AN: Nope...still not mine, no matter hard I wish.
All conversations in this chapter are in Elvish.
PHOENIX and DRAGON: Through the World Gate
Chapter 5
Harry stuffed another piece of apple bread into his mouth and reached to take a small pumpkin tart from a plate a blond haired elf maid was holding. He ducked as a pair of teenaged elves ran past, pulling a third one after them, black and orange ribbon streamers tied to all their arms, and circlets of bright oak leaves on their heads
"Is it always like this?" Harry asked as he stretched his hands out and warmed them in the heat of the large bonfire centered in the open circle of paving in the middle of the Oakwood village.
"Yes, at least Samhain is." Gavin ducked as the three ran back past them again, a different one being pulled this time, all three chanting some sort of rhyming song. He bit into a bright red apple, the juice dripping down his chin, and grinned when Harry laughed at him before going back to watching all the adults around him enjoy horns of the mulled wine that was being passed around.
Both boys looked up as Awel sat down beside Harry, reaching to wrap a warm blanket around the boy as he did. "It's different for each solstice. For Samhain we put all the hearth fires out at sunset and everyone gathers at the central fire. The veil between the worlds of the living and dead is thin tonight, so we honor our dead, and celebrate their lives with stories and music. Then at midnight, everyone will go to the sacred grove for the ceremony sending the Old Year out and welcoming in the New Year. After that, everyone will come back to the fire, and tell more stories and eat more food. At dawn, the head of each family will take a brand from the central fire and relight their hearth fire. Then each family will spend the day together in their homes to tell stories about their ancestors, and remember those who have passed on during the last year."
Gavin reached over to hold Harry's hand when he saw the sad expression the mention of families had brought to the other boys face. "Tomorrow you will have a family too," he whispered when Awel looked away to answer a question from another elf. "We'll leave when everyone goes to the sacred grove."
Harry nodded in agreement, his earlier excitement dimmed by the thought of the secret ritual they were going to perform in a couple hours.
Awel turned back to the boys and studied Harry for a moment, noticing how similar he looked to Gavin since the bruises had faded, and the pinched look of pain had left his face. "I never did ask how it is that you speak our language Harry. Could you tell me?"
Harry nodded shyly, and looked at Gavin for permission. "I learned it when Gavin did, sir. We talked every night, and after a while we could speak both languages. Gavin taught me what his grandfather taught him, and I shared what I learned."
Gavin frowned angrily, and muttered. "When he was allowed to learn anything that is."
Awel raised his eyebrows at the bitter tone Gavin used. He'd never heard someone as young as Gavin speak with such hatred and it concerned him. "What do you mean?"
"I lived in a cupboard, and I wasn't allowed out except to do chores. I had to earn my keep because I was a burden." Harry looked down and clasped his hands together, the food he'd eaten turning bitter in his stomach as he remembered his previous life. He stopped for a moment, and then continued when Awel tipped his chin up so he could see his face again, gently wiping a tear away as it trickled down his cheek. "I wasn't allowed to go to day school like my cousin was because I was a freak and not worth teaching. Gavin taught me to read and count. I can read and count in Elvish, but not English sir." Harry's voice hitched as he choked back a sob, ashamed of his ignorance.
Awel reached an arm slowly around Harry, careful not to frighten him, and pulled him carefully into his lap, tucking the small boy's head against his chest. "Oh child, you did nothing wrong. Those people you lived with were monsters. You aren't a freak, you're a very special child and you deserve to be happy." He stroked Harry's back as the boy started to cry softly, his sobs barely heard even as close as Awel was. His heart hurt to think of all the pain this child must have gone through to make him learn to cry so silently and he vowed to himself that he would never allow Harry to be returned to those people, even if he had to fight the entire Council.
Eventually Harry's sobs ended and he began to pay attention to things again.
"Sir? Could you explain the marks you have on your cheek?" Harry was hesitant to ask a question, since he'd always been punished for his curiosity, but since everyone who was older than him and Gavin seemed to have at least one mark, it couldn't have been too private.
"They are a representation of our choices and talents," he paused because Harry didn't seem to understand what he'd said. "They show what we have done, and what special things we can do." He pointed to the first of the four runes which began on his temple and curved down onto his cheekbone and explained.
"This one is Berkano and Jera joined; they're the runes for the power and light of spring, renewal, and a promise of new beginnings. It shows that I follow the Lady's Way instead of the Lord's. If I had chosen the Lord's Way it would be Algiz and Uruz joined, our rune for a shield, which means protection, or one who protects; its the symbol we use for the Lord of the Sacred Hunt." He pointed to the next two and continued. "This one shows that I have the healing touch, and this one shows that I've trained as a Healer and have been accepted by my people as one."
Harry reached up and touched the last one, which was under Awel's eye, and asked what it meant. "This one means I'm one of the village elders, and I can add the title Naf to my name when important things are discussed."
"Why doesn't Gavin have any, and why are some different colors?" Harry asked softly. "The one on your face," he stopped as he touched the blue rune on Awel's temple, "is blue, but I've seen a couple people with black ones there."
"You get your first rune when you are eleven and you enter your year of passage. You are expected to have learned all the things a young elf should know before this, and during this year you start learning what you will do as an adult. The first thing you do is choose if you will follow the Lady and mostly help people and create things, or the Lord and protect people. The people with the black runes have chosen to serve the Lord and Lady more closely than others, so their rune shows everyone that. You receive more runes as you learn what you are talented in, or gain honors, and sometimes those are different colors." Awel continued when Harry just looked at him without speaking.
