The Keys to Remember

By Jodine Turner

In this award winning continuation of the Goddess of the Stars and the Sea trilogy, humankind is once again on the threshold of a spiritual evolution. In fourth century England, six year old Rhianna is kidnapped and raised in a Christian Abbey but has never forgotten grandmothers prophecy Your destiny lies with the Goddess of the Stars and the Sea. She alone must mid-wife the next stage of spiritual evolution, as dark times approach for humanity. Powerful forces within both the Abbey and the priestess community conspire to keep Rhianna from her rightful destiny and her true love. The price of her heroic quest is far higher than she expects.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 1, 2004
• ISBN: 9781450081207

Jodine Turner

Jodine Turner is a multiple award-winning, best-selling author of Visionary Fiction and magical fantasy. While living for a year in Glastonbury, England, the ancient Isle of Avalon, Jodine began writing the Goddess of the Stars and the Sea series about the magical Avalon priestesses throughout the ages to today. Jodine is a founding member of the Visionary Fiction Alliance. She believes Visionary Fiction speaks the language of the soul and makes ancient esoteric wisdom relevant for our modern times, helping to transform consciousness. Jodine met and married her truelove in Glastonbury. They presently live in northern California along with their four magical cats. www.jodineturner.com https://www.facebook.com/JodineTurner.Author/

Book preview

Copyright © 2004 by Jodine Turner.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

26559

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 21

CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER 23

CHAPTER 24

CHAPTER 25

CHAPTER 26

CHAPTER 27

CHAPTER 28

CHAPTER 29

CHAPTER 30

CHAPTER 31

CHAPTER 32

CHAPTER 33

CHAPTER 34

CHAPTER 35

CHAPTER 36

EPILOGUE

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE GODDESS OF

THE STARS AND THE SEA; SHE WHO ASSISTS

HUMANKIND AS WE SPIRITUALLY EVOLVE IN

THIS TURNING OF THE AGES.

1.jpg

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Primary acknowledgement goes to the Goddess of the Stars and the Sea with Her divine inspiration. I have delivered your message. I hope I have done well.

I would like to express heartfelt appreciation to Donna Hanelin, facilitator of my writing group. Thank you for your creative suggestions throughout. You helped me flesh out the emotional depth of my story. And thank you John Holland, fellow writer, and member of my writing group. Your ability to extract the underlying themes helped me to clarify much of what I wrote about.

A sincere thank you goes to Lesley Kellas Payne. You taught me about craft, encouraged the telling of my story, and gave me sound advice.

Crystal Banister, extraordinary cover artist, thank you for putting my vision of the Goddess of the Stars and the Sea into beautiful form.

Alissa Lukara, I so appreciate your copy-editing and the delightful muse that you are. Thank you Shoshana, Tiziana, and Lori.

Chris, my dear husband—our sacred relationship is pure inspiration to me.

PROLOGUE

The stars awaken Me from My dreamtime.

Am I needed? I murmur sleepily.

I hear their silver response and feel the angels gather round me.

Ah. Again humankind calls to me.

I, the Goddess of the Stars and the Sea, look down upon the earth, gaze deeply into the affairs of men. The consciousness of humanity is ready to take its next step.

Is the one named Geodran prepared to assist me?

The angels smile brightly. She is called Rhianna in this life. She has returned to help you. But she is young and remembers little of you.

As it should be. She will know Me as the calling grows stronger.

Again, I peer into the hearts of men. I hope I am not too late.

CHAPTER 1

Unbidden visions are the most powerful, sure to come true. Tonight, grandmother’s visions came unbidden.

Grandmother had trained the second sight most of her life, had shaped it to her will. This vision frightened her. She rubbed her gnarled hands over her eyes, vainly tried to push away the unwanted images for her granddaughter’s sake. The child was innocent, asleep in the corner of the wattle and daub cottage, unaware of grandmother’s ominous foreboding.

