The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna

Disclaimer: Not Mine.

The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna

Chapter 15

The Chamber

Rowena woke the next day to find Erwin's arms around her and his head resting on her head. She closed her eyes and let tears course down her face at the relief she felt that he had returned. She looked at what parts of the room she could see from her position and felt torn between not wanting to leave Erwin's embrace and waking him to find the baby.

She moved enough to turn her head and looked at him, wincing at the pain that shot through her as she heard his voice close to the ear.

"You did not think I could sleep, did you, witch?" Erwin's voice even sounded happy to her ears. "She is beautiful, she is perfect, she is the most perfect creature I have seen. I think I want more. Two more, three...as many as Helga has brothers."

He rose on one elbow and pushed her from her side to her back. Seeing her face contort he quickly sat up. "Rowena? What can I do for you? How much pain are you in?"

"I am fine, Erwin. Witches do this all the time." She pulled up her knees and took shallow breaths as the pain again came in waves as bad as her labour had been.

Erwin pulled the cloak off her shoulders and used his wand to clean the blood, somewhat eased to see much less than the last time. He reached to the side where Helga had left potions and encouraged her to drink two. He then took up the pain potion and held it her lips.

"No, Erwin." She turned her head away and shook her head. "I cannot take that if she is to feed. It will transfer to her."

"Helga feeds her enough for now, you must get well first." He pushed the vial again to her mouth and was a little surprised when she changed her mind so readily. He frowned and looked at her closely. "Is the pain that bad?"

"Not now, not with you so near," she said, trying to smile. "Erwin, Helga told us of her vision. You need to talk to her. Salazar says the vision does not mean what she feels, but ... Erwin, I am afraid for the baby."

"The baby has a name, Rowena." He raised his eyebrow and grinned at her. "I am sorry I did not wait for you but I just wanted to make her mine."

"Well?" Rowena looked up at him.

"Helena, she is my Helena."

"Our Helena," she laughed.

"No, I don't think so. You can have the next one, this one is mine." He laughed as he stood up and grabbed his cloak. "I will tell Helga you are awake and then I must see Gryffin and Salazar."

"What of the children? What did you find?"

"I have found only two houses from Raven. Both childless." He ran his hand through his hair and began to pace. "Slytherin was prepared. They can count the families unaccounted for on one hand and say they will soon be where they belong."

"What of the Claw?"

"I contacted only eleven, seven will return to our world. The other four say it is safer to blend in with the non-magical men. The rest are still being sought."

"Children? Will they send theirs here?"

"Only the females... They want to hide them more than to educate them. I assured them they would be welcome here."

"The Gaunt?"

"None yet. However, Salazar's mother should be of great help."

"She is an awful bossy witch, Erwin. She had Helga in tears and even the elves try to keep far from her." Rowena tried to sit up, then gave up the effort and laid back.

"Stay there. I will send Helga and Helena to you."

"I would have died if she had not come. Helga took away my shoes and gave me my prayers. I even saw Gryffin lay out the mirrors to help me find my way. Then Issa began to say spells and I could feel the baby move a little each time. Then it was over."

"That quick? Helga said three days." He scowled at her lie, and then he walked over and kissed her forehead. "You make beautiful babies, witch. We should fill a whole home with them."

"Go, having more babies is not safe for you to talk about now." She laughed as her eyes became heavy. "Helga sneaks sleeping potion in with the pain vial, she thinks I don't know."

"Sleep than, we will talk later." He threw his cloak over his shoulder and saw she had already closed her eyes.

He found Salazar's tower uncompleted with an open space still running up the middle and was confused as to where to find the wizard. Stopping an elf, he learned of the chambers below the floors. The elf laid his ears back in fear, and directed him to a staircase that now circled down the height of ten men.

He descended, smiling when the stairs did not move, and thought again of Helena, as she had lain on the pallet asleep next to Rowena.

At the bottom of the stairs, he followed the orbs of light to a rough wooden door and, seeing no other way to turn, he touched the door to feel the wards push back at him. He again smiled as he pounded on the door with his fist, knowing that the intrusion would wake Salazar at this time of morning.

"I thought it was you," Salazar said, opening the door and stepping back to allow Erwin entry.

"So, have you seen the most beautiful girl ever created?" Erwin smiled and embraced Salazar in a hug, slapping him on the back as he laughed.

"Seen her? Of course I have seen her. Gryffin and I sat in the hall waiting nearly three full days to see her."

"She is wonderful, she is beautiful and she is now mine. She is Helena, daughter of magical light."

"She is Helena Ravenclaw." Erwin walked to a table that held a jug of mead and began to pour two cups full.

"We have only four moons left." Salazar took the jug from Erwin's suddenly stilled hand.

"Four moons?"

"The prophesy." Salazar handed Erwin his glass of mead, indicating they were to sit on chairs he had moved to his quarters.

"It is quiet in the south. I did not see a hint of war." Erwin leaned back in his chair and looked at Salazar evenly. "I spoke to wizards that had come from the olden Gaul lands, descended from the ones of Avaricum. They are looking for a place to hide. Only a handful remains."

