Solstice at Stonewylde Read Online Free PDF Page A

was the best medicine of all.
    Sylvie reached the centre of the labyrinth, her legs shaky from the walk. It was the first time she’d been out of bed in a week and she was horrified at her own frailty. She felt as weak as she’d done months before, in the London hospital, and this stiffened her resolve to fight Magus. Nobody had the right to deliberately steal her health.
    Inside the dome it was very dark with only a little light filtering through the densely woven wicker. The smoke from the small fire, the only one that burned at Stonewylde today, hurt her eyes and throat at first, but she became accustomed to it quite quickly. A robed adult in a skull mask pointed for her to sit cross-legged on a mat with the others, in a circle round the fire. Real bones and many black feathers hung from the low ceiling of the dome. Once all nine of the group were seated, the figure began to chant in time to the drums played softly by another crow-masked person.
    ‘Enter the darkness of the tomb, the darkness of the womb.’
    A tray of small, white bowls was passed around, looking like babies’ skulls full of blood.
    ‘Drink of the blood of death and the blood of rebirth.’
    They each took off their masks and gingerly sipped the deep crimson liquid. It was a sweet, aromatic elderberry wine made from the fruits of the tree of death, and laced with something that made their heads spin. Being so weak already, Sylvie was particularly affected. One by one they lay back on the mats and let their minds drift away, whilst above them the black feathers and white bones moved gently in the swirling smoke. Sylvie’s head jostled with strange images – a black raven, white rocks, a chevroned serpent, a circle of hares. Everything seemed fantastical and dream-like, significant and yet not making sense.
    But too soon the robed figure commanded them to stand andthey obeyed, unsteady on their feet. Sylvie found it very difficult to stand, her legs buckling and the world tilting alarmingly. She wanted to cry with frustration at her weakness, and vowed once more that she’d never let Magus do this to her again.
    ‘’Tis time to leave the Otherworld. As you leave this womb you’ll be reborn. ‘Tis the beginning of a new life, a new start, so as you walk, think on your resolutions for the year ahead. Farewell.’
    One by one they left the dome, blinking in the afternoon light and inhaling the fresh air in gulps. This journey was uplifting, a real new beginning, and Sylvie focused on the coming year and what she wanted: to join Yul in the fight against Magus and never give in, whatever the outcome, and to be as brave and strong in her defiance as Yul was. She thought too of Mother Heggy and her wisdom. The old woman knew something of what lay ahead and Sylvie must take heed of her advice.
    She walked slowly and unsteadily, her eyes fixed to the ground, guided by the white pebbles in the grey fading light as she thought carefully about her resolutions. She must stay at Stonewylde; despite her threat to Magus yesterday, leaving here wasn’t an option. As he’d reminded her, the Outside World could kill her. Having spent months at Stonewylde, she may find her allergies were even worse should she return to the pollution and allergens, the chemicals and additives. More, she had to be with Yul and he’d never leave Stonewylde. He was a part of the place, his very bones the rocks and his skin the earth. His soul was rooted here and he could never abandon it even if he wanted to, and therefore neither could she. She’d stay at Stonewylde for ever until her bones too became the rocks and her skin the earth. Her body would become part of the substance of Stonewylde for eternity. She knew this with sudden, piercing certainty. Shuffling along the path of the labyrinth, her body cloaked in black and her face masked with death, Sylvie realised the full impact of where her thoughts had led. She’d fight Magus to the very end. And she’d rather die here than