Fragment from SORROW'S KNOT
Here's a smidge -- I hesitate to call it a cookie -- from Part Two of my work in progress, SORROW'S KNOT. Otter, our young hero, comes from a culture where the dead are tied high in trees -- and where the return of the dead as hungry ghosts is a real danger. Otter's mother's name is Willow.
Otter dreamt of a cord tied around a birch tree - a ward fragment, except that it ancient. The tree had grown since the cord had been tied: .the woody flesh bulged on either side of it; the bark closed over it like white lips. Over and over Otter dreamt of the bound tree, and one night she saw that it was not a birch, but a willow. And then she saw that it was not a tree, but a wrist - the swollen skin lipping over the cord. As she watched the hand curled open like a fern. Even in the dream she reeled back, and thought: it is only falling slack. Then she saw the grey fingers fist and flex.
But it's just a dream, Otter. It doesn't mean anything!
Otter dreamt of a cord tied around a birch tree - a ward fragment, except that it ancient. The tree had grown since the cord had been tied: .the woody flesh bulged on either side of it; the bark closed over it like white lips. Over and over Otter dreamt of the bound tree, and one night she saw that it was not a birch, but a willow. And then she saw that it was not a tree, but a wrist - the swollen skin lipping over the cord. As she watched the hand curled open like a fern. Even in the dream she reeled back, and thought: it is only falling slack. Then she saw the grey fingers fist and flex.
But it's just a dream, Otter. It doesn't mean anything!