Dennis McKiernan: Once Upon a Winter's Night

— Yet of a sudden the shuttle was now in Verdandi’s hand and the bobbin in Urd’s. Camille was relieved, for now she wouldn’t have to touch Dre’ela’s corpse. And then the golden gifts vanished, as if returned whence they had come.

Camille looked back at Alain, and he yet held wonder in his eyes, for not only were the three Fates standing before him, but it appeared his love had had dealings with them. She held out her hand and he stepped to her and took it, and together they faced the three Sisters.

With her stave in hand, Verdandi lifted the gold-trimmed hem of her cloak and stepped down from the dais and looked up at Big Jack and said, “Would you walk with me?” Big Jack bobbed his head and offered his arm, and together they moved among the those who were injured, Lady Verdandi saying a word here and touching a cheek there, and all seemed the better for it.

“Here, you, up off your knees,” snapped Urd, gesturing at Kolor. “A hand if you please.”

Kolor leapt to his feet and aided Urd to step down from the dais, the crone then leaning on him as she shuffled among the slain, prodding Goblins and Trolls with her walking staff, as if to make certain they were truly dead.

But Skuld remained on the dais, and she looked at Camille and said, “It would please me much if you would give me the other gift as well, for truly it is mine.”

Camille frowned. “But my lady, what other gift-?” Camille furiously thought: The only other gifts I was given are In her left hand, Camille yet held on to the stave, and she gave it over to Lady Skuld. And lo! the moment Skuld took the staff, the splits and cracks and splinters vanished, and the vine blossomed again.

“Then you are the Lady of the Mere,” said Camille in wonder, “and Lady Sorciere, too.”

Skuld nodded. “As I said, there at the beginning of the River of Time, my sisters and I are bound by rules, and no matter that I am Skuld or the Lady of the Mere or Lady Sorciere, I must follow those rules. Did you not pledge service to me there on the edge of the mere, and answer riddles ere I responded to your need, telling you where to find your love as well as giving you the staff and the sparrow?”

At mention of the wee bird, sudden tears came to Camille’s eyes, and she reached for Scruff on her shoulder to return that gift as well. But Skuld thrust out a hand of negation and said, “No, you will yet need the sparrow for the great peril which is yet to come.”

Even as Camille’s heart leapt to her throat, Alain put a protective arm about her. Then he gestured at the dead Goblins and Trolls. “But Olot and his minions are slain, my lady. Of what peril do you speak?”

“Camille yet owes me a service, Prince Alain, and it will be more perilous than that which she did for you.”

A look of hardness came into Alain’s grey eyes, as if he would challenge Lady Wyrd Herself, or face dangers dire, but at that moment Camille quietly asked, “What would you have me do?’

“No, my love,” said Alain, “not you alone, but we two together.” He turned to Lady Skuld. “What would you have us do?”

Camille bowed her head, dreading the answer, but Skuld smiled and said, “Fear not, Camille, for I would not ask either you or Alain to betray your consciences. As to the service itself, it is impending, for the one who would pollute Time’s River beyond all repair is yet to come, and there is one before him who stands athwart your path, an acolyte who even now prepares the way for his return.

“But that event wends down the River of Time and will not wash over the worlds for yet long whiles.”

In that moment Verdandi as well as Urd returned to the dais, Big Jack handing Verdandi up, Kolor handing Urd. And the three then stood side by side, and the sound of weaving looms again came faint on the air.

Skuld looked with silver eyes at Camille and said, “Remember this, Camille: even though what I have seen is now woven in the tapestry of time, great efforts by the determined can alter those events. Heed, you and Alain and any who walk at your side have time to prepare and mayhap even change that which I have foreseen, for it is only when Verdandi weaves and Urd binds that the pattern of the tapestry is fixed.”

“I remember,” said Camille.

Skuld turned to her sisters and asked, “Is there aught you would add?”

Verdandi looked at Camille and Alain and said, “For now, return to Summerwood Manor, and enjoy the immediate days.”

Urd cackled and winked at the two, then pointed a shaking finger at Camille, and said, “Remember all I have told you, child, all… and act.”

The clack of shuttle and slap of treadle and thud of batten swelled, and of a sudden the Sisters vanished, the sound of weaving no more.

“Maiden, Mother, and Crone,” breathed Kolor. “Maiden, Mother, and Crone.”

Camille, aiding Renaud to splint Blanche’s broken arm, found herself next to Kolor, who was helping Big Jack bind a wound across a woman’s back. “How did you get here so quickly,” she asked, “from your station asea?”

“We were not there,” replied Kolor.

Camille glanced at Kolor and frowned. “Not there?”

“Did I not say when you went ashore that should we not hear from you in a timely manner, we would not stay hidden long?” As Camille nodded, Kolor said, “Well, when we had not seen any signal for two full days and nights, we slipped into the cove just ere this dawn, and then-”

“And then we argued about what to do,” growled Big Jack. “I was all for-”

Kolor snorted. “He was all for an immediate raid, but the Goblins were locked up in this great fortress, and if the prince were prisoner within, well… — This is a formidable redoubt and-”

Big Jack’s jaw jutted out. “And if we’d gone over th’ wall in th’ dark like I wanted to-”

“But the dawn was already upon us, Jack.”

“All because of your dithering,” shot back Big Jack.

Kolor sighed and said to Camille, “But then you and the others were marched from the town to the citadel, mayhap to be locked up as well. I thought Big Jack was going to attack the fortress all by himself, yet we managed to talk him out of it, for we believed surely you would think of something to do, Camille, or so it was we hoped.”

Big Jack nodded, but made no comment as Kolor continued: “Long we waited, and long we watched as load after load of rubbish, it seems, were hauled out of the castle and thrown from the bridge into the moat. As the sun neared the zenith with the yet-to-be new moon still in its grasp, we heard the distant sound of a gong, and all the walls were abandoned, and lo! the bridge was left down with the gate wide ajar. Now we debated whether or no we had been seen and whether ’twas a Redcap ruse to draw us into a passage with murder holes above.”

Fashioning a sling, Renaud grunted and shook his head. “We were all in, and they thought no one else was about, and so, what was there left for them to ward against? Nothing, they believed.”

Kolor nodded in agreement and said, “As we discovered when we heard another distant gong, and shortly thereafter, Camille, your wee bird came flying straight for us, and we knew you were in trouble, and that no signal would come, though mayhap you’d sent the sparrow.”

Camille shook her head. “Scruff did it all on his own.” She looked at the bird, delight in her eyes. “And he flew, oh, how he flew. It was marvelous.”

“Indeed,” said Kolor, “and we were quite surprised, him with his wing and all.-Regardless, Big Jack took off running, little Scruff leading the way, and we were right behind. And a bit of trouble we found you in, too.”

“There, Blanche,” said Renaud. “All done.”