The Ritual

III

The thuds of the hide drums echo through Brida’s head, forcing her awake. As Brida opens her eyes, her vision is blurred. A linen hood, obscuring her vision, has been placed over her head while asleep.
'What's this?’ her mind began racing, the crone and the warm soup was all she could remember. Brida attempts to remove the hood, but she couldn’t move her hands, no matter how hard she tries. Worry and anguish filled her blood, as the twine rope kept digging into her wrists. Suddenly, the voice of an angel broke through the thuds of the drums, sending shivers down Brida’s spine.
Suddenly, the door was opened hastily, and the silhouette of two large men stepped inside. Brida could not so much as utter a word before one of the men pulled her up from the floor, janking on her hands.
“Let go of me, you asswipe”, Brida uttered and attempted to pull free from the men. Attempting to get the men to let go of her would prove to be pointless, however, Brida would give it her best shot. As she screamed every obscenity known to man and kicked around herself in an attempt to get the mens hands off of her. She kicked the man that was trying to pull her outside, in the knee, startled, he let go of her. Then, as if possessed by a demon, he simply started janking on Bridas' hands again. ‘What are these people’, ‘Are they even people?’. Brida thought to herself as she succumbed to the idea that she would leave the hut.
Outside the tent, the song from the voice gained momentum. Brida couldn’t understand what was being sung, but she understood that it was something meaningful for the people gathered. As she was pulled out of the hut, she could see the faint depiction of a flame lit roadway. Along the sides many, many people all dressed in white. In contrast their faces were decorated with stones, ash from the ground and flowers from the forest. The sound of sheep braying, oinks of pigs and the call of a dove were heard. The roadway led all the way to an altar, an altar in front of The Man in the Tree. That was when it dawned upon her that this whole scene was a ritual, dedicated to The Man in the Tree. And, Brida wasn’t supposed to be a spectator at this ritual, she was the main participant.
The sound of the drums and the voice were deafening, all while Brida’s mind was racing. Away, that was the only thing on Brida’s mind, how could she get away? Brida was brought to the beginning of the hill, the end of which was the altar she now feared. The two men with one hand on each of her shoulders brought her to her knees, and removed the linen hood, which had obscured her vision the whole time. Then as lighting from a clear sky everything stopped, the drums died down and the singing halted. The same woman who Brida had met before stepped upon the altar and began to preach in another tongue than before.
“Via hæfþ þær þā dag for þissum geoffrode on þinum nama”, the woman preached to the spectators who were now cheering the message coming from her lips. Even though Brida could not understand what the woman said, she understood that whatever it was, it was something she did not wish to be part of. Then, thuds of the drums began, this time ten times louder, the roars of the spectators, if possible even louder than before. Bridas eyes swept her surroundings, the spectators screamed, shouted and followed along as if possessed by demons. The hands on her shoulders stiffened, pulling her body off from her knees. ‘Was this the time’?, Brida thought. The two men began pushing her forward, in step with the thuds from the drums.
They brought her in front of a tree at the side of the altar, the leaves were blood red and the tree was leaking sap, more red than blood. As Brida turned around, facing the crowd, the crone and The Man in the Tree, she couldn’t help but feel afraid. She hated this feeling but it was what she felt.
“What are you doing, you waste of space!”, she screamed out, as a long rope sinched her tight against the tree. Much more she couldn’t utter before a wet linen cloth was placed in her mouth. She saw how the men who had previously held her shoulders down moved away. ‘This had to be a nightmare’, she thought and closed her eyes. When she opened them again the animals that she had heard before were on the altar. The members began chanting in unison.
“Cwellan!” They all started to convulse violently and they only got wilder and wilder. The crone held a dagger, a dagger as large as her forearm, and she commanded the first sacrifice in front of her. The dove was placed in front of her, she grabbed its white feathers and held it in her hand. The abrupt squeal of a dove was all that was heard, then the dove was no more. The dagger had slit the throat, with blood covering its snow white feathers dripping down inside a huge wooden bowl. Blood that would now be used by the crone to sacrifice to The Man in the Tree. 
Brida’s eyes felt heavy as she watched the carnage that had taken place right in front of her eyes. The blood red sap from the tree had stuck to her back and the cold sent shivers down her spine. The carcasses of the now dead animals laid at the side of the altar and the bowl was now full with blood. Brida realized that now it would be her turn. The crone grabbed the bowl and stood before Brida. She dipped her hand in the bowl and splattered Brida’s face with the animal blood. Panic struck Brida, as the crone started to speak in the foreign tongue that she had used during the entire ritual. The crone grabbed the blood filled bowl, and stood in front of The Man in the Tree. She emptied the bowls contents at the base of The Man in the Tree. It was as if time stood still as The Man in the Tree absorbed the blood. Suddenly, the sound of a thousand trees growing erupted with a rumbling strong enough to deafen every creature close by. The Man in the Tree grew and grew, but Brida and the crone both knew that he wasn’t satisfied. Dizzy with fear, Brida watched the crone lift the dagger. Brida knew that this would be her final moments in this life. She felt the cold metal pressed against her throat, and that was when all went black.