The Hedgewitch of Foxhall by Bright Anna

The Hedgewitch of Foxhall by Bright Anna

Author:Bright, Anna
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2024-03-12T00:00:00+00:00


29

Tal

On the Dyke, Powys

Ffion paced beside the ditch. “Tell me again what you saw,” I said. “And slowly, this time.”

Back and forth, back and forth. Her feet were wearing a track in the mud, her freckled, stubby-fingered hands gesticulating as she spoke about the splash, the hollow in the river, the tracks on the bank.

A llamhigyn y dŵr.

“We’ll have to keep our eyes open from now on.” Her voice was avid; she was too excited to smile. “We have to see what else might have emerged, or woken up, or—or come back to life.”

Anxiety zipped up my spine.

I climbed into the wagon, and Ffion took up her cauldron with renewed energy, and on we went. “You do know what sort of damage these creatures can do,” I said.

Ffion gave a snort, which promptly turned into a cough. “Yes, the destruction left in the wake of the water leaper is legend. Woe to the fish and birds in its domain.”

“I don’t mean the llamhigyn y dŵr,” I said irritably. All this focus on what used to be, Angws’s talk of hiraeth, had left me rattled. “Enid, the old hedgewitch—she said herself that the gwiberod used to go after her chickens. I’ve heard bigger dragons would go after cows and sheep. I’ve heard of gwyllgwn destroying cemeteries, gwiberod nesting in orchards and wrecking them—the Cath Palug laid waste to whole fields before it was dealt with—”

“Tal, most of these creatures are only dangerous if you get between them and their young, or if you trouble them during mating season.”

“And what if you do have the bad fortune to run into their whelps or trouble them when they’re—feeling romantic?” I stumbled over the words.

“Feeling romantic.” She rolled her eyes at me, and I felt myself turning red. “The problem is usually with fools who can’t give them space, or who destroy their homes.”

“And then they go wandering into our homes, or our fields, and cause problems. Or even kill people, Ffion.”

“So do bears, sometimes! So do wolves!” Ffion wiped her dripping nose with a handkerchief, eyes incredulous. “I caught Cadno near our own henhouse once. Do you suggest we do away with every animal who has to be approached with care?”

“Can bears and wolves and foxes set towns and woods on fire with their breath?” I shot back. “Anyway, wouldn’t we all be safer without those beasts, too?”

“Is safety the most important thing? Is it more important than beauty, or wonder?” She spoke flippantly, but her expression was serious, and then curious. “Tal, this is what we’ve been working for. What’s changed, that suddenly you’re so worried?”

Nothing had changed. Nothing had changed, except that I’d slipped and said too much.

I was getting too comfortable with Ffion.

I shook my head, searching for a change of subject. “Your cauldron is getting full. What are you gathering all those—did you just pick up a dead beetle?”

She smiled placidly. “I’ve found some excellent patches of mold and lichen growing along the ditch today, too.” From what I could see, she’d also found a large chunk of amber and two tidy-capped mushrooms.



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