The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna

Disclaimer: Not Mine

The Journey from Oidhche Shamhna

Chapter 13

Leave Taking

Rowena modified the spells that Erwin had used when building dwellings to help with what she now needed. She was surprised when Salazar knew how to balance the wands in such a way to allow four elves at a time to move one of the massive square stones they had cut from the ground without depleting their magic. At first, the elves had refused to use a wand, preferring to rely on their own strength until Helga spent many hours and promises, bribing them with lodging and meals, to get them to finally agree.

Salazar assured Helga that once the building was complete, and considered a home, the elves would bind to it as a bride to her husband. Doing as they were required, without argument, even joy. She had snorted and muttered comments about Slytherin brides and other clans not being the same as hers until she saw his scowl and remembered her promise not to lose her temper.

The two different types of elves were as the non-magical men and wizards, not of the same soul or spirits. Helga's elves would bind forever to a place, and not until that place were destroyed would the elves leave and find themselves alone. In this changing world, with dwellings oft destroyed, there was no place for these cast-off elves to go, except to the caves to wait for death.

Elves in other clans, as the ones owned by Salazar's tribe, bound to a family and followed the bloodline, caring for the heirs and protecting the families for all time. Salazar's personal elf had often thrown itself in front of him to take the angry blows of his father's punishment rather than have the child hurt. Salazar soon learned not to confess to a sin, or look into his father's eyes when telling a lie, until his elf was near.

Rowena had questioned the elves about Salazar's continued work in the cave, but was met with silence and nervous looks. She assumed they did not approve of the goblin means they used to bring up the hot water, and had stopped questioning them. Since she had requested that he trap the water and find a way to lift it for warmth and perhaps a bath, she thought he was doing nothing more.

She walked the passages that the elves were cutting out from underground and found not simple passageways, but great hallways with alcoves where rocks once stood, and large and spacious rooms. She came to the end and peered into only darkness. Not seeing an orb to offer light, she used her wand to hang her own.

She stood in a room with vaulted ceilings, a large space with more openings from either side. Running her hand over the stone wall, she found it polished and smooth. This was more than a room for simple lessons. This room had a purpose that she did not know. She walked back, getting lost in the hallways until she came upon an elf to help her find her way, and found Salazar, confused and feeling misled with Salazar's intent.

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"No, Rowena, I plan my personal chambers there. I am by nature a solitary man and think the silence after spending time with children will be welcomed." He smiled at her apprehension of living underground. "My chambers are directly under the tower that will be for Slytherin. I will have access to them at all times."

"Salazar, it is dark and damp down there. Are you sure?"

"I will also be close to the potions. Since I will be making most of them, it will be much more convenient. As for the dampness, after it is open for a while that too shall be better and the steady temperature ideal for the potion ingredients."

"I guess it does not matter." She tried to smile at him. "Just don't get lost, as I will not come down there looking."

"You and Helga need a plan for your chambers as well. Gryffin has already told the elves what he wants but you will need to check the plans to make sure the walls can hold them. He wants open spaces that may not be possible."

"Helga's tower will have a roof by the end of four days." She wrapped her cloak tighter around herself and shivered as the cold air came stronger. "We will begin sleeping in it this night. It is bitter outside and the elves will not put on clothes."

"Cut fabric, ragged pieces, and throw them in a pile with garbage from the table." He smirked at her look of disgust. "That or watch them freeze, as they will before they take your offering."

"At least the stone cutting keeps them out of the wind, but now they are putting up the towers and the cold is getting worse."

"We have only a few days to finish the first tower before we will have to stop for the winter. They will be fine, they have survived this way for generations, Rowena."

"Not this far north. Anyway, then we can work on the lessons, and plan the inside." Rowena suddenly put her hand to her head, felt the space begin to move and began to fall.

Salazar caught her and lowered her to the ground, sending his Patronus to Erwin as he did.

"Rowena?" he questioned her with only a look.

"I am fine, Salazar. Sometimes I get weak all of a sudden. It seems the cold may be bothering me more than I thought."

"Have you had problems with keeping your food down?"

"No, Helga puts herbs in my tea each evening meal and again in the morn." She struggled to sit up as she saw Erwin running to her. "Please, Salazar, he will only worry."

"She is fine." Salazar stood up and looked at her oddly. "We need to talk to Helga and have her cast the stones."

"Rowena, if you have been ill you should have said something." Erwin picked her up and began to carry her to Helga. "We have not yet beds but at least you will be inside."

"Put me down, I can walk." She struggled against him until he scolded her for being as a child. Then, not wanting to prove him correct, she stilled.

