Page 106 of The Changeling

We live in shadows and starve …

On impulse, I put my hand into my pocket and took out some hazelnuts, and gently rolled them across the uneven stone floor towards the little girl. Her face lit up. She put them in her mouth, trying to crack them open with her teeth. I took off my boot, and used its hard wooden heel to smash a couple open, then pushed the sweet nuts in their broken shells towards her. She picked them up and ate greedily.

‘I’ll bring more tomorrow,’ I whispered, tying up my boot again.

The little girl nodded solemnly, and put her thumb into her mouth.

A cock crowed. The music came to an end. Robbie staggered away from the dancefloor. He stumbled and fell. The other dancers dragged him up and pushed him towards the cave mouth, laughing. He could scarcely walk. I ran after him, and put my arm about him.

Up the passageway we limped, then he rapped on the wall with his hazel stick. ‘Open, open, green hill, and let me out.’

I mimicked him, and crept out into the frosty grey dawn.

Together we rode back to the castle, my arms supporting his whole weight. Carlin followed us slowly, her tail sunk low.

Again, I washed Robbie clean and bound his bleeding feet. I could not coax him to swallow a mouthful. As I worked, I thought over all I had seen and heard that night. The faery maidens thought me selfish and stupid. They said I would not listen or learn. What should I have heard? What should I have understood?

And was it true I had the power to break the spell on Sorcha?

With a simple stir of her wooden spoon …

I had to try.

When Robbie was as comfortable as I could make him, I limped down the stairs to the garden and plucked what I needed. Parsnips and apples, garlic and thyme. Then I made my way back to Mam’s room and woke my sister.

‘Hinny, I know how to break the curse on you.’

Hope leapt in her eyes.

‘I need you to sit here by the fire. Let me wrap you up. There you go – are you warm enough? Now I’m going to make you a pot of magical soup.’

She frowned and tilted her head to one side. ‘Ma-aaa?’

‘Och aye, the most magical soup you could ever imagine. Every single ingredient chosen for its protective powers.’ One by one I showed her what I had in my basket. ‘Garlic for defence against evil. Parsnips for strength and resilience. Apples for wisdom and wellbeing. Honey for sweetness and light and healing, and thyme for courage.’

I put my hand in my pocket and drew out the hazelnuts. ‘And best of all, hazelnuts! Nan’s staff was made of hazelwood, remember, for it is the very best safeguard against wickedness. Now, the first thing I’ll do is set them to roast in the fire and then I will skin the apple. If I can peel it into one long spiral, that means you’ll have a long and happy life. Look, see how long it is!’

Sorcha smiled for the first time in weeks.

Chattering away to her, I made the soup, baking the apples and parsnips in honey creamed with butter, then mashing them in my mortar and pestle, before mixing them with the last of the chicken broth I had made our first night in Inchbrakie Castle.

‘Now this is the most important part of the ritual. I need to stir the soup with the wooden spoon you made for me. Do you remember? You made it for me with love, and now I need to use it with as much love as you gave me. It’s our love for each other that will break the curse, Sorcha.’

Slowly I stirred the soup, chanting out loud, ‘Stir and stir, left to right, bless my sister with love and light, stir and stir, round and round, keep my sister safe and sound.’

Nan had always said the best seasoning was love.

I sprinkled crushed hazelnuts on top, then looked up with a smile. Sorcha was crying, the tears cutting rivulets through the soft fur that covered her face.

‘Drink your soup, my lambkin.’

Sorcha raised the bowl to her lips and drank. Slowly at first, then greedily. Then she held out her bowl to me, saying croakily, ‘Can I have some more? I’m hungry as a wolf!’

IV

Rush Undaunted

You know what to do … trust in yourself and in your shadow …