The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna

Disclaimer: Not Mine.

The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna

Chapter 7

Heading North

Gryffin had only gone a short distance when he turned and ran back to the village. Running through the wreckage, he made his way to where his dwelling had stood. Clenching his jaw, he stepped on the still-smoking patch of ground and raised this right hand to cast a cooling spell, not knowing if it would work against the darkness of this fire or if the souls lost here would reject him and push him and his magic away in anger for his not being here to help.

Feeling the heat subside enough to allow him to continue, he hurried to the place that had held the fire pit and fell to his knees, scraping away the ash and blackened ground with his hands. He finally found the iron ring embedded into the loose stone and pulled on it with both his arms and his back straining in the effort until it came free.

Reaching into the darkness, he was relieved when his hand slid around the hilt of his brother's sword. He lifted it out slowly, and sat back on his heels, looking at the heavy blade and thinking back to the day they had last practiced his sword work. Remembering it was the same day that he claimed Lara, he took a deep breath and resolved to avenge not only the dead, but also the death of their bloodline. He closed his eyes and for just a moment, he was once again kneeling in front of his family hearth, listening to Petur's laughter and smelling the food roasting for dinner set out by his mother's hand.

He stood up slowly, and allowed the image of death to find its way back to him. He held it in front of his eyes like a painting, and burned its memory knowingly into his brain. He would not forget this. He would not forget the fact that this had been no war of honour. This had been an act of savagery unparalleled in this land. This had been an attack to wipe the clan away and to butcher.

Petur's training sword still lay in the floor. Lara would have fought with it, she would have held the sword and cleaved a man in half before letting this happen. Seeing the sword lying before him, he knew they had no warning. He turned and walked back to the edge of the village where the others waited for him.

"We will get new weapons." Salazar looked at the old and clumsy blade.

"The wands are gone." Gryffin ignored that barb against his weapon. "In the floor vault, the wands were gone. We will need to replace them before we go far."

"Maybe three days north, near the rivers that go to the sea in the west, there is a goblin settlement," Helga said. "We often take our tools and jewellery for repair."

"You have seen this?" Erwin lifted his eyebrow. "Your clan would allow a witch to go to a goblin settlement?"

"No," she said, blushing. "My brothers would make the trip once a year, before the solstice."

"No witch will go there," Gryffin said darkly. "I will go and take Erwin."

"He is right," Salazar said. "We can not risk all three of us lost at once, nor can one wizard risk entering alone. However, I shall go with Erwin, you watch the witches."

"I am the one in need of a sword." Gryffin glared at Salazar. "I will get one that fits my hand, one that will not fail."

Salazar watched him closely, not trusting that he could yet go into a village to trade.

"We have time to talk on this. Come, we need to make distance today. We need to get out of this land."

They left the path, cut through the dense forests, and skirted around the clearings they came upon. The canopy of trees was at times so thick it was as if night had come early. It was unsafe to walk in the woods, too easy to get lost, and too hard to find the water they would need to survive. Nor was it safe to stay on the road or the paths that crisscrossed through their lands.

Erwin watched Rowena carefully and twice he watched as she stumbled but kept her balance. She was not a witch that had worked in the fields, or carried the water to her father's hearth. She had been kept at a student's table, and was not used to long days and hard work.

"Salazar," he said softly, so Rowena would not hear. "Rowena needs to rest."

"We cannot afford the time," Salazar spat out. "She should have stayed at the circle if she finds this too difficult."

"She is with child and not in the habit of long days."

Salazar stopped and turned to the wizard. "You have not bonded yet."

"It will be mine." Erwin shrugged. "It matters not. I will be the one to take the child to the name giving."

"You must do this as soon as we find a proper place." Salazar shook his head. "I don't hold with all the beliefs. I only say this because she said a bride's price was paid. If the child comes before the binding, the child can be taken from her by the father."

"We still have a long time, and our ways are that of Odin. I will name the child and it will eat at my hearth. It will be mine."

"Not where we are going. It would be wise to take care of this while we still can find a circle since you can no longer do a simple claiming." Salazar sighed. "Things keep getting more complicated."

