Serene Sisters of Sibyl - Halloween

She then took the hands of the Sisters on either side of her. When the Circle was complete, she began the low mantra chant which they had used around the fountain. It had just reached the point where the Sisters were supposed to release hands and start to dance when one of the Sisters screamed loudly. Soon other Sisters were screaming or yelping as someone-- or something-- grabbed them from behind.

Loud male laughter soon filled the air. The someones were the Hell Raising Bastards. Within minutes, the twelve Sisters were tied to trees. Most were silent or whimpering softly, but Cassandra was beginning to sing. It was a strange, flowing tune and the words were almost as if she were reciting a poem. The words were:

. . . . . Great danger has come to you

. . . . . Wise Women know their strength

. . . . . Every call for help will be answered

. . . . . Now is the time to call her name

. . . . . Long is the reach of her arm

. . . . . Loud is the cry of her anger

. . . . . In force she will come to your side

. . . . . Again she will rise in time of need

. . . . . Now is the time to call her name

One of the Hell Raisers called out, "Shut that crazy bitch up," but the leader snapped back, "No, let her sing. Then if anyone is listening, they will think these bitches are just going on with their orgy."

"It isn't an orgy," Laura replied firmly from her place on the ground, "and your spell check isn't working."

"What?" one of the men said, but the leader just laughed deeply and said, "Your smart ass remarks don't mean anything now, bitch. Before the night is through, me and the boys are going to teach each of you what it means to be a woman."

Laura glared silently at him. Cassandra's song seemed to be burning into her mind. It was just nonsense like everything that Cassie said. But Cassie had been right about the dice. Cassie was right about almost everything. People just didn't listen to her.

"Listen!" Laura told herself. Then she gasped. The leader of the Hell Raisers thought it was because he was starting to get naked, but it was because she recognized the tune. It was one her mother had sung to her many times. Her mother had said it was an old Celtic tune that was used for the acrostic poems that told the story of the warrior queen.

Acrostic! The first letters of each line spelled something. Great-wise-every-now-long-loud-in-again-now... "Now is the time to call her name." Cassie was saying to call out Gwenllian's name. Laura shouted out, "Queen Gwenllian!" Then she remembered the way that her mother had spoken of her ancestor. "Mother of my mother's mother!" Laura screamed. "Save us!"

The leader of the Hell Raisers stood above her laughing. His fellow Hell Raisers joined in the laughter... until something began to echo Cassie's song. The fountain seemed to be humming loudly and the tune was the same as Cassandra was singing.

A bright light suddenly shone from the waters of the fountain. The tip of a bronze sword broke the surface, glowing brightly. After only a few inches of the sword were visible, something else began to emerge from the waters. It was a woman with hair as bronze as the sword which she held in her right hand and the bronze, circular shield she held in her left. She wore no armor, but was instead clothed in a blue dress with leather trim on its collar embossed with Celtic designs. Matching leather armbands and a leather belt both carried interlocking Celtic designs. Behind her stood a ragged band of peasants armed with wooden staffs and clubs.

One of the men, whose head had barely cleared the surface of the water, shouted out, "Ddail Achos Gwenllian!" and the entire group jumped out of the fountain. They began attacking the Hell Raising Bastards.

The leader of the Bastards turned to face the Warrior Queen and she plunged her bronze sword through the center of his chest. When she withdrew the sword there was no blood and no wound, but the man still crumpled to the ground.

The others tried to flee, but the band of peasants following the Queen weren't quite as ragged as they first looked. They fought like soldiers and quickly rounded up the HRBs and forced them back to where their fallen leader lay naked on the ground.

They stood quaking in fear as Queen Gwenllian walked down the line touching each of them in the center of the chest with her glowing sword. One after another they fell senseless on the ground.

When all of the HRBs were on the ground, the Queen turned to face Laura. She did not speak, but Laura heard a voice within her head say, "Next year, join your mother at Maes Gwenllian. She will show you the full story of your people." Then the Queen and the peasants with her faded away.

It was very quiet in the yard. The only noise was the splashing of the fountain. But the quiet was soon replaced by the wavering wail of police sirens. Laura's father came bursting out of the back door running. His gun was drawn and in his hand.

As he reached the center of the yard, he stopped and looked around warily, "What in the hell happened here?" he said loudly. And then he ran to untie his bound daughter.

A few seconds later, several more officers were running into the yard. "Untie the girls," Laura's father shouted, "And find some blankets or something to cover them." He then keyed his radio and said, "I have mass casualties from unknown causes, at least fourteen males down and unresponsive."

Within minutes the yard was filled with police officers and EMTs. Laura's father covered her with one of the blankets and helped her back up onto the deck. Then he sat with her and asked, "Do you want to tell me what was going on here?"

"Do you want the truth or something people might believe?" she answered, giving him that little girl smile that can melt any daddy's anger.

"For now let's go with what people might believe," he said slowly. "Later when you are talking to me as just your father rather than as Officer Broderick you can tell me the truth."

The other Sisters were sitting on the deck or standing nearby, so everyone's story was going to be more or less the same by the time the other officers got around to interviewing them.

"Well," Laura began, "the other Sisters and I were doing our Halloween rituals, and yes, we were naked, when this bunch of men suddenly jumped us. One of them was getting ready to... ah... to do something... when suddenly they all just fell down."

"I thought you were going to tell me something believable," he said. His irritation showed in his voice.

"Believe me, Dad," Laura said firmly, "that is as believable as it gets."

All thirteen Sisters as well as the fourteen Hell Raisers were transported to the hospital. Except for Laura's severely-bruised ass, the girls had no injuries. The boys had no injuries, but all were in deep shock, apparently from having had their hearts stopped for a short period of time. The final report would say that after the Hell Raisers attacked the Sisters the lighting system in the fountain somehow shorted out, electrifying the ground and nearly electrocuting all of them. How the Sisters, who were naked, were not affected was left as unexplained. Apparently, the flash created by the shorting out of the fountain and the screams of the men as they were electrocuted alarmed the neighbors across the street who called police.

Late the next morning after Officer Broderick was off-duty and Laura was home from the hospital, they sat at the kitchen table drinking coffee. "OK," he said, "do you want to tell me the real story now?"

Laura told him. And after she was finished, she said slowly, "Dad, I can't believe that I actually saw Queen Gwennlian."

Her father, who could read his daughter very well and knew that she had more to say, replied, "And...?"

"And," Laura continued, "she looks exactly like mom when she's really angry."

Her dad laughed and said, "You've never seen your mom when she's really angry."

"I don't know, Dad," Laura replied. "After last night, I think I have."

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END OF STORY

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