Free Empty Altars by Judith Post Page A

youth, offers ambrosia to the gods from her magic chalice, the cup’s made from the wood of the rowan.” The trees' white blossoms stood for purity. The red berries that clung to them in the fall were marked, opposite their stems, with tiny five- pointed stars or pentagrams—protection against evil, against dark witchcraft.
    The soles of Diana's feet burned. Energy flowed from the earth into her body. Winds circled her like a tornado.
    "Diana! Stop it!" Freya's voice shook, brittle with rage. It yanked Diana back to her companions, but Freya's fury wasn't directed at her. "Woden and his brothers created the first Norse man from a rowan, the woman from an elm."
    Even Inga looked upset. "In the Underworld, it was a rowan that bent to save Donar from being washed away by the stream's swift current."
    "It's the wood we carve to make our runes." Freya's golden beauty chilled to a wintry pale. Unusual for a goddess of fertility, Diana decided. It made her think of Ceres, the Greek goddess of the corn harvest, who withdrew in the wintry months to mourn for her lost daughter. And Freya's coldness made sense to Diana. Freya was goddess of love and beauty, but she was also goddess of slain warriors.
    They all stared at the ruined grove, each of them offended. It had been trampled. Black magic couldn't harm it. Goddess trees did not fall to spells or chants. A path of snapped-off trees led from the grove to the cliffs that surrounded the hillsides.
    "Giants," Freya seethed.
    "Heathen!" Diana hissed. She walked from one pile of rubble to the next, digging for flattened clumps of leaves beneath the sawdust. There weren't many that survived, but there were a few. "See these? Gather as many as you can." She looked skyward and mumbled words. A flock of ravens flew to her. "My brother's birds," she told Freya. "Look for a flying rowan," she commanded them. "If you find one, bring me twigs."
    "Trees can fly?" Inga gulped.
    Diana shook her head. "They grow on the side of a rocky cliff or in the cleft of another tree, something that seems visually impossible."
    The birds took to the air and didn't return until a pile of leaves filled Diana's basket. Each bird held a living twig in its beak. Freya opened her arms to receive them. "I thank you," Diana told them. "Wish my brother well." And they departed.
    Freya frowned. "What good will these do?"
    "Watch and learn, but we need to plant them before they wither. Which way to the village?"
    The women set off at a fast pace. Inga wore a worried expression, Freya a cold, aloof determination. Diana burned with indignation. "It's sacrilege for a giant to even touch a rowan."
    "Heid sent them. She was afraid you'd use the trees to make a potion." A twig touched Freya's bosom, and the leaves began to wither.
    "Be careful. You're freezing it." Freya's skin must be as chilly as her expression.
    Freya gently moved the twig away. As they neared the second grove of rowans, the one they passed on their way to the village, Freya gasped in dismay. Tears fell and turned to ice crystals on her cold cheeks, sparkling against her skin. Her mouth turned down in a grim line. She looked like an ice queen, regal and dangerous.
    Diana gripped her basket. The beautiful trees were smashed to rubble. Her energy built again, and she fought to control it.
    Inga touched her arm. "Are you all right?"
    "I'm fine, but if Heid's afraid of a few rowans, she's in for a big surprise. She doesn't know what trouble is!" Diana glared at the snapped-off spruce branches that led toward the cliffs. Blast it! She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "Heid and her oafs should have stayed in Giantland, where they belong."
    Inga's eyes went wide. "What are you going to do?"
    "Protect the village."
    When the women reached the log fence that circled the longhouses, the gate opened and Tyr and Jorunda, with Gudrun on his arm, stepped out to join them. Freya, her voice brittle as ice, explained what they'd found.
    Tyr shook his head, too