Chapter 6

Waking up alone as usual, I washed up, got dressed and let Branwen and Mary know I would be out for much of the day.

We hugged each other and briefly kissed before I left the cottage.

With map nearby, I made my way to Cardiff and the appliance store I'd seen the ads for.

Once there, I browsed the aisles looking for bargains.

I settled on a washer/dryer combo machine, a 24 inch four burner stove and oven, two microwave ovens (One as a surprise for Mary, just because.)

A medium size refrigerator and most importantly, a 40 inch TV and a BluRay player (All region of course!)

While I was in the TV section, a news program was blathering on about the sighting in Brecon of a rumored fantastical creature.

A couple of 'experts' on cryptids were opining about what it could have been.

While a movie makeup and mask maker, weighed in with her view that it was a very good mask effect, and if the artist was looking for work, they should contact her.

The staff helped me load up our truck and after securing everything, I stopped at a pub for lunch and enjoyed a leisurely pint of ale with a plate of fish and chips.

Returning to the house, I saw a small collection of news vans and the attractive media types standing around in front of cameras and babbling into their microphones.

A few curious onlookers stood nearby wondering what was going on.

I pulled the truck up to the chain I had strung across the driveway, unlocked it and pulled the truck past it.

Relocking the chain, I ignored the media types and their shoving forward of microphones, hoping to catch any stray remark from me.

Outwardly, I appeared calm while inwardly I was seething.

Stupid me had caved into Branwen's demand to be taken into town during broad daylight, against my better judgement and we were seen by many people.

Now there was a media event happening right out in front of my home.

I wondered how they had figured out where we were.

Pulling up to my apartment, I went over to Mary's cottage and was greeted by a sad looking Branwen.

She looked downcast and said quietly, "I made a mistake didn't I, I should have thought about the consequences of my actions and now we have people out front hoping to catch a glimpse of me. It's all over the local news and some people are talking about the Hellhound legend associated with this house. I'm really sorry."

I took her into my arms and held her closely until I finally said gently, "What's done is done and there's not much we can do at this point. If it's any comfort to you, there are also some people who think what was seen was an elaborate mask and they're offering the artist a job."

Branwen managed a smile through her tears and said coyly, "Where do I apply?"

I smiled at her and replied, "Sorry babe, I didn't get her contact info."

Mary asked me, "What can we do abart this? Wull they come a'knocken on me door now?"

"I do have a chain up across the driveway and several 'no trespassing' signs prominently posted, hopefully they'll respect that. I can't do much about cameras with telephoto lenses except to avoid letting them see you. Mary, they're not interested in, it's you they want to see, Branwen." I replied.

Pausing a moment, I muttered, "In the meantime, I suggest wearing a scarf to hide your ears when you go outside. Fortunately, much of this side of the house is hidden behind high walls and none of the nearby trees are tall enough for them to look over the walls."

Mary peered out the window at the truck and asked, "What on earth did you get?"

"I bought all the appliances I think I'll be needing, I had to go clear to Cardiff to get a decent price, I even got you something Mary."

At her puzzled expression, I went out to the truck and brought her the microwave oven.

She watched quietly while I unboxed it and set it up on her small counter.

I quickly explained how it worked and placed a cup of cold water inside to demonstrate.

A minute later the timer chimed and I showed her the boiling hot water.

Mary was impressed and exclaimed,"It's a wonder, this thingy you brought me, thank you so much!"

Leaving her with a microwave cook book to read, I went back to our truck and began lugging the smaller items inside.

The bigger items would require Branwen's help since she was so much stronger than me.

First, we had to wait 'til it got a bit darker, and then cover her head with a scarf to hide her wolflike ears.

When it was fairly dark outside, Branwen covered her wolflike ears with a scarf and slipped on a long coat to hide her tail.

With her helping or rather me watching, while she easily lifted the bulky refrigerator, stove, and washer/dryer combo machine off the truck and carried them inside.

She and I unboxed everything and spent the evening getting everything hooked up and in working order.

Branwen really liked the new appliances and couldn't help admiring them, the washer/dryer combo machine was all new to her and she wanted to see it working.

I just laughed and told her washing machines aren't very exciting to watch, they just sit and make churning noises until they stop.

She gave me that look, the look all men get when their women know they're being made fun of.

I shut up.

The 40 inch TV fascinated her, she was used to the ancient 13 inch black and white TV her mom had.

