Free Ashes Under Uricon (The Change Book 1) by David Kearns Page B

head was filled with questions, but I had no idea what to do with them. Should I ask Eluned? She sat beside me. “You are filled with much wonder, my lady. Are you not?”

    “I’m not sure about wonder. More like worry. What was all that discussion in there about? Why am I in danger? I’m really, really beginning to dislike it here. The strange ritual with breakfast. The fact that you do everything for me. I think we should just go. Move on. Find somewhere else to hide. If the Guards find us here we will be punished.”

    As I ranted on, Eluned sat very still, looking at me.

    “And stop looking at me like that,” I exploded. “It gives me the shivers.”

    She put her hand on mine. “‘She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.’ I am blessed that you are here, my lady. I am not worthy of such gifts.”

    It was my turn to stare at her. She spoke in such an odd way. I wasn’t sure, but she seemed to be quoting the Bible all the time. “Why do you speak like that, Eluned?”

    “The word of the Domina speaks through me, my lady. I am only her vessel.”

    I had heard that word ‘Domina’ when they had spoken DogLat before breakfast. I knew it meant ‘Lady’. But what Lady was she talking about? “Who is the Domina?” I asked. “Is it Mererid?”

    She laughed gently. “Domina is everywhere. And she is nowhere. She is in the air and in the earth.”

    “I don’t understand,” I said, shaking my head.

    She looked up to the ceiling. “‘Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain her; how much less this house that we have builded.’”

    She was quoting again. “Do you know the whole of the Bible?” I said.

    “What is the Bible?” she said, turning to face me once again.

    I spluttered. I was sure that she had been saying things taken from the Bible, and now she was asking me what it was? “The Bible is the book. There is no other. It was given to The Apostles. We must all read, learn and understand it. How can you ask such a question?”

    “You speak strangely, my lady. We must begin your lessons. Are you ready?” She smiled.

    “Ready for what? What lessons can I possibly learn from you? You don’t even know what the Bible is. There are no other lessons.”

    She got up from her seat and went over to the cupboard. She pulled out a drawer at the bottom of it and took out a book. She brought this to the table and laid it in front of me. “You see,” I said, “this is the Bible.” I opened it. The first page was covered in writing that was neither DogLat nor ClassLat. I could make nothing of it. I closed the book. “Is this some sort of trick? This is the sort of thing that Taid is always doing to me. We know that there is no other book than the Bible, and all other books were destroyed on the orders of The Apostles. To be found with a forbidden book is a major crime. You can’t ask me to look at this. Put it away. Better still, destroy it. Taid already has one forbidden book. That Welsh book he said was the Bible, but I know it can’t possibly be.”

    Eluned moved the book so that it lay in front of her. She opened it and began to read:

    Math fab Mathonwy oedd arglwydd Gwynedd a Phryderi mab Pwyll oedd arglwydd ar un cantref ar ugain yn y De. A’r rheini oedd saith cantref Dyfed, saith Morgannwg, pedwar Ceredigion a thri Ystrad Tywi. Ac yn yr amser hynny ni fyddai Math fyw os na fyddai ei draed yng nghroth morwyn, heblaw pan rwystrwyd ef gan gynnwrf rhyfel. A’r forwyn ag oedd gydag ef yr adeg hynny oedd Goewin merch Pebin o Ddôl Pebin yn Arfon.

    I put my hand over the page she was reading. “Stop it! Stop it! You can’t do this. Do you know how dangerous it is to do this? They are always listening. Mererid was doing it at breakfast. Do you people not know that the Guards are always listening to us?”

    She closed the book. “This is your first lesson, my lady. When you are ready, I have the honour of