The Fragile Fall At Tallow Bridge (The White Blood Chronicles Book 1) (20 page)

              The priest spoke with vibrant enthusiasm about the need for togetherness as the village approached its most difficult period of winter. He was effusive in his praise for various villagers as he highlighted instances of neighbourly behaviour, which included thanking Dromgoole for his rescue of Thaindire. This prompted the congregation to all turn and look at him as Campion said his name and Thaindire felt himself flush at the attention of the villagers, relieved when Campion moved on to a different individual.

              A collection took place and Thaindire parted with a gold mark, placing it in the silver bowl, which was passed amongst the congregation before a final hymn took place, again leaving Thaindire floundering in ignorance. Campion led a final blessing as everyone sat, heads bowed and at its conclusion the young singer began again.

              The priest strode down the aisle as everyone remained in his or her places and once he had departed through the door, the pews began to empty, from the rear first. Thaindire found himself in a line of villagers waiting to exit the church. Kathryn was stood behind him; an older lady in front of him and then the young woman that had been the recipient of Campion’s sensual embrace the previous day. Campion greeted the line, which gradually exited until he reached the girl, Isabel. He smiled benignly at her and reached out to pat her stomach, which Thaindire noticed for the first time, was a little swollen and rounded. She smiled widely, caught in the ensnaring attention of the priest as they exchanged conversation and then she moved on. The elderly lady politely thanked the priest for his sermon and continued on her way.

“ Ah, the newest member of our flock,” declared Campion with one of his customary smiles. He reached out with a warm hand to take Thaindire’s right hand, slowly shaking it.

“ Are you mended yet after your ordeal?” he asked eyes full of concern, not letting go of Thaindire’s hand.

“ Almost. I am fortunate that I have had the good offices of Kathryn as you identified during your sermon,” replied Thaindire.

“ Excellent well, I am delighted to learn of that,” enthused the holy man.

“ Actually, Priest Campion, I did come to see you yesterday. I thought I ought make myself known to you, given that I am new to the village,” explained Thaindire.

“ Yes, yes and why not.”

“ Only you were otherwise occupied and your gravedigger explained that you would be for some time.” Thaindire stared straight into the dark eyes of the priest, holding his gaze as he let his sentence hang in an accusing fashion.

“ Yes, Saturday afternoon is used for private tutoring for the young of the village,” answered the priest without blinking or turning his gaze from that of Thaindire.

“ Private tuition?” copied Thaindire.

“ Yes, for those who have a particular interest in the learned Book and the teachings of our church. You are very welcome, if there is something troubling you that you wish to seek guidance upon. My role is to guide and at times we do become shrouded in confusion and I would only be grateful to dispel any concerns that you may have. You can try the church anytime, although there are times when I am busy with private tutorials, church business and so on, or you can see Girauld, my verger and he can make an appointment for you. I am, after all, set upon this land to be a beacon for lost souls.”

“ I shall do that. Thank you,” responded Thaindire. Campion held his hand still and he looked over Thaindire’s face as if seeking an unspoken answer. Finally he let go and their eyes unlocked.

“ Dear Kathryn,” announced Campion taking the landlord’s daughter by her shoulders and gently embracing her proffered cheek, “ keep up your sterling work with Master Thaindire here, he will soon be one of us, of that there is no doubt. “

Kathryn laughed and began asking Campion about providing flowers for the aforementioned feast. Thaindire stepped away and descended the stone steps, moving to one side to stand on the frozen grass and await Kathryn. The other villagers were either departing along the path or stood in huddles talking to one another. Kathryn eventually broke free from the priest and joined Thaindire.

“ He’s wonderful isn’t he?” she remarked.

“ Isn’t he just,” murmured Thaindire.

Kathryn shot him a sideways glance.

“ He likes you, you know.”

“ He likes everybody.”

“ That’s what is here for,” chided Kathryn playfully slapping his arm. Thaindire watched as Campion stood in conversation with another pretty village girl. He was whispering in her ear, his right arm around her back preventing her from moving. He saw her shake, laughing at whatever words the holy man was pouring into her receptive and unchallenging ears. Kathryn moved away waving to a villager and joining them in conversation as Thaindire continued to watch the charismatic priest, touch, smile and fuss over each member, man and woman, young and old as they emerged from the church.

