Adam’s Pilgrimage part 8:
The Last March, May 18th – 21st
as played via e-mail
Friday May 18th:
The next morning
dawns chilly and you have to force yourself out of your sleeping bag but after
a breakfast of porridge you quickly find marching with your pack enough to fend
off the cold. At least it’s dry.
You strike north
and find yourself in Salter a couple of hours later, from where you follow
something laughingly called a ‘road’ but by lunchtime you pick up the A683 at Hornby and from now on you make very good time indeed.
How does Adam
feel to be back in ‘civilisation’?
Adam is fine
with civilisation as long as it's small towns/villages rather than big cities.
In that case the
going suits Adam perfectly, as does the prospect of Kendal being the largest
town between him and the end of his pilgrimage.
Adam continues
up the A683 to Kirby Lonsdale and then the B6254 to
Although Victor advised against using the mobile the dreams Adam has been
having recently are momentous so he'll give Victor a quick call to fill him in
on the dreams and will ask whether he has any idea about what the bad spirit’s
next move might be.
The admonishment
against the mobile was only while hiking over the fells of the
He can offer no
guesses over what the ‘bad spirit’ might do next. Really the person best placed
to guess how things may unfold is you. Victor reckons these dreams are a way
for your subconscious to talk to yourself.
Victor agrees
with the Woman in White about the meaning of your sinking-in-the-bog dream but
the last two are much more positive. Clearly you found a way to regain
dominance over your ‘taint’ and Victor is impressed – you’d be surprised how
few spiritualists (by which Victor means spiritual practitioners, even such as
the Dalai Lhama) could do what you did.
Obviously you
must be on your guard. The ‘taint’ within you is clearly aware of your intent
and, as in last night’s dream, will fight to prevent the exorcism. But Victor
feels your mental strength is good and everything is heading to the culmination
he envisaged. Just phone him when you get to Shap and
he’ll meet you outside Penrith the next day. Shouldn’t be long now.
Victor’s words
are reassuring and, despite your twinging knee, you
find the tranquillity of your campsite very conducive to your meditations.
Saturday May 19th:
Miraculously,
you wake without dreams that you recall. The day is showery but overall better
than for much of your pilgrimage. However, as you suspected, your right knee is
feeling sore and you decide to take things easier today.
You lunch in
Kendal and now you can really feel the end of your quest approaching. If it
wasn’t for your knee, you would possibly be phoning Victor from Shap tonight. As it is, you find a suitable spot to camp in
the early afternoon about two and a half miles north of Kendal, amidst rolling
hills but with the mountains forming a wonderful backdrop to the north and
west.
Sunday May 20th:
Your knee is
still troubling you but the weather is the best you’ve seen for a long time,
dry and fine, and you reach Shap in the early
afternoon after walking steadily up hill as the A6 winds its way up to Shap Fell.
On a whim you
trek down the lane to the west and camp near Shap
Abbey to spend the rest of the afternoon in calm meditation.
Despite your
dodgy knee, you’re now sure you’ll make Penrith well
before lunch tomorrow and you feel a certain satisfaction when you tell Victor
to meet you tomorrow. He tells you he’s spent the weekend in preparation, both
spiritual and practical, and he’s looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. He
advises you to have a substantial breakfast of porridge but to eat nothing
later as after breakfast you’ll need to fast until the close of the exorcism
ceremony at dawn on Tuesday.
How does Adam
feel now his quest is nearly done?
Adam feels
relieved that the quest is nearly over and reasonably confident that it will
succeed. He is looking forward to having normal dreams in the near future and
to being able to help his patients and his team.
Monday May 21st:
You awake from a
peculiar dream. You don’t recall the precise narrative but you get a sense of
some sort of summary of all your experiences over the last two weeks: the Uffington White Horse; the Rollright
Stones; Meon Hill (Charles Walton’s glass charm is
still in your pocket); the Bullring; Biddulph Grange;
Alderley Edge; and your recent dreams on the fells.
You fondle
Walton’s charm as you mull over the vanishing remnants of your dream. It occurs
to you that each time you interacted with dark things in a dream: the Bullring,
Alderley Edge, the bog on the fells, the charm wasn’t
on your person.
You recall
Walton’s parting words… “appen
it bee blessen enow te kep awie
waild dark things an aw”. You suspect it’s power is small but every little helps. What do you want
to do with it?
Adam will
attempt to fashion some sort of necklace so he can wear it especially for
meditations and sleep.
