The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna

Disclaimer: Not Mine.

The Journey From Oidhche Shamhna

Chapter 23

Promises Made and Those Unspoken

The next morning, Erwin and Rowena stood behind Salazar and Alya as they knelt in front of Gryffin and gave up their lives to the gods. Alya had a ribbon she wrapped around her left hand, and then Salazar's right; she pledged fidelity and faith. He had a golden coin carried by his clan for centuries, and fashioned by goblins into a locket, which he slipped over her head as he pledged protection and support.

Later they would claim each other as they hid alone in a mountain crag. Alya would dip a needle in ink and push it into the flesh of her husband's right hand. She would continue until she etched a pattern, then, wiping the blood, she would leave only a mark on the heel of his hand. He would slip an iron ring on the third finger of her left hand and hold it to the ground over her head as he took her for the first time with a pledge of love and trust. His mark, his sign that they were joined, would hold her ring to the ground, holding them both to the earth and letting the gods bless their union.

She would have her public marriage of men and this new land. He would have the old ways that guaranteed children at his hearth in its consummation. This was a marriage of the earth and soul as Gryffin's was with his Lara, and a marriage of men, as was Erwin's and Rowena's.

Helga stood and listened to the words that Gryffin spoke and felt Hanson's eyes upon her. She dared not to raise her head and meet his look, for fear of losing her breath. She had no father to speak for her, and no one of her clan to witness. She watched as Salazar removed Alya's white headscarf, replaced it with one of shimmering green using no cap or combs, and wanted to look at Hanson to see if he could accept this.

She listened to the words spoken and closed her eyes, praying that the union would be blessed with children, and joined the other witches in the song of welcome. She then stood and prayed with the couple and asked his Kista and Cistan to bless the ceremony and welcomed them to live here and to accept this as their home. The couple in front of her was no longer alone, but with the ancestors of all those that came before them and responsible for the keeping of all the spirits that belonged in their home.

Rowena watched as the couple stood and greeted the witnesses for the first time together and smiled at the wedding of all customs made into one. She saw Alya approach Hanson, and his gentle smile as he greeted her. She saw how he kissed one cheek for luck and the other for fortune, and then saw the shadow of a scowl on his face before he turned away.

"He feels uncomfortable." Temin was standing at her elbow, watching Hanson and Alya. "Kista said he has spoken of leaving. She said that Hanson feels he should no longer stay here."

Helga felt her head spin as she lost what little breath she had left and quickly turned her head away lest Temin saw her face. She wanted to run from sight, and hide.

"Kista also says that this is your fault. She says that you need to talk to him."

"My fault? I have done nothing to make him feel uncomfortable." Helga spun back to face him, horrified at what she heard.

"No? Kista thinks there may be more between the two of you than planting and tending. She seems to think it is you that he wishes to tend." Temin leaned forward to look down into Helga's face.

"Kista did not come to witness." Helga changed the topic quickly, afraid he would hear her voice crack.

"She is in bed, the baby is close."

"It would be better if she was up and moving about." Helga turned and looked at him. "Why is it that she is abed?"

"She did not want to ruin this day. She is swollen, her feet and legs larger than I have ever seen them."

"Did this come quickly, as if overnight?"

"Yes, last night she seemed fine but by...."

Temin watched as Helga ran away with her skirts picked up in her hands, and laughed to see bare feet running across the field.

"Is it Kista's time?" Emila asked, also laughing at Helga's almost proper dress.

"Yes, she said not to say anything until the binding was over. She did not want to take away from Alya's time."

"They are leaving now, I will tell the rest." Emila patted his arm and smiled.

"No, she does not want more than Helga. Please." He frowned and locked his eyes to Emila. "She has lost two before. One not born and one that did not draw a breath."

"Then we should all go and offer prayers." Emila took both his hands in hers. "We will do this for the child. Bretta was the leader of the prayer for women before she came here, she will lead us."

"Emila?" Alya had seen Helga run off and Emila speaking to Temin and came over, knowing something had happened.

"No, go with your husband." Emila smiled at her. "We will bring in one life and with luck you will make another."

Alya reddened but did not lower her head. "Helga ran off. What is wrong?"

"Kista does not bring children to the world easily. We will go to her and offer the prayers. There will be enough without you. Go," Emila said.

"Then I will go too. Salazar can wait one more day." She blushed and finally looked down. "All the women must be there. It is Salazar's custom as well, he will understand."

