Leaf and Branch (New Druids Series Vol 1 & 2)
Page 73
"Can I see your medallion?" I asked. Brent nodded, pulling it over his neck to hand to me. I looked at both sides. One was the symbol of the Church of the New Order and, on the reverse, the symbol of the Tree. "Do you see this symbol?" I asked him pointing to the Tree. He nodded. "I recognise this. This is the symbol of the Tree, of the draoi."
Brent blinked at me. "You recognise this?"
"Yes, it is our symbol."
"Huh. The man in the Cathedral in Jergen told me that men of faith would recognise it. Does that mean you have faith?"
I had no answer to that. I knew nothing of faith. I knew of Gaea and said so. I tapped the symbol of the Tree. "This symbol. The triskelion. Nadine has taught me that it dates back centuries and was rooted in a religion similar to yours. The three arms represent three aspects of the faith. I believe in Gaea. She has appeared to me and spoke to me. She has guided me and led Nadine and me here to this farm. So do I have faith? I suppose I do. I have faith in Gaea."
Brent took the medallion back and pulled it over his head. He held it up and kissed the symbol of the Church. "My faith has been tested. My whole life I have hidden my belief in God from others. No more. I have seen such miracles, Will. James and Steve have too. Tonight God struck down the demon, Erebus. I was merely the vessel. His light shone through me and struck him down."
"True. I saw the medallion light up with both the Church symbol and the symbol of the draoi, together."
"Interesting," said Brent and looked doubtful.
"The man on the horse, he was the man who killed my mother. I thank you, Brent, for taking him down. He would have killed me and Nadine. He has hunted down every druid there was. He thought me the last. Now we are three. You speak to me of faith. I speak to you of loss and the power that I possess given to me by the Earth Mother. Feel this."
I reached out to Brent with the power Gaea had provided me. I found where his muscles were torn and strained and corrected the problems. I cleared away that which would make him tired and energized him. I smoothed his scars and then pulled back. He sat gasping and staring at me.
"What did you just do?"
"I cleansed your aches and pains."
"That was incredible. I feel like I could run for days."
"Your scars are gone, too."
Brent looked at the back of his hands and his forearms. "They're gone. So it's true, you are a druid with powers."
"Yes, and not a demon. We commune with nature: plants and animals. We seek harmony with all life."
"Not so terrible then."
"No. Not so terrible."
Comlin finished a sandwich and looked to Brent and I. "What will you do, Will?"
"I stay here. This will be the place where the new druids learn to use their powers."
"And you, Brent, what now?"
"I head back to Munsten."
"As a General?"
"God, no. I intend to take back the Church. That is what God wants."
"And you know this how?"
"Faith, my friend. Through my Faith."
An hour or two before sunset, we gathered in the orchard. The remaining farmhands, forty-three strong, had cleared the enemy bodies, buried them in a mass grave, and shrouded our fallen. They lay in graves in a long row in the shade of the trees. It was a beautiful but chilly evening giving evidence that Fall was perhaps coming to a quick close.
Nadine, Katherine, Dog and I stood before the open graves of Ben and Agnes. Katherine had slept the morning through and woke late in the afternoon a little more together. The first thing she had done was go to the horses and heal their hurts and calm them. We hadn't known she could heal until she had simply done the task and walked over to the orchard. Dog remained pressed up against her and had to be pried away to eat and relieve himself. Whatever was happening between her and Dog was having a healing effect on her. Nadine was hopeful that whatever was broken would be fixed. I didn't think anything but time would help her. I had lost my parents and still suffered for it. Katherine had witnessed horrors beyond imagining and I didn't know how she could recover. I watched her now as she stared, fixated on the graves of her parents, and paid no attention to those around her.
Comlin came up beside her and after a moment she turned to look at him. She looked confused for a moment and then turned to Dog. Something passed between them and she twisted back to Comlin and threw her arms around him. "Father?" she whispered. Comlin jerked a little and then wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. I saw a softening of his face and smiled to myself. Nadine took my hand and I felt her happiness at the sight of a father and daughter reunited. They had too many years between them, but I trusted that Gaea would help them. Katherine had a future with the draoi.
Brent came up to us with James and bowed his head in respect. We stood in silence. No one knew what to do next.
A light filled the air and we blinked against it. It dimmed and out from the cornfield stepped the glowing figure of Gaea. She strode up and looked down into the graves in front of us. There were so many. The farmhands were pointing at her and moving closer. Brent murmured a prayer of some kind. Dog barked once and bounded over to her and jumped up to try and lick her face. Gaea scowled.
"Dog, behave. Back to Katherine."
Dog didn't listen and kept jumping up.
"Will?" she asked.
"Dog, stop that," I ordered and he finally stopped and returned back to Katherine. Katherine reached down and touched him but her face remained shadowed in grief. She knelt down and embraced Dog and started crying.
"I cannot correct the damage," said Gaea looking at Katherine.
Brent stepped forward. "Who are you?"
