Winter Kills

A week later he returned, and was watching her gather kindling in the forest by her home. It had been as strange a week as he could ever imagine. He had been fighting his customary battles, slaying the Revolutionary soldiers right and left… that was his job, of course, and he still intended to do it. However, in his spare time he had thought of little else but Niamh. She was beautiful, magickal… enchanting. He wasn’t fighting his emotions anymore, but keeping them under cover while taking care of business. He wasn’t going to let his newfound emotions show, of course. It would detract from his frightening reputation… the terrible Hessian mercenary in love, or almost so? No, he wouldn’t let it show, except when he and Niamh were together. Just then she looked up and saw him watching her… with an impish grin he urged Daredevil forward.

Her heart had ached all this week over Albrecht’s tragic story. Obviously in her solitary life she had never personally known anything of romance, but the anguish he felt of his lost love struck a chord of empathy in her soul. She could see how such a devastating loss could warp a person’s very being, and felt all the more sorrow for him. Yet she hoped she could heal his misery. She realized she had come to care deeply for him, loved him in fact, and would do anything to see him happy. Strange as it was, she had no aversion to his appearance. While it was somewhat frightening, there was a strange elegance and nobility to it. She looked up, and almost as if her thoughts had conjured him, he was there, riding Daredevil at a slow pace through the forest. He grinned when she saw him, and rode right up to where she was standing with an armful of kindling. He leaned down and swept her up before him on the horse, scattering the kindling. Daredevil whinnied his own greeting as Albrecht took her in his arms and kissed her lips softly. “Want to go for a ride?” He asked, and then urged Daredevil to a quicker walk. She laughed. “Do I have any choice, beloved? But now I’ll have to regather all that kindling!” She leaned closer to him and put her arm around his waist. When they got to the edge of the forest, he tightened his hold around her and spurred Daredevil to a brisk gallop. They arrived at the river and he said, “Hang on.” Then dismounted, bringing her down with him and setting her lightly on her feet. “Walk with me.” He requested. She took his hand and they walked to the riverbank.

He sat on a large boulder and drew her down to sit on his lap. “I wanted to thank you again, for everything.” He paused, giving her another gentle kiss. “It’s hard for me to express my emotions… especially ones I’ve tried to eradicate from my very being for so long, when I told myself I’d never feel love again for anyone. But I do, for you… I think I have since I first saw you though I tried to deny it and bury it. I can’t, though!” He laughed, and said jokingly. “What have you done to me, witch?” She smiled. “It must have been that spell at the New Moon.” She said just teasingly. “But seriously, there is such a thing as ‘love at first sight’, and I think it the Goddess’ will that brought us together.” She looked out across the river with a sigh. “It’s been years since my Mother’s spirit passed into the Other Realm, and I have been alone since then… devoid of any human contact, living on what the forest offers like any of the Hidden Ones of legend back home. How could it be anything but the Lady’s will that two lonely souls should find comfort and companionship in one another?”

He drew her more closely to himself, wrapping his arms more tightly around her. “Could you ever love me?” He asked softly, his body tense… waiting for her answer. “Yes.” She whispered in reply. He relaxed then and gently stroked her face. “So after I believed for so long that I’m not worthy or deserving of finding love, it finds me.” Then, though he was loath to admit it, he sought assurance. “But I’m so much older than you! Five and forty years! Definitely no prize in appearance either…” He trailed off. Niamh was so young. He doubted she had even seen twenty years; and she was as fair a beauty, in her own way, as Giselle had been so long ago. He looked at her again, noting the long waves of blue-black hair, the slim figure, complexion as pale and soft as a white rose, and eyes as green as emeralds. She smiled and took his hand. “What difference does age make, beloved? And surely if I can see beyond the Veil to the Other Realms; I can see the beauty behind, even within, the fearsome appearance you have wrought upon yourself.” She put her arms around him again. “Will you return home with me this night? Or would you be missed?” They stood, and began walking back to where Daredevil patiently stood waiting. “Nobody asks where I ride.” He replied. “They are either assuming I’m on patrol or hoping I’ve ridden back to Hell, from whence they believe I came.” He swung up into his saddle, once again pulling her up before him. “Then stay with me tonight.” She requested, holding onto him for the ride home.

