Now it was her turn to look puzzled. “Such beautiful things. Epona says you a queen.”
“I am no queen.”
Ludmilla laughed then shrugged.
I opened the trunk at the end of the bed and lay a bear fur on the bottom. The puppy hopped and hopped, trying to get on my bed. Taking pity on her, I set her on top before unloading all my dresses and other belongings into the trunk. I watched Ludmilla’s eyes widen at what I thought were the plainest of my clothes. I pulled a red gown with an embroidered collar from my things. “This dress no longer fits,” I lied. “Would you like to have it?” I asked, handing it to Ludmilla.
“I sew for you?”
I shook my head. “No, you have it.”
Again, she smiled. “Thank you…Gruoch?” she asked, seeing if she was pronouncing my name correctly.
“Please, call me Corbie.” I smiled back. “Where are the other ladies?”
Ludmilla slid across my bed and looked out the window. “Two is collecting herbs,” she said, pointing to a dense area behind one of the little houses. “The old one sleeps. Another is away, and I don’t know where is the other.” Epona was right, Ludmilla’s language was still a bit broken, but I still understood her well.
A moment later, the two women collecting herbs emerged from the woods.
“You meet them,” Ludmilla said and rose. I followed her.
When I exited the house, the two women looked in my direction. They smiled at one another when they saw me.
“Welcome, Lady Gruoch,” the taller woman with long brown hair called. She was very thin and had a Roman looking nose. Her eyes were pale blue. She wore a long, well-worn gray-colored gown covered by a long apron with many pockets. Small tufts of leaves and twigs stuck out of the pockets. She smiled at me, but her gaze was cool. Something inside me froze against her, and I wondered why.
“Indeed, welcome,” the second woman, who was much shorter, added. Her blonde, curly hair was cropped at her neck. The dark blue gown she wore complemented her eyes which were almost exactly the same shade as her gown. “I’m Aridmis.”
“Druanne,” the first woman with lighter blue eyes said, nodding to me.
“Thank you both. Please, call me Corbie.” Suddenly, I felt a little overwhelmed by all the new names and faces.
Druanne peered closely at me, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “All right…Lady Corbie.”
Aridmis gave her a sharp look.
Puzzled, I frowned and looked around the camp; there was no sign of the other women.
“They will join us shortly, no doubt,” Druanne said, as if reading my thoughts. “Except Tully. She’s currently traveling.”
I raised a questioning eyebrow at her. She smiled smugly and looked away from me.
Epona and Madelaine emerged from Epona’s house. I could tell from the expression on Madelaine’s face that it was time for her to go. Her eyes were watery.
I crossed the lawn and took her hand. “So soon?”
She nodded sadly.
Uald came from the barn leading Madelaine’s horse. “He drank his weight in water and got a good nibble of oats,” she told Madelaine. Uald too looked sad.
“You can’t stay the night?” I asked Madelaine.
She shook her head.
The door to a nearby house opened. A very old woman exited. I had to look twice. She resembled the old woman I had seen in my vision, the ancient-looking Wyrd Sister, but it was not her.
“Bride,” Epona called to the elder woman, raising her voice. “Meet our new sister.”
The old woman, whose silver hair was pinned in a loose bun, came toward me, her arms outstretched. “Welcome, child,” she said and took hold of both of my arms which she squeezed gently.
“Greetings, Mother. I’m Corbie.”
“Oh, I wondered what all the fuss was about. I sleep most afternoons. I am a crone, you see,” she added with a laugh.
When Bride was done, Madelaine embraced me, kissing my cheek. “If you need me, I can come. It will not be hard to send word. They will teach you,” she whispered in my ear.
I held my aunt close. Tears fell from my eyes, but I tried to steel myself. I didn’t want the others, particularly Druanne, to see. Something told me I shouldn’t show her my weaknesses. We held our embrace for a long time. Eventually Madelaine pulled away.
“I love you,” I whispered quietly to her.
“And I you,” she replied, kissing me on the forehead. Uald helped Madelaine mount her horse and then, holding the reins, led Madelaine to the small crevice in the rock wall. When she neared the passage, Uald kissed Madelaine’s hand, passed her the reins, and turned and headed back toward the barn. Madelaine turned once more to wave to me, then rode into the jumble of rocks that hid the enclosure, leaving me to a life all new.
Chapter 7
“Come. There is much to discuss,” Epona said. She took my hand and led me around the back of her house. We followed a worn path through the woods.
“I want to tell you a few things so you feel more comfortable and understand more of what will happen in the next few days,” she explained. “First, you will be renamed. This is the hardest for some to deal with so I want you to get used to the idea. Also, let me tell you why you will be renamed. Here, we worship the Goddess. The names we take are our Goddess names. We take them in service of the Great Mother. Do I need to explain her to you?”
I shook my head. We all knew the mother of the land, the lady of the earth and hunt. She was our Goddess before the White Christ came.
“You will be renamed according to which aspect of the Goddess best fits you. It will be your Goddess name. Use it only amongst us. Your name is special and powerful. Anyone who knows your true name holds power over you. All of the other women here have been renamed except Ludmilla. Like you, Ludmilla has not had a renaming ceremony. I was named Epona because of my love of horses. As well, medicine, fertility, crops, language and divination all fall under my thumb.
“Uald is named for a Goddess who was a weaponsmith, a hunter, a forester. Druanne, as is obvious from her name, is Druid-taught. She is one of the last of the old kind. Aridmis is of the silver wheel; she reads the heavens. Bride, named for the cheerful spirit of the spring maid inside her, now belongs to the Crone. She has performed the Croning ceremony, an ancient ritual done by women who have ceased their menses. Taith, who we call Tully, you have not met. She is our scout. She travels from hidden coven to hidden coven, keeping a network amongst us alive. She won’t be back for several months,” Epona explained.
“And the ninth?”
Epona and I reached a spring that ran out of the side of one of the steep hills surrounding the grove. The water fell first onto a little rocky ledge and then into a large pool that was several feet deep. Coins and jewels lay on the ledge.
“Feel free to drink or bathe here, but give thanks to Anwyn, the lady of this spring, when you do.”
Bending down, I pulled a small silver band from my pinky and laid it under the water with the rest of the treasures. In my mind, I whispered a greeting to the Goddess and then took a drink. The water was cool and metallic tasting. It felt icy as it slid down my throat.
Epona drank as well, offering a whispered prayer under her breath.
A rustling came from the brush nearby, and much to my surprise, a woman with brown hair that stretched to her feet fell out of the bushes. Dressed in a mishmash of animal skins and woven cotton clothing, she looked wildly about her and appeared to be talking to the incorporeal air. Her hair was knotted and full of leaves and twigs. Her face, while beautiful, was very dirty. She stopped suddenly as if someone had addressed her and, turning her head quickly, she looked at Epona and me.