Free Witchfall by Victoria Lamb

a few spells when I was a child . . . Just to heal my grandfather when he was sick, and once so my older sister would bear a son instead of a daughter. I would never tell anyone such secrets. You can trust me.’
    ‘I am glad to hear it.’
    ‘You must forgive me though, for I do not wish to stay tosee whatever it is you and the Lady Elizabeth are doing,’ Alice muttered uneasily. She looked at the array of strange implements I had gathered, the open book with its crabbed lettering. ‘We could hang for this. It looks like black magick.’
    ‘Then go,’ I told her. ‘It makes no odds whether you stay or go. You are not needed here.’
    I glanced at the Lady Elizabeth for confirmation that Alice could leave. But her ladyship was too absorbed to have noticed our whispered discussion, bent over a locket which I guessed must contain a miniature portrait of her mother. I smiled at Alice and gestured her towards the door. I bore her no ill will for wishing to be absent during this ritual; I did not wish to be here myself, though a certain curiosity drove me to see how much power I truly possessed.
    ‘But at least watch the door for us, would you?’ I asked as Alice left. ‘If we are interrupted, stamp your foot three times as a warning to clear the circle.’
    Alice nodded, curtseyed to her ladyship and hurriedly withdrew. She had a stout heart, I had to give her that. It was clear she disapproved of this summoning. Yet now she was in the Lady Elizabeth’s service, her loyalty lay with the princess, and I had no fear she would betray us.
    I turned to the princess. ‘You will need to come into the circle too,’ I told her, lighting the candle that stood in the centre. ‘There is no other way.’
    Elizabeth nodded and slipped out of bed, throwing a shawl about her shoulders against the night air.
    ‘Bring the locket,’ I said, noticing its silver chain still lying on the covers. ‘It bears a portrait of your mother, doesn’t it?’
    Nodding, Elizabeth fetched the locket.
    I pointed to the cushion I had positioned safely within the circle. ‘Sit there, my lady, and place the opened locket in front of you. That’s it.’
    She put down the locket and settled herself cross-legged, staring up at me, wide-eyed. Her face had lost its colour now, as though she had finally grasped the dangerousness of the spell I was about to perform. Yet she made no move to stop me.
    I tilted the lit candle until the tallow began to drip, then walked around the edge of my circle, dripping hot tallow among the rushes and whispering in Latin beneath my breath, ‘
Claudite, claudite contra malum
,’ meaning ‘close the door to evil’.
    I knew the charm against evil would not hold, not without better preparation. But I hoped an additional barrier of tallow would ward off any malevolent influences until the ritual was over.
    I turned to the princess, the black cloth dangling from my hand. ‘My lady,’ I said haltingly, ‘this spell calls for the summoner to be blindfolded. This will make it easier for you to reach out to those who have died and are in darkness.’
    But she did not explode with temper as I had expected. Instead, Elizabeth stared at the black cloth and shuddered. ‘Ablindfold? That is what my mother would have worn to her execution.’
    ‘Forgive me,’ I muttered, and tied it about her head, giving the black cloth one last tug to make sure the knot was secure and her eyes were completely covered.
    I knelt opposite the princess and held out a small green sprig of rosemary to the candle, watching as it caught light and began to burn, its sweet fragrance swirling in the smoke above us.
    ‘If you have any memories of Queen Anne, call them to mind now and let them fill you,’ I murmured, lowering my gaze to the candle flame. It beat steadily against the darkness, casting its soft yellowish glow about the circle. ‘When you are ready, stretch out your hands towards the locket and call your mother to you. Whatever happens