Blasted Past: Part Fourteen

The Cardiganshire countryside flashed by, as Lady Sylvia guided her little sports car down the narrow lanes of the county. In the passenger seat, the man in brown tried to keep his eyes on the road, in part because Lady Sylvia's eyes seemed to be everywhere but. A tall column, standing on a hill, attracted the attention of the young aristocrat.

"There's one just like it near Aberystwyth," she observed, "why's that?"

"Coincidence," the man spoke softly. "The column you see was built as an eye-catcher from Derry Ormond House, which is now demolished. The one at Aberystwyth was built in honour of the Duke of Wellington. There ought to be a connection, but no-one knows of one."

"And where are we going?"Lady Sylvia looked away from the road again.

"If you can get us there without killing the pair of us," the man in brown winced, as a car narrowly missed them, "then we're supposed to be going to Lampeter, the other university town in this county. There's a retired professor there I think we ought to see."

"Hey!" Lady Sylvia's eyes widened, "when did this become a jont operation? Last time I looked, Im the Green Man's agent."

"And I, my dear," the man laughed, "am the local agent of the same gentleman. Now, the chap we're due to see is a certain Professor Cadwgan Hughes. He used to teach engineering at Cardiff University, but he retired here to become an expert on Welsh folklore. That makes him the perfect source for further information on the Nanteos grail. Apparently he's in the process of writing a book on the subject. Has been for the past decade."

The car swept into Lampeter, narrowly missing a bus. Lady Sylvia sounded her horn, as the car mounted the kerb, causing several pedestrians a fright. The man in brown shook his head, covering his eyes, as the young aristocrat skidded into a side-road.

"And, if you've done with almost killing people," the man sighed again, "it's a big detatched house, just past the church."

Lady Sylvia gave the man a dirty look, but followed his directions nevertheless.