Highland Raven (4 page)

For the men who still remained
, the revelry began at sunup as opposed to sundown. I spent most of the morning and afternoon playing with the puppy and avoiding the main hall, but by dinnertime, I had no more excuses.

The hall was again too bright. The musicians played too loudly, and the smoke was so thick that it made it hard to breathe. Sweat beaded down my back. The men, still unwashed, were drunk from the day before and continued to drink more. Their speeches slurred.

“This will be the last night. They will all go home tomorrow,” my aunt whispered. The salve she had used to hide the bruise around her eye had faded. The dark ring around her shining emerald eyes was obvious. While Madelaine tried to smile like she had no cares in the world, I seethed.

I moved discreetly and forced my body to feel small so no one would notice me. It was difficult, however, to escape attention. My aunt and I were the most fetching women in the room, and when the food had been cleared, the men sought out attractive dancing partners.

“Dance, niece,” my uncle said, grabbing my hand.

My aunt, despite the risk of accusation, had taken to the floor with Tavis. I noticed their words were soft as he examined her eye and looked on her sympathetically. They weren’t doing a very good job hiding their feelings for one another. And when Tavis looked at Alister, his eyes smoldered. I tried to entertain my uncle, keeping his back turned toward his wife and her lover. I feared for Tavis. His rage was too ready, too obvious. He needed to be smarter. If Alister ever suspected anything between Madelaine and Tavis, Tavis would be dead.

“Such a pretty girl,” Alister said then, stroking his rough finger down my cheek.

“Thank you, my uncle,” I replied, my stomach flopping with nausea.

He pulled me closer. “How many years have you lived in my house?” he asked, his words coming slow and slurred.

“Sixteen.”

“Now you are leaving. And a convent? What a shame! You’ve grown into such a fine and beautiful woman,” he said, his hands stroking slowly upward from the curve of my waist toward my chest.

“Just for a time. King Malcolm will make a match for me soon enough,” I said. “I will be given a royal husband and produce heirs for the realm,” I said pointedly, reminding Alister that his hands had no business on a body intended for greater things than himself.

He frowned and lowered his hands to my waist. “As a daughter of Boite should.”

“Indeed. But, of course, all the realm knows that you are my foster father, and I always think of you as such. I am so glad I bring a father’s pride to your eyes.”

Alister looked away from me then, and I saw a glimmer of shame cross his face. “Well, if you hope to please your royal husband, don’t let those women teach you too much. Take your foster father’s advice, and don’t become as wicked tongued as your aunt. No man will want you, royal or not.”

The harp strings fell silent. “Of course, my uncle and foster father. Many thanks for your good counsel. Let me beg your leave. May I retire to my chamber? The ale has given me a headache.”

With a grunting laugh, my uncle nodded dismissively.

It was his words, not the ale, that made my head ache. He made my poor aunt, one of the kindest women I knew, seem wicked. Worse, I knew Alister fully believed in what he said, making his way reality to so many, simply because he thought he could. I shot a knowing glance to Madelaine, who had untangled herself from Tavis before Alister’s eyes espied the pair, and headed to my chamber.

Back in the privacy of my own room, I could finally relax. My little puppy was sleeping in a basket at the foot of my bed. She opened her drowsy eyes and looked at me when I entered, her tail wagging.

“Sleep, little one,” I told her. “And send me a dream so I can learn your name.”

The puppy rolled onto her back, her tongue falling out of the side of her mouth, then drifted back to sleep.

I went to the open window casement and looked out at the silver moon. It was glowing brightly. In the field below, two men where stringing up a freshly killed stag. The light of the fire and the glow of the moon illuminated the scene. I couldn’t quite catch their words on the wind, but they were laughing and drinking. I saw the flash of silver as the hunter took out a knife and slit open the belly of the deer with a jerk.

Blood and guts erupted like heavy rain. The deer’s intestines burst from the body and with a wet sounding heave, spilled bloody red onto the earth.

