The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna

Disclaimer: Not Mine.

The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna

Chapter 20

Helga II

Helga sat back on her heels and looked down the row of herbs she had planted, frowning at the curve in the middle of an otherwise straight line. Her father would have laughed at the sight and her oldest brother would have ruffled her hair and set it right. She wiped the back of her hand across her face and raised it to the sun, letting the warmth help her swallow her tears and memories before turning back to the soil.

"That line reminds me of a woman's hip." Hanson stood behind her chuckling.

"I am sure you would think so. However, I rather fancy the shape of a lover's cheek." She sat back on her heels again and placed her hands on her hips.

"What would you know of a lover's cheek?" He squatted down next to her and pulled her chin to make her look at him.

She reddened and tried to pull away when he leaned forward and brushed his lips to hers. "I have wanted long to do that."

She looked at him, unable to respond, and then felt her eyes unwillingly fall to his lips and her own part slightly as she leaned forward to brush his with her own. He gently pulled her up to her knees, deepening the kiss and held her next to his chest until the beating of his heart and shorting of breath forced him to push her gently back before he did more.

"Your face is dirty," Helga said, not thinking as the first thing that came to her mouth was what she saw.

"So is yours." He grinned and watched her turn a deeper red as her hands flew to her face, taking more mud to her cheeks with them.

"If you want me to kiss you again to wipe some of that off, just let me know," he said softly.

Helga held her hands in front of her and saw the mud caked on her fingers and knew from his face what her own must look like. She stood up quickly, keeping her head lowered, and stepped back from him, unsure what to do. She heard him laugh and looked up to see a wide smile on his face now smeared with mud. She turned and began to run to the kitchens where she could hide in embarrassment and try to rid herself of the fear that suddenly rose up and made her back cold and her heart race.

Her feet pounded on the stones as she ran around the corner of the school, tears beginning to form and blur her eyes. She saw his face laughing at her and sobbed harder as she ran. Never had she felt this way at an insult hurled at her and did not understand why she cried now. She would catch insulting words, throw them back, and laugh at the barb. Now her heart felt as it had when she had left her village, not turning until she was halfway up the mountain and missing it before she had fully gone.

His arms caught her easily around her waist and pulled her feet up, stopping her flight. He held her back to his chest, feeling her struggle against him, and heard a sob that escaped her clenched jaw.

"I meant nothing by it, witch." He spoke huskily into her ear, his breath falling on her neck.

"You laughed at me." She sobbed and tried to kick backwards and hit the place she knew would send her brothers to the ground. "Leave me go."

"If you promise not to run."

"I promise."

"Promise to your personal god," he laughed, moving his head to the side as hers went forward, knowing she planned to butt her head into his face.

"I won't!"

"Yet you expect me to believe you will not run?"

"Oh, she will run," Salazar said, leaning against the tower wall watching the struggle play out in front of him. "She will run only to let you catch her again."

"You evil foul mouthed son of a mother..."

"Have you known our Helga long?" Salazar asked loudly.

"...of a blistered toad," she finished trying to shout louder than Salazar.

"Helga, promise to your personal god and I will not tell my mother what you called her." Salazar smirked at her.

Helga instantly quieted and looked at him before offering up first a prayer and then two more before she made her promise.

"Something I learned from Erwin." Salazar turned and walked away.

"Helga, first I did not mean for this to happen. I came only to help you with the planting." He turned her around, making her face him, and stepped closer to her, putting his finger to her lips when he saw her trying to speak.

"I will not say I did not want to do this, nor will I say I will not do it again." He cupped her face in his hands. "If we had clans I would speak to your father to allow me to spend time with you. I will now ask you."

Helga looked up at him and bit her lip. Never had a wizard asked to speak to her for more than teaching or what was necessary in the market. She knew it was proper to talk to her father, but did not know what they talked about, or what she should now say.

Her father would accept the young man, and allow them to sit in the square. Helga's mother would bring them sweet cakes and in the summer crushed berries in cold water with honey. Helga thought of her mother, and how they would laugh, and play their silly game of the rich man she would marry. She looked up to Hanson through a blur of tears and saw his worried face.

Her brothers would tease her and spy on them. Follow them to the river and joke at evening song. She put her hands to her mouth to still the sobs that kept spilling over as he politely nodded and began to distance himself.

"Forgive me." He bowed stiffly with a frown on his face. "I must have misread your friendliness for more than it is. I shall not make this mistake again."

He walked to the lake and sat on the rocks that sat half in the water. He had thought of the witch since the first time he had walked in the large hall with the others and she had served them food. Not once had she questioned their motives, or asked for clan alliance. She had hugged the young witches, and smoothed the cap on the old one, as she made sure their every need was filled before joining her friends in the kitchen for their own dinner.

He had felt forlorn and foreign in this land so far from home. Helga had made foods from his homeland and put them quietly at his elbow. He felt it easier to breathe when she was near, and felt the tension in the air lessen when she entered the room. It became easier to go longer times without seeing the horrors of war on the back of his eyelids and he did not hear the screams at night when he remembered her laughter.

He sat long at the lake until he heard the rustle of a cloak and felt someone slide down to sit on the stone next to him. He knew it was Helga by the smell of her clothes and the soft touch to his hand. He sat silently, not willing to turn, and watched the horizon for the first sign of the evening star.

"My father would welcome you. And each brother would test you in some way." She sat next to him, looking up for the same star. "I have a brother for each finger on your hands."

"I would have welcomed their tests," he said softly.

"I don't know. Calie would test your temper, and Bonno your tongue." She chuckled softly. "He likes to confuse you with words and make your tongue trip."

