Ravenwood (41 page)

He loomed over her, moving quickly to reach for her even as she
floundered in the snow to get her feet under her. If his hands found
her, she’d die. Her wings flapped snow into his face as she tried to
escape. She banged against the tree as he reached again and she
cawed her defiance into his stinking face even as bent to grab
her.

He screamed back at her and fell heavily to his side, clutching at
his leg even as a strong arm grabbed his shoulder and dragged him
onto his back in the snow. The woman who fed her was there in the
snow, her face a snarl. She heaved herself up from the ground with
the arm that held him pinned even as she raised her knife
high in the air and plunged it down into his shock filled eye,
staking his head to the frozen ground with a peg of sharpened
steel.

Tanyth’s vision was oddly split, seeing half with her eyes and half with the eyes of the raven across from her. She panted and fell heavily across the stinking body but watched as the raven found her feet and launched herself up, over the fallen tree and flared her wings to take refuge in a small spruce. Their hearts pounded in their chests. Their bodies still rang from the blows.

She had some feathers that were damaged and she did what she
could to preen them into shape. The meat-man’s blood was in
her talons and a strip of his flesh. She ate it, cleaning her
talons of the gore, but wondered if there would be a rabbit
later.

They watched Frank come thrashing through the trees and take in the scene with wild eyes and a shocked expression.

Tanyth looked up at him with her one good eye, her head turned at an awkward angle. “In the name of the All-Mother and the All-Father, would you please get me off this stinking corpse?” Her strength failed her one last time. She never felt the ground slap her in the face.

Chapter 39
Raven Dreams

In her dream she woke. She knew it was a dream this time. Her fingers were feathers and her arms were wings. Her nose was long and she had to turn her head from left to right to see with one eye and then the other. It was an odd feeling but she laughed and it bubbled up out of her like a raven’s croon. In her dream she sailed the blue, blue sky and saw the earth below, spooling out like a river flowing beneath her strong black wings. She called but her voice was silent. It didn’t ring in the morning air. Just a dream, she knew, but still it was her dream and her voice should sound. She opened her mouth to call again –

“Hey!” Her voice woke her. It didn’t ring out, but it was her voice. Faint and breathy, but her own and she opened her eyes and looked up at the rafters. “The house with rabbits.”

Amber’s face moved into her line of sight. “There, mum. You’re safe now.” The words echoed oddly but she was able to understand. She didn’t feel safe.

“The house with rabbits.” She looked at Amber’s face. She looked terrible. Her eyes were puffy and her nose was red.

“Rabbits, mum?” Amber frowned curiously.

The darkness called Tanyth back and pain pulled her but she smiled and tried to speak clearly through the swollen lips. “The house with rabbits. Rabbits.”

She saw Amber’s expression change from curiosity to alarm. “The house with rabbits?” She bit her lower lip. “There are no rabbits here, mum.”

Tanyth sighed and fought the darkness once more. “Get some. Tell Thomas.” She couldn’t fight it any more and let the darkness call her back.

In her dream she stood in the bow of a ship and it was like flying. The wind blew through her hair and she had to leave her hat and staff below. The morning sun warmed the right side of her body even as the icy wind stuck daggers of cold through her clothing but she threw back her head and laughed. Above her the taut triangles of sail gleamed whitely against the deep azure sky of spring. She looked ahead once more–north–and saw the smudge of land on the horizon.

A voice behind her said, “Mum? You shouldn’t be on deck in this cold, mum. Mum?”

She turned to face the sailor but opened her eyes to Sadie’s concerned gaze. “Mum? You need some willow bark tea, mum.” She held a mug up into view. “Do you think you can drink?”

Tanyth felt the knives of fever and rejoiced. “Yes.”

With the help of Sadie’s strong arms, she lifted enough to sip at the cup that Sadie held to her lips. It tasted awful. The bitterness puckered her tongue but it felt like the swelling in her mouth was going down. She drank as much as she could and then pulled her head back to breathe. “Tell Thomas. The house with rabbits.” She leaned back into the mug and finished the bitter draught before Sadie laid her back down, pulling the warm covers up to her chin even as the fever’s trembling started pulling her strength. She closed her eyes, and started the slow slide down.

