Bridge of Stone and Magic

© Trevor Hopkins 2007-2009 1 Bridge of Stone and Magic A Novel by Trevor Hopkins 2 © Trevor Hopkins 2007-2009 To Tas and Seb – for always being in my life © Trevor Hopkins 2007-2009 3 This book is a work of fiction. All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. In addition, the magical world of Lyndesfarne described in this book is entirely fictitious, and bears no resemblance to the charming Holy Island of Lindesfarne in North East England. 4 © Trevor Hopkins 2007-2009 Chapter One Life for Kevin and Tanji had fallen into a regular pattern. Not a rut, exactly – the mysterious world of Lyndesfarne was even now far too new and exciting a place for Kevin to be in the slightest bit bored and, although Tanji knew vastly more about his own world than he knew about hers, there was still a great many interesting things for them to do together. Kevin’s introduction to Lyndesfarne – a series of events now quite a few years in the past – had been a slow and, he understood only in hindsight, extremely carefully managed process. Being initiated in the existence of what many might regard as an entirely mythical world was a delicate and protracted business, although the Other World itself was one whose description in myths and legends had a surprisingly consistent character across several continents and thousands of years. His first exposure to the enchanting strangeness of the Other World was when Kevin had been commissioned as the leading architect for the construction of the New Bridge. This was introduced as a minor civil engineering problem: the design of a bridge between the mainland of North East England and the small island which lay a few hundred metres off the coast. For everything that he had understood hitherto, this was a distinctly backwater area and, even at the time, he wondered why such an elaborate and expensive construction was considered necessary. It was not long before he had the first inkling of the truth: the stormy straights that lay between the Mainland of England and the island of Lyndesfarne was actually a crossing between his own world and another one; that the apparently deserted island at the far end of the bridge was a placeholder in his world’s reality for the universe which contained the other. The same effect was observed from the Other World: his own world seemed to be represented by a tiny and uninhabited island. The second surprise he had not fully appreciated until he had first visited the island, on the pretext of inspecting the Old Bridge – the original stone bridge built several hundred years ago. The engineering principles and technological solutions that Kevin had long ago studied, and more recently applied in the design of various sophisticated civil engineering structures were simply not applicable © Trevor Hopkins 2007-2009 5 in the Other World. Instead, an alternative set of rules and operating principles were in place, principles that even now Kevin found mostly incomprehensible and were generally referred to as “magic”. One principle which Kevin did understand was that magic was both pervasive and reliable: with the right gestures – mercifully, incantations did not seem to be necessary – anyone could activate everyday magic as easily as he could operate an electric light switch. While an individual’s skills and innate abilities – coupled with extensive training – was certainly a factor in the invocation of more complex magic, Kevin found to his surprise and delight – and just a little pride, too – that even he had learned to fasten a cloak or turn on the illumination in a room without the slightest difficulty. Magic seemed to be a property of the universe – indeed, Kevin was later to discover, both universes. There was nothing intrinsic in his world which prevented magic from functioning as intended. The reason magic did not, in general, work was that a carefully-designed barrier surrounded the crossing, fitting in the interstices of the passage between the Two Worlds. This interfered to prevent magical devices and artefacts from working when moved from Lyndesfarne. The same magical blockade also acted in the opposite direction, to prevent sophisticated technology from working in the Other World. The barrier was actively and carefully maintained, but occasionally something would slip through: some magical artefact would end up in our world still active – or at least partially so. It was during the construction of the New Bridge that Kevin had first met Tanji. She was then a Guide in the Guild of Directions – the Lyndesfarne organisation that trained individuals to assist Visitors to the world of Lyndesfarne. Members of this Guild provided help with language and culture, and how to get about in a world where nothing worked as they would have expected. Tanji was a petite and blonde-haired woman, although she was usually more blonde when on the Lyndesfarne side of the crossing. Kevin was convinced that people from the Other World were definitively as human as he was, but there was some common trait which gave them a certain elfin facial appearance. It was something about the shape of the eyes and the cast of the cheekbones, and a consistent tendency towards slightly pointed ears. In all probability, none of this would have caused much comment in modern-day England, but most visitors from the Other World – including Tanji herself – used whatever limited shape-changing ability they possessed to adapt themselves to the norms of Kevin home world. In Tanji’s case, this involved a modest darkening of her 6 © Trevor Hopkins 2007-2009 hair and the smoothing of the contours of her face. She was still immediately recognisable in either guise, although Kevin quite definitely preferred her true Lyndesfarne appearance. Since the completion of the New Bridge, Kevin had been more than filling his time with consultancy work, having resigned from the international firm of architects which had employed him for several decades. He had been surprised at the amount of design work he had been offered – he was apparently rather more well-known that he appreciated. Some of the commissions were conventional civil engineering undertakings including a number of bridges in various countries, often with some technical difficulty caused by location and geography. Other work was specifically around the crossing to Lyndesfarne and relied on his knowledge of both magic and technology; there was more industry based around this crossing that he had at first realised. He had even been offered an honorary chair at his old University, although he was not sure how to react to this offer. Kevin thought of himself as just an average forty-something bloke, although in truth he was probably less overweight and rather more fit than most British men of his age. It was just a fluke of genetics that he had so far retained all of his dark brown hair and that it had yet to show significant signs of greying. He could perhaps have been mistaken for a man ten years younger – at least, until he opened his mouth. Then, his cautious demeanour and careful manner of speaking declared his true age and upbringing. In Kevin’s own estimation, he was conceivably slightly over- educated, and could perhaps be described by the words ‘anorak’ or ‘geek’, depending upon which side of the Atlantic one was currently resident. He had been extensively educated in the better kind of schools and university, and his sharp intelligence and retiring demeanour had meant that he had learned a great deal from a broader experience of the world – indeed, both worlds. His studies and private ruminations had led Kevin to harbour grave concern about the stability of the crossing, and the politics that inevitably infiltrated every aspect of its governance. The intertwined history of the Two Worlds was something he was still trying to get a handle on. Any number of new friends and acquaintances seemed intent on telling him stories with deep meanings and perhaps ambiguous – even conflicting – motivations. At one time – hundreds or even thousands of years ago – there had been a great many crossings and pathways between the Two Worlds. A myriad of stories and tales, myths and legends had © Trevor Hopkins 2007-2009 7 attended these ways and the peoples which had used them, many of which persisted to the present day. From the stories of Faerie folk in Ireland to the Spirit Guides of the North American natives, the Elves of Iceland and the troglodytes of Germany, these stories all had their roots in a long history of communications between the worlds. All of these pathways were now closed, save for the crossing at Lyndesfarne. From all accounts, any amount of drama and excitement, death and heroics had accompanied these closures, and many of the tales he heard spoke of epic actions in those far-off times. It seemed that repercussions of events in the distant past echoed forward to the present day and even now put at risk the fragile tranquillity and perceived peacefulness of the last remaining crossing between the Two Worlds. * Bret arrived on Kevin’s doorstep one Saturday morning in early Spring. His appearance was announced by a brisk knocking at the door of the little flat in South Manchester which Kevin had maintained, and inhabited intermittently, for much of the last decade – ever since, in fact, his wife had chucked him out, declaring herself eternally bored with his company all those years ago. Kevin had met Bret when they were both working on the design of the New Bridge to Lyndesfarne.

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