to be Archer yet. Well, I’d better get sewing then,’ said Maizie. ‘My girl must look beautiful. I’ll go down to the stores now and get some o’ the best white linen. She were going to wear last year’s Imbolc dress with a little alteration but if she’s to be Maiden I need to make her a new outfit altogether. Harold’s blooming quotas will have to wait.’
Sweyn, Gefrin and Jay were not impressed that Leveret had been chosen as the Maiden. They discussed it one evening in the pub when Jay had returned from college, Gefrin had come back from the fields and Sweyn had finished his work in the tannery.
‘I’m on my way to visit the three biddies,’ said Jay. ‘I’m dying for a smoke. Now that bastard cousin of mine has moved out I have to chop firewood for them every night and get the water too. It’s no bloody joke, I can tell you.’
‘We still do it for our mother,’ said Sweyn.
‘Yeah, well there are two of you. And anyway, Magpie’s always done all the heavy work – it’s all the thick git’s capable of. Why should I have to start doing it? Come and give me a hand, would you? I’ll get ’em to give you a pipe too.’
The brothers agreed and they left the pub and walked along the lane towards the dirty cottage down at the end.
‘What about your sister being the Maiden then?’
‘Stupid bloody choice!’ muttered Sweyn. ‘Goddess knew why they chose her – she’s going to be so cocky about it.’
‘Then we need to put her in her place,’ said Jay. ‘We’ll have to plan something good and we never did follow through after Yule, did we? She must think she got away with it.’
‘What shall we do?’ asked Gefrin excitedly. ‘Something terrible – something that’ll really show her up.’
‘But no one must guess it’s us,’ said Sweyn, ever mindful of Maizie.
‘Let’s ask the crones,’ suggested Jay. ‘They’ll think of something awful.’
The two old women cackled with glee at being asked to help and put their evil minds to the task of finding something nasty for Maizie’s daughter. Having finished their supper they were sitting smoking their pipes when the boys arrived, whilst Starling finished off the day’s bread with a big bowl of gravy. Everyone was entitled to fresh bread daily and she liked to finish the loaves every evening, along with the milk and anything else left over. Food wasn’t rationed in any way and she could collect as much as she wanted from the stores each day. She sat like a great hog bent over the bowl on her lap, a huge hunk of bread clutched in her fat hand, the gravy greasing her lips and chin as she dunked and ate, dunked and ate. Sweyn and Gefrin watched her in fascination for a while, finding the sight of such compulsive eating quite compelling. Finally it was all gone and she sat back replete. She sighed with contentment and let out a long and loud burp. Gefrin in particular found this very amusing.
‘’Tis Imbolc – the wells and springs are sacred to the Maiden. There’s something there,’ said Old Violet.
‘Aye, sister, something there alright,’ piped Vetchling with her reedy voice. ‘Put her down the well! That’d be a fine to-do – Maiden in the well!’
‘It’s a bit public,’ said Sweyn. ‘It has to be secret so nobody knows we did it.’
‘Don’t see why! Meddling girl – ‘twas her fault they took the boy away.’
‘Aye, all her fault. She took him up Quarrycleave to poison him and now they’re making her Maiden! ‘Tis all her fault and we’re going to set her straight. Meddling, that’s what she is.’
‘Why don’t you poison her then?’ suggested Starling, reaching for her pipe now that her belly was finally full. She shifted her huge bulk to pass wind, like a low rumble of thunder. ‘She wanted poison so let’s give her poison.’
‘We can’t kill her!’ said Gefrin, balking at going that far. ‘We just want to hurt her or do something nasty to upset her.’
‘Poison don’t have to kill,’ mused Old Violet. ‘Poison can just make you feel like your guts are turning inside out, or make your mind wander and stray. ‘Tis a good idea, Starling. I’ll think on it, lads. Who wants a pipe now?’
They sat in cosy companionship, the three women in their rocking chairs and the boys on pieces of log that served as stools. Jay drew on his pipe