Tears now freely flowed down Marra's cheeks. Kane placed his hand gently on his wife's shoulder. "Be it too late?"

Ceres paused, then replied. "No. I will try. But your son is very weak. Do you have any food?" Kane shook his head. She turned to Waithe. "Please bring in my medicine bag and some of our food."

Waithe returned with the requested items. Ceres took out a selection of herbs from the leather saddlebag and placed different mixtures into two cups, then ground them into fine powders. Water was then added to make two soupy pastes. She held up one of the cups.

"These medicinal herbs are enhanced with the Spirit Phy's Life Magic. Marra, this one is for you. To save your son I must also strengthen you. It contains a vitality tonic with an ingredient to stimulate milk production. But you also must eat your fill, for without proper nourishment the milk will still not come."

Marra nodded and downed the potion, tightening her lips and scrunching her eyes to the bitter taste. She then sat down at the table and began to eat the flatbread and dried fruit that Waithe placed out for her.

Ceres picked up the second cup. "This one be for little Jad if he would take it."

Kane cradled his son in his arms. He used one hand to gently pinch open the baby's mouth and the other to pour in the potion, drop by drop. Some leaked out from the tiny lips, dripping to the floor. The baby hardly reacted. Waithe's eyes moistened. He then knew what Ceres had not said aloud, that the baby was near death.

Kane pulled back the cup. "I think he took some."

"Good." Ceres sat down on the floor cross-legged and held her arms out to the baby. She rocked him gently in her arms and cooed. "Are you ready, little Jad? It is well time we rid you of this curse." She looked up at the nervous parents. "Please sit down next to me and put your hands on your son. I would need your help to call on the Spirits."

Waithe noticed Marra and Kane still carried apprehension on their faces. He spoke gently to them. "Be of good hope. The Lady Ceres removed the Taint from me."

Waithe sat down behind Ceres and whispered in her ear. "Would Ker resist you again?"

Ceres whispered a reply. "I do not know. But if she does, you know what to do." She spoke louder now. "I will call on the Life Spirits Phy and Dal. Dal is particularly receptive to little children." She took a deep breath. "I would like all to plea silent prayers for healing. Let us begin."

Ceres closed her eyes and began to hum quietly. For several moments nothing happened. Phy appeared first as a green light, then Dal as an amber light. The lights sparkled as they circled each other in a sort of slow dance. Marra and Kane looked on in wonder. Then the air around Ceres began to shimmer in tiny gentle sparks.

Waithe smiled. Visions of his lost daughter, near the same age as Jad, came to him again in vivid detail.

The baby girl propped herself up on her hands. With a tiny grunt she pulled her knees up under herself and lurched forward, falling back down on her belly. She did it again, moving a tiny step forward each time. A smile came at her accomplishment, no longer would the small rug confine her. There was a world to explore! Waithe scooped her up with a laugh before she reached the crackling fireplace.

The Spirits hovered about Ceres, and slowly, wispy dark tendrils rose from baby Jad, dissipating into the air. This continued for several more moments until there were no more. The baby began to squirm and whimpered faintly. The dancing lights faded away.

Ceres opened her eyes. "It is done. But he is still weak, and I think hungry."

Marra choked back sobs of joy as she cuddled her son. She bared a breast for Jad to nurse, the sounds of suckling, at first faint, then came with gusto. Kane put his arms around both of them and wept.

Ceres smiled broadly as she began to stand, but then the color drained from her face and she stumbled back. Waithe caught her in his arms and carried her to the bed, setting her down gently.

She took a deep breath, but still managed a weak smile. "The Magic drains me. I would rise, if but the house would cease its infernal spinning."

After a few moments, Ceres was able to sit up and take some water and food. At her direction, Waithe prepared a tonic to help her regain strength. After choking down the bitter drink, she laid back and allowed sleep to take her.

The women took the bed while the men spread out bedrolls on the floor. Three times Jad awoke that night in the crib next to his mother, each time his cry of hunger louder. Waithe took that as a good sign. He insisted that Marra take some more food and water with each awakening.

*****

Ceres fluttered her eyes against the sunlight that streamed in through a window. She sat up and lifted her arms in a stretch. Marra lay snoozing beside her.

"Look, young Jad, your healer finally awakens so late in the morning." Waithe held the baby on his lap. Bright eyes tracked her movements and a smile emerged on a small mouth.

Ceres reached over and gently stroked the baby, allowing him to grasp her forefinger. "If but I would wake every morning to such a pure smile, little one. As it be, I must spend my day with a gruff protector."

Ceres turned to Waithe. "Holding a baby suits you, my fierce protector. Last night I saw through your vision again of your little daughter, and felt the joy it brought you, if but for a moment."

