Shadows at Stonewylde (37 page)

Leveret had never before thought about the beautiful relationship between her oldest brother and his moongazy wife. She’d only ever seen it as a nuisance, something which had taken Yul away from her. Now she sensed a little of the magic of their partnership but realised that recently there’d been little evidence of their love. Both of them were miserable; perhaps they should come here and be reminded of what they’d once shared? Not wishing to intrude on this shrine to their unification, Leveret quickly hung the bag on one of the small branches that protruded from the pink flaking bark of the enormous bole. She bowed to the tree and slipped out back onto the Green just as the evening star was blooming.

At home Maizie was feverish in her excitement.

‘You better get down to the bath house now, my girl, else all the hot water will be gone.’

‘Mother, most of the people going tonight live up at the Hall and they’ll be using those bathrooms. There’ll be plenty of hot water in the bath house. It doesn’t start till eight o’clock and that’s practically four hours away.’

‘Alright, but don’t leave it till the last minute, will you? I want to help you get ready and I got to go to the Barn in a while to set out the food. I’ll be back in good time but have your bath whilst I’m gone. Are you feeling excited yet?’

‘I suppose so – but I’m more terrified than excited.’

‘You’ll be fine, Leveret. You’ll look so pretty in your new dress and all the boys’ll be wanting to dance with you.’

‘I doubt that very much,’ muttered Leveret, remembering Jay’s words only two weeks ago at the Moon Fullness. The ugliest girl at Stonewylde, he’d said, with a body like a boy’s. If anyone looked at her this evening it certainly wouldn’t be because she looked so pretty – they’d be gaping at how stupid she looked in such a lovely dress. A sparrow, not a kingfisher. She thought of all the unkind taunts her brothers had made over the years about her unattractive looks, and her recent resolve to enlist help to stop their bullying. She decided to try and broach the subject with her mother now but felt nervous, not wanting to spoil the new harmony by making her mother choose between her children.

‘Mother, I know you’ve always said I’m a tell-tale …’

Maizie eyed her warily and sighed.

‘Let’s not start on all that, Leveret. ‘Tis forgotten now – I know you never meant to tell lies about your brothers.’

‘But Mother, I—’

‘The thing is, my girl, I do understand they’ve tormented you over the years. O’ course I’ve always noticed that. It started when you were only a tiny little thing, but you see, they lost their father and ‘twas a very difficult time for everyone but especially Gefrin and Sweyn. The other four were older but they were only little boys theirselves and they didn’t understand what were going on. Then what with our Yul becoming the new magus and me being out every hour o’ the day and night trying to help organise the community … ‘twere a difficult time for us all. You were lucky – you were too young to understand anything.’

Leveret nodded – she’d heard all this before and knew it was part of her mother’s justification for believing her two youngest sons weren’t really so bad.

‘The thing is, Mother, that over the years they—’

‘Oh I know, Leveret, I know it’s gone on a long time. You don’t need to tell me that. But really, ‘tis normal for brothers to torment a little sister. You ask any girl with a big brother. But they’re older now and I know they’ve become much more kind and responsible. So let’s not dwell—’

‘But it hasn’t stopped! Really, they’re even worse now and they’ve said they’re going to—’

‘Leveret, you know this isn’t true. Please don’t spoil—’

‘Mother it
is
true! Clip saw what Sweyn did to me at Samhain!’

‘I know what Clip thought he saw – he came and told me. And I took it up with Sweyn and he explained everything. He were angry with you, right enough, for messing about and upsetting me. He did bob your head in the water – he admitted that. But he weren’t trying to
drown
you! You’ve just got into the habit over the years of making it all out to be much worse than it really is.’

‘Please, Mother, why—’

‘Leveret … this is a special night. Let’s not spoil it with any more o’ this talk. Let’s put it all behind us now. Please?’

Leveret hung her head. This is what always happened every time she tried to tell her mother; nothing had changed at all. She’d just have to find someone else to help her. Maizie went into the kitchen to check on her fruit pies baking in the oven and Leveret sat down at the table and started teasing out a pile of wool for felt-making. She’d taken Yul’s words to heart and was trying very hard to help her mother more. Yul had been right – Maizie did look tired nowadays.

