Mother, Maiden, Crone

by Gwen Benaway

  It was two thirds into the passing of the third moon. Violet fell upon the spot, her breath ragged. She happened upon a clearing of grass. There were flowers a vibrant shade of star shower. At first Violet didn’t notice the maidenhair, though she sensed something.

  A voice spoke what felt like a greeting, warm and welcoming, comforting and calming. Violet knew it was what she was seeking, what drove her here. The voice then came across in a strange grammatical structure, it seemed to be a question, asking Violet who she was, but it drove deeper than that.

  “I am Violet.” She spoke unsure. “An outlier.”

  A silent moment of thought passed.

  “I suspect we are similar, you and I, and I’ve been told many a time I am an outlier.”

  Violet was unsure, this was all very strange. She didn’t know who she was talking to. They didn’t speak in vibrations in the air. They spoke in her heart. This couldn’t be the high priestess’s other.

  “Would you like to—just sit for a while?”

  Violet took in her breath then exhaled as she lowered herself to the ground and sat. She took in the presence of the entire place but focused on the fern. She felt the fern approach her consciousness—she nodded her head—she then felt the fern passing through the different parts of her brain and pressing deep into her mind and soul. She centred herself and held back from reacting in what she knew would be tears she hadn’t poured in many years. The fern then exited her mind and Violet exhaled and spoke.

  “You know the feeling in the air?” Violet asked. “Somewhere where there’s a vortex of magic—places of gathering?”

  “You seem to have run from those places.” The fern replied.

  “The scents of communal campfires haunt me some nights. Thinking of people I’ll never see again. I have to hide though—I don’t even exist in some people’s eyes.”

  There was a moment of pondering from the fern until it then spoke.

  “And yet you do. Your experience is unique unto yourself, but you are not alone.”

  “You have an infinite fractaling of selves and others out there.”

  “You are spirit, you are strength, you are resilience, you are resistence.”

  “You must continue your story,” the voice spoke. “If we meet again you shall know me as the passerbyer.”

  Violet then found herself in the dank and the stench of the tavern where she was first summoned.

  A flood of conversation came upon her.

  “For one thing outlier, you have only me to rely upon to pass in this world as anything acceptable, proper or existent.”

  Violet had her hands on her temples staring down at the dank of the table. So many empty glasses as empty words were being continuously poured into her mind.

  “I will gift you the elixirs and your existence, but you must deal with my two others. I have unravelled the location of my other in the forsaken lands, I’ll spare the details of their involvement with—Are you listening?”

  Violet sensed gruff voices coming from the opposite corner near the kitchens. They couldn’t see her through the crowd—she focused her mind there and knew them to be three Brimstones sharing drink and conversation.

  She tuned into the conversation until it was as if she were sitting at the table.

  “He isn’t right—He—” An aggravated voice.

  “We’ll get to—!”

  “No but he—!”

  “I know. Killed Stoke.”

  “Just listen to Beam!” The third man pounded his fist on the table.

  A quiet among the three men made the noise of the crowd more pronounced. They each sipped their drink. The third man then inhaled from a gnarled cigarette.

  “We finally heard from the Glance.” Beam spoke. “We have a mutual enemy it seems and can get sway on the deal we were working.”

  “What’s this fop—what’s his name?”

  “He’s called Violet Rage.”

  There was flash as if a storm came in from the steps leading outside of the tavern.

  Violet then found herself in a forested area with the matriarch.

  “No dear there, you must see the worlds known as the three are simply the starting point for certain groups and certain realms existing in the Ocean.” The matriarch spoke as she knit, sitting on a low rock.

  “This has what to do with my nature?”

  Violet had memory of hours of conversation.

  “Our relation to our reflections rests in our vantage point and not all share the same view of the three worlds. Some reflections shoot out like a spiral into infinity, like a force driving toward life beyond the shambolic waves and crashes that are life. You must see yourself outside the view of the three worlds to find yourself in the place you want to be.”

  Violet was suddenly alone near a river, she could hear its sound, she could sense its presence.

  Lightning cracked, a force surged forward filled with passion and energy and decision.

  Violet was back in the overpowering stench of the tavern, hearing the dysphoric croaks of the high priestess. She was disoriented and not sure in which realm she was floating and which other of the high priestess, the matriarch, the Gatekeeper of the Realms was speaking. Violet broke the silence.

  “I cannot do this, I cannot go forward with the plan, whatever it is that you’ve concocted, I’m moving on. You’ve drawn blood from me, putting me through tests, your scolding growing ever more present in my mind.”

  Silence.

  “You know too much to quit now,” the matriarch spoke. “What about the elixirs?”

  “I know enough for what I need.”

  Violet got up from the table at the back corner of the emptied tavern. The bar patron sitting on a stool glanced her way. She ascended the steps out of the establishment. The coals of the fire were dying. A shadow followed her.

  Freeing the Bitch

  Ellen Mellor

  “And you’re certain that this person is going to be willing to help us?”

  Sindy looked down at the dwarf standing in front of her and sighed inwardly.

