Except
Pen knew that Marley had been studying from different books, books that had highlighted the role of how to interpret and use the Rite, whilst he had only been reading about the importance of the thaumaturge and the history of different Rendelfs who had lived and died in Honour’s Rest. Nothing would come naturally to him, he was sure, but he thought of what he would most like to do and was both shocked and pleased when he heard a cry of impressed surprise from Marley.
He turned around and saw that, just as he had intended, Marley was being harassed by a curtain which had taken the form of a lady in crinoline, just as those in Orkney had done. However, the curtains in Honour’s Rest were far larger, so Pen couldn’t help but laugh as the curtain-ladies almost enveloped his friend in their voluptuous folds.
“Now something darker, I think,” he heard Napier’s voice say, but Pen tried to close his mind to his uncle’s words and focus only on the laughter of his friend. He would not be tricked into using the Knave’s Rite, he told himself. For the first time, he found himself breathing the Rite. He could feel it flowing through him, permeating every sense he possessed and filling his mind with the knowledge and freedom it offered.
Suddenly, he felt a sharp stinging sensation against his cheek and his left eye began to water. He heard Marley’s laughter stop and turned around to face his uncle, in time to duck as Napier flicked an elastic band straight at his face.
“Stop it!” Pen shouted, desperate not to lose the Rite he was only just beginning to find. Napier paid him no attention but just flicked another band into his face. It hit the lid of his watering left eye and Pen felt the pain mixing with the Rite which was coursing through his body. It no longer felt like a freeing experience, but he and it were wrapped around one another to take revenge on the man who was causing him pain. Another elastic band whipped against his ear and he turned back to face his uncle, his eyes burning with anger.
“Stop that!” he screamed again, and he felt the force of his anger leave him for a second and strike Napier. He thought his uncle would fall, but Napier seemed to catch Pen’s anger in his hands and, after moulding it slightly for a moment, he threw it back at his nephew.
Pen felt himself growing angrier. He could almost visualise the Knave’s Rite weaving its way around his body, his blood coloured by it and his watering eyes glowing as furiously red as they felt. He could see his uncle winding that invisible skein around his fingers, and Pen wanted to snatch it away and leave Napier helpless to whatever revenge he chose to take against the man who had so painfully dragged him from the happiest state he had ever known.
He glanced up at one of the enormous swords which was hanging on the wall and imagined himself severing the Rite which kept it there. His own was more powerful, as it lived and breathed along with him. Pen could see his uncle still winding the ridiculous invisible skein around his fingers and felt a sudden superiority. He did not need music or ridiculous hand gestures to wield the Rite. He could do whatever he wished just by thinking, breathing, knowing…
“That’s enough,” he heard Napier say, but that only made him angrier.
It was fine then, he thought bitterly, for his uncle to make him experience the Rite like a performing monkey and then shock him out of the experience through pain.
The sword began to shuffle away from its moorings, causing a cascade of dust and spiders’ webs to fall the twenty feet. He heard Marley calling his name, but he didn’t care. At that moment, he just wanted to show his uncle that he had the power, ability and focus to punish him for his actions.
“Stop that!” Napier shouted, just as his nephew had done seconds before. But Pen was no less stubborn than his uncle, and the sword continued to move across the room. “Stop that now!”
The hint of panic in Napier’s voice gave Pen a sense of satisfaction. He had achieved what Marley had not. He could see Napier’s fingers working frantically as he wound the Rite around them. The sword was now above his head, the pointed tip of the blade only six feet above him. With an angry cry, Pen sent it crashing down, commanding it to reach its target no matter whether or not Napier stepped out of the way.
There was a loud crash of metal as the sword fell on the floor, and the noise seemed to bring Pen back to his senses. The anger was gone, but it had been replaced with a sickening feeling of remorse and guilt which was already feasting on his insides.
“I’m so sorry,” he said.
