Miss Magic

Rolling clouds covered the land. The hiss of the sea striking the shore was angry tonight. The sailor raised the lantern high as he heard the dinghy grind against the old wooden dock.

He smiled as the shadows moved away to reveal her moonlit form. She was as lovely as ever. He reached down for her as she pushed back the hood of her cloak.

"You're here, then!"

She breathed shallowly as he took her in his arms for a moment before he turned to push off the boat which had brought her. "Yes. So far the night has done its part to protect us, M' Lady. The others are waiting anxiously above."

He was a burly man as salty as the sea with arms made strong by the constant working of the nets. He tossed her bag over his shoulder and took her arm to guide her through the mist. They both knew the king's men were out in force this night. The rumors of her coming had been bandied about for weeks.

"Have you been well, Robert?" A stray wisp of dark auburn hair curled over her face as she whispered to him while they climbed to the highlands.

"Aye, ma'am. As well as can be, when every bit of food that enters one's poor mouth is taxed under the thumb of the Queen of England. She squeezed his arm reassuringly and nodded as she spoke, "...and what shall we be a'doing about that, Robert? You don't mean to replace her with an Irish throne do you now? That isn't why I've come all this way?"

Robert shook his head as he smiled grimly, "Were, that it was so, Milady, but I'm a thinking there is another crown to worry your pretty head. The Druids crown has been stolen."  He motioned to the huddled figures moving towards them down the steep wet path. "We are needing your counsel and fine leadership in the coven. We've all sorely missed your power, Milady. It is a fine thing that you are back among us."

Excited voices embraced her as she moved among the group. Her fingers caressed the broach at her throat and felt the heat of the crystal lance out into her hand, even through the coldness of the mist.

Raising her hand above the band she allowed the light to beam forth and flow over their upturned faces. She smiled as the group went to their knees and each voice slipped into silence.  Robert was the first to speak. "Then all is not lost..."

She nodded with the glow showing a strange rapture upon her face. "There is a story to tell, my Robert. When there is time, I will beguile your ears with it, but not now when deeds remain to be done while they may."

He rose and leaned forward, peering into the crystal as if it would foretell the future. His face reflected the strange light and it danced in his eyes as he turned to the others. "She has the Eye of the Dragon! Rise. What are we, a pack of rats? Better to honor our sweet homeland with our blood than to lay here any longer. Come! We have our chance."

The wetness of the night hung damp upon their clothes by the time they reached the village. The rocks of her lodging were cold with sweat as she leaned tiredly against them. It had been a long journey. England had scarcely been put behind her before the dangers of travel had begun in earnest.

She was sought everywhere and not just one loyal friend had lost their life getting her here. She tried to maintain a smile upon her face to give strength to the others, but none knew how close a call it had been. She felt the sharp bitter taste of the strain around her in each breath she took. So much hope had been placed in her and there was so little time.

It took but another moment for Robert to push open the humble door where the warmth of the fireplace beckoned. She swept the cloak away and hung it near the fire watching the steam rise immediately into smaller versions of the clouds outside.  "And how will I not be caught here, Robert? I expect to be welcomed back at the ruins where last I stayed." She took the proffered cloth and patted her hair dry as she watched him.

"There is no place that is safe, Malady Serena." His words seemed to caress the air with the sound of her name, making her blush. "Watch..." He pushed the oak table away from its corner of the floor. With a swipe of his foot the cracks of a door appeared in the dirty wood.

At a questioning glance from her, he leaned down. His muscles rippled and bulged with the effort before the door swung open. "Tis to all appearances a potato cellar, but come."

At his beckoning, she took a bit of tallow for light and moved down below with him. The room was meagerly appointed with a few sacks of potatoes and wine casks. "A good ploy, Robert!" She laughed. "And what is behind the farther wall?"

He chuckled merrily for the first time since she had landed upon the shore. "Pray you need never find out, Milady, for there will be blood spilt above use if that time comes once more."

