The Yuletide Woodsman Read online

“Why are you taking me back to her?”

  Stag hesitated a moment. “Because that’s the rule.”

  “What rule?”

  “Queen Morag’s rule. Any stranger we discover in the woods must be presented to her at the castle.”

  “And if you don’t follow her rule?”

  His brow furrowed deeply and I could tell he was tempted to reveal the answer but then he pressed his lips together and shook his head. “It’s just the rule.”

  “I don’t want to go in there,” I said, turning to face him and pleading with my eyes, but he was a little too tall and he easily avoided them. “Please,” I begged. “She scares me.”

  He wouldn’t look at me. “I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do. There’s nowhere else to take you. If I take you home to our cottage, then my mother will just tell Queen Morag you are here, and then I will be whipped for breaking the law, and if I take you back to the village, they’ll only march you here.”

  “What if I hid out somewhere? You could bring me some supplies and no one would need to know I was here.”

  He took a moment and I could tell he was really thinking about that option. He was a good man with a good heart, and I knew he didn’t want to take me to Queen Morag any more than I wanted to go. The momentary hope he might agree to help me faded when he inhaled deeply and then shook his head. “She’ll know. Queen Morag has special powers. We’d never get away with it and when she knew we’d try to cheat her, then she would get waxy, and the last time she was angry, she made the whole village suffer.”

  “She sounds a real bitch!”

  Stag winced with my treasonous outburst but he didn’t conceal the slight smile that pulled at the corner of his lips. “Aye, she’s hard, but she ensures the villagers don’t completely starve through the winter, and she pays a fair wage to the men who work for her, so she isn’t entirely bad.”

  I looked towards the shadow of the castle and tried to convince myself I’d over-reacted. She’s was Queen and clearly she cared for her people, even if she whipped them for disobedience. Before I could think of any more alternatives, Stag had rung the bell. The sound of it was almost violent in the quiet of the snow-covered landscape.

  Finally, he looked at me, really looked at me and said, “I’m sorry, Neve. I really am. I promise you I’m a good man trapped in a wicked situation. If there was any way I could get you away from this place, I would.”

  I nodded and stopped my impulse to accuse him of being a spineless coward, because that’s what I really thought. I couldn’t believe Queen Morag had such a hold over the land and there wasn’t one hiding place I could flee to.

  Stag stood by my side until the gate opened and a pretty young girl approached.

  “Brother,” she said, breaking into a wide smile.

  “Eleanor.”

  “Your sister is here!” I said with surprise.

  The girl was about sixteen-years-old and the opposite of her brother in every way. Her hair was so pale as to be almost white, and she was bird-like. Petite. “Are you okay?”

  His question was full of concern and I wondered what conditions Eleanor was being held under.

  Eleanor smiled sadly. “I’m fine, brother. Just a little tired. Queen Morag makes so many demands.”

  I’ll be back tomorrow to chop wood for Queen Morag’s fires. See if you can co-ordinate your lunch with me. I’ve missed you.”

  “I’ve missed you, too brother. How is mother?”

  “She’s getting better, slowly. The medicine woman will grow fat through the winter with all the gold she demands.”

  “But you have enough to pay her?” Eleanor asked. Worry was etched into the lines of her forehead, which were far too deep for a girl her age. She had suffered a great deal, that much was evident.

  “Aye, chick. Thanks to you,” Stag replied.

  I stood watching the scene between brother and sister, trying to piece together their story. Eleanor was clearly being paid for her work in the castle, and so far, aside from the bitch kidnapping me, Queen Morag didn’t seem to be some evil murdering psychopath.

  “I have to go,” Eleanor said, giving her brother one last squeeze. I’ll see you for lunch.

  “Aye. Take care, chick.”

  With Stag turning to leave, Eleanor’s attention fell to me and she smiled weakly. She was trying to be reassuring but there was something about it that caused my stomach to roil again, just when I had got it part settled.