“ I will come for you first,” whispered Thaindire as he felt his stomach turn at the ingratiating manner of Campion.

“ Samael,” called Kathryn waving at him to come and join her. He duly obliged as she began to babble about her role in decorating the church and the tavern for the forthcoming feast. Thaindire half-listened to her as they headed back to the village, the ground still hard and frosted, despite the attentions of the weak sunshine.

“ So,” continued Kathryn, “ I need to speak with Alyssia about the flowers I need and of course to thank her for the excellent medicines she has provided which are restoring you to full health,” she added.

“ Hmmm, yes, although I must confess this wretched lump on my back is becoming rather troublesome,” admitted Thaindire and reached around under his cloak to gently prod at the protrusion.

“ Is it sore?” asked Kathryn.

“ A little, it is more that I keep bumping the lump on things and it disturbs my sleep.”

Kathryn nodded sympathetically.

“ Well, why not come with me to see Alyssia and you can ask her how long it is likely to last,” suggested Kathryn.

“ Not a bad idea,” conceded Thaindire. “ Let’s do that.”

Kathryn slipped her arm through his once more, pleased that he had taken on board an idea suggested by her as she continued to talk about the colours and extent of the decoration of the two buildings. They crossed the bridge and made for the apothecary. Thaindire mused that his delayed departure was bearing fruit, as his list of those who would be arrested and judged grew longer. The witch Thorne would be right behind Campion on his list and he swore he would see her burn.

Treading up the wooden steps. Kathryn pushed the door of the apothecary and they both stepped inside the store immediately assailed by a hundred different scents. Thorne was in the front of the store, behind the counter placing a box on a shelf, before she turned. Thaindire was struck at just how beautiful she was. Her features were delicate and her skin so clean-looking. Kathryn was a handsome woman, that much was true, but Thorne transcended her beauty.

“ Good morning Kathryn, Master Thaindire,” spoke Thorne politely. Her voice was low and had a strange effect to it, almost sounding like the breeze making its way through the trees.

“ Hello Alyssia,” chimed Kathryn, “ I need to talk to you about the flowers for the feast and then Samael just has a query about his injury,” explained the younger woman.

“ By all means,“ answered Thorne casting a smile at Thaindire, which made him suddenly tremble. The radiance that emanated from her perfect mouth was overwhelming. Thaindire noticed that the dress she wore on this occasion was lilac but as he looked closely he could see that it was formed from petals, which merged into her body, just as readily as if they were growing from her. The petal-dress extended to the floor as he leant across the counter to obtain a better view, obscuring her feet and he wondered if she had feet or perhaps roots? She was engaged in conversation with Kathryn as Thaindire turned his attention to the shelves. Each shelf was labelled but he was unable to discern what was written given the distance he was from the racks. Carefully stacked vials, pots and boxes lay arranged on the shelving, containing no doubt a vast array of sensational medicines and remedies. He cast his eye back to Thorne and he noticed that she repeatedly glanced in his direction as she conversed with Kathryn, a gentle, playful smile forming on her mouth each time she looked at him. He found himself captivated by not only her striking looks but also her unusual attire cum body. She had a beguiling effect, similar to that which Kathryn’s perfumes had on him. He shook his head as if trying to shake the effect off, was he being unwittingly enchanted by her appearance? Thorne saw his momentary expression of confusion and arched an eyebrow in a knowing fashion. He realised that he had heard nothing of their conversation, the words having just drifted over him, as if they were a foreign tongue of which he had no comprehension.

“ Samael,” barked Kathryn breaking him from his reverie. He gave a start and looked to the landlord’s daughter.

“ Er yes,” he answered trying to avoid looking back to Thorne.

“ I need to go and count how many bouquets are needed, you wait here with Alyssia whilst I slip back to the tavern.”

“ Very well,” he answered and she skipped through the doorway, leaving Thaindire with the apothecary.

“ So Master Thaindire,” spoke Thorne in her strange rustling voice, “ Kathryn said that you had a query about your injury. You were bitten by wolves weren’t you?”

“ Yes that’s right,” affirmed Thaindire, finding his gaze resting on Thorne’s seductive eyes.

“ Yes, Kathryn told me this when you first arrived at the village. She explained that your injuries were sufficiently serious to require a strong poultice followed by the application of the tincture. Are you taking the tincture now?”

“ I am,” he replied with a nod.