Just then the door crashed open and in walked Sweyn and Gefrin. Maizie called out to them from the kitchen to sit down and she’d bring them in some mulled wine in a minute. They both stared at Leveret.

‘We just heard you’re going to the Outsiders’ Dance tonight, Lev!’

‘That’s right.’

‘Why?’

‘Why not?’

They both laughed.

‘I can think of lots of reasons why not,’ said Sweyn, his voice low so Maizie, clattering in the kitchen, couldn’t hear. ‘You’ll stand out amongst all those lovely Outside girls and we’ll be so embarrassed if anyone realises you’re our sister. You’re an ugly little bitch and—’

‘Wine’s warming up!’ called Maizie. ‘Won’t be long.’

‘And we don’t want you there cramping our style,’ added Gefrin. ‘Showing us up.’

He sat down opposite her and kicked her hard under the table. She flinched from the pain but carried on pulling at the clumps of raw wool, teasing it to fluffiness, keeping her head down. Sweyn came and stood behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders. His thick fingers dug cruelly into her collar bones making her gasp.

‘And Jay’s really got it in for you,’ he warned. ‘I mean
really
. He said you insulted him at the Moon Fullness. He don’t take that from no one but especially not you. Jay can be … well, put it this way, he’s a vicious bugger when he gets going. Don’t expect us to stick up for you – we’ll just walk away and leave him to it.’

Gefrin giggled.

‘We’ve seen Jay in action and it’s not pretty. I’ve heard people say his father Jackdaw was the same and he killed his wife, didn’t he? Like father like son. So watch out, Hare-brain, ‘cos he’s out to get you. He’ll be specially looking for you tonight.’

Maizie came in triumphantly, rosy-cheeked from the oven heat, bearing a tray of cups and a jug of steaming wine that smelt of blackberries, cloves and nutmeg.

‘Have you heard that Leveret’s coming to the party tonight?’ she said brightly, pouring the mulled wine and handing it round. ‘She’s got a lovely new dress and she’ll look so pretty.’

Sweyn choked into his wine and grinned at his brother.

‘We was just saying we’ll look out for her tonight, make sure she’s alright.’

‘Ah, that’s really nice of you boys – thank you. She’s very nervous, you see, and though I’ll be there at the beginning to help serve the food, I can’t stay all night. ‘Tis for the young people and Yul says we must leave you all to it once the party’s found its feet. If you’ll be looking after her I won’t need to worry.’

‘No problem, Mother,’ said Gefrin. ‘’Tis our pleasure.’

‘See, Leveret?’ said Maizie cheerfully. ‘Your brothers’ll make sure you have a special evening.’

‘We certainly will, Mother!’ said Sweyn, putting his arm round Leveret’s shoulders and squeezing her hard. She cringed at his touch. ‘We’ll make sure it’s a very special evening for her.’

Leveret stood outside the entrance to the Great Barn trembling like a kitten.

‘I can’t go in there, Mother!’

‘Don’t be silly – o’ course you can!’

‘Everyone’ll stare and laugh at me.’

‘No they won’t. If they stare at you ‘tis only because you look so lovely.’

It was true. Maizie was amazed at just how lovely Leveret looked. She’d always been such a tom-boy but tonight she’d blossomed into a beautiful young girl on the cusp of womanhood. The dress fitted like a dream, the tight bodice emphasising her surprisingly rounded breasts and tiny waist whilst the longer skirt gave her a bit of extra height, perfect as she was so small. They’d tied a scarlet ribbon round her neck with her silver charm – the crescent moon or bow of the Huntress – hanging from it. Most young people wore their Naming Ceremony charm until their Rite of Adulthood when it was replaced by the pewter pendant; it was a way of showing whether or not they were adults.

Maizie had insisted on sweeping up her long glossy curls and pinning them in a knot. With her wild hair swept back, Leveret was transformed. The sharp, pointy face with slanted green cat’s eyes became elegant, even delicate, and her eyes were stunning without dark curls constantly falling into them. Her neck was a slim white column accentuated by the scarlet ribbon and she looked like something from a fairytale.

