The next day, the menu called for pie for dessert. Putting her two eldest daughters to work on the meal, Adreet cleared a portion of the work table for pie making and then took a seat at my side.
“You are going to learn to make a pie, even if it takes all day,” she declared. “Now get out the sugar, flour, and lard. The brandleberries that we picked yesterday will be perfect for the filling.” I obediently fetched the ingredients. After two false starts, I produced a reasonable looking crust. The filling was simple, the berries and a little sugar. Putting the top crust on was a difficult process, but finally both Adreet and I sighed in relief. A finished pie sat on the table before us, pricked and ready for the oven.
“Well done, Zez,” Adreet proclaimed. “Your first successful cooking lesson is complete. You now have the rest of the day to yourself.”
“But what about the baking?” I asked.
She smiled and shook her head. “The meat pies are already in the oven. This will go in after they come out. Galatea and Eloine will help me with that. Now, shoo.” She waved her apron at me. “I don’t want to see you around the house until dinner. You have been eyeing the outdoors for the past few days. Now, go explore. And if you run across Candra in your wanderings, tell her I would like more berries for jamming later this week.”
I couldn’t help smiling as I trotted upstairs to my room to change my clothes. The green jungles were calling and I was eager to explore.
Behind the house, a kitchen garden, well on its way to being tamed into fruitfulness again, spread out from stonewall to wooden fence. I skirted this on my way to the tree line bordering the cleared yard. Taking the path I spotted Errol disappearing down every morning, I stepped into the welcome depths of the shaded dimness. It was as though I stepped into a different world. Far from the rigid order of the house and yard, here flora rioted in any direction that it chose. I skipped eagerly along the path, drinking in the sounds: peaceful birdsong, squirrel chatter, and wind sighs. It was so good to be alone among nature again.
The trail, no more than a wandering thread of bare earth that disappeared for long stretches at a time beneath thick moss or fallen leaves, led me deeper into the forest. I scanned the foliage to both sides as I hurried along, eager to see as much as I could in the short afternoon before me.
After running along the bottom of a gully next to a trickling brook, I followed my lazy guide up a steep rise that demanded both my hands for balance as I climbed. The sight at the top made the brief scramble well worth it. The trail led directly into a wide, open meadow. Bordered by a rotting fence, it appeared to have been originally cleared as a field for growing things. Whatever the crops intended or sown, they were long gone now. In their place, wild flowers and tall grass waved to me, beckoning with a wordless melody of whispers more tempting than a siren’s song. Without the least thought to my clothing or shoes, I plunged into the grass.
A raven flew overhead and called to another in its harsh voice. I watched it circle and then land on the highest branches of a great mammoth of a tree. The oak’s branches were heavy with leaves all the way to its crown. Rooted to the earth by a massive trunk, it called to me to come and visit. I plowed through the tall grass to where it faded, making way for the shorter plants more content in the deep shade at the oak’s base. I looked up into the underskirt of graceful branches and green filtered light and knew that I must climb this tree.
As a young child of six, I convinced my older brothers to teach me to climb. I still recalled Mother’s horror when she found me swinging about the branches of our favorite climbing tree a few days later. I was soundly lectured on the supreme fact that girls did not climb trees.
Well, Mother wasn’t here and there was no one in sight. I discarded my shoes and took a running jump to catch the lowest branch. The bark bit into my hands, but I swung my feet for the next branch. Out of practice, it took me four tries to catch my heels on the goal and a long struggle to get my knees over it. I finally managed to get myself upright. I didn’t wait there. Reaching above to the next limb, I immediately began to pull myself higher.
I had forgotten how exhilarating it felt to be so high. Reaching the point where the trunk swayed a bit beneath my fingers, I paused. A small opening in the leaves gave me a splendid view of the treetops in the surrounding forest.
Suddenly, a wild smoky taste filled my mouth and words flooded my mind. “Who are you? What are you doing up there?” Startled, I almost lost my grip on the limb beneath me. “Now don’t go falling on me.” A firm pressure steadied me.
“Who are you?” I asked.
A sensation of surprise flooded my thoughts. ”Can’t you send?” it asked.
“I don’t know how yet. Where are you?”
“Below you,” a strong masculine voice called from beneath me. Sure enough, as I carefully peered down between the branches I could just make out a dark-haired form standing on the ground. “Come down,” he ordered.
A small tremor of fear slipped down my spine. Whoever it was, it was definitely not someone I knew. He was
