by P. C. Cast
“Okay, I understand that.” Epi and I shared a bond that went beyond normal human—horse relationships. I nodded at her to continue.
“It can be the same for spirits. ClanFintan is a great Shaman, which means he has a special link with the spirit world. He can touch the spirit world in a much more intimate fashion than you or I can. It also enables him to transform his physical shape—as you know only too well.”
My hand lifted to caress my (relatively) flat stomach, and we shared a knowing girlfriend smile.
“Sometimes people are gifted with an affinity for the elements. On the Centaur Plains humans who can hear the call of hidden water are revered. They have an affinity for the water element, and always know the perfect spot in which to dig a well. Our blacksmiths feel a special link with metal. Very often, women who have gifts in music or dance can touch and mold the wind with their spirits and have an affinity for the spirit of flame.”
“So some people feel something special for stone?” I asked.
“Yes, but usually the people who are linked to stone are also linked to the earth itself. They are attuned to the land and everything that it produces. Some of these earth-linked people have special talents in the carving and shaping of stone. They dedicate their lives to the art of masonry. Through them the shape hiding within the stone lives.”
“And we have one of these people working for us?” I squinted at the workers, wondering what a stone-linked person would look like.
“Yes, he traveled deep into the mines of the Sidetha to find the perfect stones for the new construction and now he has returned here with it where he will remain for the duration of the building. I would have presented him to you sooner, but you have not been feeling well.”
“Tell me about it,” I muttered. “Well, introduce me to him now. I’m curious to meet this stone guy.”
As we arrived at the work site, the construction temporarily halted so that the men and centaurs could greet me and shout their congratulations. The shouts caught the attention of a small group emerging from the infrastructure of the building. The tallest of the group was my husband, who was clapped on the back several times and included in the builders’ congratulatory frenzy. Dougal and Victoria were with him.
Alanna nudged me and waggled her eyebrows. “‘I have business near the new quarters, too,’” she said, mimicking the Huntress’s throaty voice.
“She’s becoming shameless,” I whispered back at Alanna.
With ClanFintan, Dougal and Vic was a tall gangly man who I didn’t recognize. As the group approached and he got closer, I realized he was way younger than I’d first thought. His thick brown hair was tied back in a cropped ponytail, which gave him a randomly artsy look that clashed surprisingly with the fact that he was clearly no older than sixteen.
“Good morning, love.” ClanFintan took my hand in his, then bent to kiss me softly on the lips. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“Better,” I said, my smile warm and meant to reassure him.
He squeezed my hand.
“Congratulations, my Lady!” Dougal’s face was alight, and I knew it wasn’t just my news that was making him shine. I thought how wonderful it was to see him so happy. I had been worried that his naturally gregarious personality would morph into something dark and sad after his beloved brother had died in his arms several months ago, but now I could see the sweet openness that reflected his love of life mirrored in his expressive face.
“Thank you, Dougal. And congratulations yourself on finally talking sense into Victoria’s hard head.”
Vic snorted at me, but her arm slid intimately through Dougal’s, and he gave her an adoring smile.
“We would like you to perform the handfast ceremony, Lady Rhiannon.” Dougal asked.
“It would make us very happy.” Vic smiled softly at me.
I felt a rush of emotion and had to blink back tears. Hormones acting up, no doubt. “I can think of nothing I’d like better.”
The pair beamed at me. I swallowed the knot in my throat. Alanna sniffed happily. We were disgusting. No wonder I was puking.
“Lady Rhiannon,” Alanna said after she finished sniffing. “May I present to you our lead mason, Kai. Kai, the Lady Rhiannon, Incarnate of Epona,” she finished with a flourish.
The tall, young man stepped forward and executed a low, respectful bow.
“Lady Rhiannon, I am pleased to be in the service of Epona.”
His voice was unique—not deep or unusually loud, and way too youthful to be particularly manly, but it had a quality that intrigued me. It made me think that I would enjoy listening to him read.
