The Gift

The witch moved through the wood. Silently and slowly, not looking for anything, not doing anything. Aimless. The path led where it would, up hill and down hill, through green tunnels and clearings. Time passed.

She found her gaze drawn by red, red berries. Hanging in great swathes from the branches of diminutive silver trees. Rowan, Witch Wood. She wanted witch wood, coveted it and desired it. What would she do to get it? Would she climb down dangerous slopes to get it? No.

On she went for today was not the day she would gain Rowan. The sunlight fell through the branches of pines to dapple soft moss. It blazed across the valley where the path moved out of shelter. Birds called in the distress, the meow of the Buzzard. Mushrooms grew in little puffy balls on the side of the path. Legless Lizards moved through the peaty soil, shy and secret.

She walked on till she neared a fork in the road and realised Rowan trees grew all round it. She scoured the trees for the merest offering off wood, but not a twig remained under the trees. Would she take living wood, wrenched from a living tree? No. But she was sorely tempted.

Her eye was caught by a tiny cluster of berries, fallen from the bough and caught beneath. She took them as a gift, generously given. They were not what she sought but no gift should be turned down, not when it is truly given. She gave silent thanks to the mother of the forest and turned to walk on.

It was then that her eye caught it. A branch, almost as big as her lay on the ground caught in the fork of the road. A few brown and wrinkly leaves remained but it was easy to see it was Witchen with it's silver bark marked with tiny black warts. She wanted wood for a wand. It would be her first but no wood had spoken to her or been gifted but here it was. At the base of the branch a short, thicker section hung by a thread. It was easily removed and would look pretty and work well for her.

She looked at the remaining branch and went to lay it down but hesitated. It did not do to hand back a gift. She striped it of twigs and leaves. She removed the rotten ends of the topmost reaches. A slender, bowed stick emerged with a fork. Not a stick but a stang. A true stang. Freely given by the Mother of the Forest, made of Wicken Tree with a fork. She had never had a stang before and here it was.

She smiled and walked on.

Another Interlude

As the sun rose two birds took flight from a small island of stone, one black, one white. A grey haired woman watched until they were gone before she walked towards the sea and dived in. She didn't resurface but a while later a seal could be seen playing in the swell. The seal looked after the birds and seeing them gone, it dived down below the sun and then down some more.

Love Alight

The sky was black. There was no moon. The stars glinted bright in the sky but the fire burned brighter. People moved around the fire, half cast in light, half hidden in dark. Mead flowed freely. Children moved around the fire to, but not for much longer, soon they would leave with the oldsters and only adults would remain.

Tonight the God and Goddess would be made anew by the actions of those here. The fire beat back the dark and balance was in all. Celebration of all was the way. Pretty girls danced around the handsome lads. Tonight no ties held between people and all were free to express themselves as the God and Goddess drew them. In truth those who had been bound together celebrated together but not always. Tonight was a night when a new love may or may not be revealed, some for a day, some for a year, some for life and others for more. Those undrawn to someone would continue to sing and drink by the fire.

Mallory wore her becharmed dress and danced around the fire. She drank mead and ate roast pork. She danced some more, determined to lose herself and forget her grief, if only for this one night. The other dancers began to take on an eerie cast as if they were half drawn flames dancing around the fire, half bright, half dark, turning and burning in the night.

She brushed her hair out of her eyes and swayed as she suddenly stopped dancing. Sweat burned on her forehead and dizziness threatened to drag her down. She squinted through the fire at a figure, most magnificent, eyes aflame. She felt an answering fire in her eyes and her body was released from dizziness and she stood tall.

They moved around the fire within the spiral dance and then they danced together. The night burned with light and her body burned with fire and where his arms held her to him she burned hottest. Taken by the powers that be they drew away from the fire and the mysteries of the universe were shown to them and made anew. And then they slept, he cradling her gently with his cloak thrown over them both.

The first thing Mallory was aware of as she came too was that her head hurt, the second was that it was too bright and the third was that she was not alone. She tentatively opened her eyes the merest of cracks to see who had been chosen for her. A large chap, tall and broad and strong with bronzed skin and golden hair which never did quite what it should. Jack she thought and then closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

Later they were found by Maria who left water and bread by their side. Maria smiled knowingly to herself, pleased at the happiness on the lips of those that slept. Always a good sign that a happy bond had been bestowed.

