Ritual of Bones

TW:Gore

Everything was ready for the ritual. The Bandruí held her lover's bones high above her head. The newly slaughtered lamb lay silent within the circle. Her arms and chest painted with its blood, thick and wet, staining the bleach white bones and the loam underfoot. She twisted her mouth around the words, ancient and old, gripping them with her tongue and releasing them with a hiss. She refused to fail again. She may never be able to bring her lover, Nero, back to the land of the living but she could make sure to rescue him from the land of the dead. The candles dropped hot wax onto the frost covered ground, her voice echoing in the forest only to be met by the creek of branches from lightly falling snow. They groaned under the weight of it. 

“Aodh, answer my plea, allow my lover to leave your lands where he does not belong. Allow him to walk the path to Elysium.” 

Silence.

“I beseech thee! Allow my lover to return to me, with flesh and bone. I have sacrificed a lamb this day, I have given you its blood mixed with summer herbs. I have stripped myself of all things and here I stand naked before you, god of all the dead and rotten.” Her skin prickled against the chill of the winter air, bare feet frozen to the earth, breath piercing the night. 

Silence.

The only warmth she had was the circle of candles surrounding her. Hot tears began to form as one slid down her cheek only to be frozen upon falling to her bosom. 

“I implore you, Aodh! Beseech me and I will give my life unto you for safe passage of my own.” Her throat tightened, making her voice crack as the sky above mimicked the sound, followed by a sharp white light. 

Thunder. Lightening. 

She glanced around, looking for another sign of the dark god. Sharp silence fell through the trees, through the dark woods, through her lover's bones. 

“I, Sucaria, demand passage for my lover, Nero. I hold his bones and therefore the key to him!” Her voice struck out, like a match in the darkness only to be snuffed out by the inky black. Sucaria held her breath. Putting names to the souls at stake was risky, she could lose everything if the gods held her name hostage. She took a sharp breath in. She needed to tread lightly. To demand the god of the dead was blasphemous. Even the highest druid wouldn’t dare such a thing. She lowered herself onto the hard, frozen ground, arms burning and aching as she held them to the starless sky. Her tears had stopped, frozen in their ducts but as she lowered her arms, still caked with blood, falling snow shifted to heavy rain. Small droplets began to fall, harder and faster, leaving little rivets in the bark of trees and embedding themselves into the earth. 

No, not rain. Sucaria leaned forward and plucked a small molar out of one of her ceremonial candles. Teeth.

A voice rumbled from beneath the earth. It hissed like a fire beginning. 

“Sucaria” Its icy voice retorted at her. “How dare you deem yourself worthy.” It snarled from the trees, the earth, the sky. She placed the bones in the ritual circle gingerly and stood, sinking into the dirt. 

“Yet you answer my threat!” She steadied herself, using anger as an anchor. 

“You misplace your anger, Druidess. I can cut you down. I am not your patron, nor your deity. Begone, witch! Ask no more of me and I will spare your pathetic life.” The disembodied voice hissed at her. 

“I will not yield when there are deals to be made.” There was a pause before the god spoke, contemplation filling the void of conversation.

“What could a prestigious Banduri want with the god of the dead?” Aodh spat.

 He was curious and Sucaria knew she had his attention, for the time being. Leaves rustled beside her as branches groan and sway in the wind, still being pricked by falling teeth from the sky. Sucaria picked up Nero's bones, pressing them against her naked body, clinging to them as if her skin could mold him once more. 

“Ah, all for love.” The tone was curdled milk, rancid with pretension. 

“He is mine and I will do what I want with him!” A distant crack of thunder, followed by a burst of white light as the Aodh’s laughter echoed off the crash. It only increased the downpour of teeth, welting Sucaria’s skin, leaving indents in its wake. 

“Pathetic lamb in love. You choose to turn your back on your people? You claim this Nero as if he is innocent in the slaughter of your fellow druids. A Roman. You choose him for your souls mate? Imbecile. You are no better than the lambs you sacrifice.” The great god scoffed. 

Sucaria’s voice began to rumble, starting from her chest. It was a low bubble from beneath her lips as it grew louder and louder, an ancient tongue, passed down from the druids before her. The herbs from the ritual began to smoke and spread, candles wavering and then burning brighter, fire exploding from the wicks. Her neck pulsed and her throat strained as she took small breaths in between each chant, increasing the speed. The candle's fire became strands, trailing up to Sucaria’s body and wrapping around her skin, leaving an imprint of ash over her. The hot vein traveled up her leg, her torso, belly, and down her arms to her fingertips until reaching her lover bones. As it flowed, it left a trail of symbols in their wake until the singe was snuffed out. Her mossy green eyes shone bright in the night. 

“We are bound now, and you have no choice, god of death. You must allow me passage.” 

Sucaria waited for a long time, what seemed like a century, before a crack was formed out of thin air and then, blurred. A blur between two sycamore trees that distorted her own reality and she knew a door was opened. She had won, for the time being. Again, a bubbling happened inside of her but this time, it was laughter and she allowed it to overflow into the quiet of night as the drumming teeth matched her reverie. It was her victory song. The teeth stopped falling as she stepped forward it all stopped, replaced by a soft rain. Slowly, as if waking from a dream, her eyes became brighter as the sun started to rise in the distance. Sucaria took another step, placing a blood covered hand on the sycamore as she leaned into the blur and vanished.