The night didn’t ease grandmother’s discomfort. It was chill outside, with a thick darkness that made grandmother’s wrinkled skin form tiny goose bumps. Unusual for mid-summer, even in the misty mountains of northern Cymru. The moon’s dark cycle formed deep penetrating shadows in the woods outside the walls of the cottage. Even the stars were obscured by a cloudy sky, their muted light no competition for the tallow candles burning on the kitchen table. The forest animals were silent, no wolf’s howl or night bird’s call to interrupt grandmother’s anguish.

The fire in the hearth was nearly out. Grandmother shivered, wrapped her shawl tightly about her frail shoulders, pulled a corner of it over her thick white hair to keep her head warm. Groaning, she stood from her stool, made her way toward the fireplace, and fed it another log.

Grandmother knew what must be done, knew she had to act quickly before anything could interfere with her granddaughter’s destiny. She had a plan. She would rouse Rhianna, gather some belongings. Bread, cheese, and some apples to sustain them. A blanket, cloak, clothes suitable for travel, and her purse of coins. They would need to leave tonight. She wondered if her aged body would hold up for such a journey.

Grandmother walked over to the makeshift bed in the far corner of the cottage’s living area, gently shook young Rhianna, stroked her long red hair.

Wake up child, she murmured softly.

Rhianna rolled sleepily onto her side, snuggled into grandmother’s soft folds. She smelled of earth and grass from her day’s play, mingled with the sweet smell of the young. Nana, I had a dream.

Shh! Tell me, but speak softly or you’ll wake your parents.

I was scared. I was walking in the woods. Just like we do every day. But it was dark. I was lost and I couldn’t find you, Rhianna whispered.

Acht, the forest is your friend. And here is your Nana, right at your side.

But Nana, there is more. I was alone, and then all of a sudden, everything was like the stories you always tell me. The forest grew bright and the moon came out and the flowers danced all around me.

That is a beautiful dream, Rhianna.

And then She came.

Who? Grandmother’s heart raced.

The most beautiful lady I have ever seen. She was as tall as the sky itself. She took me to a special place. An island covered with mist. There was a huge hill and at the bottom of the hill was a well with flowing red water. Rhianna’s face glowed with dreamy delight.

Did the lady tell you her name?

No, but she said I was to come and live with her by the well with the red waters.

Grandmother nodded, smiled.

It is time for us to leave now. Grandmother pulled some warm clothes from the tiny cupboard next to Rhianna’s sleeping mat.

She is not going anywhere, a deep voice said from the doorway.

Effan, Rhianna’s father, stepped into the main living area from the only private bedroom in the small cottage. He was followed closely by his wife, Breagh, who clung tightly to his arm.

Grandmother snorted. Don’t meddle in things beyond your knowing, woodsman.

I know enough. You try to steal her away from us.

Breagh was silent, eyes downcast.

I’ve told her nothing about leaving. She’s discovered it herself.

She is only six. What can she know? Effan pulled away from his wife, stood with his arms folded across his chest.

Breagh wrung her hands, as was her habit when she was distraught. You fill her head with dangerous nonsense, mother.

Rhianna has the sight, just like I do. Only stronger. Just like you, Breagh, if you would allow it.

Breagh shook her head, wiped away the tears that began to stream down her face. I do not want it. It betrayed me.

You used it for selfish reasons.

I was barren. It never helped me to conceive. Breagh’s hands protectively covered her womb.

Effan stepped forward. Enough. Keep your soothsaying to yourself.

That is not what you say when you wish to bend the world to your wishes, grandmother replied.

Effan’s brown eyes were ablaze. You’re done charming Rhianna and Breagh with your nonsense. It stops now. Effan’s voice reverberated through the small cottage.

Mother, please. For Rhianna’s sake, leave her be. Breagh stepped out from behind her husband, ran to Rhianna’s bed, put a protective arm around the child. You no longer know what is real and what is not.

Grandmother pulled Rhianna’s hair aside, pointed to the faint, star shaped birthmark on the nape of the child’s neck. "You are my daughter, Breagh, but I tell you true, I wonder if my blood

runs in your veins, for you still do not see the obvious."

