Strange Attractors - Kim Falconer [129]
Drayco was up and sniffing at the edge of the portal. Nell and Rosette followed, listening, feeling, sensing.
‘Right time, right place? No battles, no temple?’ Rosette asked.
‘Feels so.’ Nell led the way into the woods, her arms stretched wide in greeting. ‘Winter’s past.’
The air smelled of early spring, of sap running in the pines, daffodils and jonquils poking their yellow faces up from the loam, and white berry blossoms floating like stars on the breeze. The Three Sisters whizzed past, out of the corridor and skyward. They were high above them in seconds, circling over the treetops. Home, Nellion! All clear and home beautiful. Come!
‘Are we good?’ Rosette asked, her face to the sun.
‘Indeed!’ Nell put her arm around her daughter. ‘Home, shall we?’
They trekked back to the cottage, picking herbs as they went—raspberry leaf, moss, lichen, angelica and tiny purple mushrooms. Nell had an armful of everything she wanted for the birthing by the time they reached the cottage. She smiled and undid the latch, the bells ringing as she pulled the gate wide. The goats came trotting up, bellies wider than Rosette’s and udders full, swinging side to side with every step.
‘You’ve got good company,’ Nell said, closing the gate before the nannies could get into the cottage gardens. ‘Off with you, girls. I’ll see to you shortly, though you haven’t had a too hard winter, I can tell.’
Rosette laughed. ‘It’s the hay chute. I rigged a self-feeder before I left. Seems to have worked. I want to check the horses, though.’
‘Settle first. We’ve a pot of herbs to brew, bread to bake and soup to put on the fire. The hearth will be long cold. Can you start there?’ She tilted her head. ‘Mozzie’s about as well. He has news.’ Nell gave her daughter’s hand a squeeze, leading the way. The stone path was carpeted with plum blossoms, the gardens bursting with new life.
‘The lilies are open!’ Nell paused by the spring beds admiring the white and orange trumpets bunched together, pointing towards the south, tracking the sun. The chamomile lawn sprouted bright green lace and had grown over the stone path, filling the cracks and climbing the fence posts.
‘And the orchard!’ Rosette said, pointing.
Surrounding the cottage were groves of fruit trees: apples, figs with thick dark trunks and delicate pale blossoms, cherry trees with their long thin branches weeping towards the ground laden with fuchsia-pink blooms. Apricot, peach and pear trees were dotted with buds.
‘I love spring,’ Rosette said.
‘Me too.’ Nell opened the door and Mozzie was there to greet them, his serpent body looped over the rafters, his dark tongue flickering in and out. ‘You’ve doubled in length!’ Nell said, stroking his diamond-shaped head.
‘Tripled,’ Rosette said, gazing at the coils.
Mistress is home! Winter was well?
Well enough. And you? I know you have news? Nell shrugged out of her pack and hung up her cloak.
All is well on land and air, save the golden horse.
‘What golden horse?’ Nell asked aloud.
‘That would be the warhorse I brought back from Corsanon. He’s called Amarillo.’
‘Makee’s? How did he end up here?’
‘When I first found An’ Lawrence he sent him into the portal after me.’
Nell went to the hearth and checked the wood box, recalling the brief argument between Makee and Rowan. ‘Mozzie says the horse is gone.’
Rosette pulled off her boots and lined them up by the door. ‘Do you think she’s come for him?’
The witch came. I did not allow her entrance.
‘She did!’ Nell bristled before clapping her hands together. ‘Let’s warm this place up—fire, soup and bread.’
Rosette set to the chores and Nell headed for the barn. Drayco shot past, running back the way they’d come.
‘Where’s he going?’
‘Drayco? He says there’s a female deep in the woods and she’s singing to him.’
Nell frowned briefly, checking if it were true. ‘So there is. What a spring we are having!’ Drayco was being called, urgently, by a female voice. That was certain. Nell smile. ‘I wondered if that would happen. I suppose we won’t see