by Trinity Crow
"Peace, Elder Ishmael," Brother Jabez said, his eyes on mine. "But he did not die, Sister Mariam." The softly spoken words were a none-to-subtle threat.
"My name is Abby," I said, tightly, then cursed myself for letting him get to me.
Jabez continued as if he had not heard. "Your husband lives, Mariam, and he has passed your bond on to me."
"I have no husband," I told him defiantly.
"You signed the papers, Mariam." He emphasized that hated name mockingly.
"I signed nothing."
"You don't remember."
"Because you drugged me?" I retorted, with a derisive laugh.
"Enough!" Elder Ishmael broke in. "Seize her and make her bow before the Lord!"
The words were accompanied by a low groan as he seized his left arm with his right hand, glaring at me.
"You mean bow before you," I said, the anger rising inside me. Mist began to curl across the porch. "You mean kneel at your feet."
"You are my wife. And I will have you as is right and good, and commanded by our Lord," Brother Jabez said, staring intently into my eyes. The satisfaction in his voice crawled over my skin like unwanted hands.
"Ahh!" He gasped in surprise and slapped a hand to his neck and then looked wildly about the air as if expecting an attack.
"You mean rape," I snapped, ignoring his bee sting. "You mean to rape a girl more than half your age. You mean to commit an illegal abomination because what woman would have you otherwise."
"You will submit," he said, his voice like steel.
"You will never take me," I told him with scorn. The wind was rising now and across the fields, thunder rumbled. And I knew they never would take me. . .not alive. I no longer wondered at Felicite choosing to drown. But I was not ready to give up yet.
"We will take you," Elder Ishmael said, his eyes crawled over my skin. "And bend you to the will of God."
The old man's triumphant smile vanished as a sickly look spread over his face. He bent over and urgently vomited, choking on his own spew.
Around us, the grass whispered as something unseen came our way. But the men, drunk on lust and power, did not notice.
"Which God would that be?" The heat behind my eyes burned into those of my accusers. "Not yours. Not here. I think you will find you are very far from home here."
I smiled, and in that smile, I felt every bit as wanton as he had accused me. I was sluttish with my own power and drunk on my own commandments of what was good and evil. Power whispered along the strong, young muscles of my thighs and the tensile strength in my abdomen made me stretch sinuous and graceful. My smile was mocking, taunting, a challenge to these men who believed they had the scent of prey and would not be denied the chase and the kill.
If it was a chase they wanted, a chase I would give them.
"You can have me," I murmured looking at Jabez, aware of the hot, possessive look in his eyes, ". . .if you can catch me."
The wind whipped around me and the skies boiled with black clouds. Around us, the air seethed with unbridled power. Some of the men looked about uneasily, but another of the Brethren seemed to take it as a sign.
"The Lord's anger is swift and righteous. He will call down the heavens upon you." The words were no sooner out of his mouth when he shouted in pain and fell to the ground, flailing wildly. The others watched in astonishment. One went to cross himself and stopped, mid gesture, making the same connection I had.
Brother Jabez however, was not swayed. He licked his lips and adjusted his breeches with clear intent. "Before this day is done, woman, you will submit to the rights of your master and husband. You will bend your knees in submission, covering your head, and do your duty as my wife."
"You are no master of mine, and your God . . . He has no power here," I told him, a smile teasing at my lips. I lifted my arms, letting go of the chains that fear had wrapped around me. "I will never bow again. Perhaps it is you who should cover your head and bow to me."
The wind snatched my shawl and flung it back at the men, draping it over an unwary head.
"She's a witch!" Elder Ishmael cried out, pointing a bony, accusing finger in my direction.
"Am I?" I laughed. "A wanton, a wife, a witch. Which is it? Or am I all three?"
"You are mine," Jabez said, eyes bright with anticipation as he started forward.
With a laugh for his childish belief that he was stronger than me, I turned and ran. Behind me, the men bayed in fury as they leapt to follow.