Emila nodded and patted her hand, and left to gather the rest of the witches to attend to Kista. Rowena talked to Bretta, who at once pulled back and shook her head.

"I cannot," she said. "Only a pure witch can lead the prayer."

"You are unmarried, why can you not ..." Rowena stopped talking as she looked at Bretta's face turn red. "Bretta, the others will know if you do not lead, you will not be able to hide this."

"I cannot risk Kista on my..."

"No, Bretta, you will lead the prayer." Salazar stood behind Rowena, scowling.

"You saw," she hissed at him, her eyes filling with tears. "The first day on the pass, you saw what they did. You pulled out of my mind before it was done, but you know."

"I saw a witch that wore a marriage cloth to hide who she was. I saw her swing a blade to defend her people and I saw her fight, as she was raped and beaten. There is no fault in you, Bretta."

"I cannot." Bretta shook her head and began to walk away only to have Salazar grab her arm roughly and pull her back.

"Salazar, no." Rowena tried to intercede on the witch's behalf.

"No, she will come. I will not risk Kista or her child over this foolishness," he said angrily and began to drag her to the hut where Kista lay.

Bretta pulled against him, and dug her heels into the ground. "Leave me be, you oaf of a wizard!"

"You will do as you are told." Salazar lost the grip one of her arms as she twisted and tried to kick at him.

"Gryffin!" he called across the field. "I need some help before I lose my temper with this one."

Gryffin came over and lowered his shoulder into Bretta's stomach, picking her up only to have her fists rain on his back and her feet kick, forcing her knees into his stomach.

"Tell me why we are doing this." Gryffin adjusted his arms to wrap around the witch's legs to still at least her kicks.

"Kista has need of her." Salazar grinned at the curses spilling from the witch's mouth and walked around to Gryffin's back. "I thought you were the quiet one."

"You arse, you slithering bug, you are worse than a weak woman in battle, you..."

"When you are finished I will tell him to let you down. Until then you stay where you are." Salazar scowled at her. "Better still, take her to Kista's hut."

"I told you I cannot!" Bretta yelled and pounded on Gryffin's shoulder harder.

"Gryffin, it would seem that our special witch here knows the prayers that Kista needs but refuses to help her."

Gryffin set the witch back down and frowned at her. "Did I not give you a safe place? Did we not offer our home as yours? Why would you refuse this request? Should we tell you to leave here and be on your own?"

Bretta looked at the ground and shook her head. "Fine, it is on your shoulders if the gods are displeased. If I had somewhere to go ... if I could leave I would."

"You are welcomed to stay here," Salazar said. "Now go tend the witch. What you tell the others is up to you."

She started toward the hut then turned to Gryffin, chewing her lip. "Would you really send me out?"

"No, witch, this is your home."

"You ... will you tell them?" She looked at him, and then dropped her eyes in shame.

"About you?" he asked. "About a witch that fights with a blade and defends her own? Should I not say something?"

"Please, no." She kept her head down and shook her head. "They will not understand why I did not take my life."

"Not here, not in these lands. Perhaps to the west where you come from, perhaps in the old ways, but not here." He walked over to her and lifted her chin. "Keep your head up and be proud of what you have done. Be proud to have fought instead of lying down and letting them kill you."

"They... they..." she stammered.

"I know. In our clan and in all the clans from here to the south, you are innocent and still pure." He brought her head up higher until she met his eyes. "Do you understand me, witch?"

"Kara is the same." She looked at him a little calmer. "Kara says we must hide it."

"Tell Kara she is a fool. Tell her by thinking thus she risks making all the girls in this school believe the same thing. Tell her we do not abide by clan law, and that is all this is." He released her chin and stepped back from her, letting her think about what he said.

She nodded to him and gave a ghost of a smile before heading toward Kista's hut to lead the witches in prayer.

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Salazar and Gryffin walked back middle of the field and sat by the fire built for the bonding to wait. Soon Hanson and Milt joined them as Erwin went to the kitchen for mead and Marcus took the students back to the school to send them off to bed. Only Temin walked to the lake alone, and stood with his eyes closed to the sky, offering prayers and begging the gods not to take this one.

He prayed until dark, and knelt until he could no longer stay on the hard cold stones, then opened his eyes and sat back on his heels. His eyes travelled around the quiet valley and he knew that if they could not be a family here, if his hearth could not fill this time, it never would. He would be happy with only Kista and stop wanting more. He smiled and thanked the gods for her and her alone. He no longer wanted more then he had. If the gods blessed him, so be it. If they did not, it was enough to have his Kista.

