A shiver went down my spine. Necromancy. Just beside the door was one of the stone skeletons. Carefully, I reached out to touch it. It had a stain of blood on its head.
Nimue slapped my hand away. “Careful. This place is not quite as dead as it seems.”
I stared into the empty eye sockets of the statue and got the eerie feeling that it was looking at me. I could feel its…disappointment. “Is it…what is it?”
“Sleeping,” Nimue said. “You’ve heard the stories, I am sure, of how the standing stones that dot our beloved isle were once giants dancing with ladies. The truth of that story is not far off. You are looking at a hint.”
I looked from Nimue to the skeleton and back to Nimue again. “Come on,” she said, leading me within. “I’ll explain later.”
We stepped over broken stones as we made our way inside. The left side of the building was completely burnt. Nimue led us down a hall on the right and into a large room. The front of the room near the widows had a raised stone platform. Stone benches, most of which had fallen over, faced the platform.
“This is where they used to perform music. See how the wall is open there?” she asked, pointing to the far right. “The townspeople, though not permitted to enter the temple, were allowed to come to the courtyard to hear the priests play and sing.”
Carefully, Nimue led me up some crumbling stone stairs to the second floor, where we found the priest’s chambers. Some of the bedrooms contained elaborately carved furniture that had begun to decay.
“You can’t reach the third floor anymore,” Nimue told me. “The stairwell was destroyed, but you can just spy the space from here,” she said, pointing to a hole in the ceiling.
I gazed upward to see an overturned trunk. Plaster and stone loosened from the third floor ceiling and dropped to the floor overhead. It stirred up a swirl of ash, making both me and Nimue cough.
“We’d better go. The building is not stable.” Nimue said, turning quickly.
As I turned to join her, I spotted something on the floor overhead. It was sitting just at the edge of the hole in the second floor ceiling.
“Wait,” I said. “There, do you see that?” I asked her. I took a few steps to the side to get a better look. There, at the very edge of the hole, was a small silver box. “A box.”
“Probably just an old stone, part of the wall or ceiling.”
“No, no. It’s silver. It glows. There, do you see it?” I asked, pointing.
She stood beside me and looked up. “It is a box.”
I spotted a bench toward the side of the room, just tall enough to help me reach the hole in the ceiling. The temple groaned in protest as I slid the bench across the floor. From below, I heard stones clatter to the ground.
“Easy,” Nimue cautioned, her eyes darting about nervously.
Nimue steadied the bench as I crawled up. I had to stand on my toes to reach the very corner of the box with the tips of my fingers. But working slowly, I was able to scoot it to the edge. It tumbled into my waiting arms. I crawled down and set the box on the bench. Nimue stood beside me as I opened the lid.
Inside was a pair of silver wrist torcs capped with raven’s heads and a matching raven amulet. The ravens held glimmering purple stones in their beaks. Their eyes had been crafted with the same sparkling purple gems. The amulet was adorned with three silver ravens twisting around a large purple stone. The stone glowed. I had never seen anything like it before. The jewels were tarnished but in no other way damaged.
“Beautiful,” Nimue whispered. “You must show these to Andraste.”
I stared at the jewels. They were finer than any piece of jewel-work I had ever seen before. The silver looked very heavy, and the stones, well, I didn’t know what they were, but they looked like amethyst. “It seems so strange to find something so old. So…lost.”
“Just like us,” Nimue said, then set her hand on my shoulder.
I looked up at her. “Isn’t there a way out of here…a way back? Did you ever try?”
Nimue stared off into the distance. “Once. But I was…brought back. And not without consequences.”
I closed my eyes and clenched my teeth. Anger seethed in me, and for a brief moment, I swore I heard my raven wings.
“Let’s go,” I said then, closing the box lid. I followed Nimue out of the temple.
As we headed back up the main stairs of the temple of the Dark Goddess, I remembered the skeleton statue that had stood outside the priests’ temple. I turned and looked back toward the temple. My body trembled when I realized that the statue’s head had turned; its dead eyes were watching me.
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.”
Chapter 26
After I ate my fill, I went back to my small bedchamber to lie down. My head was turning over a thousand ideas at once: Banquo, the Morrigu, the black-haired man from my visions, Sid, the skeleton statue, Andraste, and…wizardry. Andraste said I would learn, not magic, but wizardry. The word itself was alive with power. I tried to sort it all out but it was useless. Before I knew it, I slept.