Helga rushed to greet them, casting spells over her before Erwin had even laid her down. She picked up the stones and laid them on Rowena and smiled when she announced the baby to be a girl. She frowned and waved Erwin and Salazar away. Spelling a cloak to hang in the air, she pulled up Rowena's cloak and began kneading on her stomach, sighing and making clicking sounds with her tongue and laying on more stones.

"You carry the child wrong." She looked up at Rowena's eyes.

"I know Helga, she will turn." Rowena stroked her belly and smiled. "You said a girl? As the prophesy told? She is the one?"

"Yes," Helga said softy and bit her lip. "Rowena, if she does not turn it will be dangerous. Add to that the fact you do not eat and you will not have the strength to birth her."

"I try, really I do. And Helga, if she is backwards, than her being small will be better."

Helga stood, ignoring Rowena's pleas, and hurried to find Erwin. She explained the position of the baby, and the fact that Rowena was too weak to keep up the work she was doing, that she should save herself for the birthing, and for the dangers she saw.

"Erwin, I am afraid the baby is not holding right. It is not secure to her." Her eyes filled as she looked at him. "I fear she will lose it. Erwin, she carries it backwards as well. Rowena said she was spoken of in the circle, but even so...you must decide."

"She is in her fourth moon. She should be past the time of easy loss and too early to tell how it lays." Erwin was desperate to prove Helga wrong.

"No, Erwin, she threatens to lose the child. Even if she carries it longer she may not be able to birth." Helga looked at him and made the decision she must. "It would be better to brew a potion that would end this. If she carries full term, and the baby grows large, we could lose both of them. It is not worth the risk."

Erwin knew what Rowena would say. He knew that the loss of the child would be a wedge driven between them for all time. This was the child of the circle's prophecy. This was not a normal child but one that the gods had spoken of. He also knew that if he were to lose Rowena he would stop breathing. He began to pace, cursing this place so far from his home and a place where he could call on the elders of other clans to help, to share their knowledge, and to perhaps save both mother and child.

"Erwin, I will keep her abed, she will be fine for several days. You have until then to make your choice."

"Have you told her?"

"No, but she knows." Helga raised her eyebrow at such a question. "This is her husband's choice. She has no say in it, and even if she does tell me what she wants it is your decision."

"It is the father's choice," he spat at her and left, walking quickly and pushing past the elves that were in his way.

Helga ran to find Gryffin to share the news and get advice. All four had passed the exam and were qualified Healers. She hoped she had missed something and offered a prayer that she had.

Rowena stayed on a pallet on the floor ten days, and then Helga examined her again and added ten more. Erwin slept next to her, or sat near the lake offering prayers in the coldness of the night. As he was unable to keep his mind on the building, Gryffin had finally sent him away, threatening him with a hex if he returned. He fought to make a decision, and prayed to his gods. Finally he went to the witch and told her what Helga had said, and what he decided.

"Rowena, I have decided I cannot choose for you." He paced near her pallet as the noise of building carried on over them. "If it were my choice I would make you drink the potion."

"I cannot do that. I cannot take her life." Rowena looked away from him.

"You know the risk," he said bitterly. "The baby lays wrong."

"Please Erwin," she said, "I know..."

"You know nothing of what this does to me." He turned on her angrily. "He took our future from us, now his child may take your life. Tell me how I should feel Rowena, because I truly do not know. If the prophesy is true we could end it now. Just because it was given does not mean it must happen."

"I do not think of her as his child, I think of her as ours." She turned away from him, unable to look at the hurt and anger on his face. She could feel his magic roll through the air and seem to suck the breath from her lungs.

"Talk to Salazar of blood and inheritance," he sneered. "Read the laws, Rowena. Until I carry her to the naming she is not mine, I have no say in this."

"The laws were not meant for this."

"Yes, Rowena, they were. You are legally married to him." He laughed and ran his hand through his hair. "My gods, woman, we have been so foolish. We wanted to pretend that we could outrun all this."

"We can, Erwin, you know we can."

"Salazar is writing letters to send out to the families in his clan that have children of the age we seek. I am to do the same with Raven? How many do you think will send their child to a school taught by my whore?"

"Do not tell them I am here if you are ashamed of me." She turned back to him, holding her chin up and trying to keep her lip still from the trembling. "They know nothing of the baby, do not let them know. I will keep her away from their children, I will..."

"I would not hide her or you away." He crossed over and sat next to her, pulling her close and resting his chin in her hair. "It is like a great puzzle."

