The night of the sorcerer's Spirit Circle is etched indelibly in my memory, for his healing power was an important thread in the web of events which led me inexorably into the world of Saxon sorcery. Only days before, I had landed on the Saxon shore as a servant of Almighty God, -pledged to bring the light of our Saviour into the dark lands of the pagans. In His service, during that remarkable summer in the year of Our Lord 674, I was to encounter soul-spirits and death demons, guardians and goddesses, and under the guidance of the Wolfman I was tyo learn the secrets of Saxon sorcery.
In the following pages I have recounted my experience as accurately as I can, for I believe that the lessons of the Wolfman are for people of all places and all times. In all humility, I dedicate this manuscript to spiritual seekers everywhere.
DAUGHTER OF THE FOREST
First Book of the Sevenwaters Trilogy
Juliet Marillier
Ireland and Britain,
mid 9th Century
I study the map of ashes, tracing its outlines onto my heart and searing its curves into my memory. Finally I look up. 'Helga, I do not remember much of castles and their ways. How shall I gain admittance to the castle?'
Mad Helga's hands thrust out suddenly, spilling the bones into the ashes. Her fingers flash about till the map is erased and the bones soiled and buried in the ashes. 'Tis your revenge, not mine, lass. I neither know nor care whether you be admitted to his castle or no.' She begins to rock back and forth, singing, 'Greymalkin shall not stalk your rest, nor Ulfling seize your - '
I close my fingers around her wrists. 'Stay with me, Mad Helga, just a moment more. Tell me, I beg you, once I gain admittance to the castle, what must I take to bring to you?'
For a long time, Mad Helga is silent. She sits so still that I snake my thumb to the underside of her wrist and press to feel the throb of her pulse to make certain she is still alive.
Then she says, 'Bring me three pieces of His heart.'
'But it is her. Look at the green eyes on her. Like a cat's. It is her.'
'Tie her hands. We'll take her back.'
'Make her a prisoner? You could get in big trouble for that. You know whose daughter she is? And you know what Liam's like. Think what her brothers would do to you, if they found out. She's our own kind.'
'Fat chance of them ever coming back. Besides, why's she with him? Tie her hands.'
[...]
I called for help. If at any time I needed the Fair Folk to intervene, this was it. Not that they'd been much help thus far. I called out to them, to anyone that might hear, with a silent scream from deep in my heart. Help him. He should not die, not like this. Help me, for if I perish, so do my brothers.
The rain came. It came from a clear sky that turned suddenly grey, as the warm day was in an instant as chill as midwinter. A drenching, uncanny, druidic rain that blinded and deafened; that cut off each man from the world. It was like standing under a great waterfall; it was like being in the heart of a storm. I could see nobody, hear no sound but the roaring of the torrent as it thundered down