The hunter groaned a disgusted grunt as blood splattered all over him.

The image both awed and horrified me. The blood and heap of guts made a massive dark pool at the hunter’s feet. The red of innards and blood glimmered in the firelight. The image of it so unsettled me that I swooned. I gazed up at the moon. My head felt dizzy.

For a brief moment, I saw the world in double vision. Everything around me suddenly felt very far away. I held on to the stone window casement, but my body felt like it was spinning.

The men’s voices grew increasingly distant. Everything became dark.

The world glimmered from blackness to a rainbow of opalescent colors then to darkness once again and everything became very still and silent and black. The spinning sensation stopped and my feet were on solid earth, but I didn’t know where. The only thing that was certain was that I was not in my chamber anymore.

I saw the light of a fire in the far distance and traveled to it with the speed of thought. I moved as if on the wings of a bird. Propelled through time and space, wings beating in the wind, I soon found myself standing beside a cauldron. A fire was burning underneath. Two women stood aside the fire. One was ancient looking, the lines on her face deeply grooved. The other was more middle-aged; her hair was deep red.

“Twice the raven has cawed,” said the ancient matriarch.

“Twice the star flower has bloomed,” said the red-haired woman.

“’Tis time, ’tis time,” they said together.

“Are you…are you the ladies of the nine?” I asked.

The ancient one laughed a long and heady laugh. “Hail daughter of Boite.”

The red-haired woman bowed to me. “Hail Queen hereafter.”

“Cauldron queen, old one reborn, come join, come join,” they called to me. They joined their hands, extending their free ones to me, motioning for me to join them in their circle.

“Round the cauldron come and sing,” said the elder.

“Like fey things in a ring,” said the younger.

The hair on the back of my neck rose, and my skin chilled to goose bumps. These were not Madelaine’s women. I knew who they were: the Wyrd Sisters. Their dark magic was known only in ancient lore. It was said that they meddled in the world of men. They had not been seen since the time of my ancestor, Kenneth MacAlpin, when their prophecies helped him unite old Alba. My body chilled from head to toe.

“I know who you are,” I whispered. “What do you want from me?”

“A deed with a heavy name,” answered the ancient one with a laugh.

“A service, Lady,” said the younger.

“Nay, nay…say Queen,” said the elder.

“But more yet, say Sister,” replied the younger, red-haired one.

“Even more,” the elder said mysteriously. The old woman let go of her younger companion and drew close to me. She was ancient. As she neared me, the sharp smell of flowers effervesced from her, familiar and sweet. While her words frightened me, her eyes were soft and loving. “Bubble of the earth, and Goddess hereafter,” she said then reached up to draw a mark on the center of my forehead. “Wake.”

My eyes opened with a jolt. I was lying on my chamber floor staring up at the ceiling. Pain shot through my body. I sat up and touched the back of my head. It was wet. In the dim candlelight, I could see blood on my fingers. I must have fainted.

I rose slowly and glanced outside. The men were skinning the stag. I went over to my water basin to rinse the blood from my fingers, but I gasped when I caught my reflection. One the center of my forehead, drawn in blood, was a flower with five petals. I leaned forward to look at it better. For just a moment, I spied the image of the Wyrd Sisters standing behind me. I turned to see…nothing. And when I peered back into the basin, the vision was gone. The bloody flower, however, remained. I wiped a wet cloth across the symbol, washing away the flower…the symbol of the Cauldron Goddess, the Goddess Cerridwen.

On the morning of the full moon
, Madelaine, Tavis, and I rode into the countryside. My pup slept lazily in a sling I’d strapped to my chest. Alister hadn’t bothered to wake to see me off, for which I was grateful. We rode past the loch we’d visited just days before. The trees were still loaded with sweet smelling pink and white blossoms. As we rode, I thought about the Wyrd Sisters. Had I really seen them or was it just a dream? The notion that they had appeared to me thrilled and frightened me all at once. After all, the Wyrd Sisters were ladies of legend, dark legend. The Wyrds could be dangerous. Magical beings, they lived in the otherworld. But usually, there were three of them. Where was the third?

