Aela (2 page)

Aela exclaimed, ‘I haven't heard of this magical Sword.'

Rom looked at her and lowered his voice, looking around to see if anyone was in ear shot. ‘Just recently, I went up to the inner sanctum one night, when Brude and the other priests were holding a meeting. I overheard them, talking about sending a secret mission of men to this other sacred place, to see if they could steal the Sword. Brude was very excited, as he wanted to gain possession of the magical powers of the Sword. It was then I decided that I was going to seek out and find this magical Sword for myself.'

Aela felt a tremor of excitement passing through her heart as Rom told her this. ‘Rom, you must let me come with you, and together we will find the Sword.'

Rom was quite taken back and glared at Aela saying very loudly, ‘No, no, no. It would be far too dangerous!'

Aela replied, ‘Rom, I want to be part of this adventure of yours. There is nothing else I want to do, so let me come. After all, I am your best friend, and it would be so much fun!'

But Rom was quite adamant that Aela was not going to go with him.

So with a toss of her head, Aela said, ‘Well, I don't think much of your decision, in not letting me come with you, so I may as well leave.'

Without looking back, Aela ran back towards the forest and was soon swallowed up amongst the trees. As Aela walked through the dark forest, she began to think of a plan whereby she could be part of this new adventure of Rom's without him knowing. The idea, that came to her mind, was that she would pretend to agree with his decision. Then she would stealthily follow him from behind, as he walked along the pathway. She, would not let him know what she was doing, until they had gone too far, and then he would have to agree for her to accompany him. With this in mind, Aela quickened her steps and ran towards the village.

As Aela approached a clearing, she heard two voices loudly arguing. There was Brude, the High Priest saying very angrily to Aselyn, his official partner, ‘No, I am not going to agree to buy another gown for you. You have so many other clothes, and as far as I am concerned, that is enough!' Aselyn's anger increased. ‘Brude, you are very mean. As you know, everyone has seen all my other gowns and I really need another for this special ceremony for Athunor, Goddess of the Moon, that is taking place tomorrow.'

In temper, Aselyn started to stamp her feet and raise her fists towards Brude. Of course this made Brude even angrier, as no one else in the community would dare to do this and his grey eyes glared at Aselyn. He looked as though he was going to strike her on the face. At this point, Aela stepped out of the darkness of the forest into the clearing and Brude heard her footsteps and looked up to see her approach. His anger immediately dissipated and he started smiling at Aela, as Brude harboured a secret and deep passion towards her. He dreamed in his mind that one day she would be his wife and not Aselyn.

Somehow or other, something was going to happen to Aselyn, he hadn't worked out what as yet, so that he would be able to marry Aela. By far, Aela was the most beautiful woman in the community and he also knew she had unusual powers of second sight which would help him to maintain control over the people. He was fully aware that Aela, being so young did not completely understand her own psychic abilities.

Brude turned around towards Aela and spoke most charmingly ‘Is that you, Aela? Aselyn and I were having a disagreement. Don't you think, that as my partner Aselyn, has so many garments that she can choose to wear at the different ceremonies, that she now has enough?'

Aela looked very warily at Brude, as instinctively she had never trusted him. She thought there was always something sinister about his motives of how he came to power. She looked at him very warily and replied, ‘Do you think that a woman, would ever have too many clothes to wear?'

Aselyn could see what Aela was doing and she was wasn't very happy about this manipulation.

Brude thought for a couple of seconds, and said, ‘I think you are right, Aela. Aselyn, you can go and arrange to have another gown made for you for the ceremony.'

Aselyn was quite overjoyed with the result but she was very uneasy about the influence that Aela had over her partner Brude, which she did not have. Also, she was not happy about the preference that Brude was giving to Aela's suggestion. She felt very jealous that she was not as young and as beautiful as Aela.

Aela thought that it would be very prudent to leave the scene quickly, so she gave a gracious wave of her hand and quickly walked away. This incident had further compounded Aela's thoughts about leaving the community, as she did not like the special attention that Brude was bestowing on her at every opportunity. Thus, Rom's adventure of finding the Sacred Sword and bringing it back to the village to help strengthen the prestige and power of the community generally, was a wonderful opportunity for her to leave the place. Also, there had been rumours that Juno, the High Priest of the Sacred Stone Circle over the ridge was planning to invade the territory of the Temple of the Moon to gain further power and prestige and be the leader of the whole area.

Both Brude and Juno over the past few years had been eyeing each other's territory, plotting various ways in which they could invade, take over the other one's power and position and hence become more powerful. But without the full support from the head man of each family group, neither priest could raise enough warriors to go and invade the other one's domain. For a long time, there had been an uneasy stalemate. Everyone was aware of this, so they had gone to great lengths not to become involved in the rivalry between the two High Priests. After all, one Sacred Stone complex honoured the Moon Goddess and the other Stone Circle revered Luno, the God of the Sun. So for many generations both these groups had known of each other, but there had been no action to invade the other group's territory.

There was also a fear amongst the people, that if there was an attempt to take over one of the complexes, the anger of the Sun God would unleash a new fury upon the invading warriors or Athunor, the Moon Goddess which would bring sickness and disease on the people who dared invade her territory. So even though the two High Priests wished for more power and glory, neither of them had been able to come up with a plan to convince their warriors to attack. Brude, in particular, had spent many sleepless nights trying to work out how he could rally the warriors to invade and attack his enemy, Juno.

Tomorrow there was to be a ceremony for the full moon, so everyone would be very busy preparing for the celebrations. Brude would need to wait longer, before any action could be taken towards his rival. All throughout the day, the people in the community went about preparing for the evening's celebration. At sunset the ceremony would start at the small temple at the top of the hill and then everyone would join in the procession, walking down the Great Sacred Pathway towards the Temple of the Moon.

