Sweep - Origins Part 9

aRose! Rose! It was you, wasnat it? Did you see the ruin?a Her face was lit with a predatory smile. aYour spell wiped them out, the whole lot of them! By the G.o.ddess, we really showed them! It will be a long time before anyone else crosses a Wodebayne.a I rocked back on my heels, weary but relieved that Aislinn understood.

aYou must be filled with wonder at what youave accomplished.a aI canat say that I am,a I admitted, wis.h.i.+ng that I could summon some emotion.

aWell, then I am proud on your behalf,a Aislinn said. aYour dark wave of a spell has put an end to our persecution. You have altered our fate, Rose. Nevermore will we be downtrodden, nevermore the outcasts.a aMy ma does not agree,a I said. aSheas banished me from our coven.a aSle is a foolish woman,a Aislinn said. aShe has no vision, no courage. Did you know that many of us had already abandoned her coven, long before last night? Coveners were tiring of Sleas failure to take action. Weave begun to have our own circle in the woods east of here, near a village called Druinden. Though sometimes we flounder. We havenat really found a high priestess with the power to summon the G.o.ddess.a aReally?a I felt bolstered by this news. Perhaps I had not been abandoned as Iad thought. Perhaps it was Sle who was wrong. Perhaps she had been denying the ways of the G.o.ddess, and that was why I was here traveling down this unknown road with barely a st.i.tch to my name.

aIs that where youare headed?a Aislinn asked. aDruinden?a aI suppose, if I can get a room at the inn there.a I felt awkward revealing myself to Aislinn, yet I suspected she knew my entire story already. aIave not only been banished from the coven, but also from the cottage. And. you probably know, Iam with child.a aDonat even think of the inn!a she insisted, her face flus.h.i.+ng with pride. aYou must stay with my sister and me! Itas my fatheras cottage, but heas off at sea most of the time. And you mustnat worry about the bairn. The G.o.ddess will provide. Especially if you decide you want to be high priestess of the new coven. Of course, the others must agree, but how could they not see your power? The whole village of Druinden knows of the dark wave. Iall wager everyone from here to Londinium knows. That spell has made you the high priestess of the Highlands.a I hardly felt like royalty, shuffling down that long road upon my aching feet. At the moment all I wanted was a place to rest and a pitcher of water to wash the smell of death from me. Wash away the soot, and the grime, and the bitter memory of betrayal.

14. Samhain.

a aTis time to leave the light and enter the darkness,a I said from the center of the circle. My coveners gathered around me, listening intently as their new high priestess spoke the words of the Samhain rite. aI plunge the blade of my athame deep into the heart of my enemy,a I said, lowering my athame into a goblet of wine held by Aislinn.

aPlunge the blade, let evil die,a they chanted, circling around me.

I went over to the ceremonial fire and stirred it with a stick until embers flew through the darkness. aI stoke the fires of vengeance and point the wrath of the G.o.ddess toward their evil.a aStoke the fires, let evil die,a they chanted.

I stood naked before them, the round ripeness of my body so befitting the harvest ritual. The coveners were also unclad, and I noticed that a few others had taken to branding their bellies with the inverted pentagram. Aislinn had done it first, inspired by the marking on my belly, which had healed but was now a deep browna"a permanent sign of the powerful spell I had created.

Around my neck I wore a necklace with the amber stone Kyra had charged for me along with jet black beads to signify my position as high priestess. I had not seen Kyra or my mother since the day after the dark wave. At times tales of Sleas coven trickled into our circle, and I listened with interest, despite the fact that I knew I would never see my mother again. I realized now how she had tried to undermine my strength, depriving me of the power the G.o.ddess intended me to wield.