To her, the new TV was enormous and when she remarked about it, the look on her pretty face was almost comical when I told her there were far larger TV's available and she asked,"How much larger are you talking about?".

I smiled and pointed at one of the apartment windows while replying, "Larger than that window."

She just shook her pretty head and remarked coyly,"The one you have is more than big enough for me."

Her sly grin and subtle caress in that special way she had, clued me as to how the rest of our evening would be and how could I refuse?

She had clearly established that she was the dominant partner sexually and weak excuses were not acceptable when she was in the mood.

"Not tonight dear, I've got a headache." was no excuse.

I suppose death would be an acceptable excuse, but I didn't feel like trying out that theory, the permanence of it didn't appeal to me.

The next morning as always, I woke alone.

No matter how intense our lovemaking was the night before, she always left my bed before dawn.

I needed to resolve that issue as waking up with her in the morning had become one of my fondest wishes.

It was with no small amount of trepidation I left the house, I stopped at the chain to let myself out and was pleasantly surprised to see the media circus had left town.

In their place were several locals, all sporting improvised wolf ears and a tail.

One of them approached me and said cheerfully, "Those Londoners came to see a Hellhound, we gave them several!"

I couldn't help laughing and introduced myself.

As we shook hands he said, "It'll be good to see that house lived in again. Old Mary and her daughter have been alone far too long."

At my puzzled expression he said as an aside, "We all know about Old Mary and her daughter, and we're not about to let some Londoners come around and pry."

Needless to say, I was fairly well gob-smacked, as they say.

That, I had not expected.

I thanked them for their support and drove into Brecon and the Brecon Cathedral to see a man about a wedding.

Father Flanagan shook my hand as I entered his office and showed me to a chair.

As we took our respective seats he asked,"How are things coming along at the house?"

"I'm pretty much settled in now. There is a comfortable two bedroom apartment that is fairly modern and I've occupied that. The main house? Well, it is a work in progress, as they say. Apparently, I can restore much of it with public funding, provided I allow public access. Not quite sure if I'm ready for that just yet." I replied.

He smiled and said, "I have a feeling you have more on your mind than chatting with me about building maintenance. This wouldn't be a matter involving the church would it?"

"In a way, yes." I replied, "What are the wedding customs here and does it have to be in a church?"

He smiled and said, "Weddings can be performed as a civil ceremony, a common license would be required and the appropriate fees paid of course. If a church wedding is desired, well, that needs to meet certain requirements."

"Such as?"

"Being baptised in the church for one and regular attendance in the church for two. Banns would be required for three weeks prior to the wedding as well as a common license."

"Banns?"

"Announcements read from the pulpit, so if anyone has an objection to the marriage, they may speak up at that time."

"Ah"

He smiled and asked, "So who's the lucky girl?"

I hesitated to reply at first and finally said,"Old Mary's daughter, Branwen."

He paled even more than he was before and he paused a long moment before replying. "You've met her? Branwen is it? You've met the Hellhound of Blank manor, and you're alive to tell of it...How?!"

His face suddenly took on a whole new look and he exclaimed, "Heavens above, you were the one seen driving around Brecon with a person wearing a fake wolf's head mask...That was no mask was it? You were with the Hellhound!"

Fr. Flanagan pulled a white handkerchief out of his pocket and mopped his brow.

Clutching the white bit of cloth as if it were a talisman he said quietly, "I'm not sure if I can perform a wedding for you, considering who it is you're planning to marry. 'Branwen' is a creature spawned in hell, brought into being by a curse written in blood."

He looked out the window of his rectory office at the massive bulk of the ancient cathedral outside.

"This is a conundrum within a dilemma. I am being asked to officiate at a wedding between a mortal human and a demon spawn."

"Who never hurt anyone in her life, who has spent two centuries living in hiding, waiting for the day when the last of my family dies, so she and her mother can finally go to their rest. Some demon she is!" I retorted a bit hotly I admit, but Fr. Flanagan was annoying me.

He seemed to recoil a bit from my comment and after a moment, he smiled and said, "You're right, who are we to judge her when we have sinned in our own right. Though I am curious how you survived meeting her when the legend went 'the Hellhound will kill the last lord of the manor.' And from what you just said, that evidently hasn't happened."

