The Dream Weavers by Barbara Erskine (books you have to read txt) 📕

cannot be who she says she is.’ He bit his lips frantically, his face red with embarrassment. ‘The lady would be many summers older than this young person. Princess Eadburh is a queen now, with children of her own, living far away.’

Emma gave a cry of anger. ‘I’m not! I’m who I say I am. I am Eadburh. I have to see him.’ She dodged past the outstretched hand of the armed man beside her, heading for the door in the largest of the buildings from where she could see several faces peering at the scene. He was there, wearing a simple dark long woollen tunic. She could see him. She recognised him. ‘Elise!’

They caught her before she reached him.

‘Elise! I’m Eadburh! I have looked for you for so long; I have searched for you—’

As he gazed at her, she saw the recognition in his eyes, the hunger and then the denial and disbelief. ‘No. No, you can’t be. I would know you.’ He crossed himself. ‘You cannot be her. You are an imposter. A shape-changer. A cunning woman. A witch!’ He stared at her eyes for a second more then he turned away, ducked back inside the building and the door closed with a bang.

She stood there, distraught, unable to move, and then at last fell to her knees in the cobbled yard. ‘Elise!’ she called again. She buried her face in her hands, sobbing. ‘You have to talk to me. You have to.’

They surrounded her, the brothers of the monastery, the king’s escort, the farmworkers, and now several women appeared, sisters from the community and lay women. Someone helped her to her feet, someone else guided her across the cobbles back to the horses and she felt herself lifted onto the saddle. All around her they were talking and whispering and making the sign against the evil eye, and over and over again she heard the word ‘witch’.

She couldn’t fight them all. Slumped helplessly forward over the horse’s withers, not even reaching for the reins, she let them lead the animal back the way they had come, leaving the clas and Elisedd behind them.

When she saw Bea waiting for her, she slid from the saddle in tears and threw herself into her arms. ‘He didn’t recognise me,’ she cried. ‘He didn’t want to see me.’

Bea rocked her gently. ‘Wake up, sweetheart. Wake up. You’ve had a bad dream, that’s all. Everything will be all right.’ She looked up as Simon appeared in the doorway.

‘What’s happened?’ He gazed down in horror at his daughter as she sat up in bed, her face sodden with tears.

‘She’s all right. She had a nightmare. Give us a few minutes.’

He backed away unhappily and slowly retraced his steps downstairs.

She had surrounded them with the circle of protection, whispered the prayer, taken off her cross and fastened it round Emma’s neck. In her bag downstairs she had herbs to burn to cleanse the place, crystals to place around the cottage as Meryn had taught her. And she had his support, she knew that, whatever he had said about her coping alone.

It was a long time before Emma stopped sniffing and groped for a tissue. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘There is nothing to be sorry for.’

‘I was so sure he would recognise me.’ She was still half in the dream.

‘He would have expected to see a middle-aged woman, the same age as himself, and instead he saw a beautiful young lady in a scarlet dress.’

Emma stared at her. ‘How do you know what he saw?’

‘Because I’m looking at her now.’

‘But the dress?’

‘You told me about the dress before, remember?’

‘Was I really there? In the monastery?’

Bea gave a small shrug. ‘I think you might have been.’

‘He was very handsome. But so old. His hair was going grey.’

Bea smiled sadly. ‘He wasn’t a young man any more, certainly. And you gave him a real shock. He didn’t know where you had come from.’

‘They thought I was a witch.’

‘The more so if you have now disappeared right in front of their eyes. Sweetheart, you can’t, you mustn’t try and go back. You do know that, don’t you?’ Better to say it now straight away. Make sure she understood the danger. ‘This is an important part of your training. You have to learn when to say no, this is not right. This is not something I should do.’

‘But it was exciting!’

‘It made you very miserable.’

‘Only because he didn’t understand. If I can explain to him—’

‘But you can’t explain, Emma.’ She caught both Emma’s hands in hers and pulled the girl to face her. ‘Don’t you understand? You can’t explain this to anyone, then or now. Even we don’t understand what’s happening here. This has to be kept a secret.’

Emma held her gaze and Bea saw the defiance there, but then slowly it faded. The girl gave a reluctant shrug. ‘I suppose so.’

‘Good. Because it’s vitally important you remember this. Now, we need to go downstairs and speak to your dad. Come down as soon as you’ve washed your face.’

Somehow she managed to persuade Simon to wait calmly; they made tea and sat at the kitchen table until at last Emma appeared. She was very pale, but sat down with them without protest.

‘My darling, we have to decide what we are going to do over the next week or so.’ Simon pushed a mug of tea towards her. ‘Decisions have to be made about school and exams. They are vital too, Emma, you are too intelligent not to realise that, and you have to speak to your mother because she is very anxious.’

Val was not answering the phone so Emma rang Felix instead.

‘Hi, Sis. Are you prepared for the onslaught?’ He sounded quite cheery.

‘I can’t get through to her.’

‘Ah.’ There was a significant pause. ‘You don’t know, then?’

‘What?’

‘I thought she’d spoken to Dad. She’s on her way to you. She was incandescent, I believe the word is, after she spoke to him earlier, so she leapt into the car and she’s on her