Page 89 of Which Witch Is Wicked?
Tierra quickly filled them in on the brief interaction with their mother that had been comforting yet cryptic. "She warned me, warned us,'Whatever is to come, you must remain as one.'"
"That's heavy," Moira said.
They all digested that and then Moira asked about the wand and crown, "Who did they belong to before?"
"Malcolm de Moray, the last King of the Druids," Tierra answered.
"The Grimoire mentions him."
"We need to find out who Malcolm de Moray was," Aerin said.
"Well, considering the name, and the wordinheritance, I think we can safely assume he was a relative," Claire said.
"This is the weird part." Tierra pointed to the crown. "It's ancient, formed in the Iron Age."
"And how do you know that?" Aerin asked, her tone skeptical.
"I know a few things," Tierra retorted. "Especially historical stuff.
And besides the metal kind of told me." She was an earth witch after all.
"The metal told you?" Aerin paused and thought about it for a second. "Really? That's badass, but come on, the Iron Age? Do you know how much the crown would be worth if it's really from that long ago? Not to mention, how the hell did it get to North America?"
"I know it came from the time period of the Druids," Tierra said.
"You're saying Malcolm de Moray was a relativeandthe last King of the Druids," Aerin pressed. "How is that possible? Besides, if it were even true, there is no way to know that we can trust him. Or that he has anything to do with this. We can't even be certain of the things we see inside the stones until we know for certain who or what they come from."
"I didn't imagine any of this. I know it, and our mother told me."
"Yeah, well..."
"You were there that night, Aerin, you saw her, too," Claire said. "Why don't you think the relics are from the Druids?"
"Because it doesn't make sense that those things would be given to Tierra from a Druid who lived over a thousand years ago. How did they gethere?"
"There's an awful lot of folk tales and such about Standing Stones,"
Moira said. "Many believe they are portals."
"To another place?" Claire gasped.
"Possibly to another time," Tierra said gravely. "Malcolm de Moray's name and image is in the Grimoire, so are pictures of the crown and staff. I can't remember exactly what was written, and I know this sounds crazy, but until this mess is over, crazy is where we're setting up camp. When I touched the wand, I saw the staff that Malcolm had whittled into four wands. This one is mine. There are three others out there and they are yours. We have to find them."
"Well, hot damn." Moira sat back in amazement. "I sure wouldn't mind having one of those. What's it do? And why do you get the crown?"
"I have no idea what the wand does yet, but the crown is mine."
"If it's an inheritance," Moira said, "technically it would belong to all of us."
"The crown belongs to the next earth Druid, and I think that's me. The second I put the crown on, I could talk to the beasts of the forest. Something powerful earth witches have been reported to do, but I hadn't until now. I don't believe it's a source of power, more of a tool for knowledge."
"Let me see that." Moira picked up the crown and put it on. She waited a few heartbeats. "Yeah, I got nothing. Damn, that's heavy." She handed it to Aerin. "Here, you try it."
Aerin tried it on, shrugged when nothing happened, and gave it to Claire who shook her head. "Golden antlers really aren't my thing. I believe its Tierra's. I seem to recall pictures of a Mother Earth, and she was all decked out in garb like this."
"Wasn't that a shampoo commercial a long time ago?" Aerin asked.
"They had to get the image from somewhere," Claire said. "It would make sense that this thing belongs to Tierra. But I sure as hell want my own wand."
