“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 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 the 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.