The reader may now get a sense of Deja Vous or of history repeating itself for, just as Sadim had suggested a walk in the Parklands with Goldbird some years previously, he now did the same with the Guru. The pretext for this walk in the fresh November air was for Sadim the Bully to enquire into the Gurus health and well being and specifically to enquire as to why the Guru had become "Like a Bear With A Sore Head". The Guru was known for plain speaking and he plainly stated that the chief cause of the Gurus unhappiness was Sadim himself and he likened Sadim in the vernacular to part of a woman’s anatomy that it is not appropriate to repeat in this account.

Since the Bully had asked the direct question "Guru why art thine countenance much troubled" the Guru felt it reasonable to lay before the Bully all the reasons for his recent uncharacteristic lack of jollity. These included:

• Sadims dissing of the Gurus skills to anyone within secluded earshot.
• His sending ahead of other emissaries to meetings that the was Guru scheduled to attend.
• Sadim's invitation for the Guru to meet other candidates for the post of Guru within the Kingdom
• His petitioning of the wizard against the Guru.

To each of the charges laid before him Sadim countered with denial and lies.

Therefore the Guru laid before the Bully one more piece of knowledge that he had gained which was that, far from bestowing equal respect upon all his supporters the Bully was seeking to raise his key hench-person the Hag to the status of Deputy Bully. As expected the Bully denied this strenuously. The Guru replied with venom, "This is true, this is true, I know this is true, do not deny it for fear that I strike you down now for the charlatan and liar that you clearly are". The Bully was taken much aback for like all bullies he was also a coward and his engineering had taken them to an unpopulated place where he may weave his lies unobserved but clearly so too could the Guru perform violent actions upon Sadim without fear of much interruption by the constabulary (even supposing they were so disposed to intervene)

Defeated by force of argument the Bully admitted (after a fashion) that this was true and uttered much excrement of the Bull and waffle. At the end of all of this he said "Guru, can we settle our differences, can we build bridges".

The Guru was by now not disposed to build bridges as he felt he had been comprehensively lied to and betrayed by Sadim whom he had loyally supported through thick and thin. To bring this uncomfortable exchange to an end he replied "yes". But the Guru was lying, he would build no bridges with the Bully. He felt no guilt at this lack of honesty as lying was/is the stock in trade of the Bully Sadim. It was plain to him that the Bully was duplicitous and spoke with a forked tongue. The walk in the Parklands had cleared no air and the only way the Guru could see ahead was to invoke "The Force"

A few days later the Guru carefully read all the parchments pertaining to The Force. This was a powerful spell and not to be used lightly. Indeed, the spell had been recently overhauled and had not yet been used by anyone and its use now by the Guru was a very serious undertaking indeed. there were folks around the Guru who counselled him against its use for fear of retribution and yet others whispered encouragements for there were many in the Kingdom who held grievances against Sadim the Bully.

In truth, the Guru had no other course of action but to invoke the force save for abdication from the Kingdom. Such abdication would leave the Bully all the stronger to apply his venomous spells upon current and future subjects and the time to break the chain had surely come.

The Guru performed all the acts needed to invoke the force and it was done!

He then boarded a carriage to Glasgow whereupon he celebrated this action with a hearty repast accompanied by a flagon of the finest wine and upon arriving at his lodgings in the City of Glasgow he further celebrated with a fine cigar and a tumbler of Talisker. And then he slept in the knowledge that the Force was surely already doing its work.

Sadly the keepers of The Force were weak and untutored in it's use and made many mistakes. As some had feared, invoking The Force made the Bully angry and it also made him incautious and irrational. He let his mask of decency and plausibility completely fall away and performed many vicious and evil acts upon the Guru aided by his underlings. The Wizard too was innocently caught up in these malicious acts and there were many dark days for the Wizard and the Guru.

The Guru beseeched the Elders of the Kingdom to act to end the tyranny but they seemed powerless to act. Indeed some whisperers spoke of a union between some Elders and Sadim to effect the destruction of the Guru. The Bully perpetrated his acts with such impunity that some folk thought there must surely be an alliance with the higher powers. Others thought that Sadim must be insane and that the Elders were in fear of him, wishing the Guru would abdicate so that peace, any peace may be restored to the Kingdom.

One day the Guru was summoned to the Ivory Tower and the Chancellor of the Externals assured the Guru that all would be well and that the war would be over soon.

Sadly this did not happen and the war waged on and there was much destruction. Dark days of antagonism followed and there was much collateral damage. Goldbird the Techie came down from his Eyrie and tried to pour oil on the troubled waters and reduce the collateral damage but the Bully sent Goldbird a haughty parchment saying Caveat Emptor.

Sadim was called to a Council of the Elders where he was asked to explain his actions and he lied and fabricated wild and fantastic stories about the Guru.

On the day of the Guru's birth celebrations the Elder Diktat sent the Guru a decree informing him and thence the entire Kingdom that The Force was spent and peace was to be restored to the Kingdom.

A few days later the Guru was banished from the Empire of the Bully and so too was the Wizard.

And Sadim the Bully rejoiced for he had won yet another victory over the forces of Truth and Justice.

Read A Hollow Victory