Authors: L. M. Roth
There was a
pervasive sense of evil in the air. To Dirk it seemed as though he could almost
smell it; a stench of something dead that is already rotting, yet called up
from its grave to haunt those who seek its presence.
Around him the
hills had lost their emerald glow, that vibrant green so unique to Eirinia.
They had taken on a brown tinge that gave him an eerie foreboding of doom to
come. Even the streams and rivers, so renowned for their crystal clarity had
turned a muddy hue that, in Dirk’s opinion, merely reflected the image of the
villagers who raised their voices in rebellion.
The revolt
that had first reared its head at Spring Festival was not yet finished in
asserting its striving for supremacy, the resurrection of its old gods. Of that
much he was certain. In the intervening months his mother had disclosed more to
him of the history of their people, the knowledge of which only increased his
sense of evil rising around them.
It was said
that the Tuadan had once dwelt in the heavens, and had been great and glorious.
But they had done what was forbidden, forbidden even to mention, and they had
been cast down from their celestial realm, doomed to wander the earth below, to
take their abode in the hills and trees. This sentence was to remind them, so
Judoc said, of the contrast between their once lofty status as heavenly beings
exalted over all, and their diminishment as creatures that were now trod upon
by the foot of man as he stepped on those hills and cut down the trees to warm
himself with their wood on a fire.
Ever since
they had found Brenus near the mound just off the path he had increasingly
become aware of a brooding menace, something that seemed to be stalking his
family in particular. How much of that was tied in with Spring Festival, he was
not sure. Yet he felt that the women of the village were watching his family,
as if testing how far they could push the boundaries of their agenda.
And he had an
increasingly uncomfortable awareness that his younger sister had somehow become
entangled in the web of wickedness that was spreading its threads over the
village of Leith to consume it as a spider devours the fly so hapless as to
find itself ensnared, trapped, with no hope of escape.
How often
lately had he caught her sneaking away after the evening meal, making haste not
for Melisande’s hut as he had first thought, but going none knew where, on a
mission unknown? How often had he surprised her with the village girls, the
center of attention, until his presence was detected, and they dissolved into
giggles, exchanging furtive glances, yet betraying nothing of their secret? And
how often had she skipped the family morning prayers, pleading excuses that
rang hollow with insincerity, causing their mother to purse her lips together
angrily, yet doing nothing to discipline her wayward daughter?
He had decided
that the time had come to do something. If Judoc would not pull on the reigns
and bring Nolwenn back into submission, then he would assume the role of the
man of the house with his father and older brother gone and take the matter
into his own hand. With that intent in mind, he followed Nolwenn one morning
when she sneaked out after the evening meal.
He walked
stealthily, careful not to betray his presence by stepping on a twig or
crunching one of the October leaves that carpeted the ground. His older brother
Cort had taught both him and his younger brother Brand the game called
Staerkes
that was played by the children of Trekur Lende, a game that was intended to
prepare them for the hunt. The object was to step on sticks without breaking
any of them, for the sound of a broken stick would betray the hunter to the
prey.
Dirk felt much
like a hunter now: stalking his sister to free her from the snare of another
hunter who would consume her soul...
So silent was
he that he had gained on her before she even sensed his presence. Nolwenn had
crept down to the small stream that ran just outside the village walls, and she
carried a small wooden bowl. She dipped the bowl into the stream and sat down
on a boulder to gaze into the bowl. So still was she that Dirk could not
determine what her purpose was in such a strange activity; she merely stared downward
into the bowl.
He watched her
undetected for a quarter of an hour as she stared and murmured words that he
could not hear. He was suddenly startled by a rustling noise very close to him
and whirled around to face whatever foe had pursued him…
It was Brand.
He grinned at Dirk sheepishly and put a finger to his lips. Then he carefully
and quietly sat down in the grass and joined him.
“She comes
here every night,” Brand whispered. “First she dips the bowl, and then she
looks into it and murmurs. It fair gives me a shudder, it does. Like some old
woman who casts a spell it seems to me.”
