Ravenwood

by Lowell, Nathan

  Amber and Sadie had prepared a feast with a roasted joint of venison, along with squash and potatoes fresh from their gardens. The crusty yeast bread added an almost sweet counterpoint to the savory smells coming off the hearth as they stepped back into the warm hut after being outside in the damp and chilly darkness.

  At the threshold, Amber and William lost their dazed expressions and the party was soon joined by Thomas and Sadie and their children. In a matter of moments, Amber and Sadie had distributed cups of sweet cider and the feast began in earnest.

  Frank and Tanyth sat in the places of honor near the hearth and Tanyth enjoyed being the All-Mother surrogate much more than she had expected. The children were all on their best behavior and the meal was wonderful with just the right amounts of savory and sweet, meat and bread to balance. For dessert there was pie and fruit and soft cheese.

  As the evening wore on, Tanyth began to flag. The combination of hot food, full belly, and jocularity among friends moved her from stuffed to stupor in relatively short order. She found herself blinking and stretching her face to try to stay awake as sleep plucked the children away to dreamland. Even Amber and Sadie began to blink and yawn. The party broke up with Frank rising suddenly from his chair and announcing that he needed to find his bedroll in order to be fresh for the morrow.

  The movement sparked action and in moments people were moving about, snuffing candles, banking fires, and making trips to the privy. Sadie caught Amber’s eye and nodded at the pile of sleeping children. Amber just smiled. “Let’em be. We can sort ’em out in the morning.”

  Tanyth rose and stretched but still stumbled gratefully into her bedroll, stretching out on the firm floor, pulling the covers tightly around her, and drifting gently off into darkness even as Frank, William, and Amber finalized plans for morning.

  The raven peered through the trees at the dark shapes just inside the forest’s verge. Open ground beyond the forest’s edge was painted in stark silver and the shapes moved in silhouette. They smelled to her, a sharp smell. Not the calling smell of meat but something else. Something man made. It came faintly on the breeze. Not pine pitch. A smell she knew from the forest but sharp like pines. Four of them now. Two held shiny glass and the smell came from the bottles.

  The night around them was still. Even the raven huddled against the tree truck heard only the soft murmur of night wind in tree tops. The day’s soft rain had brought up the smells of rich loam and forest floor. The end of the rain had brought these man-shapes and she just wanted to sleep.

  One man spoke and another man struck steel. A spark flicked onto a torch, the pale yellow light almost drowned by the brilliant silver beyond the wood. The two with bottles ran forward with the torch man in the rear. They broke from cover and ran to the nearest house, approaching without stealth or grace, stumbling on the rough ground. They stopped a few feet from the building and the bottles spun end over end as they threw them–flashing in the moonlight, arcs of pale liquid pinwheeling outward, until they hit the roof. The heavy glass didn’t break, but thunked loudly on the damp wood and rolled down the steep incline, falling to soft, damp earth at the foot of the wall. The man with the torch threw it up onto the roof with a sidearm toss and together the three of them turned and bolted back to the woods, ducking into the trees and past the one man waiting.

  The torch found the liquid on the roof and a ribbon of fire traced across the dark incline as the torch followed the bottles and fell to earth, rolling off the steepness and dropping into the wet grass to smolder and almost gutter out before finding the puddle of sharp smelling liquid and igniting in a quiet whump.

  Tanyth woke with the word on her lips. “Fire!”

  Amber was just settling down to her own bed and looked over at Tanyth struggling out of her bed roll and grabbing for her staff. “What is it, mum?”

  “Fire! They’ve tried to set one of the huts on fire. Get help.”

  She raced for the front door and threw it open as she scrambled up out of the house, her bare feet aware of the cold, wet ground under her, but drawing strength with every step as she ran. The disorientation of the dream soon aligned with the flickering light behind one of the houses and she pelted across the yard to where she knew she’d find the two bottles of lamp oil in the weeds.

  She skidded around the corner even as she heard Amber banging on a door and yelling for William and Thomas and Frank. The village seemed to spring into life all at once as men came out to see what was happening, pulling suspenders over shoulders even as they ran.