***
I sprang up the stairs and into the house, knowing the strange floor plan would confuse them. I slipped through the swinging door of the kitchen before they had even cleared the steps, turning to still its movement with my hands. Out the back door, across the worn, familiar boards of the porch. The screen door squeaked loudly and I smiled. The sound would urge them on. They were raging hounds now, bumbling through the house, calling for blood. And blood they would have.
Dancing down the stairs, my steps light and sure, I made for the garden path, stopping when I had gained a few rows of raised beds. Turning to face the house, I waited. And I gloried in the sight I would present. Bare foot with my loose hair storm-tossed, face flushed, and body tanned and lean from the work in the garden. The open neck of my shirt showed my collarbones and then shadowed down to the abundant, life-giving parts of my body men had deemed sinful. And I knew, as I stood framed against the lush growth, I presented a fantasy they would not be able to resist, the untamed woman, theirs to subjugate. But they were wrong and I would show them just how wrong.
Jabez came first. He slammed open the screen door of my house and howled in triumph when he saw me. I leaned forward, eyes intent on his, giving him a teasing smile and then began to back away. Still smiling, I beckoned him to me.
And he came. Like a hound loosed from hell, he came.
Behind him, the other men tumbled out of the door, hot on his heels.
I sprinted now, laughing as I ran. The wind swirled around me, laughing with me through the leaves and grasses, echoing the power and freedom I felt.
Behind me, his boots thudded on the packed earth as he ran, but the sound held no fear. I was the huntress in this game and he, the prey. Ducking between the two towering pomegranates, I reached for the latch of the orchard gate. It leaped into my hand and turned of its own accord and what it felt . . . was right.
The trees that had been so stunted and almost lifeless were now bursting with leaves and fruit. Their branches parted to allow me to pass, their rustle, a unspoken blessing. But for Jabez and his hounds, they turned and lashed angrily. The men cried out in fear and some in horror. More than the skin of their bodies, the sentient trees lashed their minds and rigid views. There was nothing here that allowed for their unyielding belief that they alone had been given the right to rule.
At the orchard's end, I stopped and collected my breath before opening the wicker gate. I stepped respectfully into the spiral sanctuary. Here, there was no need to run. The drums began, matching my heartbeat to that of the earth.
With the familiar Song in my soul and the pleasure of my own desirability warming my heart, I stepped onto the path. Knowledge ran through me, strong and sure. This power, this ancient power was the Mother Earth herself. In Her wisdom, She united the longing of my spirit and the passions of my body. Here, I was whole.
Light filled me as I walked serenely in the knowledge that I was a child of Her earth and I walked safely in Her embrace.
The men behind me had no such honor. They charged through the gate, eyes reddened and mouths slavering, and they met the wall of power with a cry. Jabez fought his way forward as the drums beat faster and faster.
"Is this your unGodly shrine?" he screamed when he beheld the ancient spiral. "Your evil will not hold. I will consummate our God-given marriage here on the ashes of your witchcraft and you . . . will . . . submit!"
“Come then," I told him, eyes lidded and hips swaying as I paced, walking the rhythm of my sisters, the language
of the ages. The power was seductive and I welcomed it.
The ancient force of the Mother swung his feet onto the path and against his will, he paced. He walked. He came. And his eyes bulged and throat tightened as he realized he walked not as a colossus but as a supplicant, crawling as an ant before Her vast might.
Come.
She told the other men. And their faces, frozen masks of terror, told the tale as their feet dragged them forward against their will.
Jabez drew near on the spiral path as our concentric circles passed one another. He made a grab at me, crying out in pain as the wind drew her claws against his offending arms. The blood welled up in fat droplets and ran down to the hungry, waiting ground. Yes, the land would feast this day.
Chapter 33
The frantic pace of the drums slowed and became something new. From staccato to sacred, the beat walked with me, inside my chest. The pulse of the earth rose through the soles of my feet and echoed in my heart. I was, at once, both fiercely myself and all things living. I was tree and root, rock and mineral. I was wind and water, beetle and bear. And of these things, none were set above the other. My heart shouted for the rightness of it and joy flooded me.
