Free Moondance of Stonewylde by Kit Berry Page A

There’s no problem at all. You’re not ill.’
    ‘No, I’m fine,’ she whispered. ‘Only tired.’
    ‘Before you go back to sleep, Sylvie, tell me something. What do you like to do at the Moon Fullness?’
    ‘I love to dance at Mooncliffe for Magus.’
    As they clattered down the stairs, Magus turned to Clip.
    ‘You’re a bloody genius, brother.’
    Clip grinned ruefully.
    ‘No, Sol, I’m no genius. Just a good shaman.’

4
     
    A fter the full moon, Magus left Stonewylde with a group of older students. They all stayed in his London residence and were treated to visits to the theatre and galleries, as well as social functions and shopping trips. Magus knew that the Hallfolk were vital to Stonewylde’s economy, and carefully prepared each generation of high-achievers for life in the Outside World. He knew where their loyalty would lie in the future and considered this time spent with them a worthwhile investment.
    Whilst he was gone, June slipped into July and the weather at Stonewylde grew even hotter. The hay harvest continued in earnest and scores of beehives were moved around the estate following the nectar in bean fields, wild flower meadows and grassland clover. The Meadery was inundated with fragrant honey sent in daily.
    The Villagers spent every hour of daylight bringing in the crops as they ripened; day by day all the soft fruits and many vegetables were picked and preserved. The older Village children were pulled out of school and trooped around the estate to help with the harvest. Every evening the Village boys went out with snares, cudgels and slingshots to the warrens on the downs. The ripening crops mustn’t suffer and it was every boy’s duty to cull the rabbits that thrived in their thousands. Nothing was wasted as rabbit meat was a staple for the Villagers, the bones were processed into glue and building materials and the fur made into warm winter covers and linings. Rabbits were an importantharvest at Stonewylde, and despite the boys’ enthusiastic efforts their numbers seemed to remain undiminished.
    This was also the time of year for harvesting the flax, which was grown extensively at Stonewylde and spun and woven into linen. Along with wool and leather, this linen provided most of the Villagers’ clothing and bedding and was also used by the resident Hallfolk. By July the flax was over a metre high and the fields of pale-blue flowers were beautiful. It was a labour intensive crop that couldn’t be harvested in the usual way by cutting, which would damage the fibres. Instead, wearing strong leather gloves, the workers pulled it from the ground by hand. Every Villager young and fit enough was taken from their normal duties for the back-breaking task of pulling the flax. After the flax harvest and retting, all women and girls in the Village were kept busy at home spinning thread for dyeing and weaving into cloth. Most families had their own loom, and men and women shared the weaving when the autumn nights started to draw in.
    The fields given over to cereal were rippling with wheat, corn, barley and oats. The oil seed rape had been harvested and the sunflowers turned their glorious heads to track the blazing sun each day. The hemp had been gathered in and the fibres would be twisted and laid in a rope walk, set up in the Great Barn during the winter months. The smaller, more specialised crops such as woad and madder for dye were all ready for harvest, as were the unusual poppies which contributed to the exotic ingredients in the ceremony cakes. Women gathered in their medicinal herbs too, making tinctures and elixirs in their kitchens.
    The harvesting was co-ordinated by a band of trusted Villagers who organised the farming system at Stonewylde. Magus left the smooth running of the estate entirely to these farm managers and at this time of year they worked from dawn to dusk and often beyond. Magus had long since seen the economic sense in abandoning the old horse-drawn methods of farming,