“Is she alright?” Amber looked at the children.
Little Sandy stepped forward. “Yes, Mr. Hawthorne. Is my mum alright?”
Thomas went down on one knee to look her in the eye. “Yes, Sandy, she’s fine. Just a little shaken up and she can’t move as fast through the woods as we can.”
She flung her arms around his neck and hugged him. “Thank you, Mr. Hawthorne.”
When she stepped back, Thomas grinned, stood, and crossed to the burned house. He surveyed it from the door but didn’t step in. “William and Megan aren’t too far behind us.” He looked around at the group sprawled out on the ground again. “I’ll be interested to hear how this all happened when they get here.”
The men drew water from the pump and each took long drinks but conversation lagged as everybody just breathed and tried to cope. In a few minutes, William and Megan came out of the woods, winded and looking around frantically. Megan was scratched and looked a bit the worse for wear. William’s eyes scanned the crowd looking for Amber and relief washed across his face when his eyes picked her out of the group on the ground.
Megan gave a cry and ran to her three kids, throwing herself onto the ground to hug them all into her arms. She burst into tears then and held them, rocking them all awkwardly in her embrace. The children tried to comfort the woman as she held them and slowly got herself under control.
Sandy finally managed to pull back a little bit. “You’re ok now, Ma. We’re here and you’re here and Da, he’ll be back soon, and we can make a new house.”
“A new house, poppet?” Megan scrubbed the tears off her face with her fingers and looked intently at the soot streaked face in front of her. What she was seeing registered and she looked at her house, taking in the smoke streaks above the door and the wisps that still wafted upwards from the trapped smoke in the peak of the roof. Something in her face sagged for a moment, but she recovered almost instantly and looked from child to child to child. “Is anybody hurt? You’re all alright, aren’t you?”
“We’re fine, mum. Mother Fairport chased them off and then put the fire out. We helped pump!” Sandy beamed.
William looked through the door at the damaged house and turned to address them. “So, now we know. They got Josh, I take it?”
Tanyth grunted before answering. “Yeah, they threw him over a horse and rode off down the Pike, after setting fire to the house. They threw three torches, but this is the only one that caught. Thomas and Sadie need a new floor mat, though.”
William nodded and exchanged glances with Thomas. “I was afraid of somethin’ like this when we found Megan in the woods.”
Thomas nodded his agreement. “The horses were stashed there for a fast getaway, but they had to change their plans when Josh got caught.” He nodded respectfully to Tanyth. “Thank you for that, mum.”
Tanyth nodded and looked back at William. “Now what do you think they’ll do?”
William’s face hardened. “If they’re smart, they’ll keep riding. If they come back here, they won’t be getting as civil a welcome as they got before.”
Tanyth nodded her head. “Are they smart?”
William shook his head. “I’m afraid they think they’re smart enough to get away with it.” He sighed and looked at the sun. “Let’s get this cleaned up and see if we can help Megan and the kids get settled in another house.” He smiled sympathetically. “Is there one you’d fancy, Meg? I’m afraid this one won’t be livable for awhile.”
Thomas snorted. “If ever.”
Tanyth caught William’s eyes with a nod to the burned house. “If you took that house down altogether and built the inn up here near the pump, it would make getting water to the inn a lot easier. You wouldn’t have to lug water down to it or dig another well. Frank and I were talkin’ about it the night before he left.” She looked at Sadie and Thomas. “You’d have to move, too, but then both these houses could come down and the inn could go here.” She held out her arms to indicate the space. “Frank seemed to think it was a good place because it got the inn back off the road a bit.”
Thomas was following the description but Sadie got caught up in the idea of moving. “Then we’d be further from the water.”
William nodded at her. “True, but the inn would use the most, so having the inn handy to the water makes sense.”
Amber nodded in agreement. “Yea. That makes a lot of sense. I think we’d have to move too. I don’t think I’d like to have my house that close to the inn.”
William smiled. “Actually, my heart, I think you and I will be living in the inn by the time it’s done. Somebody will need to.”
