Rushing At The Ship's Bell

In the Bog Queen's cave it was aglow, with a

kind of feeling of awe, so Belenus and I just

stayed quiet, a relief after our

disagreements. She was serene and looked wise

beyond words. It was as if she knew what we

were thinking, anyway, and knew why we

had come. For a moment Belenus thought

she was leaning forward to give us the key

to the Dead Man's Chest, which was on our

minds, the reason for the journey, but no.

Once we offered her our surrenders, Belenus,

his reliance on purely intellectual knowledge, and

mine, despair at purely intellectual myths,

she smiled graciously. But she did not say a

word, only the glow became feint, and we found

each of us had a sprig of She Oak in new bloom,

red to be exact, in our possession. This would help

us to transform our fixed opinions, and take in new

information, she told us. Belenus put it carefully

behind one of his long ears, so he wouldn't forget,

like a pencil. I put mine safely in my bag, careful

that it shouldn't spoil, and thought about it, as

the image of the Bog Queen lingered in my mind.

The track back was sandy and meandered up to

the shore where the Calabar was waiting. But we

heard the bell, again, which had been clanging

even while we were in the cave. We were among

the last travellers hurrying back to the boat, and

were greeted with the curious news that the

Captain had mysteriously vanished...

copyright Monika Roleff 2006.