  “Put it this way, Kai,” she said. “If this woman isn’t happy with the four of us breaking her out, she can just stay where she is.”

  Harrumphing and tugging at her beard, Kai turned away from Sindy and stomped out of the clearing into the darkness of the forest beyond.

  “Why we need another human with us, I don’t know … One’s enough …” she muttered as she departed, ensuring that what she said was just loud enough for Sindy to hear.

  The other two, who were sitting on the other side of the fire watching the roasting venison to make sure it didn’t burn, giggled and nudged each other.

  “Having fun?” Sindy asked, letting flames play between her fingers as she looked at them, half-smirking herself.

  “Loads,” said Mirabella as she settled herself against Farielle.

  It was then Sindy’s turn to harrumph and excuse herself. She knew better than to get in the way of the halfling and her elvish girlfriend having some alone time.

  It was dark in the forest, which was hardly surprising considering it was the middle of the night, but it surprised Sindy how very dark it was. She really wasn’t used to it. In Merivale light had always shone—the town mages saw to that. So leaving there and striking out on her own had been quite a shock. But, her mistress had insisted. “It’s the only way,” she had said. “It will toughen you up—I’ve gone far too easy on you,” she had often added—usually after clipping her around the head for some mistake that Sindy had made,which may or may not have been real. Sindy wasn’t exactly certain how coming out into the wilderness where nobody knew her when she had been growing up, nobody judged her for her choices, and nobody ever referred to her as a boy was meant to be in anyway tougher than staying in Merivale, but her mistress had decreed it as the final par
t of her training, and so she had to do it.

  To be fair, if she hadn’t met up with Farielle, Kai, and Mirabella, she might have found things a little harder, but her mistress never said that she couldn’t travel with others. Farielle made hunting and foraging look ridiculously easy. Kai could pretty much hold her own against anything or anyone that decided that a group of young women (although Kai’s age was really hard to judge—Sindy thought that all dwarfs looked as if they had been born middle-aged and just got older from there) was an easy target. And Mirabella was literally able to charm anyone who could hear her play her lute. And if all that failed, then Sindy was capable of launching a fireball that would, at the very least, knock any prospective attackers out of their boots. She may still have a few things to learn, but her inner fire and determination had meant that she had been able to do stuff with flames from very early in her training.

  Whispering a word, a flame burst into life in the palm of her hand as she wandered forward, vaguely in the direction that Kai had taken. Sindy was not entirely sure if conjuring the fire was a good idea, not for any practical reason but more because the flickering light made the shadows move in a way that unnerved her. She was just debating whether or not to extinguish the flame and if that would mean returning to the camp and interrupting her friends when she discovered that the fire was also not really very good for actually seeing her way either.

  Stepping on something she thought was a root, she was shocked when it twisted and jerked away, sending her crashing heavily to the ground, breath knocked from her body. Her burning hand slammed flat on the ground into a pile of tinder-dry leaves. She stared at them for a few moments, trying to catch her breath, fascinated by the way they twisted and flared in the fire.

  Her brain had just kicked into gear and she was scrambling to her feet, looking around for something to put the flames out, when Kai jumped into the flames and started to stamp them out.

  “Come on!” the dwarf shouted. “Help me.”

  For the next couple of minutes, the two of them jumped around, as if taking part in an elaborate dance as they stepped on and scrubbed their feet over every single spark that settled on the ground.

  At last, appearing successful in their attempt to avoid setting the forest alight, they collapsed against a tree, Kai rubbing her leg where her friend had stepped on it.

  “What in Her name were you doing?” Kai asked.

  “Same as you,” Sindy replied. “Going for a walk.”

  “Using a fire in a forest that hasn’t had any rain for weeks?”

  “Not all of us are able to see in the dark!” Sindy heard her voice getting louder and hoarser as she grew annoyed with her friend. It was an anger that was fuelled at least in part by the certain knowledge that Kai was right.

  “Then stay where you can see then!” Kai half-shouted back, her own annoyance rising in response to her friend’s.

  Sindy pushed herself to her feet and started to set off into the forest once again. She didn’t get far though before she tripped over an actual root and ended up sprawled on the ground once again. When she didn’t immediately get up or even say anything, Kai hurried over to her, anger forgotten as concern for her human friend overtook her.

  In the few seconds it took Kai to reach her friend, Sindy had managed to turn over and curl up into a ball.

  “Sindy?” Kai said gently. “Are you okay?”

  “It’s not fair,” Sindy said, her voice muffled by her arms folded in front of her face.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m useless,” she said. “I don’t have your abilities, I can’t see in the dark and … and …”

  Although Sindy couldn’t say it, Kai knew what she was saying. It was a feeling that she often had herself and she knew that Farielle often felt the same—not that Kai would ever get the elf to admit it. She always had to be so bloody perfect. Mirabella was lucky. She only had to worry what people would say about a halfling girl chasing other girls, not whether they would or not they would think she was male.

  Putting her arms around Sindy, Kai drew her into an embrace, saying nothing, just letting her friend feel her presence.