  Tanyth slipped on the grass but managed to maintain her balance and shouted. “Here! Fire! Over here!”

  The running men converged on her even as she ran at the fire, scattering the burning brands with the heel of her staff and even stomping out sparks with her bare, wet feet. By the time William and Thomas came around the corner only one small patch of lamp oil burned on the ground beside the torch that had ignited it.

  Tanyth leaned on her staff and panted slightly to catch her breath. She pivoted to where she knew the men had come from. She could see their tracks in the moonlit grass where their rapid passage had shaken the water from the blades. Thomas turned and drew, but held since there were no targets, just as Frank pelted around the corner.

  William and Frank stomped out the remaining fire with their heavier boots and the crisis was past.

  The men all looked at Tanyth. Frank spoke. “Are you alright, mum?”

  She glowered at the tree line for another moment but turned to look at them. “Yes. Fine.” She took another deep breath. “It just scared me and I was afraid they’d come back and throw more lamp oil on it when they discovered it just rolled off.”

  Thomas glanced at Frank with a kind of “I told you so” look and Frank looked at Tanyth.

  William, for his part, picked up the two heavy bottles and smelled each. “Lamp oil alright.”

  Thomas turned to Tanyth. “Thank you, mum.”

  She was too tired and too shaken to respond with more than a nod.

  Frank offered his arm as if she were the All-Mother again and she took it, leaning on it heavily and let him lead her back to the cottage and her bed.

  Chapter 19

  Shared Secret

  “That was just a warning.” William looked around at the circle of faces, pale in the morning’s light.

  “A warning?” Jakey frowned and pointed to the singed ground. “If one of those bottles had actually broken up there, we’d have lost this house!”

  William nodded. “I think that was their plan, but it didn’t break.” He turned to Jakey with a calm look. “And who lives in this house?”

  Jakey spluttered a little but had to admit the truth in the end. “Nobody.”

  William shrugged. “It was a warning. Wasn’t as effective as they’d have liked perhaps, but a warning.”

  Jakey grumbled but subsided.

  “That’s why we have to send your boys off with Frank, Jakey. You knew that before.”

  Jakey nodded. “But that was before they was attacking the town. Sending them off with Frank means we’ve got three fewer people here to defend us if we need ’em.”

  William sighed. “And not sending them means we leave Frank, the horses, the wagon, and the cargo open to attack. You like that thought better?” He glared at Jakey. “Here we’ve got more than enough folk to protect the village even with Ethan, Richard, and Harry going along to cover Frank.”

  Thomas spoke up for the first time since the confrontation over sending off the quarrymen began. “We’re dealin’ with cowards and bullies here, Jakey. They’re not gonna try for equal numbers in a movin’ wagon when they can hang around here and pick off the easy targets.”

  Jakey nodded triumphantly and started to say something but Thomas cut him off.

  “And if we don’t give Frank cover, they’ll hit him as the easy target and take away much more than we can afford to lose.”

  Jakey saw the logic but he was just bullheaded enough to need to f
ight about it.

  Frank put an end to it. “Sooner gone, sooner back.” He turned to his traveling companions and jerked his head toward the back of the wagon. “Mount up, boys, and let’s get this thing moving. Daylight’s burnin’ and they’re probably watchin’ from the woods.” He spat on the ground. “Let’s give ’em something to look at besides us palaverin’ the day away.”

  The three quarry men had already stowed their traveling gear in the wagon and they scrambled up onto the bed before their obstreperous boss could interfere with the departure any longer. Frank pulled the wagon’s brake and flicked the reins with a clucking sound. “Hee up there!”

  The horses leaned into the traces and the wagon moved off across the still damp ground toward the packed surface of the Pike, rumbling slightly. In a few minutes, the wagon had made it to the road and turned north. Several of the villagers watched them go, and Megan raised a hand to wave farewell to her husband, Harry, who waved back from the tailgate of the lorry-wagon as it moved slowly out of sight.

  Jakey made a disgusted noise, gathered his remaining three helpers, and started trudging up the track toward the quarry. The villagers dispersed to their daily chores. William stood beside the path and frowned at his feet while Thomas crouched on his haunches nearby.

