Dangerous Women Part 59

She winced, and so did the oenach. All the raised hands were of the eoghann and a sprinkling went up in the children's section.

Brian's red face went white and his arm went around Rebekah. Their thirteen-year-old daughter's hand was waving in the air. Juniper counted.

"Failure to properly address the issue has left your children vulnerable to a rapist. And he took advantage of your carelessness. Nine eoghann and three children have been molested, physically or verbally.

"Before I proceed, Dun Carson oenach, your Ollam have failed you. Do you wish to vote in a new Ollam?"

The oenach seethed as people turned and spoke with each other. Cynthia and Ray stood close to their mother, all three crying. Rebekah and Brian had opened their arms for Sara, who came running to them, tears flying off her cheeks.

"You told Debbie to not make too many waves or provoke him ..."

Eilir turned with her pen poised and her face grim.

What a can of worms, oh mother-mine. Juniper nodded. I keep thinking we've understood the Change and all the little Changes. But it keeps biting us in the b.u.t.t.

A man stood up, looking around at the rest of the oenach and twisting his cap in his hands. Nods and encouraging hand waves pushed him forward: "I'm Josh Heathrow. I kind'a called myself a pagan before the Change. Accepting the G.o.ddess was easy for me; but I haven't really wanted to go for the full priesthood. Still, the oenach asked me to speak for all of them. And the bottom line is, we don't think any of us could have done better. And it sucks to kick somebody out to starve ... or get taken by Eaters ... and that's what it would be. But ... things have changed. We've got to work with that, and it isn't easy getting our heads around it.

"Once something physical actually happened, Brian did something about it; quick too. I guess we all feel that this is one of those lessons and we need to make real sure we don't do it again. But, n.o.body seems to want the Carsons booted out. They're all good folk and pretty conscientious, and this was their land, for generations. Uh, maybe the fields, you know, wouldn't like it if we changed that."

He looked around and abruptly sat again. Juniper had been scanning the faces as he spoke.

"There is consensus, then?" she asked.

"Aye!"

"Very well. Brian, you and Rebekah will have to come to the Hall. I expect that I will come here, as well. We'll take time to examine different situations and possible strategies. Sharon, Cynthia, and Ray will spend extra hours with Judy, reviewing their soon-to-be responsibilities.

"Having done that, I p.r.o.nounce the sentence."

"Hey! Wait! I ain't been found guilty yet ... or convicted!"

Peer's eyes bulged with the sudden terror of illusions pierced at last.

"Didn't you hear me tell you I was not brought to judge your guilt? I am here to p.r.o.nounce your doom."

Billy Bob started up, screaming obscenities and denials, and Sam forced the gag back in his mouth. A swift kick to the back of the leg put him on his knees, whooping air in and out through his nose, and the armsman gripped him by a handful of hair.

Juniper stood and raised her staff again: "Hear the word of the Ollam Brithem of Clan Mackenzie!"

Silence fell, except for the s...o...b..ring panting of the gagged man and the far-off nicker of a horse: "Dun Carson will accept two trained priestesses and a priest into the Dun to help those wounded in their hearts by this man's deeds. These will not be members of the Dun, but will work, as we all do.

"Debbie has six months to decide if she wishes to stay with Dun Carson, join another Dun, or lead a group north to reclaim her land near Lebanon, becoming an Ollam chief in her turn. Should she leave Dun Carson, Dun Carson shall dower her with goods equivalent to her hard work as set forward by Brian Carson in this sheet. Dun Juniper will give her support against the amount her surrender of the t.i.tle to the acres in Silverton has given the Clan. Dun Carson will add a weregeld of an extra one-fifth for allowing her to suffer s.e.xual hara.s.sment for four months, and will make formal apology."

Juniper stood and took the spear from Chuck. She pointed it at the p.r.o.ne body of Billy Bob, and the light flashed off it, flickering in the graven Ogham characters.

