Return - Hansel and Gretel Retold

ONE "What about that plant? Can you tell me its properties?" Mother asked, pointing. Rhona eyed the yellow flowers. "Tansy. Useful to combat gout or help a woman lose an unwanted child. We use it in tansy cakes and to scent the rushes on the floor on feast days." "It can also be used to dye cloth in shades of yellow and green," Mother said. Rhona sighed. "I will never remember them all." Mother turned and smiled. "Of course you will. One day. It takes practice, is all. There are books at home full of this, but your head needs to be full of it, too, for you won't have the book in the woods with you." She pointed at a plant with downy leaves. "What of that one?" Rhona glared at the plant. "A stinging nettle. The young plants can be boiled and eaten, and the older ones can be soaked and the fibres woven into cloth. Best to wear gloves when you pick it, though." She had made that mistake once, and had no intention of doing so again. Nettles hurt. "And that – " Mother gave a cry as her horse stumbled, and she tumbled from the saddle. "Mother!" Rhona slid from her horse and dashed to Mother. She lay face down, with a spreading pool of blood beneath her. Rhona shook Mother's shoulder, and she'd never been so relieved to hear a groan in her life. "What should I do, Mother?" Rhona asked urgently. "Use your magic, and get me home," Mother whispered. "But you said..." Rhona snapped her mouth shut. She was old enough to know that her mother changed her mind when circumstances required it. "Very well." Rhona took a deep breath, then bit her lip. The breeze came the instant she summoned it, plucking her clothing as it passed, but saving most of its power for Mother. She let the air currents lift Mother back onto her horse, but the animal shied as soon as it smelled blood. The frightened horse bolted, and Mother fell a second time. This time, she didn't move. Rhona sent another gust of wind, stronger this time, to pick Mother up and bring her to Rhona's own horse. Rhona's gelding was an old warhorse who shied at nothing, even as he was made to carry two women instead of one. "Mother, should I go slowly, so I don't hurt you more, or should I hurry, to get you home faster?" Rhona asked. No response. That meant Mother wouldn't feel the jolting if they galloped, and they would arrive sooner. Rhona kneed her horse into flight, and the gelding willingly obeyed. It was both the longest and the shortest ride of her life. Rhona shouted for help as she arrived at her father's house. Her arms ached from holding tight to her mother, but she refused to let go until Mother was in better hands than hers. Healer's hands, hopefully. Someone who knew how to stop the bleeding, for all Rhona's knowledge of herbs had fled when her mother fell. "Rhona needs a healer, too!" someone shouted. Her oldest sister, Nuala. Rhona shook her head irritably. "I'm fine. It's Mother who needs help." "Why are you all covered in blood, then?" Nuala demanded with all the force of a twelve-year-old demanding to be considered a capable adult. Rhona glanced down. The front of her dress was stained red. "Mother," she choked out, and ran for Mother's bedchamber. Nuala was hot on her heels. Mother's eyes fluttered open. "Go get the other children, and your father," she said. Rhona moved to obey, but Mother caught her sleeve. "No. Nuala, not you." "I am sorry, mistress, but there is nothing more I can do. We can only wait," the healer said. Mother nodded and waved the man out. "I'm sorry. I should have gotten you here faster. I should have – " Rhona began. Mother hushed her. "I do not have much time, he says. I lost too much blood. No one could save me, not even you. To think I'd hoped to give your father a son...but now I never will, and the babe will die with me. Just like my sister." "Aunt Brigid – " "Was no aunt to you, though she was my sister. She protected me as only she could, and so when she died, I swore to protect you. Now...it is your turn." Mother winced, then went on, "You must protect your sisters from whatever comes, but especially from Alban invaders. But you cannot use your powers, or they will know." Rhona almost didn't want to ask, but she had to know. "Know what?" "That I am not your mother. Brigid was." "And my father...?" "Is still your father. When the Albans attacked our home, I was already betrothed to him, his virgin bride, but the Albans...they..." Mother swallowed. "Brigid found me, too late to stop them. She swore she would protect me after that, but when it came to my own husband...the man I loved, I could not stand to have a man touch me. So she...pretended to be me, in the dark. We hid her pregnancy from your father and I told him you were mine. He does not know, and if he were ever to find out...I fear it would break his heart. He can never know you are a witch like Brigid. Never. But you must protect your sisters, like I protected you. Promise me!" "Mother, I – " "Promise me!" Rhona fought to hold back her tears. "I swear on my father's life that I will protect my sisters." Mother – no, Aunt Blanid – subsided. "Thank you." Then Sive, Maeve and Father arrived with Nuala, and all Blanid had time for were whispered words of love and farewell for her family before she left this world. Then Rhona wept with her half-sisters, for they had all lost a mother that day, and life would never be the same again.