The Black Raven - Katharine Kerr [167]
“So,” Werda said. “The dragon did mark you out, did she?”
“I know not. She spoke, but in some strange tongue, although I did think I heard our Jahdo’s name.”
“Ah.” Werda turned and leaned against a boulder before she continued. “The lore of the gods do I ken, where each lives and what does please them. The witchlore I ken not. It be your road, not mine, young Niffa. I wonder if the spirits did take your Demet because you did love him so, more than you do love them and their lore.”
“Then I hate them all! They be fools, if they do think I’d follow those that did slay my love.”
“Nah nah nah!” Werda raised a hand in warding. “Never curse the spirits! They’ll be taking yet another fee, if you should spurn them. Wish you to lose your mother, say, or have some other death come upon you?” She lowered her hand. “This be a harsh saying, I do know that. But the witchroad is a long one and harsh as well.”
“And why should I walk it then?”
Werda smiled.
“Because the spirits will never let you rest till you do take up your Wyrd. When I was a lass, I wanted naught more than a farm and a good man to work it with me. I dreamt of that farm and what I would plant in its fields. But the gods called me to their lore. I did whine and beg and plead, but not for me the life of a farmwife with her butter and eggs. Not for me the daughters and strong sons I did covet. One winter I took ill with fever, and in the fever visions came to me. I could serve the gods or I could die. Those two were the only roads they would let me walk. And so I chose life and the lore. And here be a secret: once I did set my feet upon the road, then did I feel a joy beyond any the farm would have brought me.”
Niffa felt her eyes fill with tears.
“Why do you weep?” Werda said.
“Because in my soul I know the truth of what you say.” Niffa rubbed an angry hand across her eyes. “But if you ken not the lore, where shall I learn it? It aches my heart to think of leaving my home and kin.”
“Where indeed? I know not. I think me though that if you do vigil, the gods will show you where you may go to set your feet upon the road.”
Niffa went back to the well to find that Harl had drawn water for her. She murmured a thanks, picked up her buckets, and started for home. The silver lady in my dreams, she was thinking. She must ken the witchlore, or she’d not be speaking to me there. At that moment she saw her life open out as if like the dragon she’d taken wing to see the future spread out below, a vast landscape wreathed in mist.
Appendices
A NOTE ON DEVERRY DATING
Deverry dating begins at the founding of the Holy City, approximately year 76 C.E. The reader should remember that the old Celtic New Year falls on the day we call November 1, so that winter is the first season of a new year.
A NOTE ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF DEVERRY WORDS
The language spoken in Deverry is a member of the P-Celtic family. Although closely related to Welsh, Cornish, and Breton, it is by no means identical to any of these actual languages and should never be taken as such.
Vowels are divided by Deverry scribes into two classes: noble and common. Nobles have two pronunciations; commons, one.
A as in father when long; a shorter version of the same sound, as in far, when short.
O as in bone when long; as in pot when short.
W as the oo in spook when long; as in roof when short.
Y as the i in machine when long; as the e in butter when short.
E as in pen.
I as in pin.
U as in pun.
Vowels are generally long in stressed syllables; short in unstressed. Y is the primary exception to this rule. When it appears as the last letter of a word, it is always long whether that syllable is stressed or not.
Diphthongs generally have one consistent pronunciation.
AE as the a in mane.
AI as in aisle.
AU as the ow in how.
EO as a combination of eh and oh.
EW as in Welsh, a combination of eh and oo.
IE as in pier.
OE as the