I didn’t know where I was going. The abbot didn’t ask much of me, so I wanted to find Brother Norton for him. If I was him, where would I go? I heard a strange sound coming from the trees and stopped. What was that? A flute? It sounded weird and unfamiliar. I found a deer path and took it into the woods.
It was darker, cooler here. The May breeze didn’t stir. It smelled like moss, and the earth was moist beneath my feet. I could still hear the flute, lilting, but it was faint. My heart beat into my ears like a Druidic drum.
A young girl, perhaps thirteen, stepped out from the brambles and startled me. She was very pale and thin, wearing nothing but a filthy shift. Her feet were bare, and her arms were scratched. Her matted and tangled hair kept tiny blossoms and blooms as if they had grown there. She was eating something, looked like a ripe sort of fruit that I had never seen around here. It was too early for fruit. She wiped her mouth with her dirty hand and smiled. She offered me the half eaten thing that she held out to me.
I shook my head. “No thank you. Have you seen my brother? He’s dressed like me.” I plucked at the skirt of my cassock.
She tossed the fruit into a thicket, waking little buntings who rose up like spirits and vanished into the morning shadows. She walked towards me. I noticed her left eye was a bit lazy. As she approached the hair rose up on the back of my neck, and I shivered. Then she laughed and ran off like a doe. “Hey!” She was gone as was the eerie flute. I rubbed my head. What was that? Birds? Insects? I don’t remember hearing it before. Then something stirred in the leaves to my left. I looked back. It was Brother Norton. Thank God.
