Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 162269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
And when I saw it, a shiver stole through me.
This was where, in times gone by, the women of Airen would steal away to meet to discuss their plight and make plans to alleviate it, many of these being petitions to the king.
And this was where, to make his point brutally known, the king put the leader of this effort to death by hanging her from her neck.
Last, this was where her daughter, in lament, prayed to the land gods and the sea gods to give her strength and magic to avenge her mother and free her sisters.
In other words, this was where the Nadirii Sisterhood was formed from oppression, anger, heartbreak and hope.
The men directed their steeds off to the side, positioning them in a semi-circle to face The Cauldron.
And in turn, each woman rode to her man, situated her horse, dismounted and handed over the reins.
The wind was whipping my cloak and frock about me, my curls catching my lips and eyelashes, as we approached the bowl of black rock at the edge of the sea.
The waters smacked against the short cliff at our side, sending up spray, and I looked to Silence to see if she was feeling what I was feeling.
Her eyes were alive at the same time wistful, and I wondered if her desire was the same as mine.
That being to rush to the cliff and dive off.
Feeling my attention on her, hers came to me and a brightness came about her expression where I knew she did, indeed, feel precisely as I did.
I sent her a small smile before I began to pay attention to the matter at hand.
“The rocks are rough, but I bid you to sit on them, cross-legged, in a circle,” Melisse instructed. “Knees touching, holding hands, gazes to each other, and nothing else. This is important, witches,” she stated sternly. “No matter what happens during the drawing, concentrate on your sisters, and naught else.”
These words did not fill me with delight.
However, I did as told, taking Serena’s hand on one side, Farah’s on the other. And Elena held Farah’s other hand, and Silence’s. Thus, Silence held Elena and Serena.
Once we made a circle, we held tight and all sat down, crossing our legs as we did, so that our knees were touching.
I felt the coarseness of the rock at my bottom, the cold of it, the damp, but I did not move and did not place my gaze anywhere but to one of my sisters.
Though, it sounded and even felt as if the sea close to us had begun to churn.
“Are you ready to begin?” Melisse asked.
Elena started the round of “Yes.”
“You will not interrupt,” Melisse ordered, and I was assuming this was to the men. “You are here as observers only. You keep your seats on your mounts and your distance. This is crucial. Am I heard?”
A masculine chorus of “Yes,” sounded, but they did not sound as positive as the feminine version.
“We will begin,” Melisse decreed.
I looked amongst all my sisters at once, feeling their expectation and restlessness along with my own.
“It is to Ophelia we call,” Melisse intoned, and I turned my gaze to Elena to see hers holding direct to Serena’s. “It is to Jasmine that we call,” Melisse went on. “Rosehana. Tatiana. Eladora. Millicent. It is to Mary and Brianna and Bella and Kalla. We call to Nissa, June, Alicia, Emma. And we call to Audrey and Blythe, Dya and Magga, Abigail and Frieda. We call to Aileen and Coral, and we call to Fahla. We call to you. We call to our sisters who were lost on this land who have now joined the veil. We call to you for this drawing.”
I could now not only sense but hear the sea was definitely churning.
And the sky was darkening.
Further, there was an odd warmth at my knees.
I shifted my gaze to Silence.
Melisse’s voice rose, out of necessity to be heard above the noise of nature, but also as she fell deeper into the spell.
And now she was rounding us, walking close behind us. I could feel her cloak drift across my skin as she passed me, the material cracking like a whip in a now bitter wind.
“We call to you to fill your sisters,” she chanted. “We call to you to lend your magic. We call to you to give your strength. We call to you to offer your power. We call to you to do what you did when your feet walked this earth. We call you to stand amongst the Sisterhood. To strengthen it. To protect it. To bring it glory.”
As we were becoming wet through, I turned my gaze to Farah. The waters were slapping against the rocks, showering us with their spray.
And I was finding it hard to see her for not only did it seem the sun was disappearing from the sky, there was a thick mist, almost a fog, or maybe it was smoke, blowing up from the center of The Cauldron in the middle of us, at the same time the heat I was feeling grew more intense.