Alas, it’s a
smooth piece of glass and you currently have nothing either to fix it or
suspend it. Once back in civilisation, any competent jeweller could easily
mount it as you please but for the moment all you can do is put it in a sealed
inner pocket of your cagoule and simply remember it’s there.
If the weather
can be regarded as auspicious, things are looking very good indeed as it hasn’t
been this bright and sunny since the first day, May 4th. Not only
that but your knee feels much better and there’s a real spring in your step as
you set out on the last day of your pilgrimage.
Leaving Shap, you find yourself walking past fields but there’s
something a little strange. Perhaps you’re not used to the bright sunshine but
there’s a magical, almost dreamlike, quality to the air. There's little traffic
and it’s quiet, except for the birds and other natural noises, especially when
the A6 meets and passes under the M6 (never straying more than a few hundred
yards thereafter); the sound of the traffic seems muted, as if from far away.
You recall your dream of the Bullring in
One thing haunts
this pleasant stroll in the sunshine; you can still dimly perceive a shadow at the
corner of your eye, as if something dark and foul is following. You turn
several times, trying to catch it unawares, but it remains always at the corner
of your eye. It might almost be something in your eye and then you realise
that, of course, it is part of you, the part that’s tainted.
Adam will
continue on. For now the taint is there and he must get on with things. Soon it
will be time to remove the taint.
Somehow you feel
this is a very positive attitude and soldier on resolutely. The Shadow seems to
retreat a little; it’s still there but less obtrusive.
Then you hear
the sound of galloping hooves. It’s still early so the sun is lowish, off to your right, almost touching a hill. From the
crest of the hill canters a white horse; it gallops toward and past you before
vanishing behind a copse ahead. A beautiful animal; it catches your eye – you’d
heard true white horses were only known in
You don’t think
much of it until about ten minutes later you pass a field with a lone white
horse in the middle, gazing soulfully at you. For a second, out of the corner
of your eye, you thought it was a woman in the field, dressed in white, but
it’s definitely the same horse you saw earlier.
As you walk on,
you see the same horse half a dozen times again, on one side of the road or the
other. You’re sure it’s the same horse; there can’t be more than one like it in
all
The A6 crosses
the M6 several times, never straying far from the motorway, though you find the
noise of the traffic strangely muted. With the White Horse, the Shadow and the
quietude, you begin to wonder if this isn’t a dream. Certainly you make better
time than expected and reach
Right on the
edge of the town a road branches off to the left, signposted Mayburgh Henge by English
Heritage. You recognise it; it’s only a few hundred yards away.
Onwards and
upwards; White Horses good - scarey shadows bad. Adam
will definitely pass on visiting the site of the recent atrocity - he can't see
that going well.
You drop your
pack and enjoy the luxury of idleness before Victor hails you cheerily from a
battered Rover and gestures for you to jump in, upon which he turns down the
road to Mayburgh Henge and
to your consternation pulls in to the Henge car park.
If you didn’t
know better you’d say he was excited. “How are you feeling?” he asks.
“Keen to get on
with it. This isn't the best place to talk though with all the recent events that have happened here. Perhaps we could drive on and I'll
tell you on the way?”
Victor gives you
an odd look before nodding understandingly. “I know what you mean, nasty
business! Though I wasn’t sure you’d heard about it – the news broke after
you’d started your pilgrimage.” (It occurs to you that Victor has no idea you
were involved.) “A few weeks ago I’d have suggested stopping here for a spot of
meditation to get us in the mood but since the massacre I don’t think it would
be a good idea. No it’s just a convenient place to park as we’ll be walking
from here. Nice weather for it, don’t you think?”
Victor gets a
small day-sack out of the boot and changes in to his walking boots while you
resume your backpack. “Ready?” He asks, and the two of you start walking.
Victor leads you out of the car park, turning right over the M6 toward the
south-west.
As you leave the
motorway behind, a couple of seagulls wheel overhead,
though you’re a long way from the coast. Victor nods at the gulls, “Do you know
what a baby seagull is called?” he asks conversationally.
Adam will feel
relieved that he has left the site of the evil doings. He answers “no” to the
question about seagulls (Adam is no Zoologist or crossword buff). He would like
to read Victors emotions when he asks the question.