The spiral rose like a constellation around me and the universe, which was infinite, was also the size of a single cell inside my beating heart. Infinite paths, infinite choices.
And here was Brixta, woman and hunter, and Coyote, trickster and warrior. They were water and wind, neither of them greater and neither more than beetle or bear . . . or me. The earth that fed my mother had formed my bones and organs, the water that carried my blood and nourished my cells, the spirit that breathed in me, was equal to all and above none. All of us Gaea's child. All of us infinite and loved.
In this moment, all of the earth's powers lay open to me and the choice was not between two paths but infinity. The spiral split into thousands of smaller wheels that spun deliriously across the sky, the scent of rain swept through the clearing and the wind came whistling from the heights to call me Sister.
This then, was my choice. Not one or the other . . . but all. Love, sex, power, home, hearth, joy, safety, security, blessings.
For my body and heart were not separate. I had spoken truly when I asked if I was all three iterations of womanhood, for I was or would be wanton youth, bountiful woman and wise crone as my life paced the path of time.
I could honor the goddess of the spring, singing the Songs of my soul and still be woman held in the strong arms of Coyote if I so choose. And it would be my choice. I was earth and sky, spirit and desire, woman and divinity in my own right. The goodness of the thought took root and bore fruit in my heart. And I knew who and what I was and that this new knowledge could never be taken from me.
Now, the sound of the drums slowed, each thud, vast and encompassing.
I had reached the center.
***
Impossibly far away, the men of New Eden struggled along the path. And I saw the burdens they carried, the beliefs, the hate, the judgment, the oppression. It bent them over until their figures resembled monstrous caricatures of humanity, hunched and clawing across the earth.
Wind asked me what would I do.
“Bring rain,” I replied. “For they must be cleansed.”
Rain came riding storm clouds and throwing his spears of lightning with booming laughs of glee. Around me, the spiral bowl began to fill with water. The tiny ant-like men were swept away and sucked down into the mud, which grew rich on recycled nutrients. Cattail sprang from the soil of their bodies, and reedy stalks of rice dripped plump with the harvest. Water birds rose up, screaming into the din, and at my feet, a fish leaped flashing silver-speckled sides before slipping beneath the surface again. Damselflies played chase and on a log, a turtle waited, with lidded eyes, for a chance to feast.
Rain stormed away across the sky, his work here done. Wind whispered her well wishes before running after him to ride the zephyrs of his power.
Across the water, my feet carried me, to the firm earth of the shore. The world was made new. Gone was the spiral and in its place, a thriving wetland. Beside me, a heavy bull gator pushed past my bare, wet legs and slid into the water. His heavy tail giving a last warning flick. The drums beat infinitely slow and then stopped.
I stood there a long time, gazing at the water, watching the animals come and go fearlessly in my presence. I was no goddess. I was no witch. No more than a bee or a cloud is. But like them, I was a child of Her earth and in my heart lay untapped power. My head would not be bowed again.
Epilogue
I felt them coming before they even left their house, Tasmyn and Nikki, bringing me something of import. I went out to the porch to greet them. Loosening my hair from the braid I had fashioned to keep it out of my way while canning. For the harvest had been bountiful.
The red hatchback chugged to a stop and in the silence, a mockingbird began to sing a high, questioning song.
Tasmyn gave a nervous glance around but squared her shoulders as she walked beside Nikki towards the house. Nikki looked positively gleeful. If she felt any of the changes that had taken place here, whether in the land or in myself, she gave no sign.
Lifting her hand, she waved a folder at me in greeting.
"I stopped by Mr. Delacourt's office and got copies of the settlement," she said excitedly. "I told him I would bring you yours."
I took the papers with a quiet thank you.
"How are you, Tasmyn?" I asked. The girl looked even paler under that pink hair.