His eyes clouded as he nodded. "Aye, my dear Ceres, but then it passed."

Marra stirred and reached for her son, who whimpered as she drew him near. "Hungry again, be we?" She winced as he latched forcefully to her nipple and began to suck.

Ceres said, "He seems well."

"Aye, three times did he nurse last night. Never before has waking in the dark of night given me such happiness. All thanks to you, my Lady."

Kane entered carrying a steaming tray of fry bread prepared over the outside fire pit. He placed the tray down on the table and went over to kiss his wife and to whisper three words in her ear. She smiled. He then brought in the two rocking chairs on the front porch so that all might have a chair and they gathered around the table to eat.

Kane asked, "If I may ask, my Lady, what be this dreadful Taint?"

Ceres replied, "I shall tell the tale as it was told to me. Years ago, during the land wars, there existed a powerful Shaman in the cold North Lands that practiced in the Dark Arts. The touch of too much Magic drove him to madness and he embraced the Darkness that tempts every man's soul, and even the Spirits themselves. He murdered his Lord and Lady and seized control of the North Lands in his greed for power.

She shook her head. "Brutal was his reign, but thankfully short. The Lords of the other Lands became alarmed at his power and banded together to oppose him. Bloody were the battles, but ultimately he came to defeat and a new Lord named. This action, perhaps more than any other, led to the Treaty of Lands, which established the Lords and the boundaries of their Lands and then named an Overlord to oversee the peace. This ended the senseless wars and conquests. But before he fell, he cast a curse on the whole of the Realm. 

"His curse we call the Taint. It rises from Darkness to ravage the lands. Plants would wither and animals fall to it. Famine comes in its wake. It is inexorable, the only fortune be that it advances slowly. Not often, it would strike the human-animal as it did little Jad and earlier to my dear protector, Waithe.

"The Taint comes by Dark Magic, and only by Life Magic may it be cleansed. It be my quest to rid the Realm of it, starting with your land, here and now."

Marra's face brightened. "My Lady, would such a miracle be possible?"

"Aye. I believe it so."

*****

Later that day Ceres turned to Kane and Marra, who watched her from the porch. "For this task, I would call Phy and Anu, the Life Spirits of plants and ecology."

Ceres eyes surveyed the blighted landscape.  With Waithe standing behind her, she knelt on a patch of barren ground and pushed her fingertips into the dry soil. He placed his hands on her shoulders as she closed her eyes and began to hum softly. For moments, all was still.

Phy emerged again as a green light and danced around Ceres. A shiny silver light then appeared, Anu. The lights chased each other around in quick sporadic movements. The chase stopped abruptly when Ceres jerked her head up with a scolding expression.

She murmured to the Spirits with narrowed eyes. "Behave, you two."

She closed her eyes again. The shimmering sparks began to envelop her and then slowly spread across the land, visible even in the afternoon sun. Kane knelt down and extended his hand that he would touch the shimmer as it passed, but it had no solid form. As before, wispy dark mists began to rise from the earth and dissipate. Kane's eyes widened as he stepped back from them, pulling his wife with him.

Again clear visions of his daughter came to Waithe, this time as a toddler.

She bounced along, singing a silly song, and pulled her father by his finger to her small sandbox. She just had to show him the castle she made, carefully landscaped with bits of greenery.

A single tear traced his face as he treasured the memory.

The dark mists faded away, but the shimmer remained about the land as far as he could see. Ceres smiled, her eyes still closed. Phy and Anu began to fly in an ever-widening spiral. Another light, this one indigo, appeared in the sky far above. Waithe wondered what Spirit this might be. At least it did not appear to be as malevolent as Ker.

Withered plants not yet dead began to green and reach up toward the sun. Tiny leaves appeared on some trees and began to grow, casting ever fuller shadows as they devoured the sunlight. Twisted plants in the garden became vibrant and fertile, suddenly yielding vegetables of many kinds. Bright red fruits appeared in the strawberry patch. Kane pulled Marra into an embrace as they watched.

The shimmer and the spirits faded away. Ceres opened her eyes, her face bearing a blissful smile. Waithe helped her to unsteady feet and guided her to the porch, then sat her down in a wooden rocking chair that Kane had retrieved. He took a moment to marvel at the transformation of the land.

She turned toward Kane. "I hope your roof be of good repair, for I also called on Ohm, the Spirit of Clouds. Tonight may bring rain."

Waithe asked, "What may I bring you, my healer of lands?"

Ceres closed her eyes as she rocked. "What I desire, my dear protector, be a taste of those ripe strawberries in the patch."