I could only shrug and reply, "Because I was nice to her mother perhaps? I gave Old Mary the right to live there as long as she lives and I've listened to her while she talked. I was not rude to her like the lawyer who brought me here. I was polite, because that's the way I was raised."

I smiled at him and remarked, "If it's any comfort to you, she is just as puzzled as you are, she is well aware of the curse and its conditions, and how I have not met those conditions."

"Why do you suppose that would be?" Asked Fr. Flanagan.

"Because I am not a believer, never have been. Though I have read much of the bible out of curiosity, I have never believed in the supernatural. Seeing Branwen and Mary has caused me to do some soul searching on the matter as they do exist and are quite real to me. Real enough to wish to marry Branwen in spite of her demonic aspect."

Fr. Flanagan frowned slightly and said glumly, "Unfortunately church doctrine requires that you be baptised in the church and an active worshipper in this parish. By your own admission you are an unbeliever, even though you have been in close contact with a woman best described as being a supernatural being in every sense of the word. On that basis alone, I cannot help you. However, I do know someone who may be able to help you, unofficially of course. The home church does not know of some of the 'traditional practices' still being carried out here in Wales."

He took out a note pad and wrote something on it, he looked it over briefly then signed it and tore the top sheet off to hand it to me.

It was merely a name and a phone number with the notation "This young man requires your advice, as it is among your specialities."

I shook hands with Fr. Flanagan and thanked him for his time and trouble.

Leaving a ten pound note in the charity box, I left Brecon Cathdral and returned to the house.

I stopped and exchanged further pleasantries with the same fellow I had spoken to earlier.

He smiled and remarked, "I half expected to see you with a load of lumber or the like."

I replied, "I stopped by Brecon Cathedral to ask about wedding customs here."

The man chuckled and remarked, "They can't help you if it's the daughter you're interested in. You need to see a priestess of the old faith."

"So I heard," I replied,"In fact I was given a name and a phone number to call."

I showed him the slip of paper given me by Fr. Flanagan.

He looked it over and remarked, "I don't know her and we don't follow any Dianic traditions here. Here it's Queen Mab and her priestesses, the gwyddonod of which Old Mary is one of the oldest."

"Gwyddonod?"

"You'd know them as witches." he replied.

I chuckled and said, "I'm sorry, my impression of witches is the green faced, scary old lady with a poisoned apple for the unwitting beauty."

He laughed and replied cheerfully,"You've got a lot to learn bhoyo!"

He came around to the passenger side and got in, he grinned at me and said, "Take me to see Old Mary, we have much to talk about!"

Literally moments later, I gently knocked on Mary's door while the man stood beside me with his cap in his hand.

Mary opened the door with a puzzled look on her face and asked me,"Why did you knock? Yer practically me son-in-law, you don't need ter knock."

I smiled at her and said, "I've brought a guest and I thought it best if I knocked first."

She looked him up and down and said,"Kate's boy? I've node him since he was a sprout. Do come in, the water's almost ready!"

We entered the cozy cottage and Mary waved us to the kitchen table and I gestured for him to sit first.

I said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I didn't get your name, we just got to talking and well, here we are!"

He grinned and said, "Tom Jones, my Welsh name is very difficult to pronounce, so I go by Jones most of the time. I already know your name, word got around quickly that there was a new lord of the manor in Brecon."

I laughed and retorted, "Let me try to go around collecting taxes and see how far I get with that 'lord of the manor' nonsense."

Mary suddenly called out, "Branwen, come set the table pleaz."

The door to the rest of the cottage opened and Branwen came out.

She was wearing a simple white blouse and a dark blue voluminous skirt that allowed room for her luxurious tail.

She hesitated a moment when she saw Tom and I said,"He's on our side dear. He led a group of locals in wearing wolf's ears and tails to annoy the news media people into leaving."

Branwen smiled and her wonderful eyes flared happily when she said, "Thank you, I really appreciate what you did."

Tom's face had a look of utter rapture when he heard her speaking to him.

He almost whispered, "Never in all my born days did I ever think I'd meet Cwn Annwn herself."

Branwen smiled and came around to kiss me before helping Mary with her tea cups.

When everything was laid out and the tea and nibblies served.

The four of us sat down to talk.

I started out by recounting my experiences at Brecon Cathedral and showing them the name given to me by Fr. Flanagan.

Mary looked at the name and remarked,"The name means nothen ter me an' what is the Dianic tradition? We follow the queen's traditions around here!"

