Highland Raven

Chapter 6

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.

Druanne peered closely at me, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “All right…Lady Corbie.”

Aridmis gave her a sharp look.

Puzzled, I frowned and looked around the camp; there was no sign of the other women.

“They will join us shortly, no doubt,” Druanne said, as if reading my thoughts. “Except Tully. She’s currently traveling.”

I raised a questioning eyebrow at her. She smiled smugly and looked away from me.

Epona and Madelaine emerged from Epona’s house. I could tell from the expression on Madelaine’s face that it was time for her to go. Her eyes were watery.

I crossed the lawn and took her hand. “So soon?”

She nodded sadly.

Uald came from the barn leading Madelaine’s horse. “He drank his weight in water and got a good nibble of oats,” she told Madelaine. Uald too looked sad.

“You can’t stay the night?” I asked Madelaine.

She shook her head.

The door to a nearby house opened. A very old woman exited. I had to look twice. She resembled the old woman I had seen in my vision, the ancient-looking Wyrd Sister, but it was not her.

“Bride,” Epona called to the elder woman, raising her voice. “Meet our new sister.”

The old woman, whose silver hair was pinned in a loose bun, came toward me, her arms outstretched. “Welcome, child,” she said and took hold of both of my arms which she squeezed gently.

“Greetings, Mother. I’m Corbie.”

“Oh, I wondered what all the fuss was about. I sleep most afternoons. I am a crone, you see,” she added with a laugh.

When Bride was done, Madelaine embraced me, kissing my cheek. “If you need me, I can come. It will not be hard to send word. They will teach you,” she whispered in my ear.

I held my aunt close. Tears fell from my eyes, but I tried to steel myself. I didn’t want the others, particularly Druanne, to see. Something told me I shouldn’t show her my weaknesses. We held our embrace for a long time. Eventually Madelaine pulled away.

“I love you,” I whispered quietly to her.

“And I you,” she replied, kissing me on the forehead. Uald helped Madelaine mount her horse and then, holding the reins, led Madelaine to the small crevice in the rock wall. When she neared the passage, Uald kissed Madelaine’s hand, passed her the reins, and turned and headed back toward the barn. Madelaine turned once more to wave to me, then rode into the jumble of rocks that hid the enclosure, leaving me to a life all new.