"I am Gaea. The Earth Mother. Pleased to meet you."
"I don't understand," said Brent.
"You don't have to. You have a plan in your heart. A purpose. It is right for you. Follow your Faith."
Brent nodded but seemed shaken. He stepped back.
"What were they? What was Seth and what was Erebus?" I asked.
Gaea looked tired. "I don't know."
I looked at Nadine and she looked worried. "You don't know?"
"No. I knew that I would not be able to help in the end. It is why I sent Brent, Stephen and James to the farm here. They would make the difference. Allow this path to happen. Will Arbor, you have done well. I name you Freamhaigh. Find harmony in the world. I must go."
Without a sound, she disappeared and everyone started talking at once. I was shaken. Nadine and I shared a long look. Something was very wrong with Gaea. I felt a shudder through the earth and I squeezed Nadine's hand. The earth would need the druids soon. Time was running out and I was only just realising it.
In time, everyone settled down and the burials resumed. Brent said words from his religion over the graves and then Nadine, Katherine and I stepped forward and caused the earth to fill the graves. Like I had done with Daukyns we sprinkled seeds and caused flowers to spring up and everyone said their goodbyes.
It was over so quickly. A part of me wanted the grieving to go on and on. Another part of me was glad it was over. I spoke to Brent about it and he had nodded.
"It is the guilt that all survivors face. It is our burden. Never forget, we say in the Guard. That is our most noble task: to remember the fallen. Never forget."
A few days later Brent and James left on horseback for Munsten. They said farewell and promised to stay in touch. We wished them well and they departed. James said they would stop first in Jergen to reacquaint themselves with some friends and they left in good spirits. Brent had tried to speak to me about Gaea but, in the end, he had simply hugged Nadine and I and left. I was sure he needed to find his God and seek his answers. I had a sense of who his God was but said nothing. I could be wrong.
Comlin, who insisted that I now call him Steve, spoke with his daughter and then told me he was staying on the farm and running it with his crew. The men and women cheered and Franky stepped forward and embraced him. I sensed something between the two of
them and so did everyone else. Franky looked cheerful for once but scowled at me when she caught me smiling at her.
Dempster was now running the kitchen and apparently the logistics of the farm. Franky had been upset at first and then declared that she was going to be second-in-command and glared at Steve until he nodded once. She came back having changed into work clothes and started ordering the farmhands to tasks. It seemed chaotic but I sensed an order re-inserting itself. Life would go on.
Later that evening, as the sun was setting, Nadine, Katherine, Dog and I stood over her parents' graves and held hands, Dog pressed up against Katherine. Katherine had a sadness in her eyes that I feared would never depart. I wasn't ready to speak to her yet of her loss. I was being a coward, I knew. I would soon and Nadine would be there to help.
We heard a rustling noise and looked up as one. Two people emerged from the cornfield, spied us and walked cautiously towards us.
I smiled and whispered to Katherine. "They're coming now."
"Who is, Freamhaigh?"
"Our students, the new druids. Now we start our school."
Epilogue
Munsten Castle, Late Fall, 900 A.C
ARCHBISHOP GREIGSEN STAGGERED into the display armour in the receiving hall outside the council chambers and it toppled to the ground. The sound of it hitting the stone corridor was loud and abrasive and drew the eyes of everyone in the corridor. He tried to right the damage, but soon gave up and moved past it, forgetting it in mere moments. Spittle was dried at the corners of his mouth and his hair was unkempt, oily, and ragged. His beard was knotted and food stuff clung to it. He was completely naked. Dried urine clung to him and feces spread down between his legs. He smelled atrocious.
People lined the walls and stared in shock at the sight. Some were now openly laughing and pointing at him. A few ran off to tell others. The Archbishop swiped a hand through the empty air at them and continued to stagger down the hallway toward the Church. This was the first time he had left his quarters in over a week. His use of the tears had increased rapidly and today he had used the last of it.
He wandered now, looking for more. He knew there had to be some somewhere. He just needed to find a chirurgeon. Or the Lord Protector. They were somewhere around here, he thought.
He recognised the hallway that led to the Church and started down it. The world spun and he found himself with his back on the stone floor looking up bewildered. How odd, he thought. He struggled to his feet amid cries to stay down from those nearest him. Where did they come from? Perhaps the Lord Protector is nearby and can come with more of my medicine.
The Archbishop cried out in a voice cracking with lack of use. "Lord Protector! I'm coming for you! Come here!"
The people in the hallway erupted with more laughter. As word spread more people in the castle emerged to watch the display. The Archbishop reached the Church entrance and swerved away at the last moment to step into the corner to relieve himself. He hummed to himself.
Finished, he banged the doors open and staggered backwards but managed to stay upright. He pushed though the opening and slowly walked over to the altar steps, hesitating before them. This is a place of worship, he thought. I can't be seen staggering around. He was proud of himself for remembering that. He tried to lift his right foot to climb the stairs but it was too high. He sat instead, staining the wool carpet with his soiled behind.
