Part 5
706 Words
FIVE
"You may go," Doireann said grandly to Ciara and Siobhan.
The two maids looked at each other, then Rhona.
"Return to your duties at the house, but leave the pony and the baskets," Doireann continued, growing impatient.
Berry picking was something the whole household did, from the lowest servant to the highest lady, or it had been for as long as Rhona could remember. They all ate their fill while filling their baskets, for berries were a summer treat that didn't last for long.
Remembering her father's admonition to make her stepmother feel welcome, Rhona forced a reassuring smile for the two girls. "I'll leave some for you to pick on the morrow, I promise. We shall manage. The girls are much bigger now, so they can carry a basket each." It would have to be a very small basket for Sive, or a very empty one, Rhona thought as she watched Maeve take Sive's hand to show her which berries to pick.
Nuala headed off on her own, swinging a large basket by her side as she selected the best looking bush.
Ciara and Siobhan mumbled something and headed home. Only then did Doireann take up a basket of her own. Ignoring the others, she proceeded to strip a bush on the far side of the clearing.
Rhona sighed and followed suit, only to find Doireann deliberately moving away from her, deeper into the forest, leaving her bushes half-picked. A quick glance told Rhona that her sisters were doing fine without her, so she followed Doireann. Deeper and deeper, until they were surrounded by trees and there wasn't a berry bush in sight.
"The berries are all back there," Rhona said, pointing.
Doireann waved away her words. "Let the children pick berries. I must find the holy spring. I know it's here. They say it was blessed by Saint Columba himself, and sprang up at his touch, and one cup will make any woman fertile, no matter how barren she may be. I heard Lady Catriona of Isla drank the miraculous waters of it on her wedding night, and that was the reason she gave birth to triplets."
Rhona shook her head. "I've never heard of such a spring. And Saint Columba didn't like women, so it does not seem likely he would work that sort of miracle. Especially not here. He feared the witch women of Nimbanmore."
Doireann scoffed, "There are no witches left in the world, least of all here. The faithful wiped such wicked creatures out centuries ago!"
Rhona wondered what the woman would say if she told her stepmother that magic was alive and well, coursing through her blood in readiness for when it was wanted, but she held her tongue. Blanid had told her to hide it, and hide it she would. No one must ever know.
"But the miraculous spring is real. It must be. I shall find it, and drink from it, so that I might bear Lord Ronin a son!" Doireann ducked between two trees, then trotted down a slope.
Rhona glanced back at her sisters. They were already out of sight. If she followed her stepmother, the girls would not know where they had gone. "Doireann, wait. The girls..."
"Go back to the children! I will find this spring on my own. It's not like you need it. You have no husband yet! Wait for me in the clearing. I shall not be long," Doireann called back before she disappeared from sight.
Rhona was torn. If something happened to her stepmother, her father would never forgive her. But if anything happened to her sisters...alone in the woods...Rhona would not forgive herself, and nor would Blanid. Wishing she didn't have to, Rhona said, "Very well. We shall wait."
Her dread-filled heart weighed more than her empty berry basket as Rhona returned to her sisters.
"Where is she?" Nuala asked, popping berries into her already stained mouth.
"Doireann has gone for a walk in the woods by herself. She wants us to wait here for her," Rhona said.
"More berries for us!" Sive cheered. Her hands and face were so covered in berry juice, she looked like she'd slaughtered a pig. Or a piglet, perhaps.
Rhona managed a smile for her sisters. "Let's see who can pick the most before she comes back."
- Writer
