Dancer of the Dead

Diana found a small clearing off the path and sat down to make her preparations there.  A faerie ring of moss was growing by a large tree, which seemed to be the perfect choice.

She emptied the contents of the bag she and Bill had collected from Crescent’s rain shed while Chris prepared his equipment.  She took the moonstone from the ground where it lay and placed it in her lap.  She emptied her mind and began the grounding process Crescent had taught her.  She focused her awareness down into the stone and through it into the Earth beneath her.  Outside awareness ceased as she became connected to the soil and followed the path of the mighty tree roots that fingered ever downward.  From her lower Chakra she then projected upward through her crown.  She placed a clear quartz crystal atop her head and fed her energies through it in a white light spear that penetrated and connected her to the cosmic heavens above.

She poised there in the Dagazian moment, suspended in time and space.  As above, so below.  She saw all aspects of her life revolving around her, connected to her being by shimmering threads of light.  All things were spinning there, from her husband and children to the new washer and dryer they just purchased. She released the light from those things that no longer applied to her life as she strengthened and reaffirmed her connectedness to those that truly mattered at this point.

She lifted a gold-banded ring with a Bloodstone set. This she placed upon her left hand next to her wedding band.  A large, uncut piece of raw Bloodstone was placed in her lap next to the Moonstone.  She opened a small vial of Heliotrope oil that she and Crescent had prepared earlier.  She then anointed the ring and the stone with the oil.  Grasping the Bloodstone in her left hand she dipped her finger into the oil and drew a pentagram upon her forehead: the five points of the star representing Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit.  She connected the points and encircled them upon her skin, focusing all the aspects of the elements to work in harmony with and through her.

Harmony was the perfection she was attaining through this ritual.  She willed herself to become one with all of nature: the trees and the earth, the wind and starlight.  She would dazzle the eye of any who attempted to perceive her, for now she was not someone passing through the land but a fully integrated part of the whole.  She walked in ceremony, embracing her environment.   She was as indistinguishable as one leaf amongst the Oak branches.

"Blessed Goddess, let my Will be wrought this night that I may safely turn my family and self away from this abominable situation.  I call upon Tiwaz for protection and justice."  She made the upward pointing spear symbol in the air with the Bloodstone.  "I call upon Thurisaz for strength of arm to defeat my foe."   As she traced the thorn symbol, the Bloodstone left a fiery trace in the air.  "Finally I ask Ansuz for Woden’s wisdom to lead us to understanding rather than conflict."   She stood in one graceful, fluid motion with arms held to the sky.  "An it harm none, this be my will to do.  So mote it be!”

She had removed the headset while she performed her preparations. As she began to move through the brush the very limbs and thorns turned from her as she flowed like a shadow of the wind.

"Chris!"  Diana’s voice came strongly through his earphones.  "Let’s go get our kids!"

"She’s moving, Bill.  It’s show time."

Diana crested the ridge of the old quarry and looked down into its depths. Her vision seemed sharper than before and she saw several figures clambering upon the quarried stones that were piled up like a giant’s block set.  She could see the pathways leading down seeming to swarm and ripple as hundreds of dead animals and insects were being forced to move down into the Earth’s bowels.

She let herself down over the edge, using roots and stones for foot holds.  She didn’t seem to need to search for her next purchase.  She let the turn of a stone or the twist of a branch guide her ever-downward progress.

A skittering movement she caught out of the corner of her eye caused her to pause when she was a little over halfway down.  She released the sassafras root she was clinging to and dropped noiselessly onto a flat outcropping of limestone.

The small groundhog was scrambling up the hill trying to get out of the path of the downward moving dead.  Diana leaned over, lifting it by the scruff of the neck. Gently, she sat it on the flat stone behind her.  A large crack split the face of the stone she was on and she saw the downward path passed directly in front of it.  She lowered herself into the crack and continued downward by bracing her back against one side and her legs on the other. 

Sitting there, suspended in the crack of the rock wall, she was mere feet away from the shambling vermin.  She heard the singing of the creature as it finally came along behind its cadaverous puppets.  As the vocals increased she knew the thing was nearly in sight.

"Go".  She spoke into the headset and extended the mike as far as she could into the pathway.  The creature came into view but it was walking way too fast.  She wouldn’t be able to keep the mike in front of it for a full thirty seconds.

"Wait!"  She called out as the creature was directly in front of the crevice.  The creature stopped although it continued to sing its directions to the beasts below.  Its eyes narrowed as it peered into Diana’s hiding spot.  If it attacked her now, she would be helpless in this pos