“She is only eight years old! If you frighten her to death how can she understand?”
“And you are sixteen!” hissed Ganeda. “Do you think that gives you the wisdom of the Lady of Avalon? You should have stayed with your father in the Roman lands!”
I shook my head. I belonged here! But Ganeda chose to take it as submission.
“Gwenlis, take the child away!”
One of the younger priestesses stepped forwards, eyeing the High Priestess uncertainly. For a moment I resisted, then it occurred to me that the sooner Dierna was out of earshot of her grandmother’s wrath, the better it would be. I gave the girl a quick hug, and thrust her into Gwenlis’s arms.
“And lock her into the storage shed!” Ganeda went on.
“No!” I exclaimed, getting to my feet again. “She will be afraid!”
“It is you who should be afraid! Do not flout my will lest I lock you up as well!”
I smiled, for I had already been through more taxing ordeals in my training.
Ganeda took a furious step towards me. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you have been spoiling the child, interfering with my discipline, plotting to steal her affection away from me!”
“I hardly need to do that! You will earn her hatred yourself if you treat her this way!”
“You will have nothing to do with Dierna in the future, do you understand me? Or with Becca either!” Ganeda’s anger had turned suddenly cold, and for the first time I felt fear. “Hear me all of you, and bear witness—” the High Priestess turned to fix the others with that icy gaze. “This is the will of the Lady of Avalon!”
Even before Ganeda finished speaking, I had decided to defy her. But a stern order sent me back up the hill to finish trimming the hedge, and it was not until the still hour just after dusk had fallen, when the folk of Avalon gathered for their evening meal, that I was able to open the door to the storage shed unobserved.
Swiftly I slipped inside and took the shivering child in my arms.
“Eilan?” The little girl clutched at me, sniffling. “It’s cold here, and dark, and I think there are rats…”
“Well, then, you must talk to the Rat Spirit and ask her to keep them away,” I said bracingly.
Dierna shuddered and shook her head.
“Don’t you know how? We will do it together, then, and promise her some food for her clan—”
“Nobody has brought me any food,” whispered the girl. “I’m hungry.”
I was glad that the darkness hid my frown. “Are you? Well, perhaps I can bring you some of my dinner, and an offering for the Rat Spirit too. We will put it outside, and ask her to take her people out there…”
With a sigh of relief I felt the child begin to relax in my arms, and started the familiar litany of counted breathing and relaxation that would put us in touch with the Otherworld.
I had forgotten that after dinner came the story-telling. The bread and cheese made an awkward lump in the corner of my shawl, but even when I went out to the privies there had been too many people around for me to get away. Certainly I would be missed if I tried to leave now, and my absence would attract just the sort of notice I wished to avoid.
The long hall was lit by torches, and a fire blazed on the hearth, for even in early autumn the nights were chill. But I could not help imagining how Dierna must be feeling, all alone in the cold dark.
On the first day of the week the stories told in the hall of Avalon were about the gods. By now, I had heard most of them, but as I forced my attention back to the Druid who was speaking, I realized that I had not encountered this one before.
“Our most ancient wisdom teaches that ‘All the gods are one God, and all the goddesses one Goddess, and there is one Initiator.’ But what does that mean? The Romans say that all the gods are the same, and it is only that different peoples call them by different names. Thus they say that Cocidius and Belatucadros are the same as their Mars, and call Brigantia and Sulis by the name of their goddess Minerva.