“An egg!” grins Victor, as your emotional sense reveals his sense of
humour has the better of you again, but then he turns more serious and asks,
“OK, so what can you tell me about the
[You'll let me
know if what Adam is about to say constitutes breaking the Official Secrets Act
and I'll revise it. Adam is trying to tell Victor something without breaking
trust. I don't think Adam knows how far the investigation is going since he
hasn't been keeping up with the news and isn't about to tell Victor all the
details of the case. Obviously he will have been able to pick up some details
in the papers.]
[I’m happy with
what you’ve outlined here. Whether MI13 would be is another matter but as long
as Victor doesn’t tell them, they need never know. I think Adam would have seen
headlines but Victor should have warned him at the start that reading the news,
especially unpleasant news, is counterproductive to the pilgrimage. I shall
assume that Adam has read the headlines so he knows that the Mayburgh Henge murder was tied in
with a massacre of several teachers at
“I was called in as a member of a consulting team that was to aid the police in
the investigation of the ritualistic murders at Mayburgh
Henge. The Henge is a
moderate source of spiritual power with a residual stench of evil. Looking back
I feel that I gained my taint while working with Reiki near a source of power
in the south with a taint of evil. The founders of the school the children
attended had occult connections and the school has some occult tomes in the
library. Three children were involved in some sort of occult ceremony at the Henge.
“I had to leave the investigation part way through since I felt that I was
unable to contribute fully whilst suffering from this taint. Normally my Reiki
healing is a help in reducing the traumatising effects of witnessing gruesome
events.”
Victor nods
understandingly; he can see the value of your healing under such circumstances.
“As well as my work at Broadmoor, which you know of,
I also work for the government on cases that fall out of the mainstream and
often have some occult connection. I have signed the Official Secrets Act and
anyway wouldn't be willing to prejudice an investigation that may be ongoing by
revealing too many details. You will understand since we are both bound by a
code of ethics and must respect patient confidentiality.”
“Of
course! I just didn’t
realise you’d been involved. So there was a lot more to it than just a
psychotic teacher?”
“I don't know
since I left the investigation early on but the ritual was one taken from an
old book in the library.”
Victor looks
aghast, “What? Penrith library?”
“The school’s
library - it was a gift from the founders who supposedly were involved with the
occult.”
“The
school library! Good
lord!” Victor obviously finds the thought more than a little shocking.
Anyway back to matters at hand.
Indeed! By now
Adam and Victor have left the motorway behind and are walking through fields
green with ripe new growth provoked by the recent rains. You walk through the
You’ve been
feeling peckish for some time, breakfast was hours ago. Now you begin to feel
very hungry indeed and it’s making you light-headed. The dreamlike feeling returns.
You see few hikers but you have the shadow in the corner of your eye and soon a
white horse gallops past on the right.
About a mile and
a half later, it’s now early afternoon and the path (which Victor tells you is called ‘High Street’) leaves the fields, heading up on to
the fells in a shallow but inexorable rise.
You’ve spotted
the occasional hiker, mostly far ahead, obviously having set out well before
the two of you. You recall the two closest passing you in
You’ve not been
on the fells long when you get the eerie feeling that you’re not alone. Turning
your head, you find the Woman in White keeping pace to your right. Without
looking, you just know the Wildman/eka-Adam keeps
formation to your left.
Victor doesn’t
seem to have noticed them yet, but then he’s leading and they keep station just
behind you and a few yards to either side.
Adam will give a
brief smile and wave to the woman in white before marching on.
Glancing back,
Victor notices the wave; following your line of sight to the horizon and
finding no one he raises a quizzical eyebrow; “Anyone I know?”
As you turn to
answer Victor you see eka-Adam a couple of yards to
Victor's left, smiling at him in anticipation; it looks like the Wildman is
more than happy to have him around.
"I don't
believe you have met."
Victor’s eyes
narrow but he doesn’t press further. However, a few minutes later he comments,
“You know, fasting can often induce hallucinations but it’s nothing to worry
about.”
Adam will use the relaxation process he learned in taiji
to relax him before the coming ordeal. He wants to be physically relaxed but
mentally alert without any undue tension. He will be breathing slowly to help
this.
You think it’s
partially hunger, which by now gnaws at your insides with an indescribable
fury, but your lightheadedness grows until you feel
you’re almost floating.
The taiji relaxation process certainly is relaxing but it
combines with the other symptoms to produce a distinctly ‘other-worldly’
feeling. The only other time you can recall feeling like this was in the
Dreamlands.
He'll really
stamp his feet a bit to get more grounded.