‘Cinderella, you shall go to the ball!’ Maizie had laughed, overwhelmed by her daughter’s almost exotic beauty.

‘It’s the ugly step-sisters I’m worried about,’ Leveret had muttered in reply.

Now they both stood outside the Barn, Maizie with her arm around her trembling daughter.

‘See – the coach hasn’t arrived yet,’ said Maizie. ‘’Twill be better to go in now while it’s still quite empty, then you won’t feel so self-conscious. You can come and help me check on all the food.’

So they went in, feeling the alienness of the Barn. There was a disco set up with mixing decks, machines and electric lights and two strange men stood behind it busy with large head-phones over their ears. The music was very loud and full of bass compared to the fiddles, drums, guitars and flutes normally heard in here. But Maizie was right – there weren’t too many people around yet. Leveret hung up her cloak and stood in her dark green dress feeling very strange, as if she were another person.

And it seemed as if everyone else thought she were another person too. Bryony, Linnet, Skipper and Tansy, who were in her class at school, stood and stared at her in disbelief. They all looked nice but none of them were in Leveret’s league. The group of older girls who’d been so kind to her the other day actually came over to compliment her.

‘Leveret, you look absolutely stunning!’

‘Wow – I barely recognised you.’

‘Talk about the ugly duckling! Look, you’re a swan!’

Leveret giggled at this and began to relax just slightly. Maybe she did look quite nice and maybe people wouldn’t think she was hideous. Maybe – just maybe – Kestrel might notice her tonight?

U
nderstanding that her daughter was terrified, Maizie kept her close while she talked to other adults behind the laden trestle-tables of food. The last thing she wanted was Leveret to bolt back home in panic. Maizie was immensely proud of her, beaming at the Village women who shook their heads in amazement at the little tomboy’s transformation. Leveret stood quietly and gradually the Barn grew busier as groups of boys who’d been messing about outside on the Village Green started to drift in. Then there was a call from the Gatehouse to say the coach had arrived and was on its way down. Many more youngsters still outside piled into the Barn and the disco lights were switched on, strangely colourful and flickering to people only used to lantern and candlelight in the place. The volume of the music was turned up and everyone waited expectantly. Leveret, her heart pounding with nervousness, looked around to locate Sweyn, Gefrin and Jay – and Kestrel too, if possible – but she couldn’t see any of them.

The coach pulled up outside the Village as the cobbled tracks weren’t wide enough for such a vehicle, and almost fifty teenagers from the Outside World tumbled out in an excited, noisy throng. They were all from the local college and were intrigued to be here. The kids from Stonewylde were renowned for being an odd bunch, strangely quaint and different from them in many ways, and nobody in the coach party knew what to expect now they were in the Stonewylders’ stronghold. In fact the guests had no idea just how honoured they were. Inviting such a large group of Outsiders into Stonewylde had never been done before in living or recorded memory – not since the days of tribes and settlements when visitors would come to trade, and that was a very long time ago.

The young people in their party clothes huddled round the familiar coach and looked about in bewilderment, trying to make everything out and wondering why, even for rural Dorset, it was so very dark here. There were no street lights although lanterns hung from the buildings and shed just enough light to intrigue them further. They recognised a pub and a village green – that much was familiar to them. But then Kestrel arrived in their midst, a handsome recognisable face in an alien world, and ushered them all towards the open double doors of the Great Barn.

The crowd of Outsiders heard the familiar boom-boom-boom of music and saw the flashing coloured lights and lasers, and felt more at home. They poured into the vast building, taking in the tiny twinkling silver lanterns and evergreen decorations that hung from its massive rafters. They liked the old-fashioned Christmas decorations, which had been left up in the end, and were amazed at the size of the barn. They noticed the tables of food that lined one wall and the bar with its wooden barrels, rows of bottles and jugs of juice and water. After the wild speculation that had been rife during the coach ride, everything seemed quite civilised after all.