The Dream Weavers by Barbara Erskine (books you have to read txt) 📕

At first it was fun; a great adventure. She had worn her boots and had her rucksack with her. Stocking up with sandwiches and water from a shop near the station at Llangollen, she was on her way. She had her phone but she kept it switched off. She had no intention of letting Felix track her down. It never occurred to her that her mother might call the police. She only wished she hadn’t rung her father. It had been too soon. She wasn’t ready.

She knew where to go next. The man at Valle Crucis had been helpful. She was lucky enough to pick up a bus for part of the way, but otherwise, she walked. Her feet were covered in blisters by the time she arrived at Meifod.

Elisedd wasn’t at the church of St Tysilio. He had never returned there. A kind woman had directed her to a B & B and there with the help of her host she had found a book that mentioned Mathrafal as the seat of the kings of Powys.

He wasn’t there either.

She was almost in tears, exhausted and hungry, when the pickup pulled in beside her. ‘Yes,’ she replied. ‘I’d love a lift.’

‘Hop in then.’ The driver pushed the door open. ‘Chuck your rucksack in there. Don’t mind the dogs.’

The footwell was full of rubbish and the seat was covered in notebooks and leaflets and sheets of old instructions covered in oily finger marks. She manoeuvred her way in beside him.

He gave her a quick glance as he engaged gear. ‘You look just about done in. I reckon my wife can find you something to eat.’

‘Thank you.’

‘So, where were you really going?’

The tears came at last. ‘I don’t know. I was going to meet someone, but he wasn’t there.’

‘Boyfriend, is it?’ He turned off the road and they bumped up a track for some half a mile before pulling up outside a long low stone-built house covered in ivy. He climbed out and went round to the side to pull her rucksack out as the dogs raced away round the back of the house.

‘What’s going on, Dai?’ A woman appeared at the door. Small and plump, with a rosy-faced smile, she was wearing an apron and her hands were covered in flour. ‘Who is this?’

‘Young lady in need of some TLC, Annie.’ The old man smiled kindly. ‘I reckon she’s had a bit of a disappointment. A cup of tea wouldn’t come amiss. I’ll leave you to it while I go and feed the dogs.’

Emma followed Annie into her kitchen and sat down at the large scrubbed table watching miserably as the woman rolled out the dough from her mixing bowl, cut it into rounds and put them deftly onto the greased bakestone on top of the old black range. Annie washed her hands and filled the kettle, sliding it onto the hotplate. ‘So,’ she sat down. ‘Do you want to tell me what’s happened, cariad? How can we help?’

Her kindness was the last straw. Emma burst into tears again. She poured out her story, or most of it. She didn’t tell Annie that her parents would be looking for her frantically, she didn’t mention the missed exams and she didn’t mention the fact that her boyfriend had died 1200 years ago. None of that made sense, even to her. All she knew was that she had to find him.

‘What made you think he’d be at Meifod?’

By now Annie had poured the tea and, retrieving the hot Welsh cakes straight from the griddle, sugared and buttered a couple, put them on a plate and pushed it in front of Emma. The kitchen was full of the sweet, spicy smell.

‘That was where he came from originally.’

‘And he agreed to meet you there?’

Emma sipped her tea gratefully and reached out to her plate. ‘Yes. No. We planned it long ago. He didn’t know I was coming today. It was a surprise.’

‘Have you rung him?’

Emma shook her head. She groped for a believable excuse. ‘My battery is flat.’

‘Then you plug your phone in right now and charge it up.’ The woman climbed to her feet. ‘We may look a bit old fashioned here, but we do know about mobile telephones. Our son made sure we had all the technology – and sometimes we even know how to use it.’ She smiled.

Emma could hardly refuse. She produced her phone and the charging cable from her rucksack, ignoring all the missed calls that flashed up as she plugged it in. ‘He used to tell me all about his land of Wales and how beautiful it was. He said one day he would take me to see a place where there were dragons and the shrine of a saint who loved hares.’

‘Ah.’ The old lady nodded gravely. ‘I’m not sure I can help you with dragons. One never knows where they will be found these days, if at all. They’re quite rare you know,’ she gave another gentle smile, ‘but the shrine to the patron saint of hares, there I can help you. That’s not too far away.’

Emma felt a huge surge of hope. ‘Do you think he might be there? We talked about it so often. The King of Powys who gave the princess the land for the shrine was an ancestor of his.’

‘My goodness. Proper Welsh he is then, this boyfriend of yours.’ She pushed the plate in Emma’s direction. ‘Well, you finish up your tea and have another of those Welsh cakes and I’ll get Dai to drive you up there and see if the boy’s there. How about that?’

‘Mum!’ Felix burst into the sitting room where his mother was sitting alone, staring into space. ‘Emma’s just popped up on my phone.’ He held it out to her.

‘Oh thank God!’ Val burst into tears. ‘Where is she?’

‘Exactly where Dad rang from. A place called Meifod. I’ve looked it up. It’s in what was Montgomeryshire. That’s in Wales,’ he added. ‘It’s an hour and