Mother Heggy’s blessing; by making contact through Magpie, the Wise Woman’s message was clear. At Old Heggy’s bidding, channelled through Magpie, Leveret’s image was depicted up in the Stone Circle for all to see. So now it was Leveret’s duty to accept the role of Maiden Huntress whether she wished it or not.
Deep inside she was terrified about the day ahead; the ordeal of standing up in front of the entire community, dancing and chanting, being the focus of everyone’s attention. It went against her nature but Leveret knew she must face it. She felt that Mother Heggy would be watching over her today and ensuring she did the whole thing properly. She wanted so much to make her mother proud and to prove wrong everyone who thought she was a bad choice. Kestrel would be delighted with her – and maybe she’d even manage to please her grim brother Yul.
She lay warm in bed and tried to contact Mother Heggy and her raven, but saw nothing apart from a brief flash of blue-black quills. So instead she imagined all the people who’d be up already in the darkness. The baker and his assistants would be making the special Imbolc bread, the sweet rolls in the shape of a crescent moon that everyone loved so much. Sylvie would probably be awake as she must be in the Circle for the dawn too and had her own robes to don and words to run through. Yul would be there also, as the magus, but his role was minimal today. Imbolc was a female ceremony, the only one where the women led and the men took a back seat.
In the Barn, women would soon be arriving to check all the maidens’ head-dresses and make sure the decorations were properly in place. The Barn had looked lovely yesterday when she finally left, with white candles everywhere and silver crescent moons and arrows hanging from the rafters. Edward and his helpers would be setting up the straw targets ready for the archery display on the Green, and the little dais where the Bright Maiden would sit and hand out trophies to the winners. Kestrel would be waking soon to don his costume as the Green Archer. He’d look gorgeous in the traditional green jerkin and leggings, brown boots and jaunty hat.
Leveret heard Maizie moving around in the room next to hers and knew this was the last peace and quiet she’d have today; once her mother was up and about the busy day would begin in earnest. Then she remembered her brothers and Jay and a black doubt crept into her heart. She knew they were plotting something; they’d hinted at it enough times. It was bad enough knowing they’d be laughing and jeering in the crowd as she performed the dances and sang the songs, without worrying about what else they had in store for her. They’d ridiculed her ever since she was tiny and taking part in her first ceremonies. They were why she now dreaded being the Maiden. They’d always spoiled everything and she felt a sudden rush of anger at the way they’d blighted her life. What a different person she’d be today if they’d treated her kindly, or at least as most brothers treat their little sisters. Leveret wondered yet again what they’d planned for her today that filled them with such glee, and shuddered at the thought.
Last night they’d called round to ‘wish her luck’. Fortunately Jay hadn’t been with them, although Maizie probably wouldn’t have let him in the house anyway. They’d sat in the armchairs by the fire sniggering to each other while Maizie bustled in the kitchen, a delicious smell of baking wafting into the sitting room.
‘Come and sit down, Mother!’ called Sweyn. ‘You work too hard.’
‘I will in a minute, Sweyn love,’ Maizie had replied. ‘I’m just doing Leveret’s breakfast for the morning. She’ll have such a long day and she’ll need to keep her strength up.’
Their mother had always done this on festival days – knowing it would be a rush and there’d be no time to cook a normal breakfast she laid out their breakfast the night before. She usually baked little cakes and left two on each person’s plate under a cloth, with a mug ready for milk. It was one of the kind things she always did, one of the many things that made her a special mother and earned their love, even from boys like Sweyn and Gefrin.
Finally she’d