“ Good, good. The healing process is such that it creates a protective shell about the wound. The shell is quite firm and hard to the touch, like a lump really,” she explained, her slender fingers gently gliding across the top of the counter.

“ That’s just it, I have a lump on my back and it is a little sore, but mainly uncomfortable if I try to lie on my back or against a wall. How long will it last?” he asked.

“ Hmm, a few days yet I should imagine. The concoction I supplied is very effective at healing and such is its efficacy that your injuries will heal three times quicker than say something dispensed by a physician.”

“ So what makes your concoctions so special then?” queried Thaindire.

“ Why, their ingredients of course.”

“ Which are?”

“ Oh come now  Master Thaindire, you do not expect me to reveal the secrets behind my craft do you?”

“ Well, that all depends on whether that craft is one which is ungodly and aided by forces not of this world,” he said firmly.

Thorne’s eyes flared and she took a step backwards, hands leaving the counter.

“ What do you mean by ungodly?” she asked.

“ That which is not in accordance with the One True God’s decrees and it is becoming increasingly clear to me that in order to achieve the recovery you have effected on me, you must be engaging crafts which are unholy.”

“ Even though you have benefited from them?” queried Thorne.

“ If I had known their provenance I would have rejected them.”

“ But you do not know their provenance Master Thaindire. You assume that because your wounds have healed faster than that which you are used to, that something untoward has been used, yes?”

“ The thing speaks for itself,” replied Thaindire.

“ Could it not be that what your physicians do, I do better, faster, more effectively? Why should that be deemed as not of this world?”

“ Then tell me what you have used in the poultice that has been administered to my injuries,” urged Thaindire, “ If you are unwilling then truly you are hiding the remedy and without any other explanation, unholy crafts must have been invoked.”

Thorne regarded him for a moment, those beguiling eyes shining.

“ Very well Master Thaindire, you shall see what has been the source of your recovery,” she replied as she lifted part of the counter up and swung open a door allowing him to enter behind the counter. Thorne turned about, her petal skirt softly skimming the ground as she glided through the archway. Thaindire followed and passed into a living area at the rear of the store. He had little time to scrutinise the back room as Thorne headed for the back door.

              The two of them exited the apothecary, into the cold afternoon air. The small garden lay before them. Thorne walked down the wooden steps into the garden beckoning for Thaindire to follow her.

“ You grow the ingredients here, in this garden?” asked Thaindire, looking about the neat rows and wondering what unusual flora was coaxed from the ground.

“ My my, no. This is merely a cottage garden, which I use mainly for vegetables and flowers for decoration,” replied Thorne as she kept walking along a narrow row towards the wall of trees.

“ Then where?” asked Thaindire.

“ You shall see.”

They reached the end of the row and Thorne paused, allowing Thaindire to stand besides her. He was easily a foot taller than her and being stood so close to her enabled him to see how she and the petals really were one. She looked up at him, eyebrows raised and smiled.

“ Ready?” she asked. He nodded. She waved her left hand upwards, then to the left and then to the right as she whispered in a tongue he did not recognise. Instinctively, he reached to his sword, hand tightening around the hilt. The trees before them parted, the leaves peeling back as if a pair of curtains was being drawn. The tangle of roots over the ground receded like a withdrawing tide and a gap opened up which Thorne stepped into. Thaindire hesitated, gazing into the hole uneasily.

“ It is this way if you still want to see,” she remarked pointing ahead of her.

He stepped up behind her and she began walking. Her heard the forest close behind him and a slight surge of panic leapt inside his stomach as he turned and looked over his shoulder. The branches had closed up behind him, the ground once again knotted and impassable. He looked back around and hurried up slightly so he was right behind Thorne, somehow fearful that he might lose her and become trapped in the suffocating forest. She walked purposefully, the forest continuing to open up before her, the branches lifting and withdrawing, allowing them ingress until they both stepped from amidst the flanking trees and into an open space. With a scraping and rustling, the forest closed up behind Thaindire and he stood on a perfectly manicured lawn. The grass was verdant, neatly trimmed and perfectly flat.

