The rest of that evening was a little awkward but endearing in that awkwardness. Apple-Seed and I both bathed although she was a little mystified as to why I was shy about my nakedness and hers. She argued that we would soon be doing much more than looking at each other naked which was a valid argument, especially given that I had made the same point earlier, but I wanted some time to absorb everything before we got to that point and said so.
Looking back now, the hypocrisy is not lost on me.
Chestnut-Shell was much more demure and went elsewhere to change out of her robe into some kind of nightdress. I wore a spare shirt to go to bed. True to their word, the ladies pushed me into the middle. Apple-Seed being the smaller, rested her head on my shoulder while Chestnut-Shell satisfied herself with a bit more distance and held my hand.
All things considered, I slept rather well.
I did have a nightmare though, as I had warned them about. I could have predicted it really. I was back in the forest at Amber’s Crossing. Kerrass had lost the game for my soul, had shrugged and was walking away from the beast and me without so much as a backward glance. The Beast had smiled at me wickedly and evilly before stepping forward and beginning to torture me where he turned into Bishop Sansum and started to really go to town on my poor body.
Then I was woken, rather roughly by two women shaking me. I blinked for a few moments and fought down the panic while I struggled to remember where I was and what these two women were doing with me in my bed.
Then I remembered and as I did so, I went through the full routine. I had a brief burst of violent sobbing with tears running down my face. When I was done with that, the sweat ran freely while I shook violently before that too stopped abruptly and I was left feeling drained and exhausted.
To be fair to them, the two women reacted very well. Apple-Seed seemed to know what was happening from a personal experience point of view where Chestnut-Shell reacted from a more professional standpoint. As though she had been instructed as to what the correct thing to do in these circumstances was.
Apple-Seed just held on to me, not getting too close to me and making me feel as though she was crowding me. But giving me a little bit of distance. She held my hand and squeezed it hard every so often to keep me in the here and now. Chestnut-Shell was a bit of a bustler. Meaning that she found herself lots of small chores to do. She sorted me out with a basin of cool water to wipe the sweat from my body, made us all a calming cup of tea with plenty of honey in mine. Then she changed the blankets that were on the bed.
They also made me tell them about the nightmare and what had happened before both of them, rather emphatically informed me that I was there and with them and that even if love was a little distant yet, both of them cared for me and would look after me, that nothing was going to come for me while I was in their care. I was led back to bed and the two of them held me close until sleep finally took me.
I won’t lie and try to pretend that it was anything less than really rather pleasant.
I did dream again after that. I found myself in the clearing again. Near a campfire with the same field of stars rotating above me. I could see the campfire again and smell horses. I was already underneath my blankets though and was warm and tired. There was someone else there but I was not afraid. In my half-conscious, dreaming state, I assumed that it would be Kerrass, moving around the camp, doing the things that Witchers do when they are dream manifestations of the normal person.
I woke for the first time to see the light coming in from the balcony area. Chestnut-Shell was getting up and moving around. She was doing so quietly and when she heard me stirring she leant over and whispered in my ear.
“Shhh. Rest there is no need for alarm. Go back to sleep, you have earned it.” And she moved off. She seemed calm and I was dimly aware that at some point in the night, I had become the big spoon to Apple-Seed’s little spoon. I was helpless and fell back to sleep almost straight away.
I woke again a little bit later when Apple-Seed herself rose. This time I tried to fight my way to being properly awake, but again, I was ordered back to sleep and not having any particular reason to disobey, I allowed myself to be pushed back.
When I finally awoke properly, it was much later in the day. Apple-Seed was gently shaking me awake with a smile.
“It is time.” She said. “We have allowed you to sleep as long as we can while still giving you a gentle start to the day. There is a breakfast of boar, bread and cheese and then we need a quick talk before we head off.”
I blinked a little bit in the face of the alarmingly perky woman.
“Trayka’s changing?” She checked with a smile. “She invited you which makes it an honour, we assumed that you would want to go. It is worth seeing apart from anything else.”
“Yes,” I commented. “I do want to see that.” I tried to struggle my way free of the blankets but she put a hand on my shoulder. “Hush,” She said. “Take your time, there is no rush but in order for there not to be a rush, you need to start moving.”
I didn’t comment on the paradox of that and allowed myself to blink my way towards wakefulness.
Breakfast was delicious and Apple-Seed sat with me as I ate, she watched with amusement as I ate like a starving man.
“You said there was going to be a talk?”
“There is, do not worry though, nothing quite as formal or as worrying as you might think and it can wait until you have finished feeding yourself.” She smiled as she said it and put another slice of roast boar on my plate.
Chestnut-Shell came in to see us then. All of the rooms were open to the air and it was then that I realised that it had been raining. She was squeezing the water from her locks while the water made her robe cling to her in ways that I will admit to finding fascinating.
I quickly turned my head away and Apple-Seed noticed, taking my chin in one hand and raising it.
“It’s ok.” She told me. “Look, it is one of the things that we need to talk about. As you yourself said last night, we need to get rid of the awkwardness between us as we do not have time for it. And she is a beautiful woman.”
I looked up to see that Chestnut-Shell was smiling at me a little shyly. When she was satisfied that I had stopped lowering my gaze she nodded.
“That is all well and good, sister-mine but damp cloth is uncomfortable. I must go and change, you,” She pointed at me with a fake-stern smile. “Finish eating your breakfast. There will be plenty of time for you to examine me later. And her for that matter.”
Apple-Seed blushed. Most enjoyably.
I finished the heroic amount of food that was placed in front of me and drank the, truly, ludicrous amount of water that I was offered to Apple-Seed’s insistence.
“Drinking water is very important” Was all she told me.
“What for?” I wondered. Then she smiled a little sinisterly before taking the eating pots away and coming back.
Chestnut-Shell came back in wearing a fresh robe and was rowelling her hair dry.
It’s to help you stay… virile. There are several factors that help with that kind of thing and proper amounts of water intake are strongly involved in all of that.”
“Huh,” I said. “The things you learn.”
Apple-Seed reemerged and the two women exchanged glances, nodded to each other and moved towards me as a pair. It was honestly, rather intimidating and more than a little arousing. I tore my eyes away from them and looked at the water jug.
“Have you been dosing me?” I wondered.
“No,” Chestnut-Shell said as she took my left hand.
“At least, not yet.” Apple-Seed seemed to be in a mischievous mood as she took my right. I was pulled out onto the balcony where I was seated on one of the chairs. It was still raining but they had pulled some of the chairs and benches undercover so that we could sit and talk without getting soaked to our skins.
Then the pair of them looked at each other and giggled.
“Ok seriously,” I commented, “what’s going on?”
“The two of us have made some decisions,” Apple-Seed told me with a barely contained sense of glee.
“That sounds ominous,” I told them.
“Not really,” Chestnut-Shell told me, “She’s just enjoying the drama of the thing.”
“Do you want to tell him or are you going to let me do it?” Apple-Seed demanded.
Chestnut-Shell who was also clearly enjoying herself smiled and nodded, pretending to be contrite.
“There are things to be talked about,” Apple-Seed said.
“Yes, you’ve said.” I retorted, finding myself a bit annoyed now. “In fact, I would dearly like things to come to a point now.”
“Hear hear,” Chestnut-Shell muttered.
“Before long, we, you and I,” Apple-Seed was picking her way through the words cautiously. I got the sense of a person that had rehearsed a speech and now that she was actually giving that speech, it was all going wrong for her. “You are I are going to be sleeping with each other.” She took a deep breath, a look of distracted frustration on her face. “We’re going to be having sex.”
She rushed that last bit out.
I nodded. “Yes, I thought that that was the general idea.”
“And you and she are goingtobehavingsex.”
