Elphame's Choice (Partholon #4)

Elphame's Choice (Partholon #4) Page 8

Elphame thought that they smelled like a basil-filled garden after a spring rain. She brushed a damp strand of hair behind her ear, but not before picking a crushed leaf from it, and smiled to herself. The women -

as well as the castle - had been cleansed. It had been a nice break, and a wonderful ritual. Elphame glanced up at the sky. The sun seemed to be sinking awfully fast. She stifled a frustrated sigh. She would be glad when the hearths were filled with brightly burning fires, and dusk would signal the lighting of the castle's brands - then the coming of evening would not call a halt to their work. But it certainly did now.

Quickly she prioritized in her mind. The kitchens needed to be attended to, that should come first.

Then a niggling thought brushed at her. Clear the Main Courtyard. Allow the heart of the castle to beat again. Elphame felt a little jolt of surprise. Had that been her own thought? No, thought wasn't the right word. Her sudden desire to clear the courtyard felt more like a compulsion that beat in time with her blood.

"My Lady? What is our next task?"

Elphame broke from her inner musings and smiled at Brenna, pleased that the Healer had stopped calling her Goddess. She motioned for the women to gather around her. She searched for and found Wynne.

"Let's get the kitchen in working order. Rebuilding a home is hungry work."

Wynne's smile was bright agreement. "I know exactly where 'tis."

Elphame, of course, knew where the kitchen was located, too. She had glimpsed it on the quick walkthrough she'd done with her brother and the Stonemaster, but she was content to allow her new cook the pleasure of leading them to what would become Wynne's personal territory.

"Show us," Elphame said.

And just like that the women surged as one into the castle. No hesitation. No trepidation. No nervous laughter. It was as if the air had been cleared of the emotional cobwebs of the past - now all that waited to be done was to clear its physical refuse so that the future could begin.

Elphame knew that Cuchulainn would tell her she was being an idealistic fool, but she was so happy that it felt like her heart might burst.

The women entered the Main Courtyard as a group, and suddenly their amiable talk was silenced. The great center column of Clan MacCallan stood silent and awe-inspiring, stretching to a majestic height well above their heads. Elphame left the group and approached it. She could still feel the phantom warmth of her commune with the spirits of the stone against her palms. But this time she didn't rest her hands against the granite surface, instead she faced the group of women.

"This is the center column of MacCallan Castle," she explained to them. "Always remember that this was once the home of the much-honored Clan MacCallan. They were warriors, but they also were poets and artists. Many of Epona's Chosen have had MacCallan blood pulsing in their veins. They revered beauty and truth, which is why Epona showed such rage at their slaughter." She pointed up the column's length.

"If you look closely you can see that beneath the layers of grime and soot, it is decorated with symbols that were important to the MacCallans. Creatures and plants of the surrounding forest, as well as the Clan's symbol of a rearing mare, have all been intricately carved within the interlinking circular pattern."

Several of the women nodded and stepped closer, peering with open curiosity at the mighty pillar.

"This should be cleaned so that its original beauty can be seen," Meara said, with the same no-nonsense tone she had used when she ordered the dirty water containers to be scrubbed.

"It will be," Elphame assured her. "As will this entire courtyard. Look at the floor." The women's eyes drifted to their feet. Without stopping to consider that she might be drawing unwanted attention to her unique body, she pawed forward with one sharp hoof, loosening a small trench in the dirt that covered the floor. "See," she said with a satisfied smile. "Beneath all of this filth there is a thick layer of fine marble. When it is clean it will shine just as brightly as the pearl-colored halls of Epona's Temple."

The women talked together in excited little bursts of conversation as they studied the hidden treasure that" lay beneath them.

The heart of the castle.. . Elphame's thoughts kept returning to the words that had seemed to resonate throughout her body. The women's reactions showed that they, too, were moved by it. It must live again. Soon, she promised herself and the time-scarred column.

"Lead us to your new kitchens, Wynne," Elphame said.

The cook flushed with pleasure before she strode purposefully from the courtyard through another empty arched doorway which led to an enormous room. There the women paused.

In the Great Hall the ceiling had been built of the same dull gray stone as the walls of the castle, so the fire could not consume it, but the walls were blackened and the huge room looked dark and sad. Mounds of burnt wood testified to the fact that long ago tiers of heavy wooden tables had stood in busy rows overlooking the ruined floor-to-ceiling frame that once was a wall of windows which let the castle occupants dine and hold court with a view of the austere Main Courtyard of the castle.

Now all that was left of it was rubble, but Elphame could still see the solid bones of the castle through what time had covered - and she could tell by the gleam in many of the women's eyes that they understood the potential there, too.

"There are two entrances to the kitchen from the Great Hall." Wynne's voice said she was more than ready to get down to business. "One there, and one there." She pointed to small arched doorways on opposite sides of the far wall. She talked as she walked toward one of the doorways. "They are connected by a long hall, which opens to the kitchen." She glanced at her three assistants. "We should designate one door to always be used as an entrance, and one as an exit. There will be fewer accidents that way."

The assistant cooks nodded in thoughtful response. Elphame had to stop herself from shouting with relief.

They were beginning to see it as a living, working castle, too!

