Odette: Path C

Feen bent and lifted me up, higher than he had before as everyone cheered. I was still clutching the knife in my right hand and trembling now. This was the part where they sacrificed me to this Bheinn.

Hands touched me and I flinched. So many hands! Cheering, yelling, touching. No one hurt me, or groped, just light, petting touches as Feen carried me to the large table in the hall, the one facing the rest and turned north and south and not east and west like the rest. There were chairs and stools, but he took me to a short bench in the middle of the table and set me facing him. He sat facing me, straddling the bench. It was awkward, sitting with one hand bound to his.

I held the knife up. "Are you going to kill me now?" I asked quietly, as the others cheered and found seats.

He raised his eyebrows and looked down at me uncertainly. "No."

"Are they? Are you going to roast me and eat me?"

He looked shocked, then laughed. "A joke?"

I shook my head. "Sacrifice me to Bheinn?"

He laughed again. "Bheinn blesses women. You will not be harmed, Miontine."

"Then what is this? And what did you call me? Little fire?"

"Tiny. Tiny fire."

"Oh. So what is happening? Can you take this off now?" I asked, poking the knife at the rope.

He gently took the knife from me, shaking his head. "That would be bad draiocht."

"Draiocht? Magic? Bad magic?"

He rolled his shoulders uncomfortably. "It is not for me," he said, dismissing my concern. "You speak the old tongue?"

"Not really, is it gaelic? It sounds gaelic with some latin thrown in. Is it latin?"

He looked down at me as if I were speaking gibberish. "It is the old tongue," he shrugged, looking around.

Moments later, a huge man came striding in like a force. He was easily as large as Feen but much older with his long white hair. When he smiled at Feen, I knew it was his father, they had a sameness.

He grabbed up a glass jug from a table and lifted it high. The water in it sloshed around and the room went quiet. "To my boy! My youngest! Finally a married man!" He tilted back the jug as everyone cheered and lifted glasses of water to drink. Feen cheered as well and lifted his own glass.

I stared at him, gobsmacked.

This asshole had just married me.

Infuriated, I snatched at the knife and started sawing at the rope. He spilled the water in his haste to stop me, pulling the knife away and frowning down at me in surprise. "Miontine?"

"You MARRIED me?" I hissed. "You made me marry YOU?"

"I asked," he said, drawing up, his nostrils flaring.

"You didn't! And if you did, I didn't understand what you were asking! I thought you were about to sacrifice me to the mountain, not MARRY me!"

He laughed then, throwing his head back and letting out a loud booming laugh. I growled and kicked at him, tugging on my hands, trying to break free of the knots.

He caught my wrist gently and shook his head. "You were calm with thinking death, but angry to be a wife?" he asked, grinning.

"I was scared before. Now I'm just pissed! This isn't real you know! No legal paperwork, no documents or anything! This isn't real!"

He just grinned down at me.

His father sat down across from us and Feen finally looked away. "Feen, my boy! She is a little thing! So little! And you so big. You sure you should not have asked after Wiss?"

"Wisteria is spoken for and I had no interest. I like this one. She is..." he trailed off, looking down at me like he was searching for the right word.

"New and different? She will not accept our ways, but if you are happy. Keep her in line. She shouldn't be much trouble."

Feen laughed then, knowing that his father was wrong I was sure.

"What is her name?"

"Odette," I answered.

"Miontine," Feen answered.

The older man chuckled, looking me over. "I see it! Yes, she is so. Your mathair would have been proud."

"Athair," he nodded, accepting the praise.

"Is that your name?" I asked. "Athair?"

He grinned, and looking at him I knew what Feen would look like in thirty years. "You are my daughter now, you can call me athair. My name is Feengun, same as my athair. I am called Gun. Feengun here is Feen."

"Athair is father? And mathair is mother?"

"Yes, girl."

"Odette," I corrected, glaring.

"Hah!" he laughed, then slammed a mug down in front of me and poured it full of water. "Drink!" he yelled to everyone. "Oll!"

"Oll!" everyone yelled and drank from their mugs.

I pulled the mug close to take a drink, then spit it out, coughing. It was not water! It was something horrible! Jet fuel and arsenic and skunk spray all combined. Feen patted my back and laughed as I coughed.

"That is awful! What is that?"

"Drucht. Shine. Pure as you can find anywhere, won't ever find better! Drink up girl, it is bad draiocht to refuse a toast on your Binding day!"