The birthmark means nothing, Breagh cried.

No. It means everything. You may be of my blood, but you know well Rhianna is not of yours.

Keep your mouth shut, old woman, Effan shouted.

Breagh pulled Rhianna to her bosom, stroked her.

You can no longer deny it, Breagh, grandmother said. I’ve known of the child’s destiny since you brought her to this cottage. The child has seen it, too. She has dreamed of Ynis Witrin and of the Goddess who presides over the well with red water.

Breagh gasped. I will not lose her to any Goddess. Or to those who dwell beside the Red Well at Ynis Witrin.

Effan pointed his finger at grandmother. We will not allow it.

There is nothing you can do. It is where she belongs.

She is ours, Breagh said, crying, pleading.

She never was. You knew that when you found her in the woods. Ynis Witrin reclaims her.

Stop, Breagh sobbed. Say no more, I beg you. She is too young to hear this.

Don’t cry, mama. Young Rhianna reached up, touched Breagh’s cheek.

No need to worry, dear Rhianna, Effan said. Da has taken care of everything.

What do you mean? grandmother demanded.

I have seen to it that those of the Red Well never claim the child.

You cannot meddle with Rhianna’s destiny, grandmother protested.

I will do what is best for the child.

Then you will let me take her to the Red Well?

No. Effan’s jaw visibly tightened. I will make sure Rhianna is safe, hidden. I’ve arranged with the nuns of Dimsters Abbey to come and fetch Rhianna. They are to take her back to the convent and raise her there. No one will meddle with the child on the holy ground of the Abbey.

We sent word to the nuns yesterday, Breagh added, wiping her wet face with her tattered sleeve. I will not have Rhianna raised in the old ways. Those ways have brought you nothing but trouble.

No. They have brought me fulfillment, grandmother said.

Rhianna is my gift from the Christian God. She will learn to worship Him. He is the God I must repay.

So my visions are true. You will stand in the way of her destiny.

We are her parents. We make her destiny now, Effan said.

If the priestesses of Ynis Witrin take Rhianna, I will never see her again. Breagh covered her face with her hands.

I love Rhianna just as much as you. But I cannot allow this, grandmother cried. Ynis Witrin calls her. That call must be obeyed. If she does not go, all I see is sorrow for her.

Grandmother paused, her eyes clouded over in trance. Sorrow. And her demise.

Breagh gasped. Stop. You try to bend us to your will with fear.

Effan pounded his fist on the kitchen table. We will no longer listen to you, soothsayer.

I merely tell you what I see. Ynis Witrin calls her. Now.

Rhianna will not be answering that call. Effan picked up Rhianna, carried her to the tiny bedroom. Breagh followed close behind, swiftly slamming the door shut with trembling hands.

The loud click of the lock and bolt assured Rhianna’s confinement. Grandmother blinked back tears of frustration. She would find a way to guarantee Rhianna’s future, her safety. She would not rest until she had done so.

CHAPTER 2

The voices from behind the bedroom door were barely muffled. Breagh and Effan argued, an old argument freshly roused by grandmother’s attempt to take Rhianna to Ynis Witrin. Effan condemned grandmother. Breagh, torn between love and fear of her mother, her duty to her husband, and the anguish of losing Rhianna, pleaded for her husband to calm his temper. Rhianna begged them to stop, to let her out of the bedroom.

Grandmother had to act. The chickens and the old cow were already rustling in their pens outside the cottage door. The turning of night into dawn approached, the time of potent magic. Less powerful than twilight, but grandmother couldn’t wait until then.

She hobbled over to her sleeping mats. Her crumpled mat rested in a deep shelf cut into the far wall of the living area. Grandmother pulled out a large deer skin bag from a hidden corner under her mat and reached inside. Her fingers searched until they found all the items she needed. A special candle— short, squat and yellowed with use, blessed by the full moon’s light on the shortest day of the year. A lock of Rhianna’s baby hair, silky and red. An old wooden bowl, carved generations ago, passed on to her from her teacher of the wise ways. Grandmother ran her fingers over the ancient carvings, their secret meaning known only to the teachers of the wise ways and their apprentice students. She silently mouthed the mysterious words to awaken the magical powers imbued in the bowl. She would use these secret implements to turn the tide of events to Rhianna’s favor.

