Chapter 8

16th Day of Deep Winter 768 n.c - The day after Long Night

I woke to the clarifying smell of Winter's Heart flowers all around me. I was lying in a field of them, looking up at the sky, light grey clouds covered most of the blue.

"Sharein?" I heard Father call, from the direction of the field.

"Yes Father, I'm coming." I replied, considering whether or not to tell him of my vision. For some reason I got the feeling that the woman didn't want me telling him about her. I questioned this thought briefly as I got up and made my way towards the hedge and field. Did she not want me to say something, or was it that I didn't want to tell him?

"Sorry Father." I apologised when I got close to him, "If we had a privy out here it would have been all right, but it look a little bit of time to do what I needed to do in these breeches."

Father smiled at me, "Yes, I suppose it's not something you've had much practice in."

"Get yourself a rake and let's get this last field finished before we head in for the day." he continued.

We soon had the fourth field all covered and we all trooped back to the house to get cleaned up, ready for dinner.

Mother already had some water heated over the fireplace, Father and the boys let me get cleaned up first (as they would all get cleaned up together). It was nice to be back in the dress that I was used to, but I almost missed the comforting closeness that the breeches provided.

Mother and my sisters had cooked up a veritable feast for us all, as we often did for the big days of seeding and harvesting. I was exhausted from the physically demanding outside work, parts of me ached that had never ached before. Roasted rabbit, vegetables and a nice thick gravy to go all over it. She had even made a pie using some spiced apple preserves.

Dinner was delicious and whilst everyone else chatted about their day, I sat there reminiscing of my encounter with the woman in the forest. She was the most beautiful person I'd ever seen and her smile seemed to be burned into my memories.

"Sharein, are you feeling all right?" Someone asked me and I was shaken from my reverie.

"Yes," I answered, "I was just thinking about what I shall do tomorrow."

"I.." Mother began, but was interrupted by the knock on the door.

"Whoever could that be?" Father asked, as he stood up and answered the door.

"Master Askilain! I'm ever so sorry to disturb you!" I could hear Mari's voice from beyond Father, "I was on my way home and just felt that I needed to stop in to share my news with Sharein!"

Father stood out of the way, taking Mari's cloak from her and hanging it up at the door, then escorted Mari inside.

"Would you care for a glass of wine?" Mother asked Mari, "I'm sure that you must be quite parched."

"I appreciate your thoughtfulness Missus Askilain, but I am almost home. I am ever so excited about my news, I feel that I have been floating all the way back from Easthaven!" Mari exclaimed, she looked so… alive and happy.

"Well, out with it Mari, I feel myself getting excited in anticipation!" I said, copying her radiant smile.

Mari took a deep breath to calm herself down, "Well," she began, "I ate a small lunch with the Waeder family today and afterwards Tomas and I went for a short walk around the town!"

I smiled, nodding my head a little to indicate for her to continue, waiting for the news I had expected for a while now.

"Well," she began again, she was so cute when she was so excited about something, "we got back to the smithy and Tomas told me that he 'had something to ask me'."

"He wanted to know where you bought your dress?" Father asked innocently.

"Yes! No. What?" Mari asked, confused.

"Oh hush now Father." Mother chastised him gently, "He's just pulling your leg. What was his question Mari?"

"Oh." Mari said, visibly getting excited again, "He asked me if I'd like to walk out with him!"

I knew that it was coming, I knew that would be Mari's news. As much as I didn't feel it, I let out a little squeal of excitement and jumped out of my seat to give her a hug.

I heard Father say in a put upon sympathetic voice, "And you said no? Poor lad, I shall have to have an ale with Master Tomas in commiseration."

I hear a light smack, likely Mother chastising him again as Mari pulled back from our hug, "Said No? Said No! Of course I didn't say No."

She looked me in the eyes, tears of happiness at the corners of hers, "I'm ever so happy Sharein."

"I can see that Mari," and I could, "and I am ever so happy for you also." And I was.

"I cannot wait to tell Mother and Father the news!" Mari said, letting go of the hug and gathering her cloak from beside the door, "I am so excited I feel that I could burst!"

"We are overjoyed at your news Mari," Mother told her, "please pass our love on to your family."

Mari nodded, a huge smile on her face, as she fastened the cloak around her shoulders and blew me a kiss.

Father opened the door for her and she fair skipped away.

After a few moments, Father just started laughing. Mother raised an eyebrow at him and said slowly "And how long until Sharein comes home with such news?"

