We took Norman Hall's most nondescript carriage that evening. There are some events at which a fine lady wishes to make an impression upon the larger community. A dark-moon witches' esbat in a snowy forest isn't one of them.
I wore the clothes Mother had selected for me: A festive white blouse, hand-embroidered with red and green thread; a red felt vest that served as a sort of bodice; long woolen stockings that climbed above my knees; and a long red skirt that began far above my waist. All this lay beneath a heavy blue riding robe with a deep hood. My mother's was identical.
Faerie Rock lay only about a mile from Norman Hall, but the track that led there was rough and slow, made slower still by the moonless sky. Eventually one of the two footmen accompanying us dismounted and led our four-horse team up the forest path that climbed toward the ridge above.
Mother had nothing to say, and so I let my mind replay the events of my afternoon "nap." How young Herbert - Father's page and Mother's youthful plaything - had pleasured me. The taste of his first orgasm in my mouth. My urgent pleadings for him to fuck me, hymen be damned. Our first assfuck together. Our mutual orgasm. And then the denouement, just a friendly game of lick and stroke in a private bed, with the sun dipping below the horizon.
The carriage rolled to a halt, and the door opened to reveal the second footman, holding our lantern.
"There's a group ahead on the path," he reported. "Holding torches."
"Have the other two remain here," Mother instructed. "You shall accompany us."
The snow beneath our feet was days old and well compacted, so it crunched and squeaked beneath our boots. Just twenty feet away stood three hooded figures, illuminated by the flicker of pitch torches. It felt ominous, mysterious - and yes - dangerously erotic.
"Oh hey there Lady," said a voice I instantly recognized as Big Mary the midwife. "It's me, Mary. How you doing there, younger lady? And who's the big fella?"
"One of our footmen," Mother said. "Remind me, young man, what your name is?"
"Aethelbjorn, my lady," he replied boldly.
Mother gave him a withering stare. "Really?" she asked after an uncomfortable pause.
"Not really," he confessed, shuffling his feet and casting his eyes down. "It's actually ... Neville."
"Neville," she said, rolling the word around on her tongue, before returning her gaze to Big Mary. "This is our footman, 'Aethelbjorn,' and he's my date for the evening. Are we on time?"
"Fashionably late," Big Mary said. "But that's very stylish these days. Builds tension. Suspense! Big night!"
One of Big Mary's two robed companions cleared his throat.
"Whoops!" Mary said. "You know Roger, the Blacksmith..."
The taller of the hooded figures gave a clipped bow.
"And then this is Larry," she said, indicating the second man.
"Larry... the what?" Mother asked.
"Just... Larry," Big Mary said, then shrugged.
"My identity is more than just my job," Larry replied, instantly indignant. His voice was high-pitched, nasal and possessed all the transitive properties of annoyance. "But if you must know, I'm a scrivener. An apprentice scrivener."
Big Mary shuffled her boots in the snow and stared off into the distance.
"Well then, Larry, I'm pleased to meet you," Mother said. "This is my daughter, Lady Catherine Tracie Lourdes Rhys-Muffington, the soon-to-be-20-year-old daughter of the second baron of Rumpole."
"And she's actually a virgin?" Larry asked skeptically. "Because we get a lot of people who CLAIM to be virgins. And the second baron of Rumpole does carry something of a disreputable reputation."
"I can assure you her maidenhead is fully intact, and awaits your ritual destruction," Mother said.
"It's so nice of you to provide your sweet Catherine for tonight's event on such short notice," Big Mary interjected. "There's just so much demand for virgins this time of year, and the local supply is small enough that it's become a bit of a seller's market. Who was the girl from last year's ceremony? Do you recall?"
"Harriet the Plumbers Daughter," Roger said.
"Yes," Big Mary said. "I remember now. Nice girl, but as a ritual virgin she proved rather... sub-optimal, I'm afraid."
"It's difficult to get that full magical benefit from a cynical virgin with a bad attitude," Roger observed. "Just kinda harshes the groove for the whole group."
"For the record," I announced, inserting myself into the conversation, "since Mother retrieved me from the convent earlier this week, I've taken two cocks in my mouth, two cocks up my ass, I've had my lady parts licked by a very strange nun, and I've enjoyed three excellent petit mortes. So I'm technically a virgin. But only technically."
"Technically a virgin isn't a virgin," Larry snapped. "Not in my grimoire!"
"Oh, now Larry," Big Mary corrected him gently while patting his upper arm. "You don't actually HAVE a grimoire. I only loaned you mine."
"But it's my turn to..."
"Please forgive Larry," Big Mary interrupted. "It's a long story. Shall we continue the conversation when we get to the rock? It's just up there."
"Let's," Mother said. And the six of us hoofed it up the snowy track through the dark forest.
Faerie Rock wasn't a place I'd ever visited, except in my childhood imagination. There it was a fantastical place where unicorns and winged magical creatures flitted about amongst brightly colored flowers and rainbows. In the real world it was a collection of stones - some of them as old as time, others hewn and arranged to complete a hilltop circle.
But this was no ordinary magic circle atop a barren hilltop, with views to the distant horizon. This one sheltered beneath a grove of stately trees, many of them dating back centuries.
And in the center of that circle, a bonfire.
"Oh! There they are!" announced Reedy Rachel, Big Mary's partner in both life and midwifery. "The virgin's here!"
"Good thing too," said another female voice. "This witch's tits are as cold as a witch's tit!"
Everyone came over to welcome us. In addition to Mary and Rachel, there were five other women and four additional men. After hellos and hugs, members of the coven brought us metal mugs - one for each of us, and we toasted: "To new beginnings!" My draught tasted unlike anything I'd ever experienced - musty, earthy, with hints of flowered herbs and honey.
"Now, Catherine, we're going to prepare the circle," Mary said. "Wait here and watch, and follow your mother's lead when we summon you. Alrightee?"
"Sure," I said. But my voice sounded far away and distorted, like a bubble rising to the surface of a bog.