Dark Heart

I met someone recently that has soon become a dear friend. Whilst talking, Justine told me she had written a book entitled Dark Heart. Justine explained a little about the book and the fact that she would like to publish it. I told Justine what I was doing - the fact that I was publishing my book on the internet for everyone to read free of charge, and Justine liked this Idea. I am so happy, because today, Justine’s book has been published on tpuc and I have her express permission to publish the book in its entirety.

For now the first chapter is published. If you require more chapters to read, then please ask via the comments section. As my book, I will publish one chapter per week.

On another matter, due to recent events, I am now happy to say that part one of my book is to be published in a matter of a few months. After talking to Justine we have decided to do a dual book launch at the same time. News of this will be published when a date has been finalised.

I would like to extend this to anyone out there who would like to do the same. This is against the recognised way of doing things, obviously not giving your work a way for free. But I have found by doing this that most people I have spoken to would love to buy a book, even after reading it on the internet. If this is something you would like to do, then please get in touch with me via john@tpuc.org

It does not matter what the subject matter is about, we will look at everything objectively. But for now, please enjoy Dark Heart.

Copyright © Justine Norris 2010 All rights reserved

Prologue

The past, present and future is but one, connected only by time. Time can be manipulated. Time has been man-made. Time, be it absolute, universal or personal, real or imaginary is not straight, it curves, and bends at will, and it gets interesting when you add matter to it, as this warps space-time. Anyone can time travel, just take a look one night up into the sky and look at the stars... you’ve just time travelled.

Stone age Britain.

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Chapters 1  2  3  4  5  6  7

Chapter 1

The man with a normally confident therefore sanguine appearance had been travelling now constantly for many weeks, although he was now looked understandably very tired and felt extremely hungry, and this showed in his mannerism. He sought out the next natural marker with haste, confirming what he thought he already knew. He was near his destination. The winter months meant less obtainable food and his stomach rumbled with his hunger, his bones were now feeling the harsh coldness of the sleeping earth and he longed for a bed not made of fern or a caves unyielding floor. He was patriarchal, almost forty, yet his educated mind was as sharp as ever. He knew from past wanderings that a dwelling lay over the next hill, past the marker stones which he could just make out in the distance. (Stones had sometimes been laid out by his ancestors, especially if the ground was low and therefore had no high location to act as a lookout point, marking the track ways with avenues of aligned stones they showed the course to the next marker, they had also set up the beacons of fires on the hills in this country. They had told their stories on the walls of caves, using plant and clay as paint). He knew he would soon be by a wooded clearing so with renewed energy he traipsed on. Soon he would cross over a narrow river. He would use the small boat that was stationed there to do this and then use the ropes attached to two trees both side of the water and obviously attached to the boat also, to pull it back across the water to its original position ready for its next visitor. Then he would only have a short but steep climb to the hill fort and be greeted with a hot meal, good new beer and long hearty conversation. All this awaited him.

He peered up into the sky, Sol the sun was loosing his strength, and his heat was diminishing quickly. He suddenly felt very lonely. He hadn’t seen any scouts for weeks he supposed the cold weather was keeping everyone by their heath fires or any animals for that matter for two days now, and he longed for human contact. Snow gently began to fall again. He already struggled within its confines; it sucked at his strength with every painful crunch. Big blisters had formed on his feet and burst long ago. They had been treated with salves, but the pain remained, even the cold did not extinguish that. His boots had been worn thin and gave him no protection any more. This journey had become a test of endurance. He raised a gloved hand and caught a big, heavy flake. He sighed. It was so beautiful. The silent death, this is what snow was called by some people and with good reason. If you had no shelter then this pretty crystal water killed, everyone knew that water could be a powerful force. Hunters had been killed up in the hills by snow.  It wasn’t a rare occurrence. Water came in many disguises all of them deadly. It must be treated with respect like all elements. The man sucked in a piercing cold breath, blew out dragon’s breath and continued. He needed a new apprentice, he realised he was getting too old to do this on his own. Not long now he thought, not far to go. That thought gave him pitiful comfort.