Her curiosity aroused, she brushed past him, fingers lightly testing the strength of the walls outline. "Come, Robert. Show me. You have turned me into a child again, delighted with your mystery."

She watched as her words softened his face. Wordlessly he nodded and moved up next to her, placing his hands up high into the rafters that were the floor of the humble hut above. With a twist of his wrists the wall groaned softly and a crack appeared barely wide enough for his brawny chest.

The two of them joined on the other side. She lifted the tallow candle to see into the recesses of the darkness as the hidden door groaned shut behind. "I would not know how to leave this place." She said while rising up on an elbow.

"I thought you would like to refresh yourself, Milady. There is a steaming hot tub yonder and fresh clothing from your bag. I will wait above." He watched her closely as he leaned up and twisted the handle's partner to the way into the secret room. She nodded, now sure of herself.

The night held it's own urgency, but her body welcomed the heat of the water while she bathed. Sounds of more than one pair of feet walked upon the floor above. The gathering was happening. From all the far distances of the land, they were coming to hear her message.

She prepared herself as best she could, draping the crystal around her neck as a testament of why she was here, then made her way upstairs.

The aura of the room almost overwhelmed her as she entered. So much strength here, and so much fear. But the thing most recognizable was the hope. She felt as much awe for the ones around her as they felt for her. With every beat of her heart, every surge of blood through her veins, she wanted to help them find the answers. These were her people, a part of her, and she of them. Life must be changed for the children who would join the clan. Life must be changed for all .... and her part in it would be to use and direct the gifts with which she'd been endowed.

As she directed her thoughts in that fashion, the crystal around her neck began to take on a warmth, and she could feel the energy tingling from the top of her head, down through her spine and down again, grounding into the soft earthen floor beneath her feet.

"Blessed be!" she spoke clearly into the room..... A chorus of voices responded in kind,

"Blessed Be!"

She could feel Robert's strength behind her, and the pleasure flooding him at the exchange. She would feed off that strength, needing every ounce he had to give, because she herself was only one...and if they were to succeed in driving away the evil that was threatening to engulf them, it would take all of them. And more...it would take the help of the otherworld. And that was why she was here.

"Oh, my clan, my family. 'Tis courage we must find this day. I see the hope in your eyes, glowing like the sun above. Feel the strength of the earth beneath us, and the sound of the sea not far away. The wind blows from the west, from the spirit realms and the Ever Living Lady shines her light in our hearts. Let not despair come near by, for we will find the way ... yes we shall!"

She began by walking through the room, embracing each one as she went, touching the hands and fingers of all, leaning into their necks for a moment, feeling the gratitude and hope growing ever stronger.

"T'is time. "

Without any more words, they gathered to the middle, around the small table that served as an altar. A candle glowed in the center, and appropriate offerings of wine, shells and fruit were placed around it.

She turned to Robert, and without a word he drew his dagger. Silently, she took it, raising it above her head and saluted the Mother. Then the Father. Passing the blade through the flame, it glowed with a blue light.

The roomful of people joined hands, forming a circle. Now she would invoke the blessings of protection from the otherworld. Taking Roberts's dagger from the flame, she started at the North. The blue light glowed in slim tracer as she pointed it at the earth beneath her, and the shining blue maintained its light as she walked around the cluster of mortals, drawing the circle where they would invoke the energy to focus, to work magic, to work love.

Because that is what it was going to take. A lot of love to o'erthrow the hatred growing in the hearts of the people. Hatred of the cruel oppression that was devouring their lives. "The circle of light..." breathed Robert. The hottest point of flame that burned most pure had been transformed to the white witch's blade tip. Lightening crackled and licked at the four points of the compass. The heavens themselves rolled back until the stars winked into view above the small honest band of worshiper's heads as they linked hands which glowed with power.

"What do you see in the reflection of the blade?" He sighed. The pendant on her breast flowed with the new born power of the gathering in their unified strength. Each had been fasting for days in hope of this moment.

"See for yourselves..."