"And you, Helga?" He closed his eyes and offered his prayer as the ghost of the first star appeared.

"I have been told, but I don't believe it, not really, that I test patience." She smiled and slipped her arm around his elbow. "So, if you can take the loss I felt for my family, and the tears not meant for you, and toss them to the winds, and call it my test on your patience, I would very much like to talk with you."

He leaned close to her face, and lifted his finger, pointing to the evening star. He watched her close her eyes in prayer and grinned at the way she squeezed her eyes and frowned as she raced through the prayer. He listened closely, waiting for the last word. And between the last word of the prayer and the time that she opened her eyes, he leaned in and stole her kiss.

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Helga had gathered seed from the wild plants on the ridge. She divided them by purpose and then further separated them by care. Issa sent her elf with more seeds and cuttings, taking care to spell the dangerous and dark clippings and wrapping them in moss.

Helga stepped back and shielded her ears until she found a bucket to place over one of the screaming roots she had upended from an earthen pot. She walked around the bucket, kicking at it until the muted noises stopped, then shaking her head, she listed one more fault to pass on to Salazar about his mother. She smirked and thought to send it back when it was full grown. She buried it deep and marked the spot with Issa's name.

She looked at the rows of herbs and up to the sky, knowing the storm would wash the small shoots down to the lake. She had watched Hanson take the soil piled from the building and create earthen walls low enough to step over but high enough to shelter the smallest plants? from the cold north air. Now, she saw the earthen wall would fill like tubs, breaking down and sliding away with the plants. She threw up shields to protect them, knowing that until she received her new wand her shields would not be strong enough.

Running to Temin's hut, she found Hanson sitting on the ground with the couple feeding a pair of baby unicorns, still wearing the muted golden colour and absent of horn.

"Hanson?" She dropped to her knees and stroked the baby's neck. "From where? However did they come here?"

"At the top of the ridge - do not look, keep looking at the ground." He leaned down and spoke softly. "Centaurs. They run these hills and have known of you and the other three since the first day you came over the pass and offered up to the gods of the valley."

"They have not made it known." She frowned and looked at the little one Temin was feeding.

"They were here when I woke," Temin said, nodding to the unicorn. "They told Kista that all over there are men that hunt these creatures for sport and food. Food they do not need to take in this way."

"I was planting the wood for the wands," Kista said, joining them on the ground. "They came quietly. They said that they would protect the boundaries, the ridge to the sea, if we allowed the forest for those that may be lost without someplace to live in peace."

"That is all they ask?" Helga turned to look up at the ridge, hoping to see a centaur.

"Helga, please," Hanson hissed. "I asked you not to seek them. They are a gentle herd that wants only to be left from man. If we anger them, I am afraid they will not remain gentle. This is their land that they freely give us."

"It would be best to speak only to Rowena and Salazar of this. I don't think the others should know yet, until the unicorns are older and we know if the Centaurs will cause harm." Helga looked back at the ground. "I will feel safer once Gryffin returns. If they are dangerous... I don't know what to do."

"We need to get these inside." Kista looked up at the sky and saw the storm approaching.

Kista picked up one of the small animals as Temin took the other and together they carried them into their dwelling to wait out the coming storm.

"I came to find you about the plantings," Helga said as she and Hanson began to walk toward the school. "I didn't know about the creatures, but I know the storm is coming and we are going to lose all that is planted."

"I will put up shields and when your wand is ready I will show you how to cast one."

He matched his stride to her shorter one as they walked back towards the school. He cast his spells over the plants, protecting them from both wind and rain. He showed her how to make a cut in the soil to make the water run away from the plantings and laughed as she tried to do the same, only able to make a weak mark in the soil.

"If you think this is funny, wait until you taste your lunch." She frowned, looking at the ground.

"We have a few minutes left before the rain starts." Hanson looked up to the sky then turned and held his hand out to Helga. "Come, walk with me."

Helga looked at his hand and sucked her upper lip into her mouth, shaking her head to indicate no. Her eyes went from his out stretched hand and back to his face, feeling her own redden. She looked over her shoulder and back to his hand.

"Helga?" Hanson looked over his own shoulder as he watched her search for something. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing Hanson." She lowered her head and began walking toward the kitchen.

His long strides brought him up beside her quickly. "Have I said something to offend you?"

"No. Leave it, Hanson." She felt heat rise up her neck and add to the fire already on her face.

"Helga? Please." He grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Now tell me what I said."

She looked at him and clamped her mouth shut rather than admit what went through her mind. Rowena and Erwin would walk often and now she looked at Hanson and wanted the same. She lowered her face, squeezed her eyes shut, and rapidly whispered prayers.

Hanson leaned down and listened closely, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He stood up straight and waited for her prayers to end and her eyes to open before he took her chin and turned it up to him.

"I pray not to those gods of patience and chastity, but the gods that will be at our hearth, that will welcome you to my bed and give you my child." His arms slid around her and pulled her close as his mouth lowered to hers. He held her against his chest and whispered in her ear. "I will not ask that of you until we are wed, and I will not claim you until you are ready."

She nodded into his chest and tipped her head up as he again let his lips linger on hers, and his arms encircle her back. He heard her soft gasp as his hands moved lower down her back, past her waist, and then pulled her into him.

He roughly pushed her back and stepped away, running his hands through his hair. "Gods, witch. You need to go to the kitchen."

"Hanson? Have I ...I mean, did I...?"

"No, witch." He stepped back to her and grabbed her upper arms. "The fault is in me. Now go fix the meal and leave me before I do take you for a walk."

Her face turned red, but this time she grinned and walked away, looking back over her shoulder and giggling to see him watching after her.