Page 50 of Prophecy of Gods and Crows

Walking to the first body, she stood over it, unsure of what prayer was to be said. Did she pray to herself? A stressed-out laugh bubbled up at the thought.

They had to have died near town since the bodies were not in a horrible state of decomposition. Were they traders nearby, and the Fomori found them?

A shadow fell over her, and she tilted her head to see Callum looking down at her.

“Allow me?” he asked.

She stood and offered him a pair of gloves, which he took with a puzzled look on his face.

Yeah, he was ten kinds of weird, but she wasn’t going to be the one throwing stones. Nope, that was for the citizens of the city to do, sadly. She wondered if she could protect him from the people. If there was a way to keep him and Danu safe without hiding them away in the Sanctuary.

Moving to take the shoulders of the body, she froze as Callum carefully placed the gloves back on the ground next to Bryn, standing back and looking at the body.

“You have a tight hold on your powers, and they cannot fully return until you release them. There is a block, yet you will not open yourself to it. Why is that, Bryndis Kenneally?”

She’d had the powers for five whole minutes. How was she supposed to know how to “open” herself up to them?

“Not sure about a block. I don’t know how to access these wonderful, brand-new shiny powers because I’ve had them for less than a day. Besides, how would you know?”

Callum lifted a hand toward the body at her feet, and Bryn gasped, stepping back as it started vibrating until it began to levitate.

Bryn turned again to see if anyone was nearby in a panic.

“Stop that! They will burn you alive for this!” she growled, almost tempted to throw herself over the body to hold it down. Callum ignored her, moving the body to the pyre before snapping his fingers and igniting the kindling.

Staring at the flames, she tried to school her expression as she turned back to Callum. There was a brewing terror under her skin from what she had just seen, and if anyone else might have seen it.

Wiping her sweaty palms on her drab-brown skirt, the movement doing nothing since she forgot she wore gloves, she could only stare at Callum as she waited for an explanation.

“I am a Druid, Bryn. I can sense magic, I can hold it in my hands, and I can control it with the elements around me. I also know our history, who we are. Whoyouare. When you are ready to push through the human block you have on both your powers and mind, I would be honored to assist you with the knowledge I have obtained from generations of our people.”

They stared at each other, Callum calmly folding his hands in front of him as Bryn looked him over.

“Seen a lot of shit, huh, Druid?” Her voice wavered on the words, tripping over the curse. Her hands felt numb as she shook out her limbs in a nervous gesture.

Bryn moved to the next body before looking back at Callum, unsure of what to say.

A small smile pulled at his lips.

“Yes, I have been around a long time and, as you say, have seen a lot of...shit.”

“Hurt to say that didn’t it?” She gave a nervous laugh but was beyond relief when Callum assisted her in a more human way, bringing the body to the fire with his hands instead of his magic.

As nice as it would have been for him to just wiggle his fingers and move them with his mind, it was far too dangerous. The pyres were right behind the church, and anyone could walk around and see them at any moment.

Working side by side with the Druid was actually relaxing. He was incredibly quiet, not saying much unless she asked a question, but the silence was a comfortable one. Aside from the words he had said earlier, she did not feel like he was expecting more of her. That he would allow her to come to him in her own time.

It was nice to not be pushed into something or have expectations she was sure she couldn’t meet hanging over her for once.

Placing the second to last body on its own pyre board, Bryn folded their hands over their heart. Her mind going into the prayer she could say without thought, it was so instinctual.

The words... she evaluated them in her own mind while they pushed the board gently into the fire.

May you walk among the kin who’ve crossed before you, sadness at your back and light guiding your path. No pain. No fear. Only the never-ending feast of our ancestors.”

How much of that prayer was something from lifetimes before? Something passed down from the very ancestors Callum spoke of.

“Callum, where do people go when they die?” she asked as she watched the flame take the shell of who the person was, hoping it released their essence in return.

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