by Dean Jones
She idly watched the bees visiting the woodland flowers and lost herself in the movement of the insects as they busied themselves with their tasks. A hand fell on her shoulder and she snapped from her reverie and turned to meet the eyes of her master.
He still wore the obligatory hooded cloak hiding his face and stooped to make himself look a lot smaller than he actually was, but these things had become normal over their many meetings and Ardeth gave it no attention as she bowed her head respectfully in greeting.
“I grow tired of your failure child, we have met many times and each one ends with the promise of action that will allow me to get what I want from that witch.” he spat the words with venom and was clearly irritated which was something Ardeth had not seen before.
“I have followed all your instructions Master, but Seth always seems to get in the way, he learns quickly and adapts especially since his meeting with the Mara two summers ago.” The air grew thick and oppressive and Ardeth’s mind filled with images of her broken body lying at Mae’s feet and she recoiled with disgust and panic at this vivid memory, and yet how could she be remembering something like that.
“I have decided child, you are not strong enough to get me what I want, even your pathetic desire to get revenge and become an all-powerful Spae worker is not enough of a motivation for you to take the risks I need to get me what I want!”
Ardeth looked down at her feet under the weight of criticism from her master. “I need to find another way clearly and cannot be bothered wasting any more of my time or energy on you!”
The man turned on his heel and started to walk away. In panic, Ardeth rushed after him pleading.
“Please Master, I can do this, all I need is more time and perhaps you could teach me some new skills to accomplish this?”
The man stopped and seemed to regard her for a moment before continuing towards the woods edge.
“I agree the boy has indeed grown powerful over these years and I have not given him the attention he deserves, perhaps this is who I need to be speaking with to get what I want from Mae?” he coughed her name as if it was something unpleasant he was regurgitating.
Ardeth stopped dead and visibly sagged with the comment.
“But Master, he is barely a man, with half the training I have received. What power could he have which is greater than my own?” The question hung unanswered in the air as he continued to move away from her. Ardeth composed herself and ran after her master hoping to convince him, even though she had failed him in the past she could still be of use. “Master, perhaps I could kill the boy for you and then she would only have me to rely on and I can manipulate the situation to allow you to take advantage?” it was a long shot, Seth was huge and she had no idea how she would even attempt to kill him never mind succeed.
She was still considering this when she collided with the now stationary figure in front of her. She fell to the ground and he turned to look at her sprawled beneath him.
“And how exactly would you kill the boy child?” he asked.
Ardeth considered this a moment and could think of nothing she could do to follow through with this suggestion. The lack of response seemed to be enough for him as he once again headed out of the forest.
Ardeth didn’t move from the position and felt entirely disconsolate at the leaving of the one she had so much faith in to bring her what she desired. She watched him leave her sight and lost his shape in the trees. She knew she would not find him again, he was gone. A tear made its way down her cheek as she thought about the loss of this man she had come to depend upon and her ire at the one she believed had made this happen grew.
I will kill them both, she thought. I could poison the boy and then drive a knife between the hag’s shoulders as she realises it was me who did it, then her power will be mine and I will find this man and kill him too!
Getting to her feet she brushed off her skirts and strode towards her house knowing that tomorrow, whilst the oaf was full of the excitement of getting married and his stag hunt she could catch him off guard and then she would be the powerful one and he would be dead!
A New Skill Mastered
The morning air was sweet and warm as the summer was in full bloom and Seth found himself pacing up and down impatiently as he awaited Mae’s arrival. Every pace back towards the hill he had expected to see the old woman’s head bobbing above the brow as she made her way towards him.
Today though she was late, and Mae had never been late before. Seth was losing his excited enthusiasm and worry was creeping into his heart.
Seth had been learning for over thirteen years now. He had grown into a fine man and now stood a full head taller than his father, something which made Garrett very proud.
His father had been right about Seth, he had grown into a fearsome warrior and was unbeaten in all his duels with the other men of the village, even when he fought his own father Seth knew he was struggling to contain his skill and strength. Over the last few months, Seth could see he had the beating of his father if he wanted to. He felt he could easily overpower him and take the victory, but he recognised it would be a hollow victory, as his father was a proud man and even though they both knew Seth was better and stronger, neither felt it necessary for their father-son relationship to change. So, Seth let his father win and laughter always followed their duels with comments about how next time you’ll beat me son, or how his father was getting too old for this kind of thing.
Seth's life was moving along at a pace and he had already been betrothed to a woman from the neighbouring village, something which was a cause for annoyance for the girls in his village it seemed.
The ceremony had been organised for months and Seth knew his mother was spending the morning busying herself preparing for the girl’s arrival. It was customary for the bride to spend the night before the wedding in the groom’s house whilst he spent it in the woods bonding with the male members of her family during a stag hunt.
The spoils of the hunt were prepared and eaten at the wedding feast the next day. It was good luck to take a wild boar, but a stag was the perfect result. All food was welcome and there would be pork from his father’s farm and the bride’s family would bring vegetables and bread, as was expected.
