A Pinch of Moonlight

  ***

  After what seemed like an age of waiting, but at the same time all too soon, a full moon rose over Tanybryn. Demi-Lee scrambled over Tom’s windowsill, the basket containing an egg and Blackbird in her hands. Vicky and Heledd were waiting at the end of Golden Grove’s drive.

  They needed to be quick and quiet, so Demi-Lee simply kissed the old man on the cheek before placing the egg in his hands. She settled beside him on the bed, put a hand on his shoulder, and asked, ‘Ready?’

  Tom nodded. Blackbird reminded them they would chant the incantation as a round, and Tom would have to gather all his thoughts in one place and focus on the soft warm yolk in the egg. Demi-Lee would work the spell to help his life move from its old home to the new one. They all relaxed and focussed, and began to chant,

  ‘Little life, time to move on

  Little life, time to leave

  Be protected on your journey

  Gather up your memories

  Slip into another body

  Leave the home you’ve known so long

  Little life, time to move on

  Little life, be bold and strong’

  ‘He’s gone,’ said Blackbird, and Demi-Lee’s focus returned to normal. She still had her hand on the old man’s shoulder, and it was clear from the way he sagged that his life had left him.

  ‘Did it work?’ she asked.

  ‘I think so. Let us leave.’

  Gently, Demi-Lee rolled the egg from Tom’s hands and placed it in the basket next to the fairy, who held it tight as Demi slipped over the windowsill and rejoined Vicky and Heledd.

  They moved swiftly and quietly to Aelwen’s grove, protected by a cloaking spell Demi-Lee wove around them. She was buzzing with magic – although the spell she’d just worked had drained her, it took only moments for the moon to replenish her power. If only she was this powerful in daylight!

  Heledd was carrying the basket with the egg, insisting they needed to watch their steps on the rough, tussocky ground, and Demi-Lee needed to focus on her magic. Dropping the egg now would be a disaster.

  Blackbird was sitting on Vicky’s shoulder, not Demi’s, and although Demi knew she needed to focus on the cloaking spell, it still annoyed her. Had he forgotten how mean Vicky had been to him just a few weeks before? And now they were always ganging up together to override her. Blackbird was leaving, she had no idea when she’d see him again, and she wanted to capture every drop of their last moments together. Instead, she had to focus on the cloaking spell to stop it disintegrating.

  Soon they reached Aelwen’s grove, and pushed and ducked through the greenery. In the clearing the little spring bubbled, glowing with a cold clear light. Moonlight filtered through the leaves, and the crystals in the treetops provided some illumination, but apart from where the spring glowed the ground was mostly shadow. A rustling among the leaves told them Aelwen was nearby. She had roused herself to say farewell.

  This was it then. Gently, Vicky lifted Blackbird down from her shoulder. She held him against her, as she had done to warm him when he was near death. ‘Goodbye, my friend,’ she said. ‘Hope it all works out for you. Either way, there’s food and shelter here for you if you ever need it.’

  ‘Goodbye, Vicky,’ he said. ‘I will return, and bring you tales of wonders.’

  Vicky held him out to Heledd, who said something in a strange language which made him smile.

  ‘Almost perfect,’ he said. ‘I guess Aelwen taught you that. Keep visiting her. You have much to learn from each other.’

  Then Demi-Lee took him into her hands and kissed his forehead. ‘I’m gonna miss you so much. Wish I could go with you. If that Tefyn won’t forgive you, come and find me, and I’ll kick his arse ’til he does.’

  She placed him at the water’s edge and Heledd placed the basket beside him. Before anyone could react, he had stripped off his clothes and dropped them on the ground.

  ‘This is how I must return,’ he said. ‘Naked and unarmed; nothing to protect me.’

  He approached the edge of the water, dragging the basket. They waited for the nixie to appear, and there she was, a ripple of light solidifying to a wide-eyed, shimmering figure. But she wasn’t offering her hand. Blackbird moved closer and held out his hand, but she regarded him without moving. Demi-Lee stepped forwards to see what the problem was, and as her moon-shadow touched the water, the nixie held out its hand to her. Confused, she took a step backwards, but the nixie held out its hand to where she had been.

  It was Aelwen who worked it out, and Blackbird who had to explain.

  ‘I have to leave my own fire behind,’ he said, ‘but I need fire to work the spell. Demali is the fire. Without her, the puzzle isn’t complete. Without her, they won’t take me.’

  ‘But she’s just a kid,’ Vicky protested.

  ‘I’m 14,’ Demi said. ‘Let me go. Otherwise Blackbird’s stuck here, and Tom will die in that egg.’

  Vicky rushed forward and hugged her cousin fiercely. ‘Be careful then. And remember, this is Blackbird’s fight, and he has to take what’s given to him. Don’t step in.’

  ‘I won’t.’

  Blackbird climbed delicately into the basket and Demi-Lee, lifting it, stepped into the water and offered her hand to the nixie.

  Vicky peered through her hands as the nixie took her cousin’s hand and pulled her under the water.

  A few minutes later, she sat down beside Heledd to wait. A few hours later, she began to worry.

 

  Part 2 – In Annwn