I touched the golden stone at my neck, wondering if Kyra knew the power of her charm. Amber was also an excellent protector of children and a spell strengthener, and I often held the charmed stone close to my breast in antic.i.p.ation of the birthing rite. My child would be here before Imbolc, I knew it. I had enjoyed visions of hera"a tiny bundle in my arms as I knelt before Aislinn, summoning the G.o.ddessas power through the lighting of the candles in the crown upon my head.

aLet us reenact the great event of our year,a I said, moving to the side of the circle, athe dark wave.a Aislinn led the dance, playing me as I crafted the spell in my prison cell. Other coveners played the forces of earth, wind, water, and fire. As I watched the dancers move, leaping in the air and dipping to the ground, I thought of the hours I had spent schooling my coveners in the elements of the dark wave. We planned to cast the spell over the Burnhydes to the north, for they had been stealing sheep from Wodebayne herders repeatedly. aTwas unforgivable, the way they committed crime with abandon. aThey must be stopped,a Aislinn said often. aAnd we have the power to do it.a The dark wave.

The coveners had proven to be apt students of the grave spell. Already they had collected hair and fingernails from Burnhydes for use in the magick.

My baby s.h.i.+fted inside me, and I smiled. Aye, little one, you will learn the spell, too. I will pa.s.s it on to you. It is your legacy.

When the drama before me ended, I arose and held my hands up to the G.o.ddess. aI fell into deep darkness,a I said. aI greeted death. I tore the velvet darkness of everlasting light. Ablaze with glory, I was reborn. Now the old year ends.a aThe new year begins!a the coveners responded. aPlunge the blade! Stoke the fires!a I went to the center of the circle, saying: aTheir evil shall burn their own funeral pyres!a The coveners danced around me, chanting: aPlunge the blade! Stoke the fires!a I felt the power of the G.o.ddess swirl around us. Aye, we were nearly ready to send the dark wave, so mote it be. aWelcome, new year, farewell, strife. From fiery embers arises life.a aPlunge the blade! Stoke the fires...a

Epilogue.

Hunter and I still sat silently on the couch. Plunge the blade! Stoke the fires! The words kept running through my head, like a mantra. This girl, this young, seventeen-year-old girl. I tried to imagine going through what she went through. Would I have reacted the same way?

aMorgan?a I realized that Hunter was looking at me with concern. His hand lay on my arm. He seemed to be waiting for me to respond. Had he asked me a question? I shook my head, trying to clear it, and then reached for my cold chamomile tea. aYes,a I said quietly. When I raised the cup to my lips, I realized that my face was wet with tears.

aMorgan, are you all right?a I looked down at the closed book. Rose MacEwan, I thought, my ancestor. The creator of the dark wave. How was it possible? But I knew, I realized almost immediately, with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I remembered the few times I had practiced dark magicka"shape-s.h.i.+fting with Ciaran. Weather magick with my half brother Killian. It had felt so right, pure, and natural. Hunter realized it, too, I thoughta"when strange things had started happening at our circles, he had believed it was me. Rose could have been me, I thought with sickening clarity. We were so alike: blood relatives. I could have been Rose.

Hunter had knelt on the floor before me, and he sat now with his hands on my knees, begging me to speak.

aNo,a I said softly, shaking my head. aI donat know what I am.a Hunter looked up at me, his eyes warm with concern. I could see pain there, pain at seeing me cry. Oh, G.o.ddess, he loved me, without tricks or reservations. What he had done with Justine seemed so trivial now.

He sat back on the couch, reached out, and folded me into his arms. I didnat resist. aShe didnat know, love. She didnat know what she was doing.a aBut she still did it.a I s.h.i.+vered involuntarily, thinking of Rose and Diarmuida"she had been so sure of their love, as sure as I had beena" wasa"of Hunteras. And look where it had led. The same place my birth parentsa love had leda"to death, destruction, and misery.

I looked up at Hunteras facea"the face that I dreamed of, the face that I believed to be there for me. Only me. I reached up and touched Hunteras cheeka"my mirn beatha dn. Even his parentsa love had led to hurta"abandoning their children, Hunteras father hurting himself in an attempt to recreate what they had had after his loveas death.

aI know you, love. Youare not like Rose. Youave chosen good.a Hunter whispered, stroking my hair.

I nodded, wanting to believe him. But as a daughter of such dark origins, I could only hope that he was right.