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Bridge at War
Category:
Fantasy
Type: Fiction
Pages: 227
Copyright: 18 September 2007
A prequel to New Bridge to Lyndesfarne, this book is set in 1946, immediately after the end of the Second World War. The story follows three young men (Tom, Alistair and Bram) who were comrades in the Army during the War. Bram gently introduces the world of Lyndesfarne to the others, and engineers their recruitment into the Guardians, one of the secretive organisations whose purpose is to protect the crossing to Lyndesfarne.
A prequel to New Bridge to Lyndesfarne, this story is set partially in England in 1946, and partially in the world of Lyndesfarne. In Lyndesfarne, all but the simplest technology does not work, but a sophisticated society functions using pervasive magic. The crossing between the worlds is formed by two stone causeways across the marshes, joined by the Old Bridge; its immense masonry arches are partially reinforced by both steel alloys and by magical sprites, visible as orange sparks inside the stonework itself. A short section in the middle of the central arch, in the region where neither engineering nor magic is entirely reliable, requires both metal and magical enhancement.
The story follows three young men - Alistair, Bram and Tom - who have become friends and comrades in the Army. After their return from Germany and demobilisation, the friends have no very clear idea of their future life. Neither Tom nor Alistair has close living relatives, and Bram seems unwilling to return to his family. They travel to northern England and find summer work on a farm not farm from the Island of Lyndesfarne.
From a series of barrack-room stories and pub tales, the companions learn more about Lyndesfarne, and the properties of magic, as well as some of the dangerous creatures that even now inhabit its less densely populated areas. At the end of the summer, Bram resolves to visit his family who, it now transpires, live on Lyndesfarne. Tom and Alistair elect to accompany Bram, and the companions journey together across the causeway and bridge.
Much to their surprise, Tom and Alistair are welcomed warmly at Bram's family home. It transpires that Bram has been acting as a spy, an agent for the Lyndesfarne organisations, reporting on the progress of the War. It also becomes clear that Bram has been subtly attempting to recruit the others to join the Guardians, the organisation that is partially responsible for policing the crossing between the worlds.
Intrigued, Tom and Alistair agree to sign up, and are shortly transported to Cliviger Grange, the Guardian training school. Here, they learn much more about the properties of magic, and are introduced to the day-to-day responsibilities of the Guardians. He also learns about the Watchers, a more secretive organisation responsible for monitoring movements in the area surrounding the crossing, whose members have been mistaken for monks from the Holy Island of Lyndesfarne in the past.
Despite what he has been told, Tom begins to suspect that magic can sometimes work outside Lyndesfarne. Meanwhile, Alistair becomes attached to the Guides, and forms a romantic attachment with Yise, Bram's sister. It emerges that Bram is older than the others had thought, and is associated with senior parts of the organisations responsible for protecting the crossing.
It becomes clear to Tom that, although the War in Europe may be over, there is still a war going on around the Lyndesfarne crossing. By a combination of sharp wits and good luck, Tom is instrumental in foiling several attacks on the crossing: an attempt from the England side to blow up the bridge with explosives, and an attack from Lyndesfarne that would have set loose a horde of dangerous dragons in the English countryside. Tom also becomes suspicious of the Warden of Cliviger grange, Major Markham, having accidentally observed a private meeting between the Major and Hamet, Bram's uncle.
Alistair tells a tale of escorting Tarm, his VIP visitor from Lyndesfarne, who had also had a sexret meeting with Markham. Alistair and Tom begin to believe that Tarm is somehow involved in another conspiracy to close the crossing between the worlds.
Tarm and Hamet disappear mysteriously, and are later revealed as agents of Agrea, a country in the Other World that had maintained loose affiliations with Nazi Germany. Tom and Alistair, now rejoined by Bram, investigate the disappearance. Tom intercepts information suggesting another attack on the crossing is immanent, and catches Hamet trying to sabotage the communications between the worlds. Tom heroically succeeds in foiling Hamet, but falls from the tower. Shaken and injured, he awakes in the infirmary, instrumental in the exposure of numerous secrets.
Excerpt
"My story is a tale of a group of companions, travellers from England in an age long past, who came to Ireland on a mission of vital importance."
It became rapidly clear to Tom that the inscrutable lady had originated from the Emerald Isle, or at least had spent a considerable amount of time there. He could hear her accent broadening noticeably as she relaxed into her story, or perhaps it was merely the effect of the port and lemon.
"My tale is set in the island of mystery, many years ago, when all of Ireland was a single country - when, indeed, Ireland was still the gateway to the world of Faerie."
Tom and Alistair were both immediately spell-bound by her words, leaning forward to make sure they missed nothing. Bram too was listening intently.
"In those days, the journey across the sea to Ireland was perilous in itself, with storms at sea and huge waves. Ships frequently sunk, and a voyage set out in fair weather could still end in excitement, danger and death. But yet people came over the water."
"If it was so hazardous, then why did people risk the journey?" Tom asked.
"Oh, there were many, many reasons," she explained, "Most of them entirely mundane - trade, curiosity, people seeking their fortune. But a few, a very few, came to seek knowledge of the world of Faerie or even to gain access to that world."
"Entering a Faerie world?" Tom gasped disbelievingly.
He was unsure how to react, although the strange lady seemed entirely serious. Alistair seemed struck dumb. Sunk in the gloom of the bar, it was difficult to tell whether Bram had reacted at all.
"That is so," the mystic replied calmly, "And a few sought it out. Some came from England, others journeyed from further afield, having travelled great distances across the world, with the crossing to Ireland being merely another part of their journey. These selected few had heard of wonderful things from the world of Faerie, strange and exotic, complex and magical, and wished to see them all for themselves."
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