Seth knew time was short today, his wife-to-be would arrive soon, and he should be making his way to the woods to meet his father for the hunt, but he was struggling to contain himself with the news he had to share.
He turned again telling himself this time she would be walking towards him. And there she was walking over the hill with Ardeth in tow behind her.
Seth rushed over to them giddy with the excitement of the news he’d been so desperate to share.
“Seth, Calm yourself!” Mae took a step back from this imposing man who was dancing from foot to foot in front of her. “You are clearly bursting to tell me something? So, spit it out, what news have you got?”
Seth took a deep breath and turned to point excitedly towards where he had run from.
“What are you pointing to Seth?” Ardeth’s puzzled voice came crisp from her mouth.
Ardeth had aged considerably over the years and she was now looking as old if not older than Mae herself, something that caused Seth some confusion before he found out Mae only allowed herself to age a couple of months every ten or twenty years. She had explained to Seth she liked being the age she was and so made it her goal to stay that way until it suited her to grow older but didn't think a never ageing Spae worker would be accepted, so getting older was part of the job.
Seth could remember the day clearly when he’d been told growing older was a choice and only if you really wanted to get old would you age, but if you didn't then you could stay young practically forever. It was part of learning to dance with time she had said.
Mae was tired of the world and had become aware the new Christian religion, where only one God is worshipped, was likely to force all to follow it as Spae was evil and those worshipping the old gods were ostracised. Mae could
n’t bring herself to hide her ways from these new holy men so had decided her time was about over and once she had completed Seth’s training she would step back into the stream of time and welcome age and prepare herself for leaving this world to join Woden’s table.
“There, look what do you see?” Seth’s voice was deep and booming a voice every bit suited to this impressive man.
“I don’t see anything Seth, there’s nothing there but the old oak tree.” Mae was now as puzzled as Ardeth. “has the excitement of your upcoming marriage took away your senses?”
“And what do you notice about the tree, Mae?” Seth asked excitedly.
Both Mae and Ardeth looked closer at the question they were being posed.
“It’s covered in leaves!” Ardeth spotted it first then looked back to Seth to see if this was the answer to the riddle he was setting them.
Seth began to nod energetically. “Yes, isn’t it magnificent?”
Mae looked thoughtfully at Seth and considered fully what he was saying, “And…you did this Seth, you brought back to life a long-dead tree?” She was clearly impressed by what she was hearing.
The oak tree in question had stood for as long as Seth could remember in the field in front of his house, it had contracted an illness ten years or so ago and nothing they could do helped, and it slowly died, leaving behind a withered husk of what it once was.
Seth’s father had never cut it down as he had grown to love the old tree through the years and the swing he’d made for Seth still hung from is lower branch though it would have been dangerous to swing on.
“Child explain how you did this.” Mae demanded.
Seth took a deep breath, “well I have been watching that tree every day since we began our lessons, in the early days I used to watch its leaves dancing in the wind and observing the Spae trails they left behind them, since it became ill I noticed how the Spae slowly left its branches and trunk and felt sad as you said there was nothing to be done.” A smile broke across his face as he knew the best bit was about to come.
“Lots of things have changed over the years and my understanding has increased significantly about the connection of Spae to everything else in this world, so last night I was sitting on the rock and contemplating the old oak tree when an idea came to me out of the blue, what if I could refill the tree with Spae, would that bring the tree back to life?” Seth looked to both Mae and Ardeth and saw curiosity etched on both of their faces.
“I then asked myself, where can I find Spae to refill the tree, when I noticed the rock I was sitting on which I jumped off and saw the energy which filled it” Seth pointed to an empty space where the rock had once been. “I picked up the rock, which was hard because it was a heavy rock. Then, and this is the best bit, I asked the energy, that was the rock, to free itself from its current form and it did. I saw it come out of the rock and as it filled the air in front of my eyes the rock grew lighter in my hands until there was nothing left but the swirls of colour the energy was making in the air.”
Seth took a deep breath and concentrated, so he could properly explain what happened next.
“After that, as I was looking at the energy, I focused hard on the patterns it was making and found I could see little spots of colour inside it all moving as one to make the whole, then as I looked around I could see these spots were everywhere, some were living as rocks or soil and some were trees and pigs but most were just floating around and making the air we breathe. I gathered some of the energy and asked if it would like to help the energy, that was the rock, revive the tree as wasn’t enough to accomplish the task. After a moment the energy agreed and then joined together to make a mass of swirling colour in front of me. I focused my mind to see the tree filling with Spae in front of my eyes…and it did!” Seth finished by pointing back to where the old oak stood in all its glory.
Seth looked at Mae and Ardeth expecting a knowing look and a smile that told him it was about time he mastered this part of the Spae. But instead, he found both Ardeth and Mae gawping with their chins meeting their chests at the sight of the oak tree.
A little puzzled he moved slightly in front of them to try and get into their eye line.
“Is…is everything alright?” he was feeling a knot of worry building in his stomach. It hadn’t seemed like a bad idea to ask the energy in the rock to become a tree and it certainly didn’t make him feel he was disrespecting Frigg’s energy when he requested the energies join so a tree could be brought back to life.