Dirk caught
his breath. Of course! Nolwenn was using an old Eirini method he had heard of
but had never seen, it being a practice that was banned in the village of
Leith. She was consulting the water for visions and attempting to cast spells
over what she had seen, in the hopes it would come to pass.
The foolish
girl! Why, she should know better than to practice such evil. The very thought
enraged him, and it shamed him that his younger brother should have been wise
to her before he himself was.
So great was
Dirk’s anger that he threw stealth aside and stood up boldly. He strode over to
the stream, where Nolwenn’s startled gasp only fueled his ire. He grabbed the
bowl from her hand and brought it down on her outstretched hands, flinging the
water within it in every direction. She howled in pain and anger, and rose to
her feet to struggle with her brother in a vain attempt to recover the bowl.
“How dare you
strike me!” she shrieked in a voice so shrill that it sounded like a crow
scavenging an autumn cornfield for the remains of the crop. “Give me that bowl;
give it to me, I tell you. You will be sorry if you don’t!”
Nolwenn’s lips
curled back until her teeth were bared. Her hair had fallen loose in the
struggle and to her brother she looked like an old harpy bent on revenge. For a
moment a chill came over him before he rebuked himself. She was only his
younger sister after all! And in his mind what she needed was a good spanking.
No sooner was
the thought born than it gave birth to the deed. Dirk took the bowl in one hand
and with the other he turned Nolwenn around until her backside was facing him.
He knelt and pushed her down over his knee and administered several hard slaps with
the bowl. Brand rushed to assist him, holding the struggling, shrieking Nolwenn
in place, making escape impossible.
Nolwenn’s
howls of indignant fury brought Judoc running out of the hut. The absence of
her entire family and the sound of her daughter’s screams sent her racing to
the stream from whence the excitement emanated. She arrived just in time to
witness her son administer the last whack with the bowl.
“Give me
that!” she ordered her eldest son and snatched it from his hands. “What do you
think you are doing, Dirk? It is not up to you to discipline your sister!”
So furious was
Dirk that he forgot his customary respect for his mother; he stood up so
abruptly that the action sent Nolwenn sprawling to the ground.
“No, it is up
to
you
to do it, woman! But you have been so immersed in your grief over
losing Brenus and Cort that you can not even see that you are losing your
daughter as well. And she is going to the devil in a hurry, that I’ll warn you
and no mistake!”
Dirk soon
discovered that he was not the only member of the Adalbart family with a
temper. Judoc slapped him across the face with her outstretched hand, then
clenched it into a fist which she kept by her side.
“Grief? What
do you know of grief? It isn’t you that lost first a husband, then her
firstborn, and another son, and has not heard from the one she loves more than
life itself in months,
months
, I tell you! Something is wrong with your
father or he would have sent word. Do not presume to lecture me; I’ll give you
what you gave your sister and don’t think you are too big for me to do it!”
Judoc threw
down the wooden bowl so hard that it broke against the rock where it fell.
Nolwenn cried out, but her mother grabbed her ear and pulled her to her feet.
Never had she received any but gentle treatment from her mother and so
astonished was the girl that she stopped her whimpering and merely stared at
Judoc with a mouth so wide open that Dirk was astonished it didn’t touch the
ground.
“Into the
house, all of you!” Judoc commanded with the air of a general whipping his
unruly troops into ranks.
“If I hear one
word from any of you before morning I will spank every one of you so hard you
won’t be able to sit down to eat your meals for a week.”
In the morning
no one would speak to any one else. They broke their fast in complete silence,
and when the time came for morning prayer, they looked at each other furtively,
wondering if any would participate.
It was Dirk
who finally broke the silence; he rose from the table and inclined his head to
the living area.
“Come, let us
meet and pray as we always have,” he said, reaching out to give his mother a
gentle pat on the shoulder.
She placed a
hand over his and patted it in return. Judoc was uncharacteristically quiet
this morning, but then, she had not behaved in any manner that was customary to
her children last night either.
Dirk just saw
out of the corner of his eye the shadow of his sister creeping for the door of
the hut. He abruptly left his mother and strode with all haste to intercept
Nolwenn. He slammed the door shut just as she had quietly opened it. He
snatched her hand and marched her into the living area where the others had
congregated.
