Brighid’s Quest

“Home…” She breathed the word aloud and the spirit within her body leaped at the admission. “I’m going home.”

Brighid ignored the vest she had left on the rock beside the waterfall. She felt powerful and beautiful and filled with the passion of purpose. When she reentered the cave Cu stirred, rolled over, and then slowly opened his eyes. Seeing her silhouetted against the predawn sky he smiled and raised himself up on his elbow.

“Standing there all naked and wet you look like you could be one of the fairy folk who slipped away from the Otherworld,” he said, his voice still rough with sleep.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Brighid said, throwing her arms over her head as if she could embrace the day. “This morning I feel so different-like I’m not completely of this world.”

Cuchulai

Brighid met his eyes, looking carefully to see if there was any reticence or withdrawal from her lurking there. Then she smiled, because she saw only Cuchulai

“Do you think people will stop calling me Huntress now?”

“Would that make you sad?” he asked.

“Yes…yes it would. At the core of my being I will always be a Huntress.”

“Then-” he swept his arm in a courtly flourish “-to me you will always be my beautiful Huntress.”

“I hope so, Cu. I really hope so,” she said. When he started to get up she shook her head. “No. Don’t come to me yet. I want you to stay there.”

He tilted his head and studied her. “What are you concocting?”

“I’m-I’m not sure. Just give me a moment.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Huntress,” he said, leaning back on his elbow and taking a pull from their wineskin.

Brighid bowed her head and closed her eyes. Then she reached out with the new senses that had blossomed into life in the grove of the Goddess. Her mind swirled…

Everything was, indeed, ensouled…interrelated…The spirit realm and the physical world were nothing more than points on a flexible branch that could be bent, curved, and rewoven so that the end points of reality and unreality could meet and become the same. Centaur…man…woman…hawk…tree…grassland…they were all spirit-filled and touched by the Goddess. It was a simple thing, really, this shifting of shape and molding of matter…

Brighid raised her head and smiled beatifically at her husband. “I’ll need you to be very quiet. I know I can do this, but I must have your word that you will not fragment my attention.”

Cuchulai

Her look stilled his words.

“Do you believe in me?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Do you desire me?”

“Of course,” he said. Then he nodded. “I understand, my love. You have my oath that I will not fragment your attention.”

She gave him a quick smile of gratitude before turning her attention inward. Help me, Epona, guide me, aid me. I’ve barely tasted my new powers-I feel them, but I have no training…I don’t know… She drew a deep breath. I ca

Suddenly words flooded her mind. The centaur bowed her head and gave words to the magic that was surging through her soul.

I am the wind that blows across the sea;

I am the wave of the deep;

I am the roar of the ocean;

I am the stag of the forest;

I am a hawk on the cliff;

I am a ray of sunlight

and the greenest of plants.

As the tempo and volume of Brighid’s voice increased, she began to lift her arms, holding her palms out, fingers spread wide. She did not shout, but the power within the words was so great that it raised the hair on the back of Cuchulai

Then a shimmering covered her body. She glowed. The brilliance that danced along her skin seemed to be moving, but it wasn’t the light that was moving. It was the Huntress’s skin, rippling and liquefying. Brighid closed her eyes and lifted her arms and head together in time with her words.

I am the wild boar

and the salmon in the river;

I am a lake on the Plain;

I am the word of knowledge

and the point of a spear;

I am the lure beyond the ends of the earth

and I can shift my shape like a Goddess!

As she shouted the last line her body exploded in a shower of light and her wordless shriek of agony echoed off the walls of the cave.

Despite his oath, Brighid’s scream had Cuchulai

“I wish someone had warned me about how much that hurts.” Brighid’s voice sounded raspy.

“By the Goddess! Brighid!” Cuchulai

She peered up at him through a curtain of silver hair. “If you tell me you’re afraid to touch me I can promise you that I’m going to be very upset.”

“Of course I’m not afraid to touch you. I just…” He breathed a curse and closed the space between them. He bent and carefully gripped her arms, helping her to stand. “I just didn’t want to hurt you,” he finally said.

“You’re not going to hurt me.” She glanced down at her body and her eyes widened. “I had no idea how strange this would be.”

He put his arm around her waist. “Maybe you should come over to the pallet and sit down.”

She nodded and stumbled a couple of steps forward. Then stopped and looked down at her legs again. “I’m so small!”

She thought his bark of laughter sounded a little hysterical. “You’re not small-look at you-you’re almost as tall as I am.”

“Wait, let go of me and let me…I mean I need to…” She sighed at his perplexed expression. “Cuchulai

“Oh! Of course,” he said, carefully disentangling one arm from around her waist and the other from under her elbow.

He stepped away from her. She straightened and then looked down at herself again. Her torso was unchanged, but from her waist down she was another being entirely. Her powerful equine body had been exchanged for two long, lean legs. She glanced behind her and had to blink hard to keep from feeling dizzy and disoriented.

“Goddess! There’s nothing back there,” she blurted.

This time the warrior’s laugh sounded more normal. “Of course there is! You have very shapely buttocks.”

She met his eyes. “My shape is attractive to you?”

“Very,” he said. “Not that I don’t think you’re beautiful as a Huntress, too,” he added hastily.

“I already know you find me attractive as a centaur. This body is new to me. Naturally, I would wonder if…”

“You don’t need to wonder, Brighid. You are an exquisite woman. In this light you look like a satin-ski

She saw the desire in his eyes and the knowledge of it started a hot quiver low in her belly. She smiled and let her gaze move back to her body. Carefully she stretched one of her legs forward. Pointing her toes she swung the leg forward from her hip. “Legs…toes…it’s all so ordinary and yet extraordinary.”

“I think it’s completely extraordinary.” His voice raw with emotion. “You did it, Brighid! You mastered that which only a High Shaman can command-the power to shapeshift.”

“We did it,” she said. “If you hadn’t been with me I would never have reached Epona’s grove. And now I need you to help me with something else.”