  “Come on, we must hurry. Queen Morag will have heard the bell and will be wondering where we’ve got to.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Eleanor was a quiet guide and I wished she hadn’t been. I wish she’d told me how she loved living here and how kind and generous Queen Morag was. I’d have liked her to fill our journey with chatter about parties and feasting and handsome princes, but we didn’t and her silence only served to make the cold, grey stone corridors even more bleak.

  At last we came to a set of great iron doors, decorated with silver leaves as if they had been frost touched. “Queen Morag said she was expecting you, Neve.”

  “She was expecting me?” I asked, surprised.

  “Yes. She told me to listen out for the bell when she came home earlier. She said you wouldn’t last long in the woods. Did my brother save you?”

  Tendrils tightened around my heart. “Yes.”

  She nodded. “That’s part of his job, to rescue the girls who think they’re invincible.”

  Before Neve could respond, the doors flew open to reveal a throne room in which Queen Morag sat resplendent.

  “Neve,” she called, her voice soft and yet strangely powerful enough to travel across the distance between us.

  Out of the corner of my eye, Eleanor curtsied low to the ground and when I saw her glowering at me, I followed her lead.

  “How nice to see you again, Neve. You lasted a few hours more than I thought you might. You are stronger than I anticipated.”

  Eleanor placed her hand on the low of my back and moved me into the room. I shook her off and walked boldly up to the foot of the dais. I wasn’t going to show Queen Morag I was afraid of her.

  “You didn’t think to warn me about the wolves?” I asked, not caring if she found my challenge insubordinate or not.

  “It’s the woods, what did you expect?”

  “Not wolves.”

  She looked genuinely perplexed and I wasn’t sure if she was toying with me or we were just having some lost in translation moment.

  “I trust Stag came to your aid?”

  I nodded. “Yes, thankfully, or else I would be dead.”

  “It’s not safe in the woods,” she said. “The wolves are getting bolder, and meaner. It’s the lean winters. It makes them hungry and desperate. I sent him out to find you.”

  My heart pinched. Somehow, knowing he had been sent on her behalf considerably changed things.

  “I want to go home!” I stated firmly, not wishing to spend any more wasted time on chit-chat. I wasn’t staying. I didn’t need to know any more about the strange world.

  “I’m afraid I can’t grant you that wish.”

  “My mother will be worried.”

  She shrugged as if my mum’s cares were not of interest to her.

  “It’s only a few days until Christmas—please,” I said, not caring that I was so quickly reduced to begging. I can’t imagine how my family will be dealing with my sudden disappearance.

  “Christmas? I don’t know what you speak of.”

  “The birth of Christ, hosts of angels, Mince pies; you know, Christmas!”

  Queen Morag shrugged and looked to Eleanor who was cowering by the door. “Perhaps it is her term for Yuletide, your majesty.”

  “Yes!” I said, remembering the yule log we used to make every year when we were in primary school.

  Queen Morag, smiled. “Yes, Yule, that is the exact reason I came to your world to gather you, Neve,” she said, standing up from her throne, which now vacant, I could see was made
from sharp stag horns and draped in wolf-fur. I wondered if the pelt had been a gift from Stag. An offering to his queen.

  “Hopefully, you will be the yule tide gift that will save my wretched son.”

  “A gift!? I’m a gift!” I say with indignation. “What kind of crazy are you?”

  She was on me in a heartbeat, her hand tight around my throat, her eyes blazing with rage. “Do not speak to me that way—ever.”

  With my throat crushing under the power of her grip, I had little choice but to say, “I’m sorry.” She squeezed tighter. “I’m sorry, your majesty,” I tried, not knowing if that was the right address or not. She loosened her grip and I staggered backwards, clasping my throat as I gasped for air. I was under no illusion she would have killed me if the mood had taken her.

  “Yes, you are quite perfect. Not some simpering girl like those from the village who are afraid of their own shadow,” Queen Morag said, casting a look in Eleanor’s direction. “You are a girl of metal and courage. A girl who is also smart as well as kind. He will adore you.”