I glanced over at Chestnut-Shell who was clearly enjoying the other woman’s excited discomfort. She nodded and winked at me.
“Yes?” I said carefully. “I am confused. I thought we all knew this.”
“We were talking while you were sleeping and we’re a bit concerned about… well… awkwardness.”
“There’s that word again. What do you mean in this instance?” I wondered.
“Well… We’re going to be getting to know each other.”
My brain did that thing where it shut down and my mouth kept talking.
“You mean having sex,” I told her.
“Yes. And then Chestnut-Shell is going to come in from wherever she goes and then we’re goingtobehavingsex and she will walk in and it will be all awkward. And then you and she will be having sex and then I will come in from training and it will be all awkward.”
“I see.” And I did, they were trying to set some kind of rules of interaction between themselves and me before things got really unpleasant.
“Well, that sounds unpleasant to us. And you don’t want to be in a state where you are worried that we are comparing you with each other or saying that we enjoy different things or mocking you behind your back.”
“No,” I can see that.”
“So we think we have a solution.”
“Good,” I said. “Excellent.” I waited for a little while and when no answer as to what the solution might be presented itself I decided that they needed another prompt. “And what is the solution?”
Chestnut-Shell was outright trying not to laugh now.
“Well… Oh, this was so much easier when I was practising this speech when you were asleep. Well, Chestnut-Shell and I have known each other since we were young. We went our separate ways when we both went off to do different things and since then we’re… we’re going to be… raising children together and… I mean it might not last but…”
“Oh for the love of the Man of Shadows.” Chestnut-Shell half laughed and half growled before grabbing the small warrior dryad and kissed her.
I blinked.
At first, Apple-Seed was clearly astonished as Chestnut-Shell, the far less physical of the two grabbed the side of her head. And then she was kissing back before Chestnut-Shell pulled back with a satisfied look on her face.
Apple-Seed seemed more stunned than anything, blinking owlishly with a little frown on her face along with a slight smile. I could not help but laugh at her. I remember the same feeling the first time Ariadne and I kissed. It had been a much gentler kiss than that one and it was a kiss of mutual agreement rather than anything else. But I remember a moment immediately after the kiss where I spent a bit of time trying to figure out if I had been imagining the event or if it had really happened.
So I laughed at her, which unfortunately meant that I was out of breath when Chestnut-Shell grabbed me and did the same thing to me.
It was a nice kiss all things considered. It was clumsy, a little too aggressive but I correctly guessed that that was more to cover for her own nervousness than anything else. And it was over before it really had a chance to start.
Chestnut-Shell sat back with a satisfied look on her face.
“Now you two kiss.” She ordered. “Go on it will…”
I lost whatever else she said as Apple-Seed who had had more time to recover than I had, pounced on me. When we came up for air, Chestnut-Shell was beaming.
I took a deep breath.
“Ok now,...”
I needed more breath than that and swallowed.
“Now I’m not going to say that that was unpleasant,” I commented. “And I am grateful for the experience, but what just happened?”
Chestnut-Shell sobered. “I went to Apple-Seed with my concerns this morning. I refuse to be a part of a love triangle. I’ve been there before when a… partner was choosing between me and another and they chose the other. I was heartbroken for a while. I will not do so again. I will admit that I was young and they were young and that it all got a bit silly, but the sentiment is the same. So it occurred to me that the way round it was to close the triangle.
“I like Apple-Seed. She is certainly easy on the eye, she is quick, intelligent and doesn’t have the arrogance of a lot of her warrior ilk where they look down on everyone that cannot properly wield a spear.”
Apple-Seed looked as though she was about to protest before she considered, shrugged and nodded.
“Not an unfair comment.” She decided after a while.
“It is true that we have known each other for a long time and that we will be raising our children side by side. So I proposed a romantic… arrangement between us.”
“She did too.” Apple-Seed was recovering from her embarrassment and shock. “She literally called it a romantic arrangement, thus making it the least romantic thing in the world.” She cackled at Chestnut-Shell’s expression.
Chestnut-Shell threw a glare at the other woman.
“I have no idea if it will last past your departure. I have no idea if it will last past our children being born. I treasure my friendship with Apple-seed, a friendship that I am rediscovering to my joy. But I will not share her with you unless I also get a piece of that. And I think it’s worth trying at the very least.”
“This is all happening very fast for me,” I commented.
“And for me,” Apple-Seed admitted. “The two of you don’t know it but I’ve talked more in the last two days, including today, than I have in the last two months.
“We don’t have enough time to waste it,” Chestnut-Shell told us. “I agree that love can take time to develop. I agree that we are not there yet, any of us. But I know myself enough to know that I am fond of both of you and I will weep when Freddie leaves us. And I do not want to let that feeling go, or let the feeling of…”
Apple-Seed hugged the other woman.
“I have something to say to the two of you,” I told them.
They quietened down a bit as they turned to look at me.
“I love another woman,” I told them. “You both know this. I knew what I was getting into when I left my judgement at the hands of your council and I must admit that if I was given the choice, I would not be… mating with anyone other than the woman I love for the rest of my life.”
They both nodded at that.
“We understand,” Chestnut-Shell said while Apple-Seed put her hand on my arm.
“But, having met the two of you? It will not be as awful as I feared. I am pleased for the pair of you.” I told them. “I hope that the two of you do get to love each other and that your love lasts. That will make me feel better when I have to leave, to know that the two of you will…”
Apple-Seed hugged me, a moment later, and a little more awkwardly, Chestnut-Shell joined the hug.
“Schattenmann’s blood,” Chestnut-Shell muttered. “Elm-Branch is going to be insufferable isn’t she.”
“She really is.” Apple-Seed agreed.
“Do you think she planned this?” I wondered.
“I wouldn’t put it past her,” Chestnut-Shell said. “She acts as the settlement matchmaker and I have never heard of her getting anything wrong when it comes to romantic match-ups.” She took a breath as she pulled away from us. “I feel it is only fair to warn the pair of you though. I’m not a virgin but it’s a technical thing. I know how my body works but…”
She blushed.
“But there has never been another person involved.” Apple-Seed guessed and Chestnut-Shell nodded.
“For my part,” Apple-Seed went on. “I have huddled with more than one other scout in the depths of winter and those things sometimes lead to other things. It’s never lasted though. And I’ve never been with a man before.” She turned to me. “Most of the men we get through the settlement tend to be blinded by the women like the redhead with the big tits that went after you yesterday.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” I commented. “I suppose that it’s only fair that I tell you that I have had a number of partners. Most were part of a business transaction as sex work is a thing in our society.”
They both nodded.
“I have loved two women, I think. Maybe three. One is going to be my wife and another I am still friendly with. She was very kind to me. The third broke my heart. Beyond that? I have lain with a succubus and a woman that I think might have been a goddess. The first was a wonderful experience, the second one nearly shattered my mind. But she taught me a lot of things. Not least the fact that the woman I love will forgive me this.”
“You have not known the body of the woman that you are to be married to?” Chestnut-Shell guessed.
“I have not. There are… societal issues that prevent us. Needless to say that I am looking forward to my wedding night.”
The two women laughed.
“Thank you for telling us,” Apple-Seed said. “Although I’m going to find it hard to compete with a Succubus.”
I remembered Saffron then and my face fell.
“Oh, Freddie.” Chestnut-Shell, who seemed to be better at reading things. “I’m sorry.”
I shook myself. “Right then. What does one wear to see someone get turned into a dryad?”
Apple-Seed wanted to know what was happening but Chestnut-Shell recognised my desire to move on.
As it turns out though, the thing you wear to go and see someone become a dryad is the same thing that you wear every day. I was wondering if it was some kind of religious thing where you are expected to look your best, the same way that you would dress when a person becomes baptised and otherwise confirmed in the religion that they are joining, or for weddings and things.