Father's laughter stopped suddenly, his face darkened a little.

"Are there any boys in town that interest you Sharein?" he asked me point blank.

"Uh… no Father, not at all." I replied with some conviction.

The slight darkness disappeared completely and he gestured towards me, "See Mother? Nothing to worry about."

Mother glowered at him and he laughed in return. We all finished our dinner and cleaned up before going to bed.

I lay there until after my sisters were asleep, making plans for the next day.

That night, I dreamed of the woman again. Just like the last dream were were dancing naked in the forest. Although this time, I took special note of my surroundings. We were in a clearing, near a small cliff. At the opposite side of the clearing from the cliff face was a stone altar. The same stone altar that I saw in my vision. We both danced in a circle, following the boundary of the clearing three or four times before we came together in the middle to dance together. Although she felt cold and despite my nakedness, I felt neither hot nor cold. We danced like that for what felt like hours in the dream, I just revelled in her closeness. The whole time, she just stared at me with those Winter's Heart eyes, a cryptic smile touching her lips. Eventually, I noted that the sun was rising, the sky getting lighter. I bent my face closer and touched my lips to hers. Her eyes widened in surprise and the dream ended in nothing but blackness.

17th Day of Deep Winter 768 n.c

I woke feeling quite… relaxed. Puzzled and confused, but mostly refreshed. As usual, I had woken long before my sisters, so I got dressed and went outside to freshen up. Once I had used the privy, I washed my face and hands and went back inside into the kitchen to help mother with breakfast. I took a quick note of what she was up to and what she seemed to be planning and took up on the next task she would do. We worked together for a few minutes in silence, no doubt she was concentrating on adding the correct spices to the spiced bread while I ruminated on my dream.

"Did you have a nice sleep Sharein?" Mother asked, once she had finished adding the ingredients into the spiced bread dough and set it aside to rise.

"I did thank-you Mother, I had quite a pleasant dream." I replied, "And you?"

"Yes thank-you Sharein, I did." Mother answered, "I'm letting Father and the boys have a sleep-in, if they can manage it. I would have let you lie-in also, but I think that you are just as immune to them as I."

I nodded with a smile, and we both got back to the breakfast preparations.

Once everyone else eventually awoke, Mother and I had the table set with a big bowl of honeyed porridge, spiced bread and butter, bacon and eggs, and a nice big pot of tea.

We ate slowly, Father and the boys had a few things to fix around the farm and Mother and the girls were planning to head into Easthaven to buy some more spices and ingredients. I, on the other hand, planned to go and explore. The visions had shown up to me twice now and both times came from the same general location in the forest. I desperately wanted to see if there really was a clearing with an altar there.

Once we finished breakfast, I helped mother prepare some lunch for Father and the boys and a picnic basket for Mother and the girls, then once they had all left I started walking towards the forest. I first made my way to the hedge at the back of the barley field where I had the last vision. From there I made my way straight into the forest, trying as best I could to stay on a straight path to where the woman appeared. I had to walk around places where thorny bushes blocked my path, and through a small stream, but eventually I came to the top of a cliff. Looking down, about twenty feet, there was a round clearing in the trees and clearly, I could see a stone altar. My heart leapt in my chest. It was real! The dreams, the visions, all real! I looked around for a way to get down and was just about to head off towards a place where a path looked to head down when I heard a growl from my side, from the way I came. It was a deep growl, a growl that promised pain and death. I looked up, ever so slowly and was dismayed to see four large wolves arrayed out in an arc around me. Their coats were different shades and patterns of black and grey, the tips of their ears came almost up to my neck. These weren't ordinary wolves! These were Dire Wolves! The wolf's much larger, much smarter and much more aggressive cousins. I swallowed audibly as panic set in. I had nothing with which to fight them off, I had heard tell that they were afraid of fire, but that information was useless to me. I backed away from them a little, but realised that they had backed me up to the cliffs edge. They knew it too. One dashed in from the side and clamped it's jaws and teeth down on my leg. A burst of pain shot through me, like nothing I had ever felt before. It had pulled me off my feet and I fell down with a thud, my head hitting the ground. I opened my eyes and saw a branch nearby. I reached out with one hand, just as the dire wolf released it's jaws to take a better bite. I swung the branch around, with all of my might, catching the wolf on the side of it's head.

It was distracted for a moment and I realised that I wouldn't be able to fight all of them off with a tree branch, I did the first thing that came to me.

I rolled off the cliff.