Highland Raven

Chapter 25

Andraste was sitting at a table on the cauldron terrace. Before her was a basket full of fresh bread and rolls, their crusts flakey and golden, ripe red apples, grapes, and wheels of pale yellow cheese. She was drinking a huge goblet of wine. I stared at the food. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten.

“Well, curiosity sated?” she asked when we entered.

The bread’s yeasty scent filled the air around me. Even from this distance, I could tell it was still warm.

“Cerridwen found a treasure,” Nimue said.

When I didn’t move nor speak, Andraste laughed. “Sit, child. Eat. You are hungry, aren’t you? Didn’t Sidhe tell you to remember to eat?”

“Where does the food come from?” I asked as I joined her.

Andraste handed me a hunk of bread, and I slid the box across the table to her.

Thora trotted over and sat down beside me.

Andraste laughed. “Here, Graymalkin,” she said, then unwrapped a huge bone. It must have been lamb’s leg. It was thick with meat. Thora struggled to get a hold of it, but eventually found a grip. She trotted over to the fire where she lay down and began chewing her prize. “It comes from the market, of course,” Andraste finally answered me.

“What market?” The bread practically melted in my mouth. Nimue handed me a slice of cheese and a glass of red wine that I ate and drank greedily.

“Any market. I bought these in Glasgow.”

I set the bread down. “Glasgow?”

Andraste opened the box. She stopped chewing as she stared at the jewels. “Where did you find these?”

“How did you leave?”

“In the priest’s temple. Cerridwen spotted the box on the third floor,” Nimue answered.

Andraste set down her food and lifted one of the torcs. “Beautiful. No doubt they were a hero’s prize. Now they are yours. A gift from the goddess,” she said, then slid the box back across the table to me.

“Certainly, our lady owed her a gift,” Nimue said leadingly.

Andraste frowned at Nimue. She wiped her hands on a cloth napkin then looked at me. “Our lady is growing impatient and sloppy,” she said, tossing the napkin onto the table.

“Don’t let her hear you say so,” Nimue warned.

Andraste puffed air through her lips in disgust. “Her charms are naught to me.”

“She could curse you in the afterlife.”

“Aren’t I dead already?” Andraste answered with a laugh then turned to me. “What did you think of my city?”

“Strange.”

“Indeed, it is strange. It’s little more than a tomb now.”

“Andraste, what happened to all the bodies? I don’t mean to be insensitive, but…”

“But you felt them? They didn’t go anywhere. And until you are ready, I suggest you don’t creep far from the temple.”

“The skeleton outside the priest’s temple?” I asked, turning to Nimue.

“He refused to leave when the island shook, and he paid the ultimate price. Stubborn. Now he is like me, a relic,” Andraste said with a laugh.

I suddenly felt very frustrated. “Andraste, why am I here? Why did she bring me here?”

“You are here to learn.”

“As I did with Epona.”

Andraste laughed. “Writing? Herb lore? Poems about trees? No, girl. You are here to learn what has been lost,” Andraste said, then leaned toward me. “You are here to learn wizardry.”