Met by Moonlight: Synopsis
ഀഀഀഀഀSETTING: Puritan England in 1647, during the height of theഀEnglish Civil War.
ഀഀHEROINE: Diana Crossways is a modern 20th century woman, aഀspecialist in restoring antique books. Diana is tall, blond,ഀblue-eyed, and looks very wholesome in a Cybill Shepard/ChristieഀBrinkley sort of way.
ഀഀHERO: Upright-Before-The-Lord Makepeace (later revealed to beഀShadow of the Shining Ones) is a 17th century witch-hunter,ഀassistant to Matthew Hopkins. Upright has dark eyes and longഀblack hair: think Daniel Day-Lewis from Last of the Mohicans orഀAntonio Banderas from Interview With The Vampire.
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ഀഀIt's Halloween, and Diana Crossways is more interested inഀgetting to her coven meeting than in staying late to close upഀWitch Hunt, her Salem, Massachusetts occult bookstore. Besides,ഀthere's a big thunderstorm brewing, and she'd like to get to theഀcovenstead before it breaks. Unfortunately, a special messengerഀhas just delivered a rare book for restoration, and Diana wantsഀto get it unpacked and take a quick look at it before leaving. ഀShe discovers the book is an ancient handwritten volume, nearlyഀfalling apart, but just as she begins to look at it, there is aഀviolent crack of thunder and all the lights in the store go out.
ഀഀThe storm gets worse and Diana is driven from the workroomഀclutching the book only to find herself outdoors on a starlitഀsummer night in a strange wooded landscape. Twentieth-CenturyഀSalem has vanished.
ഀഀStumbling through the woods, growing more and more worriedഀby the moment, Diana finally panics completely when she runs intoഀa grim, pale man, dressed entirely in black, who glares at herഀmutely: Upright-Before-The-Lord. She feels an attraction to himഀstronger than any she has ever known, but flees in blind panic asഀhe uses his elven magic on her to drive her away from him for herഀown safety.
ഀഀWhen she stops running, Diana finds herself in a forestഀglade with a small fire in the center, where twelve women inഀPuritan dress surround a man in a horned stag mask. Diana hasഀfound the local witches' coven.
ഀഀThe pentacle around her neck -- which the witches call theഀgoosefoot cross -- marks Diana as one of their own, as does theഀbook she is carrying. Diana did not have time to look at itഀbefore, but now sees that it is a Book of Shadows, a witch'sഀspellbook. But what is of more interest to her at the moment isഀthe fact that everyone here at the coven meeting believes thatഀthis is the 17th century, and that simply by coming here toഀworship they are putting their lives in danger. Exhausted,ഀterrified, and fuddled by the drink that they give her, Dianaഀfalls asleep on a pile of cloaks and dreams of the burning-eyedഀstranger in the woods.
ഀഀA member of the coven, Mistress Abigail Fortune, awakensഀDiana the next morning and brings her back with her to theഀcoastal village of Talitho at the edge of the New Forest inഀHampshire, England. Though Mistress Fortune believes Diana to beഀa Shining One from the Hollow Hills, she will pass Diana off asഀher niece from London, Mistress Anne Mallow.
ഀഀOver the next month Diana begins slowly to adjust to theഀsituation, but just before the next full moon (July) theഀterrifying news comes that The Witchfinder General of England,ഀMatthew Hopkins, is to visit Talitho. When Hopkins gets to theഀvillage, Diana receives a second shock: one of Hopkins'ഀassistants, Upright Makepeace, is the man she fled from in theഀforest on the first night she arrived.
ഀഀThough Diana hoped that the power that drew her here wouldഀsend her home again once the moon is full once more, the onlyഀthing she meets in the woods that night is Upright-Before-The-ഀLord, with whom she shares some pulse-pounding kisses. Thoughഀshe is enormously drawn to him, Diana believes that Upright-ഀBefore-The-Lord is either crazy, simpleminded, a murderer, or allഀthree: Diana hates herself for obsessing on him.
ഀഀFrom the moment he saw Diana, Upright knew that there was aഀmagical bond between them. He is fighting this bond with aഀdesperate intensity, knowing that it means Diana is a Witch andഀthat Hopkins will kill her if he finds out. Upright's greatestഀfear is that he may somehow betray Diana into Hopkins' clutchesഀhimself, and so, though he desperately longs to possess her, heഀattempts to treat her with brutal indifference.
ഀഀAs soon as Diana discovers who and what Upright Makepeaceഀis, she realizes she should loathe him and all he stands for. ഀBut she doesn't find it easy, or even possible. Diana isഀcompulsively drawn to Upright, and wonders at the aura of sorrowഀhe seems to carry with him. After their first encounter in theഀvillage, they continue to meet, at first by accident but then onഀpurpose, drawn together by a power each of them is helpless toഀwithstand.
ഀഀHopkins begins to draw his web of persecution about theഀlittle village. Diana tries to tell the coven that Hopkins is aഀfraud, who does not believe in witches or possess a Writ fromഀParliament legitimizing his actions, but all she accomplishes isഀto get the Magister of the coven -- who is also the local pastor,ഀEdmund Conyngham -- to call a Grand Coven for Lammas (August 1),ഀto work magic against Hopkins. A Grand Coven is a meeting of allഀthe covens in a 50-mile radius.
ഀഀAs the date approaches, Diana realizes that she herself isഀthe greatest danger to Mistress Fortune, and decides that for theഀgood of all she must leave. On the secluded hillside above theഀchurchyard she meets Upright once more, and surrenders to theഀdesire she feels for him. During their tryst, Diana catches aഀglimpse of the magnificent man he truly is -- and begins toഀrealize that Upright-Before-The-Lord is something more thanഀhuman.