Amber’s voice came from the hearth. “Is she still talking about rabbits?”

Sadie’s voice answered with a sigh. “Yes. Something about the house with rabbits and tell Thomas.”

Tanyth heard Amber sigh before the darkness pulled her down once more and for once, her sleep was dreamless.

The smell of rabbit stew woke her. She blinked her eyes open to see late afternoon light. “Thank you, Mother.” It was less prayer than a whisper but it got an instant response.

“She’s awake again.” It was Sadie’s voice.

Tanyth turned to see Sadie rising from the table even as Megan poured hot water into the teapot.

“How are you doing, mum?” Sadie frowned in concern.

Tanyth smiled tentatively. “I seem to be alive. I’m counting that on the plus side.”

She saw Sadie’s face relax. “Oh, mum. Welcome back.” Her voice was filled with relief and she beamed a smile at Megan. She picked up a mug and crossed to the cot. “Here’s some water, mum. You must be thirsty.”

She nodded gratefully and was even well enough to sit up mostly on her own. Sadie held the mug for her and she sipped at it, moistening lips and tongue, resting, then doing it again. At the touch of water her body almost betrayed her and tried to gulp it down, but she resisted and sipped. There’d be more.

“Thank you, Sadie.” She smiled up at her. “Is that rabbit stew I smell?”

A worried frown creased Sadie’s face. “Yes, mum. Rabbit.”

“Good. Did you feed some to the raven?”

“The raven, mum?”

“The raven. She likes rabbits to eat. Dead ones, of course.”

Sadie’s face turned from concern to alarm and she looked to Megan who rushed over to the cot.

“You mustn’t concern yourself with that, mum.” Megan’s voice was soft and soothing and her hands fluttered helplessly at the top of the blankets, pulling them up, tucking them in, patting them down. “You need to get well.”

Tanyth looked from one concerned face to the other and frowned in concentration. “Listen to me, ladies. This is important. I am not mad–at least, I don’t think so–and I am not ravin’.” She took a breath to see them look at her with matching startled impressions. “Well, perhaps a bit.” She paused to smile at them. “There is a raven that lives in the big spruce tree west of the village. That raven saved my life. She likes to eat rabbits. I owe her a few. If you would ask Thomas to take a winter hare and leave the carcass in the grass behind my house? Don’t dress it. Just the dead rabbit?” She looked from one face to another. “Think of it as an offering to the All-Mother if that helps.”

They shared a quick glance before Sadie turned back to her. “In the snow, mum?”

“Snow?”

“Leave it in the snow?”

“Is there snow? When did it snow?” Tanyth asked.

“Two days ago, mum. The day after the Solstice, the afternoon of the day we found you.”

Tanyth grunted in surprise. “I thought you just found me this morning!”

The two younger women shook their heads. “No, mum, you’ve been layin’ there sleepin’ off and on for a couple days now.” She paused uncertainly. “Every once in a while you’d wake up, tell us about rabbits, and then go back to sleep.”

Tanyth barked a laugh but pain chopped it off. There was still too much left to heal to be laughing loudly. “And you thought I’d gone mad?”

The look they shared was painted with guilt and she laughed again, if more gently.

“I’m fine, my dears.” She paused. “At least I think so.” She looked back and forth between them. “Yes, on the snow is fine and only one rabbit for now. Think of it as an offering to the All-Mother. Just tell Thomas.”

They shared a dubious glance but nodded to her.

“Where’s Frank?”

Sadie cocked her head at Tanyth. “Frank’s probably working on the Inn. He’s stopped by every day to find out how you’re doing but we don’t let him in.”

She frowned. “Why not?”

Sadie covered her mouth with both hands to stifle a laugh and Megan looked horrified. “Oh, gods, mum! That wouldn’t be quite proper now would it? Man like that visiting a woman while she’s bed-ridden?”

Sadie was shaking with suppressed laughter. She got it under control at Megan’s sharp look. “Besides, mum. You’ll wanna get cleaned up a bit before he comes to call. Brush your hair, wash your face.” She grinned slyly. “You’ll not want him to see you like that.”

