STAGS 5, page 24
What the hell was I supposed to do now?
Just as I opened my mouth to reply, the chapel bell began to strike midnight.
45
Literally saved by the bell, I jumped to my feet, hauling Henry up by the hand I still held. ‘Come on,’ I said. ‘We’ll miss the main feature.’
Together we ran to the Chapel Quad, where the half-pissed but obedient students were gathering. I could see by the numbers that pretty much all the guests were here, obviously expecting a valedictory speech, or maybe some sort of comic awards ceremony. The huge harvest moon made the night as bright as day.
Horatio and Nathaniel had chosen well with the long, plain Gospel wall. It was the ideal setting for my projection idea – trialled in the ruins of Armadale Castle. At the back of the walled garden was a square white tent a bit like a Punch and Judy show, with a hole in the top. This, I knew, concealed the projector and the projectionist – Horatio.
Henry and I walked up to Nathaniel – he was already flanked by Ty and Nel, and also Shafeen, who eyed Henry and me warily.
But I couldn’t focus on Shafeen now, despite everything. This was more important than any of us. ‘Are you going to introduce the film?’ I said to Nathaniel.
He smiled down at me. ‘Well, actually I thought you might.’
‘Me?’ I brayed like a donkey.
‘Yes,’ he said, quite seriously. ‘Film is your thing, isn’t it? And it was when you came to this school that this whole edifice began to crumble. You’ve brought us to this moment. To use a fishin’ metaphor, this is your catch.’
They were all looking at me, all smiling. Nathaniel, kind and clerical. Beautiful blonde Nel. Brave and brilliant Ty. Even Professor Nashe stood with us, a little apart, smiling benevolently. And, on either side of me, Shafeen and Henry. ‘Go on,’ urged Shafeen. ‘You can do it,’ said Henry. And with those two in agreement, there was really no choice.
I walked to the front of the crowd, a ticker tape of word salad spooling through my brain. But as I got to the front and turned, my back to the chapel wall, I suddenly knew exactly what I was going to say.
‘You’re about to see the first film that’s ever been shown at St Aidan the Great School,’ I began. ‘When I first came to this school I noticed something that you all know only too well: that technology – smartphones, laptops, even TV and film – is considered “Savage”. I began to realise that this policy was borne out of fear. Fear of change. Books, and the things of the past, were considered “Medieval” – comfortable and safe. I hope to show you tonight that there’s no need to fear change. Embracing tech doesn’t mean getting rid of the good bits of the past. Books, traditions, they will always be with us. But some traditions need to end.’ I looked around the faces that watched me – the drunk, the bored, the attentive, the arrogant, the amused. ‘Tonight.’ I took a breath. ‘Technology can be a force for good, as I’m about to demonstrate. And so I’m introducing the very first film to be shown at STAGS. But this isn’t a Bond or Star Wars or Marvel or even a black-and-white classic. This is a film about an ex-STAGS student. His name is Horatio Rennie, but his story might as well have been that of any number of other alumni.’ I looked at Ty. ‘Leon Morgan.’ Then my gaze shifted to Shafeen. ‘Aadhish Jadeja. Or Gemma Delaney.’ Gemma herself stood tall and brave, looking straight at me, willing me on. ‘They were all students at this very school. But they were all made to feel that they were lesser beings, that they didn’t matter, that no one would miss them when they were gone. You may have heard these stories. These are dark rumours, urban myths and school legends. They could be the plots of horror films. But they are not. They are real.’ I gestured to the screen behind me. ‘This film is not a feature but a documentary. A testimony. Thanks to the Savage technology that this school has long feared, we actually have documentary evidence of one of these atrocities, happening in real time. What you are about to see did not take place in the fifties or sixties. These events can’t be dismissed as “different times”. They happened three weeks ago. This film is in the hands of the police. Arrests have been made, and those involved who have not yet been apprehended will be soon. Watch and learn.’
I stood back from the screen as Horatio – the Punch and Judy man – emerged from the white box and looked at Shafeen. He gave the thumbs-up sign. ‘Ready?’
Shafeen nodded. ‘Ready.’
The two Savages, working in tandem, activated their devices. Shafeen tapped his phone and the HAWK rose, whirring, from behind the garden wall and soared above us, its red cyclops eye ruby bright. At the same moment Horatio activated the projector and the entire chapel wall was transformed into a cinema screen. Son et lumière, Industrial Light & Magic. This was the silver screen as I’d never seen it before. This wasn’t an iPhone in an old ruin. I was amazed at the breadth and clarity of the image – it was like 16:9 or even IMAX. We might as well have been in the Odeon Leicester Square.
And there we were, transported from this warm and balmy summer night to a different summer night – Lammas Eve on the Isle of Skye. Horatio had done a masterful job with the film. It was cut together like an award-worthy short. He set up the action beautifully. There were even cutaways of all the animal heads. Then the turning point of the film, the march of the stag-headed Order to the top of the hill, and the lighting of the stag. The flames licking up the vast effigy, the Midsommar-type procession under the legs of the stag. The punishment of the Lammas Fool with eggs and milk. And then, the horror of the realisation that there was someone in the head of the stag: a human sacrifice. The drone had captured everything in chilling detail – Ratio writhing in the stag’s head, Nathaniel in his fox mask climbing the burning wicker to free Ratio, and the two figures falling to the ground. Then, in the aftermath, the arrival of the ‘police’, the unmasking of the STAGS, and the drone lingering on every single guilty face. The fathers, mothers, aunts and uncles, godfathers and godmothers, second cousins, MPs and church acquaintances of the very students standing watching here.
