A yellow-haired girl about my age was tending the center fire ring, gingerly pushing kindling onto the fire. Her nimble fingers jumped back when the flames licked them. The woman Madelaine had called Uald, the huntress from the stream, sat beside the fire plucking a bird. A woman with long white hair emerged from one of the houses.
“Greetings in the name of the Goddess,” Madelaine called.
“Greetings, daughter,” the white-haired woman replied then turned her gaze on me. “Ah, Gruoch. Welcome!” she called.
We dismounted.
The white-haired woman hurried to us. She smiled as she looked me over, chuckling lightly when she saw the pup strapped to my chest. “I’m Epona,” she introduced, pulling me into an embrace. The heavy scent of herbs clung to her hair, and her embrace was soft. After she let me go, she turned and gently patted Kelpie’s neck.
“Lovely creature. What’s his name?” she asked as she leaned in and pressed her cheek against his face, whispering in his ear. To my surprise, my horse nickered softly to her.
“Kelpie,” I replied.
Epona smiled. “Are you a Kelpie?” she asked him. He snorted and pawed the earth, causing Epona to laugh. I eyed the woman curiously. Although her hair was pure white, she was not old. Her face was clear and free of wrinkles. Her lips were red, and her eyes were a brownish-gold color. She patted Kelpie one more time then turned and smiled prettily at me. “Uald you have already met,” she said with an open hand directed toward the huntress who’d met me at the stream.
“Happy to have you here,” Uald said, but she was looking at Madelaine who was grinning at her.
“Come here, child,” Epona called to the blonde-haired girl.
The girl dusted her hands off on her skirt and joined us.
“This is Ludmilla. She comes to us from amongst the Rus. Her language is not perfect, but she is learning,” Epona said.
Ludmilla smiled at Madelaine and me. “Hello,” she said timidly. Her voice was thick with a deep, round accent.
“Gruoch, Elaine, come inside,” Epona said then led us toward her cabin.
I raised an eyebrow at my aunt. Elaine?
The air inside Epona’s house was thick with the smell of heady white sage. The main room housed a large table at which nine chairs had been set. Epona’s bed was tucked into a small room in a back corner of the house. The floor had been laid with a rough stone and was covered with soft straw.
“Everything is the same,” Madelaine commented.
“Yes, but you’ll only know Uald and me. The ones who were here with you have gone, been replaced by other adepts,” Epona replied.
“I heard that Dahlia, as she was called, is in Powys,” Madelaine said.
Epona nodded and poured a yellow liquid from a wooden decanter into three glasses. “The others are dispersed from the north beyond the Hadrian’s Wall all the way south to Brittany.” She handed a glass to me and Madelaine then took one for herself.
“Have any gone to the other groves? The other covens of nine? There was a girl, I don’t recall her name, with periwinkle-colored eyes,” Madelaine said, then turned to me. “We all thought she was part fey. Magical thing. What ever happened to her?”
Epona smiled. “She is in service at the forest coven. You see, my dear,” Epona said, turning to me, “we are nine here. But there are, in total, nine strongholds of the Goddess spread across the old country, each always with a count of nine. We keep the sacred ways…in secret, of course.”
I looked at Madelaine. What other secrets had she been keeping?
“Drink,” Madelaine said with a laugh.
I took a sip. The liquid was like nothing I had ever drunk before; I grimaced at the bitter taste and tried not to spit it out. I was embarrassed by my rudeness, but no one noticed.
Epona peered at Madelaine’s bruised face. “Still at it, is he?” she asked. “I’d hoped someone would have killed him by now.” Setting her glass down, she turned and dipped into her wooden cupboard. Inside were a multitude of glass jars and some dried herbs lying in baskets. “The nettles were strong this year.” She handed Madelaine a small green jar filled with salve.
With a nod, Madelaine stuck it into the pocket of her coat.
Epona patted Madelaine’s shoulder sympathetically, but I saw a flash of anger cross her face. She then turned and looked at me, her hand on her hip. “Well, do you like the drink?”
“Yes,” I lied.
Epona chuckled. “Dispense with formalities. We speak the truth here. I know it tastes like stump water. It will give you prophetic dreams. In it are herbs that prompt visions of the future.”
I smiled at Epona. I liked her already.
Uald entered behind us, wiping her hands with a rag.
“Will you help Gruoch get settled while I speak with Elaine?” Epona asked Uald.
“Corbie,” Madelaine said then. “Most people call her Corbie…she’s my little raven.”
“Suits her well,” Epona replied. “Very well, Corbie, please go with Uald while I shamelessly shake news from Madelaine,” she added with a laugh.
Uald nodded and motioned for me to follow her. Without another word, I rose and went back outside.
The puppy stirred at my chest. Stopping, I set her down. She ran straight to Ludmilla. The girl smiled and patted the little scamp. Uald and I started unbundling my horse.
“Armaments?” she asked, poking at the bulky packages.
“Madelaine sent them for you,” I replied. I hadn’t understood Madelaine’s gift when she had Tavis pack my horse, but the more I studied Uald, the more sense it made. Uald grinned happily, her smile pulling toward one side of her face. She was pretty in a rough kind of way. She was nearly the same age as Madelaine, but I saw some tendrils of white streaking her hair. Her skin was tanned from the sun and there was a scattering of freckles on her nose and cheeks. Her eyes were very dark brown, her reddish-brown hair pulled back in a braid. As she did when she called me in the woods, she wore breeches and a tunic. Her arms curved with the muscles of a smith. I could tell from the cut of her that she was a swordswoman. No wonder Madelaine had sent her weapons.
With my arms fully loaded, I followed Uald into one of the little houses. Inside there were two small beds, a small wooden table, two wardrobes, and two chests. Uald set the packages down on one of the beds.
“You’ll share this house with Ludmilla.”
I pulled a chain mail vest and a green gown from my belongings. I handed them to Uald. “These are also for you.”
Uald frowned at the dress. “She always wanted me in gowns. I never saw the point,” she said but took it all the same. “Why don’t you get settled? I’ll come back for you in a while; the others will be anxious to meet you,” Uald said then left. She carried the bundle of armaments strapped across her back and the chainmail over her shoulder. The dress, however, she held in her hands, studying it as she walked toward the barn. I saw the bemused expression on her face.
I stood in the doorframe and watched Ludmilla with the pup. Seeing me standing in the door of her home, Ludmilla came toward me. The puppy waddled along behind her.
“You sleep here?” Ludmilla asked.
I smiled and nodded.
Ludmilla looked at my packages. “You a queen?”
Confused, I shook my head. “No.”