But that was not the case.
It seemed as though things were less formal here. Less thought out.
But it did seem religious in… I want to say essence. As though being a dryad was in and of itself, kind of a religious thing. I commented on that to Apple-Seed as we walked to the place that we were going. Chestnut-Shell had had to go off. Given that she was an Attendant which was a title that I had still not quite managed to nail down as to what it was, she would be involved in the ceremony accordingly. So she had walked a little way with the pair of us before separating off.
Apple-Seed told me that she was the wrong person in our little trio for me to be asking these questions.
I laughed as there was little that I could say about that. It was true after all.
“But I need to start somewhere.” I tried. I know what you do, you are a scout. It is your job, presumably, to guard the outside borders of the Forest. You track moving parties through the trees and near the trees so that when one of them goes into the forest, then you are there to be aware of them and to report the incursion to your superiors.”
“That is pretty much it.” She agreed. “On occasion, where possible I might deal with a small incursion myself or find some way to warn off people that are not taking the hint. A lone woodcutter who decides to cut down the wrong tree would be a good example.”
“How do you do that?”
“You would be astonished how high a man can jump when he hears a low whistle on the wind. And if that doesn’t work, then an arrow between his legs normally does the trick. They run off, I recover the arrow, a new superstition is formed.”
I thought of all the times that Kerrass, and therefore I, had investigated people who had seen something or heard something out in the trees but it had turned out to be nothing. I thought of these things and decided what to say next rather carefully.
“Oh,” I said. Not my finest moment.
“So what does an attendant do? What is their purpose?”
Apple-Seed blew out a breath. She was uncomfortable about something.
“They are similar to teachers and scholars and their responsibilities are the same.” She frowned. “Do you know, I have never really thought about it before? I kind of think of them as Teachers with a few extra bits attached.”
She smiled “And before you ask, Teachers are the ones that take young dryads between the ages of six and eleven years of age. They teach us to read, write and give us a basic understanding of our world and what is involved in that. They teach us about the tracks of the animals and warn us about the dangers of humans. They introduce us to the crafts necessary to live like sewing, cooking and how to spot spoiled meat and poisoned water. They give us a basic understanding of our lives so that when we choose our specialisations, we have a bit more of a grounding in what we might be interested in. For me, it was the difference between being a scout, a warrior or a craftsman. I didn’t grow tall enough or develop enough bulk to be a warrior and I had, and I quote, too much imagination to be a good craftsman.”
“Too much imagination? I thought that would be a good thing?”
“Most of what craftsmen do is turn out basic tools. As scouts, we make our own bows according to our own specifications. But Craftsmen make arrows. Nails, rugs, bowls and pots. Not a lot of room for imagination in that kind of thing. So I became a scout instead. It was the right choice, all things considered.”
I let that go.
“So what do attendants do?”
“I remember attendants coming to see us, they teach us about the Schattenmann. They tell us about our history and our culture, where we come from and how we are made. Teachers give us the outlines of that kind of thing at a young age but Attendants turn up when we are ten or so. My mother said that the Attendants are scouting for any potential in our class. It is certainly true that there are often cases where some of us are not seemingly given a choice. We just… disappear and the next time we saw them, they were wearing the robes of an Attendant.”
She looked sad for a moment. “That was what happened with my first girlfriend. I still see her occasionally but she only has eyes for the Schattenmann now and swears that she will never allow herself to become pregnant. I got over it eventually but… I had promised to wait for her and then she moved on.”
I left it a moment before I started with the teasing.
“You go for the intelligent types then?”
She laughed, her downward tilting towards melancholia was diverted. “And you should be grateful for it.”
“And this woman was not Chestnut-Shell?”
She laughed again. “No. Chestnut-Shell is older than me by a couple of years. Truth be told that we all had a bit of a crush on Chestnut-Shell as she always seemed too old, too clever for the likes of us. My friends and I. Looking back, I recognise that she was just… She’s cleverer than me by a forest mile. She was already thinking and deciding and having ideas and we were too young for that. We thought she was beyond us and talking to her now, she thought we were beneath her. It seems that we needed to wait for a few years.”
She grinned shyly.
“So what do the Attendants do in daily life?”
“They communicate with the Schattenmann for us and attend upon his will. In practicality, that means that they are the keepers of the Schattenmann’s rituals and magic. And no, I haven’t asked Chestnut-Shell about that yet. I don’t want to push her further than she is comfortable with and I am… nervous about that this early in our…”
“I understand,” I told her. “Early love is drought with peril.”
“I don’t love her.”
I just looked at her.
“Ok,” She admitted. “I don’t love her yet. But she’s sooooooo hot.”
I laughed at her.
“In practice though, I don’t have much to do with attendants. I know that most of the council of leadership are attendants. There are a couple of former warriors and a scout on them. You met Flax-Seed who we call “The Protector”.
My face must have darkened at that as Apple-Seed promptly changed the topic. All I could remember then was Flax-Seed ordering the death of Henrik and Trayka’s screaming.
“But most of the council are attendants and they are the ones that dictate our society and what we do. I agree with Chestnut-Shell that they can be a bit conservative sometimes but they haven’t led us wrong yet.”
“That you know of,” I told her. “Such things can sneak up on you when you aren’t paying attention. Then you look back and think, if only we had not been quite so stuck in our ways.”
She frowned again and didn’t seem too happy with that.
We had been walking down a slope and heading into a deep valley, eventually, we came to a dell where a huge tree was growing. Even though the canopy of the forest was far above our heads as a whole, this tree still grew plenty of leaves and seemed so large and ancient. It was one of those trees that gave off an impression of deep thought and wisdom, despite being a tree. As though it had been standing here since the dawn of time and it had seen much and would see much more still.
There was quite a crowd.
“Freddie.” I was astonished as I heard the happy voice calling my name. I looked over to see Trayka bouncing around and waving to me with a happy little smile on her face.
I swear to the flame that I almost didn’t recognise her.
Trayka normally tied her hair up, well out of her way to keep it from getting tangled up in her business. She wore shirts, jackets, doublets and trousers. I had seen her wear leggings at best and the most skin I had ever seen her display was when I had accidentally caught her with Piotr while I was gathering wood and I hadn’t stayed to see much more than that.
Her other piece of clothing was a scowl.
Now, she was almost a different person. Her hair was down and hung loose a surprising distance down her back. Someone had been brushing it and in the light filtering down from the canopy, her hair shone. She was wearing a loose cream dress, I say cream but it was the colour of commonly spun, undyed wool and it was belted with rope. She was barefoot and smiling.
As I say, I almost didn’t recognise her and I told her that as she approached. She was trailed by a little girl of four who had a deep green shade to her skin and another woman who was holding an older girl by the hand.
Trayka laughed at me and astonished me even further by throwing her arms around me.
I had never thought of Trayka as being attractive more than an appreciation of a confident woman, but seeing her then, there was a beauty to her face and her stance that I had not seen before.
“You look…” I began, but words failed me.
She smiled. “I feel…” She mimicked my voice and giggled at my face.
A giggling Trayka, will wonders never cease?
Apple-Seed cleared her throat.
“Forgive me.” I slipped into a formal style of speaking automatically as a defensive reflex. “Trayka, this is Apple-Seed, one of the two that I am chosen to mate with.”
Trayka seized Apple-Seed’s hands in her own.
“And Freddie, this is one of my Brother’s mates.” She said. “Acorn-Shell.” The dryad nodded to me with an interesting glint of humour in her eye.
“Yes,” I said. “I know, you introduced us last night remember.”
“Well, you clearly had other things on your mind at the time.” Trayka teased. I was astonished. I had no idea what to do with this new and happy Trayka, she was almost a different woman entirely.