Love in Chains

The woman with luxuriant black hair sat opposite a lady with swathes of fuzzy silver grey hair and unusual round grey and black birth marks across her skin. A fire burnt between the pair of them and they needed it, for neither of them wore much in the way of clothes. The grey haired lady had a cloak but little else.

The grey haired lady obviously lay claim to the place they sat and the things in it and she took a handful of sweet smelling herbs and scattered them in the fire. She glanced up at the segull sat, head under wing next to the lady.

'and you love him?' she said.

Sally glanced at the bird nervously 'of course I do, why else would I be here. I don't think he has any idea of what I shall have to do though.'

'why should you do anything? Live out your lives together as you are!'

'I saw something in the waves, a child, a human child. Rich in magics she was and she has to be born and she has to be mine. A promise I made many years ago to Danu has come back to haunt me, Serena.'

Stirring the fire she signed deeply and pondered before replying slowly and hesitantly, 'how would Lir react to this? Stepping into the afairs of others can be, complicated to say the least.'

Sally stretched out her left arm to show Serena where her bone was not entirely straight. 'I was searching for my love to be, flying hither and tither calling him to me but Lir heard me and called up a storm. He only meant to stop me flying, not to kill me so after plucking me from the sky he had me seen to shore but he could have had no idea that he aided my mission. It was my true love who found me there and took me to his home and wed me.'

Sally paused with a distant look in her eyes before continuing 'I never walked near the sea with him but somehow Lir learned that we had found each other and wed. Tom was a fisherman and once Lir knew, I guess it was only a matter of time. The storm was his and his alone because I caught no hint of it before it announced it's arrival to all. Lir claimed tom's soul as his own, as was his right and so here he is bound for all time. From this life to the next he shall be a bird of the sea.'

Serena reached over to lay her hand on Sally's in comfort. 'Why would Lir be against this child Danu seeks to bring into existence? Is he jealous that one of those of his court would seek to help her and bind themselves to her rather than him? Yes, that must be it. Unless there is something about this child you will bring forth?'

'I know not of my child's fate, simply that he must be. I must find out how to unbind Tom from the wheel he is now on, how I can take him from Lir.'

'Yes you must and I know just how to do it.'

Sally leaned forward eagerly to catch Serena's whispered words.

'He must die to the wheel he is on and be reborn to his own blood.'

The two women talked long into the night as the sea gull slept.

Interlude II

The two birds flew on, the small black bird leading the way, towards the sunset. She seemed to know where she was going while the gull had no clue and meekly followed on. They were two vivid smudges of monochrome against the grey brooding clouds, one white, one black.

Twilight saw them arrowing down towards an island where a rude heap of stones glinted as light escaped from within. Dark crowded round the stones, as if trying to see inside and hid the birds from view. Two voices could be heard talking within far into the night.

Souls Lost at Sea

Sally had no words when she woke. I don't mean she didn't understand us, because she did, but all she had were mime and strangely eerie cries. She was scared to start with unless she could see Tom but she slowly became more certain of her safety and words began to come.

We named her Sally before she had words, just because we had to call her something and she never felt the urge to change it. If she had another name before she came to us, she never said and we never asked. It was almost as if, everyone was nervous of what she might say. It was a conspiracy of silence, of turned heads and a determination not to know.

She would gaze at the clouds and the waves crashing on the shore and smile to herself, her eyes darting as if she were watching some story unfold. Sometimes she frowned, or looked uneasy at what she saw. It reminded me of the look Maria got when she stared deep into the fire. She knew the weather too and the sight of her scowling at Tom taking the boat down the slipway was enough to stop any boat from moving into the waves.

No one was surprised that she stayed at our house or that they jumped through the fire, hands tied together one night. Those that gathered to wish them well, told stories of where she had come from to the visitors from other villages and I heard several as passed through the gathered.

'She is Maria's cousins daughter, you know the one that moved North to marry that herbman that had been apprenticed to her Da.'

'Oh she took ill while traveling along the coast with the metal carriers and they left her here to get well and when they came back by, she chose to stay.'

'A traveling herbwoman she is for Scandria I think.'

I could see the puzzlement on the faces of our near neighbours but they would get no more from us. We were a close knit settlement of twenty grown souls with a number of wild children and squally babes. but all could see the love on Sally and Tom's face and joined in the merry making and dancing around the fire.