  I saw how Eleanor winced and wondered if the girl had some kind of affection for the prince herself. If that was the case, she was definitely not going to grow into the ally I hoped she might.

  “You can’t just kidnap someone and gift them to someone else,” I said. “That’s not okay. It’s…” A sharp slap across my face silenced me. I needed to learn to shut my mouth and fast, otherwise I was going to end up black and blue. Queen Morag was clearly used to complete subservience.

  “As much as I admire your energy, and I’m sure my son will appreciate it too, you need to learn your place, Neve, or life is going to be very unpleasant for you. Although some of your freedoms are now limited, you still have choices. You can choose to embrace your new situation, or you can choose to fight it—and I can assure you that the choice to fight it will not end well for you. My woodsman, should the need arise, is also my executioner, even though there hasn’t been call for one in many years. My people are obedient. They have learned from the past generations—as will you, if you value your life.”

  Fear crept through me. I’d never encountered anyone like her before. I didn’t have the first clue where to start in terms of outsmarting her—not when she had a disposition for violence and I had been raised with a gentle heart.

  “If you comply with the rules I am about to set, you will find I am surprisingly generous with my allowances. Eleanor, I’m sure, will testify to that.”

  I turned to look at her, so pale and miserable looking. I wasn’t sure Eleanor would be quite as positive about her situation as Queen Morag believed. “Her mother is ill,” Queen Morag explained. “Terribly ill, and the only hope is a rare medicine our medicine woman can blend from strange exotic elements gathered from around the realms. That comes at a cost; a cost that Eleanor can only afford by being my personal maid. I am most generous, am I not?” she, called from across the room.

  Eleanor curtsied low to the ground again. “Yes, your majesty. We are forever thankful for your generosity.”

  There was something in the way she said it that made me wonder just what Eleanor had to do to earn that money. It was evident Queen Morag had a cruel streak and took pleasure in other people’s pain.

  “Right, well, it’s late and my son is not at his best at this time of the day. Eleanor, take Neve to the guest room, run her a bath, and get cook to get her some soup and some fresh bread. She must be famished. Tomorrow,” she said, turning her attention back to me, “I expect to see you here at dawn.”

  “Dawn?”

  “Yes, dawn. Do you have a problem with that?”

  Actually, I had. I’d never been a morning person, and the thought of being awake in the cold bleak castle in the early morning didn’t appeal. However, I’d already learned from my throttling and the sharp slap to my face, that it was best not to speak out of turn and so, instead, I smiled tightly and curtsied, saying, “No problem at all, your majesty.”

  “Good.” She waved us out of the room with a flick of her wrist and Eleanor closed the doors behind us.

  I was desperate to get Eleanor in a quiet space so I could ask her about the realities of life in Queen Morag’s castle, but watching the way she scampered along the corridor with her head bowed, I came to the sad conclusion that Eleanor had nothing to offer me.

  “Where is everyone?” I asked after we had travelled several minutes and not seen another living soul.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Shouldn’t a castle like this have guards, and soldiers and servants busying about?”

  “She sent them all away.”

  “Why?”

  All of a sudden, Eleanor stopped her hurried pace. “I’m going to give you one piece of advice, and I really hope you heed it: Stop asking so many questions.”

  “But—”

  “I mean it, Neve. You need to learn to keep your mouth shut and your eyes open, and that way, you might even survive this place long enough to escape and make your way home.”

  With that, she picked up her pace again and I was left to trot after her. Now wasn’t the time, she barely knew me and she certainly she didn’t trust me. I managed a whole minute before I caved in and couldn’t resist asking just one more question.

  “What’s her son like?” I asked.

  Eleanor shot me a glance. “You’ll see for yourself soon enough.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  I bathed, ate and got into the large four-poster bed because what else was there for me to do? It was pointless making my situation any more wretched and miserable than it already was. Queen Morag had told me she expected me to see her at dawn, which told me that for tonight, at least, I was safe.

