The Wheel of Carnac arrives in the second book with Madeleine and her two daughters, as a gift to guide Robbie in his quest for the missing Sword of Honour. It was made by the Queen of Fae of the White Circle (Gwendolyn) during the making of the mighty Sword of Destiny, and is the key to helping Robbie work out the clues that guide him to the hidden crypt of Lancelot of the Lake.
The Wheel comprises of a flat circle or wheel of engraved gold, surrounded by runes and with a hole punched through its centre. Its is packaged in a box that reflects light to reveal the clues at the right moment, and has with it a small golden barrel for a stand.
In the first book (the Bowman of Loxley) during the descriptions of the main characters I added references to the jewellery that they wore, and in one of my favorite scenes where Robbie and Runestone first meet the Lord Hearne, he gives them precious items of high quality to wear in their quest. Rune gets a hairpin of gold studded with Rubies, and Robbie receives an acorn of Sapphire made from one of Rune's tears, at the time it seemed irrelevant and just added to the pleasantness of the moment, but as you can now see, they became vital elements in the construction of the wheel of Carnac, in the second book.
Gwendolyn was one of the greatest seers of her time, and she possessed some very powerful magical abilities, by using items of jewellery to power the Wheel I emphasize the power of her abilities, and it becomes quite naturally apparent without me having to spell it out, as you all can see that she knew almost a thousand years earlier who would help the Bowman, and what items they would have around their necks when they did.
I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, once I had decided how the wheel would look, I took to the craft room and built one out of cardboard and tin foil, using a yoghurt pot as a base, and in doing so I knew that it would work, it also helped me to describe the wheel, as I would spin it as I wrote and watched the effects of the light on the tin foil sheet, I still have it today framed inside a large family tree I wrote during the preparations for the books.
This is the first diagram I drew when designing the wheel, some of it is a little out of scale as written in the book, but it gave me the general idea of how I would describe it as Robbie and Rune sat together in bed and examined it.
The Wheel of Carnac Intitial design for Book two The Lost Sword of Carnac.
© Robin John Morgan Heirs to the kingdom 2009