"How do you think Gryffin will do?" Erwin looked ahead where he walked between the two witches.

"If his anger can be set aside he will learn to walk without her." Salazar shrugged. "If not, I fear that he will itch for battle."

"I can not imagine his loss. To see the way they left her, to know what was done."

"He must never know the full extent," Salazar warned him. "It will eat at him, and kill his heart and soul. He wanted her for his wife for over ten years. He waited until she was of age, and then wanted to wait until he had completed his test and gained his position. It would have been better if he had waited and never known her."

They walked in silence for a while before Salazar spoke. "I lost my wife and son to fever seven years ago. At the time, I thought it a useless death. I thought if they had died in battle I would at least have someone to receive my revenge."

"And now?"

"And now I thank the gods she died so easy." Salazar lengthened his stride and walked ahead of Erwin until he was even with Gryffin, where he fell in step and walked beside him.

After several hours, Erwin made Rowena sit and rest. The thicket they were in, completely hidden from the outside, refused to allow in even the sun. Gryffin agreed that they all needed the time and, much to Salazar's chagrin, would not listen to his protests.

"I just thought of something." Rowena grinned and looked up at Erwin as she lowered herself to the ground. "We were to go without magic until the solstice."

"I think we will be forgiven," Helga said hopefully.

"It is a foolish custom," Gryffin spat. "If the gods did want us to use magic they would not have..." Gryffin stood and walked away, unable to finish. He thought of the magic he had used to bury his wife and the pain of it hit him again.

"My mother collects gods as rich women collect jewels." Salazar laughed at Helga as he watched Gryffin walk away. "Just use one of her gods. I am sure some of them would make your sin a blessing."

"How are we going to do this?" Helga asked no one in particular. "We do not have a plan other than to stay with each other and go north."

"You need more?" Salazar laughed. "Look at Erwin and Rowena. They do not question, and Gryffin no longer cares. Me? I need an adventure."

"Stop," she said, rolling her eyes. "We need to plan, and to know what to do if we meet with the Romans."

"First, do not call them Roman to their faces." Gryffin walked back to the group. "They come from as many places as we do. They call themselves by different names. It is best to wait until they tell you what they are."

"They all have the same God?" She bit her lip in thought.

"Yes, they drag him along with them instead of just welcoming the gods of their new places," Erwin added.

"We need to find a place they will not go, a place they cannot find." Rowena stood to pace. "This place must be where we can teach and make sure our ways are not forgotten."

"Never again should clans live in their own villages." Gryffin thought aloud. "A clan should always be separated to ensure it continues."

"Our clans are scattered," Salazar said. "From here to Iberia and beyond. The Slytherin clan will survive."

"For now," Erwin said. "What we just saw can happen anyplace."

"The Romans take their clan's name with them, like they take their gods." Salazar looked at the others. "Perhaps that is the way to begin here."

"That sounds foolish, Salazar. Whatever do you mean?" Rowena shook her head.

"I am Salazar of the Slytherin Tribe. A Roman would say I am Salazar Slytherin." He smiled at Rowena's understanding and Helga's snort of laughter.

"I would be Rowena Raven." She frowned. "But I would now say that my mother was of Claw."

"Well, Rowena Ravenclaw, meet Gryffin Godric, and Helga..." He paused and looked at his clansman. "No, I think not. Gryffin needs to carry the name of what he has lost. Godric of Gryffindor since the villiage is only yours now."

"We need to put more distance on us." Helga stood and looked to the north. "I still feel too close here."

Silently they stood and followed Helga as she began the walk north, none commenting on the name bestowed on Gryffin. Salazar had given him a new name, something not taken lightly in this world where gods accepted you at the name giving and followed you to death. A new name meant new gods, new lands and the beginning of a new clan.

The others stood and began walking, carrying their new names as they went forward wondering at the strangeness of it.

"Helga?" Rowena called to the witch. "If you were to put your names together you would be a Hufflepuff."

"A sweet witch." Salazar laughed and winked at Helga. "It's fitting, you know, someday someone will steal those sweet kisses."