“Can you excuse us for a minute, I have things to say to Lord Freddie.”
Apple-Seed and Acorn-Shell seemed to know each other, Apple-Seed swept the little four-year-old up into her arms to distract the child from the new human Aunt that she was clearly fascinated by and the small party went a little way off, the two women were gossiping.
“How are you holding up?” Trayka asked me gently.
I thought about that for a moment. “It could be a lot worse,” I told her. “Apple-Seed is a good woman and her companion Chestnut-Shell is a little bit more… intense, but I think she’s a good woman as well. Not how I wanted to become a father though.”
Trayka smiled in sympathy. “I heard what you did for Stefan. He doesn’t deserve it.”
“He’s a good man too.” I protested, “and he was in over his head.”
“You never had to listen to him preach about your immorality.” She told me. “You men and your codes of honour. Yours makes you protect him. His damns you for doing so. I know which code of honour is better in my eyes but I don’t want to talk about him now. I don’t need to worry about him, or his ilk, any longer.”
She sighed dreamily.
“You seem happier,” I told her.
“I am I think.” She told me. “I don’t know because I never remember feeling this way before.”
“How are you feeling?” I pushed it, “You know that this could kill you right?”
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“I know.” She grinned. “And it’s possibly the most… freeing thing I can imagine. When I go down there into that hollow there are only two possible outcomes. I live and become a dryad or I die. There is nothing else. I have seen the life of a dryad in brief. It seems like a good life to me. I will be a scout. I will be a good one. I was always more at home in the trees, the darkness and the woods hold no fear for me. And when the time comes, I shall mate with some man with gladness. And they were right by the way?”
“In what way?”
“The sex is fantastic.”
I laughed with her. “I didn’t know you swung that way,” I commented.
“I normally don’t” She replied. “But I was there and she was there and then…” She shrugged. “Ah Freddie, sorry, I never called you that before, are you ok with me calling you Freddie?”
I shrugged. “It’s what my friends call me,” I told her. “So you are welcome.”
She looked at me with a sudden tear in her eye. “Great Sun, but I should have taken you for a ride when I had the chance.”
“I would not have been receptive,” I told her before taking a deep breath and deciding for honesty. “Not until now at least and even then, I would have preferred to stay faithful to Ariadne.”
“She will forgive you.” Trayka decided. “If she is worthy of you, she will know why you did it and she will forgive you.”
“I know,” I said. “But it’s not her feelings that I am worried about.”
She took that in silence.
“Are you sure you’re ok with this?” I checked again.
“Ah, Freddie.” She laughed and did a little dance. “I feel like an arrow sprung from the bow. Have you ever felt as though your entire life has been leading you to one moment? As though all your decisions and all of the decisions of the people around you only existed to drive you towards this one point. That is how I feel. This is the culmination of my life and one way or another, the old Trayka will die down there and the new version of me will be born. I will be called Yew-Branch. I like it.”
“I have to ask….” I tried.
“Ask Freddie.” She told me with a smile. “You might not get a chance again.”
“They killed your Father.”
“Yes.” Her eyes went vacant and I saw a deep sadness. “He was dying you know. It was why he agreed to come with me. He didn’t tell me that until just before we went into the heart of the Forest. The poison that you cured him of will not have helped. But he had pressure on his skull that gave him headaches. He had paid a village witch to examine him and she told him that he had about six months to live. I was angry with him that he hadn’t told me and now I am furious with myself that I never told the old fool that I loved him.”
She sighed and then brightened. “Who knows. Maybe I will get to see him again soon.”
“I’m not sure how I feel about this,” I told her.
“Ever the martyr.” She laughed at me. “Yes, I know what the word means. If I die, celebrate that I died in the way that I chose and if I live…”
She smirked. “Maybe I will convince your mates to let me join the three of you one night.”
I thought of Chestnut-Shell and Apple-Seed. “I am not sure that they will go for it.”
She laughed again “Oh there is so much you still have to learn about what it is to be a dryad. Come on, I don’t want to be away from folk for too long.”
We walked back to where Apple-Seed and Trayka’s nieces were waiting for us. The nieces had been deposited with Apple-Seed without qualms and the three of them were getting on famously with everything that was going on. The youngest soon reattached herself to Trayka though and there was much laughter.
More dryads were gathering and the atmosphere was taking on the kind of hushed reverence that I associate with religious services. The kinds of services where people stand at the front and get married, or get passed through the flame at birth. Or get cremated. The conversations that had been loud and vibrant became hushed and although not whispered, it was lacking the animation that had been present previously.
I commented on the feeling to Trayka and Apple-Seed. Apple-Seed held to her line about such comments being better kept to Chestnut-Shell as she, Apple-Seed, felt woefully underqualified to deal with such matters. Apple-Seed was returning to her more, shy self now that she was when she was around other people, her head was bowed and she wouldn’t speak unless someone was speaking to her and then, she poke in small sentences.
Trayka had no such compunction.
“One of your mates is an attendant right?” She false-whispered to me.
“That’s right.”
“Well she’s right, they will be better at giving you answers. But the truth of the matter seems to be that… It seems weird and I suppose I will have more answers for you presuming I survive what is about to happen. But they, we I suppose, seem to treat the Schattenmann as a God. But instead of “believing” that he is a God, we know that he is a God. I have no idea what he is… yet. But…” A flash of the old Trayka was in her eyes. “I still have questions for him and am looking forward to finding certain things out.”
“So is the Schattenmann revered like a God? Will you be required to treat him that way?”
“I don’t think so.” She told me. “It doesn’t seem that way anyway. But they do revere him. He is important to them I… I can’t say fairer than that. They seem more… grateful to him in some way. He is important to them. It’s as though, they are his subjects…. Yes, that’s it. It’s more like the way a person treats their Lord rather than a way a person treats their God.”
“The difference between faith and belief I suppose.”
She raised an eyebrow in question and Apple-Seed looked up in question.
“We have faith that our Gods exist,” I said. “And we have faith that they are Gods rather than natural… things. Nilfgaard worships the Sun. I worship a power that was found in the temple at Novigrad. We have faith that they are Gods and we worship them as such. We find spiritual fulfilment there and in those figures. But here, the dryads know that their God exists. There is no doubt there.
“I am fueled by doubt all the time. Am I holy enough, am I good enough for my God to receive me and to love me? I don’t know but I have to have faith that that is not going to trip me up. The dryads do not need to have faith. They can just go up to him and ask him.”
“It’s not quite like that.” Apple-Seed said, “But…” She sighed in frustration. “You really should be talking to Chestnut-Shell about all of this.”
Acorn-Shell audibly sniggered. It was a well-meaning joke, good-natured and gentle. It turns out that there is a certain amount of humour about what each dryad gets up to. The differences in character and the various trades and professions that they are called to. It is good-natured, fond and gentle in nature. But Apple-Seed seemed to shrink in on herself because of it.
I put my arm around her and gave her a little shoulder hug. She looked up at me and smiled briefly before looking down at the big tree.
Trayka was remonstrating with Acorn-Shell about things before the four of us quietened down, the children caught our mood and hushed, sitting cross-legged before us. By some kind of unspoken agreement, we had been pushed towards the front of the crowd. Presumably, because Trayka was with us and that meant that we would be part of the VIP section.
A procession had entered the small dell. They had come from somewhere although I hadn’t noticed. It wasn’t the direction of the village or any particular structure. There were ten of them. All wearing robes that were similar to the robes that Chestnut-Shell habitually wore and I wondered if one of the procession was Chestnut-Shell.
“Third from the back,” Apple-Seed whispered in my ear.
“How can you tell?” I wondered. Apple-Seed blushed.
“Wow, you got it bad.” Trayka had heard it.
