Ravenwood (32 page)

“There!” Tanyth looked down at herself. “Now if you have a bit of bread and some cheese? Perhaps a cup of chamomile tea? I think I’m about done for one day.”

The two looked at each other, at the shambles they’d made of the hearth, and then at Tanyth and grinned. Megan started gathering up the pots and herbal material while Sadie put the kettle on.

As they were cleaning up, Tanyth offered a bit of advice. “Put the left over pine and comfrey into one pot and just add enough water to cover it. Then you can leave it on the side of the hearth to stay warm and we can use it for washing up.”

Megan nodded and did as Tanyth suggested.

Sadie brought a whole loaf of fresh bread and sliced two or three chunks of cheese off a wheel for her. “I’m surprised you didn’t want more rabbit, mum.” She grinned.

Tanyth considered it. “No, I had rabbit for lunch. The bread is delicious and the cheese tastes good.” She smiled. “At this rate, I should be back in my own hut in another day or two, don’t you think?” She looked at Megan. “You’ve gone back there, haven’t you?”

Megan shook her head. “We moved into one of the empty huts, mum. Yours is ready for you to move back in.”

Tanyth found herself saddened that she’d not be living with Megan and her children, but Harry would be back soon, and the threat that had driven them together was gone. She also found the thought of being back on her own again almost hurtfully appealing. She was just not used to living so closely with so many people. As enjoyable as she’d found being around the young folk, she found herself longing for a bit of quiet.

She finished the cheese and chased it with a bit of bread and some healthy swallows of soothing chamomile tea. She gave a little wave to the two women at the hearth and settled herself into her bed. Her own private night fell, drawing the curtain of darkness across her eyes.

Chapter 30
Recuperation

Tanyth’s days and nights fell into an easy, if sometimes uncomfortable, pattern. The mass of the barn blocked bright morning light so the gray light of early morning lasted almost to mid-day. She spent her time in the drowsy company of one or the other of the village’s women. Each afternoon involved new poultices, and fresh dressings. Each new dawn saw her stronger and by the third day with comfrey and pine needle poultices the redness was leeched out and the stitching itched.

“You’re going to have to take these out, Sadie.” Tanyth was looking down at herself during their afternoon session.

Sadie nodded. “I think so, too, mum.”

Sadie and Megan dragged in the tub and spent much of the afternoon heating water. Between them, they’d dragged the barrow down to the pump and filled several buckets to get enough for bathing. A couple of large kettles provided the hot water. It was a race to see if they get enough water hot before the tub turned cold. Finally, they set about snipping and pulling the threads out of Tanyth’s skin.

It was a soggy, somewhat chilly, and ultimately painful experience for Tanyth. The snips and small tugs added up over time and working on the delicate flesh between her breasts didn’t aid in her ability to put the pain aside. As they came out, one by one, she was glad she’d been unconscious when they’d gone in. The thought brought back the memory once more and her eyes went to the hearth.

The crockery had not been replaced on the mantel board. There were just the few pieces there for her use and not the piles of bowls and trenchers and mugs that the village had used. Her eyes traced downward to the hearthstone itself. Something about it caught her attention and she couldn’t quite figure out what it was.

Sadie looked up at her. “That’s the last one, mum.” She saw Tanyth looking at the hearth. “Is there somethin’ wrong, mum?”

Tanyth looked down at the small wellings of blood on her body and used the washcloth to daub at them with the sweet smelling lavender water. “No, my dear. Thank you.”

Sadie looked over her shoulder and then back at Tanyth. “You had the oddest expression, mum. Are you sure?”

Tanyth frowned and looked back at the hearth. “There’s something different about the hearth. Is the hearthstone a different color?”

Megan and Sadie shared a glance before Sadie nodded. “Perhaps a bit, mum.”

Megan gave a little shrug. “You did lose a lot of blood before we found you, mum.” She gave a sideways glance at the hearth.

Tanyth felt a bit light headed for a moment as the realization caught up with her. “That’s a lot of blood. How long was I laying there?”

Megan shook her head. “We don’t know, mum. We heard the crash and then the horrible silence. We didn’t dare leave the children unguarded and Jakey couldn’t leave the front door. It might have been as much as a quarter hour before we heard William shout.”