"Lord Protector, you ass! Get over here!" he cried out weakly. "You snivelling, conniving, son-of-a-bitch!"
He stayed there for an hour crying out and getting more inventive with his words. The crowd grew until the Church was filled and he was surrounded. Many laughed but most just shook their heads in shame for the Archbishop.
"Make way! Make way!" cried out a guard. The stamping of many feet could be heard coming down the corridor and people hurriedly moved out of the way. A contingent of ten Lord Protector's guard marched into the Church with the Lord Protector himself in the middle. They stopped in front of the Archbishop and Healy stepped forward and looked down in disgust at the Archbishop.
He was fondling himself and laughing oblivious to the audience he had around him. His eyes opened and he looked right at the Lord Protector. A look of desperate need crossed his face. "More!" he cried and reached out his arms. "I need more!"
Healy backed away a step. "Guards," he said quietly.
The Archbishop rose to his feet, stretched his arms out toward the Lord Protector, and stepped forward. "More Goddammit! Give me more you bastard! Give me more or else!" The Archbishop surged forward and then stopped abruptly. He looked down at the length of steel impaled through his chest. He looked up to the guard who stood before him and opened his mouth in surprise. Blood poured out of his mouth and down his naked chest. A sound escaped him and then his eyes rolled back. Archbishop Greigsen collapsed silently to the floor of the Church, vacated his bowels, and died.
No one moved and silence fell in the Church.
Frederick Bairstow ran into the Church and pushed past the people and the guard and looked down at the corpse. "What the fuck happened?"
The Lord Protector turned smoothly to Bairstow and smiled. "Nothing of significance."
End of Volume Two
Look for the next volume in the New Druids series coming in 2017.
Stoc: A New Druids Novel (Volume Three)
By Donald D. Allan
World Details
Ranks and Hierarchies
Draoi (Druid) Ranks:
Freamhaigh (Root) – Head Druid
Cill Dara(e) – Druid Priest/Priestess (The Elevated Druid)
Stoc (Trunk) or informally just Draoi – Full Druid
Craobh (Branch) – Journeyman Druid
Duilleog (Leaf) – Apprentice Druid
The Church of the New Order Ranks:
King (in abeyance since Revolution)
Archbishop (acting head of the Church)
Bishop
Dean
Vicar
Army of the Realm Ranks:
Officers:
Knight General (this rank was Marshall before the Revolution)
General
Brigadier
Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel
Major
Captain
Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Enlisted:
Warrant Officer
Staff Sergeant
Sergeant
Corporal
Lance Corporal (appointment, not a rank)
Private
Recruit
Lord Protector's Guard Ranks:
The highest ranking officer is General. Because the Lord Protector's Guard is a specialty occupation, the members come from the Army of the Realm, and on occasion from the Navy of the Realm. For this reason they share the same rank structure except that the lowest officer rank is Captain and the lowest enlisted rank is Corporal; those being the earliest rank you can be selected or request service in the Lord Protector's Guard.
Navy of the Realm Ranks:
Officers:
Fleet Admiral
Admiral
Commodore
Captain (Navy)
Commander
Lieutenant-Commander
Lieutenant (Navy)
Ensign
Midshipman
Enlisted:
Chief Petty Officer
Petty Officer
Master Seaman
Leading Seaman
Able Seaman
Ordinary Seaman
It should be noted that the Knight General of the Realm is the head of the Army, the Navy, and the Lord Protector's Guard. The Lord Protector's Guard recruits from the Army of the Realm, and rarely, from the Navy. The Navy's top rank, the Fleet Admiral, is not quite equal to the Knight General. In this world the Navy is not the senior service.
Calendar and Seasons
The calendar is in the background of the world and not specifically referenced except where it occurs ac
cidentally. We don't dwell on the calendar and neither do the folks in Turgany. In this world the Celtic names for things have slipped and are rarely used. The common language is English.
Seasons:
Winter ("Geimhreadh") – December, January, February (Nollaig, Eanair, Feabhra)
Spring ("Earrach") – March, April, May (Marta, Aibrean, Bealtaine)
Summer ("Samhradh") – June, July, August (Meitheamh, Luil, Lunasa)
Autumn ("Fomhar") – September, October, November (Mean Fomhair, Deirreadh Fomhair, Samhain)
Time Frames:
Day – dia
Night – nocht
Week – 8 days and nights — deug
Fortnight – 15 days and nights – cola-deug
Month – mios
Days of the Week:
Sunday – Domhnaich
Monday — Luain
Tuesday — Mairt
Wednesday — Ciadain
Extra — Durdaoin
Thursday — Ardaoin
Friday — Aoine
Saturday — Sathurna
Breakdown of a Year:
365 days in a calendar year for which only 360 are provided actual dates. The extra five days per year (see Solstices/Equinoxes) are used as celebration days and are known by their title rather than as calendar date. It works like this: there is a December 24th, followed by Christmas Day, which is then followed by December 25th.
24 fortnights (24x15 days) per year
45 weeks per year