“Perhaps more important are the stones pleased to be in the service of Epona?” I asked, finding it impossible to contain my curiosity (mentally crossing my fingers that I was not committing a faux pas in asking).
“Absolutely, my Lady!” His face brightened and became animated with an eagerness that I wish my students could have emulated. Of course, they wouldn’t have known what emulated meant. Sigh. “I searched the mines of the Sidetha until I found the marble vein that spoke the Goddess’s name. It is from that marble that the support columns of the structure are being formed.”
“I would love to see that marble,” I answered, intrigued at the notion that stone could have a preference.
“Follow me, my Lady. I would be honored to show you.”
“Rhea, Dougal and I are through here. We need to see to the winter supply of grain.” ClanFintan lifted my hand to his lips.
“Okay, I’m going to check out this stone stuff, then I need to look in on Epi. She’s been restless lately. I’d like to take her out for a ride. Exercise seems to calm her.” I’d known too many Oklahoma women who kept riding through most of their pregnancies to worry about whether it would be safe or not in my supposedly delicate condition. Plus, Epi was not like other horses. I knew she would be extra careful with me.
“I will meet you back at the stables.”
“Good day, Lady Rhiannon,” Dougal gave me a quick bow, and then he touched Vic’s cheek in a gentle caress before he followed my husband.
“If you wait here, my Lady, I will have the workers clear some scaffolding in order to accord you a better view of the main support column.” Kai said, his voice breaking endearingly, as he hurried away, obviously excited at the opportunity to share his love of marble. I nodded at him encouragingly.
After he was gone, Alanna elbowed me and jerked her head toward Vic. The Huntress was still standing there, gazing after Dougal’s departing form like a lovesick teenager. I caught Alanna’s eye and we quickly surrounded the Huntress.
“Girl, you’ve got it bad,” I teased.
Victoria blinked and brought her eyes back into focus.
“I have no idea about what you are speaking.” She sounded like Miss Priss, but her cheeks were pink.
“All I can say is that it’s a good thing he’s young.” I grinned at Vic.
“They do say the young have boundless energy.” Alanna mused.
“He is not that young.” Vic tried to sound offended, but I could hear the smile that was lurking behind her proper Lead Huntress facade.
“So, tell me,” I leaned into her side and spoke conspiratorially. For months I’d been dying to ask Vic about centaur sex. Now seemed like the perfect opportunity. After all, we were females, and females like to talk about sex. (Try not to be shocked.) “Just what kind, and how much energy, will poor Dougal need?” I nudged her and winked. “On your wedding night.”
Vic looked down at me, a little grin pulling at the edges of her full lips.
“Yes,” Alanna’s deceptively innocent voice trilled, “tell us.”
“Well…” Vic motioned for us to lean even closer to her, which we did (gleefully). “Have you ever seen horses mate?”
We nodded.
“Then you know they bite and squeal and kick when their passion is ripe?” Her voice suddenly reminded me of Mae West.
We nodded enthusiastic
ally.
“You know that sometimes their desire is so fierce that the mating is filled with violent, uncontrolled lust?” Her voice shook with intensity.
We nodded very enthusiastically.
Breathing heavily, she paused. Looking from Alanna to me, her smile widened. “Well, it is nothing like that.”
With that, a flippant guffaw burst from her mouth, and she spun away from us, twitching her tail haughtily.
“She is not going to tell us, is she?” Alanna sounded wistful.
“Doesn’t look like it,” I sighed. “Damn.”
Alanna sighed in mirrored frustration. (Note to self: it’s about friggin time I asked ClanFintan to explain centaur sex.)
“My Lady, if you will come this way.” Kai had returned and was gesturing for me to follow him into the center of the construction area.
As Alannna and I caught up with him I whispered to her, “Is it normal that he’s so damn young? I mean, he’s a friggin teenager. He can’t even be sixteen! Barf.”
