Talisman Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Once again I made my way downstairs and handed an object over to Perdita. But as she went over to an empty niche with it in her arms, I felt guilty. What had I done to Talisman de Malherbe? What had I done to her life? Had I condemned her to a miserable existence, married to the bullying son of a bullying man? Once again, as soon as Perdita had placed the guerdon in its niche, lights came on and the background noise changed. And now, as I looked around, I saw that there were other changes as well. Slight, but definite. “Ship looks different!”
“Yes. As she regains her power, she can begin healing herself.”
I watched the rainbow colours shift and change on the walls. It was almost like watching a heart beat.
“Oh,” Perdita added. “With this guerdon home, ship will have the power to heat the cold water for you.”
“Hot water? You mean I can have a bath? But how? There’s no boiler, and nothing comes out of the hot taps at all.” “No. Ship can heat the cold water for you as it comes into the house – she’s close enough to the pipes. Knock on the tap several times when you want hot water, and she’ll feel the vibrations. She can’t manage it too often, but every few days should be all right.” A bath! This was too good to be true. This called for a bit of serious cleaning as well. I cleaned that bath until it sparkled – and scrubbed the floor as well: I didn’t fancy putting wet bare feet onto it. The walls would have to wait a little – and I could tell that I’d be re-doing the floor after cleaning the walls! Then I banged on the cold tap several times, turned it on, and after a few moments a slow but steady stream of hot water (oh wow!) came out of it. As I ate my breakfast next morning (Special K! Breakfast cereal!) I was wondering what to do next. Not because I couldn’t think of anything, but because there was so much to do! Finish painting the kitchen? Clean the bathroom walls? Attack the garden some more? Start re-painting and re-covering the chairs? No – first on my list was to find out what had happened to Talisman de Malherbe. What had I done to her? Maybe the Professor would know. After I’d got dressed (and it was so nice to be wearing knickers again!) I went out into the garden to phone home. I got Harry this time, so I told him all about the Norman history I’d been “learning” (and wondered why we’d never done any of this at school. All we ever seemed to do was Hitler and WWII, or the Industrial Revolution).
“And the really interesting thing was how much power and responsibility women had. They often ran great estates while their husbands were away fighting – they had to be really capable and strong.”
Harry laughed. “Well, you’re obviously really enjoying yourself. Do you get to do any cooking at all?”
“No, just prep stuff. And lots and lots of washing up.”
He laughed again, and I hung up, pleased to know that he wasn’t worrying about me. I asked the Professor about Talisman de Malherbe as we were playing chess together. He claimed I was trying to put him off his game, but he went and looked some stuff up for me anyway, and told me about it as we played. It didn’t seem to make much difference to his game – he still played me off the board!
“Talisman de Malherbe. Eldest daughter of Sir Pierre de Malherbe, and his wife Anna. Now, I found out about her through the Longwood Manor records. There’s a mention of a Roger and Talisman Malherbe, who seem to have both lived into their seventies – a great age indeed, back then. They seem to have been a kind of family legend, for they’re mentioned in a letter written some hundred years after their death – here it is…”
He flipped over some pages, and read aloud to me.
“that you may be lyk Talismanne, whose beaute hoole and stidefaste governaunce and gentilnesse did delyten her housbounde Roger all their long yeres of paisible, swete and blissful lyf.”
I looked blankly at him, and he translated.
“She was really beautiful, really kind and they had a very long and very happy marriage. Interestingly, the family seems to have changed their name to Longwood at some point – taken the name of the manor as their own.” It had worked out for her! I was so relieved. And then I remembered what Mathilde had said about Roger’s mother – that she had been a kind and gentle lady – and that Hugo had complained that his son was a milksop. But had I changed her past, or had this always happened? Or had it happened because I’d gone back in time? This was seriously mysterious. And this garden was an appalling mess. Time to do something about a bit of it, at least. One thing I had learnt from Talisman de Malherbe was how to work hard! I missed the company though – and I really missed having parents who loved me. I took to sending Harry and Sapphire silly text messages from time to time, as well as phoning them daily.
I finished the walls in the kitchen, and used an enormous amount of green paint up, painting the chairs, the table-legs, the cupboard, the sink – but I liked it afterwards. And I got Perdita to buy some fabric and re-covered the chairs as well, which mostly involved a hammer and tacks, though there was some sewing too. I painted the windows (that was fiddly) and thought about making curtains, but decided that would be a lot of hand sewing. And all the time, I was wondering where Ship would send me next. I was making the beginnings of a garden. As I weeded, I thought about my experiences so far. Both Miss Aislaby, and Hugo de Malherbe had been – well, weird, I guess, would be one way of putting it. Obviously the guerdon affected people’s personalities quite noticeably. Next time Ship sent me somewhere, I should be able to spot it. But I must ask Perdita how a guerdon could bring luck. And where the one belonging to this house was now, for I had seen nothing like the other guerdons anywhere in the house. I headed off towards the old orchard – I thought I might try clearing away some of the weeds round the few remaining fruit trees. There was a pretty pink flower by the old gate, fighting its way up through the brambles, and I made a mental note to move it to the cleared end of the garden. And then the voices started and everything went black again. I recognised the little circle of standing stones. And the house behind me was familiar in part. But what had happened to everything around me? Where were the tidy, productive gardens? Everything looked so decayed and derelict.