“I would recognise her anywhere,” Apple-Seed said simply. “And you for that matter.” She told me. I had no way of answering that and turned back to the procession. Trayka cackled quietly in my ear.
Eight of them, including the tall thin figure of Chestnut-Shell, were carrying nothing. The leader carried a small cup, no bigger than the kind of cup that you might drink a strong kind of spirit from. I imagined that you could wrap one hand around it easily. But the woman in the lead held it aloft as though it was some kind of ancient relic of immense significance. She carried it in both hands, just below eye level and as she walked, the other watching dryads seemed to bow to it. Including Apple-Seed and Acorn-Shell.
Trayka and I had time enough to look at each other in confusion before we realised what was happening. She met my eyes and shrugged before she bowed as well and I joined her.
The second of the ten carried a large axe. It was an ugly looking thing. Old, notched and gnarled. The handle was black with age and from the distance that I was standing, it seemed to be covered in old, bloodstains. I will not be ashamed to admit that my imagination ran away with me a bit. The head of the axe seemed to be covered in similar, dark, stains that were all too easy for my fevered and paranoid imagination to fill in.
I was appalled and turned to Trayka, reaching for her to grab her and run. It was a frantic impulse, all thoughts of Kerrass, Stefan and the two dryad women were driven from my thoughts.
Trayka had read those movements in me. As had Apple-Seed though and Apple-Seed was a scout with a scout’s reflexes and she caught my arm.
“What do you take us for?” She asked, smiling a little sadly.
“You killed her Father.” It was my fear talking but I saw my words striking home and it hurt her.
“Yes, we did.” She whispered. “But that is not what the axe is for. Watch.”
“It’s ok Freddie,” Trayka told me. “I want this.”
I allowed myself to swayed. I cannot deny that a good amount of that swaying came from the tears that I saw standing in Apple-Seed’s eyes.
“Apologise to her,” Trayka told me.
I sighed. “I am sorry,” I told Apple-Seed. “But I will not apologise for being scared for my friend.”
“Do not apologise,” Apple-Seed told me. “We deserve your anger about that.”
She seemed much smaller now and she had shrunk even further. I looked at Trayka who gave me a kind of shooing gesture towards the younger dryad before miming putting my arm around her. I was not convinced but I did it anyway.
At first, Apple-Seed tensed up and I nearly shrank away, but then she kind of nestled into my arm before wrapping her arm around me.
“I’m sorry too,” She whispered.
“Good,” Trayka snorted. “Now he’s sorry, and you’re sorry. But can we all get behind the fact that I am about to meet my ultimate whatnot here?”
A couple of the other dryads sniggered. Apple-Seed pulled away and I registered for a moment, how good it had felt to have her in my arms. It was not an entirely unpleasant feeling.
The other eight robed women moved into a loose circle around the dell. The cupbearer stayed in the middle while the axe-wielder moved towards the tree.
“Is there any significance behind where they stand?” I whispered to Apple-Seed but she didn’t hear me. She was so intent on what was happening in the dell below us.
“They are the cardinal compass points,” Trayka murmured to me. Pointing out as she named them. “North, South, East, West. And the others in between.”
I looked for Chestnut-Shell. I had lost track of her in the stately moving around when I had been looking at the axe and the cup. I found her as South-West.
I wondered if there was some kind of ranking situation as to who would go to which position.
The Cup-Bearer placed the cup on a tree-stump. I hadn’t seen it before but it was odd to realise that it was the first tree-stump that I had seen since entering the heart of the Black Forest. Then she lowered the hood from her robe and I was not surprised to see that it was Chestnut-Hair from the council. And yes, I know that that makes the difference between Chestnut-Shell and Chestnut-Hair confusing. But I didn’t give the name and I cannot help the position that they took in my head. I will call her Cup-Bearer for the purpose of the ceremony.
She smiled up at us, raised a hand and held it out as a gesture of beckoning and welcoming towards Trayka.
“Come Trayka, it is time. Make your final farewells and come down to join us,” She said. The gesture would have done Brother Mark proud as he invited pilgrims in from out of the cold. There was a regality there, a sense of dignity and poise.
The silly, humorous part of my brain rebelled a little bit and wondered if there was some kind of school that everyone went to where they teach monarchs how to wave and religious figures how to gesture.
Trayka hugged the children that she was with and said something to both. Then she hugged Acorn-Shell fiercely and I was surprised to see tears in the dryad’s eyes.
Trayka looked at me then and began a hug before she changed her mind and hugged Apple-Seed instead. Apple-Seed was astonished and there was a long moment before the hug was returned. Then I could hear Trayka whispering something to Apple-Seed before the hug ended. There was a question on Trayka’s face which Apple-Seed answered with a nod.
Then it was my turn. Trayka offered the hug and I accepted it. It was brief, hard and fierce before she pulled away.
“Goodbye Freddie,” She said. “I hope that I will see you shortly, but in case I do not. I want to thank you. I would not be here without you.”
“If you die here,” I tried for a joke. “Then that statement is going to ring hollow.”
She laughed. “But I truly…. Truly Freddie. I would truly not have it any other way. Go well and when you finally marry your sweetheart, love her like no other woman has been loved before. You deserve it and so does she.”
“I will,” I told her.
“And,” The old Trayka was back again. “Don’t trust Stefan. He might be a good man, but he’s a judgemental twat and he is not your friend.”
“I will remember,” I said.
“Just remember.” She said. “You threw yourself on the fire for him. He would not do the same for you.”
I won’t lie, there was truth in her words and I felt it. Hard in my gut. That realisation was tough, the truth warring with the fact that I liked Stefan. But that moment was not about him, it was about Trayka going to meet her doom.
She went with a smile though, her head high, shoulders back and step was sure.
“I would ask a boon,” She said loudly as she met the cupbearer.
The Cup-Bearer, considered. “Name it?”
“If this is to be my death. I would do so wearing the name that you would give me. I feel that it is more my name than the one that my parents gave me.”
The Cup-Bearer smiled and for my money, there was genuine warmth in that smile. “I can allow that, Willow-Branch.”
Trayka nodded and knelt where she was indicated to.
And then everything seemed to stop.
Literally, stop. The people down in the clearing were frozen in place, the watching dryads were similarly still. Not literally, not magically frozen. There were small signs of natural movement, skirts and hair moved with the breeze, people blinked, every so often a small child would fidget.
But other than that, no one moved. Even the fidgeting children were quiet.
“So what happens now?” I whispered to Apple-Seed.
“Hush,” She told me, forcefully but quietly, her eyes didn’t waver from the tableau beneath us, and then I noticed that her mouth was moving. There were words on her lips but I couldn’t tell what they were. I looked to the other side of me and I could see the other woman that Trayka… sorry… Willow-Branch had brought with her. Acorn-Shell, the mate, or one of them, of Willow-Branches brother. Her lips moved too. I looked down the line to see if there was any kind of similarity between the movements of the people, was it a solid chant? A prayer?
The wind was blowing through the leaves of the trees above us and to either side. The main tree before us seemed still, unaffected.
Small leaves and bits of twig started to blow around my feet and now that I was not looking at my neighbours. It was clear that the wind was picking up. I was unable to keep a prayer to the flame from my lips.
The volume of whatever it was the dryads were whispering was slowly picking up with the wind. It joined the sound of creaking branches and rustling leaves to form a constant sound. It came in surges too, surges that were nothing to do with the wind itself. It was oddly like the surging of the waves, crashing against the shore.
Then there was an added note to the noise, people were no longer just whispering, they were speaking now and the sounds of those voices came out. It was definitely not a chant and my feeling of this being a sacred ritual started to increase. It left me wondering as to whether or not I was supposed to join in before I told myself that there was no way I could know what was going to happen there, so what was the point. If I was going to join in, someone would have told me what I was supposed to be saying.