Sadie bobbed her head in agreement. “After that it went pretty fast. Thomas came in from the outside and he and Jakey dragged the bodies out. We got you out of the broken dishes and Thomas stitched you up and then worked on William after.”

Megan was looking at the hearthstone. “There was a lot of blood, all of it yours. It kinda got spread around.” She turned back to Tanyth with an apologetic look.

Tanyth shivered and Sadie thought it was because the water had cooled. The two youngsters helped her up and dried her off. She shooed them away and dressed herself with her own comfortable clothes from the pack. She’d need more, but she smiled to think of spending the winter in the snug little house.

By the time she finished dressing herself, she was weak and shaky again. The bath and stitch removal had taken a bit of the starch out of her, not that she’d had all that much to begin with. Seeing the entire hearthstone stained with her blood shocked her on a fundamental level.

Megan and Sadie took advantage of the hot water and tub to have baths of their own, unselfconsciously stripping down and taking turns pouring hot water over each other playfully. Tanyth grinned at them and envied their youthful vigor for a moment.

She stepped gingerly onto the hearth and poked up the teapot a bit with some fresh water and a few more leaves. While she waited for it to steep, her eyes traced the contours of the stone and replayed the battle in her head. She found it morbid but couldn’t stop thinking about it. In the middle of the stone, right in front of the fire place, a darker spot stood out in the faintly stained rock. She didn’t need to look closely to see it had the shape of a perfectly formed star.

The knowledge washed through her and left her gasping in uncertainty. She’d dreamed it. As surely as the mark was on the stone, she remembered the dream and the sphere of blood. The raven dreams were real as well. Or as real as such dreams might be.

But if that were real, then what could it mean? People didn’t dream the future. Her world twisted suddenly. She realized that it had already shifted and she’d crossed the threshold to somewhere else with the acceptance of the raven’s vision.

She sat heavily on the stump near the fire and closed her eyes to focus on stilling the spinning in her mind. wherever she now lived, Tanyth knew that these young women were part of it. The whole village was part of it. The notion that perhaps it had always been so, and she was only now aware of it, began to bubble into the back of her mind. She didn’t know if she found the thought comforting, or frightening.

In the corner the splashing stopped and Sadie spoke to her. “Are you alright, mum?”

The voice brought her back and she opened her eyes and smiled at the concerned look in the younger woman’s fresh face. Tanyth took a deep breath and let it out. “Yes, my dear, thank you. Just a moment of weakness but it’s passed now.”

Megan smiled. “Maybe you should lay back down, mum? It’s been a busy morning.” She seemed a bit chagrined to have been enjoying the bath time instead of tending to her business.

Tanyth nodded. “Perhaps in a bit. I’d like to sit here by the fire and have a cup of tea just now, though.” She reached up and pulled a heavy mug from the mantle board and tipped the pot to fill it. The two young women exchanged glances and finished dressing before joining her at the hearth with mugs of their own.

When the tea was gone, Tanyth looked at them with a slight frown. “Tomorrow, I’m goin’ to move back to my house.”

They glanced at each other before Sadie asked. “Are you sure you’re ready to be on your own, mum?”

“Yes, my dear, I am. I’ll be closer to people down in the village and you two won’t have to take time from your families.”

They shared another doubtful glance.

“If I need help, I can ask easier when there’s people around rather than tyin’ up your time by draggin’ you away.” She smiled. “What I need most right now is to be up and movin’. Winter will be here soon and I want to harvest some of the ground nuts and rose hips that I found.”

Sadie relented. “If you’re sure, mum, we’ll help you get settled again.”

“Thank you, both of you–all of you, really–for taking such good care of me, but you’ve got families to tend to.” She looked at Megan. “Your Harry will be back soon, as well.”

“Yes’m another couple of weeks.” She arched an eyebrow and gave the older woman a coy look. “Frank will be back, too.”

It took Tanyth a moment to realize what she was getting at, but when she caught on she barked a laugh. “Oh, yes, I’m sure Frank has nothing better to do.” Still, the thought gave her a strange flutter, and she felt her cheeks flush.

Sadie shrugged. “He’s a good lookin’ man for somebody that old, mum.” She realized what she’d said and groaned. “Sorry, mum, I just meant somebody his age.”

