The warriors did not come any closer once they had taken position and from behind the bowl a woman and man in long green robes strode to the fore. The man was middle-aged with a thick greying beard the woman was noticeably younger though by no means a youth, her hair was strawberry blonde and curly and her jaw was firmly set sitting beneath a face that was both fierce and feminine. In spite of her hard expression, there was no anger in her green eyes and Caleigh sensed that she no more wished to see blood than her. At a gesture from this woman the warriors fell back slightly and eased their stances. Gideon spoke a few words in the western tribal tongue which she returned then facing Caleigh spoke to her in the common tongue.
"You have come for what is yours? I am glad it should not have been taken." She looked upon the prisoners shuffling forward and berated them harshly, again in their native language.
"She is displeased with them, why?" Caleigh asked Gideon in a low voice.
"She says she did not order them to attack us or take our things and wants to know why they did."
"What do they say?" Gideon listened for a moment before answering.
"They are sure she told them to do as they said to us, to take the magically-gifted or at least prevent us leaving the forest."
"How can that be? They cannot both be speaking true."
"She seems equally perplexed."
"Perplexed?"
"Confused, she does not understand. She is asking them to describe the moment in every detail." The woman turned to the man at her side and they spoke in urgent whispers for a while. Eventually she looked up and addressed Caleigh and Gideon again.
"There has been some foul work here. Some ill spirit sent these men on an errand I did not wish. I beg that do not consider us enemies. We have been wronged alike. I thank you for returning our people to us, it was good and brave of you to do this. Come, join us in our camp. I must learn more of what happened then afterwards we will speak for a while if you wish."
"Yes, we wish to learn more too." Caleigh answered. The group was led into a camp beyond the deep bowl and beckoned to log benches where they sat in the middle of the company. The warriors around regarded them with grim stares that, as unsettling as they were, did now fall short of outright hostility. Upon the edge of the camp the chieftainess still interrogated the less injured of the returned prisoners trying to unravel what had happened. "Do you have any answer to this riddle, Gideon?"
"Yes, but it is not one I wish to share until we are safely in Elevered." The chieftainess finished her questioning and came before them again.
"An imposter has been among us it seems. I hold them to blame for the injuries we have both suffered. I pray that you can forgive us for our part."
"We wish for no ill will with those who are not our enemies."
"I can believe that from you. My name is Galenna." Caleigh introduced herself and her companions in turn.
"May I ask, why are you here in these woods?"
"Well, when the imposter told my warriors to find some who are gifted she was not so far from my intent, although I never wished for anyone to be taken by force. We come from the land of Calderon beyond the western borders of Sommerwold. Here my people have been ravaged by a terrible blight on our crops for many a month. Once we had druids and druidesses who would perform rituals of renewal that always ensured we had fertile soils but no longer. The gifted among our people have been slain or scattered over the years so that only Gethin and myself remain." She said indicating the greying man she had spoken with afore. "We are too few even to perform the simplest ritual of fertility now. We hoped that if we could find some among the gifted to take part in the ritual once more we could bring life back to Calderon. It is rumoured in these parts there dwells a great wizard and so we have journeyed far in the hope that there may be others of his kind who would help us in our plight."
"Why not approach this wizard directly? Can he not help you himself?"
"He may have the lore but not the form for this ritual."
"Have I?"
"Verily. Yet I fear we cannot ask you after what we have done."
"If I can help then I wish to. What must be done for this ritual?" With an embarrassed smile Galenna leaned into Caleigh's ear and softly whispered what was required.
"I understand if you are unwilling." She added at normal volume.
"No, I will do it and Gideon will aid me."
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Gideon asked as they wound up the moonlit trail to the site that the ritual was to take place.
"Yes, are you?"
"Though I may not be completely comfortable with it, the rewards outweigh my discomfort."
"That is good to know." Caleigh said with a teasing smile. Behind Gideon only Ellie and Penric now kept them company. Earlier, after retrieving their belongings, they had returned to their own camp and met with the waiting Librarians. Sir Edgar and the others agreed to go on to Elevered once Gideon convinced them that the Calderans would not risk their ritual by harming them.
"What does this ritual involve?" Penric asked. Ellie giggled and took him by the arm.
"It is better that you know not." She assured him.
"If there is to be peril of any kind..."
"Worry not, there is no peril involved in this ritual."
"Then why must I wait outside when Ellie…" She nudged him, "Elwyn, is allowed to enter." This Gideon answered.
"We need Elwyn for the numbers, a female presence is required, the greatest peril however is not from the ritual but from any who would wish to prevent it happening. Therefore, guarding the outside is the most useful position to be in. We will be depending on you to make sure we are safe."
There was a ring of trees around the crest of the hill and before them waited Galenna and Gethin, silently they bid for them to follow. At the edge of the trees Penric stopped and took up his station while the others split into two groups, the men going one way and the women another.
