an old sod to her aint he?” said Joby “When we first knew ‘em he used to treat her like a Greek goddess, and now it’s as if she don’t exist”.
“He’s a spoilt mammy’s boy”, said Kieran “She’s not giving him his own way anymore, or treating him like the centre of her universe, so he’s frozen her out of his life”.
“Arsehole!” said Joby.
“Now that’s a fine way to talk about the man whose house you’re going to be in this evening”, Kieran teased.
“Not if I had my way I wouldn’t!” said Joby.
“Adam’s got his heart set on you two being Maurice and Alec in Maurice’s time”, said Kieran “It’s only for one evening, you can humour him. He’s quite excited about it all”.
“God knows why!” said Joby “We can play it just as well in the Landlord’s Bedroom at Zilligot Bay, in fact that’d be better ‘cos we’re less likely to have Crowley eavesdropping outside the door! Not that there’s much to get voyeuristic about. All it is is Adam pretends he’s all sexually-repressed and nervous … ”
“I would never have thought his acting could be that good!” said Kieran.
“And I have to call him ‘sir’ a lot and get a bit forceful”, Joby continued.
“How do you get forceful whilst calling him sir?” said Kieran.
“God knows!” said Joby “But we seem to manage it somehow”.
It turned into a cloudy, somewhat stormy evening, and the prospect of a couple of hours in the shadowy confines of Boleskine House felt less appealing than ever. Adam and Joby went over there at about 7 o’clock, and an inordinate amount of time seemed to be wasted by Crowley treating them to a sort of pre-shag whisky-and-soda. He also insisted on showing some of his mountaineering souvenirs to Adam, who thought that he was never going to be allowed to get started on Maurice.
But eventually Crowley went off for a walk in the hills, dragging a sickly-looking Victor with him, and Adam and Joby retreated to Rose’s bedroom. They did their usual thing, and were lying together afterwards when Joby thought he heard Kieran’s voice in the house, talking to one of the servants. He was annoyed that Kieran had apparently come over to the house alone when Crowley could return at any moment, and shot out of bed to give him what-for.
“Put some clothes on first!” said Adam.
With some impatience Joby pulled on his detested Edwardian underwear, shirt and trousers, and then padded barefoot through the villa to Crowley’s living-room, where he found Kieran had poured himself a whisky and was now shamelessly rifling through Crowley’s writing-desk.
“What the fuck are you doing here, you little squirt?” Joby exclaimed.
“I was missing you”, said Kieran “So I thought I’d pop over and see how it was all going”.
“It don’t look like it to me!” said Joby “Looks like you’re just being nosey to me. Sometimes you’re as bad as Tamaz! What if Crowley had been here?”
“He’s not though”, said Kieran “Do you know the locals won’t use the road down in front of the house because of him? They’ve taken to going back to the old paths in the hills instead”.
“They’d be better off using the road this evening”, said Joby “He’s up in the hills!”
“Look at this”, said Kieran, pulling out a blank sheet of Crowley’s headed notepaper, which bore an ornamental ‘B’ and the title ‘Lord Boleskine’.
“Well I spose he’s more entitled to call himself that than he is the King of Ireland!” said Joby.
“He’s certainly not entitled to call himself THAT!” said Kieran “It’s all a wee bit pathetic really isn’t it? All these airs and graces he gives himself, constantly trying to impress people by pretending to be something else”.
“The person who he really wants to be is you”, said Joby “It was the same with Codlik”.
“That’s why he hated me so much”, said Kieran “Just like Father Gabriel did”.
“At least that’s not a problem you’ve got with Crowley”, said Joby.
“I’m glad to say”, said Kieran “Aleister’s prowess with the Magick could have been bad news for me if he’d wanted to use it against me. Fortunately the worst we ever got from him was a plague of black cats and some revolting playing-cards!”
Adam strode briskly into the room pulling on his clothes.
“Aleister’s returning”, he said “I could see him coming up the drive”.
He gave Kieran and Joby the once-over, checking that they were both fully dressed and unlikely to excite Crowley’s libido anymore than necessary. Crowley breezed into the house with an excess of avuncular attitude. Victor presumably had vanished into another part of the building.
“It does my heart good to have such interesting visitors in the house”, said Crowley “The natives are convinced I have wild house-parties here, but many times nothing could be further from the truth. I am often alone here, and salmon fishing as an obsessive past-time quickly loses its appeal for someone such as I”.
“You have Victor here”, said Adam.
“That must make a world of difference!” Joby muttered.