"Salazar, if you say one more word I will make sure that snake you carry in your pocket gets loose and bites you on the...."

"Helga!" Rowena was shocked. "How you talk."

"No." Helga covered her mouth, laughing and turning red. "He really does have a snake. He has shrunk it and hidden it in his robes in a basket. It is from his tribe. He showed it to me at the circle."

Salazar winked at Rowena and grinned. "I will leave it to you to believe her or not."

"Enough, you two." Erwin felt his lip twitch. "We are making too much noise. If they are looking for us they only need to use their ears."

They continued to walk silently until the sun had moved to the far side of the sky, and the clouds were no longer as bright as they had been.

.

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"Rowena, you must rest," Erwin hissed at her. "It is nearly dark. You must be careful."

"I am fine," she whispered angrily. "I am with child, not sick."

"The first month is dangerous." He grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Did you learn nothing in all your studies? Did Elbragh fail to teach you the most basic things in healing?"

Rowena blanched and placed her hand on her stomach as if to protect the child she had been told was there. "I am sorry, so much has happened."

"If the others cannot wait we will find them later." He led her to a patch of ground that was heavy with leaves, and using his foot to push them into a pile, he removed his cloak and put it on the ground for her to sit on.

"There is a stream just beyond the trees. We can spend the night there." Salazar looked up to the darkening sky. "We need to find food."

"I will see what I can find." Helga began to walk off when Gryffin stopped her, handing her Lara's cloak.

"Gryffin?" She held the cloak gently in her hands and looked at his face.

"You can make a sack, something to carry your goods if you are lucky enough to find any." He clenched his jaw, knowing that their need for food was more important than the need of memories. Seeing Helga's eyes fill with tears, he walked away.

She went down on her knees and began folding the cloak to a square. Then, sitting back on her heels, she grinned and passed her hand over the folds, sealing them together. After another fold and another pass of her hand she saw a cone emerge. Not yet satisfied, she folded a hem, and passing her hand one last time, it became the brim of Godric's new hat.

"Gryffin," she called to him. "Godric!"

He turned to see her getting to her feet and walking toward him with a smile. "You needed a new hat. We can still use it to put nuts and berries in, but now you have an easy place to carry it."

Godric took the hat from her hands, and raising an eyebrow, he placed it on his head. "Maybe it will help in finding dinner."

Helga smiled at him. "Come and help. Perhaps your new hat will charm the nuts into falling from the trees."

Gryffin started to follow her to a small clearing they had seen a short walk earlier when suddenly he fell to the ground, gasping for air and pulling the hat off his head.

"Gryffin, what is it?" Helga ran to him and helped him to his feet.

"Erwin, come quickly," she yelled over her shoulder when she could not balance him.

"What is wrong?" Erwin was to her before Salazar and Rowena.

"I don't know, he just fell."

"The hat," Gryffin gasped. "The hat said my name, it told me to go to the river and look on the far bank."

Rowena took off at a run, splashing through the water and searching for whatever there could be. Seeing branches hanging thick with the last of the season's berries, she called for the others to follow. Salazar scooped Helga up and crossed the stream, setting her down on the dry bank of the far side.

Blushing, Helga began filling the hat with berries, slapping away their hands as they reached to eat. "Eat from the bush, we will take this with us and eat them for noon meal."

When the bush was bare, they sat on the ground, licking at their stained fingers. Rowena leaned against Erwin's legs and stared at the hat.

"It must be from Helga's prayer," she mused, turning to look at Erwin.

"I don't think gods had anything to do with this. There were no gods in that place."

"Then it would be the force of the clan, perhaps their will to help their last." Salazar bent over and picked up the hat. "Perhaps to help us to our new lands."

"You need to show me your sewing spells, Helga." Rowena rolled her eyes at the looks she got. "Fine, I do not know how to sew, and I do not cook as well as she does."

"Rowena can make crops grow, and choose which of the herd to mate." Erwin laughed. "She can tell you the best place to build a new dwelling, and has yet to be wrong about where the water lays under the ground."