My sleep was fitful. In my dream, I walked down the street of the ancient city as it had once been. The priestesses in their purple gowns rushed up and down the temple steps. The red-cloaked priests wove amongst the citizens. They carried skull-capped staves and many wore head-dresses made of bone.
“Are you coming or not?” someone walking beside me asked. From the sound of the exasperation in their voice, I could tell it wasn’t the first time I’d been asked.
I turned to find Sid, but not Sid, walking beside me. She had flowing black hair, dark eyes, and wore an elegant black gown made of silk and finely-spun lace. The gown was nothing like what the priestesses of the Dark Goddess or the common citizens wore.
“I’ll come, but he won’t believe me. No one does,” I said.
Sid sighed heavily then reached out for my hand. I felt conflicted emotions swirl inside me, but then laced my fingers with hers. When I did so, I realized that I was wearing the purple robes of a priestess of the Dark Goddess. “He will,” Sid said matter-of-factly.
Sid and I turned down an alley off the main city street. Here, the passage was narrow and dimly lit. The alley twisted and turned, and finally we came to the entrance of a small, sloping building.
“Stay close,” Sid whispered.
We passed through the entryway into the low building. On both sides of the narrow entrance, braziers burned with blue fire. Inside, skulls and bones lined the sloping walls. It was a catacomb. We wound downward, deeper into the earth. At the end of the long hallway was a cave. An elaborately carved door sealed the cave entrance.
“Are you sure?” I whispered anxiously.
“My Lord is not as cruel as some make him out to be. And, he always liked you,” she said with a wink. “Stand back.” Sid slid her finger around a myriad of shapes on the door. A trail of blue light followed her fingertip, illuminating the strange runes she traced.
The door opened slowly. Inside, the room was very dark. The heavy smell of the thick white sage rolled out. Under the smoky scent of sage was the loamy perfume of earth and mud.
“Come on,” Sid said, then went inside.
My heart pounded in my chest as I followed Sid. I chewed my lip nervously. Inside, the cave was very dimly lit by the strange blue light. People dressed in black, just like Sid, moved in the shadows. The place was much larger than I imagined it would be; the ceiling of the cave was very high. There must have been more than two dozen tunnels stemming off from the main area, and wooden ladders led to cave openings on the upper levels. The place felt damp. A bat shrieked, and I could hear the sound of water trickling down the cave walls. The natural cave floor was wet. In the center of the room I spotted a tall throne. I looked away. Every hair on my body felt like it had been shot through with lightening. I shuddered.
Sid led us to the throne then stopped. “My Lord of the Hollow Hills,” she whispered as she kneeled, pulling me down with her. I saw, for just a moment, someone seated on a throne before us, but he was hidden by shadows. I altered my gaze away from him.
He shifted in his seat and then, in a voice rich as velvet, he said to Sid, “Little Dia, why have you brought me an acolyte of the raven?”
“She is an oracle, My Lord. She’s had a vision,” Sid answered.
“Look at me, daughter of ravens. What have you seen?” he asked me. His voice was dark and sultry. Mesmerizing. I could not help but do what he asked. I looked up. Seated on the throne, leaning forward to look closely at me, was my raven-haired man. “What have you seen?”
“The end. We are doomed.”
He leaned back against his throne. “We are like candles. Out, out brief candle,” he said with a hard laugh.
I stared at him, but then the dream started to twist. I heard someone calling my name. At first the sound was very distant. I clung to the dream.
“I told you he would believe you,” Sid whispered to me.
I looked once more at my dark-haired man, light and dark hues playing on his face. His pale skin was illuminated by the blue light. He looked exactly the same as I had seen him in my cauldron. He smiled at me, but I couldn’t read the meaning of his expression. The smile was seductive and condescending all at once. I felt confused and a little afraid.
“Cerridwen?” someone called again. This time the call woke me from my dream. The sound echoed through the empty space.
Now fully awake, I sat up. “Hello? Nimue? Andraste?” There was no answer. I rose and went to the courtyard.
“Cerridwen! Where are you?” I heard someone call once more. It was not Andraste or Nimue. The voice was male. Banquo!
“Here,” I whispered. “Banquo? I’m here!” I yelled, looking around.