  Amber and Sadie looked to William. Amber asked the question everybody was thinking. “Now what?”

  Thomas grinned and William shrugged. “Now we wait.”

  “How long? We can’t keep these kids bottled up forever and you and Thomas will need to get on with your work, too.”

  William sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I know.” He looked at Thomas who shrugged in return. “They’ve given us a warning. They’ll give us another and then they’ll be back.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “I think, as long as we’re vigilant, they can’t really cause us much harm. They’re not going to try a straight on attack, it wouldn’t be useful to damage us so we can’t pay.”

  “We’re not going to pay anyway.” Thomas spoke quietly but his voice carried to where Tanyth stood beside Amber’s back door.

  William sighed. “Yeah, and I’m not so sure what will happen when they realize that.”

  “They must know you’re your father’s son, Will. You think they’ve forgotten?”

  William grimaced and shook his head. “No. I don’t.”

  Thomas glanced at the women standing nearby and didn’t say any more.

  “Tell ya what? Let’s give the kids a good run here for an hour or so and then I’ll take them up to the barn with me and we’ll get a jump on cuttin’ and stackin’ firewood.”

  Amber nodded and Sadie opened the door to let the children out of the house. They ran and screamed and hooped like wild things across the back of the village. Megan joined the group and her three went haring after the rest while the adults alternately grinned and glanced nervously at the woods. Tanyth smiled at the sight of the youthful enthusiasm and even Thomas seemed amused.

  William looked around. “Is everyone accounted for? Where’s Bethany, Rebecca and Charlotte?”

  Thomas jerked his head toward Jakey’s house. “They’re holed up with Charlotte.”

  William ticked off some list silently in his head as he counted on his fingers and then nodded. “Ok, that’s all of us.” His voice sounded tired.

  Amber and Sadie took Megan into the house and they all appeared shortly with mugs of tea. The adults sipped the hot brew and thought their own thoughts while the joyful shouts and laughter of children echoed down the vale. Tanyth felt their awkwardness. The easy camaraderie the women had shared before was not gone, but had become stilted. They looked at her in quick glances and flickering looks. She wasn’t sure what it meant but it made her uneasy and she looked from one face to the next trying to get a hint.

  She was startled to see that William watched her and not the children. “What is it?” The words were out of her mouth before she’d even thought them.

  William looked to Amber who looked back at him with that look that wives give husbands when they need to stop shilly shallying and get on with it.

  “Mum? Can we ask how you knew?”

  The question caught Tanyth a bit sideways. As soon as he said it, she realized she should have expected it.

  Impatient with the way he was handling it, Amber elbowed her husband out of the way and continued. “Mum? You jumped from your bedroll yellin’ about fire and raced out into the night. You scared the stuffin’ out of me.” She smiled but there was a look of concern–even fear–in her eyes.

  Tanyth sighed and closed her eyes, uncertain as to how much to say. She opened them with a sigh and turned to them. “I had a dream.” She said it softly, but the morning breezes hadn’t yet stirred the world and her voice carried to them even over the sounds of the children.

  Sadie looked at Megan and shrugged but Amber pressed on. “A dream, mum? You dreamed that there was a fire? And you ran out into the night yellin’?” Her voice was gentle but her eyes were pleading.

  Tanyth looked at the concern in all their eyes. “Yes. Sounds odd, but it wasn’t the first time.” She paused and sipped her tea to gain time to think. “I’ve had them before. At first I didn’t believe them. Now, I do.” Her voice dropped even more and she realized that she had spoken the truth. She did believe them. The raven visions had proven too reliable, too real, to be taken as anything but visions, gifts from the All-Mother.

  A raven cawed in the forest. Tanyth’s head snapped to look in the direction but the others seemed not to have heard it.

  William followed her gaze. “What is it, mum? Another vision?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “They only seem to come when I’m sleeping.”

  “Then how do you know they’re real, mum?” Amber looked more concerned than curious.