The film faded to black and there was utter, utter silence. In the sudden darkness I stepped forward. I wasn’t shy any more. There had to be an ending. Abandoned by the Savagery of electric light, and lit only by the Medieval moon, I spoke again. ‘You’ll go from here,’ I said softly but clearly, ‘into the country’s finest universities and to massively successful careers. You’ll be running the civil service, government, schools and hospitals. I want you to be good. I want you to treat those who have less than you with respect. I never want you to forget that they are people just like you. Their lives do not have less worth than yours. No one is born bad.’ I looked at Henry. ‘Everyone is the victim of their circumstances, and the product of their upbringing – even kids like you.’ I was faltering, suddenly deathly tired. ‘I’ll shut up now. But at the very beginning I said you don’t have to fear change. Be part of that change. I know you can do it.’
There was a silence that I couldn’t interpret. Was it hostile, or had my message sunk in? Then something really odd happened. Someone – and not any of my allies or Gemma, but someone from Cass’s little group (I think his name was Will) – started to clap. And then the people around him joined in. And then everyone else started to clap, until a giant roar of applause echoed around the midnight garden.
Red-faced and grateful for the darkness, I ducked my head and ran back to the safety of my friends. They all converged on me, the Peel Tower Rebels, the FOXES, my dear, dear friends – whatever you like to call them. I was at the centre of a rugby scrum of back patting, hugging and kissing.
‘It’s over,’ gasped Henry, when he could speak.
‘The ball or the Order?’ I asked.
‘Both, I think,’ said Shafeen. ‘Look.’
People were drifting away in small and sober groups. Only Cass stood alone, as her little coterie of Medievals turned away from her. ‘Guys? Guys!’ she appealed to them, hands spread wide, but those haughty teens seemed not to hear her – they walked away, unhalting, their heads now down, their expressions quite changed. The rest of the students streamed away, utterly subdued, to the smart fleet of cars that had arrived to take them back to their stately homes. These sprigs of nobility, these privileged young Britons, had something to think about as they bowled home through the midnight miles of English dark.
Our own little group began to break up too. Ty went off with Horatio, Nel with Nathaniel. Professor Nashe disappeared into the night. Soon there was only me, Shafeen and Henry in the moonlit garden, standing, rather poetically, in a triangle.
‘Well.’ Henry looked at me. ‘What now, Greer?’
I looked at Henry. Medieval, blond and beautiful, holding a book. Then I looked at Shafeen. Savage, dark and handsome, clutching a phone.
‘What he said.’ Shafeen gave a slight smile. ‘I think the moment has come. I think it’s been coming for a long time. I think you have to choose.’
I looked from one to the other. Henry or Shafeen? Medieval or Savage? Then there was a shriek from above; something primal and predatory. I looked to the heavens as if they somehow had the answer.
And they did.
There, high in the midnight sky, a shadow crossed the moon, just like in E.T. Regina, wings spread like a dark angel, starlike talons poised to strike, and the HAWK, rotors spinning like blades.
And as I watched, the hawk pounced on the drone with its curling talons, knocking it clean out of the sky.
THE END.
S.T.A.G.S. was founded in the seventh century by St Aidan the Great. The name Aidan means ‘fire’ in Gaelic, and he is considered to be a protector against fire. He was dubbed ‘the Great’ in order to distinguish him from the lesser saint St Aidan of Ferns. Our St Aidan was born in Ireland, and became a monk on the Scottish island of Iona. He travelled to Northumbria, where he was made Bishop of Lindisfarne. Realising the value of education, he founded a school in the hope that he would train the next generation of Christian leaders. The school began with just twelve boys as pupils, but it grew into a centre of education and a jewelhouse of scholarly knowledge.
Aidan was canonised upon the performance of a miracle; he saved a stag from the hunt by turning him invisible. That stag gave the school an emblem, and a name. Today, after a thousand years of exceptional scholarship, S.T.A.G.S. has educated a dozen British prime ministers and countless members of both houses of parliament. St Aidan’s dream that he would train the future leaders of men has become a reality.
DE WARLENCOURT PLAYHOUSE – built in 1969, the theatre is an exact replica of the sixteenth-century Swan Theatre which used to stand on London’s bankside.
BEDE LIBRARY (incorporating the Scriptorium) – named after the Venerable Bede, the library has several notable architectural features, including the medieval Scriptorium, a remnant of the original monastery school, and the Tudor Reading Room.
GATEHOUSE – the gatehouse forms the entrance to the school, reached by crossing the medieval moat. In the days of the monastery school, the drawbridge was raised at night to keep marauding Scots away from the treasures of the chapel.