Tanyth chuckled and patted the younger woman’s arm. “I know what you meant, my dear, and I’m older than Frank by more than a few winters. Us old folks may look alike to you, but believe me, we know how old we are.” She smiled to reassure them.

Sadie was contrite. “I meant no disrepect, mum.”

“You offered none, Sadie. It’s alright.” She paused and admitted. “He does fill a shirt nicely.”

They giggled a bit and Megan replied, “Trousers, too.”

Sadie looked at her aghast. “Why Megan Tannen! What have you been lookin’ at!”

Megan gave an unapologetic shrug. “I’m married, ya git, not dead. I can still look.” She cast another coy look in Tanyth’s direction. “And he is a nice lookin’ man–for any age.”

Sadie snickered. “Wonder if Mother Alderton noticed? She always used to say ’Snow on the roof don’t mean there’s no fire on the hearth.’”

Megan smiled at the memory. “She always had something to say, but I think she was looking to rob cradles that one.”

Sadie looked shocked. “What are you sayin’? Robbed cradles.”

Megan guffawed. “Don’t tell me you never noticed which quarryman it was that always filled her woodbox.”

Sadie sat up and looked at her friend. “No! He didn’t?” The delicious shock was too much for her to hold in and she covered her face with her hands and laughed.

Megan shrugged. “Well, nobody left to ask now, but as often as he was over there, I always figured he was fillin’ more than her woodbox.”

They giggled for a bit but it soon subsided. Sadie offered a final comment in the tones of a prayer. “May the All-Mother and All-Father find them place in the Summerlands together, if that’s so.” She looked up at Tanyth. “Kurt. Bless him.”

They sat there for a moment, thinking private thoughts and finally, Tanyth rose. “I think I will lay down now.”

“It’s getting on dinner time, mum? Would you like something to eat?”

Tanyth looked outside and saw the dusk pooling in the corners of the barn. “Not just now. If you’d leave me a loaf of bread and a bit of cheese? I’ll toast some over the hearth in a bit. Right now, I think I should lay down.”

They helped her onto her cot and she let them fuss over her, tucking her in and making much of her progress. She smiled and settled into the delicious comfort of the woolen blankets. The two women dumped the tub and set the pots and kettles in order before giving her a small wave and heading back to their own houses.

Tanyth lay on the soft edge of slumber for some time, the soft coals in the hearth appearing to glow more brightly as day faded to night. She drifted on wings of whimsy, considering the raven dreams, and the way Frank’s shoulders filled out his shirt. “Old fool.” She muttered to herself. It was the last thing she heard as she fell over the edge into sleep.

Chapter 31
Another Moving Day

“Good morning, mum. Ready to move?” William stood at the back door of the workroom with a smile on his face and his arm in a sling.

Tanyth turned from banking the fire in the hearth and smiled. “William, it’s so good to see you.” She eyed his shoulder. “You know, I thought he’d killed you.”

William grinned. “So did I.” He paused with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “Then I woke up with a corpse on me and big hunk of steel in my shoulder and I was sure of it. But how are you, mum? Sadie said you want to move back to your house this morning? Had enough livin’ in the barn then?”

Tanyth laughed softly. “Yes. I didn’t really expect to be here quite so long, but now that the problem has been dealt with...” She shrugged. “I’m ready to move back to my house.”

He smiled and gazed into her eyes. “Thank you, mum. You saved us all, you know.”

“Oh, go on. I nearly got you killed and that poor boy Kurt? I didn’t do much to save him.”

He gave a half shrug in acknowledgement. “Alright, maybe not all.” He smiled again. “But without your warnin’ and without your actions here...” His voice trailed off. “Well, I’d hate to think of what might have happened.”

“Then don’t. Stop being silly and give me a hand with my pack.”

He grinned. “Oh, we’ll do more than that!” He stepped back from the door and a veritable parade of people came into the room led by Jakey.

In less than a quarter hour, the men had rolled up the bedding, and grabbed the cot, Tanyth’s pack, and even a few of the storage baskets and two water buckets. It all went onto the barrow that waited just outside the door. Jakey himself took the handles and started trundling it down the track.

Tanyth watched with an amused expression on her face until William offered her his good arm. “Shall we go, mum?”