Following Galenna, Caleigh and Ellie emerged into a small clearing in the centre of which stood a cauldron bubbling over a fire. In the light of the flames Galenna began to strip off her robes and motioned for the other two to do likewise. When the last of her garments hit the earth Caleigh found her eye drawn to Galenna's naked frame and not for its slimness or for the plumpness of her breasts. What fascinated her were the intricate designs in blue and green paint woven about her abdomen, thighs and all down her back. The eyes of the other two meanwhile were fixed on her.
"You have the form of a Goddess." Galenna remarked admiringly.
"Oh, I think there are some Goddesses who would happily trade forms with Caleigh." Ellie added.
"What must we do now?" Said Caleigh hoping to hurry things on and also that her blushing did not show in the firelight. Galenna ceased her staring, moved over to the cauldron and dipped her index and middle finger into the thick paste inside. With her free arm she held Ellie in position then drew a design over her back in a thin smear. Galenna then took Caleigh's hand and guided it towards the mixture, understanding what was required of her she scooped up a measure of the warm paste onto her fingertips and traced over the outline on Ellie's back over and again until it became more solid. At the same time Galenna began to draw more designs over Ellie's stomach and navel. Caleigh took her turn next with Ellie covering her back and Galenna her front. The touch of fingertips and the warmth of the paint on her skin aroused her senses in a way that was comforting, both relaxing and preparing her for the part of the ritual that was to come.
With the last of the markings complete Galenna led them by the hand onto a path different to the one they had come by taking them out into a grassy clearing larger than the one where the cauldron had been set. This time there were no fires, the light came instead from the moon unimpeded by branch or twig upon this summit. Gideon sat by, though not close, to the two other men, Gethin and a man who had not been introduced tapping out a steady beat with his fingertips on the skin of a drum nestled between his knees. Unlike the
women the men were neither daubed with paint nor fully nude, being permitted in this ritual to retain a loincloth around their middles. Noting this Caleigh wondered whether this was the norm for this ritual or whether it was done to save embarrassing the outsiders. She smiled at this thought, contemplating how she could be more embarrassed than she was now standing completely unclad in the moonlight about to commence an act in front of strangers that she had not done in private until relatively recently.
Gethin began to chant and Gideon plodded to the centre of the clearing where Caleigh joined him. Ellie and Gallenna circled around them carrying aloft newly lit briars of burning herbs. "Is this strange to you also?" Caleigh whispered to Gideon.
"Exceedingly." He answered. "I have never had an audience before. It is most distracting."
"Hehe. Well, maybe it is best if you hone your eyes on my pretty face and great bosom." Caleigh suggested gesturing to her face and lifting her breasts in turn. Gideon laughed and visibly relaxed and so Caleigh kissed him on the lips and gently pulled him to the ground, kissing and caressing him into a state of easy submission. Suddenly, Gideon's eyes snapped back into focus and he looked at Caleigh curiously.
"You're using your charm to block out the distracting presences and relax me. What made you think to do that?"
"It seemed natural."
"Interesting."
"No, Gideon. The interesting thing here is that you have a woman perched atop you and your attention is not on her body. I do hope my natural charms are not wasted on you." Gideon guided her hand down into his loincloth.
"Does it feel as though I am indifferent?"
"Indeed not. Now enter me and let me share with you another kind of magic."
Soon all thoughts of their audience and the ritual faded away until it was just one body pressed against another aware only of the movements of each other. For Caleigh it was something new, neither romantic or passionate but real and deep in another way altogether, a pure physical expression of mutual understanding and mutual pleasure. In every touch she felt and knew at last how Gideon felt about her, how he wanted her and yet did not desire to possess her either emotionally, like Penric, or physically, like Robin. His was a keen fondness that ran parallel with desire without being either exaggerated or warped by it. There was something liberating about knowing this and also intriguing. If this was a form of love it was a different one to those she had known and one she could not predict the course of.
They came together in one long exhale that needed no urging by either. Only when Caleigh rolled off her partner to lie panting and looking up at the stars did she remember that they were not alone and that they were part of a ritual. She looked over to Galenna as she approached. "Have I erred?" Galenna smiled and shook her head then put her fingers into the earth where Caleigh and Gideon had rolled, scooping up two handfuls and placing it into an earthen jar by her feet.
"Fertitlity is restored."
The women left the hilltop by a different route to the one they had come up from, one that led to a small waterfall dripping from an outcrop of mossy rock in which they were able to wash the woad markings off their bodies. Still in the afterglow of her climax Caleigh ran her hands through the water without thinking, splashing it on her face and torso. She turned around to see Ellie looking at her critically. "Is it not cold?" She inquired.
"No, feel." Caleigh answered beckoning Ellie into the falling water. Ellie yelped slightly and stepped back at once.
"That is cold."
"Strange I do not feel..." Caleigh stopped mid-sentence seeing her damp limbs before her shrouded in rising steam like from one who had exerted themselves heavily taking shelter from a cold rain.
"Behold yourself Caleigh, you have not a drop of wetness on you." Wide-eyed and intrigued Caleigh put her hand high up in the water where it trickled over the outcrop.
"Feel the water again." Ellie obliged and stepped under into the brook water. Her face lit up and this time she did not retreat for the cold.
"It is warm."
"Your powers have grown." Galenna remarked. "You felt a new love and it has made you stronger."