So for the next few hours, Brude spent time in the small temple preparing for the occasion. He was determined that this ceremony was going to be bigger and better than the previous year. He and his assistants spent a lot of time preparing the people for this grand spectacle. He knew having an impressive display would raise his standing even higher amongst the community and he hoped by so doing he would have better control over them.

The sound of the drums began to beat slowly and softly inside the small temple, letting the people know that the ceremony was about to begin. Every man, woman and child started to walk towards the entrance of the small temple, waiting for Brude, the High Priest to come out of the entrance. A lot of time and energy had been taken up, with each person wearing their best attire, trousers and tunics for men and long dresses for the women. It was also considered prestigious to wear earrings, necklaces, amulets, and ornamental belts.

Each person belonged to a particular clan, either the Battle Axe or the Dagger. The Battle Axe Clan took the emblem of the oak leaf and the Dagger Clan's symbol was the elm leaf. Each clan had a head person, sometimes male and sometimes female, depending upon who was elected by the group.

Whenever a couple formed an alliance together, they had by law, to choose their partner from the other clan group. For example, nobody in the Battle Axe clan could partner another Battle Axe clan member, whether male or female. They had to choose someone from the Dagger clan. Aela knew this law and she was very happy to know that Rom was a member of the Dagger clan and she belonged to the Battle Axe clan. So there would not be any problem for them to be joined in union together sometime in the distant future.

Gradually the sound from the drums began to beat, to let the people know that it wouldn't be long before Brude would be appearing in the doorway. He would then commence the ceremony by signalling to the people to start walking in a procession formation towards the Temple of the Moon.

Brude stepped slowly out of the temple, splendidly dressed in a long robe bordered with blue and white geometric patterns. On top of his head he wore a crescent-shaped head piece, intricately designed. Grasped in his right hand, was a shiny long wooden staff, which at the top was decorated with blue and white tassels, that hung down on either side of the staff. Above these tassels was an image of a blue and white crescent moon. He paused at the entrance of the temple and looked down at the people below him, slowly and deliberately moved his head from left to right and by these actions he was conveying power and majesty towards everyone.

He could see he was impressing the crowd and they were looking towards him with deep reverence and respect. This pleased Brude, as it made him feel powerful and all important, and gave him a sense of omnipotence. He began to think that he was very special confirming the fact that he had extra super-natural powers and thus he could convey the feelings of awe and fear to the people generally.

Brude raised the staff above his head, as the drums began to beat louder and louder. With one swift movement of his head he began to majestically walk down the hill, with his fellow priests marching a few steps behind him, each carrying a sacred symbol at the top of their staffs. Towards the west, the sun began to set on the horizon, the shadows of the forest trees lengthened and the sound of the birds in the trees were stilled. The slanting rays of the sun cast an eerie light across the sky, giving warning of the arrival of the approaching night.

The torch bearers formed a line on either side of the long procession. The flute players began their lilting tunes and the harpists started playing in harmony with both the drums and the flutes. Then, with a sweeping movement of his hand above his head, Brude gave the signal for the priests to chant the magic words, acclaiming the beauty and the power of Athunor, the Goddess of the Moon.

Following behind the priests were a number of young women specially chosen for their grace and beauty, and they started dancing to the rhythm of the music. These dancers symbolised Athunor, displaying graceful arm movements, as they slowly pirouetted around each other creating a flashing pattern of blue and white, the same colours on their long gowns. The atmosphere became electric and exciting, as the procession continued down the pathway towards the main Sacred Temple.

All along the Sacred Way were tall granite stones of varying shapes and sizes, that previous generations of people had transported and placed along the road. Everyone believed that living in each stone was a mystical spirit of the forest. If you touched the stone in a certain way, you could feel the movement and pulse of the genie within. At times when a member of a family had become ill, or involved in an accident, a member of that particular family group or clan would come along and whisper sacred words to each stone, carefully touching the granite surface, asking the spirit within, to assist towards the recovery of the sick or injured person.

Rom took his position up with all the other warriors, dressed in his best combat gear and proudly holding his bronze shield in his left hand, and a long spear in his right. Then behind the warriors, walked the members of the various clan groups and then children followed behind the adults. They skipped and sang the chants that they heard their parents repeating during other ceremonies. Some of the young boys were holding miniature spears and shields which their fathers had made for them out of wood. Then a small group of stragglers came at the end of the procession who were considered the outcasts of the community. They did not get on with their families or did not belong to a clan group for various reasons and they struggled to somehow survive in the community.

This sacred pathway was situated beside a small brook of water which wound its way for half a mile through low lying hills.

The procession was slow, but everyone moved in a stately and dignified manner as each person wanted to show Athunor, their Goddess of the Moon, how strong and graceful they were in their adoration and awe of her. Already waiting at the entrance to the main temple was a large group of people who were carrying on their shoulders containers of meat, berries and other wild fruit, that had been collected by them over the past few days. After the main ceremony there would also be the eating of the food by everyone right down to the last small child.

Brude began to chant the sacred words, that only he could verbalise, as he was the High Priest. Slowly the procession came closer and closer towards the main temple. Inside the round, stone structure, there were many bronze lamps burning animal fat. These lamps were attached to the wooden frames arranged along the stone wall. The lamps added to the general atmosphere, letting off a strong and pungent aroma, which pervaded everywhere.

Directly situated in one wall, was a long triangular opening which enabled people to look through towards the luminous full moon. This shining orb slowly came into sight and illuminated the scene in the middle of the temple where there were three long bronze swords. It was thought that these bronze swords, which were suspended from the ceiling of the temple, had magical powers and nobody was allowed to touch them. Only Brude and a couple of his assistants could place their hands on the blades of the swords.