Jakey spoke up for the first time since breaking out of the woods. “Havin’ it back here would make it easier to protect the water supply and would also be closer to the barn.”
They all looked at him.
He seemed a little startled by the attention for a change, but continued with a shrug. “Most folks will be coming with horses. They’ll want the animals cared for as well.” He smiled. “A silver for a place in the common room and three pennies for the horse in the barn. Four if they want grain.”
William huffed a quick laugh but Thomas nodded. “I think that’s what they charge at Mossport.”
“Maybe we should make it more, then.” Jakey grinned.
William raised his hands to break into the discussion. “Alright, we’ve got too much plannin’ with too little doin’. First things first.” He turned to Megan and the children. “Which house do you want? There’s several empty.”
Megan looked a bit lost. “I don’t know, Will. I never considered movin’ before.”
Tanyth smiled and held out her hand. “Well, why don’t you and the kids move in with me for a bit in Mother Alderton’s house. When Harry gets back, you can decide together what you want to do.”
Megan took the hand and Tanyth pulled the younger woman up off the ground. “Thank you, mum. I’d feel much safer with you.”
Tanyth snorted. “I didn’t do ya much good this mornin’, dearie.”
Megan smiled with a shake of her head. “No, you saved my life this morning, mum. They’d have killed me or worse if you hadn’t stopped Josh. The bossman there had a lot so say about it while we were runnin’ through the woods.”
Tanyth raised her eyebrows. “Really, hon? What happened?”
Megan shuddered a little but dug in. “They grabbed me just as I came out of the privy. Caught me by surprise, and that big one crushed me to his chest. I couldn’t breathe to yell.”
Tanyth nodded in sympathy. “He did that to me, too.”
“I was back there in the bushes by the time you came out and they had me trussed up like a solstice goose, ’cept for my legs.” She stopped for a moment and swallowed before continuing. “Anyway, one guy–they called him Mort–he was just inside the tree line–waiting. I didn’t see what you did, mum, but it upset them something terrible.” She smiled in satisfaction. “That’s when we turned and headed into the woods. I tried to hold them back, but the big one, Mort, just picked me up and threw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and we headed further and further into the forest.”
Thomas nodded. “That’s why I couldn’t find your tracks among the others.”
She shrugged. “A few hundred yards into the wood, their bossman ripped a bit of dress of my hem and hung it on a bush. That’s when we really started moving fast. When we got to where they left the horses, Mort started to put me on a horse, but the boss made him tie me to a tree. I didn’t understand why they went to all the trouble to kidnap me and then leave me out in the wilds.”
William raised his hands to indicated the smoldering wreckage of her house. “You were supposed to keep us busy so we didn’t have a chance to interfere with their rescue.” He nodded his head in consideration. “They probably planned to hold you hostage, but had to change their plans a bit when Josh got caught. They drew us off, so they could come and get him back.”
Megan nodded at the burned h
ouse. “It seems to have worked.” She walked over to it and stared in at it a little sadly. “Do you think we can save much?”
Tanyth came to stand beside her while the rest of the women gathered round. “We fought hard enough. I think you’ll be able to salvage most of it. You’ll smell like smoke for a time, but only a few things got burned.”
William headed up towards the barn. “I’ll get the barrow. Meg? Start handing stuff out and we’ll help you carry what you can to Mother Fairport’s house.”
Tanyth spoke up, then. “Do you have any spare floor mats? We never got around to laying fresh ones down when I moved in. Might be good to do that before we start dragging goods around.”
Amber nodded. “Good thinking.” She fell in with William. “There’s some in the workroom. I’ll load a few on the barrow and we’ll bring them over to you.”
Tanyth nodded and helped Megan down the fire-damaged steps into the soggy mass that had been her home. Megan wrinkled her nose and waved a hand in front of her face. “Ugh. This stinks.” She crossed the house and opened the front door. The morning breeze swept through and cleared the air a bit more, while Megan stood with hands on hips and surveyed the damage.