Tom nodded in agreement while Branwen looked mystified then said, "I find it interesting that a 'man of the cloth' so to speak, would be willing to help us at all. Aren't they our sworn enemies?"

I remarked half teasingly, "This is the 21st century, stake burnings aren't allowed anymore, otherwise I would have been roasted a long time ago."

Mary cleared her throat and said, "Never mind all that, they know abart us an' did nothen? Unless we were kept a secret frum the home church, they should have come after us lung ago."

I weighed in with, "Fr. Flanagan did remark to me about some 'traditional practices' being ignored by this particular church deliberately. I'd say this goes into that category."

I smiled at Mary and Branwen, "You two are kind of like an open secret around here and when the 'Londoners' turned up to see what the fuss was all about, they were deliberately misled by our neighbors."

Mary remarked half to herself,"Fr. Flanagan tain't even Welsh, why would he help us?"

Tom grinned and replied, "He's Irish and the Irish have little reason to love the English, protecting our little secret from the Church of England would be sensible then. They've yet to send an English pastor to our Cathedral, too 'rural' for them I'd say."

Innocently I remarked, "I had no idea the old resentments still linger after all this time. Of course back in the U.S. We still have the 'the south coulda won the war' types. So I shouldn't be too surprised to encounter it here."

Mary spoke up after a few more moments,"If it's a wedden yer wanten, we'll do it the auld way. In a standen circle of stones before our Queen Mab."

Branwen squealed and hugged me in her excitement while Tom grinned and consulted his pocket astronomical calendar, after a few moments he looked up and said, "Summer solstice is in three weeks, shall we try for that day, or night rather?"

When Mary nodded in agreement, Tom said cheerfully, "I know just the place!"

At my puzzled look, Tom grinned and said "It's a place called Cerrig Duon, the biggest stone is called Maen Mawr and the stone row points roughly at Waen Lleui, another standing stone. The whole thing is about four thousand years old."

Seeing my continued blank look he said, "We can go by there tomorrow, if you have the time."

I shrugged and replied,"Sure, why not? I'll get to learn the area a little better. Later on when it's dark, I can take Branwen there."

Branwen smiled happily and Mary spoke up again, "I need ter see it too, I need a feel fer the place."

Tom grinned and said, "We can all go in that fancy truck of yours. If Branwen covers up her ears and hides her tail, we can go during the day tomorrow and bring a lunch."

"Sounds like a plan!" I remarked and we all agreed on it.

I walked with Tom out to the roadway going past the house.

Once out by the roadway, he introduced me to his wife Ann and said, "We're heading out to Cerrig Duon tomorrow afternoon to look the place over."

Ann smiled and said wistfully, "Remember when we had our own wedding there?"

Tom grinned at her and replied, "How could I forget! The rains came and we were soaked but that didn't stop us. We still said our 'I do's' and here we are twenty five years later, helping another young couple honor the old ways."

Tom and I shook hands and agreed to meet up around noon tomorrow.

Getting back to the house, I opened up shipping container number two.

Inside it were the recreational items I'd brought with me, a couple of tents, ice chests, camp stoves and some cast iron cookware.

I selected the smaller ice chest and closed everything up again.

While we had agreed to a picnic, I wanted cold drinks, hence the ice chest.

I threw the half dozen 'blue ice' items I had into my freezer for the morning and selected the drinks I wanted to take with me.

For our dinner, I took my crock pot and tossed a bunch of veggies in it, laid a thick steak on top and poured a can of beef broth over everything then turned it on.

I spent the rest of the day pottering around in one of the sheds testing the electrical wiring to see if it needed any upgrades before hauling my machine tools and motorcycle stuff out of the third shipping container.

Our dinner was a quiet one, Mary enjoyed my efforts at making a pot roast and pronounced me a 'Keeper!".

Branwen merely smiled but her eyes told me I was in for a real going over later in the evening.

We had a bit of tea and some nibblies for dessert and I walked Mary to her cottage where she bade me a good night.

Returning to my apartment I found that Branwen had cleared the table and everything was soaking in the sink.

I found her in the bedroom, she was kneeling on the bed, her hands gripping the headboard, her breasts thrusting out at me.

Wearing little more than her smile, her eyes were aflame as she said in that throaty purr of a voice,"I've been waiting for you, and you know how I hate to be kept waiting!"

I barely had time to remove my clothing before she pounced and overpowered me...