Sacred Mountain

Chapter 11: The Crossroads

'No, Annifer! You can't say unicorn,' Poppy insisted. Annifer rolled her eyes and leaned her forehead against the sled-carriage window.

'You're supposed to say an animal that starts with the last letter of the one I've just said. So I say lamb, you say bird. You say bird, I say dog. I say dog, you say goat. You say goat, I say turkey. I say turkey, you say . . . um . . .'

'Wolf!' Annifer shouted

'No, wolf starts with . . .'

'No really, there's another wolf on the road up there. Stop the sled, Petros!'

She banged on the roof and Petros drew the horses to a halt in the middle of the Crossroads. Annifer threw the door open and bounded out. The other two followed behind her in what was now a practiced ritual. This was the third dying wolf they'd encountered on the road so far. Annifer knelt down on one side and prepared herself for the healing. Petros lay on the other ready to whisper as soon as it came round and Poppy stood at its head with the water pouch. After a minute Annifer turned her face skywards, only to shrink back immediately as two immense feathered forms flew towards her, blocking out the sun.

'What . . . ? she gasped, shielding her face with her forearms. Next thing she knew, two golden eagles were perched on the ground on either side of her.

But they didn't stay eagles for long. Poppy took a step back in shock as before her eyes, the two eagle bodies grew bigger and changed shape: curved beaks reshaping into flesh noses, yellow eyes widening, changing colour, humanising, wings thickening into tunic-covered arms, scaled talons transforming into booted feet and feathers into skin and hair. In no time, two familiar figures stood before her: girls a few years younger than herself in matching green cloaks and tunics, the shorter of the two's pale, finely featured face was framed by a mass of curly red hair and the other's unnaturally large, deep blue eyes were set deep in a kind face and a plait of black hair hung down her back.

Poppy's heart leapt and she nearly dropped her water pouch in excitement when she recognized her sister, Daisy. She opened her mouth to cry out her name but Daisy's expression was serious as she and Jemima knelt down on either side of Annifer.

Together the three of them raised their palms heavenwards, held them there as they spoke the prayer of healing in unison and then touched them to the animal's fur-coated flank, flooding its exhausted body with wave upon wave of healing energy, until it twitched, shivered and sprung to its feet. Before Petros could even begin whispering, the wolf turned to Jemima's kneeling form, put one giant paw on her shoulder and began licking her face so hard she almost toppled sideways. Giggling, Jemima extracted a tiny pair of scissors from her special belt, snipped off a small clump of the wolf's fur and stowed it in one of the belt's many pockets.

'Look!' Daisy chuckled, 'Animals love her even more than they love me. She's even had to learn a spell to make them go away.' Jemima extricated herself from the giant wolf's loving attentions and walked towards the edge of the trees. It followed her docilely, tail wagging like a little puppy. She stopped, put her hand on its head and spoke a few words in the old language. Then she snapped her fingers and the wolf bolted off into the forest.

'C. . . can't breathe. . .' Daisy's muffled voice came from inside the bear hug Poppy had her gripped in. Annifer and Petros dodged out of the way as Poppy picked her sister off the ground and spun her round, shouting, 'Daiseee. . . I'm so happy to seeeee yoooou . . .'

Annifer's face broke into a beaming smile as she wrapped her arms around Jemima and the next five minutes were spent blissful reunion.

'What are you doing here, Daisy?' Petros asked when the hugging and squealing was over. 'I thought you were busy getting ready for your Cloaking Ceremony.'