Leaf and Branch (New Druids Series Vol 1 & 2)

by Donald D. Allan

  "Will?"

  The question interrupted my thoughts and I realised it was not the first time my name had been spoken. Ben and Agnes stood hand in hand looking at me with a smile on their faces. "Sorry, yes?"

  Ben laughed. He seemed more at ease now. "Day-dreaming, Will? Sorry to interrupt. I had merely asked what you thought about all the rooms."

  "Oh, sorry. It is all a bit much for me. I grew up in the wild, you see. The largest homes were in Jaipers and until this summer I had never stepped inside one. This is massive. Huge beyond belief. I feel like a little wee mouse who steps outside into the world for the first time. So much sky and so much room."

  "I know what you mean," said Ben and looked to Agnes who smiled back at him, sharing some secret look. "It wasn't always this way. Did Stephen talk about us at all?"

  "No, not until just before I left Jaipers."

  "I see. Well, we'll fill you in over supper I suppose. We weren't always wealthy. It was earned you might say."

  "Earned?"

  "In a manner of speaking. Dinner will be getting cold. We should head to the dining table. Follow."

  Ben and Agnes led us to a dining hall with a massive, soaring, thick-beamed, ceiling. It was more of a banquet hall with a series of tables forming the shape of a pitchfork. Three rows of tables with one across the top. Torches and serving tables lined the walls. Tapestries covered the walls and seemed to tell a tale of some kind. It looked like armies fighting on horseback. Swords were raised and carts were overturned. It was beautiful and oddly out of place with the peace of the farm.

  It's more than a farm, isn't it? I questioned myself. This is so much more. Who builds something this epic?

  We moved through the dining hall into a smaller room. Here was a more familiar setting for eating. A table for ten people. Enclosed and more intimate. A fireplace centred the far wall and I could smell through the adjoining door the kitchen lay not far beyond it. The table was set for five with two place settings at one end. Agnes and Ben moved to those places and gestured for Katherine, Nadine and me to sit at the other set places. We all sat at once and as soon as we settled the door swung open and Anne came through with a large earthen crock and plunked it down in the middle of the table. The door swung back out the other way and when it swung back to our side another woman came pushing through, smiling, with hot, steaming bread and a small crock full of fresh butter. She placed those beside the large crock and rushed back out the door.

  "Hey folks," chirped Anne. "Enjoy! The chef says you better like it or else." She disappeared through the door and was gone. I watched the door swing back and forth a couple of times before it stilled.

  Ben stood up and lifted the lid to the large pot. Steam billowed out and with it the scent of meat stew. I smelled rabbit and game bird and my mouth watered.

  "So, we found all the game in your cart. The chef claimed it all, I'm afraid, and divided it amongst everyone. This is our share. Katherine said your dog said it was okay. Does that make sense to you?" Ben hesitated with a ladle in his hand over the stew.

  I laughed. "Yes, that sounds perfectly reasonable. Dog hunted them. They were his kills and if he wants to share them then he wants to share."

  Ben stared at me for a moment.

  "And you know this how?"

  I leant back in my seat. There was a lot to be explained and I figure I may as well start coming clean now. I had Reeve Comlin's word about these people, Gaea told me to come here, and I felt nothing but amusement through my bond with Katherine. Nadine was thinking only about food at the moment. I looked at the bonds between us and saw the draoi bond between Katherine and Dog. It was also there between Nadine and Dog. That was interesting but not unexpected.

  "Well, Dog and I communicate. It is part of my powers from Gaea. The same powers your daughter has. We all have bonds to each other and to Dog. Dog is one of us — somehow. It's why we are here, sir. Gaea sent us here. Nadine and I are druids. The first in a very long time. And so is your daughter, Katherine. We are druids. Or draoi as they used to be called."

  Ben sat and put down the ladle. The food was forgotten, for now.

  "You should have waited until after he served the stew," muttered Nadine under her breath. Dog whined under the table and I glanced under to see him staring up at Katherine, tracking her every move.

  "Oh. Well," breathed Ben. "So. What does that mean?"