My life changed for the better. Again there was someone in the kitchen to help and tasks were easier with two. I had struggled to do all that needed to be done alone when Tom was at sea, because whether we like it or not, he had to go. She never tried to be my mother, although I would have had her as such, but more of a older and wiser sister.

She taught me how to sew and in particular how to embroider. This was not a common thing in our village for what need did we have of fine embroidered cloth but she had an urgency to her as she taught me. It had taken Tom a while to find a peddler with the needles she wanted and he doted on her so he didn't begrudge her fine silk threads.

As we sat passing the needle back and forth through our cloth she would mutter nonsense beneath her breath. '...and this stitch is for binding and this for calling' or 'this shows the soul shining bright'. Her sewing began to take on subtle meanings for me, stories she wanted to tell, great flights of fancy bound in thread.

She made me a beautiful dress that I would wear to the Summer Fires which would the first time I would stay up with the adults as one of them. I would be old enough to take a man then, if I wanted for it was always us women that decided, no matter what the men thought. I knew my dress told a story, subtly webbed in pretty designs. A story of happiness and long life, of babies and freedom from hardship, of a love deep and true.

When the dress was finished I excitedly ran with it to show Maria. She took the dress and her first comment was that it was a pretty and fine dress but then she took a deep breath, as if she had suddenly seen more. Her forehead crinkled in thought and she took a long moment before turning bck to me with a smile and a compliment on it's prettiness.

I was looking forward to the fires and they were only a few short days away now. We were eagerly awaiting the return of the boat. They had been out longer than expected and a storm had blown up yesterday. We all chose to think that it was a local storm and Tom had been fishing further out, which was likely. In deeper water, he would have been safe. For our boats could be sealed up tight like a bubble in the water and no wave could push them down so deep they wouldn't bob back up again to the surface.

Sally had sent him off with a smile but the storm blew up so sudden like, I knew it had surprised her. I knew she was on edge and watching the sea. The more on edge she became, the more nervous I felt. I went to bed that night knowing she would be up earlier than the sun, making bread and kneading dough. If she slept then I would be surprised, because I knew I wouldn't.

Although I did. I woke early to see the storm clouds glowering over the cliffs. I hurriedly dressed and ran down stairs feeling un-renewed by my sleep. The dough was on the side untended, rising in an uneven shape. The door was not shut properly which surprised me and I knew something was on.

I stepped outside and caught a flash of red from the cove and ran down the slipway. I stood on the sand at the edge of the waves as the sun came out and hit me in the face. I couldn't see through light and salt water for a long moment until the sun hid away again. I heard old man Blue shout to wake others and hobble down the slipway to me. He flung his arms around me and drew me from the sea and the red in the foam, dragged in by the horses in the waves and then left there idling.

I fought free and turned to pull the wood and leather from the sea. Old Man Blue helped and others joined. Jack, Blue's Grandson was first but not last and soon what remained of the keel was on the sands which shifted beneath me.

I feel to the sand, my head in my hands and wept.

Long moments passed before I returned.

The thing that bought me back was Sally. She had left the house but she wasn't here. I heard the shout behind me 'Sally! Ho! Sally!' and turned to find Maria with a worried expression, leaving my home.

I think the same thought occurred to all of us. If anyone had known it would be her, and if she wasn't here, then where would she have gone. We all set off in different directions calling to her. I found myself on the rocks where we first found her and it was there I found her shoes. One lay on the rock I had pulled her up onto and the other lay in a pool beneath it.

Jack called from the cliff top above me and we all knew what must have happened. At least we thought we did and I fell down on my knees again as Daisy came to me. Maria was close behind and I found myself willingly taking the drink she offered, knowing the sweet and dreamless sleep it would bring...

Interlude

The clothes suddenly flared up, petticoats acting as parachutes buoyed up by the wind. The shoes hit the rocks below as the eddies carried blue cloth and lace towards the waiting arms of the sea. The wind filled them and made it look as if a large puffed up sort of a person was still within them. They swayed back and forth hit by a sudden ray of light spun like sugar from the stormy clouds above. The waves reached up and grabbed them and they sat for a moment on the surface before being sucked beneath.

The seagulls had squawked and flown around them as they had drifted down. As the clothes vanished the flock separated and flew off in all directions. A tiny black storm petrel flew off with a large herring gull along side. They headed straight out to sea.