BEDE’S PIECE – STAGS boasts extensive playing fields, named for a piece of common land enclosed by the school during the eighteenth century.
CHAPEL – Founded in 683, the chapel is the oldest surviving building of the first monastery school. The stained-glass window of Aidan and the stag is original.
REFECTORY – This long building with vaulted ceilings was rebuilt at the time of the Civil War after a fire. The wooden benches and tables on which the students dine are the original ones from the monastery, on which the monks ate their breakfast of bread and beer.
ENGLISH SCHOOLS – In the reign of Edward VI, New Quad –a quadrangle of exquisite Tudor buildings – was built at STAGS to represent the four pillars of learning. The first of the schools (always referred to in the plural) is the English Schools, and the original sign still remains carved above the door.
HISTORY SCHOOLS – The second side of the quad, the History Schools houses the original copy of Bede’s work.
CLASSICS SCHOOLS – The third side of the quad, the Classics Schools still fulfills its function of teaching Latin, the language of law and learning.
SCIENCE LABS – Originally the Theology Schools, the fourth side of the quad, despite its Tudor appearance and theological sign carved in stone, now houses STAGS’ extensive science laboratories.
THE HUNDRED STEPS – this ancient stone stairway connects the upper and lower schools. Legend has it that in 1348 Edmund de Warlencourt rode up the hundred steps on his horse for a wager.
POOL – The STAGS swimming pool is Olympic-sized and fully compliant with the regulations of the Fédération Internationale de Natation. It is 164 feet long, 82 feet wide and 6 feet deep, with eight swimming lanes marked with rope and buoys.
FIVES AND REAL TENNIS COURTS – Both courts are fully enclosed, and constructed of their original timbers. The Real Tennis court is fashioned after Charles II’s court at Hampton Court Palace. The Fives court is designed to replicate one of the exterior bays of the chapel, where the game was first played after Mass.
HONORIUS
Honorius was Archbishop of Canterbury in the seventh century. His is the oldest and grandest house at STAGS. The White Quad, dating from the tweltfh century, features at its centre the Jerusalem Tree, a cedar tree grown from a seed brought home from the Crusades by Conrad de Warlencourt.
Honorius house colours: a white stag’s head on a ground of red and gold with a cedar tree as a charge.
BEDE
The Venerable Bede was an English Benedictine monk who wrote The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, a draft of which survives in the Scriptorium at STAGS. Bede house incorporates the extensive playing fields known as Bede’s Piece.
Bede house colours: a white stag’s head on a ground of red and blue, with a book as a charge.
OSWALD
Oswald was king of Northumbria from 634, uniting the kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira to become the most powerful ruler in Britain. Oswald did much to promote the spread of Christianity in the north, and fittingly the school chapel can be found in his house.
Oswald house colours: a white stag’s head on a ground of red and green with a crown as a charge.
PAULINUS
Paulinus was a Roman missionary and the first Bishop of York. The Paulinus Well, built during the bishop’s mission to Northumbria in the seventh century, stands in the middle of Paulinus quad. The waters at its depths were said, upon drinking, to turn a sinful man to God.
Paulinus house colours: a white stag’s head on a ground of red and purple with a well as a charge.
LIGHTFOOT
Lightfoot is the girls’ house at STAGS, and is the newest of all the houses, built originally as a dwelling for masters in 1550. It is a handsome Tudor building with its own Garden Quad, and it was first named Aidan’s House. The name was changed when Bishop Joseph Lightfoot of Durham successfully lobbied for the admission of girls in 1880. Since then, Lightfoot House has borne his name.
Lightfoot house colours: a white stag’s head on a ground of red and silver, with a bishop’s mitre as a charge.
By the first day of Michaelmas Term, all students must be equipped with the following uniform
Black Tudor coat
Scarlet stockings (unless you are a Medieval, in which case you may wear knee-high stockings of a design of your choosing)
Narrow brown deer-leather belt
Plain white wing-collar shirt
White clerical tie
Black knee breeches
Black deer-leather lace-up shoes
Regulation black PE kit with STAGS crest
Uniform may be purchased from our suppliers: Keytes of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
The STAGS uniform must be strictly observed year round. A scarf in the colours of one’s house may be worn during Michaelmas and Hilary Terms.
JUSTITIUM – a short holiday that falls roughly in the middle of each term, when students are permitted to return home if they wish
MEDIEVALS – the prefects, usually between three and six in number, chosen from among the final-year students at STAGS
PROBITIONES – final examinations at STAGS, set in the final year
FESTINA LENTE – the STAGS school motto: ‘Make Haste Slowly’
MEDIEVAL – anything traditional or historical, in line with the highly prized values of the school
SAVAGE – anything modern or technological, considered not in keeping with the ethos of STAGS
Acknowledgements
There are so many thank-yous to say, and this time they are particularly heartfelt, as this book marks the end of the long STAGS journey.
This series began with a meeting between two extraordinary women who have been instrumental in bringing these books to life. One was my wonderful agent Teresa Chris, and the other was publishing powerhouse Jane Harris, who saw something in the STAGS idea on the strength of just one conversation.