A man strode through the high arching doors of a monastery in one of the bastard Church of England's strongholds upon their fair land.

He was an emissary familiar to Robert, whose eyes grew cruel at the sight of him. "Montegue!"

"Yes! Straight from the bowels of hell!"

"Look!"

"His Lordship, Duke Wilmington. They are all in one place! If only we had known, we could have seen them all with their heads rolling back to the hell they came from." Quiet...listen..."

The Frenchman was darkly handsome with lacy finery at his wrists and neck as he bowed before his lordship and handed him a be-ribboned scroll. At the Earl's side stood a representative of the Queen's church, who blessed the document and unrolled it before beginning it's reading.

"Aaaahemmmm...see the seal of the high bishop, himself, giving us welcome to proceed with the will of the church upon this heathen shore. All peoples residing here forfeit their lands and freedoms unless submitting themselves to baptism in the Church of England and giving oath to their fealty under our holy dominion. It is done, sire."

The scene stood hot and sure in Robert's eyes even as it faded from his dream like view. The hands grew tight within his grasp from those who stood at each side of him. "We are none too early, My lady! Scarce do you grace our homeland shores than our doom is pronounced upon us. They mean us all harms way and have the might to enforce it. Both Catholic and Protestant will go in hiding, but it is the age-old beginning of our Druid lore which they seek to disperse forever."

His voice trembled with passion. The small group before him seemed so few against the strangeness meant to wipe them from the face of the earth. The belief in another world in after death did not hurry these war mongers to it, rather, it brought disgrace upon this world and those who worshiped its nature.

The knock upon the humble door broke their attention. It was thrust open so quickly the hinges were almost shattered as a man was hurled across the floor to their feet. "Traitor! There be a traitor amongst us!" Robert took in the familiar visage of the two watchmen he had placed in shadows outside, striding in after the wreak of a man. Their pale faces were livid with fear and anger. "The devil's own are just behind him. He could not wait to crow, Robert."

The hair on Robert's neck stood on end as he stared down at his brother Rolland, his face bloodied and smeared with hate. "What have you done" The Lady Serena shook him from his spell. "It is nigh too late for that. Look at the talisman!" Already it throbbed, with the emotions around it into heightened prisms of spiraling light.

The seductive whisper of an arrow's flight struck the hallmark of the hard oak door, then another appeared in the back of the watchman standing in its way. Scarcely had he fallen than a rain of arrows descended.

With all the rage in him, Robert sprang to the broken door and heaved it back in place. "We are caught!" The cry of despair was followed by cackling laughter from Rolland as he stared up into the scene from maddened eyes. "Shall we die together as we were born together, brother, kicking and screaming at each other?"

"By our mother's blood, why have you done this"

"Wait!" Serena's voice spat into the heated cursing around her. "Gather! This is no world for us. Come." Robert's back was to the door, braced against torture and death. Already, fire was dancing outside the walls. Smoke curled in tiny searching fingers through the cracks of the doorway.

Rolland pulled himself to his feet, one arm dragging, broken at his side. "You and your mysteries. They will die where you lay, all of you! I have put an end to this misery. Better our people have a future than live in the hovel of such a past. Now our people will listen."

"Quickly, to me, while there is yet a moment." Serena commanded. The small group hastened to her, each hugging tight to the other, all looking at the jewel spinning high in her hand. "Robert, join us. I have need of you."

She watched the struggle in his eyes. The murderous rage that was upon him carried him to Rolland's side with dagger raised. "Leave him. He will yet be a thorn in their side. To me now!" Robert staggered back as hands dragged him to the circle.

Smoke wreathed the group of innocents and fire licked at them as Rolland watched. Soldiers broke through the doorway but reeled back from the heat and fire. Rolland fled for the doorway, crying out a traitor's code word to save his burning hide. Each of the

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Texte: bob richardson
Bildmaterialien: bob richardson
Lektorat: bob richardson
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 08.08.2020
ISBN: 978-3-7487-5285-1

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