The Mindwalk Pavilion

20211111

In a private chamber of Wawel Royal Castle the king, Sigismund II Augustus was attended by Stanislaw Kostka Rej, who was Head of the Sejm, and Pater Sacrorum Jan Mattias. Alexander Kochanowski, their ambassador to the Celtic Court was also present.

"So Queen Mary is dead, and the Celts have a new Queen. What do we know of her Alexander?"

"She is Queen Mary's step-sister Your Highness. The only issue of King Harry and Katherine Rothersay, his third wife."

"She's young then?"

"Twenty two, Your Highness. She is a renown bookworm, and fluent in several languages As one would expect, she's well educated, but she has a real thirst for knowledge."

"What is her stance on Mithras?" Pater Mattias asked politely.

"I have not heard her express any opinion Pater."

Mattias held the younger man's gaze for a while, then addressed them all,

"We should place someone with her that can instruct her."

"Is it likely that she could be converted?" Sigismund seemed unconvinced.

"It is important that she should have the opportunity to do so. Her advancement is a boon for us. Queen Mary being married to Fernando de Moncloa gave the Romans a place of leverage in the Celtic Court. Now that has gone, and we must seek to strengthen our own presence their with this new Queen."

"Do you think we should find her a suitor? My youngest son is of a similar age."

"We should not rule that out Your Highness," Mattias did not sound enthusiastic as he spoke, "but my guess is that she will soon be besieged by suitors, and it may be advantageous to have a different approach."

"You have something in mind Pater Mattias?" enquired Stanislaw Rej.

"I have studied the Celtic Court at some length. Boudica is a member of a small clique, together with Dr Dee, Brian Peters and Sir Francis Drake. Now she is Queen, that clique has considerable significance."

"What is the nature of this clique Pater?" asked the King, "I have heard of Dee, he wrote to me a while ago."

"Indeed Your Highness, it is a interest in Natural Philosophy that they share with yourself. Further, Boudica is keen to educate her populace and to encourage what they term technological advancement. "

"It does seem then that Boudica shares some of our ambitions."

"A fact that we should capitalise upon. I suggest that this is the time for a bold move."

The others listened carefully.

"I think we should consider making an alliance with this new Queen. One based upon shared knowledge, and mutual efforts to advance ourselves through the development of improved ways of working. We have seen the rise of new knowledges. People like the late Nicolaus Copernicus, who re-examined the ancient Greek notion that the Sun is the centre of all heavenly bodies, and proved that it was more efficient at describing the motion of the planets in the heavens."

"Your pardon Pater, but do these new knowledges not challenge the supremacy of the Church?" Stanislaw Rej sounded apprehensive.

"Pah! Those fools in Rome may believe that everything that can be learned already has been, but I know that we are only beginning to lay bare the secrets of Mithras' creation. Mithras gave us minds for a reason."

Jan Mattias has risen to prominence in the church as a result of publishing a series of tracts arguing that the Church of Mithras had become insular to the extent that the vast majority of the population of Europe had no clue as to its teachings or significance.

Further attacks had developed the Pater's arguments that the religion was denying the roles of the goddess Anahita in Mithras' life, and that women should be allowed or even encouraged to take part in rites. All of this had not gone well with Rome, but it found fertile earth in the minds of the Slavs. Now Mattias was considered the head of the revised and corrected Mithraic form.

Some decades after he'd published his first tract, Jan Mattias was now based in Wrocław, the capital of Silesia. King Sigismund was a strong supporter of the elderly Pater, and his court was considered the most liberal in Europe in its outlook. Sigismund was a patron of the Natural Philosophers, and interested in a wide variety of related subjects.

"Alexander, we charge you to have conversation with Queen Boudica, and broach the subject of an alliance along the lines suggested by Pater Mattias."

"Certainly Your Highness."

"Stress the mutual advantages. I will outline you something on paper before you depart." Mattias added, "Take someone with you to discuss Mithras with the Queen. Pater Jan Jagiellow would I suggest be a good choice Your Highness."

Mattias addressed this last remark to the King, who concurred.

"Yes, Jagiellow is a sound choice. He shall accompany you Alexander."

"Thank you your Highness."


-------



Prince Bayezid requested a private audience with the Queen, who sent back that she would be delighted to meet him, but in view of some recent events, the nature of which she didn't specify, that she would rather their meeting be in one of the Halls. She assured him that they could have privacy, though there would be others present at a suitably discrete distance.

This piqued his curiosity, and he set his erstwhile interpreter, who was a loquacious fellow named Berat, to find out for him what recent events had taken place in the Celtic Court besides the death of Mary and subsequent ascendency of Boudica.

Chairs had been set near to the fire. Boudica received her guest with a polite smile that warmed him even more so than did the fire. He took in her white woollen dress that emphasized her bright copper hair, and noticed a small golden sickle embroidered over her heart.

"Won't you take a seat?" she invited.

Seated opposite her, Bayezid studied her face, endeavouring to commit every detail to memory.

"I was hoping that we could talk." Those green eyes fixing him, and sparkling with such promise.

"Were you?", Bayezid sounded pleased.

"Of course, but, since you requested this conversation, I assume that you have something in particular that you would like to discuss?"

The Prince coughed and smoothed his hair. He was perturbed to find that he felt nervous. Sternly he reminded himself that he was a Prince, and that he was older than her. It didn't help.

"I too hoped that we could talk." he began, and inwardly cursed at how lame that sounded to his ears. "Firstly I would like to request leave to stay here for a little while?"