  The soup and bread had been surprisingly welcome as I hadn’t eaten since lunchtime. I needed to keep my strength up. It was part of my fight back, and if Queen Morag was happy to assist me in that, I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

  With Eleanor gone, I was left alone in the unfamiliar surroundings of the old stone castle, a large wood fire burning in the hearth. My eyes fell to the log basket and I recalled how Stag had told Eleanor he would return to the castle to chop wood. I was certain he was good, even if he did seem to be under Morag’s power, and I was sure if I could speak with him, and tell him what Queen Morag’s true intentions were, he would find some way to help me.

  I tried to close my eyes and sleep. The day had been exhausting. But the bed was all wrong, hard and slightly damp. The heavy cotton sheets felt alien and not at all comfortable. I tossed and turned for hours, fearful of the shadows that danced in the corner of the room, and disturbed by the sounds of the wolves howling all through the night. So many wolves in the woods. It would be impossible to run.

  *

  Eleanor woke me at first light, and ignoring my complaints about aching bones and the early hour, she handed me a bundle of clothes; all pale creams and blues. Virginal. Sacrificial. I didn’t like the symbolism at all.

  “Can’t I just wear my own clothes?” I asked, looking longingly at my jeans and sweater heaped in the chair by the fire.

  Eleanor shook her head and thrust the pile of cottons and velvets closer to me. “Get dressed. She doesn’t like to be kept waiting. I’ll stand outside.”

  Reluctantly, I took the clothes and dressed. Before leaving the room, I was unable to resist taking a brief look in the mirror, and saw that although the clothes were slightly ill-fitting, they made me look disturbingly like a princess from my childhood imagination. I actually looked quite beautiful.

  With that thought, my mind raced to the idea of Queen Morag’s son; the prince. That’s who I was dressed for. A gift all nicely packaged.

  As I followed Eleanor towards the throne room, I sighed with the knowledge it was definitely not an outfit for fighting or running. It was heavy and cumbersome, and it moved funny, as if it was trying to fight you from inside.

  “You look pretty,” Eleanor said, quietly. It was a small attempt at friend
ly conversation and although she meant well, my heart sank just a little lower.

  The last thing I wanted was to look pretty—and I certainly didn’t want the prince to think I looked pretty.

  “Thank you,” I replied. With so few other people in the castle, I really couldn’t afford to upset her.

  “I hope everything is okay for you today,” she said as we reached the doors of the throne room. “You seem nice.”

  I smiled tightly. She had this way of making me feel entirely worse when she was trying to make me feel better.

  “I’m sure it will all be fine.”

  By magic, the throne room doors opened and Queen Morag sat, just as she had the night before, although her dress was different. Today, she wore black—like a crow. Eleanor didn’t come in this time, and when I turned to say goodbye to her, she had already scampered off.

  “Come in,” Queen Morag commanded. The doors slammed shut behind me. “You look rested, and certainly better dressed than yesterday. Did Eleanor look after you?”

  “Yes. Very well. She was most attentive.”

  “Good.”

  “And you’re not hungry or thirsty or want for any other basic need?”

  I curtsied. “No, your majesty. I thank you for your hospitality.”

  She smiled but it wasn’t warm and it I got the impression smiling wasn’t something she did very often. “It was never my intention to make you suffer. I hope with time, despite your unwilling introduction to our world, you come to consider this your home. I have great hopes for you, Neve. Aside from other more basic needs, my son needs a companion who can meet his intellect and his more creative spirit. He needs someone will make him happy—in all ways. I do not wish for my son to suffer any further horrors.”

  I swallowed hard. I didn’t like the way the conversation was going. I’d had fears and suspicions about the nature of Queen Morag’s gift to her son, but I had hoped I’d been wrong. The thought of being made an involuntary bride to a man I had never met made me feel sick to the stomach. I was so innocent when it came to boys. In all of my seventeen years, I had only been kissed by a boy once, at a house party to celebrate the end of our exams.