Ever wondered about Lily?
It's Twitter's #samplesunday again, where, once a week, writers offer a sample of their work for readers enjoyment. Of course, we each hope you love it and might go and see what else we've written….
For this week, I'm sharing a half written, unpublished piece, exploring Lily's growing up a little bit, and looking at the first time she opened a Portal between worlds, quite by accident.
I hope you enjoy it.
She sat in the fork of the branches where the bark was worn smooth from generations of children sitting in that exact place. She was eighteen and this was her quiet place as it had been her mother's quiet place before her and her grandmother's quiet place before that. The old yew tree had stood there for longer than anyone could remember and tales of it went back so many generations that no-one knew how old it really was. It was one of those old trees that had its roots in the well of time and formed the life of the forest. Deep green dripped from bowed branches that stayed green all through the snow of deepest winter and here and there it was threaded with blood red berries. It was special and she loved it. Her dark hair caught the sun that crept between those deep green boughs and it glinted with shining copper as it hung loose to rest on on the rich green of her shirt that was torn at the shoulder.
"Elder will be annoyed." She sighed softly, one long fingered hand reaching up to touch the tear where she'd caught herself while climbing up to her quiet place. Her questing fingertips found the drying blood where she'd torn her own skin as well as the fine linen. She explored the injury and decided it would heal on its own without any interference as long as she kept it clean. Her bare feet were muddy and stuck out of the leather trousers that Elder told her were Warrior wear and that weren't appropriate for a lady of her standing, and the shirt would mend but would never be the same. She scowled at the thought and swung her legs, noting the amount of ankle also poking from the bottom of the trousers and making a mental note to get a new pair.
"Why did it have to be this way?" She muttered mutinously with her ice blue eyes flashing with cold fire. "I don't want this, I never wanted this. I was born second, I don't want the Mantle. It's not fair." She jumped from the tree, feeling far too angry for the quiet place, and ran further into the woods, seeking the old oak where she sometimes made the images appear.
Her chest was heaving by the time she reached the wide trunked tree that was just coming back into bud with the days lengthening into Spring. Her shirt stuck to her with sweat that chilled her as she rested her stiff angry back against the rough bark with her blue eyes squeezed tightly closed against the tears that threatened. She rubbed fingertips against the bark, feeling the texture of deep ridges there and her toes spread wide in the grass between the gnarled roots that spread from the base in mirror of the branches above her head and she felt the love of the land for her through that connection. She leaned her head back against the trunk, turning her face upwards to face the overhead sun that cast warmth and light through the bare branches and she kept her eyes closed to soak up that heat that danced spring through her eyelids. She heard the sound of someone running and she groaned silently inside.
"Lilith?" A voice called.
"I'm here." She called back, not moving from her position leaning back against the oak tree and her eyes stayed closed.
The footsteps slowed as they broke free of the trees and came closer. "Are you well? What's wrong?" It was a familiar female voice, as familiar as Lilith's own voice because they had grown together since conception but Heather was a few moments older and had been expected to inherit the family Mantle and titles from their mother. But no, her power had failed to mature properly and was incomplete so it had fallen to Lilith. Not identical, Heather was an inch shorter than Lilith, prone to being more round and her hair was a pale mouse brown shot with the gold of a rising summer sun and her eyes were deep pools of green.
"I just don't want to be here, I don't want to be me." Lilith whispered softly and her eyes opened and she stumbled. Connected as deeply as she was the magic surged without warning and the tree opened. Lilith felt Heather's hand grip her wrist as she stepped slowly away from the old oak that shone with the light of several suns at midsummer. It was blinding.
"What is that?" Heather gasped, her hand moving to hold Lilith's hand firmly.
"I don't know." Lilith murmured, more fascinated than afraid as she stepped forward to look more closely. "It's like a tunnel, or a passageway. Did I make it happen?"
"I think you did." Heather agreed, allowing Lilith to pull them both towards the light spilling from the tree.
Lilith reached out a hand and it reached into the light. She stepped forwards. "Coming?" She grinned over her shoulder, caught in the adventure and not caring what happened next.
"I don't know Lilith." Heather protested, pulling back. "I don't think we should, it might be dangerous. You have no idea if it goes anywhere or if it will disappear when we go in. Anything might happen."
"We'll never find out if we don't go and look." Lilith tugged at Heather's hand, "Come on." She stepped into the blazing light and Heather had to choose whether to follow or to pull her hand free.