"This man is a mad dog. He attacks the young, and destroys the reputation of his victims as well as their honor and integrity. Expelling him will not protect us from him. He could return at any moment, hide and attack us and ours by stealth, knowing our defenses. Or he would find and prey on others. We must remove him from the circle of the world, for we are responsible. We found him in our nest, on our land, despoiling our people. Last night I and my advisors discussed the possible permutations. We have established a ritual and will deliver death through it. Let the Guardians of the Northern Gate judge him; let him make amends and come to know himself in the Land of Summer.

"Death is a dread thing and all of us have found ourselves over the past year confronted by death and the fear of death. I killed a man scant hours after the Change, saving another. But we must not let ourselves become calloused by it, nor shut it away and out of our minds. And so Dun Carson will carry out the sentence. We will not hide from ourselves what we have decided to do, nor let another bear the burden."

Billy kicked and tried to spasm himself upright. His scream was blurred, but he struggled until the hair began to tear out by the roots.

Sam thoughtfully backheeled him in the stomach. "Oi'd give it a rest, if Oi was you, mate. It'll hurt more, else."

Chuck lifted up a pot.

"There are fifty-three marbles in this urn. Six green ones, four red ones, a black one, and forty-two blue ones. Each adult will take a marble. The six people who pick a green marble will dig the grave, six feet down, by six feet long by three feet wide."

He pointed to the unoccupied northeastern corner of the crossroads, where three shovels stood driven into the sod.

"The four red marbles are for the four people who will escort him to his place of execution and hold him there. The black marble is for the executioner. Everybody over sixteen will witness. Parents may allow children from fourteen to sixteen to be present.

"The youngsters are to return to the Dun, out of the sight and sound of the execution."

Billy Bob's body bucked, thras.h.i.+ng. A stink suddenly filled the air as his bowels loosed and he fainted. Judy gestured forward some of the witnesses from the other Duns. They stripped the unconscious man, wiped him down with rags, and put an old polyester bathrobe on him, grimacing in distaste.

Sam Aylward snorted. "Oi'd have made 'im dig it 'isself," he observed mildly.

The pot pa.s.sed around the oenach; some s.n.a.t.c.hed at the marbles, some hesitated, some held theirs up, and others looked at it in their palm before opening their fingers. One or two sobbed with relief when their marble was blue. Gradually six people walked over to the shovels and began to lay out the grave and dig, using tarps to heap up the soil. Four people, three men and a woman, came to stand over the p.r.o.ne man. Then a sound burst across the pavilion and a woman Juniper did not know walked up to the man and opened her hand. The black marble fell on his s.h.i.+rt.

"Fitting," said Brian. "She's been trying to make us do something about the man. And threatening to do it herself."

Juniper grimaced. "Well, unless she's a stone-cold killer, she's going to learn precisely the lesson I want to teach the entire Dun and the moiety of Clan Mackenzie, about paying and punishment."

"Lady," said Brian. "Sarah's only thirteen, but she wants to stay ... and Rebekah and I think she should."

Juniper was reaching for Rudy, s.h.i.+fting her blouse and plaid so that she could nurse the cranky baby. She hesitated, focused on getting Rudy latched on; not that that generally took much, but she usually didn't nurse him under a shawl.

What are we going to do when nursing bras fall apart? Stays ... ugh!

As Rudy began to feed she met Sarah's eyes. "Why?" she asked simply.

The girl looked ready to cry and angry at the same time. "He ... he threatened to kill me. Said ... well, said he'd killed Bunny FooFoo and he'd do me just like that."

The girl looked sick and Juniper had to force herself to lift a brow at Brian. The heavyset man shook his head gloomily.

"You know, Lady. I wasn't one for your religion. But it seems like I've got an almighty clout upside the head for being careless.

"Yeah, the rabbit was killed. I tried to tell her it was a coyote, but even I didn't believe it and for sure she didn't; but she didn't fight me on it. And we really needed the rabbit; it was a French Angora and we were hoping to start a specialty wool stock with it. Sarah's trying to breed back the traits from the kits, but it'd be a lot easier if the male was still here.

"I'm babbling. Sara needs to see he really does die. And I do too. I just wish he could die ten times."