"Erwin," she hissed a warning to him.

"She can take metal from stone, and craft the best cauldrons I have seen. Her potions were sold under her Teacher's name because no mere witch should know as much." He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "But sewing? No, I don't think that would be something she would know."

"Erwin, I am warning you." She folded her arms and pouted. "Erwin makes it sound more than it is. We had a large library. The Teacher kept it hidden. There was so much there it made these things easy."

"We never did have a true library, only a few tomes that the Teacher has hidden with many other great things." Helga joined in the conversation. "The mothers pass the spells to the daughters. We keep to the old ways in which men do not practice magic. A few of them may, but only with the herds, or in the home where it goes unseen. It is considered woman's work."

"The men in your clan need to spend the summer at Slytherin." Gryffin scowled. "They would learn the difference between spells for witches and wizards, and would not fear them."

"And Godric's knowledge now rests with you," Salazar said darkly. "If your family had not separated from us you too would still..."

"Do not finish that statement." Gryffin stood to glare at his clansman. "It was the Slytherin law that forced my mother out."

"She was not forced out. She made a choice."

"A choice she was forced to make, a choice..."

"Stop." Helga stood and put herself between the two. "It is over, it cannot be changed. Rowena, please, say something."

"There is nothing to say, Helga." Rowena felt the anger in the air and moved closer to Erwin. "We need to sleep and ready for the day. We have a lot of distance to make tomorrow."

"Yes," Gryffin said. "Enough of this, nothing can change it."

They lay on the ground and pulled their cloaks close, and tried to sleep. Rowena saw Erwin's frown and quietly crossed to take her place with Helga. The witches gathered up a pile of leaves. Helga laid her cloak over the makeshift bed, and together they lay down and covered their bodies with Rowena's wrap.

They woke to misty rain and damp cloaks covering them. "Shite."

"Good morning, Helga." Rowena sat up and draped her cloak over her head. "Maybe you would be good enough to show me that sewing spell now."

"I don't think it would do much good without cloth." Helga crawled over to the fire and began to blow on the embers to try to rekindle some sort of flame.

"Leave it." Salazar sat up, stretching. "We have nothing to cook."

Slowly the others woke and either pulled their cloaks over their heads or stood up quickly, shaking off the water.

"About the food," Erwin said. "If we come upon a village I would be willing to borrow something."

"We can do without the attention." Gryffin looked at Erwin. "I have not seen so much as a hare since we set off."

"It seems strange. I noticed it yesterday but did not want to alarm anyone." Erwin stood and walked to the river, where he squatted down and cupped water in his hands to drink. "I think that either these woods have been hunted recently or there is something afoot, something scaring away the game."

"Yes, like five stumbling fools trying to be quiet," Salazar said lightly. He joined Erwin at the stream and turned back to the others. "I don't know when we will find fresh water again."

"We have berries for the noon meal, and if we keep up this pace perhaps we can reach the goblin village before dark." Helga looked between the wizards. "Perhaps by morning next?"

Erwin looked at Rowena and thought of the child she carried. "Helga, we can hardly keep a fast pace with no food. We will have the berries now and pray to find something by nightfall."

Seeing where he looked, Salazar agreed and soon the five were eating the berries from Gryffin's hat. Erwin took his handful and dropped the berries into Rowena's lap, looking at her with a frown.

"Eat, I will not have you ..."

"I know." She stuffed the rest of her berries in her mouth and then began to eat his as well.

"Does everyone know that Rowena is with child?" Salazar leaned against a tree and looked down at the witch. "Or are we keeping this as just another secret?"

"Rowena?" Helga turned and looked wide-eyed at her. "You should not have suggested this trip, you should be..."

"I should be right where I am." She glared at Salazar as she stood up, and then rounded on Erwin. "You should not have said anything. I thought you understood."

"We have a right to know. It affects us all." Gryffin looked at the ground, not able to meet her eyes. "You should have made her stay back, Erwin."

"He has no say in the matter," Salazar said. "They are not yet bound and the child is not his."