Grandmother stepped outside and quickly walked the short distance into the nearby woods. She turned and looked back at the cottage, checked to see if anyone followed. She sighed in relief. No one had noticed her leaving. She could still hear Effan’s yelling punctuated by Breagh’s pleading and Rhianna’s sobbing. Beautiful, innocent Rhianna. The child’s sobbing caught at her heart, but grandmother forced herself to continue. She walked farther into the woods until she reached a small creek the family used for drinking, washing, and bathing.

She knelt beside the creek and leaned over to fill her special carved bowl with water as she had done so many times before. Her face over the bowl, she spit into it three times, then lit the yellowed candle. Next, her eyes closed in concentration, she swirled the water thrice moonwise with the lock of Rhianna’s baby hair while she softly chanted the seeress’ invocation. Grandmother opened her eyes and peered into the water. Nothing appeared. Grandmother repeated her ritual, chanting louder, deeper. Still, she saw nothing in the water save the image of her own wrinkled features, her brow furrowed in worry and frustration. She grunted. She didn’t have the physical strength to take the child away from Effan. This she could do only by magic. Her simple ritual had to work. She must get a message to the priestesses of Ynis Witrin. Tell them of Rhianna.

Grandmother tried a third time and, again, failed to rouse the power needed. She had never trained in the High Arts at Ynis Witrin, the arts said to have come from a powerful Goddess in a time long ago. But she had apprenticed with a good enough teacher here in the mountains of her homeland. Her magic had never failed her before.

Grandmother lowered her eyes and fought back the guilt that rose like strong bile from her stomach, the same guilt that had plagued her since her dear Rhianna had first come into her life. Grandmother had put a charm on Rhianna when Effan found her in the woods six years ago. Breagh had begged her to do so, barren as she was, ten years unable to conceive an infant of her own. Grandmother had felt sorry for Breagh, the only daughter of her womb. Grandmother was well aware of the ramifications of using the magic for personal gain. Against her better judgment, she had fashioned the charm. A strong one to keep the eyes of magic, the eyes of Rhianna’s true parentage, from ever finding her.

Shortly after she cast the charm, the visions of Rhianna’s true destiny started. First they appeared in grandmother’s dreams; then the visions intruded on her waking state. Guilt pulled at grandmother, but still she strengthened the charm yearly, as any good spell maker would. She pushed her guilt aside, for it wasn’t only Breagh who had fallen in love with gentle Rhianna. Grandmother had fought her guilt until tonight when new, more ominous visions pierced her awareness, visions threatening Rhianna. Grandmother became acutely aware of her wrongdoing in making such charms. So portentous was the child’s destiny, that even Rhianna was visited with a sighting of her own true fate.

Grandmother felt the stirrings of a soft breeze, and with a touch as gentle as a lover’s caress, the breeze stroked grandmother’s arms and blew at the back of her neck. She smelled the sweet tinge of power in the air. Strong power. Grandmother held her breath. A vague image formed before her. It rippled in the air, shimmered like a swirling, vaporous cloud of iridescent colors. Slowly the multi-colored cloud coalesced. Grandmother blinked hard. Before her stood the ethereal figure of a woman, tall and lithe, her features slowly growing clearer. For the first time in her life, grandmother did not know what she had conjured.

You work on behalf of the child? the woman asked softly.

Her image faded in and out, but the golden luminescence of her skin and the unusual silver of her hair glittered in the air. She was both young and ageless.

Yes, but who are you? I called upon the priestesses of Ynis Witrin.

As you perhaps should have done six years ago?

There was no harshness in the woman’s voice, but the truth stung grandmother like a bumblebee, probing her guilt. Grandmother lowered her head. Yes.