"Okay," she shrugged. "It's a bigger responsibility than I thought. Owning your own place."
I went to say something in agreement, but Nikki cut in.
"I guess you haven't heard, the city is going to give me a one dollar property of my own." She smiled smugly at my shock and I noticed Tasmyn seemed to be surprised as well. Trust Nikki to spring it on the poor girl like this.
"And I get to pick!" she crowed delightedly. "There are about five places the city is offering me so I don't sue over that messed up raffle. Turns out the winner is related to the city treasurer!"
Noticing Tasmyn for the first time, she gave the girl a pat on the arm. "I'm going to take my time picking, don't worry. I plan to get the best deal I can."
Nikki turned to show me the document, missing the grimace Tas shot in her direction. Not all was well between the roommates it seemed.
I let Nikki's chatter go in one ear and out the other, amusing myself by looking out at the quiet fields. When she paused for breath, I asked something that had been on my mind. "Have you heard anything from Cassie?"
Tasmyn shook her head regretfully.
From Nikki, there was an uncomfortable silence. After a long moment of evading my eyes, she finally spoke. “Not exactly. I mean, I hear she and Adam aren't speaking. He's trying some pretty shady stuff and she's filed a restraining order against him.”
“But she's still living in her house?" I asked, a sense of foreboding filling me.
Nikki nodded.
“How do you know all this?' Tasmyn asked, her brows drawing down. Clearly, Tasmyn did not entirely trust Nikki, and it did seem the wisest course. The dark-haired girl had kept her own counsel and her secrets close to her vest. Whether they were harmless secrets or not, well, time would tell.
“The hardware store,” Nikki said defensively. “It's a small town. People talk.”
And Nikki, I thought, always wanting the best deal, listened.
"How do you find your house, Tasmyn?" I asked picking up on the thread of unease I sensed in the girl. "I hope your nights are easier than the one I spent there."
"Nothing we can't live with. . . " Nikki started to say, but Tas cut her off.
"Not too quiet," she admitted. "No, not quiet at all."
You have that house for a reason," I told her, trying to make her hear beyond my words. "You must lay its past and yours to rest."
Nikki made a face. "It's safe enough there."
"Safe for you
," I told her shortly. "You, of all people, should know how personal these things are. That house chose Tasmyn for a reason. It would be foolish to not be on your guard. Danger isn't always death or damnation."
Tasmyn's eyes went wide and she looked back at the car as if ready for an escape.
Nikki picked up on this immediately and began giving her excuses and saying goodbye.
"What did she mean, you of all people?" I heard Tasmyn asked as they climbed in the car.
I let them go. they were not ready to listen, but I would be here when they were. I watched the small car make a plume of dust as it traveled the road to Freyt House.
Shadows had fallen while we talked, but the night held no fears for me. I stood in the thick grasses of the front yard, not far from the buried bulk of the interloper's car and gazed across the darkened fields. Now the line of my influence was as easy for me to sense as it had been for Nikki. I could feel the land, where it was healthy and fertile and where it need time and encouragement from me. The little lives of the creatures who dwelled here pulsed in my awareness like bright darts of fireflies on a summer's evening.
A smile curved my lips as the wind wrapped around me like a lover's caress. This was my land and my home. Between us was a deep bond. My well-being was intertwined with the earth beneath my feet and the air that filled my lungs. It was not a bond that chafed and restrained, but a partnership with endless rewards. I stood, contented, as my senses communed with the soft blessings of the night.
The wind shifted and something foul stroked my awareness. My eyes narrowed. Though my influence may have had limits, my awareness stretched well beyond. The lights of the Freyt House had long since dimmed and gone out. I could sense Nikki, a luminous presence, and Tasmyn, a more muted one, both wrapped in slumber and unaware of the threat. My senses recoiled from the tainted air. Something dark and dank that spoke of shadows and rot. The stench of decay wafted on the air and I brushed it away, sending it back to where it came. Across the fields, to where Tasmyn and Nikki slept in the Fright House.