  After a few minutes, Sindy pulled away from her a little, rubbing her nose.

  “Your beard is ticklish,” she said.

  “I’m so sorry,” Kai replied with heavy sarcasm.

  The two girls looked at each other, warmth and understanding flowing between them.

  “I guess those two are kissing and cuddling again?” Kai said.

  “Probably,” Sindy replied. “You know what they’re like.”

  “I just don’t get it. Why do they want to do it?”

  “I guess … because it’s nice? Because they like each other? Don’t you want to find someone to kiss and cuddle and … you know …”

  “Not really. I mean, I guess that finding somebody to be with would be nice but … other than that? No … Why would I? It’s not as if I could ever have a baby. So why would a gkran be interested?”

  “Gkran?” Sindy asked.

  “A dwarf … a dwarf ‘man.’”

  “You know, for love and companionship and support.”

  “I’ve got that with you and Mirabella and Farielle. When they stop kissing and cuddling. And that’s more than enough for me,” Kai explained. “I really don’t want to be with a gkran if it means I have to stop being with you three.”

  Sindy pulled Kai close to her and kissed her on the cheek.

  “You’re so sweet,” she said.

  Kai shrugged but couldn’t stop a smile from showing.

  “Come on,” she said, letting Sindy go and climbing to her feet. “Let’s get back. Those two will have probably let the venison burn again.”

  As Kai pulled her friend to her feet, Sindy asked “If a dwarf ‘man’ is a gkran what do I call you?”

  Still holding Sindy’s hand, Kai paused for a moment and then shrugged again. “Kai,” she said.

  Suddenly, the silence of the dark forest was shattered by a screeching roar. Spinning around, they saw a huge shadow pad forward into the clearing, its eyes a-glitter. Stubby wings fluttered on its back as if in anticipation of dinner. Opening its beaked muzzle once again, it gave out a second scream that was half bird-cry and half beast-like growl.

  “What in all the hells is a bloody chamrosh doing out here?” Kai said. “Run!”

  Running through a forest was difficult even in the middle of the day. Sindy had already proven quite comprehensively that she had problems walking through a forest during the night. So, running through a forest during the night? That was never going to happen. Sure enough, she had barely moved twenty steps when her foot found something, she didn’t know what it was—an uprooted root or a sticking up stone or a rabbit out for a late evening stroll—and frankly, at that moment, she didn’t care. But for the third time in quick succession, she found herself measuring her length on the leaf-litter.

  The chamrosh leapt forward as Sindy rolled over onto her back and raised her hand. A gout of flame burst from her hand and enveloped the beast’s head and back, the feathers on its wingtips lighting up like candles.

  Crashing to the ground just in front of where Sindy lay, the chamrosh screamed in agony, flailing around. Finally, it staggered to its feet and stumbled blindly back into the forest, setting light to everything around it as it knocked into trees and bushes.

  Sindy stared at the path of destruction it was setting, shock rendering her incapable of thought. Kai, who had finally realized that she had lost her friend and turned back to help her, found herself equally lost for words. Instead, she just held her hand out and pulled the human girl to her feet.

  “I think it could be time to leave,” Kai said.

  Afterwards, when they had time to stop and get their breath back and work out what they had done, none of them could agree on the details about w
hat had happened next. Even with a human and a dwarf careening into the middle of the campsite screaming at the top of their lungs, it took a few moments for Farielle and Mirabella to react to their presence. They were very involved with each other. But, once they realized what was happening, they were all on their feet and away, sprinting through the forest, aware of the roar of the flames growing louder behind them. Occasionally they had to dodge this way or that as the fire suddenly seemed to roar up to them on one side. On a few occasions they almost looked as if they were going to be surrounded, but one of them would spot a rapidly narrowing path or—once—they even leapt through the flames as they grew in intensity.

  Eventually they reached the edge of the forest and came to open plains. Pausing, they turned and looked at the growing conflagration from which they had so narrowly escaped. It was impressive.

  “What in all the hells happened?” Farielle asked.

  The dwarf girl and the human looked at each other and then back to their companions.

  “Well … you see …,” Kai started and then stopped, unsure of what to tell them. She was pretty much incapable of telling a lie, but at the same time, telling the whole truth just seemed to be impossible without essentially blaming Sindy for the whole thing.

  “There was a chamrosh,” Sindy said quickly. “It was terrifying. We only just got away.”

  She paused and looked back at the forest which was now burning fiercely. They were just far enough away that they were able to avoid the sparks being thrown off by the flaming trees, but even so, the grass was starting to smoulder.

  “Where are we?” Sindy asked. “Farielle? Can you work it out?”

  Farielle looked around and then looked up at the sky. Stars twinkled through the smoke.

  “We’re actually quite lucky. We didn’t completely double back on ourselves. We’re probably about ten leagues further south than we should be, but we should be okay, I think.”

  Picking up her bow, Farielle pointed in a direction that led away from the trees.

  “That way,” she said.

  As they walked off feeling the heat from the fire fade away and the chill of the night increase, Farielle paused.