“ Welcome to my secret garden,” announced Thorne with a smile. Thaindire stood amazed at the scene, which greeted him. The forest enclosed the clearing, the dark walls of wood surrounding it all on sides. Above, the sky was a scintillating blue and cloudless and he immediately noticed the warmth of the sun on his face. The frosted chill of the day had vanished and instead it was as if he emerged into a beautiful clearing on a summer’s afternoon. Expertly tended flower beds edged the lawn, long green stalks bearing blazing red flowers, a rounded bush adorned with white petals, a bed of roses which were striped white and crimson. Placed about the lawn were other circular beds, the lawn surrounding them, where there grew other remarkable plants. Thaindire walked forward and examined one such bed. Narrow stalks of dark green burst from the fertile soil, clear bell-shaped flowers hanging delicately at the end of the stems. He leaned down and gasped as he could see through the flower. Thorne watched him with a knowing, amused expression on her face. He moved to another circular bed and marvelled at the dainty flowers that grew there, the plants were squat, the leaves broad and a light blue in colour. Sat in each plant was a cluster of trumpet-style flowers coloured a brilliant yellow. Thaindire looked across the garden and saw a pond near to where Thorne stood. A statue was in its midst, a winged, naked lady from whose mouth a stream of water fell, gently tinkling as it landed in the pond below. Serenity swept over Thaindire, his earlier anxiety at being trapped in the woods melting away under a tide of calm. A hundred exotic scents rose in the air, his senses pummelled by the vast array of colour and perfumes. The clearing was a bastion of magnificence contrasting with the dark of the impenetrable forest beyond.

“This is impossible,” mouthed Thaindire his eyes slowly gazing over the variety of plants and flowers.

“ How so Master Thaindire? You can see it,” commented Thorne. She walked across the lawn as the petals on her dress shifted colour, changing from the lilac to white, save for the green bodice part where the flower part of her met her human form.

“ What are you?” said Thaindire as she walked towards him, hair shifting to a silvery-white also.

“ I am Alyssia Thorne, spirit of the forest, a dryad,” she said gently, her voice sounding like a thousand petals gently disturbed by the wind.

“ Then, then I was right,” continued Thaindire, “ you are not of this world. You are a witch.”

“ Oh but I am very much of this world. I am the life that thrived long before man sought to exert his ways over the land. I am the trees, the flowers, the grass, the ripe berries on the burgeoning bushes, I am nature incarnate and I am blessed so that I may bring nature’s power for the use of others,” she explained drawing near to Thaindire.

“ You see all of these flowers and plants around you, you will not find them beyond this garden. Here I tend to them, coaxing forth their amazing properties so that I may harvest their offerings and in turn create, using the crafts that have existed for thousands of years, the infusion that heals, the paste that protects. Combining the seeds, the roots, and the petals I can create an elixir that will give you the strength of five men, or cause your skin to become like rock. The berries and leaves become a potion that brings lovers together so that they can never be cast asunder or a poison that will dissolve the innards of a foe. Imagine Master Thaindire, what you could do with such knowledge, think of the enemies you could bring under your control by the careful of administration of a few drops of Hesaile into the casks from which men drink their beer. You see we are all borne of the forest and thus its bounty is available to affect and change the very way being of man,” she continued as she paced around him.

“ No, you are meddling with the One True God’s creations, it is his bounty and only He has the power and knowledge to apply its use,” retorted Thaindire.

“ Oh that is all you have been led to believe. Kept in ignorance and thus fear so that you dare not harness the natural power that is open to you. You believe that the One True God created all of this, don’t you?”

“ Why? Yes.”

“ Then why must it remain a secret to man? Oh I know there are fools who would seek to engage these wonders and not have the strength to apply them properly. Those weaklings would soon be consumed by the power they sought to exert, but those of a true calling, those such as you are destined to embrace the many advantages that the forest and its bounty can provide. Notice how calm you feel,” commented Thorne.

“ Yes, yes I do,” admitted Thaindire. The tranquillity of the clearing was immense and it readily engulfed him.

“ That is because you are inextricably linked with this place. The sap from the plants runs through your veins, ready to be awakened. The bark of the trees amounts to your skin, the perfumes filling your lungs right now invigorate and revitalise you. With my knowledge you will soon embrace the spirit within and with that you will bring all those who tread the wrong path, to heel,” whispered Thorne seductively, laying her hands on his chest as she halted before him.

“ Why not stay awhile, let the glade complete your recovery?” urged Thorne as she gave a gentle push on Thaindire’s chest. He felt his legs bend as he began to sink towards the lush lawn.