I walk the path to Her sacred mountain.  My feet are callused and well used to this dirt ribbon that threads through the valley, gradually making its way to the clouds that always encircle Her sacred peak.  But I have never taken this pilgrimage to visit our Goddess with a woman walking behind me.

A woman who by all rights should be at home taking care of her children and submitting to her husband.  Instead she walks behind me with her head raised to look about her instead of properly cast down to show her humility.  But she has none of the finer virtues of piety and obedience.

Had I not heard her myself, tell her lawful husband that the Goddess had spoken to her and she could not return with him to their village?  I shuddered at the intemperate language that he used when he raised his voice.  But she had not given way to his will as a proper wife would have done.  Instead, she told him to go and leave her to the Goddess.

Such impiety shocked me to the bone.  It is well known that the Goddess speaks only to the Abbots of the nine temples, not to ordinary people and certainly not to any woman, even though she is of the noble class.  Still, the Abbot gave her his permission to ascend Her mountain.  She wished to go alone but it would be highly improper to allow her to walk unsupervised so the Abbot chose me to accompany her.

He knew that I would allow no impropriety.  I have spent my forty years in service to the Goddess and She has no more faithful servant than I have been.  The very idea that this . . . woman might have spoken to Her is blasphemy.  But I obey the Abbot who leads our community for his will is also Hers.

I wish only to guide her to the plateau so that she may fulfill her supposed task for the Goddess and then brush away her contaminating presence from our sacred space.  It will take us most of the day to ascend to the high plateau where she says that she must sacrifice.  I saw no animal in her pack but perhaps she means to shed her own blood for the Goddess.  Such an act might be pleasing to the Great One but why during this season of snow and cold?

The sun shines above us and paints the path that leads upwards to our destination. Most of the color is gone with the fall of the year but here and there red berries peep out from the dark green fronds of the holly.  I suddenly wish I was alone to enjoy the beauty of Her mountain but I refuse to allow her to see any emotion but my placid serenity that I have painted onto my face so that she may not know how very badly she disturbs me.

It is something I must control for do not the Gods desire Their servants to be calm so that they may serve Them better?  Yes, of course they do and I must remember that and count my prayer beads to regain that calm that she stole from me by her very presence.  I felt so sorry for her little boys, deprived of their mother by the crazed story of a raving madwoman.

Perhaps that is why the Abbot gave his permission?  Suddenly it all became clear to me.  The healing that our temple is so famous for was being used to bring this woman back to sanity.  By allowing her to fulfill her belief that the Goddess had spoken to her, a healing of her mind might be accomplished.  And the Abbot chose me to bring her to the place where she might find a balanced mind so that she might return to her family.

I smile glad that I am before her so she might not see my relief now that I understood my place.  The Abbot in his wisdom had shown me a bit of his insight into her madness and together we might be able to heal her, if that was the will of the Goddess.  I feel my shoulders relax and my steps quicken.  The sooner we arrive then the sooner we might return.

“Brother, by your leave, may we stop here for a rest?”  Her voice is a bit breathless but then she would not be accustomed to such a rapid ascent to the higher altitudes.

“Certainly, Madam.  The stream is pure if you wish to drink.”  I am able to speak to her now with true calm.

She bows to me and goes to the riverbank to kneel, cupping the fresh cold water of the swiftly running stream.  I watch her look about her with eyes wide in wonder of the beauty of the sacred mountain.  Not many were ever granted permission to journey this far.  I traveled this route once a year and still I found something new each time I passed along the well-worn path.

“So much beauty.”  Tears fall from her eyes and I see them rise to the blue skies that arch above us.  “Mother, protect us.”

And that’s when I see the dragon of silver and blue come plummeting down from the sky with a scream of immortal rage, straight for us while beneath it, she stands with the crystal in her hands shining brighter than the sun.  I hold my beads tightly and say the words that are proscribed for banishing demons of the dark.

But they do not work.

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End chapter sixteen