ഀഀUpright wishes Diana to leave with him -- he has found theഀstrength through his love for her to escape Matthew Hopkins. Heഀtells her that Hopkins knows about the coven's meeting tonightഀand plans to arrest them. Diana, thinking that Upright hasഀbetrayed the coven to Hopkins, runs to warn them, but is tooഀlate, and is captured as well.
ഀഀUpright returns to Hopkins, hoping Hopkins will not guessഀthe depth of his rebellion and that he will have a chance to freeഀDiana. But Hopkins already knows, and when Upright returns toഀhim, Hopkins and his other assistant, John Sterne, seal Uprightഀ(who is violently claustrophobic) into a coffin, telling him thatഀhe is to be buried alive.
ഀഀThe next time Diana sees Upright -- in Hopkins' office atഀChristchurch Gaol, the man she loved has vanished, and Uprightഀhas become a ranting witch-hunter, whom Hopkins charges withഀobtaining Diana's confession. Over the next several weeks, Dianaഀcomes to realize that Upright has been programmed, and that sheഀmust do all she can to break it.
ഀഀOne night Upright, tormented beyond endurance both byഀHopkins and by his own awakened feelings for Diana, drags Dianaഀdown to the Long Chamber where suspects are tortured, determinedഀto have her confession by any means. What begins as intendedഀrape turns into mutual seduction, and in Diana's arms UprightഀMakepeace vanishes, and Shadow of the Shining Ones recovers hisഀmemory, his soul -- and his elvish power.
ഀഀBut before he can act on this new knowledge, Hopkinsഀdenounces Shadow as a witch and he, too, is imprisoned.
ഀഀFinally Diana and Shadow -- or Upright Makepeace -- areഀbrought to trial, the first of Hopkins' victims to be tried. Sheഀdenounces Hopkins, and discovers that her patient subversion hasഀborne fruit: several weeks before, Pastor Conyngham sent toഀLondon for help, and no Judge Daniel Merriam arrives with aഀwarrant for Hopkins' arrest. In the ensuing riot, Diana andഀShadow escape.
ഀഀDiana and Shadow are led to safety by the shimmering visionഀof a mystic white stag which leads them to a cave deep in theഀwoods where they consummate their love in freedom for the firstഀtime. For the next month, Shadow and Diana hide in the woods,ഀliving a primitive yet oddly pleasant life. Shadow revertsഀtotally to his elvish heritage, painting his body in camouflageഀcolors and looking exactly like what he is -- a Shining One fromഀthe Hollow Hills.
ഀഀOn Halloween Eve, 1647, while bathing in a forest pool,ഀDiana and Shadow are discovered by Mistress Fortune, whom Dianaഀthought was dead. She tells them that Hopkins was proven a witchഀwith his own lying instruments and put to death.
ഀഀSuddenly Diana realizes that she has the opportunity to goഀhome as well, and asks Mistress Fortune if the coven will work toഀsend her home. Mistress Fortune agrees.
ഀഀShadow is hurt and baffled by this decision, since heഀrecognizes Diana as his righ-malkin; his bonded mate. The moreഀDiana tries to explain why it's a good thing for her to go, theഀmore she realizes that she wants to return to her own time mostlyഀout of habit -- and the fear that if she stays, she willഀdisappoint or hurt Shadow in some way even worse than thisഀrejection of him.
ഀഀBut when Diana stands within the coven's circle of power,ഀshe realizes that love with all its painful uncertainty is betterഀthan safety, and breaks free from the circle to find Shadow, andഀjourney with him back to his ancestral Hills in Ireland.
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ഀഀHISTORICAL BACKGROUND (See also historical note at end ofഀmanuscript):
ഀഀThe English Civil War served as a backdrop to an even bloodier episode in human history: the witch hunts in which thousands died for no crime greater than being different. Whole villages were exterminated as the web of accusations spread.
ഀഀMatthew Hopkins, self-styled "Witchfinder General of AllഀEngland" was a real person, a sleazy con-man who could be hiredഀto seek out and destroy witches. Hopkins was in his earlyഀtwenties when he began his career, and apparently did not believeഀin witchcraft himself, but he was cunning enough to falsify hisഀresults with a set of cleverly designed tools that could proveഀanyone to be a witch. From the confiscated property of hisഀvictims, Hopkins soon became one of the richest men in England (aഀsort of Puritan Yuppie: Young, Upwardly-mobile Persecutor), butഀin 1647, Hopkins vanishes from history. The events in Met byഀMoonlight are set just after Hopkins vanishes from the historicalഀstage and present a reasonable coda to his career, incorporatingഀone of the most persistent legends of its end: that Hopkins wasഀaccused of witchcraft himself and died as a direct result.
ഀഀThe form of witchcraft (Wicca) practiced by the villagers inഀMet by Moonlight is a reconstruction of a possible survivingഀGoddess religion, based on the trial records of the period. Forഀthe purposes of my story, I postulate that the witches learnedഀthe worship of the Forest Lord and the White Lady from theഀ(fictional) Shining Ones in remote antiquity, and also that byഀthe 17th century retain only a garbled legend of the Shining Onesഀas fearsome beings with awesome powers to heal or kill.
ഀഀIn reality, of course, there never was a lost race ofഀancient Celts inhabiting the remote hills of WesternഀIreland . . . or was there?
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