He stood, finally at peace, and walked back to the field, surprised to see the fire still sending sparks to the sky and the wizards waiting with him.

"It has been too long," he stated flatly, as he lowered to the ground with the other wizards. "She was faster last time."

"Last time was not good, this will be better. Helga has not yet sent for you, which means she is not in serious trouble." Erwin tried to reassure him.

"The witches still pray, the wind carries their voices this far." Milt looked up at the stars and sighed. "Rossia was two days waiting with the first, and only from dinner to sunset with the third."

"Three?" Gryffin looked at him in question.

"The war took them." Milt looked at the ground, his voice breaking. "The oldest was seven, and next but four. She had hidden them in different places, thinking that if they found one, they would leave the other two. They took the baby first, six months old she was."

"Your wife is young, there will be more." Marcus offered.

"No, the Healer said the youngest was the last." Milt shrugged and looked back at the ground. "The children here are good for her. That is why we decided to stay."

"There will be many more next year. We have found most of the families, and the roads are becoming safer for travel. Soon the school will be full."

"Rossia will like that." Milt smiled and looked toward the hut as he heard someone call.

"Temin, Temin, come!" Ella, Emila's youngest granddaughter, was running toward the fire.

"Temin, come meet your son!" She was breathless by the time she reached the fire and gasped out the news.

"Kista? My Kista?" Temin grabbed the witch with both hands.

"She is fine, but Helga says she is not done." Ella laughed and hugged him around the neck and then pulled his hand to make him follow her faster. "Twins, Kista says to make up for lost time. She is laughing and crying at the same time."

"Twins?" Temin asked, looking back at the wizards beginning to stand around the fire. "She said twins. More then one."

"I will have to make another cradle." Erwin grinned. "Helga said nothing of two."

"She was worried that one would not live and thought it best not to say anything." Hanson stood slowly. "She has worried about this day for some time."

"If she were at home in a clan she would be paid well for what she has done tonight," Salazar said calmly, looking at Gryffin with a smirk.

"Indeed she would." Gryffin nodded knowingly.

"She will take no pay for herself, it is her way." Erwin joined in the ruse.

"She needs no payment. She has all she needs here." Hanson looked toward the hut, wondering how much longer this would take.

"It would be nice to see her benefit in some small way," Gryffin mused.

"Yes, poor Helga," Erwin sighed.

"She would take nothing from any of us." Salazar examined his fingernails, not trusting himself to look at Hanson.

"If her mother were here we could give a gift to her hearth," Erwin offered. "That is, of course, since she does not have her own hearth."

"If her father were here he would accept the gift instead of a bride's price," Salazar said to Gryffin. "It is the custom in her tribe."

"Salazar, I know it is not a custom in her tribe, and I know her mother would not accept a gift in her stead." Hanson scowled at him. "So, what are you on about?"

"Hanson, Helga is as a sister to us." Gryffin looked at Erwin and Salazar, who nodded their agreement. "As her family members, we find it inappropriate seeing you two together without a formal contract."

"Without offering her these." Salazar stepped up to Hanson and took his hand, placing the combs on his palm.

"Rossia has made me carry this with me for two moons now." Milt handed Hanson a bridal cap and veil cloth.

"And I have traded for this." Marcus reached in his pocket and pulled out an iron ring. "Just in case she wants ... well, with so many clans here I was not sure which one ..."

Hanson looked from one wizard to the other and then to the objects in his hand. "I have nothing of my own to give."

"We have done all we can, Hanson. Keep those," Salazar said, nodding to Hanson's hand that held all the trappings of a claiming. "You have the permission of her three brothers. It is all we really have to give, the rest is just to make the witch happy, and none of that is really needed."

"Come! Hurry!" Ella's voice again cut through the night as she ran across the field. "A girl, a beautiful, healthy girl! Come."

"They are well, all of them?" Milt ran to Ella, laughing.

"They are beautiful. They are small as all twins are and healthy. Thank the gods, so healthy. Hurry, Temin wants the naming at once." Ella looked at Milt and bit her lip. "He could not name the last and wants to do it at once."

