Chapter 17 #2
I stuck my tongue out at her and she bent down and scooped me up in her arms. She spun me around like a bridegroom then dropped me on my feet.
I swayed, still a little light-headed, then concentrated on standing straight and slipping on my tunic.
My boots had been kicked off a few yards away and I went to retrieve them then leaned on Belis while I hopped on one foot to get them on.
I patted my head, tucking wisps of hair behind my ears.
Somewhere I had lost the strip of fabric I had used to tie it back.
I glared at Belis then grabbed her wrist, stealing the spare leather thong she had wrapped around it.
I twisted my hair into a long braid and secured it with the scrap of leather.
Belis caught the end and tugged on it gently.
“Immortal thievery,” she said, “my father always warned me about it.”
I sniffed. “If you hadn’t lost mine like some big lumbering human I wouldn’t have had to steal it. Besides, I’m not a goddess any more, that’s very offensive. I’m just as human as you.”
“A human forever!” She pulled me close and I beamed up at her, counting the silver flecks in her eyes.
We found Arawn much as we had on that first day, stripped to the waist and tilling the ground, a heavy iron shovel in his hands.
Around him the fields were full of other workers, laughing in the morning sunlight as they laboured.
As we approached, Arawn stopped digging, shading his eyes and hurrying towards us.
To my surprise he caught us both in a huge embrace.
“You did it, you healed the land. Mallt, you truly are a friend to Annwn, and Belis, you have more than earned your reward. I was worried when you didn’t return after the shadow fell.
I thought maybe you’d been killed in the struggle and would be staying here but you both look well.
I was expecting Rhiannon to rush you here once she’d recovered herself…
” His voice petered out and I watched as his eyes flittered from Belis to me then at the space where Rhiannon should have been.
“She’s gone?” he asked, then nodded before we could answer. “I should have known.”
He leaned on his shovel, a faint tremor in his hand, and let out a long whistle. “I’ll miss the old woman, she’s been here a long time, took the record for it centuries ago. Just wouldn’t leave. I’d been telling her to let go for a while. Never thought she’d go without saying goodbye, though.”
“She went rather quickly,” Belis said. “I’m sure she would have said farewell if she’d had the time.”
“Aye, I’m sure she would. Funny to have all that time and then none at the end. I’m happy for her, I am, though there’s a vein of sadness, too.” He looked up at me. “I’ve a feeling you’ll know a bit about that too, Mallt.”
I didn’t say anything and the Lord of Annwn sighed. “Very well then. I will make my preparations to release your sister’s soul to you. While you wait, I have one final task for you.”
“Are you serious?” I asked incredulously. “We’ve just saved the entirety of the afterworld and you’re asking us to do chores!”
Arawn waved a hand. “Come now, this last is an easy one. I simply want you to help me in the fields for the day. At dusk you will be free to go and can follow the sun as it slips back into the mortal world.”
Belis slipped her hand into mine.
“One final day in Annwn?” she whispered into my ear. I met her eyes and decided to stop complaining. Arawn tossed a basket towards us and Belis caught it in the air without turning around. I felt a smile tugging at my lips.
“Fine. One more day.”
“Excellent.” Arawn stuck his shovel into the earth and pointed to a field of trees behind him. “See that orchard? The fruit is ready to harvest. I’ll come for you when the birds begin to roost.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “No more brambles.”
He smiled. “No blackberries. Just apples and pears. Fill up the barrels at the base of the trees. I promised it was an easy one.”
Belis tugged at my hand and we wandered over to the orchard.
Wide oak barrels were scattered on the ground, next to neat wooden ladders.
The trees groaned with golden apples, rosy pears, each one ripe and ready to eat.
Belis picked up a ladder and leaned it against the nearest trunk so that I could climb and reach out for the fruit.
I dropped each one down to her and she caught them easily, transferring them to the barrels once she had an armful.
It wasn’t hard, climbing up and down the ladder and swinging through the branches, but it was satisfying.
I found I enjoyed the rhythm of the work, enjoyed labouring beside Belis.
This could be a life that made me happy, I thought, and the realisation made me quick, raining apples and pears down on my beloved until she begged, laughing, for me to slow down.
We had cleared the whole orchard by late afternoon and sat down against a tree, trading bites of an apple.
“We should have an orchard,” I said, swallowing my mouthful. “Wherever we end up. We could sell the fruit or pickle it for winter.”