"They have lived separate for a millennium. Did they give a reason for seeking out others now?"

"They have also had a prophesy and wish to hide their children and their library."

Salazar leaned forward in his chair. "What was the prophesy?"

"I do not know fully, only the same as was told at the circle. In only four months time the world as we know it will end."

"Yet there is no war here. It will come from afar, then." Salazar leaned back in his chair again and looked at Salazar. "Perhaps we need to seek out others that have had the same vision."

"I have been told that Helga has shared her vision of the cave."

"Yes." Salazar stood and put down his glass. "I will show it to you."

Erwin followed him back to the surface and then to the original Slytherin tower. Salazar stood in the centre of the tower and pointed to the top where Erwin saw rooms that been added with no stairs.

"From this tower we can see the pass."

"Has Rowena seen this yet?"

Salazar threw his head back and laughed. "You have seen the stairs? She is quite proud of them, you know." He slapped Erwin on the back. "I think she forgot the child she was carrying when she thought of it. Can you imagine that one's first steps?"

Erwin looked at Salazar and felt suddenly ill. "Umm, maybe we can..."

"It is already done. As soon as she is well enough to move, her chambers will be changed to Helga's tower."

"No, I think Gryffin's may be better. Helga would hex me if I told her to move nearer the stairs."

"Perhaps. The stairs in this tower will move up all in one piece. At the top are rooms that we have no need for yet, but Gryffin insists we complete the work here. He says we may need to house many when the four months are done and the view of the pass may become important."

Salazar continued to walk through the tower until he came to a wall that slid back at his command. "The witches wanted a bath."

Erwin entered the room as Salazar commanded a "Lumos" and candles that lined the wall, held on scones in front of mirrors, set the room alight. In the centre of the room a fountain ran, filling three grooves in the floor that carried the water down a gentle slope to run into a pool of water.

"The Romans at least had one good idea." Salazar smiled and raised his eyebrow. "I will add smaller tubs in the towers near the student quarters, but this is for the witches."

"You said that you would show me Helga's vision." Erwin frowned looking at the pool.

"This way," Salazar laughed. "A pool of hot water would not make her act the way she did."

Salazar walked behind the fountain and reached down to pull on an iron ring in the stone floor. Pulling up the covering of the secret hold, he indicated that Erwin should follow as he started down a steep staircase.

"This is the only entrance to the cave now. I have sealed off the one in the mountain for fear that if it is found it could be used as a way in."

Erwin reached the bottom of the stairs and stood as Salazar lit the scones that here were filled with oil and wicks large and numerous enough to light the entire expanse. Helga's vision had become a reality. White polished stone created a walkway down the middle of ponds of clear, fresh water. The walkway was decorated with large figures, lined at the edges as if guarding the way to the head of the avenue at which a great carving stood.

"My gods Salazar, what have you done?"

"This is what Helga saw." He smiled and lifted his arms up to the statue of a great snake. "She saw the children come to commit their bodies to the old ways. Don't you see, Erwin?" He turned, smiling. "The blood she saw was to represent the pure blood that will survive and become stronger as the weaker fall away. She saw Rowena and I, welcoming her to join with us."

"Rowena? Why would she need your permission to ... Salazar, I feel uncomfortable about this."

"She has delivered a child that is not pure, Erwin. As much as you may love that witch and accept her child, the fact remains that she is only your..."

"Don't say it, Salazar." Erwin had placed his hand inside his cloak to rest on the hilt of his blade. "This is wrong, whatever you think this is, the children will never come here."

"They will, Erwin, maybe not in our lifetimes, but they will come. My decedents and yours will walk these same halls, and when the time is right they will call all the pure blood to them and bring all the tribes together in one great clan."

"The bringing together would be a good thing, on that I agree." Erwin took his hand off the blade as he watched Salazar ease. "Perhaps the clans can learn to get along. It is not unreasonable to hope that after what is happening to our world that we would want that."

Erwin walked through the chamber, seeing the diversion of fresh water that would be going to the kitchen to keep the milk cool, and saw the construction that Salazar had built in the Roman way to bring heat to the floors above.

"What of Gryffin, what does he say of all this?"

"Gryffin is a fool, a disheartened fool." Salazar squatted to run his hand in the hot water. "I think it a matter of him being the last, not thinking that in the future his number can again grow. He needs heirs."

"By your own reasoning, his offspring would not be pure." Erwin felt coldness in the hot chamber he had not felt before.

"He needs to find a pure witch and bond with her, and make sure his children bond to pure lines as well."

"Enough of this, I need to return to my witch and my daughter." He saw Salazar's sneer. "Yes, friend, my daughter born of impure blood is now of my hearth."

Erwin turned on his heel and returned the way he had come, leaving Salazar to wander the chamber alone. He needed to find Gryffin and talk about a chamber that he did not trust and that would be under foot, unknown by all that walked the halls. First, he needed to hold his daughter and make sure she was safe.

He found her at last in the kitchen, Helga coaxing the milk-soaked cloth into her mouth and trying to get her to suck.