“Bid Tavis farewell. We’ll travel alone from here,” Madelaine called when we reached the stream where I’d met the huntress Madelaine had called Uald.

Tavis smiled sadly at me. “Don’t get into too much mischief,” he warned.

I smiled at him. His hair shimmered sunflower-yellow in the morning light. “Who? Me?”

Tavis shook his head and turned to Madelaine. “Are you sure you want me to wait for you here? Shouldn’t I come deeper into the woods? If anything were to happen to you…”

Madelaine smiled gently at him. Leaning from her horse, she reached out and cupped his chin. “I’ll be fine,” she said, passing him a wink.

Tavis nodded, but his forehead wrinkled with worry.

“Let’s go,” Madelaine said. Clicking to her horse, she led us into the woods. After just a few minutes’ ride, Tavis was out of sight, and we were lost to the forest. Madelaine, however, seemed assured of the path.

“You remember the way,” I said, surprised. How long ago had she last come here?

“Somewhat. But even if I’d forgotten, I could follow the pattern of trees,” she said, pointing. “Oak, ash, and thorn. Nine oak. Nine ash. Nine thorn. Where things are in nines, you will find the Great Lady.”

“Are you sure you can’t stay with us? I’m worried about you alone in the castle,” I told her. “You are so at peace in the woods. Can’t you get away, tell Alister you want to retire to the convent as well?”

She shook her head. “I wish I could. You forget, I am still of breeding age. I’m not my own,” she said, and I saw a dark shadow cross her eyes.

“Can’t you go to Malcolm? Wouldn’t he let you join court life, at least until I am married? Then maybe you can join me?”

Madelaine shook her head. “I’ve asked…pled. Malcolm knows. He wants me where I am. Please don’t worry about me. It’s my lot in life, and sick as it is, I’ve grown used to it. At least you will be away from all the misery.” I could tell from the look on her face that talking about it was only making her unhappier, so I stopped.

Madelaine sighed deeply then gazed at the canopy of trees. Blobs of sunlight shone down on her, shimmering off her red hair. Her green riding gown matched the new leaves. I wished she could just run away with Tavis, but she was no freer to love anyone she chose than I was.

Late in the day we came upon a mountain pass that was thick with foliage. In fact, it looked impassable. Madelaine, however, moved toward it.

“There? But it’s a tangle,” I said.

“Exactly,” Madelaine replied with a laugh. “What fool would go in there?” Encouraging her horse, she rode into the narrow passage. I followed. Our horses snorted in complaint as we pushed our way through. We passed into what looked like a gap in the mountainside, barely tall enough for the horses to fit. I bent low above my horse’s neck so my head wouldn’t scrape. On the other side, we emerged into an open space where five small houses sat around an open garden. High mountains and thick, dense, foliage surrounded the space. It was a completely hidden forest grove.

A yellow-haired girl about my age was tending the center fire ring, gingerly pushing kindling onto the fire. Her nimble fingers jumped back when the flames licked them. The woman Madelaine had called Uald, the huntress from the stream, sat beside the fire plucking a bird. A woman with long white hair emerged from one of the houses.

“Greetings in the name of the Goddess,” Madelaine called.

“Greetings, daughter,” the white-haired woman replied then turned her gaze on me. “Ah, Gruoch. Welcome!” she called.

We dismounted.

The white-haired woman hurried to us. She smiled as she looked me over, chuckling lightly when she saw the pup strapped to my chest. “I’m Epona,” she introduced, pulling me into an embrace. The heavy scent of herbs clung to her hair, and her embrace was soft. After she let me go, she turned and gently patted Kelpie’s neck.

“Lovely creature. What’s his name?” she asked as she leaned in and pressed her cheek against his face, whispering in his ear. To my surprise, my horse nickered softly to her.