  Tanyth felt a flash of irritation but damped it down. She sounded like a confused old woman, even to herself. She took a deep breath and let it out. She looked at them all looking back at her. They looked so concerned, so caring. She said a silent prayer to the All-Mother and felt the comforting warmth rise in her. She decided to tell them.

  “At first, I didn’t. The first vision was after the riders came and we drove them off. I went to my hut and sat down at the table.” She smiled apologetically. “I was so tired. Standing up to them took a lot out of me.”

  Thomas nodded and his eyes said he remembered very well.

  Amber’s voice was soft and low. “Go on, mum. Then what?”

  Tanyth sipped her tea and recalled the scene. “I fell asleep and had a dream. It was like I was lookin’ through the eyes of a raven flying above the road. I saw the four riders heading south. They stopped and had some kind of talk, but rode on. I woke up then and thought it was an odd dream. It was so real. I could feel the wind.” She shrugged almost apologetically. “That one was the first and I thought it was just a dream.” She looked around to gauge her audience before continuing. “The next day, I was fixing a cup of tea and laid down on my bed roll. Just to rest while the water heated. I fell asleep and had another dream, but this time I dreamed that one of the men was watching us from the woods. I was looking at him through the eyes of a raven in a tree behind him. He saw the bird and threw a twig so I–it–flew off and I woke up. I was afraid that he’d still be there so I went up to the barn and got Frank to come with me and we found the spot in the woods where the man had been.” She looked at Thomas. “You saw the place, too.”

  Thomas nodded slowly. “I wondered how you could have seen anybody in that wood, mum. Wasn’t like you’d just be able to see through the tree.”

  She nodded. “I’m sorry I didn’t say more but it sounds crazy, even to me.”

  “And then last night?” William prodded her to go on.

  “Last night, I fell asleep after the feast. I dreamed I was back in the woods, watching them where they waited. All four of them. They had bottles but I didn’t know what they were doing besides watching. When they threw the bottles up on
to the roof, they spread lamp oil around but didn’t break up there. Two men threw bottles and one threw a lighted torch. Then I woke up and just acted without thinking.” She shrugged. “The rest you know.”

  “How did you know last night’s dream was real, mum?” Amber was more curious now.

  “It was a raven vision again.” Tanyth shrugged helplessly. “The raven was sitting in a tree further in the woods and could see them outlined against the moonlight in the field.”

  The small group looked around at each other and then back at her.

  William cleared his throat. “You’ll tell us if you have another raven vision, mum?”

  She gaped at him. “You believe me?”

  They looked at each other again, looking confused this time, before William responded. “Well, of course, mum. Why wouldn’t we?”

  Tanyth found herself at a loss. “Because it’s crazy? I’m dreaming that I’m a raven and acting like it’s real? That doesn’t sound a little bit odd to you?” Her voice rose in pitch as worry and fear came bubbling out.

  Amber smiled. “Well, of course, it sounds odd, mum.” She looked around and shrugged. “But the truth is you did see the man in the woods, or at least where he’d been.” She looked at Thomas who answered with a wry smile and a nod of his head. She looked back at Tanyth. “And you certainly saved that house from the fire last night. That was certainly real and you had no other way to know it, did you?”

  Tanyth shook her head, unable to speak.

  Amber gave a little nod of her own. “So? There’s lots of stuff we don’t understand in this world, mum.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “After the blessing you gave last night at Harvest Moon, I’m thinkin’ you’re touched by the All-Mother, mum, pardon my sayin’ so.”

  Tanyth held back a snort. Those touched by the All-Mother were generally regarded as crazy, so Amber wasn’t really making her feel any better, but she found it a great relief that her story wasn’t met with scorn and derision. The relief was nearly palpable as she realized that the weight of uncertainty was greatly lessened by her sharing of the stories. She closed her eyes and bowed her head saying another silent prayer of thanks to the All-Mother. She sighed in relief and sipped her tea, which was growing cold. In the forest, a raven called hoarsely. All eyes flicked to that direction and not just Tanyth’s. When they caught themselves, everyone gave a small, uneasy laugh which broke the knot of tension and allowed the group to break up.