“The spirit of stone speaks strongly within him. It does not care that he is young, only that he is willing to listen. You will see.”
We joined him atop the marble stairs that had already been completed. It was an enormous area that was littered with massive chunks of marble, some of it raw and some already carved and smooth. Around the circumference of the structure were the bottoms of thick columns. These columns weren’t fully formed yet, and they looked like broken teeth in a giant’s mouth, but as we moved farther into the building site I could see that several central columns were already completed. They stood tall and proud, as if they were concentrating on setting a good example for the others. We stopped directly in front of the center-most column, which was so broad there was no way the three of us could touch fingertips if we stood around its base, arms outstretched. The marble was a luminescent, pearlized color with deep, smooth grooves etched into its expansive length. Its top was intricately carved in a circular pattern of interwoven knots framing plunging centaur warriors.
“This is the central support piece,” Kai said. His unusual voice had a faraway sound as he looked adoringly at the newly constructed column. “Each individual piece of stone I used to construct it spoke Epona’s name. I brought it home.”
“You hear a voice in the marble?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.
He smiled at me. “It is not a sound—not exactly. It is more like a whisper in my mind.”
I thought about Epona’s voice and nodded. “It’s a feeling, but you can hear it like it has been spoken.”
“Yes!” he said.
“Can you still hear its voice?” Alanna asked before I could.
“Of course—the marble will always speak to me.” He placed his work-toughened hand, which looked much older than the rest of him, against the column and closed his eyes. As his hand met marble, it seemed the stone quivered. We watched, and he caressed the column. For a moment the massive stone appeared to liquefy under his palm. It looked as if his hand sank into the stone, as if his touch made it claylike and malleable. I studied him, and saw an outline of shimmering radiance surrounding his body, much like the magical illumination that enshrouded ClanFintan as he called the Change to him. Then Kai took his hand from the column and opened his eyes. The glow faded as if it had only been a figment of my imagination.
“The marble greets you, Incarnate of Epona.” His voice was wonderfully serene.
“Really!” I breathed. “May I touch it?”
“Of course, my Lady,” he said, obviously pleased by my request.
I stepped close to the column and placed my hands gently against its smooth surface.
“Uh-hum…” Nervously I cleared my throat. “Hello,” I offered, feeling very small beside the huge stone.
I was surprised by how soft the marble felt beneath my palms. And this close I realized its appearance changed. I could see that it was not one color but a mixture of many different shades and veins, all blending together to create the distinctive pearl hue. While I studied it, I suddenly sensed a sentience, almost a listening presence, and my hands detected warmth that came from within the stone itself. Then I was enclosed in an astonishing swell of feelings, like I had been immersed in a warm pool of emotion, or had been wrapped in a mother’s embrace. My hands shook—not from fear, but from the sheer wonder of it.
A line from Shakespeare flitted through my mind and I whispered, “‘Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!’”
Then the feeling dispersed, and with a parting caress I pulled my hands from the column and turned to find Alanna and Kai studying me intently.
“It spoke to you!” Kai said.
“Not really.” I let my eyes linger on the amazing marble. “But I felt something,” I didn’t know how to describe it. “Something wonderful,” I ended lamely.
“When is the day of your birth?” He sounded excited.
“The last day in April,” Alanna answered before I could—and I was surprised that she answered correctly.
A flash of understanding came over Kai’s expressive face. “Ah, a Taurean. Of course! You must be linked to the earth as well as to your goddess.”
I had no idea what he was talking about. I mean, I knew I had been born under the sign of the bull, and I’d suffered through pretending to listen to several discarded lovers lecturing me about my stubbornness (who really listens to guys after you fire them?). But I’d never paid much attention to horoscopes and that kind of stuff. Well, up until six months ago I hadn’t.
Alanna was nodding happily in agreement.
“Well, that’s nice to know,” I said a little lamely.
The clatter of hooves announced the arrival of a male centaur I recognized as being one of my husband’s couriers.