“Cerridwen!” Banquo’s voice rang through the hollow expanse. He was somewhere outside the temple, in the city itself.
Picking up my skirts, I rushed through the temple, passing the broken statue of the goddess, and down the main stairs.
“Banquo!” I called into the empty space. I looked everywhere for signs of movement. My eyes scanned past the priest’s temple and I halted. The skeleton statue was gone. My heart skipped a beat.
“Cerridwen!” I heard Banquo call again.
I knew where his voice was calling from. I ran down the street and into the alley, retracing the same walk I’d made with Sid in my dream. Caves were hollow spaces where all worlds existed at once. Ruled by the little people of the hollow hills, creatures of legend, goblins or half-humans, such spaces were dangerous. But such places were also powerful passageways that could lead you anywhere. I ran to the outer door of catacomb. The blue lights still burned at the entrance.
“Banquo?” I called into the dark space below. My voice echoed.
“Cerridwen? Cerridwen, I heard you!” Banquo called back.
He could be anywhere. The hollow spaces were doors between realms, time. But then I remembered, Banquo knew how to walk between these realms. We had journeyed between the worlds on the night we wed. This was why he wore the marks of heavy earth magic; he had mastered realm walking. Banquo was a high priest of the Horned God.
“I’m coming!” I called to him. “I’m coming,” I whispered, reassuring myself.
I walked into the dark cave. It had been damaged by the earthquake. Many of the skulls had fallen out of the wall and lay tumbled on the floor. I stepped on a leg bone that shattered under my foot, turning to dust. I coughed heavily when the heavy powder assailed my nose.
“My wife! Where are you?” I heard Banquo call.
“In a cave. I’m coming,” I shouted back.
At the end of the hall, I saw a flicker of orange firelight.
“Banquo? Is that you?”
“Cerridwen?” he yelled. At the end of the hall where the catacomb met the cave, only one small blue fire burned. The doors to the Lord of the Hollow Hills throne room were open. The torchlight I had seen must have come from inside.
I moved carefully around the fallen stones and bones into the cave room. The sound of dripping water still filled the place. I cursed myself for not bringing a torch. Only one of the blue fires still burned leaving much of the place in shadow. The place felt wet and had the heavy scent of mud and algae mingled with a tangy smell of lime.
“Banquo?” I whispered as I scanned the tunnels. I saw torchlight flicker inside one of the tunnels at the far end of the cave room.
I moved toward it, but nearly stumbled on something. I looked down to see a skeleton lying at my feet. And then, as I scanned the room. Skeletons were lying
everywhere. Then, I heard whispers. Someone or something was inside the cave.
“Cerridwen!” Banquo called, and this time I could feel he was close. I could see his torchlight moving along the walls of the tunnel. I stepped around a skeleton and headed toward the tunnel. I could clearly make out the firelight bouncing off the cave wall, coming in my direction.
“Banquo,” I whispered and moved quickly, but suddenly, someone grabbed my arm.
I looked behind me. My heart skipped a beat. The skeleton from outside the priest’s hall held me. His boney fingers dug into my flesh. He tilted his head then leaned in closer to me. Terrified, I couldn’t move or breathe. The skeleton reached out his other hand and grabbed for my throat.
“Cerridwen!” I heard Banquo scream in terror.
I turned my head away to see Banquo standing at the entrance of one of the tunnels. A look of fear washed over him. The skeleton grabbed me by the back of the neck. Its boney fingers choked the air from me. I couldn’t breathe.
“Cerridwen!” Banquo cried, and a second later, I heard a loud crack.
Forcing my head around, I saw the silhouette of Andraste. The crack I heard was her tall staff slamming hard against the floor.
“Go!” Andraste yelled at Banquo, her voice echoing powerfully throughout the cave. With a wave of her hand, black smoke enveloped the tunnel where Banquo stood, snuffing out his torch.
“No,” Banquo shouted. His light faded.
“Banquo,” I choked out, reaching for him, but he was gone.
“How now you secret, black, and midnight fiend?” Andraste growled at the skeleton. “Sleep, you stubborn fool,” she added and then, tracing her finger in the air, she drew a strange rune. Blue light followed her finger. “Sleep,” she commanded again.
The skeleton’s hand loosened its grip, and the bones crashed to the ground with a strange hollow-sounding chime.
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