Binding. Had Feen said something about binding? And asking if I agreed? I couldn't remember.

"I didn't agree to this!" I said, as much to myself as them. "And I am not drinking that poison! I want to go home!"

Gun looked at Feen, his eyebrows high. "First fight boy?" he teased, standing. He turned to the crowd. "OLL!" he roared.

"Oll!" they yelled in return and threw back more drinks.

I looked up at Feen who was setting his cup down. He wiped his beard and leaned on the table, closer to me. "Bind is good and done. Bheinn blessed us. Wife."

"No."

"Word don't make it so," he shrugged. "Wife."

"NO!"

He smirked.

"Why did you do this, after saving me from Ollie?"

He shrugged. "I wanted you for myself. The boy woulda hurt you. I aint."

"You have! You are! I want to go back to Atlanta!"

"There is no Atlanta anymore," he said, shaking his head. "There is only the mountain now. Once she lets you in, there is no going back. She keeps you forever."

I froze, staring up at him. Did he mean if I tried to leave he would kill me and my body would be here forever? Or that I would end up dying if I tried to leave?

"Sip," he said, lifting the mug to my lips. "No bad draiocht tonight, Miontine."

I sipped, then coughed again and he patted my back. It burned! My belly was on fire!

Platters full of food were set in front of us and when I saw it, I realized I had not eaten since yesterday. I was starved!

Cailleach Willa stood and waved her hand for silence. She gestured at Feen and I and he stood, pulling me up to stand on the bench next to him.

"Feen Mor. Odette Mor. A night as this, I offer a beannacht! Torthulacht and go leor clann to you!"

Fertility and many kids. Ugh.

Everyone was cheering again, and stomping now as they threw back more drinks. Someone pulled out a fiddle, then a banjo and then there was singing and music as Feen pulled me to sit down again.

I noticed he was significantly closer, his legs on either side of me, our bound hands pressed between us.

"Am I supposed to eat like this?" I asked angrily, trying to turn to reach the food.

"No, Miontine, I feed you," he said pulling a strip of meat off a whole chicken and holding it close to my mouth.

"Seriously?" I asked, horrified.

"And you feed me. We work for each other this night, to show our willingness to serve each other."

"You will starve," I snorted.

He smirked, then pressed the meat to my lips. I ate the bite, then grudgingly and awkwardly did the same for him.

Eating was slow and tedious work, but he seemed to enjoy it. There were so many toasts and he insisted I sip for each one. He threw back his cup, refilling it again and again. How could anyone drink that? And how was he still standing?!?

Several hours into the feast and the dancing, people were passing out, or wandering out to the darkness. Some didn't bother. More than one couple was unabashedly making out, biting on each other, groping each other and... more... right out in the open like it didn't matter. One woman was bent over a table, moaning loudly as a man went at her from behind and a few people at the table cheered them on.

Was this real?

My head was swimming and I was starting to feel tired and lightheaded as I looked around at the chaos.

When Cailleach Willa suddenly appeared behind us, I gasped and Feen had to catch me to keep me from sliding off the stool. He stood, taking me with him, holding me like a child on his arm.

There were cheers, but they were drunken and fewer now that the night and moonshine had taken the revelers to their beds. I had a moment of clearheadedness, knowing what was about to happen. I threw myself down as hard as I could and snatched up the knife before he could pull me back up. I held it in my free hand, pointing it up at him and he laughed again.

He let me keep it as he slowly followed Cailleach Willa to a small hut. Inside was nothing but a huge bed. I shook my head and squirmed, brandishing the knife as I tried to get down. He let me down, smirking at the knife. I held it, trying to make it stop wavering so much as Cailleach Willa whispered as she untied the binding.

Once it was loose enough, I backed away and started trying to get feeling back in my hand.

Cailleach Willa pursed her lips as she left, but Feen was still grinning. I raised the knife in both hands and slid down the wall I was leaning on, trying to make the room stop wobbling. He pulled off his shirt and tossed it down, then shucked his pants and stood in front of me like he was posing.

He was posing.

He should be posing.

He was... pretty spectacular. His huge, hard body was something off of a woman's porn cover. If men on those covers wore no underclothes and weren't circumcised. I guess that wouldn't be a thing up here. I was staring, I realized, but I decided I didn't care about looking away. It was... something to see. I swallowed hard and looked up at him. He was watching me curiously, waiting.

Nope. Not happening.

I looked down and found the knife on the floor and picked it back up, fumbling.