She turned and looked up, surprised to hear him chuckle. "You find this funny?"

"Between custom, clan law, wizard tradition and all the gods we must satisfy, there is nothing to do." He threw his head back and laughed a rich baritone laugh. "I have need of Salazar's mother. I need to peek in her pockets and pick which gods and laws I want."

Rowena smiled, remembering Salazar's comment of the witch keeping gods in her pocket to be able to always find one she could use, and moved closer to Erwin, resting her head on him, and putting her arm up to touch his cheek.

"Erwin, long ago I had a vision of teaching many children in a strange place. I always assumed it to be a dwelling we would share. Perhaps it is this place and the vision will come to pass."

"Helga says you can stand for a little each day. She wants you to only walk or lay, no sitting, and no... no walks with me." He looked at her and raised his eyebrow. "Her words, not mine."

"I miss it. Our walks, I mean."

"Gods witch, don't talk of it, I am having a hard enough time without your looks." He rolled his eyes as she laughed at him.

"A hard time, you say?"

"And you, Rowena, spend far too much time with that other witch."

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He held Rowena tenderly as he helped her to the door of the tower. Helga had promised her she could see the work the eves had finished since her confinement. Rowena wore several cloaks, workman's gloves and a shawl wrapped around her head and neck as the door opened and a swirl of snow hit her face. She gasped at the sudden ice she could still feel in the air.

She stepped out and stopped at the sight before her. Four pillars of finished stone stood as if at the corners of a square. The four towers were identical in every detail but one. The top of each tower held a stone carving, depicting the clan of its elder. Rowena craned her neck to see the proud Raven of Odin and frowned when it was not there.

"An eagle, Rowena, the same qualities as ours. We all thought it would easier on the children from Raven to come here," Erwin said softly into her ear.

"It is a good choice, and a good decision." She looked up at the eagle and smiled. "We need to change things, and pick those pockets. Perhaps Salazar can invite his mother for a visit."

Erwin stood with his arm around her shoulder and pointed to where the two great rooms would go, blocking off the ends of a great rectangle, and how the two stone walls would completely enclose what was before them. Rowena was in awe as she looked up at the height of the towers. When she had computed the proper size, she had not been able to visualize the true scope of what she wrote.

They returned to the warmth of the tower. Rowena squatted down and laid her hand on the stone, feeling warmth instead of cold. She craned her neck and could see to the top of the tower. Several rooms hung as if in mid-air, attached to only the outer wall and having a floor. She had thought hard on how to work the stairs but now, looking at the vastness, knew she would have to start again.

She put her hand up for Erwin's help rising and grimaced as she stood.

"Back to bed with you." He scooped her up and raised an eyebrow. "I see you have gained weight.. Soon I will have to roll you."

"I remember a certain wizard telling me the rules of witches. I believe you told me, too late to avoid Helga, that the second rule was not to laugh at a witch." Salazar leaned in the doorway, examining his fingernails.

"What was number one?" Rowena narrowed her eyes and looked at Salazar from her position in Erwin's arms.

"Don't ask." Erwin glared at Salazar as he returned Rowena to her bed and allowed her to call for quill and parchment.

"I want to see how you do this without sitting," he said with a smirk.

She cast a spell to allow the quill to write what she said. She threw parchment on the floor and stuck out her tongue at him.

"Elbragh taught me. When my hair was wet, so if it dripped the water would not ruin the parchment." She suddenly began to cry, thinking of her old teacher.

"Ask me sometime why I do not suffer pregnant witches," Salazar chuckled, watching Erwin trying to comfort her. "They will cry at everything, and then cry because they cry."

"I do not," Rowena said as she began to cry at his comment.

"Sweet gods," Erwin grinned and winked at Salazar.

"You need to share our discussion with her. We cannot wait until she is no longer crying at the drop of a coin."

Salazar looked steadily at Erwin. The wizard had fought the telling, insisting that it would be better to wait, than to worry her while the baby and she were still in danger. Salazar nodded to Rowena and left, walking back to the cave where his work was almost complete.

Erwin told her of the decision they had reached to go to each home they could find, and talk to the parents, convincing the scattered clans to allow them to complete the education of their children. Salazar only knew of eighteen families that may send children to them. A total of twenty-two students. They needed to talk and convince the parents of the safety and wards that would be in place.

Helga had made a point of listing each detail on parchment. High on the list was keeping the girls hidden safely away. The land of the south still held men that searched out witches and burnt those they found. She listed the lessons they would teach and even the foods they would eat. She asked for Rowena's help with a list of supplies they should bring.