Tanyth snickered. “I don’t think the condition of my hair will be anywhere near as shockin’ as the bruises on my face, do you?”

Sadie gave a little shrug but nodded in acknowledgement. “Probably true, mum. You do look a little worse for wear.”

Tanyth smiled and gave a small nod of acknowledgement of her own. “I’m sure, but I’d like to thank him for dragging me out of that hole.” She looked back and forth between them. “Next time he comes, please let him in?”

They both nodded, Megan somewhat reluctantly. “Well at least let us clean you up a bit, mum?”

“Oh, yes, that would be lovely! Please?”

For half an hour they fussed over her, washing her face and hands with hot water, lavender soap, and a soft cloth. They even took a brush to her hair. All the activity reminded Tanyth of the small tins on the mantle board and she had Sadie and Megan each take one.

“I’m a little late, but Happy Solstice and may the new year bring your hearts’ desire.”

They smiled and accepted the small gifts. “Happy new year, mum, and thank you.”

All the activity caught up with her then. She closed her eyes for just a moment but inadvertently dropped off to sleep.

At the top of the tree, she basked in the final rays of winter
sunshine. The golden sun warmed her feathers, even as the village
below sank into the spreading shadows of the tree line. She’d need
food soon and regretted not feeding on the meat before the men had
dragged it off and buried it. She cawed in frustration. It didn’t do
any good for her hunger, but she let the others know she was still
there. It was still her territory. The pair to the south answered her
but it was more acknowledgement than challenge. With the snowy
season just starting, they’d all need to conserve energy against the
cold and the dark.

The man with the bow came out of the woods across the wide
path and trudged up the snowy track toward the village. She
leaned forward with interest. The day was drawing to a close
but sometimes he left rabbits. Maybe he’d leave another. The
door to the house with rabbits opened and she became more
excited, but it wasn’t the woman who fed her who came out.
It was the woman who chased her from the corn. She sulked
back onto the branch and crooned. She was hungry and would
have to go find some rose hips or dig for the apples under the
snow.

She watched as the woman and man talked. They looked
up at her tree, which startled her and she froze in place. It
wasn’t good to be looked at, still it made her curious and she
tilted her head left and right as the man reached into his bag
and pulled out a rabbit. He handed the rabbit to the woman
before continuing up the path, glancing up at the tree as he
walked. The woman took the rabbit inside and she cawed her
frustration.

No rabbit.

She launched from the tree and swooped down into the
shadows of the village, heading for the bush with rose hips.
They weren’t rabbit, but they filled her. Movement at the back
door of the house with rabbits caught her attention and the
reddish light shined out onto the snow for a moment. It was long
enough for her to see the woman step out and lay the rabbit on
the snow before quickly stepping back inside and closing the
door.

She flared upwards in a banking turn to grab a limb and look
back. Nobody stirred. The shadows of evening crept across
the wide path and into the trees on the other side. She cawed
and stooped. The flesh warmed her as she feasted there in the
snow.

Tanyth’s strength returned quickly once she was warmed and fed. Within a few days she banished her nurses back to their own homes. Sadie left with a knowing smile and a cheeky wink. “Woodbox needs tendin’, eh, mum?”

Tanyth gave her a shrug, a hug, and a sly grin of her own. “Takes a lot of wood to keep old bones warm in the winter, my dear.”

Sadie giggled. “You be careful of splinters!”

Tanyth blushed a little but shoo’ed her out.

Around sunset, Frank showed up at her door with an armload of firewood, some venison chops and a jug of sweet cider. “Thought you might like somethin’ other than rabbit for dinner.”

“Don’t stand on ceremony, man! Get in here.” She smiled at him.

He dropped the firewood in the box and turned to her.

They stood for a few moments and she saw his eyes tracing the bruises. She knew several shockingly purple splotches still marked her face, but at least the swelling had subsided and she could see out of both eyes again, even if one had a pretty serious shiner.

Still, his examination made her self-conscious. “Mother, I must be a sight.”