I looked out over the crowd. The dryads remained still, the only movement came as their mouths moved, whispering and chanting the words. There was an emphasis to the phrases that they were saying and I was almost certain that they were saying the same thing at varying speeds and varying emphasis.
Slowly, so slowly that I didn’t notice that it was happening until I looked away and noticed the difference when I looked back, the women standing at the compass points were raising their arms to the heavens, making a V-shape with their arms. They did it so slowly that you could only tell they were moving if you looked really closely. Like the whispering, they didn’t move in concert either. They moved, and then stopped, moved and then stopped. And they were at different stages.
I found myself wanting to be able to see their faces. I wanted to know if they were chanting as well.
The Cup-Bearer and the Axe-woman had not moved. Willow-Branch, nee Trayka was looking around herself with interest. She was nervous, but that wasn’t really surprising really.
Then the eight women at the compass points seemed to come to their zenith. All of them with their hands pointed up, palms flat, horizontal to the ground bending their wrists to do so. The chanting increased in volume, not painfully loud but certainly louder than it had been. I felt a little uncomfortable. As though I was seeing something that I shouldn’t be aware of.
The sound grew, the wind picked up and I felt my clothes really being blown about. I had to squint against the dust and debris flying around and covered my eyes so that I could see. I really felt as though the wind was buffeting me now, to the point of needing to widen my stance in order to properly brace myself against the wind.
THen the women lowered their arms and the wind just stopped. Just like that, the chanting went as well. The silence was deafening.
And it had grown dark.
Cup-Bearer looked around herself but no one else moved.
There is the old saying, that you shiver uncontrollably when a person walks over the place where you will die. They say that “someone has just walked over my grave”. It is a shiver not born in cold, warmth or pleasure but it leaves you feeling uneasy as it comes and goes.
It grew darker still.
The Cup-Bearer seemed to nod as an acknowledgement to some kind of unseen signal and went back to looking down at Willow-Branch.
She lifted her hood up again to cover her hair and face. The part of Willow-Branch that was still Trayka was beginning to look frightened and I can’t say that I blamed her. It all felt ominous somehow. As though things were moving through the air that we could not control and not understand.
“He is here,” Apple-Seed muttered to me. “Remain still.”
The darkness seemed to coalesce in the deepest part of the dell. I have spent some time thinking about how I was going to describe this to you and this is the best that I can come up with. Light casts a shadow, the more light there is, the sharper and more distinct the shadow. But if there are small light sources, small, faint and already massively broken up by falling dust, broken leaves and twigs. Then those shadows can dance, move around and feel large, faint and ominous.
It was this second that was happening in that little dell. But as we watched, those shadows seemed to move independently of the things and people that were casting the shadows. They seemed to join together like small pools of darkness. They came together and formed puddles which in turn ran together and started to flow down into the dell.
I make it sound like I am describing it as water, but I am not. It was still shadow. Definitely shadow.
The larger, deeper shadows seemed to come together and a kind of smoke seemed to rise up from those… rivers of shadow.
A large patch of this… shadow smoke seemed to come to a halt before me and for a moment, it seemed to me that I could see a figure made out of that smoke.
Apple-Seed gasped and grasped my arm but then the shadow was gone, down into the dell to join the rest of the shadow. The women down there now looked as though they were wading around, ankle-deep in the stuff as wisps of shadow came up out of it like steam.
But I could still see their feet. I cannot emphasise enough the fact that this stuff was not water. I have no idea what it was but it was not water.
I got the same feeling that there was a figure standing in front of the kneeling form of Willow-Branch as had stood in front of me. She looked up at him and her face went through the emotions. I saw fear, then I saw anger and then I saw defiance and determination. I could not read any kind of expression or body language from the figure. It was just… so indistinct as to get to the point where I could barely see it.
Then it turned away and collapsed into the generalised pool of shadow at the bottom of the dell before it all seemed to flow towards the large tree in the middle where it seemed to just… flow into the tree itself.
There was a pause and the air seemed to go out of everyone as though someone had punctured us all with a stiletto. There was a sigh throughout everyone there and I waited to see what was going to happen next.
Cup-Bearer nodded to Axe-Wielder who marked over to the tree and spent a bit of time examining the trunk of the thing. It took me a while to realise what was happening before it became clear that she was looking for a relatively un-scarred and clear spot. Then, with a scream that sent my spine crawling, the axe was swung in a huge arc before it slammed into the tree at a diagonal. The axe sunk so deep that she had to really work at it to get the axe back out again.
And I swear, as the flame is my witness and may I be burnt to a crisp where I sit as I write these words. The tree bled. Not the deep amber of normal tree sap, but this was deep, dark crimson.
I must have gasped again as I felt Apple-Seed’s reassuring hand on my arm.
Axe-wielder stepped aside and Cup-Bearer rushed in. All signs of decorum fled as she rushed to capture the deep red liquid in the cup. She seemed satisfied with what she managed to get though and she knelt next to the tree, holding the cup to the trickle that was still falling down.
I realised that I was holding my breath and forced myself to breathe.
Slowly, Cup-Bearer rose to her feet and held the cup aloft. The crowd sighed and groaned and I got the feeling that another trial had been passed.
Cup-Bearer walked forwards and held the cup out to Willow-Branch who took a deep breath and took the cup, before drinking everything down in one swallow. She seemed surprised as she looked at the cup, honestly looked disappointed that there wasn’t any more and actively licked the inside of the cup clean. I heard a couple of chuckles coming from the watching crowd. It didn’t do her any favours though from my point of view. It made her lips red and stained and her teeth the same. She looked, uncomfortably, like a story-book vampire and I shuddered.
Cup-Bearer took the cup from Willow-Branch’s hands and passed it to Axe-Bearer who put the cup in a pouch that was hanging from her side.
Willow-Branch asked Cup-Bearer something and Cup-Bearer gestured for patience. Willow-Branch made a face and I couldn’t help but smile. Cup-Bearer produced a small strip of leather and gave it to the other woman and Willow-Branch bit down as instructed.
The Eight women from the compass points went towards Trayka and knelt in a circle around her, close, but not close enough that I couldn’t see what was going on. I wanted to move forwards. I wanted to help and be there for my friend.
Trayka shifted until she was sitting, hugging her knees to herself in a style that I had seen often at the side of the Camp-Fire.
We all waited for a while.
Willow-Branch frowned and then held her hand in front of her face, making a fist before extending her fingers again. Something seemed to be building in her. Her eyes were wide as she looked at the women around her. Her mouth opened in a silent exclamation, the piece of leather falling. Then she jerked. The surrounding women caught her hands, one went and held her head while another found the piece of leather and forced it back between Willow-Branch’s teeth.
The tremors were coming thick and fast now, a lot like waves ebbing flowing. Huge, body spasms that seemed to tear through the woman.
Again, I wanted to be there for her but I was enough of a man to know that… I wasn’t needed, this was beyond me now.
The spasms increased in frequency and became increasingly violent until her body just seemed to go rigid. Then she relaxed, slumping into the arms of the attendants waiting for her. And she screamed.
I have no words to describe that scream. It is not hyperbole to say that I have never heard a scream like it. I have no doubt that people will mock me for this but it is true and that is possibly because my tastes don’t really go in that direction.
Some people claim that there is a fine line between pain and pleasure and that that line is… different for everyone. I can’t say I agree but some of my friends have insisted that this is the case and who am I to judge. I never quite believed it though until I heard Willow-Branch scream.
And it was Willow-Branch now. There was no doubt in my mind. It was the scream of someone being reborn. There was an agony in that scream that was hard to believe but there was also a searing pleasure to it as well. I hope to never hear a sound like it again and as I say, I have no doubt that some will make jokes that Ariadne will suffer for that.
