Narrator's Foreword
The summer
festival in Mathomdale had always been something of a slave market but the
market of that particular year was notable for the intense speculation and
enormous amounts of money that it generated. What exactly caused this dramatic
inflation has always been open to debate. Certainly the sudden availability of
a lot of new slaves as a result of the refugee influx fuelled a buying spree
but this, in itself, one would not normally expect to raise the prices so
highly. In a normal market, one would expect the glut of merchandise to bring
prices down but this, significantly, did not occur. Indeed prices rose sharply
and, in the case of particular valued stock, reached unprecedented levels.
It is true that there had been a dearth of
young slaves on the market for some years and doubtless the excitement of
having so many newcomers now available caused something of a rush in the
market. Some have even speculated that many families had a surplus of
disposable income with which to buy new slaves, as a result of the previous
shortage and were apt to bid extravagantly. Certainly the House of Mathom, by
its espousal of the refugee cause, including its own leading example in
purchasing several of the newly dispersed slaves itself, increased the value of
these slaves. It could even be said that the House of Mathom established a
precedent, a fashion trend if you will, for the acquirement of these young
people and substantially boosted interest in them. It could also be argued that
the long drought of new slaves had created a serious vacuum among European
families that not even the influx of newcomers could fully fill. Many families
were simply stagnating at best or even falling into decline through the lack of
new blood to revitalise them. There seemed almost a desperate rush, among such
families, to acquire new slaves and restore their prestige and standing.
It is that sense
of renaissance among the families of the Line that perhaps most explains the
intense competition to acquire slaves at the Mathomdale Fair that year. It was
a renaissance that started at the top. It did not escape anybody's notice that
the House of Mathom seemed in the grip of a renewal after so many years of
stagnation. It was common knowledge that Lady Mathom had paid a record sum to
acquire the daughter of Lady Mathom's estranged wife or that she was acquiring
new slaves at a rate not seen for many years. If the House of Mathom, even
during dark days of conflict and uncertainty, was investing so heavily in its
future then other houses would take note and follow its example, for there
seemed hope in the future after all. The First House of the Line led by example
and generated the excitement that had all families scrabbling toward their own
renewal and the bright promise the new generation of slaves represented.
Thus any
available slave found themselves at the centre of unprecedented interest and
speculation. Even those of not particularly prestigious blood lines or of
exceptional quality excited high bidding and families were prepared to offer
ridiculous amounts for prime stock. So inflated did these prices become that,
in later years, the Slavery Ethics committee was compelled to put brakes on the
speculation and enforce more realistic assessments.
This growing
excitement and renaissance not only created a stampede for slaves but also for
marriage contracts. The Mathomdale Fair that year was exceptional for the
number of marriages negotiated including, as we shall see, those among some of
the highest families of the Line. There were innumerable mergers and search for
brides and grooms. The bride price of prestigious slaves rose to astronomical
heights as can be seen by the vast sums offered for the House of Mathom's own
slave, the lady Abigail. In many cases, these marriage negotiations were linked
with the rush to buy slaves as well. With slave prices rising so high they
threatened to soar beyond the reach of the smaller families and many families
joined in marriage with each other to pool their resources in order to acquire
the slaves that could guarantee their continuance.
Caught up in this
bewildering market was Julie Hawthorne who, to her considerable consternation,
daily found her own apparent value sky-rocketing. Just why there was so much
interest in what might have normally been thought to be a perfectly ordinary
young girl has been the subject of much debate. It seems to have been an
entirely speculative interest largely generated by her closeness to the very
prestigious slave, the lady Jennifer and not, for the most part, based on any
true evaluation of Julie personally. The truth is that only a few people had
even the slightest inclination of this young lady's true worth and even they
were only beginning to realise it slowly. But it was market time in Mathomdale
and Julie was caught in the maelstrom.
Chapter One
Sunday afternoons in Mathomdale were
for sports and the Sunday afternoon of the summer festival was a sporting
event. Sport held a powerful and honoured role in the life of the valley's
community and the inhabitants were deeply devoted to their sporting activities.
It was another paradox of the valley that, whereas the local people conducted
lives of admirable cooperation and communal mutual dependence, in their
sporting activities they were fiercely competitive. There were sporting
rivalries within the valley that dated back centuries and venerable old
trophies for which the possession of became the objects of fanatical dedication
and earnest longing. Sport was taken very seriously indeed in Mathomdale.
Nearly everybody participated in at least one form of sporting activity or
gaming competition. Even people of less physical capabilities fought out tense
battles in the valleys' bridge, dominoes, darts, billiards or lawn green
bowling leagues. The local joke had it that sports and games were the valley's
second most popular leisure activities.
