Open Writing

The Lady Of The Wood

“We need to do something about that sister of yours,” said Woodward.

Skye said,“Our father spoilt her rotten. I was placed with a witch and her family at York. Father said his new daughter would be a lady. He named her Lady and sent her to Egypt to learn her manners at the court of the Pharaoh.

“Her proper name is Lady. I got Skye, from our Mum, who had been visiting her nephew in Scotland shortly before I was conceived.”

“I had to learn how to use the various trees to make a fire or prepare potions from leaves. I had to milk a little cow, which splayed my knuckles.”

Skye showed her hands to Woodward, who noticed they were wider and stronger than he had thought.

“Lady was given a Hittite witch as a personal tutor and body guard. The witch was full of dark secrets. She showed Lady how to make all sorts of poisons, how to make beer, and how to use fragrances and charms which made her irresistible. She could make nibbling a piece of bread look amazingly sexy,” said Skye.

“How’d she do that?” said Woodward.

“You break off a small piece with the fingers of your right hand, then place it on your tongue without allowing your fingers to touch either your lips or any part of your mouth. Very dainty and ladylike. I always had red hands and smelled of wood smoke. Father didn’t want that for Lady.”

“What happened to your father?”

“He was a sucker for lost causes and fell at Hastings from a stray arrow – caught him in his heart and he died very quickly.”

“What was he doing at Hastings?”

“He was helping a kinsman, Eric Bloodaxe, the last Viking king of York, who was bonded to the Saxon leader, Harold.”

Woodward said “Harold was unlucky by all accounts. Did you ever meet him?”

“I did. No finer man ever sat a horse. He was a great leader. Unfortunately, Hastings was his time and he had to go.”

They both looked pensively at their glasses of wine.

“You have turned out to be a beautiful person,” said Woodward. “You’re beautiful inside as well as outside.”

Skye beamed at him. “Do you really think so?”

“Positive,” he said. “You’ve got character, wit, personality and an excellent sense of justice.”

Skye smiled at him and squeezed his hand.

“What brought you to Australia?” Woodward said.

“I had a property on a river in a small town North of York. One of my men was caught poaching on the lands of a guy who called himself the lord of the manor, and was also the local magistrate.

“He sentenced my man to seven years transportation to the Swan colony. My farm hand was married, with three children to feed.

“Before they led him away in chains, his wife and children came to me and wept.
The poor woman was distraught.

“So we all went to the West, Down Under, including my sister. In those days it was a wonderland of wildflowers. Each little dell was a mini paradise. We loved it. Wonderful climate.”

“How on earth did you all manage?” said Woodward.

“I started off collecting sandal wood for the temples in Singapore and China. I organized a remittance for the convict, who had a knack of divining water and sinking wells and set him up on a property south of the river breeding horses for the Indian Army’s cavalry.

“I made friends with an Aboriginal lady and she gave me an entirely different kind of education. How to stimulate milk flow during drought, how to make a soap from leaves, which plants were deadly poisonous, and how to make bread from the root of a reed which grew profusely along the river.

“She also showed me how to catch a freshwater lobster with a snare – the cutest little trick I ever learnt.”

“Not quite the court of the Pharaoh, was it“said Woodward.

“My sister and I should have been excellent friends. We have so much in common. She seems to think we didn’t love her and I suspect she missed us all terribly in Egypt. The clue to this was her willingness to come with us to the Swan settlement.”

“You need to talk to Lady. You can’t have her handing out these love potions to unscrupulous creatures like that female dragon who ensorcelled Bart.”

“I totally agree. Lady might not have known its intention, on the other hand.”

“We should go and see her, and take Sapphire and Bart with us.”

“Is that really necessary?”

“Skye, my pet, you have to address issues, not duck them. We’ll go and see her and reach out to her. You don’t have any other sisters and nothing’s forever.”

Skye raised her eyebrows and swallowed. “If you say so, my pet.”

Woodward patted her hand. “I’ll take her a jar of my quandong jam.”

Sapphire, who had listened carefully, to her friends’ plans, said “I can give her two dragon scales, one from me and one from Bart, which I put aside before our transformation. These are brilliant things to use in spells. They produce a very superior result.”

They all nodded consent, and Skye went off to her kitchen to make them a cup of tea.