Free The Witch Within by Iva Kenaz Page A

grateful for finding such a well-established shelter with such a good amount of stored food, goods and property that I would have never been able to find out here on my own.
    Before I make this cave my home, I need to say a proper goodbye to my grandmother.
    I get up woozily and enter the cave again. I walk over to my grandmother’s skeleton and draw a cross over her forehead. Then I ease next to her and allow myself to express the words I have been wishing to tell her, hoping that her spirit hears me out. I finally get to tell her how sorry I have been for ever doubting her. I know I'm aware now that she was someone special. Someone who had a big heart and a very wise soul, someone I wish to be like one day. I tell her about all the memories that I recall so vividly these days. I also let her know how much I wish to learn from her. And for a while I get the disturbing feeling that she is still alive and so I avoid a confrontation with her skeleton, so as not to be struck by the reality of time’s unmerciful passing.
    I bury her under a pile of mud and leaves by the thick wall of blackberries. I place stones on top of it and also create a simple wooden cross to decorate it with. This time I make the cross double, because the plain one reminds me too much of human suffering. And thus the cross becomes a star, an eight pointed star.
    I dread praying, because I still don’t understand to whom I should be praying and so I just send my love to her and hold on to a piece of bone that fell when I was moving her skeleton outside. It’s probably part of her little finger and I have decided to keep it. For some unexplainable reason I feel that it will transmit her strength to me and protect me before we reunite in heaven, or whatever realm exists there beyond our comprehension. And as I tuck the piece of bone into my cleavage, I notice for the first time a large symbol carved into the rock above the entrance. One line dividing into three, resembling a figure with arms spread upwards. Then a word enters my mind:
    Algíz.
     
    *
     
    The cave truly is a wonderful shelter. I have found a lot of hidden supplies, particularly leftovers of seeds and nuts. Some of it has been eaten up by worms and the ones left are hard and old, so I’m guessing that grandmother passed away a few years back. I wonder why. What happened to her? She was still quite young, she must have been ill or was it her spirit that simply decided to leave? I place the decaying wooden door over the entrance to keep myself warm and protected from predators. Then I light up all the candles in the nooks so that I can properly see the other gifts that were left here for me. I find a beautiful red woollen cape and a few more skirts under the pile of skins and fur on the bed. I also find a stock of extra candles and a wonderful collection of quartz stones. There are a few old wrought iron pots by the bed as well as a pile of wooden sticks and branches. Unfortunately, the box that I have found by the stone table remains a mystery to me, because I can’t seem to find the key.
    Now as I shine a light on all the dim corners, I observe the strange shapes and symbols on the ceiling. They are slightly faded, because most probably they were drawn a long time ago. Most of them are incomprehensible to me. They seem to portray some kind of alphabet, but not the sort that I have seen before. I recognise only a few of the symbols - the six and eight pointed stars, the moon and the sun, and then the same symbol that I spotted above the entrance.
    It must all have some meaning, but there is nobody to ask. Also, there is a small round hole in the back of the cave. I wonder if it leads anywhere, but I suppose that even if it does, I could hardly find out. It's way too small.
    As soon as I thoroughly clean up and explore every last bit of the cave, exhaustion overwhelms me. I place new blankets over the stone bed and get rid of the ones on which my grandmother passed away. I shall burn them