  "I'm not sure, sir. We've only just arrived. It's not what we expected, to be honest with you. I thought this would be a small farm. Just you and your wife and Katherine. This,..." I waved my arms about. "This is much more than just a farm."

  Ben smiled weakly and his wife laid a hand over his. "Yes. It is. This is a transformation. This is what people can do when they find the right motivation. Tell me, do you plan on stealing our daughter?"

  I blinked in surprise. "What? No, Word forbid! Why would you think that?"

  Agnes responded and her eyes flashed with a flint that matched her steel. "Katherine did. She said, 'Mum, people are coming. Really good people. I need to be with them. Gaea told me.' Then she skipped off to tend the horses."

  "Ah," I said. "Well, true I suppose in a way. Except we aren't taking her anywhere. It's here we are meant to be."

  "On our farm?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "Stop calling me ma'am. You make me feel old."

  Nadine nodded and I scowled at her. She stuck her tongue out at me. "You aren't old, Agnes," said Nadine. "Try being sixty-five. You're only, what? Forty?"

  Agnes pursed her lips at Nadine. "You keep talking like an old woman and yet you are only eighteen. It's not right that a young woman should talk like that."

  "That's only because I actually am sixty-five."

  I smirked at her and pointed a finger up in the air.

  "Okay, sixty-seven. But only just. My birthday was only about two months ago."

  "You're sixty-seven?" sputtered Agnes.

  "Yes."

  "And we're supposed to believe that?"

  "Yes."

  "I don't see how, mum," added Katherine.

  Agnes held a hand up to quiet her daughter. She looked at Ben who looked liked he was about to get very angry. This could be going better, I thought. So much for honesty.

  "Not now. We entertained your notion of some mysterious woman telling you about druids and powers and other such nonsense but not now."

  "Agnes," I said quietly. "It's all true. You felt me heal you, didn't you? Do you not believe that?"

  "I don't know what to believe, to be truthful. I feel so much better, that's true. You came into my room, stood before me, closed your eyes and I felt better. You never touched me. You hadn't done anything that I can see."

  "And seeing is believing?" I asked quietly.

  "I haven't lived this long without demanding proof. My husband and I built this society you see here. We are surrounded by the people we swore to protect. Our brave men and women. I won't have just anyone come riding in and change all that. The only reason you are being treated the way you are is that one, Stephen Comlin vouched for you — and for that man my husband and I would lay down our lives — and two, our daughter vouched for you, but that was before she had even met you. All this mumbo-jumbo, it's unbelievable. I feel like we are being conned. And we know cons, believe me. So. Prove it. Prove you are what you say you are. Prove it or you will be leaving our commune sooner than you think."

  I sighed. Their tone was civil at least. Nadine and I had discussed this. Nadine had hoped up until now we wouldn't have to use our powers to prove who we were. It went back to the days when draoi powers were kept strictly secret. I didn't see the need for keeping secrets. Either the powers existed or did not. Hiding them changed nothing. Showing people what they could do would only benefit Gaea and the Earth. Gaea trusted me in this and my instinct was telling me to show them what we could do.

  "Hasn't Katherine showed you anything?"

  Agnes and Ben looked at one another and then to Katherine. "Yes,
she showed us how she could get the horses to do what she wanted. She tells us our crops, trees, bees and animals all do better because of her. We see that they do, but nothing proves it was her. We try to believe her but without seeing it with our eyes it is hard to really believe."

  Nadine answered. "I understand. A lot of what the draoi do is not visible. We effect the growth of plants. We encourage animals to consider doing certain things. We can see into the life of others and see things other cannot."

  "Okay. Prove it."

  I closed my eyes and sensed Ben. His aura was brown, earthy, but shot with orange. He was a good man, loved the farm, but under a great deal of stress. I examined his body and tried to find anything unique about it to prove what I was saying. What I found startled me. I looked him over and then opened my eyes and stared at him.

  "Does Katherine know?"