"She is losing weight and sleeps longer each day, Erwin." She lowered her head again to the child. "Rowena does not have milk to feed her. Issa is with her now. She is applying hot compresses to help bring it forth, but I fear for the baby. In a village we could find a wet-nurse, but here...I just fear for her."

"Is she still in as much pain?"

"Yes, and a fever." Helga's eyes filled with tears. "She is not well, Erwin. She laboured so long, and the fever is worse than normal after childbirth."

"Issa would not let me in her chamber." Erwin reached and took Helena from Helga's arms and sat on the bench. "I have seen the chamber that Salazar has built."

"It is as I saw, I will not deny that." Helga shook her head as she handed Erwin the feeding cloth. "Erwin, the chamber is evil, perverse, and something in it wants to harm."

"I saw nothing of harm, Helga." Erwin raised an eyebrow and scowled at her. "I want no mention of it once the children come. None. They do not need to hear rumours and fears."

"Gryffin wants it sealed. He says it is a blasphemy to the gods."

"Which gods would those be, Helga?" He chucked, thinking of Issa and her pockets.

"You know what I mean."

"That is the problem, Helga, I do. I pray to the gods but when I don't want to hear what they say I turn to others."

"You mean when they said they would not approve of you and Rowena?"

"That and other things." He leaned down and kissed Helena on the head as she sucked on the cloth now firmly clamped in her mouth. "Now that she is latched on to the cloth I have to pry it out to wet it again."

He laughed as Helena clenched her fists and sucked harder as he pulled on the cloth and wailed as he pried her mouth open to pull it out. He face became red as her whole body gripped in tension and shuddered with her anger. He quickly re-dipped the cloth and guided it back to her only to see her clamp her mouth shut and refuse it.

"Just like a witch." He grinned looking up a Helga. "Give them what they want and they are still unhappy."

"It not just true for witches." Helga looked at him evenly. "Give her to me, it is time she is bathed. When she is relaxed we will coax her again. Gryffin will be back in a few days. Talk to him of the Chamber."

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It was another two weeks before Rowena could hold Helena without Erwin hovering near, or Helga being afraid she would drop the child from weakness. She tried to nurse Helena only to see her face wrinkle and frown up at her when she offered her a breast. Helena would clamp her jaw shut at Rowena's pleading but look around hungrily and bob her head in anticipation upon hearing Erwin's voice.

"Erwin." Rowena looked up in tears. "I don't think she wants me."

"Nonsense," he said with a grin. "Just give her time to adjust. She is stubborn as her mother."

He sat behind her on the bed, putting a leg on each side of her and pulling her close, then peeked over the shoulder and called Helena's name. Helena turned her head to his voice, touching her cheek to Rowena's nipple. Her eyes grew large and her mouth opened, seeking the milk. Rowena gently guided the small mouth and watched in awe as she latched on to her and began to suck.

"She wants you to nurse her." Rowena laughed at the look on Helena's face. "Look at her, she is staring up at you and thinks it is you that is feeding her. Your daughter has a lot to learn."

"No more." He shook his head and kissed Rowena on the shoulder. "Trust me, if I have to feed the next one there will not be a next one. I no sooner get to sleep and she is hungry again, and unlike you it means a trip to the kitchen."

"So, do you still want more?" She smiled down at Helena and then turned in time to see his scowl. "Erwin?"

"We don't now what the next three moons will bring, Rowena." He untangled himself from her and stood looking down. "I want a dozen just like her, but we will wait until this is over."

"I did not mean today." She laughed and looked back down at Helena. "However, Helga said I could go for walks again soon."

He grinned to see she still had the modesty to blush and reached in his pocket, bringing out the hair combs and cap. "Rowena, I brought these for you."

She looked at the cap and back up at Erwin, worrying her bottom lip. "Erwin, you gave me your mother's hair dressing. I would prefer to wear it."

"When others come how will they know you are married? How will they know that you are not just here hiding a baby?" He scowled at her. He then walked to the small table in the corner, picked up his mother's gift, sat again behind her, and began to twist her hair.

"You will wear both," he said, and leaned forward to kiss her neck, ginning at her gentle moan.

Once he had managed to twist her hair in some semblance of a knot, he secured it with the combs and set his mother's diadem on her head. Pulling the white cap low on her forehead, he tucked her hair away and covered her head with the traditional black cloth.

"There," he said, standing where he could look at her. "Now you don't have to hide when the others arrive and pretend it does not bother you."

"I would never be ashamed of being here with you."

"No, but our daughter needs to be accepted." He saw her nod and kiss Helena's head. "And I want to show you off not as my whore but as my wife."

He left the room to allow Rowena and Helena time together. He knew these old symbols of marriage were shared with non-magical men and thought they may help keep her safe if the school were discovered.

The women covered their hair from the eyes of other men, allowing only the husband and the gods to see them without the cap, as if the sight would make men lustful and the witches wanton. He thought of his own mother's cap, how she would push it back and wipe her neck under the covering cloth as she bent in front of the fire. He thought of Rowena's neck and knew he would miss the sight.

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