"I think not that it is so simple." Caleigh rebuked uncertainly, knowing what Galenna meant by love.
"Doubt not the power of a woman's fertility. It is the power that can give life to dead earth, to mend the spirit and the body. A gifted woman who is wise knows that her power and her acts of pleasure are joined together in the deepest way." Neither Caleigh nor Ellie was able to respond to this and with a serene smile Galenna pointed to a narrow track between the trees. "This path will take you back to your garments. I shall leave you now. You have my deepest gratitude for what you have done for my people tonight. Know that if your journey turns west you shall not be without friends. Fare well." Caleigh and Ellie bid farewell in turn and watched her walk away down the track she had shown. When all sound of her going faded into the night Ellie turned to her friend with a wicked smile.
"Forgive me if I err, but did she not tell you that the more men you lie with the more powerful you will become?"
"In a manner of speaking, yes."
"You really do have the luckiest of destinies."
17. Of Towers and Cobwebs
No-one spoke of what had happened during the ritual despite Penric's enquiries. The only mention anyone made to the night before at all was when Gideon referred to a conversation he had had with Galenna, apparently after Caleigh and Ellie had said their farewells. "She said that the druids and druidesses of her people had been hunted down and slain. I find this most curious."
"Why would you find that curious? Has this not been happening for many years?" Caleigh questioned.
"Yes, what I find curious is that with her folk this has happened quite recently. Why should it be so? The worst years of persecution have passed and those who were behind the persecution do not roam so far west usually. Something has changed there."
"Did that druid woman not say that their crops were dying? A bad harvest is all the excuse that is typically used to start lynching learned folk." Sir Edgar suggested.
"I wonder..." What Gideon wondered he never explained and soon the rising sight of Elevered took the group's attention to their destination.
Though Elevered was surrounded in every direction by forest, the fortress and village itself lay on an open plateau covered by soft and well grazed grass. The path they followed from the south joined the eastern road from Minerva a little way from the front gate to the encircling wall. The gate lay open and the cart passed through into muddy courtyard with stables and small gathering of wooden houses built around the periphery. For the most part, all the structures of Elvered were linked to the great tower at its centre looming many stories above the ground. On the lower levels more houses had been built across the walkways and lower battlements or else entire sections were roofed as though the village was growing out of the sides of the library fortress.
"Welcome to Elevered." Sir Edgar announced leading them from the cart towards the imposing, high-arched front doors to the citadel. "No doubt Tovrik is very anxious to see you all after all these delays."
"Wait." Caleigh called bringing the group up short. "Where are the sick and wounded attended to?"
"The infirmary is on the right, a little beyond the stables."
"Then I ask that we go there first." Sir Edgar opened his mouth to argue then thought better of it and changed direction towards the stables. Before they could enter they met Ceol emerging from under the beams into the courtyard.
"Caleigh, I am glad to see you safely among us at last." Ceol greeted.
"There was no peril, happily. How fare Halda and Saebald?"
"Saebald is dead. Halda will be hale soon enough, he rests for now." Caleigh smiled sympathetically. She had known from the moment she had looked in Ceol's eyes what his news was to be but it was still a wretch to hear it. Caleigh had been here before and knew well that almost any comment seemed inane after news of a death and so merely put her arms aro
und Ceol instead. They stood in silence for a moment breathing with each other and when the moment seemed right Caleigh looked up at Ceol and tried to find the words he needed to hear.
"Think not he died in vain." Ceol detached himself from Caleigh and held her by the shoulders at arm's length.
"Did he not? I would feel greater comfort if he had died defending his folk against a mortal foe but this...these people were not even our enemies. He died for a misunderstanding, or so I understand from Tovrik."
"This is true only in part. The folk of Calderon are not our enemies and they were tricked into the actions that led to Saebald's death. Yet this does not tell Saebald's part. If the folk of Calederon are not our mortal enemies, those who tricked them into attacking us certainly are. Had Saebald not been alert and fell of hand then this attack would likely have taken us all unawares and they would have attacked in greater numbers. Then surely more of us would have perished and the folk of Calderon would be our enemies indeed. It is thanks to Saebald that we can name this sadness a misunderstanding." Ceol smiled ruefully at Caleigh's assessment.
"You have a craft of mind like unto Tovrik, yet I cannot say your words are without truth. I thank you for your comfort it does ease my spirit to see things so. Now I know that my vengeance lies with those who set these events in motion. But come, you must not tarry longer with concerns for others, Tovrik has been patient enough and you must begin to think of yourself and your own protection."
"As you wish, I will see Tovrik now though my thoughts will stay with you and Halda."
Tovrik awaited them atop a broad set of stairs set in the centre of the wide entrance hall to the fortress. All around the pale grey stone and black and white chequered floors shone in bright daylight that reached every corner and permitted very few shadows. A rustle of feathers made Caleigh look up and there disappearing beyond the endless staircases was a richly coloured falcon. Somehow she had never imagined that Tovrik's hall was a place that wildlife would run free.
Enchantress Awakening: Part One of the Book of Water (The Elemental Cycle 1) Page 17