  Ben jerked in his seat, gasped, and looked to Agnes. Her eyes grew wide and she shook her head quickly. She moved to open her mouth and I felt a flash of irritation from her. They were in denial or something. They knew their daughter had magyc and yet they refused to believe it when I took the pain from Agnes. They were demanding proof and now I would give it to them. I felt Nadine's concern but felt my instincts urging me on.

  "Do I know, what, mum?" asked Katherine. She looked to her father. "Da?"

  Ben shook his head at her and silenced her with a look. Ben turned back to me and I couldn't fathom his expression. I sensed disquiet but pushed on, determined to prove we were draoi.

  "I can sense from your body, Ben, that you have been injured at least a dozen times over the years. Almost all from sword and arrows. You have a piercing wound in your upper left shoulder from an arrow strike twenty years ago. It was the last of those kind of injuries, so I would imagine that whatever life you led back then stopped. It severed an artery and someone with great skill patched you up before you bled to death. Before that, you had four other arrow strikes, two in the upper left leg, one in the lower back that just missed your kidney and one in the upper right bicep. One leg, the back and bicep all occurred at the same time. The other leg the year before that.

  Your sword injuries are too numerous to recount. You were impaled through the stomach twenty-two years ago and it very nearly killed you. I think the same person healed you as before. Someone with power and I would guess another draoi. His powers or knowledge were not completely up to the task, but he saved you. You probably didn't know he was draoi. We hid our powers back then, according to Nadine at least.

  Before that, you took a strike to the left lower arm that shattered the bone. It was set professionally. You took a strike to the head that caused a massive concussion. That should have killed you but didn't. More importantly, twenty years ago you took a sword strike to the groyne. One testicle was completely severed and removed. The other damaged so badly that your sperm production was stopped. A draoi, probably the same one as before, healed you, made sure that you would continue to be a man with desires and strength. But you could not have children. Your daughter Katherine cannot be yours. She's too young. Is that proof enough for you?"

  Ben stared at me in fury. Agnes had her head lowered and wept. A part of me was shamed by what I had just done. Another part of me knew it was exactly what had to be said. I looked over to Katherine and saw her sitting calmly at the table. She knew already.

  Agnes looked to Ben and took his hand and pulled it toward her. "Look at me, Ben."

  When he refused, she shook his hand and spoke a little louder. "Ben. Look at me!" Slowly he turned his eyes from me and looked to his wife. "It's okay. Think for a second. Look to your daughter. Your daughter. The one you raised with me from birth through all these years. You knew one day we had to tell her. But look at her, Ben. She already knows. She has for a few years now. She came to me one day and said she knew about your injury. She had sensed it and explained it to me. By the Word, I refused to believe. I'm daft. But there you have it! It's all right. She never stopped thinking of you as her da. Look at her! You're her da, not Steve."

  My heart missed a beat for a moment. Did she just say Steve? Reeve Stephen Comlin was the father?

  Ben looked to his daughter then and found her grinning at him. "Da, it's no bother to me, you're my da, right? Always have been. Been the one to teach me to ride and build fences and plant the seed and how to harvest. You picked me up when I fell. You're my da. I've known for years. No man can jump on a horse like you do without wincing. Thought you were tough but not that tough!"

  Ben stared at his daughter in surprise and then his face softened. Then he cracked a smile and then, finally, he laughed and we all joined in. Tension fled the room and Ben's aura lost a little of the orange.

  When things quieted, he picked up the ladle and started to serve the stew, starting with Agnes. We passed our bowls down to him. "Okay," he said, filling the first bowl. "So explain all this druid stuff. What do you need my farm for?"

  Nadine and I told our tales during our meal and well into the early evening. I would have thought so much history would take considerable time to tell. It turned out it only took a couple of hours. To be fair, the Rigby's didn't ask many questions. They listened like they were used to briefings and, I suspected, based on the injuries Ben had, his life had been one involving the military and listening to people.