“My Lady…” He executed a graceful centaur bow. “ClanFintan asks that you join him in the stables.”
“Is Epi all right?” Concern flashed through me.
“She is very restless, and the Shaman believes your presence will soothe her.”
“Tell him I’ll be right there.” I turned to Kai. “Thank you for sharing this—” I faltered, not wanting to choose the wrong words “—magic with me.”
“It was my pleasure, my Lady.” His smile said I had chosen correctly.
I started to turn away, then stopped and reached out to pat the smooth stone in farewell. It still felt warm.
“Rhea,” Alanna said as we made our way back through the maze of construction, “I should go see to the preparations for the Samhain feast. There is still much to be done, and I do not think you will want to oversee the choosing of the food.”
“Ugh,” I agreed. “Go ahead. Just be sure there are plenty of those centaur muffins and some boiled rice. I’ll see to Epi and meet you and Carolan around midday for lunch.” I grinned at her. “That is, if you’re willing to chance eating around me again.”
“I will chance it.” She smiled back. “But I will not sit near you.”
“Smart aleck,” I muttered at her. Then I thought to add in a low voice, “Hey, how did you know April 30 is my birthday?”
“It is the date of Rhiannon’s birth, too,” she whispered through a wry smile.
“Weird coincidence,” I said.
“It is only one of many,” she replied thoughtfully.
“Huh,” I said succinctly before I turned to the waiting centaur. “Lead on,” I told him, and we headed briskly to the ornate entrance to the stable.
The stable of Epona was an incredible building, like nothing I had ever seen before. It, too, was made of luminous marble carved and fitted into place by master masons. With newly educated eyes I gazed at the massive columns that supported the beautiful domed edifice, suddenly wondering if the sense of serenity and acceptance I had felt since the first time I had entered this building had been caused by more than the presence of the wonderful horses. I made a mental note to come back and do some marble feeling after Epi had calmed down.
The center aisle was
wide and long. On either side of it were situated roomy, immaculate stalls, each tenanted by a mare unique in beauty and temperament. As I hurried down the aisle, I was greeted by throaty whinnies. I called to each of them by name, wishing I had time to stop and caress their shining faces.
“Hello, Pasiphae, you wonderful girl.”
“Lilith, you sweet thing, stop trying to pull down that hay net.”
“Heket, baby girl, you’re much too beautiful to look at me with such sad eyes.”
And on and on and on—stall after stall held mares that were examples of the very best of their breed. As I neared the end of the hall, the aisle took an abrupt turn to the left. But before I entered that special area reserved for Epona’s equine incarnation, I could already hear the restless squeals and pawings of the mare that stood out as exceptional, even in this group of the finest horses in Partholon.
Taking the left turn I entered an enormous rounded room that held a huge stall to which a private corral was attached. My husband and Dougal were standing in front of the closed stall, as were several rumpled-looking stable maidens. Their attention was focused on the neurotic-acting mare who paced from one end of the spacious stall to the other.
Epi’s beauty was ethereal. Her coat was a mixture of gray and white, that blended to form an incredible silver color, which glistened like pooled mercury until it shaded to coal around her eyes and down her delicate legs. She was a nice-size mare, probably about fifteen hands high, and her confirmation was beyond perfect. I adored everything about her.
As if she had the ability to sense my presence (which, truthfully, she does) she spun around and locked her bottomless eyes on me. A full-throated neigh split the air between us.
“Hello, my darling.” I laughed joyously and hurried toward her. “I hear you are causing quite a stir.”
“We are pleased to see you.” ClanFintan sounded as relieved as everyone else looked. The small group parted so that I could pull back the half-door and enter the stall.
“She’s been like this since Ouranos arrived,” I said as I stroked her beautiful head and kissed her velvet muzzle. “Even though he’s housed across the temple, she knows he’s here and hasn’t been herself for days.” Epi rubbed her head against me and lipped the edge of my cloak.