She followed, clinging tightly to her younger sister's hand as they walked slowly into the the light still blazing from the trunk of the tree. Lilith looked back and found she could see the grass and trees of her home behind her but although she could feel solidity beneath her bare feet she could see nothing, only blank dazzling whiteness. But in the distance there was something, a smudge of something, a shadow, and Lilith took them towards it.
Lilith stepped through the shadow and onto fresh green grass, with Heather's hand still held tightly. The sun shone brightly and the trees were showing the first signs of spring buds and Heather thought they had come back to the old oak, which towered above them with the light cascading from its trunk. They took a few steps from the tree and the light went out.
"We need to get back." Heather clung to Lilith's arm.
"Wait, please," a male voice whispered, heavy with pain. "I know not who you may be my Ladies, but please, be you angels or demons will you help me?"
He lay against a nearby tree, his shoulders slumped and with blood all down one leg. He was dressed in a coat of mid blue with a woolen shirt beneath and grey woolen breeches that came to just below his knees and his cream hose were filthy with mud on one leg and dark with his own blood on the other. His skin was pale beneath the dirt and at several days of stubble lined his chin and jaw, surrounding a full lipped mouth that lay half open as he struggled to stay focused. His eyes were dark as the night and his hair was midnight black as a raven's wing.
Heather pulled free of Lilith's hand and ran to kneel at his side. "Where are you hurt?" She asked him gently. "I will do what I can." He relaxed a little then but pain was still etched into the lines of his young face as he lifted a hand to show a slash to his leg mid way between knee and hip, on the outside of his thigh. A blade had bitten deep and the bleeding had not yet stopped.
Lilith's eyes narrowed at the sight of the wound and she looked around. At his side was a sheathed sword with a battered hilt and two parts of a broken pike. He looked up at her and smiled. "I am in no state to do you harm My Lady. My name is Samuel and I fought with Lord Grey's Regiment of Foot and was thus injured but the battle has moved on and I remain here to live or die as God ordains and He has sent you to me. I pray you may staunch the bleeding so I have a chance to live to return home."
"Rest now," Heather told him, "I will do what I can," and she laid her hands on his leg, either side of the wound and focused her mind on the slash sealing up but from the deepest part first so any dirt would be expelled as it closed. The air seemed to swim before her green eyes and she swayed, suddenly off balance.
"Heather?" Lilith was there with a hand on her shoulder, concern in her voice. "What's wrong?"
"I can't draw from here, there's not enough power flowing here. We are so very far from home." Heather removed her hands and wiped them on the grass.
"Perhaps together?" Lilith crouched beside her sister and they both placed their hands on Samuel's leg and Heather felt the healing force flow between them and the wound began to close. The last edges of skin sealed into a neat line of red scar tissue and Lily rocked back on her heels to see Heather gazing at Samuel who now lay with his head slumped on his chest with his eyes mercifully closed.
"He is beautiful." Heather whispered, picking up his hand and running the tips of her fingers over the dark hair that curled beside his knuckles, finding and caressing the callouses of a fighting man used to wielding both pike and sword.
"He is that," Lilith agreed easily, "but we must return home. He will live."
"Must we?" Heather didn't look away from him as he groaned and began to stir. "It is peaceful here, there are no demands on us. We could have a family without the Mantle, without the responsibility."
"That's something I've never wanted Heather." Lilith reached out and pulled Heather to her feet. Samuel's eyes were fluttering open and it wouldn't be long before he regained consciousness. "We have to go and before he wakes." Lilith wasn't sure why but it felt important that Samuel didn't see the magic happening.
They stood at the old oak and Lilith closed her eyes and shivered. "Oh Gods, this place is so grey, where are we?" she whispered softly. "I want to go home." and her lip trembled as if she were on the verge of tears as she reached out to the rough bark and as her fingers would have touched it they passed through instead and the light blazed forth.
Heather grabbed Lilith's hand and they ran into the light, hoping that it would just vanish once they were through and that Samuel had missed the whole thing. They fell out onto fresh spring grass, breathless and wide eyed and still clutching each other by the hand.
"Where did we go?" Heather murmured, staring up at the towering oak tree.