  Nadine started the tale and explained the history of the draoi and what they did. It took a lot of prodding. She didn't want to speak of the draoi to non-draoi. It went against everything she had ever been taught. I held her hand and helped her start and then it came out in a flood. She explained the Purge and how she had remained hidden for all those years. She cried a little and I held her until she calmed, the others looking away in respect. When she finished, she sat back with her cup of wine and pulled her knees up against her chest and lost herself in thought. She looked so young and fragile at that moment.

  I told my story. I kept it simple. I condensed all those years alone in the wild to a few sentences and jumped right to the attack outside Jaipers, my capture on the road to Jergen, and finding Nadine and our journey here. We ended up holding hands and looking into each other's eyes, our joining in love still fresh and vibrant.

  Agnes reached across the table and took Nadine's free hand in hers to examine it. "You really were an old woman?"

  "Yes, until a month ago."

  "And the first thing you do is fall in bed with a young man?"

  Nadine laughed. "Yes, apparently, that's exactly what I did. If it helps, Gaea herself blessed us. Said it was unexpected but she was in favour. Believe me, it was hard for me to accept."

  "Uh-huh," replied Agnes sounding unconvinced.

  "Seriously," laughed Nadine and pulled her hand free from Agnes to place it over her heart. "You have to understand: draoi can see our bonds with one another. Before I had my powers, Will would tell me of the white band between us. I am a draoi lore master. A white band can only be love. A love of the strongest kind. When I first laid eyes on Will I felt it but dismissed it. He was eighteen and I was an old woman. I fought it. I truly did."

  "You still are an old woman," I muttered trying to be helpful. Nadine let go my hand only to smack me with it.

  "Hush, your elders are speaking."

  Agnes smiled but still looked troubled.

  "But you understand love, Agnes. I see it between you and Ben. Not the bond. But I see it in your eyes. How'd you meet? How did you find each other?"

  Ben looked at Agnes for a moment and nodded. Agnes sighed once. "Okay. Ours is not a story of peace and nurturing. A little like your Purge. Violent. Full of death. But love is at the end of it and so is this farm." Agnes looked to me. "Your Reeve Comlin was not always on the right side of the law. This tale may change your opinion of him. Are you sure you want to hear this?"

  I nodded. Regardless of his past, I knew the Reeve's aura shined the brightest blue. "Yes, I'm sure. He's a very good man. Trust me in that. He was like a father to me growing up. I need to hear it. Ple
ase."

  Agnes nodded and rang the little bell sitting on the small table next to ours. A woman we hadn't met stuck her head in the door. "What?" she snarled. She wore a black leather eye patch over her right eye. She was beautiful despite the disfigurement. I fought an urge to examine it with my senses.

  "Be a dear and bring us more wine, lots."

  "I'm busy. I'm making bread for tomorrow."

  "You can spare two minutes, Franky."

  Franky glared at us with her one eye for a couple of heartbeats before disappearing back through the door.

  "Franky has been with us since the start. She was one of our captains. Now she's a cook in the kitchen. Says she loves it. Hard to argue with a woman who can skewer you with surprising ease with a simple kitchen knife."

  I thought back to Dempster and wondered how he was doing. Nadine let go of my hand under the table and then shook it to air it out. We were both sweaty and nobody likes a sweaty grip no matter how much you loved the person. Dog was snoring under the table and seemed at peace with the world. Ben and Agnes were admiring her new mobility and she was shrugging her shoulders and twisting her arm around.

  "I could probably draw a bow again, dear," she said and smiled.

  "Wouldn't that be a treat to see? Maybe tomorrow?"

  Agnes nodded. Just then the door banged open startling Dog awake with a growl. Franky burst into the room and dropped a tray loaded with wine and large goblets. She stormed out of the room just as quickly as she had appeared and we all just smiled at one another. I was about to speak when Franky returned and dropped a tray of cheeses and sliced apples beside the wine.

  "Enjoy. No more damn interruptions."

  Ben grabbed one of the wine bottles and started to fill the goblets. The door banged open and Dog gave a confused bark, then a whine and combined growl, and looked around. Franky stomped back in and slammed a thick, lit candle on the table. "Light." Franky disappeared once more and we watched the door swing to a stop.