Highland Raven

Chapter 22

Banquo and I returned early in the morning before the others woke. The pentacle fires had burned out but the coals under the center cauldron were still glowing red. Quietly, I led Banquo into my little house where Thora was sleeping on what used to be Ludmilla’s bed. She raised her head and looked at us when we entered then rolled on her back and went back to sleep.

“Get warm,” I whispered to Banquo, motioning to my bed. The air had cooled overnight, and we’d woken on the cold, frozen ground. After my…vision…my sleep had been restless. I was woken over and over again by strange, bloody nightmares. The dreams featured people I didn’t know, rain, fire, and blood. And my raven-haired man was at the center of it all. Who was he? I shuddered just thinking about it.

“You’re trembling,” Banquo whispered, pulling me onto the bed beside him. “You’re not afraid, are you? Your aunt…”

I shook my head as I nestled into his arms, pulling the covers up to my chin. It wasn’t the real world that frightened me. “No, only cold. I love you, and my mother’s spirit led me to you. I have no doubts in my mind.”

Banquo kissed my shoulder. “Balor and I will ride north again this morning. I have to rejoin Jarl Thorfinn. Once you talk to your aunt, just send word. I’ll make the arrangements to have you join me. You’ll like Jarl Thorfinn. He’s got a kind spirit. He’s like a brother to me.”

“Then Lochaber promotes Thorfinn’s bid for power?” I asked nervously. If Banquo’s family was allied against mine, then I would have no choice but to abandon Madelaine and Malcolm. I would have to turn on my blood, throw my allegiance behind the north, just to keep my husband. It was an act that could cost me my head, but my choice had already been made. I had given my heart.

“Lochaber favors Thorfinn and Macbeth as the rightful powers in the north, but we are not interested in waging war…at least not yet. My father is waiting to see how the King will play out the game now that Gillacoemgain of Moray has usurped power by killing Macbeth’s father, Findelach. No one knows for certain why King Malcolm plotted against his own daughter’s husband, but Findelach is dead. Macbeth’s claim is weakened. One thing is for certain, the path to the throne is much less complicated for King Malcolm’s favorite, Duncan. Cerridwen, my father’s allegiances…do they complicate things for you?”

More than he could ever know. “No,” I said then. “You are my husband now. The matter is no longer complicated.” And in my heart, I told myself that I really believed it.

* * *

Banquo and I didn’t speak a word of our marriage to anyone. And he was right, as soon as Balor had risen, he roused Banquo and bid him say his goodbyes. I followed my husband around the coven like a sick, miserable thing. No matter how hungry I had felt the day before, now my stomach tossed and turned with anxiety. Maybe the potion of the ancestors had pushed us beyond where our logic would have allowed us to go, but we loved each other. My mother had led me to my druid. I had wed him before the old gods. That’s all there was to it.

“We will not be back until spring,” I heard Balor tell Epona. She held the reins to his horse while he mounted.

“May the great ones watch over you. The winter will be long and harsh. Take care,” she told him, kissing his hand in respect.

I turned my attention to Banquo. “I’ll send word soon,” I whispered, handing him his reins. Hot tears were streaming down my cheeks. My heart ached.

“As soon as you can,” Banquo said. His eyes were watery. “I hate this.”

“It will be done soon,” I reassured him.

He leaned over and kissed me on my head. “Let it be done then. Come to me in Caithness. Let’s make babies all winter,” he said then laughed.

In spite of myself, I chuckled and wiped the tears from my cheeks.

Balor reined his horse in and motioned for Banquo to follow. With a wave, my husband rode off, leaving me amongst my sisters. I watched him go, studying every inch of his body. I tried to memorize his frame. I tried to remember his taste and the feel of his hands. I etched his image in my mind. And once more, before he passed through the wall sheltering our grove, he turned and looked back at me. And in that moment, I felt my heart break.

* * *

I decided I would wait until night to tell Epona everything. The bards weren’t planning to leave until later that afternoon. I stayed inside my little house most of the day and thought over what I would say to Epona, to Madelaine. In my mind, the matter was final. It didn’t matter what Malcolm wanted. He could marry someone else to Duncan, or Thorfinn, or anyone else for all I cared. I was married to Banquo.