As she looked she seemed to take strength. “Right. Well, Sandy? You watch your brothers and stay close to the house.”
“I will, Mama.”
“Thank you, sweetling. That’ll help me most.’’
Riley came up to the door and stuck his head in. “What can I do to help, Ms. Megan?”
She smiled up at the boy. “Just keep an eye on all the children, Riley. We don’t want anybody wanderin’ off.”
“Ok, mum!” He grinned and started herding the other children like a sheep dog.
Megan grinned and shrugged up to where the other women were looking into the house. “That might have been a mistake.”
They laughed and Sadie waded down to give Megan a hand while the rest went around to the front door so they’d have the shortest walk to the new house.
Tanyth tapped Matthew and nodded to the burly quarryman. “If you’ve a mind to help? We could move my goods out of the way to make room for the new mats...”
“Oh, aye, mum.” He smiled and followed in her wake as she crossed the yard. She stopped and picked up her staff where she’d dropped it in the grass. If she leaned on it rather more heavily than normal, Matthew didn’t seem to notice.
Tanyth had trouble thinking of the young man as much more than a boy, but he was certainly strong enough and more than willing in his assistance. In her small hut, she took the oil lamp and other small things off the table and placed them up on the mantle board to get them out of harm’s way. Matthew helped her move the table and chairs onto the hearthstone to free the floor space. They opened the back door and slid the rope-bound cot out onto the grass behind the house just as Amber and William showed up with the barrow full of floor mats.
With Matthew and William to help wrestle the awkward bundles out of the barrow and onto the floor, the job was done in a matter of minutes. They moved the table and chairs back off the hearthstone, but left it closer to the hearth than it had been. She left the oil lamp up on the mantle. “No sense tempting fate.” She muttered it to herself but Matthew grunted in agreement.
Amber sent William up to Megan’s to pick up a load and she stood in the middle of the house. Tanyth smiled gently at the younger woman’s almost proprietary survey. Amber looked shyly at Tanyth. “You know, mum? This would be a good time to bless the house. It’s empty as it’s gonna be and changing spirits, so to speak.” Her voice petered out.
Tanyth pursed her lips and considered it. “That’s a good idea.” She looked through the herbs she’d harvested and set to dry, but none of them were suitable. She remembered a bundle in the cast offs and crossed to the pile of dry and dusty materials that she hadn’t yet had a chance to dispose of. She rummaged through it and pulled up a bundle of sage, brittle on the ends and edges, but still solid enough in the middle to be useful. She smiled as she held it up. “Aha!”
Matthew’s eyes grew round and even Amber looked a bit surprised. Tanyth frowned slightly at them. “What? Is there something the matter?”
Matthew and Amber shared a glance. “No, mum.” They said it almost in unison.
“Why are you looking like that then?”
Matthew glanced at Amber before speaking. “You’re not going to do magic are you, mum? Should I leave?”
Tanyth smiled. “Not magic, no. You can leave if it makes you uncomfortable but don’t feel like you need to.”
Amber frowned. “What are you going to do with that? And what is it, mum?”
“Isn’t this what Mother Alderton used to bless a house?”
Amber shrugged. “I don’t know, mum. It might be. She never explained.”
Tanyth nodded. “Well, this is sage.” She turned to the hearth and laid a fire but didn’t light it immediately. She took the bundle of very dry sage and placed it on the hearthstone before pulling the steel and flint out of her pocket. She struck three sparks into the end of the bundle and blew on them until they caught. The dusty herbs gave off a pungent smudge. Tanyth chuckled a bit to herself. “Just what I need. More smoke.”
Amber was standing close enough to hear her mutter and she choked back a laugh.
