"A good morn to you, Dolag. I have brought you a few supplies." Wilona motioned to another of the guards to bring the large willow basket forward.
Dolag swung the door wide, revealing her worn and faded peasant dress. "M'lady." She crouched her body into a slight curtsy of respect. Though an aged crone, she still looked to be a stout woman. "Come in, then. You are welcome."
The guard set the basket inside, then left. Wilona entered, and Malcolm closed the door behind her. The meager light in the room came from two small windows and a low-burning peat fire in the center of the floor. Tendrils of smoke drifted toward the round hole in the roof.
"Have a seat, m'lady, if it pleases you." Dolag motioned to a squat stool by the fire.
Wilona sat down, though she was unaccustomed to such a low seat. When Dolag remained standing, Wilona motioned toward the other stool on the opposite side of the fire.
Once the other woman settled herself, Wilona said, "My son, the chief, has been murdered." She again felt as if she'd been stabbed in the heart, as she did numerous times each day.
"Nay," Dolag gasped in shocked denial, then shook her head. "I'm so sorry to hear of it, m'lady. He was a good chief."
"Indeed. And so, there must be justice." Wilona decided to get to the point, for this smoky dark cottage vexed her. "I ken you have knowledge of spells, aye?"
Dolag's eyelid fluttered. "I'm a healer, m'lady."
"Of course you are," Wilona snapped. "But there are unseen ways to seek justice. Do you know of them?"
Dolag glanced away, rocking her round body. "'Tis dangerous to speak of such."
"Not to me, and I'll nay tell anyone. How fortunate for us both the witch-hunting King James is dead."
Eyes bulging, Dolag looked scandalized for a long moment.
Impatient, Wilona continued, "I require a curse to punish my son's murderers."
"With all due respect, m'lady, a curse is sinister. Whatever scourge you send to others will be reflected back to you."
Wilona ground her teeth, incensed and yet undeterred. Her life was already hell; what difference would it make? "So be it," she blurted. "I want these three men to live long miserable—indeed, hellish—lives. If I have my way, they'll have no male heirs, just as I now have no son. I wish them to turn into beasts, so their clans will fear them and cast them out. As well, they will frighten away all women who even consider wedding them."
Dolag sat for a long moment, considering. "But would you wish to change into an animal, yourself?"
Wilona shrugged, imagining herself as a bird flying over the moors or mayhap a salmon swimming in a loch. "I could endure shifting if I could choose when and which animal."
Dolag nodded. "It can be done."
Wilona sat forward, eagerness surging within her. "Do you ken the spell?"
"Aye. It has been passed down for many generations, but scarce are the people brave enough to try it."
"Well then, consider me brave." Wilona forced a bitter smile.
"You must memorize it and never scribe it." Dolag repeated the chant in a rhythmic, musical voice. Wilona supposed that made it easier to remember. Dolag left certain lines unfinished, indicating Wilona was to insert the names of people and animals in those spaces. When placing the curse, she needed to light candles and burn certain herbs as she chanted the words.
Wilona repeated the sequence a few times, committing it to memory. "Now, is there a way I can see or know what my enemies are doing at a great distance? I have heard of certain objects with special powers."
Dolag hesitated. "There are keek-stanes."
Wilona's heartbeat quickened. "Are they like scrying stones?"
"The very same."
"Where might I acquire one? I'm willing to pay a goodly sum."
Dolag's thin gray brows shot up but, faltering, she remained silent.
"If someone hereabouts might have one they would like to sell…." Wilona drew a sack of silver coins from the pouch attached to her waist. With the numerous small denomination coins, Dolag could purchase her food and supplies for the remainder of her days from the merchants in the village without drawing undue attention. "I could also provide the seller with a generous portion of our oat harvest each autumn."