Mathomdale also happened to be very good at sports. Indeed many a
professional talent scout looking for promising material would have been
astonished by the sheer wealth of potential contained within the valley. A
major reason for this of course was the high percentage of Alpha Sensual genes
within the valley. That genetic inheritance conferred high physical qualities
on the possessors of it. Enhanced people were exactly that; physically and
mentally enhanced. Moreover the longevity of their lives extended their
physical prime long beyond the normal span of a sporting career. There were
centenarians in Mathomdale quite capable of playing sports to Olympic
standards.
Assisting this body of undoubted potential was the fact that Mathomdale
boasted a sporting infrastructure that was possibly unique in rural Britain and
would indeed have been the envy of most large urban centres as well. There were
sports fields and sporting facilities the length and breadth of the valley and
they were all heavily used. And the facilities were superb as well. Mathom's
own cricket ground was well up to the standard of many a county cricket ground
for example. There were no less than five full size golf courses in Mathomdale,
two at least of which could have measured up in quality with the best courses
in Britain. Both Mathom and Cropton possessed large indoor sporting facilities
and the athletics ground at Mathom was second to none. Most large cities in
England did not possess an Olympic standard swimming pool at this time. In fact
in the whole of England there were only seventeen such pools. In Australia,
which had for so long produced generations of internationally famous swimmers,
there were forty-seven! Incredibly, of England's 17 Olympic pools, three were
located in Mathomdale. There were at least a dozen tennis courts within the
valley, numerous bowling greens, shooting ranges, athletics tracks, gymnasiums,
football and rugby pitches and the whole gamut of facilities of a people who
loved to play.
Nor was it only the more formalised sports, which were practiced. There
was a rich interest in rural sporting activity as well. Hunting had declined much
in the last years but angling was still popular in the valley and in equestrian
sports alone the valley could have taken on most comers without fear for there
were numerous stables and a large proportion of the young people in the valley
were astride a horse almost as soon as they could walk. In the days when the
winter snows had been more reliable there'd even been a little ski lift to the
top of Arcombe Fell and in hard winters when the village pond in Mathom had
frozen over it was popular for skating. There was even talk in the valley of
building a skating rink. Mathomdale loved to dance and with its several
ballrooms it excelled in ballroom dancing and there was even a little ballet
school near Rickholme.
Of course the valley owed this remarkable sporting infrastructure to the
wealth and patronage of Mathom Hall that donated generously to the leisure
activities in the valley. It was an enlightened policy and one, which the
neutral observer might have ruefully noted, should have passed as a fine example
for the rest of the country as a whole. At this time in its history England was
suffering somewhat of a malaise in the achievements of its sportsmen and women.
In fact it would not to be unfair to say that for a nation of such wealth and
possibility the underachievement of its population in the sports arena was
little more than a disgrace and a source of national humiliation. Inadequate
facilities, poor coaching, the decline of sports at school and the consequent
failure to interest young people in active outdoor pursuits all contributed to
this malaise. England was raising a generation of slothful, unfit young people
quite incapable for the most part of taking on the rest of the world on the
sports field. Brazilian children spent their childhood kicking footballs or,
failing that, tin cans around the street. English children sat indoors and
played computer games. Brazil routinely produced magnificent and
scintillatingly exciting national football teams. England produced overpaid
mediocrities unable to compete at the highest levels. Even in the major
football league in England foreign-born players far outnumbered home grown
English ones. The nation had to rely on foreigners to entertain them on the
football field. It was a disgrace.
It is a shame therefore that our hypothetical talent scout had never
taken the time to attend the sporting events at the Mathomdale summer festival.
It was a shame that the closed world of the valley had never been brought to
his attention, that nobody had ever said, "You're looking for some real talent?
Get yourself to Mathomdale!" For in Mathomdale he would have found material in
abundance to regain the respect for English sporting prowess. It was not just
the local population either for Alpha Sensual sportsmen and women came from all
over Northern England to avail themselves of the facilities and to compete for
the innumerable trophies the valley boasted.
They were good too. They had to be good for the standards were very high
indeed. It was almost a closed alternative sporting world to that of the
outside. Wide screen televisions showing national or international sporting
events were nearly universal in English pubs by this time but they were nearly
unknown in Mathomdale. There would be far more interest locally in a showdown between
two of the valley's top football teams than there would be in an England
international match and, it must be said, probably more entertainment to boot!