The soft breeze gently lifted grandmother’s chin, holding her gaze even with that of the ethereal woman. Kindness flowed from those pale blue eyes, seeped slowly into grandmother’s body. Tears of regret and hope for absolution flowed down grandmother’s cheeks. I have made a charm to hide the child. How can I right what I have done?

You cannot change the charm you have set in motion. It is now up to Rhianna to work her way back to her true destiny. The woman’s voice was firm.

I cannot bear that! Not after what I have seen in my vision earlier tonight. Sorrow and grief will follow her like a stalking wolf.

She is still under the care of the Goddess of the Red Well. Her salvation rests in the hands of that Goddess.

Yet I cannot forgive myself. I fear I have brought her harm with my intrusions. All I wanted was to appease my daughter and protect the child.

The woman did not answer.

I cannot allow Effan and Breagh to further my mistake. What they do will take her further away from what is rightfully hers.

As I said, what has been set in motion cannot be changed. Not now at least. In due time, Rhianna will have to reclaim what has been lost.

You still have not told me who you are to know these things?

You do not recognize me?

No, I have never seen you. Grandmother paused, peered closer. Although there is something familiar about you.

I am Geodran, the first priestess of the Red Well at Ynis Witrin. I was sent there long ago by a Goddess beautiful beyond mortal description. I traveled from a land beyond the end of the Western Sea, from the back of the North Wind. I traveled from my homeland, Atlantis.

Grandmother gasped. The ancient stories were true then. The Red Well held a power, a secret, and the memories of a Goddess who could open the doors to immortality. The priestesses of Ynis Witrin spoke of such a One, but none claimed to have seen Her.

Why do you honor me with your presence? I have never trained at Ynis Witrin, and I have dishonored Rhianna’s destiny.

I come because you acted from love and for the safety of Rhianna. Know that stronger powers than you attempt to thwart her destiny. Indeed, with or without you, she is carried farther from Ynis Witrin and those who would teach her.

Will you stop the nuns of Dimsters Abbey from claiming her?

Only the Goddess can truly claim anyone.

Then why does She allow this?

Geodran looked deep into grandmother’s eyes. Rhianna must now find her own way despite the strong forces mounted against her. Her will and faith alone shall prove her worth to the Goddess of the Stars and the Seas, She who is revered at the Red Well.

Grandmother felt a strange sensation in the depth of her belly, her place of power. She resisted it. Perhaps you will watch and wait for Rhianna to come into her own. I cannot.

Geodran’s eyes grew sorrowful. She reached her hand out to touch grandmother. Grandmother pulled away.

Do you still not see who I am? Geodran asked.

Grandmother shook her head.

Rhianna and I are one. I am who Rhianna was, many lifetimes ago.

I have roused the ancestors? What wrath do I incur upon myself and my family?

There is no wrath to befall you.

Then why do you appear? To taunt me with my wrong doing? If Rhianna is meant to be in Ynis Witrin, then she should go. Why won’t you make it so?

I come to soothe, not accuse. Receive my message. Discard your guilt, for it will only bring you sorrow. Fate is up to Rhianna now. The Goddess of the Stars and the Seas never abandons those She calls to service.

And I will not abandon Rhianna either.

Hear my words. You must not interfere. The soft breeze grew strong.

The sound of horse hooves and human voices startled grandmother. She turned to glance back at the cottage, briefly watched three riders dismount and knock loudly on the cottage door.

Rhianna will come into her true power when she finds the necklace of the Red Well. The necklace will bind her to the Goddess of the Stars and the Sea and to her true destiny.

Grandmother turned back around again. What did you say? What necklace? How can she find this necklace?

Geodran was gone, leaving only the muted colors of early sunrise to filter through the circle of trees where she had stood. Confused and frustrated, Grandmother kicked her precious seeress bowl. The wooden bowl flew high in the air and landed on the rocks in the stream with a loud thud. Grandmother stared as the bowl cracked