"I have no idea," Lilith replied in a soft reverent whisper, "but it was wonderful. Our own secret place that only we can go to." Her pale blue eyes shone with her exhilaration and her face was rapt as she stared at her own hands, instinctively knowing that her own growing power was the cause and that she'd be able to do it again if she could work out how.
"We should get back." Heather sat up. "Mother sent me to find you and Elder will be worried."
"Elder is always worried." Lilith scowled. "Go on ahead and tell them I'm coming." She got up and kicked at the grass with her bare feet.
"You should wear shoes." Heather said distractedly, "Mother says you need shoes."
"I prefer my feet to be bare and I will wear what I like." Lilith stalked off into the trees, away from the settlement and Heather almost followed her but changed her mind after a few steps and ran home instead.
Hair falling forward and into her face Lilith stumbled through the trees and onto soft, damp ground where she sagged onto a moss covered rock beside a grove of alders where she sat leaning her arms on her knees and she stared at the forest floor.
It seemed an age later but it was more likely only a few minutes when Lilith raised her head and realised that she was being watched. "Who are you?" She asked, unafraid and curious.
"Come, I can help you." Green tinged lips moved in a pale face that was wet as if just emerged from water. Hair like river weed hung long around her face and she smiled as she lifted a hand to Lilith.
"You're a naiad?" Lilith asked, getting to her feet and taking in the appearance of the woman who stood before her with a long pale dress that came down to her ankles and her bare feet showed clearly on the soft grass, barely denting it with her weight.
"I am," she smiled with her hand still held out until Lilith took it and felt cool, wet, long fingers wrap around her own. "I knew your Mother and her Mother before her, and I can help you. Come into my dry-home?" Lilith nodded and the Naiad showed her the way into the Alder grove and where to pour water into the twist of roots to open narrow steps leading downwards, and which words to use or the opening would not happen.
As she reached the bottom of the steps Lilith saw for the first time the Naiad's dry-home that would become as familiar to her as her own home. It was thick with shadows but there was some light and Lilith's eyes soon adjusted to see wooden furniture sitting on dry earth floors and against stone walls. She stood in a space that looked as if it was designed for meeting, or eating. There was a heavy table to one side with benches on both of the long side and a chair at each end. An archway opened onto a short passage and Lilith could hear the bubble of gentle water somewhere. The Naiad stood quietly and let her see and feel what was there.
Lilith felt the peace and the calm that the water brought and spread through the dry-home. Even not knowing what lay beyond the archway she was safe and had no need or desire to explore further without the Naiad's permission or company. Her bare feet spoke to her of dry earth deep beneath the few hand depths of life rich soil that sustained the trees above. The energy flowed smoothly here, soft and warm and gentle.
"How can you help?" She asked quietly.
"I can teach you the calm of the Mother Water and I can teach you the meditations that bind and control your magic while giving it strength and focus. But only if you are willing to listen and learn." The Naiad's voice was soft and musical like her water and Lilith smiled before she turned.
"I am willing." She said.
"No," the Naiad told her, "you are not willing or ready. You only think you are because you are here. When you leave you will remember your hate and your fear and you will run again before you accept who you are and who you are to become. When you have accepted that then I can teach you. Until then we can just be friends if you wish it. I will never deny you entrance here."
Lilith stormed back up the narrow steps and ran from the Alder Grove and she didn't stop running until she reached her Mother's yurt and flung herself onto her bed.
"I have to go and find him." Heather whispered in the dark.
"Who?" Lilith hissed back, anxious to not wake their Mother.
"Samuel, the man in that place through the tree. I need to see that he is healing properly."
Lilith snorted. "You mean he was gorgeous and you want to see if he'll kiss you."
"I could lose myself in his eyes." Heather admitted. "But no, I really should check that he is healing properly. After all the magic wasn't working well there and I worry that perhaps his wound opened again."
"A wound on those lovely manly legs that you can't wait to get your hands on you mean." Lilith giggled into her hand.
"Well, I suppose I might have to place my hands on those thighs." Heather grinned in the dark. "Just to be sure he's healed properly."
My published books are available through the following links, and of course on the main part of my website if you fancy a signed copy to give as a gift.
Sarah Barnard – for signed copies
The Portal Series on Amazon – for paperback or kindle editions. The link goes to my Author page where you can find all titles and all editions to choose from.
The Portal Series on Smashwords – for other e-book formats. The link takes you to my profile page, where you can find all my titles and all ebook formats.