“I don’t think you can pickle fruit,” Belis said. “You have to dry it or store it in a cellar.” I waved a hand at her.
“Whatever it is. I’m sure you can work it out. You and Cati.”
“What will you be doing while I’m drying fruit?” I heard the smile in her voice.
“I’ll be clearing the land or minding the flocks. I trained the hounds, I can train some sheepdogs easily enough.”
“You have a very romantic view of farm labour, my love,” Belis said, snatching the apple back from my waving hand.
“Or we can go and live in a town and keep a shop. I know all the goblin traders. We can sell fae crafts. We’ll go north, keep fifty miles between us and the Roman frontiers. There’s plenty of redheads up there, you’ll blend right in. Everything will work out.”
Belis was silent for a moment. I shifted around to look at her. “What is it?”
Her eyes were downcast.
“Do you think Cati will want to stay? After she finds out what I did to her?” I reached out to cup her cheek.
“Would you forgive her if it was the other way round?”
“Of course. She’s my sister.”
I smiled. “Then I’m sure she will. It might take a while but we have our whole lives ahead of us.”
“I can’t regret everything I did,” Belis said, raising her eyes to meet mine. “After all, it brought me to you.”
I kissed her then, until the birds began to sing their evening melodies and I heard the faint crunch of footsteps.
Arawn was striding down towards us, something white gleaming in his hands. He smiled as we scrambled to our feet and nodded at the barrels of packed fruit.
“Good work. I deem your side of the bargain has been completed. Now for mine.”
He held out the thing he was holding. It was a white shell, a whelk, the outside all knobbed and pointed, the inside a gleaming coral. It was strung on a long strand of scarlet thread.
“As agreed, your sister’s soul. I have trapped her spirit within this shell. It still yearns to come home to Annwn, so you must reach her body before the tenth day dawns. The matrix of the shell will not hold her longer than that. Place the opening in her mouth and blow.
“You may recognise the thread. Spun from flax harvested from land you cleared with your own blood. It will not break nor be removed from your neck unless you wish it and while you wear it no mortal blade shall harm you. A little reminder of your time here.”
Belis slipped the pendant over her head, hanging it neatly around her neck, the shell resting above her heart.
Arawn extended a hand to each of us.
“Come, I will rush you back to Caer Sidi. It will soon be night here which means the sun is rising on the outer lands.”
I gripped his arm and for a final time felt the sickening whoosh of the land moving around us. Arawn stopped at the foot of the castle steps, the grey light of the evening hiding the expression on his face.
“Farewell, Mallt Y Nos,” he said, “until we meet again.”
He bowed to Belis. “Lady Beliscena.” Then he turned and strode back down the road. Alone again, I looked over at Belis. I took her hand and squeezed it.
“Come,” I said, “we’re finished with the dead.”
She glanced down and smiled at me. “The living world is waiting.”
The sea was choppy, the whitecaps bright against the bottle-green sea. I stood on the edge of the cliffs and laughed with delight to feel the cold wind on my skin. Belis stepped up next to me and we screamed into the breeze, whooping and jumping up and down with our success.
By some miracle the boat was still there, bobbing in the swell, the rope glittering with salt crystals. Belis climbed down to it and then came back to help me. We bailed out seawater with our hands then cast off, Belis rowing with the oars while I punted us away from the rocks with her spear.
We decided not to head back to the beach we had left from, reasoning there was no one to return the boat to.
Instead, we took the direct route and rowed due east. The winds were with us and the current carried us all the way back to the coast. We landed the boat on a stony shore, pulling it up away from the pebbles to hide our passage.
The woods went right down to the edge of the beach so once we had hidden the boat beneath a pile of leaves we began heading east. The trees were bright with birdsong and the brush was alive with rabbits.
We made good time and decided to camp early for the night, Belis pulling me to the ground in a small clearing, to make love in a cloud of wildflowers.
She left me there to hunt, returning an hour or so later, a brace of rabbits swinging from her belt.
I rose to kiss her but she insisted on dressing her kill and spitting it over a quickly built fire before she would let me distract her.
We paused to eat, tearing off strips of roasted meat, drizzling fat down our chins.
I finished my portion and took a swig of fresh water.
Beside me Belis was still chomping her way through a rabbit leg.
She met my eyes and I felt desire coil in my stomach.
She put down the bone and was leaning towards me when a faint but definite pressure at my throat announced the presence of a knife and suddenly the wood was bright with blades.