“Victor is a willing acolyte”, said Crowley “A perfect disciple in many ways, but he is a fundamentally fragile person, he frequently finds it hard to keep up with my ways”.
“Aleister, I think most people would find it hard to keep up with your ways!” said Adam.
“I have the same trouble with servants”, said Crowley “Poor weak-minded creatures. Inferior beings. I once had to lock a man-servant in the cellar because he went completely berserk on me”.
“Why?” said Kieran.
“Working for him probably!” said Joby.
“He found it hard to cope with some of the results of my work here”, said Crowley “A coach-man went crazy and attacked his wife and children too”.
“You do tend to have a rather devastating effect on people don’t you, Aleister?” said Adam.
“It’s all a bit like working for Julian really”, said Joby.
“Nonsense!” said Adam.
“He’s driven you into a screaming fit enough times!” said Joby “And that’s without raising any demons!”
“Has the loss of our ‘saintly’ friend thrust the inhabitants of the sloop into deepest gloom?” said Crowley. “I take it you mean Codlik?” said Adam “It’s very strange the muted impact it has had. Quite unsettling really. The only one who’s shown any emotion is Hillyard, and that’s only because he’s angry at the loss of the skiff!”
“Not the loss of his fortune then?” said Crowley “I heard that Codlik had used Hillyard’s inheritance to help finance Silling Productions”.
“That’s our guess”, said Adam “There was a vast amount of money behind Silling Productions, and Hillyard’s fortune was vast”.
“And what is going to happen to your Church?” Crowley asked Kieran “When you return to that time”.
“I will expose them”, said Kieran “That might sound reckless, but it can’t put us in anymore danger than they’ve done already. People have to know about their lies. They must never be trusted again. The lies and duplicity in all this is quite breath-taking at times. And that’s not taking account of the depravity and the destruction”.
“I still find it hard to believe Codlik was actually tampering with demons”, said Joby “Mind you, he was so mad at times anything should be believable!”
“The extent of his madness and his obsession was that he didn’t see it as working with demons”, said Kieran “To him it was all part of the sacrifice that was needed to achieve the end game, to get rid of me, and mould the world as he and the Church wanted it. And the demons feed on negativity, as a vampire feeds on blood, it gives them strength, so they were happy to assist Codlik, because all that he was creating in the world was so negative, the unhappiness and the deep divisions between people. And for a while the world’s positive energy was severely weakened, we must now go back there and put it back”.
Before quitting 1905 the main purpose of their trip there had to be carried out, namely the disposal of the Gnome’s ashes. This was relatively straightforward. The clowns took the jar down to the Falls of Foyers one morning and emptied the jar into the watery abyss, taking care to choose the vantage point that was closest to getting contaminated by raw sewerage!
Back in Zilligot Bay once more, in their chosen time of the 41st century, Kieran torched the church at the end of the lane, determined not to leave any stone unturned (or unburned in this case) in his quest to destroy all traces of Codlik’s folly. He also gave a televised press conference which went on a long time (and during which Joby actually did fall asleep, which Lonts found very funny indeed), and in which he thoroughly denounced the Church, Codlik and any who had supported their madness, their quest to make the world as “perfect” as they wanted it.
The next dramatic thing of note was the finding of Nola in the countryside. She had travelled all the way to Zilligot Bay, in search of her late, unlamented friend, Codlik. On hearing that he was dead, she became even more crazed, and was rumoured to be seen by many a terrified traveller, roaming about the wild wastes of the hills above Zilligot Bay, a frightening banshee on the prowl. Aleister Crowley directed many demons at her, and she was subsequently found lying dead on the hillside, a look of sheer terror on her face.
This would not be many people’s idea of justice, and quite rightly too, the law of the jungle should NOT prevail, but in this instance (and in any others like it) it was simply a way of getting rid of someone who would only further the evil if she had lived. Forever she would have been an unhappy spirit on a quest to torment the world.
Gradually the interest of the world in the people at Zilligot Bay slowly subsided, and life resumed some kind of natural course. The Indigo-ites ran the tavern once more, and made plans to build a bigger dwelling to house everyone, as these days they had quite substantially grown in number. The Village of Stairs clowns (much to Bardin’s irritation) did not go away, but stayed with them, as did Dobley, the sad-faced clown. Thetis was with them, plus the maverick brothers, Piers and Josh. And in the meantime so were the Sades, Victor the Unfortunate, and, of course, Aleister Crowley.
And some doth say, they are all there still.
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