“Kelpie,” I replied.

Epona smiled. “Are you a Kelpie?” she asked him. He snorted and pawed the earth, causing Epona to laugh. I eyed the woman curiously. Although her hair was pure white, she was not old. Her face was clear and free of wrinkles. Her lips were red, and her eyes were a brownish-gold color. She patted Kelpie one more time then turned and smiled prettily at me. “Uald you have already met,” she said with an open hand directed toward the huntress who’d met me at the stream.

“Happy to have you here,” Uald said, but she was looking at Madelaine who was grinning at her.

“Come here, child,” Epona called to the blonde-haired girl.

The girl dusted her hands off on her skirt and joined us.

“This is Ludmilla. She comes to us from amongst the Rus. Her language is not perfect, but she is learning,” Epona said.

Ludmilla smiled at Madelaine and me. “Hello,” she said timidly. Her voice was thick with a deep, round accent.

“Gruoch, Elaine, come inside,” Epona said then led us toward her cabin.

I raised an eyebrow at my aunt. Elaine?

The air inside Epona’s house was thick with the smell of heady white sage. The main room housed a large table at which nine chairs had been set. Epona’s bed was tucked into a small room in a back corner of the house. The floor had been laid with a rough stone and was covered with soft straw.

“Everything is the same,” Madelaine commented.

“Yes, but you’ll only know Uald and me. The ones who were here with you have gone, been replaced by other adepts,” Epona replied.

“I heard that Dahlia, as she was called, is in Powys,” Madelaine said.

Epona nodded and poured a yellow liquid from a wooden decanter into three glasses. “The others are dispersed from the north beyond the Hadrian’s Wall all the way south to Brittany.” She handed a glass to me and Madelaine then took one for herself.

“Have any gone to the other groves? The other covens of nine? There was a girl, I don’t recall her name, with periwinkle-colored eyes,” Madelaine said, then turned to me. “We all thought she was part fey. Magical thing. What ever happened to her?”

Epona smiled. “She is in service at the forest coven. You see, my dear,” Epona said, turning to me, “we are nine here. But there are, in total, nine strongholds of the Goddess spread across the old country, each always with a count of nine. We keep the sacred ways…in secret, of course.”

I looked at Madelaine. What other secrets had she been keeping?

“Drink,” Madelaine said with a laugh.

I took a sip. The liquid was like nothing I had ever drunk before; I grimaced at the bitter taste and tried not to spit it out. I was embarrassed by my rudeness, but no one noticed.

Epona peered at Madelaine’s bruised face. “Still at it, is he?” she asked. “I’d hoped someone would have killed him by now.” Setting her glass down, she turned and dipped into her wooden cupboard. Inside were a multitude of glass jars and some dried herbs lying in baskets. “The nettles were strong this year.” She handed Madelaine a small green jar filled with salve.

With a nod, Madelaine stuck it into the pocket of her coat.

Epona patted Madelaine’s shoulder sympathetically, but I saw a flash of anger cross her face. She then turned and looked at me, her hand on her hip. “Well, do you like the drink?”

“Yes,” I lied.

Epona chuckled. “Dispense with formalities. We speak the truth here. I know it tastes like stump water. It will give you prophetic dreams. In it are herbs that prompt visions of the future.”

I smiled at Epona. I liked her already.

Uald entered behind us, wiping her hands with a rag.

“Will you help Gruoch get settled while I speak with Elaine?” Epona asked Uald.

“Corbie,” Madelaine said then. “Most people call her Corbie…she’s my little raven.”

“Suits her well,” Epona replied. “Very well, Corbie, please go with Uald while I shamelessly shake news from Madelaine,” she added with a laugh.

Uald nodded and motioned for me to follow her. Without another word, I rose and went back outside.

The puppy stirred at my chest. Stopping, I set her down. She ran straight to Ludmilla. The girl smiled and patted the little scamp. Uald and I started unbundling my horse.