Juniper shook her head, rocking the baby. "It's easy and normal for you to feel you are punis.h.i.+ng him. And warning others about it. But it doesn't work that way. Think of it as culling the herd. This is a protective measure and we're going to make it pretty much as quick as possible."

She s.h.i.+fted the baby to the other breast and looked at Sara. "I don't want you to watch. I understand why you do, but I don't think it is healthy."

She looked at Brian and then Rebekah.

"Do you have a better reason for her watching? There's going to be no doubt that he's dead."

Brian shook his head and hesitated. "You know, Lady. It says in the Bible, the wages of sin is death. But it's been a long, long time since we really meant those words. We all focus on the living gift of G.o.d. How many people are going to try to live by sacred works, like you Mackenzies do ... and what's it going to mean to justice?"

Chuck was standing by them and he shook his head. "If you think we had true, pure, unadulterated justice in the old world ..."

"No," said Rebekah. "It was flawed, and people got off scot-free ... and we nearly let this man get off scot-free. But that doesn't mean that the old ways were any better. The law was cruel and harsh. Did it really need to be?"

She shook her head and then looked at her daughter. "Is that it? You're afraid we'll let him get off, like they let that teacher go free after Melly complained about him?"

Sara nodded, tears in her eyes. The four adults shook their heads. Rebekah turned her daughter to the group of children.

"Go. He is going to die. And if he escapes, in that ratty tatty bathrobe of your uncle's, I promise to tell you."

Sara resisted and then moved back towards the group of younger people. Rebekah was frowning and started when Brian placed a hand on her shoulder.

"What is it, love?" he asked.

She shook her head. "A thought. One we need to talk over, later."

The grave-diggers climbed out of the pit and pulled the ladder after themselves, wiping brows; one stopped and looked at the sweat on his palm, as if shocked that it was the same as any other work. The rest crowded together around the hole, far enough back that they didn't break down the fragile walls. The escorts slapped Billy Bob awake and heaved him up. He struggled, but the four held him tightly.

He was struggling too hard for them to get him down into the cool, loamy recess. Juniper walked forward to stand at the north end of the grave. When the escorts looked to her for ideas on what to do, she spread her hands.

"This is the burden the Powers have chosen for you, my friends," she said quietly, her voice cutting through the strangled grunts. "And it is yours."

They held him in the center and looked at each other. One gestured the ladder to be placed at the far end. The woman and one of the men let go and climbed down. With shocking suddenness the two men grabbed Peers by the arms and legs, swung him over the grave, and let his feet go. He dropped and the two down below grabbed him and shoved him down onto the ground; it was moist and brown-gray, with an earthworm crawling from a clod. The scent rose from the dark earth, loamy and rich. There was a sense of rightness to it.

Ropes and stakes bound his feet and arms and shoulders to the ground.

"Lady? Do we take off the gag?" asked one of them, just as Judy came bustling up with the soiled ground cloth, clothes, and rags.

"Ask him. And ask yourselves. Do you care if he goes silenced to his death, or would you rather hear his last screams? What are you willing to live with?"

They climbed out, all but one. "Well?" he asked. Juniper stood, her arms aching from holding the hefty weight of the nine-month-old ... and refusing to give him back to Melissa. The oenach murmured and s.h.i.+fted, whispered and rustled.

Josh Heathrow stepped forward again, carefully on the verge. He looked down and asked.

"What do you want? Gag out before you are killed or shall we leave it in?"

Juniper heard a thump. The man on the ladder gave an impatient exclamation and jumped down. "He wants it out, but it's clear he's going to be ugly about it," he called up.

"No cla.s.s," said Chuck in a regretful sotto voice. "Nothing like the grand old tradition of English highwaymen proudly declaiming their prowess on the gibbets."

Juniper sighed and gently kicked him on the s.h.i.+n. Josh was consulting with the oenach and Ollam again.

Finally he leaned over. "We don't need his curses, and we don't need to give him any further opportunity to work harm. And we don't need more fuel for nightmares. Leave the gag in."

Judy neatly dropped the bundle of dirty cloth in at the foot of the grave.