Tanyth grinned at her and picked up the smoldering herbs. She took it to the north side of the hut to the middle of the wall where the back door was open onto the narrow bit of cleared land before the forest. She held up the bundle in front of her face and a wisp of smoke curled up to the rafters. “Guardian of the North, Bones of the Earth, protect this place from evil.” She walked the perimeter of the room to the east and stopped in front of the fireplace which made up most of the narrower east wall. “Guardian of the East, Breath of the Earth, protect this place from evil.” She continued around to stand in front of the front door, facing south and looking out onto the narrow track that led up to the village. “Guardian of the South, Spirit of the Earth, protect this place from evil.” She went to the plain west wall and held the bundle once more. Guardian of the West, Blood of the Earth, protect this place from evil.” She walked back around to where she began and made a swirl of smoke in the air as if tying a knot. “By my will and with this smoke, I bind this place once and beg the protection of the guardians.” She walked around the circuit again, stopping at each cardinal point and making a similar swirl of smoke until she returned to the north. “By my will and with this smoke, I bind this place twice and beg the protection of the All-Father upon this house.” She walked once more around pausing again and leaving a trail of pungent herbal smoke in her wake. “By my will and with this smoke, I bind this place thrice and beg the blessings of the All-Mother upon all who live within.” She took the bundle of sage to the hearth and blew on it until it flared from glowing smolder into bright fire. “With earth and air and fire and water, I beg the blessings of the All-Mother upon this hearth and all that shelter here.” She tossed the burning sage into the prepared shavings. The fire caught the shavings and spread into the dried kindling. Tanyth finished the ritual by dipping her hand in the water bucket and flicking a few drops of water onto the hearthstone, where they showed dark against the dry rock. “So mote it be.”
She stood for a moment and admired her handiwork, before drying her hands off on the seat of her pants and turning back to Amber and Matthew. They stood transfixed, staring at her. Matthew’s mouth did not exactly hang open, but he looked at once dazed and totally focused.
“What is it? You two look like you’ve seen a haunt or something.”
Amber blinked back from wherever her mind had taken her. “That was wonderful, mum! I’ve never seen a blessing like that before.”
Tanyth shrugged. “What did Mother Alderton do?”
Amber shrugged. “She just stood at the threshold and said, ’Bless this house and all who live here.’”
Tanyth smiled. “Well, that seems to have worked for her.” She looked about the h
ouse. “I learned this from Mother Willowton, I think it was. She used to really get into blessing houses. She’d use salt and fire and water.” Tanyth chuckled at the memory. “It could take her half a day sometimes to get through all the prayers when she did it for somebody else. I stayed with her one whole winter and when it came time to do her own house, she always cleansed it with burning sage.” Tanyth shrugged. “I think she just liked to put on a show for her customers.”
Amber and Matthew laughed, taken off guard by her frank appraisal of the mystical.
She smiled, satisfied, and felt more at home in the small hut already. She saw William bringing the first load of goods down from Megan’s house and they all jumped to help him. Some of the goods–like blankets and clothing–were left to air out a bit, while other items came right in. Tanyth arranged the furnishings the way she remembered Megan’s house, hoping to make the younger woman feel more at home. She knew it wasn’t going to be an easy time until Harry returned, but she vowed to herself to make it as easy as she knew how.
Chapter 24
New demands
By the time the sun reached the treetops on its way toward night, Megan, Tanyth and the children were all safely settled in the new house. The whole village had a finer understanding of why a careful watch was necessary, but still no better idea about how to deal with the issue. Birchwood could come at them from any direction at any time, and they could only watch and wait for his next move.
It came sooner than they expected.
Just as the sun disappeared behind the treetops, but before true sunset, a voice rang out. “Mapleton! William Mapleton! Come out!”
The voice cut across the village from the direction of the Pike and doors popped open at the call, yellow firelight showing silhouettes of heads and shoulders. Thomas popped around the corner of a house and drew an arrow but held his fire as he saw who and what was riding up the path.
William boiled out of his house and ran toward the approaching riders but halted twenty paces back. Tanyth watched from the safety of the house with Megan by her side. The children sensed something amiss and stayed quiet. Little Sandy crawled up the step to peek her head just over the threshold.