There and back again, a journey to love.

Chapter 3 - When all things come together.

    Auriel slept late the morning after her night's toil, and set herself to reading the many parchments and other writings she had found (courtesy of a small brown mouse), in a corner of the great Library, placed there by her mother Morgana. She ate and drank sparingly, not wanting to waste the hours of daylight in preparing food and drink for herself. Most of the papers she cast aside with a curse and she was drawn further into the pile of scrolls, looking for some familiar sign to indicate that she had found what she was seeking, something that would allow her to complete her knowledge and embark on her passage through time. But it was all to no avail and she went to her bed frustrated at her lack of success.

    The morning after, when she had breakfasted on wild berries and goat's milk, she spent the remainder of the day replenishing her herbal stocks and other supplies. She then worked into the night making salve, potions and other healing preparations to sell in the Marketplace of Little Haven, a village far outside the influence and malevolence of the Great Castle of Camelot. It was a place where she could set out her wares and sell them in anonymity, for coin was always required with which to bribe and cajole.

    Market day was two days hence and she would need to cover the three miles on foot, as she had no mount of her own. In the days between, she spent her waking hours still searching through the many papers which by now were spread far and wide on the floor of her dwelling deep in the forest. She thought that she could summon the spell, even with her partial knowledge, but without the full written detail of it, she would not have the ability to control her headlong flight into the future with any great precision.

    Was it even possible that she could steal a man from a time so far distant from her own and enlist his aid. One who could never betray her, for who would believe any tale he told upon his return to his own time? Wild tales of witches and mysterious quests through the ages? He would be branded a madman. No, if he should ever return safely home, which was unlikely, given that his eventual fate was in her hands, she knew he would remain silent lest he be ridiculed by his contemporaries, or, even worse, burned at the stake for his delusions.

    Secondly, she would have to convince such a man to help her overcome whatever physical or magical impediments might still be in place around the Artefact. Ailneth doubtless would have ensured that the precious thing entrusted to her was well concealed, deep in the ground and protected by whatever magic she could conjure up as death came to claim her. Auriel knew that the task ahead was complex but not insurmountable and she hoped the magical gifts inherited from her mother would be enough to ensure the safety of both the man and herself.

    The day was coming when she would have to face all these perils, real or imagined and she would need the strength of a man by her side. She would offer inducements, have him bend to her will and together they would retrieve the Artefact, then upon their return, when she was certain she was with child, she would end his life. Regrettable, but necessary.

    She longed to begin her journey, but she must be patient, all must be as it should be and it was a full three weeks to the next full moon, this being the most auspicious time for her journey. She had already prepared the potion which would render her prospective captive immobile and another which would make him weightless for the journey back to her time. She knew not in which kingdom or century she would arrive, these were things still to be refined within the spell and she needed a confederate without any knowledge of her time, a blank page on which to impose her will.

    She wondered what he would be like, (secretly hoping he would not be unattractive), but then reasoned that even those with a mercenary heart could be pleasing to the eye. Would he have a fine strong body, would he be a considerate lover, would he even be willing? When he opened his eyes and found himself so far from his own time, would he be angry and refuse to help her? Would he believe the tales she told him and would he even want to carry out the task required of him? Would her inducements, both sexual and pecuniary, be sufficient for him to abandon any scruples he might have? She could only hope.

    She prayed that he would have the courage required or her dreams would turn to ashes. He would need to be a man without conscience or fear, to steal away the Artefact from its sacred location, high in the Welsh hills and Auriel also knew that her purity alone was insufficient to guarantee their safety from any form of defensive spell that may still be effective. The man, aided though he was by any magic she could conjure up, would need all of his strength if they were to win the day and return home unharmed.

    At long last, after many days of frantic searching, she found that which she sought, another copy of the spell, marvellous in its entirety, lying safely within the cache of scrolls that her mother had hidden. It was written on the back of a recipe for suckling pig and she had smiled as she read it, almost smelling the crackling for which her mothers kitchen had been famous. She read that the final element for the enchantment was quicksilver, liquid starlight, sought by many and seldom found, but she had in her possession a small jar of it, held in reserve for she knew not what, but she had it! It was time to begin the great journey!

    That night found her, as the moon rose, mixing the individual elements of the Time Spinning spell in the small Marble Crucible, once used by Merlin and stolen on a prior visit to the great Library. Pennywort, Maidenhair fern, Celandine, Rose Hips and Mares-tail were added to the basin. Separately she mixed Adder Venom to Toad Spawn, Belladonna, Lark's Tongue and lastly, three drops of her own virgin blood. Then, at the time of departure, three weeks hence when the moon was full, all would come together, with quicksilver as the catalyst.

    The days lingered long and she grew impatient. She had stuck to her usual routine so as not to arouse suspicion, for all were watched in these times, and Uther's reach was long. She continued to walk the six miles to and from Little Haven Market each week, to sell her medicines, love philtres and cure alls, returning after sunset to the safety of her bower, deep amongst the trees.