Brian stepped forward with Ray by his side, white, and shuddering, but gulping in a big breath of air as his uncle spoke.

"oenach and Ollam have agreed that this man did"-he looked over at Juniper for a second-"profane the Great Rite and the precious mysteries of love by raping a woman of the Dun, yesterday. His offense against the Powers is his, but it is our right to judge him for his offense against our sister. We have since learned that he also attempted to corrupt some of our children. Mad dogs must die. There is no cure that is worth the price we'd pay.

"Mairead, are you ready?"

The woman who'd taken the black marble stepped forward. Like many, her face was white as she realized just what she was going to do.

This is not the heat of battle, when you strike out blindly in fury and in fear, Juniper thought. This is not the hot blood of a quarrel. This we do with deliberation and with ceremony. We have our doubts, but we hide them. We call upon the Powers; we say, the Law; we say, we the People; we say, the State. But what we do, we still do as human souls.

The Chief stepped forward; Chuck and she grasped the spear to hand it to the chosen one. Juniper gasped, and felt the High Priest's hand stiffen on the rowan wood beside hers. Eilir's head came around too, and more than one among the onlookers. The jolt she felt was still hot and angry, but it was the wound tension before the lightning strikes, and there was something else in it, a calling- "This man was a child once," she said, as if the words welled up from the innermost part of her mind. "The Mother gave him being, and his mother loved him. He was given great gifts-a strong healthy body, a cunning mind, a nimble tongue, a great will to live, or he would not have survived this long. He was given a life, and such a sorry botch he has made of it for himself and for others."

All of them were looking at her, wire-tense and focused. Her voice rose: "Can you not feel the anger of the Powers at what he has done, and what he has profaned? The slighting of the Mystery that They give us, for our joy and that we might join Them in bringing forth life?"

A sound like wind through trees as the people nodded.

"Yet now we help him make atonement; and so also we appease Them with this sacrifice. But even in the anger of the Dark Mother, there is love. The Keeper of Laws is stern, but just. Beyond the Gate in the Land of Summer, Truth stands naked and he will know himself. He himself will choose how to make himself whole, and be reborn through the cauldron of Her who is Mother-of-All into the life he chooses. So mote it be!"

"So mote it be!"

Mairead shook as the High Priestess and High Priest solemnly handed her the spear.

"This spear was made for this purpose alone," Juniper said. "It is blessed and consecrated for it."

The shaft wobbled dangerously and Sam jumped to the rescue.

"'Ere," said Sam. "Hold on, la.s.s. Let me reverse it. Now, poke it over the edge. You, Danny, put it where Oi told you to. There. Now, both 'ands on the shaft ... see, where I wrapped deer-hide around it so it won't slip. One hard shove. Don't let 'im suffer. It's at the right angle now. It'll go into his heart, neat and quick. Now."

Juniper kept her face calm by main force of effort. Have I asked too much? Should I start a tradition of black-masked executioners? No! This is our justice and we need to own it.

Mairead trembled and Brian stepped to her left and Josh to her right. They set their hands on the shaft, above and below hers.

"Come," said Josh. "You must do it. But we'll add our strength to yours. It'll be quick."

Even as Mairead gulped and tightened her hands, Sharon and Rebekah stepped forward and put hands on her shoulders. Juniper watched her close her eyes ... not to block out the sight, but to feel the position of the shaft, and then she pushed, sudden and hard.

The razor-sharp head sliced into Billy Bob's chest cavity and through his heart and the body bucked once more and was still. The man down in the grave, Sam, and Brian all thrust a little harder, getting the head fixed into the soil beneath.

And something snapped. The hot anger that had risen up from her feet was gone, with only a brief cool wind of sorrow. Then the day was merely a day once more, and there was work to be done.

Juniper thrust Rudy into Eilir's arms and turned, took up a shovel and filled it with the grave dirt.

"I cast you out," she said clearly, and carefully threw the dirt into the grave.

The last man climbed out, pulled by his friends. Willing hands grabbed the shovels and began to rain the dirt back into the grave.

"I cast you out."

"I protect the children."

"I reject your blasphemy."