He walked across the land that someday would become Britain. This man was well known all over. He travelled the peninsula continuously using the old paths and trade-ways, going from homestead to homestead. He was welcomed by all and almost treated like a chief, except with maybe a little more respect. He brought news from all over the land, new ideas, and wonderful stories of the tribes, either their own stories or others.  His job took years to learn, and he knew cures for all ailments, be it people or animals, he was consulted often on tribal issues, the law, he consulted with the Gods and ancestors, built structures, knew the Earth Mother, so that his knowledge of plants, trees, herbs and flowers grew as they did. He kept alive the stories of people near and far, entertained with magic, riddles and conjuring tricks. He told the deeds of other tribes, he inspired others to follow suite. He brought comfort and many more skills to the strung-out people, and although there were many of his kind, it was rare for any two to be together. Sometimes at the great feasts they would meet, but often not even then, only when there was real trouble in the land, and then it would take time to gather. They had an annual meeting with various chiefs at various times and locations but that was all planned in advance. They had a lot of ground to cover, and they didn’t just stay in Britain. Sometimes they would have a companion with them, a student and sometimes they were not much older than a small child.

The jobs they done seem to be constantly growing. One of his friends specialised in the building of temples, be it a little one for a small tribe, or a huge construction for a bigger tribes. They would consecrate the circles with the usual magical pomp, which would last all the day and well into the night. It would be a huge celebration, and everyone would have a really fun time. People needed this as it wasn’t an easy life for many. They had to learn the ways of animals, birds, and sometimes made decisions by the sacrifices they performed. Yet they still had even more skills. They would teach tribes how to impose magic into their weapons, by the use of charms, and how to paint the image of animals upon the weapon, be it knives or spears, how to tap into and use basic magic. Hunting tools were important, they would either fly straight and true, therefore you ate, (after giving up thanks to the animal), or the weapon would miss and you would go hungry. Magic was needed by the people, it surrounded them. It was in a lot of them. The ways a bird flew was one of the ways the Gods spoke, and bird lore was well known and used often. They used the way of animals too, anything that was natural.

They constantly sought out knowledge.

One of the first lessons they would teach to an apprentice was that everything is connected. They would demonstrate this by using the snake symbol as an example. The Norsemen, later in time would teach the way of the Webb to explain connections. This was based on the same ancient teachings, only it had by then been modified. Think of a spiders’ web. The wise man said that all you had to do is use your eyes, which was true, people, trees, animals, the elements, weather, everything is connected, and once you grasped this first lesson then you were ready to move on. It took a surprisingly long time for some people to really understand this, and apparently still does! Each tribe would have their own names for their own Gods or heroes. Many were universal but it depended on where you lived and what you grew or hunted depended on which Gods you spoke to.  The Gods were spirit, not in heaven, (this is such a late concept,) but in you. All is connected. They would also teach diplomacy to the chiefs, and to listen to what was being said, to use their ears and to act justly. Therefore ensuring they would govern well.

The wise would listen to insects and learn from them, the insects told people by their actions where their place in the world was, what their job on this planet was and where they fitted in, like the bees that supply sweet honey, the flies that eat away our dung and maggots that cleanse our wounds. Wasps taught humans how to make paper, with their nests and Glow worms showed humans electricity. Insects are so useful, and insects also have life so they must have soul too.  If it breaths it lives, if it lives, it has spirit, if it has spirit it is connected and in some way connected or inside you. Humans and rocks all made out of the same stuff. We are all connected. But sometimes there are things that you do not want to be connected to, that are no good. They are harmful to us, and the wise mans job then would be to find it, and use his magic to dispel it. He or she would call upon all his or her strength, and knowledge. Sometimes it seemed the battle between light and dark never ended, but then you only had to look at nature to understand that, you had only to learn about the planets to know the perpetual fight of the cosmos, dark v light. It was a wise man that said he knew nothing. The tribe would kill him if he lied or cheated them, it wasn’t a good policy to lie, and never is. It was the same for the Chief, and if something like the crops failed then he was responsible and he would pay the price, but the Chiefs and the Wiseman always worked together for the common good of the tribes.

That was the heart of the tribes. Everyone would work for each-other, a little community, all working for and with each-other. Everyone knew their place, what was required of them. When you were too ill to work, then someone would look after you, possibly in old age, though this wasn’t really expected, as life was very difficult, and a lot harder than we could understand now. It is too far in the past now to understand that.

This was the time BEFORE politics...

A little flake of snow floated past his face, it was so pretty, so delicate and perfectly formed, each little star shape was unique. It suddenly stopped in mid-air, paused then jolted back to the awaiting earth, the man knew that time had stopped again, that was becoming most often just recently, and it was strange to him to actually be able to see a time dysfunction. He was never too certain whether it was him manipulating time, or the cosmic power helping him, all he knew that it just was...

The little flake was so perfect, a few more landed on his clothing of woven fabric and fur, he gazed at these frozen wonders for a second, then with a deep cold breath walked briskly forward. This man was not alone, and his kind would travel the Earth forever. He was also a free-thinker...

Please click here to read Chapter 2