The Mindwalk Pavilion

20211121

That Catalina was sleeping with Iliaster meant that Hélène had a room to herself. From the first night she was troubled by her 'ghosts', who seemed greatly disturbed by her changes of circumstances. Much, including Hélène herself, was thrown about the room.

"She haunts herself." said Catalina to Iliaster. "All the disturbances are Hélène's mind releasing pent up energies that her body should be expending naturally. Iliaster found nothing to argue with opinion, besides he enjoyed sleeping with Catalina.

-------


Queen Boudica sat alone in her room. She felt sure that it was the first peaceful moment that she had had to herself in weeks. There always seemed to be someone or something that needed her attention. Not least of which she now had three suitors, each pursuing her and vying for attention. She could not see why Pawl Llewellyn wanted to marry her, they did not even like one another. All three of the men were like cats. Their hackles rose each time they encountered either of the others.

The Proconsul had asked Cecil to speak to the Council about his proposal. Boudica had been quite shocked. Cecil had soothed her, and assured her that it meant Lucius was both serious and honest in his intentions. He was wooing both Boudica for herself, and in her role as The Queen. Cecil reiterated that she should feel no pressure, for Council could approve or not of a match, but could not impose one upon her.

She didn't want to marry anyone at all at present. To be sure, Bayezid was handsome, and she enjoyed flirting with him. Proconsul Lucius was charming and courteous, and she found his company surprisingly pleasant. Pawl just didn't want to take no for an answer, and from him she heard now first hand some of the lines that Dafydd had been merely parroting. Pawl did not think it seemly for her to wed a foreigner.

She'd asked Bridget her opinion, and decided thought that her friend was probably at least half serious in suggesting that Boudica 'compare sizes'. More seriously she had asked Boudica if she wanted a husband, and if not, why was she considering any of them? Boudica didn't know the answer to that, she felt that somehow she owed at least Bayezid and Lucius serious consideration in as much as they were serious in intent.

Making a conscious effort she set aside the subject of marriage, and focused instead upon the Mindwalk Pavilion. She wanted to explore.

Settling herself down, she relaxed and imagined the Inner Temple room, seeing the details she had memorised. At some point she felt the room become real around her, and knew that she had moved her consciousness successfully. Looking around she was pleased, though unsurprised, to find that she was alone.

Boudica examined the walls, looking for exits, but saw none. She imagined that given how they entered and left, no door was needed. She knew that she'd seen the Pavilion as a huge sprawling building, surely this room wasn't the only one that she could access.

Once, during the challenge, Boudica had asked aloud if there was anyone who could help. She tried that now, but no-one replied. Slowly Boudica walked around the room, her feet tracing a spiral. This somehow seemed natural. The spiral stretched in some way that Boudica couldn't explain. Now she wasn't in the Inner Temple, but on the spiral path, ascending.

As she walked on, Boudica began to see faint outlines of others, who were also ascending. Their paths sometimes overlaid hers, but as she looked there were others above and below her too. A little while later, she began to see herself blurring, as though she wasn't quite fixed, but somehow both lagging behind, and slightly ahead of herself. The blurring continued even when she stood still.

Abruptly she found herself walking through a desert. Boudica became aware of a strange droning sound, and stopped, looking about her, trying to locate the source. To her left, she saw a flickering light, and concluded that it was a fire. She stepped forwards, and clockwise, moving right, and along the spiral path.

Though the fire had seemed to be to her left, she presently found herself approaching it from the right. Seated around it were two creatures that looked to be men. They were very dark skinned, with wide flat features and heavy brows. One had long white hair, and clearly aged. The other was a youth, just entering manhood. Both were naked.

They regarded Boudica, their faces registering considerable puzzlement. She paused, taking in that on the ground in front of the older man, he had drawn with his spear, a spiral path. Stepping forwards, she was somehow on the path that the man had drawn, and saw him briefly standing above her, an impossibly tall giant, fading as she continued.

Now a soft swish could be heard, and Boudica sensed something large circling around her. There was no clue as to what it was, until Boudica experienced another disorienting change of scale. Then she could see that it was a pendulum. An oddly dressed man was holding the pendulum over a patch of ground, and counting as it rotated. The path of the swinging weight traced a spiral on the ground.

Seeing Boudica the man tipped his hat, but then stared as if surprised at her appearance. He held the pendulum out in front of him, and it spiralled as he counted. Boudica stepped forth once again, and he grew larger, or she shrank, until he vanished from view.

Boudica stopped walking. These visions whilst intriguing, were not particularly understandable. She remembered the spiralling path from the initial challenge, and concluded that there must be some significance to this. Her wanderings did not seem to be in an enclosed place, so she wasn't sure that she was still inside the Mindwalk Pavilion.

Other questions occurred to her, such as 'who had built' the Mindwalk? She knew the legend, how her ancestor, the original Boudica had summoned the bards, wise woman, the poets and the shaman. Each one had shared the dream, the same dream. She had channelled their power, and summoned the terrible storm that had destroyed General Gaius Suetonius Paulinus and his army of some ten thousand men, including his own Twinned Fourteenth Legion, and detachments of the Twentieth Victorious Valeria Legion.

Later, much later, the leaders of every tribe gathered together, and swore fealty to Boudica. Those who had received the dream met and shared a secret. A walk in a shared mind place, there they found the Pavilion waiting for them. There they pledged to create Albion.

But that left out the most important part. Who had built the Mindwalk Pavilion. Boudica didn't think it was her ancestor, or else that would have been a part of the story. The Pavilion had been waiting for them. It seemed odd that the selection of the Queen or King should be based upon a mystery.

She looked about. She'd stopped because it seemed as though she were travelling randomly, but now she thought about it, perhaps that wasn't true. It was possible that she was being shown things, that someone or something else was selecting for her. Currently she was resting in amongst clouds. She looked down, through a gap, and saw far below her an island, surrounded by sea. Another giddying change of scale ensued, and Boudica was now floating over a large white building set on the island. She could see people below. Wafting lower she saw that they were young, probably about her own age, except for one older man who seemed to be in charge.

Even as she registered all this, the scene was receding, as she rose once more into the skies. Now she was floating in a clear sky over the sea. Sensing a presence behind her Boudica turned, and saw herself, or at least, someone who looked very like her. The air pressure drop was sudden and unexpected. Boudica felt it in the pit of her stomach, and her ears felt uncomfortable, until she thought to swallow.

The other woman's eyes became black, as her pupils swelled. and Boudica saw that the skies around them were also darkening. a black bank of cloud, moving impossibly fast, swept in with a chilling North Easterly wind. There was a rumble of thunder. Boudica understood that this was her namesake, Boudica raising a storm.

Word Count: 1,410