He was there suddenly, taking it from me. "You'll cut yourself Miontine, it's sharp. You can have it back tomorrow."

He put it with his things and I watched him move, unashamed of his nakedness. He had the confidence of ten men. My eyes went to his face as he sat on the end of the bed. His brown eyes with his wild dark blonde hair didn't seem to mesh. His eyes were sweet and soulful, his hair completely wild. They were at odds with each other. His lips should have been lost in this beard and moustache, but they were just full enough to peek through.

"Just gonna look or you gonna join me?"

"What is this place?" I asked, avoiding his question. I didn't have a knife anymore, I needed a diversion tactic instead.

"A binding house. The clan stays here when they bind. Marry."

"I... I know what you think is about to happen but it's not. I won't. Just... stay away."

"Wife," he chided, moving to the closer end of the bed.

"No! I'm not, I'm not! I won't! You can't! It's... it would be rape. I won't do it!"

He chuckled. "No, wife. That cannot be so between a man and wife."

"It is! No is no! No! I won't!" I said, shaking my head and huddling in on myself.

I squealed when I felt his hands on me, picking me up. He set me on the bed and sat next to me. "Easy, Miontine," he whispered, trying to calm me. "I will be gentle."

"I said no!"

He hugged me against him, rubbing my shoulder. Why was my head still spinning so much? I closed my eyes and sighed. He was so warm and I was so cold!

I opened my eyes, then winced, closing them. My head! "Nnnnnn," I groaned, trying to roll.

Where was I? There was a wall beside me, so I had to try the other way. The wall moved and a hand caught my hip. "Don't fall off," it rumbled.

Feen.

I groaned again, then went still. What had happened? I shifted, trying to feel out my body. It was only my head that hurt and my stomach was feeling nauseous, but nothing else? I shifted again and moved my hand up to my shoulder. I still had my gown on too.

He hadn't touched me.

I felt relief, but also fear. I had to find a way to get away today, before tonight.

"What's worse?" he asked.

"Mmm?" I asked, trying not to make too much noise. My head was throbbing so hard I couldn't open my eyes.

"Head or stomach?"

"Head," I whispered.

"Mph. Stay here." He got up and I peeked despite myself. He pulled his pants on and stepped out, then yelled loudly. I didn't understand what he said but he ducked back in and pulled his shirt on. He looked grumpy.

The girl who had called him 'Col' came in with two cups. She glanced at me and her lips parted as her eyes darted to him. He glared as if daring her to say something. She handed him both cups and dropped her eyes, then started to go. She paused at the door.

"I won't talk," she said softly.

"If I cared I wouldn't have had you come," he snapped.

She looked over her shoulder at him, then back at me. She looked concerned. "Cousin? May I speak to your wife?"

"On?"

"Girl to girl," she answered, standing tall.

Feen looked at me, then scowled and rolled his shoulders. He handed her one cup, drank the other, then pushed past her, ducking out.

She came in and sat next to me as she handed me the cup. I sat up and took it, sipping it. It was bitter and I grimaced.

"Drink it all at once, quick." she said, tilting it back to my lips with her finger. I swallowed it, shuddering. I handed it back and hid my eyes in my hands.

"What's your name?" I whispered.

"Loenore. I am called Nore. Odette is it?"

"Yes," I answered, laying back on my side and pulling the blankets up. "Will you help me escape here?" I asked numbly. "Get home?"

"The mountain is home now. Odette, you must listen. Feen has come home, back to us. If... if you make it so he leaves again, no one will be happy. He has been gone too long, not taking his mantle. He must stay. If... if it seems you are not all he hoped for, Cailleach Willa may not be very happy. You have to be here one way or another, but... if you keep him happy, keep him here, it will be better for you. He has been long in looking for someone. The right someone. He saw it in you. Do not..."

"He kidnapped me," I grumbled irritably. "He stole me and brought me here and tricked me into the union by not telling me what was going on. I don't owe him anything, or any of you! I don't want to be here and my fucking head hurts!"

"The herbs will help given time."

"Time will help, given time," I said, rolling my eyes with my eyes shut.

"You are disagreeable, aren't you? Like so many from below. I do not see what he sees in you, but you could at least try. Give him a chance. He has never liked a girl so well as to wish a bind. I think if you..."

"Look, Nore, I know you want to have a heart to heart right now, but my head hurts, I have to pee so bad I am afraid to move and I am in a god damn scene right out of Deliverance. Please. For the love of god just leave me alone."