“Armaments?” she asked, poking at the bulky packages.

“Madelaine sent them for you,” I replied. I hadn’t understood Madelaine’s gift when she had Tavis pack my horse, but the more I studied Uald, the more sense it made. Uald grinned happily, her smile pulling toward one side of her face. She was pretty in a rough kind of way. She was nearly the same age as Madelaine, but I saw some tendrils of white streaking her hair. Her skin was tanned from the sun and there was a scattering of freckles on her nose and cheeks. Her eyes were very dark brown, her reddish-brown hair pulled back in a braid. As she did when she called me in the woods, she wore breeches and a tunic. Her arms curved with the muscles of a smith. I could tell from the cut of her that she was a swordswoman. No wonder Madelaine had sent her weapons.

With my arms fully loaded, I followed Uald into one of the little houses. Inside there were two small beds, a small wooden table, two wardrobes, and two chests. Uald set the packages down on one of the beds.

“You’ll share this house with Ludmilla.”

I pulled a chain mail vest and a green gown from my belongings. I handed them to Uald. “These are also for you.”

Uald frowned at the dress. “She always wanted me in gowns. I never saw the point,” she said but took it all the same. “Why don’t you get settled? I’ll come back for you in a while; the others will be anxious to meet you,” Uald said then left. She carried the bundle of armaments strapped across her back and the chainmail over her shoulder. The dress, however, she held in her hands, studying it as she walked toward the barn. I saw the bemused expression on her face.

I stood in the doorframe and watched Ludmilla with the pup. Seeing me standing in the door of her home, Ludmilla came toward me. The puppy waddled along behind her.

“You sleep here?” Ludmilla asked.

I smiled and nodded.

Ludmilla looked at my packages. “You a queen?”

Confused, I shook my head. “No.”

Now it was her turn to look puzzled. “Such beautiful things. Epona says you a queen.”

“I am no queen.”

Ludmilla laughed then shrugged.

I opened the trunk at the end of the bed and lay a bear fur on the bottom. The puppy hopped and hopped, trying to get on my bed. Taking pity on her, I set her on top before unloading all my dresses and other belongings into the trunk. I watched Ludmilla’s eyes widen at what I thought were the plainest of my clothes. I pulled a red gown with an embroidered collar from my things. “This dress no longer fits,” I lied. “Would you like to have it?” I asked, handing it to Ludmilla.

“I sew for you?”

I shook my head. “No, you have it.”

Again, she smiled. “Thank you…Gruoch?” she asked, seeing if she was pronouncing my name correctly.

“Please, call me Corbie.” I smiled back. “Where are the other ladies?”

Ludmilla slid across my bed and looked out the window. “Two is collecting herbs,” she said, pointing to a dense area behind one of the little houses. “The old one sleeps. Another is away, and I don’t know where is the other.” Epona was right, Ludmilla’s language was still a bit broken, but I still understood her well.

A moment later, the two women collecting herbs emerged from the woods.

“You meet them,” Ludmilla said and rose. I followed her.

When I exited the house, the two women looked in my direction. They smiled at one another when they saw me.

“Welcome, Lady Gruoch,” the taller woman with long brown hair called. She was very thin and had a Roman looking nose. Her eyes were pale blue. She wore a long, well-worn gray-colored gown covered by a long apron with many pockets. Small tufts of leaves and twigs stuck out of the pockets. She smiled at me, but her gaze was cool. Something inside me froze against her, and I wondered why.

“Indeed, welcome,” the second woman, who was much shorter, added. Her blonde, curly hair was cropped at her neck. The dark blue gown she wore complemented her eyes which were almost exactly the same shade as her gown. “I’m Aridmis.”

“Druanne,” the first woman with lighter blue eyes said, nodding to me.

“Thank you both. Please, call me Corbie.” Suddenly, I felt a little overwhelmed by all the new names and faces.