The silence that fell over the group was palpable. They each knew of Rowena's situation. They knew what her husband could do, and what others would think of her. A married witch travelling with a lover was grounds for banishment and punishment.

"We need to gain more distance." Helga slowly stood and brushed off her cloak. "If anyone says a thing to her about this they will fix their own meals."

"I can pick my own berries." Salazar laughed. "We have yet to have a meal."

Erwin stood and reached his hand to Rowena who had sat down on the ground again. "Take my hand, witch."

"I am quite capable of getting up." She looked up at him but took his hand anyway.

He pulled her up and then pulled her to his chest, leaning down and kissing her. "If they want to watch, we will give them something to watch. It they want you to leave I go with you."

Salazar threw his head back and laughed at the look on Helga's face, and the way she lowered her chin after seeing the kiss.

"Yes, indeed Helga, you are a pretty sight." He then pulled his cloak tight and walked to the fire. Waving his hand over the weakly glowing embers, he doused them with water as Gryffin joined him and dug a pit. Burying the remainders of the fire, they looked around the spot they had spent the night.

Erwin reached up, snapped a small branch off a low-hung tree, and began to sweep the forest floor, helping to erase the imprints of their bodies in the soil and leaves. Helga tried to magic away their scent, but knowing it carried on the wind, she knew she could not magic it all away.

"It will not fool anyone looking for us, only those who may happen by and not be in search." Erwin assessed the area. "We need to be more careful. We have not paid attention to the things we do."

"Nor have we all worried how our actions can cause harm to the entire group." Gryffin looked at Erwin.

They began to walk north, Salazar hanging back to walk with Erwin, waiting for the others to pull ahead.

"When we reach the Goblin village, do not wear the hat, and do not let them know that we travel with witches." Salazar said quietly. "Have you much experience with them?"

"No, I have only heard what others say."

"They are a strange lot." Salazar looked to the side and watched Erwin as they walked. "They are honest and trustworthy, in their own way. It is hard to explain."

They walked on as Salazar gathered his thoughts. "They have a different standard of truth than what you know, a different meaning of words. Question them strongly before agreeing with any terms."

"Such as what?"

"Goblins believe that things are always."

"Always?" Erwin smiled. "Always what?"

"It is the only way to understand them. They do not believe our inheritance laws, or any inheritance. Just remember the word always. If is belongs to them, it will always belong to him. You can not buy something that will always be theirs."

"Always." Erwin muttered.

"Your possessions are safe. They will not steal or try to take your things in bets and games."

"Because they will always be mine?" Erwin grinned.

"We travel with an unclaimed witch, and one that has proven she has no use for a prayer of fidelity," Salazar said lightly. "Since they will not always be thus, the Goblins will see them as open for ownership."

Erwin stopped walking and glared at Salazar. "You will not speak of her that way. It is not what it seems."

"Oh, my dear companion." He smirked. "It is exactly as it seems. It may not seem so, the reasons may be just, and the gods may look the other way because of what was done to her, but I assure you, it is exactly as I say. By all laws, ours and goblins', Roman and elf, she is a harlot."

Erwin clenched his fists and pushed past Salazar, brushing against his shoulder and not caring if the wizard fell. Salazar reached out and grabbed his elbow as he rushed by, spinning him around and pushing a wand into his throat.

"You will not risk my life, or the life's of my clan's people. You will keep her out of sight," Salazar sneered at him. "Am I understood?"

Erwin felt the wood of a wand in his throat and knew from the look in the dark, cold eyes that this wizard would not back down, and would not listen to his protests. He nodded his agreement as Salazar pushed him back with enough force to make him stumble and nearly fall.

"You need to learn discipline, and how to get into the enemy's mind. If you do not understand your enemy, or can not see yourself as he does, you risk everyone in your company." Salazar spat on the ground, as if in disgust. "This is a child's first lesson. Let it be your last."

Erwin stood watching as Salazar walked away and easily began to laugh and joke with the others. Only Gryffin glanced back over this shoulder to see Erwin walking alone. He raised an eyebrow and nodded, as if he knew of the conversation, and put his agreement to the Slytherin.

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