The children would wear traditional student garments with no clan colours or insignia. All clans would learn the same topics free of all gods. They would promise not to foist their own tribe's beliefs on the children of other clans, nor teach the morning songs or pray with the sun's leaving. They tried to think of everything that could occur and was sure they had covered all when Salazar brought up the subject of payment.

Salazar had spent nearly all his gold. He began to refuse the purchase of items they requested. He turned to Erwin to build the tables and desks that they would need, finding the cost would be too much. The towers were immense, however sparse and undecorated. The witches did not miss what they had never seen. Only Salazar scowled, knowing how the students of Slytherin would see their new quarters.

Each clan that held elves, other than Slytherin, they asked for two that could work as scribes, copying over scrolls and assembling the finished product into tomes that children could handle. They dared not ask for more, knowing the condition many of the families would be in. However, they also knew the future of their world depended on the teachings. Gryffin had added one last clause, that no child be refused acceptance. Looking at Rowena's growing stomach, he had dared Salazar to voice a complaint.

Time stretched as spring came and was slowly turning to summer. Rowena was large with child, walking with a hand on the small of her back and requiring assistance to rise from the reclining position Helga still said she must keep. She and Erwin had spoken no more of his leaving. She believed she had convinced him to stay, and passed each day looking forward to delivering the child with him near.

Helga had examined Rowena once again, and said that although the baby was still wrong in the womb, it was now taking strong hold of the witch and would not pull away and be lost. Rowena refused to accept that anything could be wrong, so strongly did she believe in her vision of being surrounded by many children and the voice of the prophesy. She had just left Helga who had clucked her tongue and shook her head, proclaiming that only one more moon and a small bit more would see the baby arrive. Rowena hurried to tell Erwin the happy news, careful not to run when she saw him come out of the Raven tower with a great pile of personal belongings and begin to shrink them. Waking closer, she saw his travelling cloak and the never-ending cup that they all said had saved their lives.

"You are leaving." Rowena looked at the things he had assembled for his trip.

"Yes."

"And if I asked you to stay?" She turned to look out at the lake, afraid to see his face, squeezing her eyes shut and searching for a prayer to a god she did not know.

"If you were to ask I would have to tell you no." He stepped up closer to her back, wanting to reach for her but keeping his arms at his side. "Then I would ask you to come with me and let the others do the teaching. I would ask you to live with me, as we always wanted. I would ask you..."

"Please stop." She fell to her knees still keeping her eyes ahead. "Don't do this. Not now."

"When, Rowena?"

"I am afraid."

He squatted down and turned her chin to him, and kissed her salty tear drenched lips. "Tell me what you fear."

"I fear that you will not come back to me, that you will change you mind about the baby. I am afraid to have a child without you being near." She looked at him though her tears and tried to smile. "I am being foolish. Witches have babies all the time and Helga will help me, I know she will."

"I will not change my mind about the child. Have I given you reason to believe I would?"

She shook her head and reached her arms around his neck. "At home the women would come, and put a sword under the bed to cut the pain, and when the time came you would be there to carry me..."

"Superstitions. It is time to change." He laid his hand on her stomach. "Let this be the first to be born from under the cloud we carry. Let it be the first born to this place."

"I want you here! I want you to be in the next room if I need you. I want you to carry me to the birthing chair. I want you to hear the baby's first cry and see you when you come to see us the first time."

"Rowena, do not make this harder than it is."

"I want you to say her name first and make her yours. If you are not here what will happen?"

"You helped pick the date that lessons would begin. You knew I would be the one to travel to the children. You knew this, Rowena."

"I will miss you, Erwin. I will miss you in the morning when I wake and you are not there. I will miss you when you do not come and force me to stop working and take meals, I will miss sleeping with you in bed."

"I will miss taking you to my bed, and trying to get Helga to allow our walks." He grinned at her and softly kissed her still-wet lips. "The trip will be quicker than what you know. I will take an elf that will help with short travel if I can learn to keep my stomach."

"How long?"

"Salazar thinks it to be six weeks."

Rowena threw her arms around his neck and buried her face under his chin. "I am afraid, Erwin, that you will decide not to come back. That you will find the loss of the old ways too great in seeing them again and I will never see you."

He could not answer her as he thought of their village and the way Morgan would look up at the end of the day and nod, seeing his sons come in from the fields. He could hear the call to Morning Prayer that his mother would yell if he stayed too lazy in bed. He pulled Rowena far enough away to look into her face and, lowering his head to hers, he kissed her to stop his own fears from spilling out and his tears from mixing with hers.

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