"You are welcome to stay as long as you wish Prince Bayezid."

His heart thrilled as she spoke his name, this girl, this woman, Queen, was having a devastating effect upon him.

"I should probably tell you that Edward Carrick has spoken to me of his premonition. I hope for your sake that you will take it seriously, he is very gifted."

Bayezid felt a curious sense of relief.

"I take it very seriously." He went on to explain the connection to his mother, and was surprised to learn that Carrick had in fact worked that out.

Boudica did not share the second part of Carrick's vision with the prince. For her it was very worrying. Edward had worked out that it represented a threat from Rome, but the details were still eluding him. The lion could refer to someone born under the star sign Leo, or it could indicate someone of the Leo grade within the Mithraic Church. Boudica hoped that they would be able to discover the threat before the premonition became an actuality. She found that she hoped this as much for Bayezid as for William Cecil and herself.

"What precautions can you take?"

"I must make sure that I am armed, and maintain an awareness of where both Selim and Murad are at all times possible."

Boudica frowned slightly as she listened.

"Whom can you trust?"

"I think I could trust Ahmet Kemal. He is a scholar and a natural philosopher, I think involvement in such affairs would be distasteful to him. But even he could be threatened..."

"Do you think Prince Selim will try to kill you whilst you are here?"

"Sadly yes, I think that very likely. He may even contrive to cast blame on some member of your Court."

At this Boudica pursed her lips.

"Edward has asked me to help you."

Bayezid was taken aback.

"But he doesn't know me. You don't know me."

But you will. He thought for a terrible moment that he had spoken this out loud, so clearly did he hear it in his mind.

"He has sensed your aura. Sometimes when he meets someone for the first time, he gets a strong impression from them, he describes it as a glow. It picks out someone who will be important to him."

"He did mention an aura." Bayezid was suddenly struck by how clearly Boudica had stood out from everyone and everything else when he'd first seen her in the Great hall.

"I. I may have had a similar experience at some time."

The woman looked interested.

"It can be difficult for someone who hasn't experienced it to understand how powerful the interaction can be." she said.

From this Bayezid immediately understood that Boudica too could apprehend auras.

I wonder what else she can do?

Aloud he said,

"Thank you for your offer of help."

"But you cannot see how I can?"

"No, not exactly. You are the Queen, and you have the power of an entire realm at your disposal. It would be churlish to imagine that you could do nothing."

"I still sense a 'but'"

"Until Selim makes a move, either directly or through Murad, or even some third party, it would be inadvisable to move against him. If he tries and fails to kill me, then my father will be pleased that he is dead, for to fail is unacceptable."

"He would be dead?"

"Assuredly. If he tries to murder me, then I shall kill him, it will be self defence."

Boudica looked troubled, he could tell by the set of her mouth and the slight tension in her forehead.

"Perhaps now you will change your mind?"

"No, I will help you stay alive if I can, but I will not help you kill your brother."

"Even knowing the one will lead to the other?"

Boudica's face conveyed her dislike of being cornered in this manner, but she nodded curtly, then said levelly,

"Edward Carrick has asked me to help you, and I have promised him that I will."

To his surprise she then closed her eyes.

He waited, a little confused, but enjoying the opportunity to unashamedly drink in her beauty. The minutes stretched, and he became uneasy, as she was very still.

"This may hurt a little." Bayezid heard her speak just behind his right ear, though he could clearly see her in front of him.

There was a loud crack, and Prince Bayezid found himself looking at the back of his own head.

"It seemed obvious if you intended to attempt the Mindwalk challenge that you would be able to travel like this. Sorry I didn't warn you. I wasn't sure if I could do that."

Bayezid turned to look at Boudica. If he had any doubts that he'd seen her aura before, they were utterly quashed now. She shone, it was unlike anything he'd perceived before.

"And if you couldn't you didn't want to have to admit that you'd tried and failed?" he hazarded, seeing her fleeting blush.

I still could change my mind." she said, unconvincingly.

She sounded a little pleased with herself, as well she might be he thought.

"What are we going to do?" He asked her.

"Go and spy upon Selim, to see if we can discover anything of his plans."

"Won't people notice that we've stopped talking or moving?" Bayezid pointed to their bodies, that looked asleep in their chairs.

"Some might notice, but they won't disturb us. Selim can't see astrally can he?"

Bayezid could tell by this that her action wasn't preplanned.

"No, as far as I know he has no psychic abilities at all."

"Good. What about Murad?"

"No, him neither."

"Well then, come on."

A paused, then she added,

"There are people in the castle who would be able to perceive us if we encounter them. Hopefully we won't."

He followed her as she moved purposefully towards the rooms allocated to Selim. A thought occurred to him.

"Stop!" he said urgently, and she turned wide eyed to look.

"I had better warn you." He began, wondering how he was going to explain. "Selim and Murad are lovers. If we go in it is possible that they might be..."

It was his turn to blush, and he wondered how that worked when the astral body had no blood to rush to the cheeks.

"Oh. Oh I see. Well, perhaps you should go in first then."

"That might be for the best."

Boudica knew her castle well, and led them to Selim's rooms without them encountering anyone else.

Bayezid stepped through the door, and was pleased to see that Selim was fully dressed and sat drinking next to the fire. Murad, he noted, was absent.

Stepping back to Boudica he saw Murad heading towards them, and jumped reflexively.

Boudica drifted easily to one side as Murad rapped briefly on the door, and entered.

Then Bayezid and Boudica both silently and invisibly entered behind him.

Word Count 2,261