Spring festival (2)

When they arrived and she got off the carriage, the tumult of people and voices and smells overwhelmed her. But she took it all in. The music and the laughter were so loud it made her whole body vibrate.

In the middle of the square there was a pole and round it were young girls dancing, each holding a ribbon of different colour. The materials wrap on the pole making it look like a giant candy. When they stopped, other girls of different ages approached and decorated the pole with flowers. The pole looked beautiful standing in the middle of the square, towering everything.

As they went nearer, a group of people approached them, each with a basket full of flowers and some small green branches.

"For you, lovely one," said a darked haired girl who came in front of Iris and put a flower crown on her head. "May these flowers bring you happiness and luck. And for the men," she turned to the one who was closest and fixed a small branch on his tunic with a bobby pin, "a branch of wormwood wood to keep away all evil spirits."

"Thank you," Ray answered, looking sceptical at the plant.

"Maybe I should tell the girl to give you flowers that puts people in high spirits," Iris teased him.

"That is not necessary, my lady. It's just that I don't understand how a plant that helps digestion could keep away evil spirits."

"Maybe the evil spirit is the stomach pain you'll have after eating all the greasy food here," joined Sir Marco in the teasing, making the mage grimace.

Iris laughed loudly at the knight's words, more than she would usually do, intoxicated by the festivities.

"You should leave your tower more often, Ray, and get to know the world."

"I already know enough of the world, my lady."

"It is actually unexpected to see you here today," Iris continued, ignoring his comment. "You almost never leave the tower, much less the castle."

"You should thank your knight for that. He almost kicked me out the door to make me follow and protect the lady. What choice did I have?"

"Well, Sir Marco did you a favour actually. You'd become sick if you had stayed closed up there."

"See mage, I knew the lady would agree to drag you out for once. Of course, your presence grants us more protection as well."

Ray didn't seem to agree with the first statement but went along with the others, nonetheless.

"My lady, my lady, come to see this!" Mary hurried to her.

"Call me by my name, not my lady. Even if it's just for one day."

"I'm sorry, my lady… Iris. Come and see. Troubadours and jogglers."

They approached the mass of people watching the performance, laughing, and pointing at the ones in the centre. There sat three men playing their string instruments and singing while two others were dancing and juggling in tact with the music. They sang of a beautiful maiden who married a pauper, believing his lies.

The man was begging when a servant of a noble house gave him old clothes of their master. Then the beggar told everyone who had ears how he became rich by finding a chest full of treasures and the poor girl was fool enough to believe him. She found the truth only after moving to his poor house where he lived with his mother. The song went on to tell funny stories about their life and all spectators laughed till tears, including Iris.

It felt good to be there in the middle of those peasants where nobody knew who she was. So, she took advantage of that and, leaving the spectacle, they went looking around, buying all the good things Mary and Daisy mentioned were good to eat until she couldn't take another bite.

"Mary, I think I need water after all this food."

"Here, my lady," came her knight with a carafe full of ruby liquid, "It's a special wine that is drunk only on this day."

Thirsty, Iris took the glass and drank it all to the last drop when she felt a strong bitter taste, almost throwing up everything. She needed all her strength to not vomit there, in the middle of all those people.

"Sir, what did you bring me?" She asked her knight, accusingly.

"It's wine that has a special ingredient, wormwood. It keeps you away from evil spirits and misfortune."

"More like keeping her away from a sick stomach after she vomits everything," added Ray who came to see if she was alright but was interrupted by a loud gasp coming from the centre of the town's square where a large fire came to life.

"The Heks' fire."

"What are the Heks, Mary?"

"The witches, my lad.., Iris. They say that the bad witches from this land were banished by this holy fire."

"Holy fire?"

"Yes, my lad.. Iris. The witches were the one who controlled the fire before, but when the faith came, one priest could withstand it and he tamed the fire, making it holy so that it could be used to subdue them."

"Now the townspeople light a big fire every spring festival to keep the witches away," added Sir Marco who, like Mary, belongs to that region. "The fire was brought by the church."

He pointed to a place near the bonfire where a man of the faith was indeed there with a torch in his hand. The priest looked solemn and focused on the flames as if he was the one controlling it.

"Propaganda of the church to make people believe they had a hand in everything," Ray whispered to her from her right.

"So they didn't do anything like that?"

"Who do you think are those evil witches, my lady? They were mages who opposed the faith and their power in ruling the kingdom."

"But every town has a church and even the king has a priest in his council."

"Exactly. It wasn't like that before. The faith is new, much newer than our gods, but it still holds more power."

Iris knew he was right and was shocked to see someone who spoke so openly about the old gods while blaming the church at the same time. For a moment she thought she found some sort of ally in that faith filled place.

"But mages still exist."

"For now, my lady, and for as long as they don't openly challenge them." Ray hesitated before adding, "My fear is that one day all mages are declared evil witches."

She wanted to tell him that it wasn't possible, but wondered whether that was actually true. Not so long ago did they have a conversation about how mages are fewer and fewer while the number of spirit users are increasing. And spirit is considered a power bestowed by the Father.

A loud voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Iris, come and dance!"

Elisabeth took her hand and drew her in the group that started dancing around the bonfire. The music and fun were so intoxicating that she forgot about the church.

They went round and round the fire, singing and clapping and laughing until the two had to return to their group exhausted. But for Ellie it still wasn't enough and when the dance changed to pairs, she took her knight and dragged him to the middle of the square.

Iris couldn't help but laugh, turning into coughing as she felt her mouth arid.

"Here, Iris," the maid said, giving her another carafe with light red liquid.

"Wine again?"

The girl laughed before answering. "No, it's strawberry juice. It's sweet and cold and won't make you feel anything more than refreshed."

The liquid was indeed cold and quenched her thirst when she heard a seductive voice behind her. When she turned over, she was surprised to see her knight surrounded by three young women with deep decolletage, trying to get him to dance with him.

At first she was shocked at the sight, but soon after she realised that shouldn't be the case. Sir Marco was tall, sturdy and quite handsome with his tanned skin, dark eyes and hair. Only a smile from him and he could charm half of the women there.

What surprised her more was the displeasure of her maid upon the sight and Iris, influenced by the earlier wine, but mostly by the atmosphere, pushed her towards the knight.

"You have to save him, Mary," she managed to say with a smirk before letting her maid go.

Probably shocked by her mistress's actions, it took her a second before asking Sir Marco to dance, which he accepted rather quickly. That made Iris laugh and realised that the only one who was by her side now was the mage who looked incredulously at her.

"What?" she asked a little aggressively.

"I can't believe a gentle raised lady just pushed her maid in the arms of a man. And that man being her knight nonetheless."

"Some people just need a push at the right time," she tried to justify her actions.

Ray wanted to say some more but was interrupted by a loud man speaking to the priest who was now near them.

"Just clean the forest again," the man shouted. "I tell you something evil resides there."

"Nonsense. All evil was banished years ago by our lord and, besides, the high priest already blessed the forest once."

"There is something there, I tell you. When I went cutting trees before winter an evil presence lurked behind the trees."