The longer the silence went on the more concerned Seth felt. Finally, Mae coughed and brought herself back into focus nudging Ardeth in the process to get her attention back to Seth who was now terrified he’d done something wrong and the huge man was looking down timidly at his feet.
“Seth, my boy, you have turned a rock into a tree?” The amazement in Mae’s voice brought his head back up and at last, he was almost sure he hadn’t done anything wrong and was now going to be congratulated on his achievement.
“Not in all my years have I seen such control of the energy where it can be transformed from one form to bring life to another, I mean I knew it could be manipulated and caressed to our wills but this….is amazing!”
Ardeth was breathing hard with the shock of it all and couldn’t bring herself to look away from the tree which stood before her.
“A rock into a tree…. I would’ve never thought it possible if I hadn’t seen the results in front of my own two eyes.” The pride in her voice was unmistakable.
Ardeth couldn’t contain herself any longer and the old woman turned to Seth with a desire in her eyes he had never seen before.
“Tell me how it’s done, Seth, tell me now so I can do it for myself!” The tone of voice she used was something Seth had never heard before from Ardeth, usually she is softly spoken and reserved and over the years her voice had cracked with age, so it became croaked in the mornings and when she was tired.
Ardeth grabbed hold of Seth and a wild look came into her eyes. “What else can you change; can it be anything? Could you turn the grass into coins?” Suddenly she reached down and grabbed at the grass at his feet and held it out to him with a crazed greed in her eyes.
“Show me, Seth, show me NOW!”
Mae grabbed at Ardeth’s arm and pulled her away from Seth with a force that belied her frail exterior and placed herself between Ardeth and Seth staring intently into to other woman’s eyes waiting for her to move.
“Move old woman, I have tired of your pathetic trickery. For so long you have promised to show me the true power of Spae and I have waited patiently as this boy grew stronger and more gifted each year whilst I remained weak. And now I can see what Spae can be used for I want the knowledge and I won’t be kept from it by you!” Ardeth spat into Mae’s face, but Mae didn’t flinch and kept herself between Seth and the now circling woman.
“You see now why I have never given you all the answers to your questions Ardeth, I always knew you were hiding your true self from me, so I waited. I will give you credit, you are patient and I thought the day you revealed your true self would not arrive before I go to Woden’s table.”
Seth was in a state of shock himself and was finding the events unfolding in front of him unnerving. He knew how to react if this was another man trying to intimidate him into giving away something that was his, but this was a woman he had grown to love and respect over the years. A woman who had soothed him when he had entered the night for the first time and met the Mara. Surely, she was maddened by something she had eaten or drank?
“You will be walking with Woden sooner than you think if you don’t step aside, me and the boy have some talking to do!”
Seth understood the sentiment in Ardeth’s voice and was now growing angered at her demands and her constant pacing around him. He focused himself ready for anything she could do, which he had thought wouldn’t be much as she was frail and old, but just in case she had a weapon hidden in her robes he focused hard and readied himself.
Ardeth struck fast and hard and Seth found himself taking a step backwards for the first time in his life. Mae was equal to Ardeth’s attack and had blocked her advance and countered to leave her sprawled on the ground at her feet.
Ardeth snarled, rose to her haunches and slowly pulled something from beneath her cloak…Seth knew he was right not to underestimate her as he saw the glint of a knife appear from behind her leg.
Before he could react Ardeth had launched herself at Mae and was raining blows down on his teacher with unnerving accuracy. Mae was doing all she could to avoid and block each blow with her stick as it came in, but she was old, and the effort of the struggle was beginning to take its toll. Ardeth saw Mae was weakening and steeled herself for what she thought would be one last assault before she was victorious, and she could tackle Seth to force him to tell her how he had commanded the energy to change form.
The knife moved quickly through the air and Seth could see Mae had left herself open and Ardeth’s blade was making its way to her throat, in what would surely be a decisive blow. Seth thought hard and focused on the blade flashing through the air. Then he heard it, the blade sang to him and he knew what he should do.
He reached out and grasped the energy contained in the knife and willed it to his command. The knife shot from Ardeth’s hand and hovered in the air. She paused looking up at the sight of the boy’s control but only for a second as she punched down into Mae’s face and the old woman collapsed and Ardeth vaulted her and headed for Seth.
As he focused on the energy inside the blade his began to unravel it and then freed it into the air around him.
Opening his eyes, he found Ardeth a step away from him, clearly delirious with rage. She pounced, and Seth parried her assault not sure how to deal with the woman.
As she spun she reached again inside her cloak and flung powder at his eyes. Distracted Seth felt the sharp pain enter his side and looked down to see another blade which now protruded from his side.
“He said I couldn’t do it, told me I was weak but now I have you Seth, son of Garrett and you will die as you watch me skin the old woman with your own knife. I will, of course, explain to the village how I was too weak to stop you as your madness took hold and will, of course, accept the position of Spae worker in the old hags’ place.”