Women's Meeting

Marion Blexham

I watched as it seemed like most of the village women started moving in my direction. The men clustered in little groups, the women seemed to coalesce. Typical.

Rachel Dericote pushed to the front.

"So. The neighbor."

I chuckled. "Yes. You want to know what's it like?"

There were murmurs of agreement.

"Its name is Anthracyda. As Hume said, it is invisible, but can talk to you. What he didn't say was that you don't hear it with your ears, you hear it directly in your head. There's no sense of direction, it's just everywhere."

Cait Rede piped up. "It's not in the Standing Stones. We stayed outside the circle. The Stones just mark where the pagans used to gather and talk to it."

I said, "And here's the fascinating part. It does something like look into your heart and mind and paint colors in the air around your body. It did that to Lucy and Hume and where their colors touched, it created sparkles in the air that floated around the meadow."

"What?" There were audible gasps among the crowd.

Cait interjected, "If you put a man and a woman up there that are not a good match for each other, you won't get sparkles, you get really bruised colors."

"How do you know that?" came a question.

We had agreed that Cait would lie if this question came up because she didn't want to admit her family had had dealings with Anthracyda before.

"We asked it to match Marion and Hume. It was not pretty."

Lucy snickered. There were a couple of other chuckles around the room.

Sarah Gaynesford looked thoughtful and said, "So if a couple wants to marry or handfast, we send them up the hill and it can read their hearts and minds and decide if they will be good for each other?"

"Seems like it," I replied.

I could hear the whispering around the group. Some women already starting to think about whether this would be a way to break up couples they didn't approve. It would be a two-edged sword. They would have to decide what to do if Anthracyda approved the match, but they didn't.

On the other hand, they would also have to decide what to do if the match was good "business" but bad from a heart and mind standpoint. I stand here in the inn every day, watching the village come and go. I hear the arguments and fights. Or I hear OF the arguments and fights. Maybe there would be fewer if a hill god approved of the match.

We needed baby steps.

"Rachel, what are the men talking about?"

"They're talking about the tithe to the Bishopric. The Bishop has declared for the King. That might draw Parliament's army or the Scottish army to besiege Carlisle. If that happens, we couldn't pay the tithe if we wanted to. If Parliament wins, there's a chance tithing records get destroyed. We are small and not well known. We could be forgotten and not have to pay any tithes, ever. But only if we don't come to the Bishopric's attention. That means no one talks to outsiders about this Anthracyda."

I added, "I'd be more concerned about Andrew's other point. Talking about Anthracyda is likely to bring witch hunters down on us as well."

Rachel looked around the group and repeated herself. "No one talks to outsiders about this Anthracyda. It's our secret."

There were nods around the group.

She continued, "Those of you who expect to send your daughters or sons somewhere else to be servants, you need to insist that this is a village secret."

She turned to me. "You said it can look into people's minds. Can it make someone forget about it?"

"I don't know."

"We need to find out. Children talk. Even if we don't tell them, they will find out about it from other children."

She looked around the group. "Don't tell your children yet. Lucy, can you take me and Sarah up there on Monday morning?"

Lucy, short with words as ever, just nodded.

"Whoever can make it back here Tuesday night, be here.We'll decide what to tell the young people and children."

I reminded the group, "Better tell your husbands not to talk to the young people and children as well."

That got a few chuckles. The group broke up and separated to collect their husbands.

Next - Mathilda Potter (July 23-26, 1643)

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