Bravely(53)

She dreaded seeing Feradach again.

She couldn’t stop picturing the image of those arms reaching for freedom as the fire raged, and Feradach doing nothing. The kindness and humanity she thought she’d seen in Keithneil had clearly been just a sham, her projecting what she wanted to see upon him. He might not have chosen his godly duty of meting out ruin, but he didn’t flinch from it, either. He had executed all of Kinlochy without pity or mercy, making sure there was no escape for anyone there.

I am nature.

She had to remember that he would not flinch to do the same to DunBroch. There would be no survivors.

“There’s three rooks for you, Leezie,” Elinor said.

Leezie had been twirling and making a daisy chain, but she gave off twirling at this and looked troubled. “I’m not counting signs anymore. It’s too depressing. I’ve taken up with the Ladies of Peace instead. I’ve been trying to get Merida down there, too.”

Elinor frowned. “Are those the ones down at the village with the cakes?”

“Yes, though they meet at the well sometimes, too, for moaning,” Leezie said.

“I’m glad you’ve found a new interest,” Elinor said. “That reminds me. Did you and your father meet a harper on your trip, Merida?”

“Why?” Merida’s voice came out combative without any effort on her part whatsoever.

“Little Bear asked me today if I thought he could be a harper when he grew up. I asked him why such a thought came into his head and he said the trip had done it, but he didn’t say what on the trip did it.”

Merida said irritably, “I suppose you’re going to say he can’t be a harper.”

Elinor’s voice was thoughtful. “It’s not a very royal profession.”

“But he is the youngest of the three, isn’t he, ma’am?” asked Ila.

“Ha, I suppose so,” Elinor replied. “By a whisker.”

“That means he can do what he likes, right?” asked Ila. She added swiftly and politely, “Ma’am. He won’t be king?”

Once again, Merida suspected Ila was on her side.

“Not as long as luck holds; Hubert and Harris come before him,” said Elinor. “Usually the youngest becomes a priest or a scholar or a soldier, but I suppose a harper…Fergus would probably pitch a table. Och, there’s no one really to teach him, though. Before this, I would’ve said to send him to Kinlochy for apprenticeship, but it doesn’t sound like that’s possible now, is it?”

Merida couldn’t bring herself to answer. Maybe she should see about doing some moaning with Leezie’s Ladies of Peace.

Elinor quickly tidied up the mood by saying, “Look how pretty this looks in this light.”

The holy well was before them. If it hadn’t been marked as special, the place where the water came to the surface, fresh and clean and clear, would have been easily missed. But long ago, someone had built a stone border around it and added a vertical font with a woman’s worn face on it. Water poured from her open mouth into the pool below. Little white moss flowers grew all around it.

A few yards away was a craggy standing stone. The stone was twice as tall as Merida and covered all over with carved spirals. On the first day of spring solstice, the sun lit up a perfect trail of light along the stone as it rose; quite magical. Merida used to ride Angus to the stone when she was first learning all the wilds of DunBroch; it was so impressive that it had taken her several visits to realize that the holy well, not the stone, was the reason this path was kept clear.

Leezie danced around it. She’d brought ribbons, because she was Leezie, and she spun them around her head in a complex pattern. It was hard to say if it was a real ritual or a Leezie-ritual. She said, “The Ladies of Peace talked about the well during the last meeting!”

Elinor looked privately amused. “What did they say?”

“It’s a woman’s well! Holy for all, but suited for affairs of women the most! Women’s minds! Women’s hearts! Put in an offering, food, coin, or your best flower from your garden, and pray to the lady in the well, and she will give you what you ask!”

Ila asked in a sort of sharp voice, “Who do the Ladies of Peace say the lady of the well is, ma’am?”

“Bridget,” said Leezie. “I think. Or Mary.”

“Mm,” said Elinor.

Ila swiveled at this mm. “Whom do you say it belongs to, ma’am?”

“I was once told it was the Cailleach’s well,” Elinor said.

Merida had been looking at the surface of the well, but at this, her head jerked up. The Cailleach! Merida had never heard of her association with the well before, although her mother had told her the usual bedtime stories of the Cailleach. She supposed she’d never asked her why the well was considered holy; that was really more Leezie’s domain.

“I was told that if you gave her something precious, in return she would give you a wish. That’s why people throw things in here,” Elinor said. She looked a little sheepish. “I made a wish here once, and it did come true.”

Leezie was absolutely enthralled. “What was it?”

“Oh, you can’t tell your own wish out loud,” Elinor said. “It’s bad luck.”

Merida asked, “What about the stone, Leezie? Do the Ladies of Peace talk about that as well?”