A Gift of Magic

Chapter 7

Lamas is the celebration of the harvest season, especially wheat, when the goddess Danu blesses the people with a bountiful harvest to last them through cold unforgiving winters. At 13 she created her wheat broom; it was about the length of her hand with the wheat fanned out flat at the bottom and tied together with two alternating medium width ribbons one golden and the other green. Leigh pulled her stones out of her backpack to form her pentagram.

Logan watched Leigh as she worked pulling out a tiny broom and stones. She stood in the North and started her ritual of placing stones. This ritual was beginning to feel familiar since he has seen her do it a couple times already. Once she places the last stone and walks back into her starting position, she then picks up her tiny broom and walks to the center of the pentagram and sits in her now familiar cross-legged position with the broom on the ground in front of her. He is entranced with her as her face squinched up in deep concentration, then suddenly her face relaxed into a serene look and her hands where they met the ground started glowing green as well as the highlights in her hair. She started speaking in a soft but firm voice.

            “Oh, great goddess Danu mother of the world, life, growth, and abundance hear your humble servant. I call on you today, on the anniversary of my birth, to celebrate your wondrous gifts to the world. I beseech you to bless this land with fertility and abundance. It is not the fault of the animals and children that the local pack has not cared for the land as they should. The children have been informed through their own creation story about their duty to the wild places. Through their dedication to these wild places may you be blessed also. May these blessings become apparent in the land.” With that she bent down and placed her forehead on the ground. He whole body glowed that bright green and it pulsed around her three times before channeling into the ground. The channeling of this energy was powerful, and a ripple of the power could be felt as it passed under Logan. He watched Leigh intently as she opened her eyes and crouched down to sweep the center of the pentagram in a gentle circular motion. Once she finished sweeping, she stood and walked to the North position and walked her pentagram backwards picking up each stone until she was back at North and then moving to her protective circle. Once finished she walked back to her backpack and placed her items back inside. She stood up and her entire body swayed. Logan used his werewolf speed to get to her side and caught her before she hit the floor. Her entire body was limp, and she was passed out cold. He cradled her in his arms and brought her to a blank wall where they were at least not in a direct line to an opening. He placed her gently on the floor and then laid down beside her. In her sleep she rolled and curled into him with her head on his chest. He let out a contented sigh and feel into sleep too.

            Sometime later they both woke up. She didn’t say anything this time about him holding her in her sleep, but she did look at him suspiciously as she prepared to do the spell again to create the stairs.

            Leigh wasn’t sure how she felt waking up in Logan’s arms. He was so big and strong, but she knew how shifters felt about humans. He called her a witch when they first met, which is extremely insulting, but it seemed that he did that out of misinformation not from being spiteful. He didn’t look at her like the shifters did that she grew up with, but she didn’t trust the way he looked at her. He must need something from her. Everyone needed something from her, that is the only reason anyone was nice to her. When they no longer needed her, they forgot about her instantly and she was alone again. She was not going to give into him just because he said some kind words and kept her warm in these cold caverns during rest. As soon as she had the new spell book and was near a tree large enough, she would evacuate the fairies and fairy dragon and then disappear herself as well.

            Her mind made up she chanted the Druid phrase for staircase three times and pushed a bit of her energy into the wall next to the opening. The sounds of stone grading against stone could be heard again and a staircase opened before them just beyond the opening. Leigh, her raccoon friend, and Logan carefully walked down the staircase to a large cavern empty of anything but a old book upon a pedestal in the center. Leigh slowly walked to the book. Finally, this is what she was sent for.

            About a dozen steps away from the book a tiny sprite appeared before her wings furiously fluttering as he pointed an arrow at her nose. The sprite was just as tiny as the pixies in the other room, but his wings were shaped like dragonfly wings instead of butterfly wings. Where their skin was light green, his was a tan and his hair was short and blonde, styled in spikes round his head. He wore leggings, tunics, and small soft boots. She remembered stories about the sprites and their positions, looking carefully at his arrowhead she could see a viscus green liquid surrounding it. Leigh knew that sprites are fierce warriors known for their tenacity and their poisons. She thought they were also known for reading intentions, but since she had never encountered one before she wasn’t positive about the last part.

            He spoke firmly, “what are you doing here? How did you find this place?”

            Leigh spoke gently, “My name is Leigh, I am a Druid. I was sent her by the goddess Danu to collect the book from the last Druid that lived in there lands 300 years ago. A great evil is coming, and I must be prepared.”