Astonishingly several unofficial world records had been broken on the athletics
field in Mathomdale and British records were broken routinely although they
were rarely if ever claimed. The valley was keenly interested in its own
sporting events but those of the outside world hardly impinged at all on it. In
the late nineteen nineties a world class international chess master made the
mistake of competing in an open chess contest in Mathomdale and barely escaped
with his reputation intact, a feat he would never have achieved if he'd been
fool enough to take on Julie Hawthorne! Mathomdale produced world-beaters with
monotonous regularity.
But of course Mathomdale would
never boast of the extraordinary sporting talent at its disposal to the outside
world. To do so would have been to advertise the unique qualities of the Alpha
Sensual human being to society at large and such an overt declaration of those
qualities had been anathema to the Line since time out of mind. The Line would
not compete with those not born to the Goddess yet; was not ready to reveal
itself and display those differences that set it apart from the rest of
humanity. It was tacitly agreed upon among the Line that there may yet come a
day when such a thing must needs occur and it had long been a forum of
speculation as to what would the performance of Alpha sportsmen and women might
be on the international stage but that day was not yet.... quite.
Many of the sports played in the valley were represented at the summer
festival but the emphasis was on athletics and country sports such as
equestrianism. Other than the traditional Mathom versus Cropton cricket
showdown there were few team sports however. More stress was laid upon
individual performance at the summer festival games since the games attracted
competitors from all over Northern England with little affinity for the team
rivalries of the valley. Of course rivalries did emerge in spite of this and
there was always somewhat of an unofficial gauging of performances between the
valley's competitors and other regions such as Brawton or the coastal regions.
Combat sports were also part of
the valley's sporting heritage with fencing and, in latter years, Eastern
Marshall arts being popular although boxing, with its increased likelihood of
actual physical harm had no real roots in the valley. These were generally
under-represented at the summer festival however with the notable exception of
wrestling. Wrestling had a long history in Mathomdale and Mathomdale rules had
pervaded the Line generally and become popularised well beyond the confines of
the valley. Indeed at this years' festival the heavy presence of a military
contingency had made possible a much-anticipated inter-service match between
champions representing the army and navy respectively with heavy betting and
much financial outlay riding on the result.
In fact the military expected to do very well at the summer games. It
was considered for instance that they would sweep all before them in the
shooting contests and certainly had enough strength in depth to dominate the
cross-country running events. They even had hopes for the Triathlon hoping that
their edge in the cross country section would give them an advantage although
in this instance they faced formidable opposition from the Brawton contingency
with their cycling prowess on the run from Marveaux to Mathom and the valley's
own swimmers who expected to leave their opponents standing on the swim across
Mathom Hall lake. They hoped for no such opposition however on the rock
climbing event on the cliffs at Aliston Crag, a relatively new event reflecting
the growing popularity for climbing in the valley. Mathomdale certainly had
some good climbers and pot-holers but the military happened to have elements of
alpine troops presence and these were supremely confident of cleaning up in
those events.
Not all the sports were taken so seriously however. Some of the games
were just for fun. These mostly included the children's sports for instance.
There were more serious sports for older youngsters but the very young competed
in such old traditional contests as the egg and spoon and sack races and one or
two other silly events that were unique to Mathomdale and its own customs.
There were also sporting events that were simply designed for comic relief. The
waiters and serving staff of the valley's pubs, restaurants and hotels for
instance held an obstacle race around the main square, dressed in full
traditional style and carrying platters of food and drink that was generally
regarded as one of the funniest events of the festival and always keenly
watched. Sally from the Mathom Arms had come within a whisker of winning the
race the previous year unfortunately losing points by upending a plate of
Spaghetti Bolognese over the head of one of the volunteers sitting at tables
around the square to act as "customers" along the course. Since the volunteer
in question had been a rather stuffy self-opinionated member of the valley
council it was widely believed that Sally had deliberately forfeited her
leading position in the interests of higher values and communal interest!
With all this multitude of sporting events taking place Jennifer and her
ladies in waiting had a busy schedule indeed. There were dozens of prizes and
trophies to distribute and several prize awarding ceremonies to attend. In fact
the events would carry on into the late afternoon and tea was scheduled to take
place at the cricket ground rather than at the Mathom Arms. Jennifer and Alice
had a particularly hectic schedule for no sooner were the day's events
concluded then they were obliged to dash back to the Mathom Arms and there
change before being whisked off to accompany their Mistress, her guests and
their brothers and sisters to dinner at the Old Mill restaurant. Jennifer
despaired. Events seem to be contriving against her and conspiring to prevent
her spending any time alone with Julie. The clearing of the air between the two
girls seemed as distant as ever. Now she would be spending the evening dining
out formally whilst the other girls were at liberty to enjoy the festival. She
was deeply troubled.