The Fickle Winds of Autumn

9. The Five-Cornered Circle

A light evening breeze drifted through the dense woodland as the carriage wheels crunched across the fallen leaves which littered the forest track.

The carriage rumbled to a halt. Sister Maud unlocked the door and opened it into the hushed twilight as she climbed out.

Goosebumps thrilled through Kira's body as she stepped down onto the springy turf.

They were here! She had finally arrived!

Her weary legs were grateful to escape the cramped limitations of the carriage and feel the gravity of her blood pulse through them as she stood on solid ground once more.

The three days of relentless travel had quickly lost its glamour and she was relieved to finally get out of the rattling vehicle; her heightened senses bubbled over, intoxicated by her new surroundings and the dizzying knowledge of the role she must fulfil there.

Even through the soles of her boots, the soft, yielding surface of the grass was a strange and unfamiliar sensation, unlike anything inside the stone architecture of the convent. She tapped her foot lightly on the cushioned ground while she waited for her fellow novicellae to join her, but the turf refused to leave an echo.

And to be here at the Sacred Grove!

A place she had heard so many stories and strange tales about; a place of special focus for those who could wield the magik; the revered heart of their powers.

She shivered in excitement at the thought that she, Kira, who had never even experienced life outside the barren convent walls before, was now breathing in its rarefied air and standing on the hallowed ground; the exalted location, where the legends of history and religion had collided across the centuries.

Her stomach churned itself giddy with exhilaration.

And she was not just there to sightsee; she was there to take part in an actual, real ceremony; something about witches, she had gathered from Sister Maud during the journey, and the evil menace they posed to the outlying towns and villages - although Kira could not help feeling that the witches could hardly be any more threatening or sinister than Sister Amelia Constance, be they never so wicked.

How jealous Amber would be when she told her all about it on her return.

"And remember girls - be on your best behaviour!". The stern tones of Sister Maud jolted Kira back into the fresh forest evening, canopied beneath the densely thatched branches.

"You are all ambassadors for the convent and its school: do not show us up or stand gawping at boys: it is not seemly for young ladies to look directly at boys or men, and I do not expect to encounter any such behaviour - or the Surrounder have mercy on you when we return home. Keep your gaze down and your thoughts on the purity of the moonlight."

As she uttered this dire warning, sister Maud issued a particularly hard stare in Kira's direction; although the sting of her words was defused by Kira's great sense of occasion and the thrilling joy of their arrival.

The low autumn twilight had gathered in around them, and the violence of the woodland colours had faded into dim shades of grey, so the girls were permitted to leave the safety of the carriages without the shielding protection of their hoods.

Kira was glad not to feel the restrictive ties and fastenings pressing in around her head, and it also gave her wandering vision more scope to look around and observe some of the wondrous sights of this most significant and celebrated place.

Their carriages had stopped in a small clearing at one end of a long forest track, hemmed in by a thick curtain of trees and dense undergrowth.

A number of other vehicles and groups of people had already assembled; several fires burned brightly against the chill of the oncoming night; the smell of wood-smoke and roasting pork with apples mingled through the rich sweet scent of the forest earth and the damp leaf-litter.