Mist Over the Water Read Online Free PDF

actually said.
    ‘My mother – your Granny Cordeilla – tells the tale of our ancestress Aelfbeort the Shining One, who spoke with the spirits and learned from them. You remember?’
    ‘Yes!’ I said, almost indignantly. I remember all Granny’s marvellous tales, but I couldn’t help wondering why Edild was speaking of them just now, in this crisis where speed was so vital.
    ‘Good. You will recall, too, then that Aelfbeort bore a daughter, Aelfburga, who—’
    ‘She found Aelf Fen and led the people here,’ I interrupted eagerly. ‘It was a time of terrible peril and the people needed a safe refuge. Aelfburga’s mother Aelfbeort was beloved by the spirits and they taught her much concerning the deep, dark matters beyond the understanding of mortal kind. Because of that love they helped her daughter by showing her how to find the secret, hidden safe ways to Aelf Fen, where with their aid she constructed an artificial island in the black waters of the mere and—’
    ‘ They showed her how to find the safe ways ,’ Edild repeated softly, cutting off my river of words. I looked at her blankly. She gave a small tut of impatience. ‘Come on, Lassair, it’s not like you to be so slow.’
    That hurt. Think , I commanded myself. Safe ways. The island of the eels. Helpful spirits. My ancestress. ‘You think the spirits will show me how to get to Ely?’ I demanded, my voice high with terrified excitement.
    Edild smiled. ‘They might, but I don’t imagine their aid will be necessary since there are plenty of boatmen to row you over. No, Lassair. That is not what is in my mind.’ She looked at me gravely.
    ‘What is it?’ I whispered.
    ‘We already know that you are a dowser, able to find both water and also hidden objects through the medium of the willow wand,’ she said. She was right. It is a strange gift and, although I have used it from time to time, once in a matter of very great danger, I do not yet understand much about it. If I’m truthful, it scares me a little and I try not to think about it. ‘I have long wondered,’ Edild was saying, ‘if you may also have inherited the gift that the aelven folk gave to Aelfburga.’ She waited, her eyes alight.
    ‘You mean I might be able to find the safe ways across the fens?’ I demanded. She nodded. ‘Oh, Edild, but that secret is only known to a handful of the Ely monks, and they only reveal it when they have no choice!’ We had all heard the tale of William the Conqueror’s furious frustration when he could not get his great army across the treacherous marshes to put down the revolt that Hereward had led from Ely. The king had tried to build a causeway but it had collapsed, taking vast numbers of William’s men fully-armed to their watery graves. One of his knights then managed to slip across, and he bribed the monks to tell him the secret way. The more generous version said that the monks were not unanimously in favour of the rebel Hereward in their midst and revealed their precious secret in order to get rid of him. Either way, the Conqueror finally stormed across and took Ely, although Hereward got away.
    Edild was regarding me steadily, and again I sensed that she was waiting for me to work it out for myself. ‘You want me to test out your theory.’ I hesitated. It seemed so extraordinary, but then my aunt Edild is an extraordinary woman. I smiled, for suddenly I knew what she was thinking as clearly as if she had spoken aloud. ‘You do, don’t you?’ She returned my smile. ‘You’ve been itching for an opportunity for me to test myself and now, when pure chance has summoned me to the very place, the moment has arrived.’ Another thought struck me. ‘But why didn’t you suggest that I have a go around here? There’s plenty of dangerous marsh and fenland all around the village – no need to go to Ely to look for safe routes over perilous ground!’
    Her expression turned enigmatic. ‘Too easy, Lassair,’ she murmured. ‘You’ve