creative writing
"This," Amily said simply and she fingered the brooch at her throat
which was holding her thick brown cloak around her neck. It was a twist of
beaten bronze, with curling patterns dancing on it. Her father had bought it
for her when he had travelled away some moons ago. She remembered him leaning
down from his horse, his hair tickling her face. "And this is for my
little Amily," he'd laughed and he'd pinned the brooch on her tunic. She
loved the brooch more than the world.
Olwig
gasped. She knew Amily was serious.
"Go
now," she said. "The gods be with you."
Amily
turned and walked away into the forest. Olwig stared into the trees long after
she had disappeared.
*
Amily loved the forest, and she was
afraid of it. Her people needed it to survive, but sometimes it swallowed them
up. Amily knew the edges of the forest well. She was often sent out with Olwig
to collect hazel or beech nuts in the autumn. The tribe would store them in
pits, like the squirrels, and make them last through the barren winter months. Amily
loved picking the blackberries that appeared in late summer. Her tunic was
still stained purple with their juice. Her father had laughed and asked how
many of the blackberries they'd picked had actually reached the village. Amily
knew where to pick the leaves of the green melde the family liked to eat with
meat, and where to find gold of pleasure, the plant they crushed to make oil.
Indeed it
was Amily who had once found mistletoe, the sacred all-healing plant. She had
shown the Druid where it hung and he had been pleased with her. He had placed
his pale hand on her head and looked deep into her eyes and told her that she
had done well and that she would be blessed by the gods. Amily was so proud she
thought she'd faint. The mistletoe had been gathered on the sixth day of the
moon, and the Druid had sacrificed three fowl to the Mother Goddess to bring
good fortune. He had taken the mistletoe into his hut, and Amily imagined that
there he would make healing potions for the tribe.
� 0 s M ��6 �
style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:normal'> "I
need to go. I need you to look after the sheep."
"Alone?" Olwig was surprised.
"I
will come back soon."
"Where
are you going?"
"I
need to go to the grove." Olwig's eyes widened. To go to the sacred grove
alone was a fearsome prospect.
"What
will you offer to the goddess?" she asked, at last.
0 comments:
Post a Comment