CHAPTER 37
The next day dragged. Every minute felt like an hour, and I paced up and down my room. Clax brought me food and drink, to keep up the pretence that I was a prisoner. I longed to sit in the kitchen with my friends, I missed the chatter around the table; but we couldn’t slip up now, we were so close.
It was not until around two in the afternoon, that the hairy humanoid appeared again. Once more Eirickr led the group into the garden. Greetings over, the Gorgades spoke; ‘Cailleach Bheur, our mighty ruler, has agreed to your terms. She will send Dagdar to meet you and take possession of the Intercessor. She will make no blizzards or winds to hamper you on your journey. In return for this you must swear now, in front of me, to give praise to the rightful ruler, and to follow her and only her from herein.’
Each of the group solemnly swore this in front of him and he relaxed. Now the details had been agreed, he left. I sneaked out of my room, and we met, once again, in the privacy of the basement.
Our plan was working, we were jubilant. Not one of the group had lied in their vow to the Gorgades. They would always give praise to the rightful ruler, and even lay down their life for her; the rightful ruler was not Cailleach Bheur, and as she had not been named in the vow, their integrity was intact.
We now had to finalise our plans to travel to the meeting place. We had to journey as mortals, and set about planning the route. We also needed more sleighs, Orchid, Gwent, Grenville and Bay went out to get these whilst the rest of us sat over maps to find the best route.
After a great deal of consideration, we eventually agreed on the easiest route for us. As there was now no traffic, the best way to travel would be along the motorways for as long as we could. We decided, we would travel down the A1 to Wetherby, then take the A61 toward Ripon. It was here it got a bit tricky as we had to find the A59 to take us onto the A671. After that it was mainly B roads and we hoped they were still passable. The journey would have been easy in normal conditions, and in a car; but it was far from normal outside. We would have to judge where we were, and clear road signs along the way to help us.
Our next task was provisions. We needed food, drink, warm clothing, and climbing equipment to help us up Pendle hill. For all it was called a hill; it was almost a mountain, it was 1,835 feet high. Seth, Oswald and Eirickr set off in the sleigh to the large town nearby, and, for want of a better word, stole the equipment we needed from a store that supplied outdoor goods. There had not been a great deal left in the store, but we managed to get most of the things we needed.
Next we had to decide who would be going on the journey. Yet more arguments followed, as everyone wanted to be there. We only had five sleighs, and one of those would have to be used to carry the provisions, and we only had enough shape shifters to pull the five. We also decided three of Jarls men would come with us; firstly to represent him, and secondly, they could help us as they were used to severe weather and freezing conditions. That only left three sleighs, carrying three people in each.
I came up with the only fair way to pick those who would accompany me to the Ribble Valley; an old mortal custom. I wrote everyone’s name down and put them in a large bowl. I called for Clax to pick the names one by one until we had the eight we needed.
First to come out was Selena, then Gwent. We held our breaths on each pick, and then there was an audible cry of excitement from the winner, and sighs of disappointment from the losers. The names came out; Grenville, Corisande, Aage, Lucia, Eirickr and lastly Oswald.
The noise rose in the basement, congratulations and commiserations ringing in the air. Once everyone had settled down, we finished our preparations, and settled down for the night. We would begin our journey early the next morning.
I thought with all the scenarios of what was to come, going through my head, I would not be able to sleep; once again I was wrong. Before I knew it I must have drifted off into a very deep sleep.