Witch from the Sea

So my father lived—not the same man. How could he be? He who had been so active would never walk again. This was retribution. The Devil’s Teeth which he had used as his murder weapon on so many were turned against him. And the punishment he must suffer must be greater than death, for he was not a man lightly to endure inactivity.

Fe

We did not speak. We just looked at each other and then he put his arms round me and I knew that we should never leave each other again.

It was the next morning when we found my stepmother’s cloak on the shore. It was in that very spot where my mother had discovered her. There was nothing else but her cloak.

The inference was that she had walked into the sea.

There was a great deal of talk in the castle. The servants whispered together. Change was everywhere. The master had been struck by avenging providence. He would never stalk through the castle again. And the mistress had gone, the way she had come.

They had always known she was a witch.

Fe

My stepmother had gone; my father was crippled. It was a stricken house; but the danger had disappeared.

Senara came to my room, her eyes wild. “Everything has changed, so quickly,” she said. “You’ve got your Fe

“You may laugh at us, Senara, but we shall be happy.”

“And what of me?”

“Let us hope that you too …”

“Dickon is going to Holland. Shall I be happy without him?”

“When we are married,” I said, “I shall live at Trystan Priory. You must come there too. I don’t think you’ll be happy here in the castle.”

“Would you have me there weaving my spells?”

“Have done with such talk.”

“My mother has gone now.”

“She had to. She killed my mother and would have killed me but I discovered in time.”

“What do you think happened to her?”

“I think she walked into the sea.”

Senara laughed aloud. “Oh Tamsyn, you don’t change. Full of remorse, do you think she was?”

“No, she found the position untenable. She was betrayed as a murderess and my father a cripple for the rest of his life. The weight of her sins must have been heavy.”

“Never. I knew her well, Tamsyn, better than you ever could. She came of a noble Spanish family. She was travelling in the ship with her husband, my father, when it was caught on the Devil’s Teeth. She never forgave that. She told me much. She came here and determined to destroy the household which had changed her life. She ensnared your father. They were lovers from the first. He never tired of her. She left soon after I was born and he bought a house for her some miles from here in the heart of a wood. He used to visit her and there she wove her spells. Then she came back and she sent your mother away so that she could marry your father. And she did. But she was tired of the life. She remembered Spain and the hot sun and the flowers and the gracious ma

“Is this truly so, or is it one of your dreams?”

“It is a good story, is it not? You will find that Lord Cartonel has disappeared too. He is a spy for the Spaniards, I doubt not. You will never see either of them again.”

“Can she leave you, her daughter, and never see you again?”

“Quite easily. She left me before, did she not? She did not want children. They do not fit into her scheme of things.” She shrugged her shoulders. “It is hard for you to understand … you with your mother and your kind grandmother. We were different. She was a witch in her way as I am in mine. We are not like ordinary folk.”

“Senara, once again I must ask you not to talk so. It is dangerous.”

“Life is dangerous, Tamsyn. Even you should have learned that by now. When you are married to your Fe

She was right of course, but whatever life held for me I was ready to face it with Fe

Melanie wanted me to marry soon although I had said I would stay awhile and help her nurse my father. But she would not hear of it. He was bewildered and could not believe that this had happened to him, to Colum Casvellyn, the man who had always had his own way. Oddly enough Melanie was the one who could soothe him best. It was a remarkable discovery that there was such power in this quiet girl. My brother Co

It was evening and the light was fading fast. Senara was with me in my bedchamber and as we talked I suddenly saw from my window that lights were approaching. It was a party of people, carrying torches, who were wending their way up the slope towards the castle.

I listened to their chanting voices and what they said sent a cold shiver down my spine.

“Give us the witch.”

Senara stood beside me, her eyes dilated.

“They are intent on murder,” she said, “and they are coming for my mother.”

“Thank God she has gone.”

“Yes, she has cheated them.”

The torches were now lighting up the scene; the chanting voices were growing louder.

Merry came ru

“They’ve come for the witch,” she said, “the witch from the sea.”

“Don’t they know she has gone?” I asked.

“They know, but …” Merry was looking fearfully at Senara. “If they can’t have the witch from the sea they’ll take her daughter. Oh God help us all. They wouldn’t have dared if the master had been himself. But now he be nothing but a wreck broken on the Devil’s Teeth and there be none to stop ’em.”

They had always wanted the witch from the sea. They had watched her and blamed her for their ill fortune. They believed she had bewitched my father but they feared him so much that when he was there to protect her they dared do nothing.

“They will find me, Tamsyn,” said Senara. “They will tie me to a stake and burn me alive. Or they will hang me from a gibbet. Poor Dickon, his heart will break.”

Co

“The mob is at the gate,” he said. “They are calling for the witch.”

“She’s gone.”

He was looking at Senara. “They’re greedy for blood,” he said. “You must get away. You must never come back here. You’ll never be safe. I’ll hold them at bay. I’ll show them who is the master here.”

It might have been my father speaking. I turned to Senara and said: “We’ll go out through the Seaward Tower. They won’t be round that side of the castle. We’ll take two donkeys.”

“Where?” asked Co

“To Leyden Hall,” I answered. “They’ll hide her there until she leaves for Holland.”

“Go quickly,” said Co

And we went out. The night airs cooled our burning faces as we rode away.

I saw the exultation in Senara’s eyes and I knew it was because she was going to Dickon.