What can I say, it just…I cannot see a way to get a sound like that out of someone, male or female, without really hurting them and I am not ashamed to say that that doesn’t appeal to me.
If that’s what you enjoy, then good luck to you. So long as you don’t inflict it on an unwilling partner, then… sincerely…. I wish you the very best. It’s just… the thought makes me feel uncomfortable. And I was uncomfortable that day.
She subsided then, whimpering and moaning. Still with the occasional shudder and tremor as whatever sensation that she was feeling was carrying on. Axe-wielder picked her up and carried her, bridal style as she went away.
And the crowd cheered.
It was a release of tension as much as anything else.
I cannot pretend that I wasn’t affected by that outpouring of emotion. Apple-Seed hugged me. Acorn-Shell was openly sobbing with relief as her children danced with joy. People were hugging, shaking hands and I felt a suspicious wetness gathering in the corners of my eyes.
Moods are contagious and when a crowd roars, you feel it in your bones.
People cheered, shouted, clapped and danced and I was among them, caught up in the frenzy of that hysteria. I laughed, shouted and danced along with all of them, arm in arm with Apple-Seed and Acorn-Shell. It didn’t last long but the power that was kept within that raw emotion was powerful to an extent that I almost found it intimidating.
After a while, people started to calm down and drift off, still talking with each other animatedly, talking with their hands as much as their mouths. Acorn-Shell invited Apple-Seed and me to dine with her family but I noticed that the invitation cooled when Apple-Seed asked if Chestnut-Shell could come along as well.
I don’t think it was personal. It wasn’t dislike that I saw in Acorn-Shell’s eyes but it was something else, something that was almost like fear.
As people started to mill around and eventually wander off, Apple-Seed pulled me over to one side until Chestnut-Shell found us. She was dressed in a blue robe this time, different from the one that she had been wearing while performing the ritual and different again from the one that she had worn that morning. She had a relatively placid look on her face but her eyes seemed to glow with fierce pride. Chestnut-Shell was a good looking woman if a little thin for my taste as I say, but that expression on her face and the blazing in her eyes made her beautiful.
Something about the passion that it carried.
Apple-Seed threw herself at the other woman and hugged her fiercely, causing the taller, slighter woman to stagger a bit. I can’t say I blame her, Apple-Seed’s strength was deceptive. You could tell as the shorter, but stronger woman pulled the other’s face down and kissed her before pulling back in shock at what she had dared.
Chestnut-Shell blinked for a few moments before she grinned at the other woman and firmly took her hand.
“You have to admit.” Said a voice behind us. “I am really good at my job.”
We turned to see Elm-Branch standing behind us. She was beaming.
“Did you know that the pair of them would…?” I gestured between the two women that were now holding hands.
“I didn’t know,” Elm-Branch said. “But it was certainly a hope. Your situation is not unique and it always makes life easier for everyone if the other mates get on. Nor is it the first time that mates of the men have found a connection with each other that supplants other concerns.
“In this case though, I am pleased. Two lonely women have found each other and although their working duties will take them away from each other regularly…” She said that as a warning to the two younger dryads who were grinning like fools “I think that they will both benefit from having someone to come home to. Someone that they love that isn’t just a parent or a child. I am happy for you both.”
“Thank you,” Chestnut-Shell said. “And Thank you for giving us the chance.”
“Oh, that wasn’t me,” Elm-Branch said. “That was all down to you, both of you, and him.” She gestured. “He is an unusual man and I think that, if you take care with it, the pair of you will look upon this time with fondness. Just remember that you are together and with him for a reason. Don’t let new emotions, love, joy and whatever else, eclipse that you, both of you, hold this man’s life in your hands.”
The two women were suitably chastened by that. I could not help but smile at the techniques that Elm-Branch was using in order to keep the two women in line. Not least because Elm-Branch winked knowingly at me as she left and was out of sight of the other two.
“Is match-making all she does?” I wondered.
“It’s part of what she does,” Chestnut-Shell told me. “She advises people as well. On mood, behaviour, attitude and all kinds of things.” She looked down at Apple-Seed who was looking thoughtful. “And she is usually correct. So…”
She came over to me and took me by the hand firmly. “We, all three of us, have work to do to become more comfortable with each other. In order to… well… There is no way to finish that without minimising and belittling what is going to happen.”
“Become intimate.” I tried.
“That works,” Chestnut-Shell said with a slightly shyer smile. “Shall we head back to our little house? I want to pick up a bottle of Elderflower wine though. I feel the need to celebrate.”
“What’s your favourite meal?” Apple-Seed asked.
“Do you know… I haven’t thought,” Chestnut-Shell said. “I don’t really think about food, it’s just… something that you need to do to survive isn’t it.”
Apple-Seed pulled a face and I couldn’t help but laugh at it.
“Food is one of the great pleasures of life.” The little warrior declared. “We owe it to ourselves to do it right.” She sighed. “I see it’s going to be really hard to treat you isn’t it, when I want to make a fuss over you or something.”
Chestnut-Shell looked suddenly appalled, her mouth hung open. “But why would you…”
Apple-Seed looked confused.
“Why would she want to?” I supplied. “Because she cares about you. So do I for that matter.”
Chestnut-Shell suddenly looked as though she was about to weep.
Apple-Seed said nothing. She looked as though she was almost frozen in place.
“These people have really done a number on your confidence haven’t they.” I told her. “Both of you in fact.”
I felt myself come to a decision.
“One of the struggles here is that my sister taught me not to hug people or touch them without an invitation first. That has cost me sometimes but on the whole, I do feel better to know that I have, at least, never made anyone feel uncomfortable by hugging them when they don’t want me to. But I would like to hug you, if I may?”
Chestnut-Shell nodded and held her arms wide. I stepped inside her arms and held her for a moment. Not for long though.
“But I have questions,” I said, firmly taking Chestnut-Shell by the hand and leading her away. I was dimly aware that Apple-Seed took the woman’s other hand. “I can understand that something has happened today and that people are saying that you did something that was worth some pride. What happened in that dell. And if either of you just dismisses it all with a comment along the lines of “We turned Tray… Willow-Branch into a dryad then I might have to get cross.”
The two women giggled which is what I had hoped for. Once again renewing my decision to help both of them with their confidence a little.
“In short language. We summon the Schattenmann until he manifests, at least in part in that dell. He judges the person and then he enters the tree. We don’t know why that tree and not another but there it is. Then we open up the tree and take out some of the essences of that tree which is mixed in with the essence of the Schattenmann. The resulting mixture is referred to as “The Blood of the Schattenmann”. The hopeful new dryad drinks it, preferably before the mixture hardens which it will eventually. Then they either get turned into a dryad or they die. That is putting it all far more simply than it is, and far more brutally than I strictly care for.”
I nodded at that. We had been walking as Chestnut-Shell spoke. We had come to the tavern and Apple-Seed told us to wait where we were as she darted inside.
“I still have lots of questions,” I warned Chestnut-Shell. She laughed. Now that she was away from the larger crowd, she seemed to be relaxing a bit more again.
“Yes, Elm-Branch warned us both that you would have a lot of questions. I don’t mind answering.”
I nodded.
“Is T… Willow-Branch going to be alright?”
“Yes.” Chestnut-Shell answered properly. “If they survive that first spasm, then they survive. I have observed a number of changes now although that was the first one that I was able to be a part of. Yew-Branch had all the signs of a successful change going in. I was not worried… I mean, there’s always a worry and nothing is certain but I was as sure as I could be that your friend would survive the change. She was already an archer, she commented that she was at home in the trees and woodlands. And although this might sound strange as to why it’s a factor, she enjoys sex.”