The moon was high in the sky when I finally went to seek Epona. The coven was dark. All the women had gone to bed. Smoke rolled out of the little chimneys. It would be hard to tell Epona that I was leaving, and I would need to send a casting to Madelaine. It had to be done. I wouldn’t keep any more secrets from Banquo. I would send the casting and be done with it. As I headed across the square, I noticed smoke trailing from Sid’s house. I looked at Epona’s door. It could wait a few more minutes. Surely, Sid could advise me.

I stopped at the center fire on my way to Sid’s. No doubt she hadn’t eaten. Small pots sat warming on stones all around the cauldron. Aridmis had made mutton. I could still smell its sweet scent. I bent beside the fire.

The bank of coals under the cauldron flickered like a beating heart, thumping red, orange, and black. It had grown very cold outside. I could smell the threat of snow in the air. I was about to lift one of the pot lids when I saw a shadow out of the corner of my eye. In the hours waning from Samhain, it did not pay to ignore shades. The dead, especially those who did not wish to be dead, still roamed the land. And they were not all friendly.

I stood to find a woman standing a few feet back from the fire. She was half-concealed by shadows, but I could still make out her features. Her hair was scarlet red, the color of velvet and blood. Her locks were twisted over her shoulder, decorated with black gems and small bones. She held a tall staff topped with a human skull, and on her left shoulder sat a raven.

“My Lady,” I whispered, bowing my head. My knees went soft. A sharp pain spread across my chest as wild panic beat through my veins. Why had the Goddess of Death come?

“Do you know who I am?” she asked, and I realized then that she sounded angry.

“You…you are the Morrigu,” I stammered, looking up at her.

She smiled, her lips curling to reveal sharp, pointed teeth. “I am death.”

“Pray, what service can I offer you, Lady?” I whispered.

She laughed a full-blooded laugh. “Prey,” she said then paused. “I have marked you as mine since your birth. It was me who answered Boite’s call. The time has come for you to do my will.”

My whole body shook. My heart beat so hard I could hear it slamming in my chest, my eardrums throbbing. “I am yours to command.”

“It is time to join your sisters of the cauldron.”

“The cauldron…the Wyrds?”

The Morrigu clenched her jaw. I could feel anger emanating from her. Her eyes narrowed. She took a step toward me. “Did you think your destiny was your own to choose? Saucy and over-bold, how dare you traffic and trade with Banquo in riddles and the affairs of men, giving what was not yours to give? You don’t belong to Malcolm or Madelaine or Banquo or even yourself. I am your mistress. Boite gave you to me. I am the source of all that power locked inside you. You…are mine. And you will go where I command. You will learn what I deem fitting when I decide.”

“I—” I began, but I wasn’t sure to what to say. My knees were shaking.

The Morrigu nodded to her raven. It flew to Epona’s window and pecked on the glass.

“I’ve honored you with this choice. You are the first to join my coven in nearly five hundred years,” the goddess told me.

Shocked, I looked from the Goddess to Epona’s house. Epona’s door opened slowly. She stepped into the doorway, her hair all a mess. She pulled a blanket tight around her and squinted.

“Cerridwen?” she called.

With the most subtle twist of her wrist, the Death Goddess recalled her raven. It was then that Epona spotted her. I heard her gasp as she took two steps toward us then she bowed deeply.

“She is for the ether,” the Morrigu told Epona.

Thora emerged from the darkness and padded across the coven square to me. She stood beside me whimpering softly.

Epona said nothing. I could see she was shaking.

“Do you understand, horsewoman?” the Morrigu asked Epona.

“Yes, My Lady,” Epona answered hesitantly.

The Morrigu laughed. “You’ll get what’s yours. I’ve already agreed to that bit, but for now, it’s time to play,” she said then turned to me. “Before this one complicates matters further with her…will.” With a flourish of her staff, the space around Thora and me began to roll with twisting black smoke. It snaked around us like it was alive.

“Cerridwen!” I heard Sid scream.

I turned to see Sid rushing from her house toward us, a look of shock and fear painted on her face.

The Morrigu stepped forward, grabbed me by my neck, and looked at me face to face. Her eyes were dark as a starless night, her skin pale, lips red. “Why Gruoch, you look confused,” she said with a laugh then everything went black.