"If you follow the Lady you are usually a healer, or someone who nurtures life like a farmer, or maybe you teach others, or you're a craftsman who makes something beautiful for everyone to use, or you create music or poetry. Seers usually follow the Lady as well." He paused to make sure Harry understood. "If you follow the Lord, you are someone who guards life, and you are one who protects the forest and village or hunts for food." Awel stopped when he saw the confusion in Harry's eyes. "What is your question, little one?"
"How can you guard life if you hunt, because you kill things when you hunt?"
"Death is a part of life, it is just another part of the circle, so when you kill an animal you are merely completing the circle," Awel explained softly. "We honor the animals we kill, and thank them for their sacrifice."
"Does that mean the ones who follow the Lady don't fight?" Harry asked hesitantly.
"Oh no, they can still fight. They just aren't natural warriors," Awel answered, pleased that Harry was comfortable enough with him to ask questions. "They usually have other talents to help in a fight."
Harry stayed in Awel's lap for the rest of the evening, the soft spoken healer explaining the stories that were being told around the fire, and urging him to eat as more food was passed around. Eventually, the story telling drew to an end and people started rising to make their way towards the sacred grove.
"Make sure you stay warm Harry, you don't need a chill," Awel cautioned as he rose and carefully set the small boy on his feet. "I have to go help with the ceremony, so I will see you later?" He bent to give Harry and Gavin a last hug and then joined a group of elves heading towards the sacred grove.
"Come on Harry, we need to leave while everyone else is still getting ready for the ceremony." Gavin took Harry's hand and led him in the direction of the grove, then pulled him off the path when nobody was looking their direction. "The Serpent stone is this way – it's not on the same path as the altar circle. I hid the athame and the oil under a bush along the path."
Several minutes of walking later, the boys reached a small clearing in the midst of a circle of large oaks. A strange bluish stone slab, only about five feet tall with a circular hole through the center rose out of the soft moss, four serpents carved so they were biting their own tails looped through the hole, and runes covered most of the rest of the stone.
"This is it?" Harry asked curiously. "I thought it would be…bigger."
"Grandfather says that it isn't how big it is, Harry, it's how powerful it is that matters." Gavin reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled a scrap of parchment out, motioning Harry to join him on the ground in a patch of moonlight. "You need to memorize this, because we will only get one chance and we have to say it together."
The next few minutes were spent memorizing their plea to the gods, repeating it to each other until they were sure they had it correct. Additional time was spent copying runes off the parchment onto their chests, foreheads, and the palms of their hands with the fragrant oil.
"We need to start when the moon is shining directly on the stone, which will only be a couple minutes," Gavin said, looking with concern at how pale Harry was. "Are you alright? You don't look very good!"
Harry straightened and took a deep breath, trying to stop the shivers fear, and the cold night air on his bare chest and back, were giving him. "I'm ready. Let's do it!" He moved to the far side of the stone and looked through the hole at Gavin. "Hand me the knife."
The full moon's light moved closer to the center of the oaken circle, and the boys could hear chanting begin from where the rest of the village was gathered at the altar circle in the center of the sacred grove.
"Now!" Gavin said sharply and Harry drew the knife quickly across his palm, grimacing when Gavin reached for the knife and cut his own palm and then quickly grabbed Harry's bleeding hand, holding them so their blended blood dripped onto a circular pattern of runes cut in the bottom of the stone hole.
With a nod to Harry, they both begin speaking in unison.
"Lord and Lady hear our plea, hear our hearts call and accept our blood as a sign of our resolve." They both paused for a moment and exchanged a frightened look as they felt a sudden gathering of magic, almost as if something extremely powerful were standing behind each of them, waiting for something. The woods went totally silent, the chanting from the others at the sacred circle disappearing as the Serpent stone started to glow an eerie blue. Gavin motioned for Harry to continue as he hesitated.
"Lord and Lady hear our plea! By your grace, I ask to be made a brother to Gavin, two born separate made as of one birth, blood joined to blood as our hearts are now joined, never to be parted as long as the Wheel turns!"
"Lord and Lady hear our plea!" Gavin began as soon as Harry had finished his part of the plea. "By your grace, I ask to be made a brother to Harry, two born separate made as of one birth, blood joined to blood as our hearts are now joined, never to be parted as long as the Wheel turns!" Gavin gasped as he finished his part and the sense of waiting increased. He nodded again to Harry, tightening the grip on his hand as they started the last part in unison again and the power around them became nearly visible in its intensity, pressing on them and making it hard to breathe.
"By Blood gift we call, hear our plea! By oak and by elder we pledge ourselves to you, Forest Lord and Moon Lady! Our hearts beat to your rhythm. Our minds follow your purpose. Our magics are your gifts. Our hands are yours to guide. Our feet will walk as you will it. May the circle be completed! As you will, so mote it be!"
Midnight was met and the year turned, just as Gavin and Harry finished their pledge… and the world exploded around them. A wave of power blasted outwards from the stone, flashing through them as if it were fire, burning through them and flinging them both backwards to the ground.
AN: If any of you are reading this chapter for the second time, you might notice I changed the runes used for the Lord and Lady. Better research allowed me to find the appropriate ones, and I thought it would make the story better by making the change.
Myrddin (My + rr + thin)
Etain (Eh + tine)
Awel (Ow + el) or? (Ah + uh + el)