His uncle’s face was almost as white as his right index finger, around which he had pulled the Rite tightly to prevent the sword from hitting him. Napier looked at him in silence for a few moments before shaking his head.
“It can’t be helped,” he said, his voice as calm as ever. “I should have known you had it in you. And every Rendelf must face the darker side of his apprentice sooner or later. I should be grateful it happened before you have full control of the Rite. I’ll tidy this place up. You two go and enjoy what’s left of the sunshine.”
The Book Junkie Reads . . .Reckless Dreams Interview with . . . Judith Crow . . .
What mindset or routine do you feel the need to set when preparing to write (in general whether you are working on a project or just free writing)?
We have an Inspirational playlist on Spotify, which is very important for writing! But the time I do my best novel-writing is when I’m gathered round a table with Virginia and Clemency (two of my sisters) and we have a “Story Day”. Short stories are different, though – I prefer to take myself off to write them.
Do you take your character prep to heart? Do you nurture the growth of each character all the way through to the page? Do you people watch to help with development? Or do you build upon your character during story creation?
I absolutely love getting to know my characters. At the beginning of a project, I tend to start with an idea of main plot and then get to know the characters through the journey. Sometimes, the plot changes because I realise my original plan is now pretty unlikely given who the characters have become, but that’s fine because it’s their story I’m telling so it has to be true to them!
Have you found yourself bonding with any particular character(s)? If so which one(s)?
Determination/stubbornness and vulnerability are pretty crucial combination for me when bonding with a character.
In Honour’s Rest, I really fell in love with Napier. I love how much he always tries his best but he just doesn’t get it. He’s always so convinced he’s right, and that can definitely be an annoyance in a real person, but in a character you can imagine what’s made them that way. I really enjoy thinking about the relationship between him and Erlend, his best friend. It’s not explored in the story because that’s all about the next generation, but the history is there.
Can you share your next creative project(s)? If yes, can you give a few details?
After Honour’s Rest, my next book is another story set in the same world, just hundreds of years earlier. I still haven’t settled on a name for the story, but its working title is Matthew and Alexander. I enjoyed dipping into historical fiction/fantasy and the story soon became a trilogy (working title: The Rite Histories). I’m in the middle of writing the last book and, unlike The Rite Way, each book follows a different protagonist.
Have you ever felt that there was something inside of you that you couldn't control? If so what? If no what spurs you to reach for the unexperienced?
Yes – I’m the Hulk. But I’m the Mark Ruffalo kind of Hulk who actually has learnt to control his anger and use it intentionally. It’s perfectly normal for my family or me to refer to myself as a “rage beast”, but most people I meet don’t ever see that side of me. I always think that the best friends I have are the people who have seen me in full Rage Beast mode and still come back!
If you could have dinner/dinner party with 7 fictional characters, who would they be?
Well, obviously I have to think about people who would know how to behave at a dinner party…
Can I just have the whole lot of Dianna Wynne Jones’ Chrestomanci series?! No? Okay… I’ll just take Christopher and Millie Chant and Michael Saunders from Charmed Life. Keith Windham from Flight of the Heron would get on very well with Josiah Tenterchilt from Day’s Dying Glory. Not sure if it counts as fiction or not, but I also need to have Siegfried Farnon from All Creatures Great and Small – he was a significant inspiration for the character of Napier in Honour’s Rest.
Finally, I’m going to invite Silas from The Graveyard Book too, but obviously he’s going to need some pretty specific catering…
Where would you spend one full year, if you could go ANYWhere, money is not a concern? What would you do with this time?
I know this might sound a bit boring but, if it had to be in one place and money’s not an option, I’m going to stay at home. We just bought our beautiful neo-Gothic house in Summer 2021 and there’s an awful lot of exploring still to do – it is set in its own grounds and the house has mysterious hidden rooms/cavities that you can’t easily get into. Then there’s the broch across the road and cairns up the hill…
I’d still always take a holiday to Dublin though, which usurped York as my favourite city a couple of years ago.
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