“Why is that a factor?” I wondered.
“It’s complicated,” She told me. “And there is no certain answer. But my theory is always that it is due to how we used to survive. When there was much more woodland on the continent. We would act like water nymphs or Russalka. We would lure unwary males away by appearing to them and… heh… cavorting. That is also why we are generally so beautiful, physically I mean. It is how we evolved so that we could procreate.”
I swallowed. “So Willow-Branch then.”
“Yes. She had all the signs. Then the Schattenmann didn’t reject her outright. I mean he rarely does and he hasn’t in my lifetime but I understand that he judges the hopeful in advance and if he finds them wanting, he just destroys them. Apparently, it isn’t pleasant.”
I thought of the priest hanging from his church door and said nothing.
“She also found the Blood of the Schattenmann tasty. If the hopeful recoils from the taste, then it is all but certain that they will die from the change. She took it hard. It was powerful for her and some of her body nearly broke as the spasms were particularly powerful. Almost powerful enough to kill her but luckily, that didn’t happen. My guess is that it will take her a while to recover. She had a cracked rib from the movements and she will be very weak but I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. Our healers are very good at what they do, and these are the oldest injuries that we have learnt to heal.”
Apple-Seed emerged from the tavern with a sack which she was examining the contents of. It was a large sack and she carried it carefully so as not to jostle it. She presented Chestnut-Shell with a bottle in the same way that you might offer someone a precious jewel. Chestnut-Shell grinned.
“That will do nicely,” She said.
“That’s good, I got two. I thought we could all do with some celebration and some liquid courage. Let's get home, I need to start cooking.”
“But it’s barely lunchtime.” Chestnut-Shell protested.
“And if I’m cooking Vension, I should have started an hour ago Apple-Seed told her, looking at me for help and encouragement.
“Some people just don’t get it,” I told her.
“What were you two talking about?” Apple-Seed wondered as she carefully replaced the bottle in her sack.
“Our new sister,” Chestnut-Shell told her.
“So talk me through it,” I told them. “What was that prayer all about?”
“It’s metaphysical,” Chestnut-Shell said. “First we have to summon the Schattenmann to come to the dell. That is the job of the crowd.”
“What is the chant?” I wondered.
“It’s different for everyone,” Apple-Seed said. “We each implore the Schattenmann in our own way. Personally, I go for “Please come down here and save this woman,’ and variations on that theme. My mother used to call ‘Come Schattenmann come’ but others have big speeches.”
“There was a rhythm to it though.” I protested.
“There is.” Chestnut-Shell agreed. “But that is part of the magic. Then the Schattenmann comes. The eight of uss standing at the compass points.”
“Yes, we saw that,” I said.
“Well, our job… The Schattenmann is carried on the winds. So we summon the winds from the eight winds and with it comes the Schattenmann. From there, we kind of channel it and him into the tree.”
“So you are like a lens, focusing and directing.”
“Umm, that sounds right. What’s a lens.”
“It’s a gnomic device that takes a large, unorganised thing and brings it into focus. Most commonly used so that people can see things that are very small in larger and greater detail. Or apparently, they can make distant things appear close. But in this instance. I saw a professor take a lens and use it to focus the greater light of the sun into a point before directing that point onto a pile of leaves which then caught fire.”
“I see.” Chestnut-Shell seemed troubled about this thought for a long moment until she kind of shrugged and dismissed the thought from her mind.
Again, another thing that I have seen in a mirror.
“When he gets to a certain point though, the Schattenmann kind of takes over and just seems to… coalesce himself.”
“How was it?” Apple-seed wondered. “That was the first time that you have been part of that kind of ritual isn’t it?”
I wondered if Apple-Seed had been paying attention to the rest of the conversation.
“It was indeed, my first time,” Chestnut-Shell said with a small smile. “It was exhilarating. I could… feel him. It was like that feeling taht you get when you are standing in a storm. All, frizzy and tingly but it was in the air around me and I was channelling it in a current like water. It made me feel powerful and afraid. It was a tense feeling, there was danger there too so I can understand why they train people at it for a long time. It was frightening, exhilarating, overwhelming and by the man himself. I am so glad it went alright.”
“And all those people that said that you wouldn’t be able to do it can fuck off right?” Apple-Seed prompted. “Fuck the haters.”
“Yeah, fuck the haters,” I agreed.
“Yes,” Chestnut-Shell didn’t seem as convinced. “It is both gratifying and saddening that this…” She gestured to the three of us. “Really was a route into the inner circle. I wanted to be taken into that side of things for being good at what I do, rather than because I’m willing to lay down with a man. Not that I’m complaining about the man of course.”
She tried for a slight smile with me.
I quickly decided to move past that, it didn’t sound as though it was going to do anyone any favours if I tried to probe their feelings about me at the moment.
“Sometimes you have to play the game when you work inside a larger organisation,” I told her. “Knowing when to argue, knowing when to back down, when to pretend to agree with something that you hate, when to disagree with something that you want. And sometimes, you have to obey the rules so that you can break them.”
“That sounds like… it sounds awful.”
“It can be,” I said. “But it can also lead to great things. And when you have those skills and harness them for the benefit of those people around you, then it can even be fun.”
She looked thoughtful.
“I can teach you if you like?” I wondered and I thought I could see a spark in Chestnut-Shell’s eyes. “It’s mostly tricks and the like. A lot like learning to fight in my mind.”
Apple-Seed perked up at that. She had started to drift off into her own thoughts a bit as we spoke. “This is what the Weapons-Mistress talks about as fighting with the mind. Of thinking yourself into being a victor.”
“Pretty much,” I agreed. “It was certainly why so many of your compatriots did not succeed in beating me.”
“Interesting,” Apple-Seed mused. “Which is odd, because I often get destroyed on the training field.”
“That’s because you lack confidence in yourself,” Chestnut-Shell said. “You are a better fighter and a better mind than most of them put together.”
“I tend to agree,” I commented. “But you go in there with the expectation of losing and then you will. Whereas when you fought me, you were using a different style and you had no expectations. You won your first bout, and that gave you confidence. Again, there are tricks to help you with that which I can teach you if you like.”
Apple-Seed considered this. “I would like that I think.” She said. “But still, we are home and I have some work to do in the Kitchen.”
We entered the dwelling and Apple-Seed wandered off to cook. I offered to help and she scowled at me until I fled. I did insist that they would let me cook for them at some point though. I did ask a quick question before rejoining Chestnut-Shell on the balcony.
“So,” I began, “returning to the original topic, Apple-Seed tells me that she was born a dryad. Did you go through the change or are you a dryad born like Apple-Seed?”
“I was born a dryad,” She told me. “I think that, if you are looking for the answer to the question of what it’s like to be a dryad then you can wait until Yew-Branch wakes up. I must admit that I am looking forward to finding out the answer myself.”
She seemed to come to a decision. “I would like for you to teach me to become political.” She told me. “I do not like the thought and it disquiets me, but it seems that it is a skill that I need moving forward.”
I nodded.
“I warn you though,” I warned. “I have a lot more questions.”
She laughed, a long and musical noise that gladdened my heart before she stepped in close to me.
“I want to make something clear as well,” She told me, a little nervously but with a look of determination on her face. “Earlier, you asked my permission to hug me and you did so for my comfort. I was grateful for that. But this is me telling you, here and now, that you do not need to ask me my permission to… reach for me, touch me or hold me in some way. If I am uncomfortable or unwilling, I will tell you. Do you understand?”
How she made that sound faintly erotic, I don’t know. Something about the trembling in her voice and her hand as she reached up my chest to tug at my clothes lightly.
“I do,” I said. “What about if I want to kiss you?”
Her eyes blazed in triumph.