She huffed and stood up, moving the bed harder than she needed to. I sighed and got up as well. My bladder was about to explode.

"Where's the girls room?" I asked, clutching my stomach as it heaved.

"What?" she asked, pausing at the door.

"Bathroom? Where do you go pee? You have a place, right?"

"Outhouse is this way, I will show you."

I groaned.

Feen was sitting in his huge chair when Nore led me back to his cabin. He was looking sulky and grumpy. "Can I have my clothes back?" I asked before she left. "At least my sweater?"

She kept walking, ignoring me. I turned to Feen and he glowered at me. I realized than that my headache was better. "Can I get my clothes back?" I asked him.

"Nore'll bring you clothes."

"Dresses like they wear?"

"Yes."

"I don't like dresses."

"Dresses or nothing," he said shrugging. He lifted his chin at me, looking at my gown. "Why don't you take that off?"

I hugged myself and backed away from him, then took up the knife he had tossed on the bed with his white clothes. His glower turned to a scowl. "I told you, it's not happening."

"It will," he said standing.

I backed up to the far wall and held my hands straight out, pointing the blade at him. He moved closer, until his belly touched the tip of the knife. "Stop!" I said fearfully, pulling it back slightly when blood welled up. He put his hand on the flat of the blade slowly and moved it out of his way, then moved closer. He lifted my hand with the knife and then slid his hand up the edge. I cried out and dropped the knife when I saw blood on his hand. "Why did you do that?" I asked, horrified. He closed his fist in front of my face, squeezing and working his fingers until his hand was covered in blood, then he opened his hand to show me. I shook my head, not understanding why he had cut himself. He reached out suddenly and put his bloody hand on my face, shoving me against the wall as he held me still with his other hand. He had his bloody palm over my mouth and his fingers splayed over one cheek with his thumb on the other. His hand was so big his fingers were on both of my ears and I screamed into his hand. He held me there a long moment, then lifted his fingers slowly and pulled his hand back, looking down at the bloody handprint on my face.

"Mine," he whispered to me, then grabbed my hand when I went to try and wipe my face. "No. It stays. It stays until I bed you."

"Please! This is gross! Please take it off! What if I catch something?!? Please!" I wailed, trying to find a way to wipe my face.

He pulled me down to the floor and held me there, pinning me and watching me struggle. He carefully wiped my tears, making sure they didn't make tracks through the blood and that seemed to make it worse. He held me there until it was dry, then he stood up and pulled me up, still holding my wrists.

"You try to take it off, I will punish you and do it again," he said coldly. He let me go and I stood with my fists clenched at my sides.

"You are a psychopath!" I hissed, unable to stop more tears.

He just watched me passively, then suddenly spoke. "We are going to eat."

He took my arm and pulled me out the door, then led me to the large pavilion. People went quiet as they stared at us. He stopped in front of Cailleach Willa in her chair. She gave him a nod, but never looked at me. Almost like I wasn't even there. When he sat down, someone sat a plate in front of him, but not me. He handed me a biscuit, but otherwise ignored me. Everyone did. I realized the handprint meant something to all of them. Like I was a ghost until it was gone.

"You think this is going to sway me?" I asked angrily. "Being ignored by these... inbred imbeciles? I don't care. In fact, this works for me. Keep ignoring me as I walk out of this place!"

I stood up, but he caught my arm and yanked me back down to sit hard on my bottom. Hard enough to make my teeth hurt.

He kept eating like he hadn't been interrupted.

Asshole.

I hefted the hard, heavy biscuit, then threw it with all my might at Feens father two tables over. I missed but he turned and Feen looked at me like I had lost my mind.

"Boy," Gun warned, standing.

"Yeah," Feen said, sounding resigned. He stood and pulled me up, then tossed me up over his shoulder. I pounded on his back and kicked, but he ignored me as he took me back to the cabin. He threw me on the bed so hard I bit my tongue and cried out as I tasted blood.

"You bawstwad!" I yelled, sounding like an idiot. I sat up and blood dripped out of my mouth onto my white gown.

He stood with his hands on his hips, watching me with a confused frown. I rolled off the bed and poured myself some water from a pitcher by his sink, then rinsed my mouth.

When I turned, he was right behind me and he caught my arms before I could move back. He started to pull the gown off, then ripped it when I tried to hold it in place. He threw it to the floor, then held me out at arms length to look at me. I tried to hunch down, to hide, but he was holding me up, my arms out wide.