Because the kitchen was a part of the Great Hall, its stone roof was still intact, too. But, as in the rest of the castle, the room was a shambles. Elphame heard the distinctive rustle of birds and the scurrying of other small creatures, and she supposed that a whole tribe of animals had taken up residence in what used to be the castle's two enormous cooking hearths. Brick ovens lined one wall, and as Wynne peered within one of them a squirrel leaped out and rushed away in a chattering panic, causing the cook to stifle a shriek, which turned into a laugh.

"He probably thought I was a verra big, wet piece of basil," she said, and the rest of the women laughed with her.

The remaining wall held a large basin and a rusted pump through which fresh water had been available.

To either side of the pump, stone cabinets gaped their open, debris-cluttered mouths. In the center of the room was a great marble island on which were piles of leaves and suspicious-looking droppings.

"Well, sister-mine, what's for dinner?" Cuchulainn's voice said in her ear.

She jumped and swatted at him. "Your hide if you scare me like that again!"

"His hide would be too tough to chew, Goddess," came a response from within the crowd of men who waited expectantly behind him.

"Ah, it has been such a short time, but they already appear to know you quite well," Elphame quipped.

Cu put his hands up in mock surrender. "I come in peace!

"I hope you come to work," Elphame said with some asperity.

"That too," he said. "Command us, my Lady, and your will shall be obeyed." He bowed dramatically to her, as did the men standing behind him, which made his sister smile.

"Actually, it's not me who is in command in this particular chamber. It is our cook."

Cuchulainn's eyes sparkled as he changed the direction of his bow so that he was facing the buxom, redheaded Wynne. Elphame noticed that several of the other men shot the young cook appreciative glances, too.

Wynne's attractively flushed cheeks were the only outward sign she showed that the attention pleased her. Straightening her shoulders and planting her hands firmly on her shapely hips she launched into a tirade of orders in her rolling brogue. "You men can start by clearin' the cooking hearths, as well as the ovens. Several of ye will have to go up on the roof and be sure that the flues are uncluttered and repair any stones that have come free. Also, I'll need this pump to be in working order, then we'll be needin'

buckets and soap and rags and such for the general cleanin'." The room erupted into action.

Elphame stepped hastily out of the way.

"It's a good thing that the centaurs cleared the road to the castle and the supply wagons got through. I wouldn't have wanted to be the one to tell your pretty cook that the cleaning supplies were stranded in the forest." Cuchulainn had joined his sister in watching from the edge of the room.

"She may be pretty, but I think she might be more than a little feisty," El said.

"Redheads - they are a temptation," Cuchulainn observed with the voice of experience.

"Come on, Cu," she said, grabbing his hand. "I want you to help me."

"Where are we going?"

"To the Main Courtyard. Something tells me it's important to restore it as soon as possible."

As they started to leave the room, Elphame noticed the sudden silence. She glanced back to see that the activity had stopped and everyone was looking at her. "Carry on," she said quickly. "My brother and I are going to begin clearing the courtyard." Before she could continue walking away, Brenna's voice stopped her.

"May I come with you, my Lady?"

The Healer had stepped from a shadowy area at the far end of the room, and Elphame saw several of the men cringe and avert their eyes from her face.

"Of course you may, Brenna," she said quickly.

"I, too, would welcome you," Cu said. "As my sister has already observed, I am often in need of the services of a skilled Healer."

Elphame felt a rush of warmth for her brother. His words had caused the men to reassess the scarred woman by showing them that he, as well as his sister, valued and respected her.

Brenna didn't respond except to bow her head so that her hair concealed most of her face and followed them hurriedly from the room.

"El, you'll need to have these frames measured and then commission new windows," Cu observed as they walked back through the Great Hall. "Unless you prefer to have this wall rebuilt without the glass."

"No, I like the idea of looking out on the courtyard. I imagine it used to be a spectacular view."

The three of them came to a halt at the edge of the Main Courtyard. They could look up through the burnt ceiling to see that evening was rapidly approaching and the sky was shifting from brilliant blue to oranges and violets. The beauty above them was quite a contrast to the ruin that stood below it. Tree limbs and filth covered the marble floor. Mounds of scorched, rotted roof timbers littered the area, especially the very center of it. As she stood there, Elphame's eyes felt drawn to that center area. A memory stirred. Something about the central courtyard of the castle...

"Cu, Brenna, let's see if we can clear some of those old timbers from that middle area."

Without waiting for them to respond, she rushed to the largest pile of rubble and set to work. Soon, Elphame pulled free one particularly long piece of wood and the lip of a basin appeared beneath it, looking like the edge of a giant's dirty bowl that had been discarded a century ago.

"Yes! I knew there was something under all of this mess," Elphame said with satisfaction.

They redoubled their efforts until, rising from the midst of rot and ruin, a delicate statue took form. It was a life-sized adolescent girl. She was standing in the middle of the basin, holding a large urn that was tipped up at the end as if she was pouring libations from it.

"It's a fountain!" Brenna exclaimed.

"Look at her, El, there's something about her___" Cu said, stepping within the basin to get a closer look.

With a fold of his kilt he scrubbed at the face of the statue, until he exposed a small area of milk-colored marble which appeared luminous and ghostly. Then he drew in his breath sharply in surprise. "She looks like you."