            He hovered in the air and came towards Leigh stopping about three feet away. He looked at her appraisingly and nodded his head. “Your intentions are pure and your words true.” He turned to Logan, “what are you doing here? How did you find this place?”

            Logan straightened up, “I found Leigh to protect here from the local were pack and I followed her here. I have no intention to take anything from this place.”

            The sprite hovered about three feet from Logan’s face and looked at him appraisingly and nodded. “Your words ring of truth and your intentions are honorable.” He c****d his head to the side looking more carefully at Logan, “you are omitting part of your answer, but as I am tasked with protecting the book and you are not here for it, I can let it go.”

            Leigh’s eyes narrowed at Logan but redirected her attention back to the sprite. “What is your name? I would like to thank you properly.”

            The sprite hovered back in front of Leigh and said firmly, “my name is Dax, my people have watched the book since the original Druid laid it into this cavern under our keeping.”

            Leigh bowed formally to Dax, “Thank you Dax to you and your people for watching over this book until I came to collect it. Your vigil is over and you may return to the world.” Leigh took on a speculative look, “Although the world has changed much over the past 300 years as you watched over this book. My family runs a sanctuary for super-naturals. I offer that sanctuary to you all as I did the pixies and fairy dragon in the other cavern. If you agree I can easily transport you all there as soon as we get back into the woods.”

            Dax inclined his head, “we accept your kind offer. We need to be in places of magic and since this land has not been cared for properly, we are not what we once were. I do need to tell you of one more thing though. There is a staff that the Druid used to carry that you will need to find to help you focus her spells. It is in the forest outside of her family’s cabin hidden inside a tree. I am sure you can find it.”

            Leigh inclined her head. “I would not have felt the pull of the staff without the book. Thank you for your help.” Leigh walked up to the pedestal in the center of the cavern and picked up the book. She lovingly stroked the cover and opened it up to the first page. On that page was a familiar spell she had known since growing into her powers, bringing a bud to full bloom. This spell though allowed the caster to create sensory effects like leaves falling, puffs of wind, small animal sounds, or a faint skunk odor. She knew she would have to rest before she could cast the spell, but it was interesting. After committing the spell to memory, she gently closed the book and placed it into her backpack.

            “Alright everyone let’s get out of the cavern and into the forest where I can escort you all to my sanctuary, then find my staff.” As Leigh headed toward the far wall to open the exit door the fairy dragon and pixies entered the cavern at that moment and five more sprites appeared in the cavern around Dax. They all followed silently as she came to the wall and read aloud the Druid word for open found indented into the wall. The wall shuttered making a grounding sound of rock on rock as the cavern wall opened up into a rocky patch at the base of the mountain. The forest loomed about a hundred feet from where they stood the small party moved quickly to reach the forests. Leigh stopped at a large tree and looked to her flying companions.

            “We will travel though this tree. I have not had time to properly test this spell’s abilities and am unsure of what would happen if you all tried to fly through. My suggestion, if you will allow it, is to have you all perch on me and hold on as I walk though,” she looked pointedly at the fairy dragon, “you I think would be easiest to carry.” She then turned to Logan, “I appreciate the company and your concern, but I just need to grab the staff then I will be off of pack territory, you can go back to your job.” She felt a resistance in her mind about dismissing Logan, but no male had ever found her attractive without having ulterior motives. She recalled a farmer in Mexico when she first started on her journey into the wild. He had tried to seduce her to make his crops grow bountiful, he had been a shifter. Being eighteen and impressionable she almost fell for it, but she could feel the way he stiffened every time he touched her and the fact that smiles never reached his eyes. She may have been young and inexperienced, but she could tell when someone wasn’t into her. She had felt so hurt and mortified that she ran away that evening before their next date and brought his crops to life on her way out.  Since then, she avoided people preferring the company of animals, at least animals were honest.

            Logan’s voice interrupted her thoughts, “The cabin is on pack land, you will still be in danger. I will head to the cabin and wait for you there this way I can still protect you.”

            Leigh shrugged at him, he was an adult and would do what he wanted. She opened her arms for the fairy dragon, and it dropped gracefully into her embrace. She held him tenderly and the other pixies and sprites found purchases on he shoulders, head, arms, her backpack, the tops of her boots, and a few hung onto pockets. Leigh placed her hand on the tree and murmured softly and when her hand sunk into the tree she walked through with the whole group leaving Logan in their wake just watching after empty space.