She cried out
again and tried to snatch back her hand, but her brother would have none of it.
“Oh no, you
don’t!” he warned her. “You will stay and pray this morning and join us as a
family. I do not know what it is you are bowing down to these days, but in this
household it is Dominio Who is worshiped and none else! And you will stay for
prayer with us until the time you leave this house, either when you are married
or if I kill you for sorcery, but you will not leave during prayer, Nolwenn!”
When Dirk
first grabbed his sister, Judoc had opened her mouth to protest her son’s actions,
but closed it when she saw the ugly look of rage on the face of her youngest
daughter. If a demon had spoken out of her mouth it would not have given her a
greater shock than she had now at the sight of Nolwenn. And it was evident that
Dirk knew more of her activities of late than she herself did; sorcery he had
said. And quite suddenly she realized the significance of the wooden bowl they
had fought over last night.
“Sorcery?”
Judoc screeched. “Is that what you have been up to? Where have you been learning
such abominations? Answer me!”
Nolwenn
clamped her mouth shut and refused to answer. Dirk decided that stronger
measures were needed.
“Never mind
where she learned it; any old woman in the village could teach her about it,
for they all remember it from the old days. What she needs to do is repent and
ask forgiveness of Dominio before His judgment falls on her for practicing what
is forbidden and evil.”
Nolwenn’s face
abruptly changed from red to white and her breath came in short hard gasps. She
flung a look of terror on her brother.
“Do not say
such things, Dirk! I will not be judged; I do not even believe in Dominio
anymore, so how can He judge me?”
“What nonsense
is this?” her mother asked. “Why do you not believe in Dominio anymore? What
has happened to you, Nolwenn?”
Nolwenn
surprised them all by suddenly bursting into tears, tears that came forth in a
torrent of violent sobs that wrenched her slender body, doubling her over as
she vainly tried to quench their flow. She clenched her hands into fists and
brought them to her mouth, where she wrung them in fury and frustration. She
unclenched them and clamped a hand to her mouth in a futile attempt to stifle
her sobs.
When she
finally regained control she addressed her mother with puffy eyes that made her
look far older than she was.
“You said it
last night, Mother,” she whispered. “We lost Brenus. Cort left. Father left and
has sent no word. Where is the power of Dominio to protect them, and us? We
have been visited with nothing but evil, and He has done nothing to stop it.”
She glanced
around the table at their faces; all were riveted on her. The room was silent
and she heard a hiss as a log from the fire dropped down and settled into the
embers.
“I do not even
wish to wake in the morning sometimes for fear of what will happen next. Look
at Brenus: he just went hunting, something he did every day, and never came
back. And where are Father and Cort?”
Dirk spoke at
last, compassion for his young sister swamping his heart and drowning his
anger. She was little more than a child after all…
“Brenus left
the path,” he said earnestly. “Not just the path that the Eirini are warned to
stay on for safety from the Tuadan. He left the path of righteousness when he
stood with the villagers to honor Eoghan at the Spring Festival. Why would
Dominio protect him when he forsook Dominio to give honor to a false god?”
Nolwenn made a
small sound that might have been a protest, but Dirk raised a hand to continue.
“Yes, I know
that sounds harsh. But it is the truth. I will not lie to you and tell you
pretty stories to make you feel better, Nolwenn. Eoghan is a false god, and
those who desert Dominio to bow down to another will forfeit all protection.
Remember that, little sister, and leave off your dabbling with diviners and
spells before it is too late.”
Judoc
attempted to protest this statement.
“Now Dirk, I
will not permit you to scare your sister,” she began, only to be cut off by
Dirk.
“I hope I
do
scare my sister,” he interjected. “Someone needs to wake her up before she
enters eternal slumber as Brenus did.”
He turned to
face Nolwenn, who clutched the back of her chair with knuckles that were
whitened in spite of her attempt to appear calm.
“And another
thing,” he said. “Stay away from Melisande. If ever there was a woman who could
be the very personification of a sorceress, it’s that one. She is purely evil,
and if you do not cut yourself loose from that web she has entangled you in,
you will share in the wrath of God when it falls on her.”