At once a huge hexagram of two interlocking triangles appeared, and the choir, if possible, sounded even sweeter.
“Below me, the Mother!”
Around her ankles another flaming hexagram manifested itself.
“Within me, the Eternal Flame!”
Ruby looked around her at the marvellous coloured orbs, pentagrams and hexagrams all singing with power. She could not help but feel awestruck. Finding a measure within the angelic voices which enveloped her, she faced back to the East and chanted...
“Ee-ah-oh! Mahl-kooth! Veh-Geb-oo-rah! Veh-Ged-oo-lah!”
No sooner were these mystically charged words spoken, than Ruby felt the full might of the light surging through her and through the implements she wished to endow with greater glory and power.
She cupped her hands to her heart and shouted for all she was worth:
“Leh-Oh-lahm, Ah-men!”
There was a sound like that of a tape-recording in reverse, and then…
Everything...
Stopped.
Ruby was back in her tent. Everything was exactly as it had been before she started; all of the orbs, lights and stars were gone.
The only indication that anything had happened at all was that both the silver topped set of Holy Relics and the athame both now looked as new as the day that they had been first made.
That's the best thing about High Magick; nobody knows that it has been used, except those who know.
“Wow! That was some ride!” Ruby smiled as she straightened her scarf and tucked away the strands of hair that had become loose during the ritual.
She heard the curtains behind her rustle, and turned to see Pearl poking her head through:
“Overtures and beginners, please?”
“Soon. Indeed, I sense that a certain proverbial fat lady may be warming up her vocal chords even as we speak. Now, please, do sit down Pearl, while I bring you up to date with things...”
Ruby swiftly relayed her recent discoveries to her sister, while Chen telepathically forwarded the information on to Eddie, Magpie Jack, and, with considerably less success, to Tobias.
“Like you said to the Reverend, a very nasty can of worms,” Pearl observed, once Ruby's tale was finished.
“Indeed – and the trouble with opening a can of worms is that you often need a much bigger can to seal them all back up in again.”
“Mm... Or you could just go fishing, of course...”
“Precisely. If nothing else, we have plenty of bait for our hook... And speaking of nasty, wriggly creatures, what are Devizes and Nutter up to?”
“Not a great deal. Browsing the stalls, same as everybody else. It's as if they're waiting for something.”
“Yes, and whatever it is, it can't be anything good. You had better go back to keeping an eye on them, just in case.”
“Will do.”
“Meantime, I'll finish up here, and then we can get to work. Hopefully, we'll be able to save the world just in time for tea.”
“And scones,” Pearl laughed. “Don't forget the scones!”
Pearl left, and Ruby began checking through the contents of the little velvet bag that hung at her hip. It would not do to go up against Hariman and the others without a full armoury of tricks in her utility belt...
Chapter 17
Hariman Is Offered A Monopoly
Ruby was just heading out through the curtain-doorway of the tent in pursuit of her sister, when Hariman suddenly appeared and pushed her back in, shoving her heavily down onto her stool.
“Quite amusing. A fortune teller, shut due to unforeseen circumstances. Stay seated, witch. I want you to tell me my fortune.” He eyed her with loathing.
Ruby sat there fuming; she didn't take kindly to being shoved around.
“Come on. Bring out your pathetic little deck of cards!”
Ruby stared frostily at him and started to shuffle the pack. She laid them out in a pentagram spread, one for each point of the star and a sixth in the centre.
“Well, if we are to have a reading, would you care for some tea?” she asked drily.
Hariman looked at her with renewed hatred.
“Tea? From you? What kind of a nutter do you think I am?”
“If you mix with Nutters, you tend to find that it rubs off on you,” Ruby said with an air of gaiety as she finished laying the cards. “The pentagram spread is a spread of my own design. It is a simple and quick way of reading as each card is given quite a specific task to answer.
“The first card represents the past, the second, obstacles to your desire; the third pertains to the situation as it is now, the fourth to what is being done by people behind the scenes which may affect your plan; the fifth shows a person or event that will influence your question and the final card is the eventual outcome. Is that all perfectly crystal clear? I did say it slowly, as I know you have a habit of ...”
“Shut up and make the reading, witch”. Hariman was getting more and more annoyed each second he spent in Ruby's company.
“I'm using Biedermeier cards, rather than Tarot. I find them so much more direct and bluntly honest. I do find that there is a great lack of directness and honesty in the world these days. Don't you agree, Doctor?” Ruby had begun to employ an infuriatingly twee, sugary, little-girl-lost voice which was happily winding Hariman up a treat.
“I said, read the cards”. Hariman was hissing his words slowly through gritted teeth by now.
“As you wish. OK. Now let us see…” Ruby placed her pince-nez on the bridge of her nose and then began to turn the cards over. “I shall have to translate for you, Doctor. Although the cards are graphically pictorial, they have their inscriptions in an Eastern European language... Here we go... Card the first. Oooo! Now that IS interesting!”
The picture on the card was that of a young girl sitting at a table, with a picture frame laid out before her. She was gazing through an open window across a bay into the distance.
“Chezhnia... Desire!” breathed Ruby, altogether a little too dramatically. “I see that your plans stem from an old desire – quite how old, I have not the faintest