They arrived at the cave and she regathered her kindling, and then turned to beckon him to her. “Will you come in?” she asked. He nodded and followed her in. She built a small fire in an alcove in the main room and pulled a woolen drape over the opening to the cave. As her home warmed she set out some bread and apples on a small table. He explored both rooms of the cave, and then sat on a chair by the table. “I know nothing about you.” He said, watching her as she brought a large jug of cider and two mugs to the table. “Will you tell me of yourself? How you came to be here?” She sat at the other chair and began to cut the apples into quarters. “There’s really not much to tell.” She replied. “I was born in Ireland, merry-begot, a child conceived of the Beltane fires. My mother was a Priestess of the Old Ways, though thanks to the doings of the Zealot Priest Patrick, Ireland was mainly a Christian land.” She handed him some apples and a chunk of bread, then poured a mug of cider for him. “However, in the Irish countryside there were some, like my mother, who still secretly followed the Old Ways and lived in harmony with the Earth. My mother was a wise woman and a midwife, my father a simple farmer. I know not much of him, for he died on the ship, shortly before we came to the New World when I was a child. We didn’t have much to bring with us, just what you see here. We had only one horse and a couple small trunks. Mother sold the horse in the village after she found our home. That was the only contact she had with the townsfolk, preferring for us to live in seclusion… far away from the town and its Church.” She stopped to take a bite of bread and drink some cider. “Why this distrust of the Church?” he asked. “It seems your mother taught you that as well?” She smiled at him before replying. “True, she had no love of the Church; or of a religion that would deny any Truth but their own. She liked it not that men of this faith sought to put themselves in mastery over all of Nature instead of living in harmony with it… and making the act of love, which is sacred to Goddess and Nature into a grievous sin. Also, the belief that women were the carriers of the Original Sin and should submit to the will of men… she liked that not at all, for it went against Nature as well.” She stood and put more wood on the fire. “That’s all there is to my story. I lived here and learned from my mother until she died a few years ago, and now live alone.” She put a kettle of water on the fire to boil, casting in herbs for tea and getting two fresh mugs. As she waited for the water to boil she put her cider mug and knife aside and took a chunk of bread. “Do you want any more?” she asked him. He shook his head and she cleared the table. “Is this all you eat?” He asked. “No wonder you’re so small!” She laughed and set a mug of tea in front of him, and he eyed it skeptically. “How old are you?” He asked. She sipped her tea and replied. “I’ve seen eight and ten years.” She noticed the way he was looking at the tea. “It’s not poison, just peppermint leaves. It settles the stomach after eating.” He sipped his tea, then reached across the table to take her hand in his, noting how her small hands were engulfed in one of his. “Come sit with me.” He said. She went to him and he drew her down into his arms, bending to kiss her soft lips. ‘She’s so soft, so fragile,’ he thought to himself, ‘I must remember to be gentle.’ He stroked her face, bringing his hand lightly down to cup her breast. He kissed her neck and throat, slowly working downwards to plant a kiss at the neckline of her gown. She sighed and held tighter to him, stroking his hair.

He stopped suddenly. “Nein.” He whispered. “I could take you right here. But I would wait until we were wed.” He drew a deep breath, holding her tight to him. “But who would we find to wed the likes of us?” He wondered wryly. “You know I have no need or desire for the sacraments of the Church.” She said. “But if we waited for Beltane, the time of the Great Marriage, we could do a hand fasting and proclaim our vows to each other… and the Lord and Lady.” “And Beltane would be when?” he asked. “May Eve.” She replied. He thought it was a long time to wait, but it had been so long since he’d had intimacy with a woman that another six months shouldn’t be that torturous. Although Niamh definitely did warm his blood with longing, he could wait. “We’ll have it then.” He agreed. “It seems so long from now, but some things are worth waiting for.”

Niamh also thought it a long time to wait, but she knew it was most auspicious to hold a hand fasting and consummate a union in harmony with the Goddess and God when the Fires of Beltane burned within all men and women. His kisses had awakened a passion in her. Though she knew that while waiting would be difficult for both of them, it was right that she give herself to him then… as many priestesses had given themselves at Beltane rites before her. But at least he was here with her this night, and would be for many others before Beltane. She enjoyed the company, having been alone for so long, and glad to finally have someone to share her time with. She gave him a gentle kiss then rose to get her harp, playing music that night just for themselves.