The naming took place in front of all. Temin held the naked babies to the dark sky and seeing first the stars of Orion, he named his son for the warrior. Then, holding his beautiful daughter up to the heavens, the name Cassiopeia became hers. He took them in, laid them next to his wife, and, sitting on the floor next to her bed, he laid down his head, and slept with his outstretched hand holding hers.

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Helga quietly left the hut, shutting the door behind her, and started back to her own chambers. The dawn was showing over the horizon and she smiled, thinking of Salazar and Alya finally joined and starting their own life. She liked Alya and thought she would be good for Salazar, not giving in and allowing him his way in everything.

She thought of the changes that had happened to the valley and the ones that now considered this their home. The quiet valley did not seem as cold or as lonely as it had at first. She thought of her brothers and wondered how many had taken a wife, and if any were blessed with a son.

She closed her eyes and quickly said a prayer for cursing the gods when Kista no longer had the energy to push out the last child. She added two more in thanksgiving that Kista had at last birthed two healthy babies.

She did not see Hanson waiting for her until she was almost upon him. She stopped as he stepped onto the path form the shadows, blocking her way and looking at her.

"I did not want you walking by yourself," he said quietly as he fell in step with her as she started to hurry up the path.

"I have come this way many times without assistance. I do not need it now." She looked straight ahead. "There is no danger in this valley."

"I wanted to see you." He looked at her only to see her turn her head away. "You have been busy as of late. I thought you would be hungry. I thought perhaps we could sit in the kitchen and eat before you retire."

"I am not hungry."

"You are angry at me."

"No."

"Then why do you walk away when you see me? Why do you refuse to look at me?" He kept his voice even and soft although he wanted to make her stop walking and talk to him. "Have I said something to offend?"

"Said something?" She stopped walking and waited for him to stop and turn back to her. "Said something about what? You talk about nothing. You talk as a fishmonger at the market too long."

"A fishmonger?" He smirked at her.

"Yes, even when something begins to smell you still keep talking sweetly of it," she snapped at him.

"And what do I talk sweetly of?" He frowned, not liking where he knew she would take this conversation.

"You talk of the future, of the things you will do. You talk about tomorrow as if it will come."

"Will it not? If we speak of it or not?"

She wiped her face with the back of her hand and spit on the ground as she tried to walk around him on the path only to have him hold her fast by her shoulders.

"They say you speak of leaving." She looked up at him. "They say you have mentioned it more than once, yet you say nothing of it to me."

"It does not concern you." He released her shoulders and stood back, moving to allow her to continue without him.

"No, it does not." She walked away from him, stopped and walked back, waited until he again looked at her then slapped him hard in the face. "Bastard!"

He grabbed her wrist and twisted her arm behind her, holding it to the small of her back as he pulled her to him.

"What was that for, witch?" he snarled at her.

"For lying to me." Her voice hitched with her sobs. "For promising things and then leaving."

"I promised you nothing!" he thundered at her.

"You did." She laid her head on his chest and sobbed.

"When did I promise you anything, and what did I promise?"

"You promised to claim me."

He grabbed her face and wrenched it up to look in her face. "I am sorry if you thought ..."

"Don't you dare say you never intended to say it aloud."

"I may have intended to, but never did I..."

"Then do it now."

"Helga, I have no..."

"Fine. I will ask you."

"Helga, this is not done."

"If I were to ask you would you refuse?"

"No, I ... Helga... yes, I." He was at a complete loss.

"Well, which is it then?"

"You are asking me?" He asked incredulously.

"If you don't ask first."

"Helga, I want to claim you, I want to spend my life with you..."

"Damn it, man, just ask!" she shouted at him, hitting his chest with her free hand.

"What do you expect me to say with no dwelling, no herd, and no future? 'Marry me?'"

"Yes," she said, nodding. "I accept."

"I am not done." He scowled at her. "I haven't asked you yet."

"Yes, yes you are done." Her head quickly nodded as a wide smile came to her face. "And you said 'Marry me'."

"Helga," he said with a sigh. "I have nothing to give you. I have no right to you."

"Do you love me?" She bit her lip as she looked up at him.

"Yes, since the first day I saw you."

"That is all I need. I want nothing from you." She suddenly reddened and looked down. "Well, that is not completely true."

He chuckled as he lifted her chin, knowing he was defeated and glad of it. He held her head in both hands, wrapping his fingers in her hair. "What is it you want, witch?"

"I want to go for a walk with you and find your son." She held her breath until she saw him smile and, closing her eyes, she felt his lips on hers.