Aliénor's Song

Mairi's Story

After my tears had stopped, Maira told me her own story. It was far darker than mine.

Mairi had been born in Mary King's Close in Edinburgh to a woman without a husband. This had immediately made both her and her mother outcasts.He mother had been banished from the church after her pregnancy was dicovered. This made it nearly impossible for her to find assistance of any kind. She had been publicly shamed, even to the extent of people hurling horrible slurs at her when she passed them in the streets. As if that wasn't enough, just because Mairi existed, she could potentially be hit with fines and charges for being an unwed mother.

They had struggled to survive for most of Mairi's childhood. They didn't have many friends, due to their ostricization. This had led her mother to have a disdain for religion that had bordered on blasphemous in the eyes of the town guard. When Mairi was only 12, her mother had been accused of witchcraft in one of the witch hunts sanctioned by King James VI. Her mother had been an easy target, since being unwed with a daughter had already made the other families in the close see her as wicked. At 13, she had watched her mother be drowned in the waters of the Firth of Forth.

"They marched her through the streets of Edinburgh as a public warning to any other women who may be considering the 'devil's arts'. It was quite the spectacle." I saw a flash of pride in Mairi's eyes. "She did not cry or beg. She held her head high and walked in silence. I think they drowned her because they hoped the long walk to the water would break her spirit. Most witches back then were simply strangled and then the bodies were cleansed with fire by burning."

Mairi couldn't even speak out to beg for her mothers life for fear of being tried as a witch herself. To speak out on her mother's behalf would have meant marching beside her to the water's edge. She told me how much it had pained her to stay silent while her mother was condemned to death.

"I couldn't save her. She begged me to be silent in witness to her execution. No matter what happened to her, she just wanted to make sure I was safe. I was the reason she was on trial, and I couldn't even tell them to leave her alone."

Her voice had such a sadness to it when she spoke of her mother. Her grief was almost palpable. I had to fight against the urge to pull her into an embrace at that moment, to hold her and tell her it wasn't her fault. I knew something of that pain, and it hung heavy in every word as she continued her tale.

She had fled at that time and for the next 2 years she lived off of what she could steal, and the occasional kindness of strangers who never wanted her to get too close.

"I think it was less kindness and more fear that the daughter of a convicted witch would curse them if they refused to help." She recounted darkly. "I learned recently that I was considered to be an attractive girl. I could get favors from men hoping to gain favors of their own in return. I scrounged up what I could and I made a plan to get away from the close forever. I used that to secure passage on a merchant ship bearing herring and cod. I had developed, let's call it a friendship, with a young cabin boy named Eóghan. He agreed to smuggle me on board so I could escape the stain of my mother's name and try to make a new life for myself in France."

I started at the name of my home country.

"That's right, I was headed for your homeland when you happened upon me in the water."

How had she known I was French? I wondered for a brief moment before she continued. I didn't recall telling her where exactly I had come from. Maybe I had mentioned it to her.

"News of a possible stow away on board reached the captain of Eóghan's ship, and they swept the cabins and areas below deck. I was found beneath a pile of skins I had taken as my hiding place below deck. I was seized immediately when I was found. I tried to explained that I didnt want to make trouble, I just wanted to get away from the close. They did not care why I was there, they just wanted me gone. I thought of begging for my life, but that didn't save my mother, so I didn't even bother to try. For granting me passage, Eóghan was stowed in the bilboes to await trial once the ship reached France. I was thrown from the ship, and you know the rest."

I was horrified. Mairi could only be 15 or 16. She wasn't entirely sure, as she was not aware of the exact date of her birth. She was so young! I understood why she had taken so quickly to the notion of revenge given her hard life. She had so much more to gain than I had, and it had all been taken away from her in an instant.

"Are women still being tried as witches in the close and cast into the sea?"

"I believe so, but why do you.."

I saw the realization cross Mairi's face.

"Yes! We could ask Atargatis to save them! They could join our ranks!"

I made a mental note to ask Atargatis if I saw her again.

Then the realiztion suddenly hit me, and my blood ran cold. "Mairi, was Eóghan among the men we killed?"

"I don't remember seeing him. He was locked below in the bilboes."

"He could still be among the wreckage!"

Mairi seemed to have the same realization.

"He didn't hurt you. He was an innocent."

"Oh My God Aliénor! We have to go back!"