She almost had to laugh at the intensity of Duncan’s expression as he searched for the answer.
«He’s the archangel for earth», he said after a studied pause. «And his name is…his name is…I forget! It’s too hard!»
«Never mind, darling. You got it partly right. He is the archangel of the earth, and his name is Uriel. Say ‘Uriel,’ both of you».
«Ur-i-el», the boys repeated obediently.
«Good. Now, see, Duncan, your mother has lit Uriel’s candle, and now she comes back around to the east, because the east is the source of light, where the sun comes up. When setting Wards, we always start and finish in the east, to do honor to the Light of God. Will you remember that for me?»
Both boys nodded solemnly as Vera returned to the table and knelt to set down her candle with its mate. They watched with fascination as she took a charcoal brazier from under the table and set it between the two candles, brought out a small dish of incense with a spoon of carved horn.
She held her hands over the charcoal for only a few seconds before it began to smolder, to the boys’ chortling delight. She gave them a stern glance, which at least produced silence, then spooned a few grains of incense onto the glowing charcoal and raised the censer a little toward the altar, inclining her head slightly in homage.
«Stetit Angelus justa aram temple», she murmured, continuing the phrase as she set the censer down long enough to get to her feet.
«Mummy, what she said?» Alaric demanded in a loud whisper, tugging impatiently at his mother’s sleeve.
«Shhh. Those are ancient words of blessing, darling», Alyce explained. «She said, ‘An angel came and stood before the altar of the temple, having a golden censer in his hand…’»
As the fragrant smoke spiraled upward, dispersing in the draft from a partially opened window, Vera picked up the brazier and carried it toward the eastern quarter again, again speaking in Latin.
«Ab illo benedicaris, in cujus honore cremaberis, Amen».
«‘Be thou blessed by Him in Whose honor thou shalt be burned,’» Alyce translated for her two rapt listeners. «Now, watch what happens as she walks around us to visit the other quarters. She’s tracing out a circle to protect us. It’s possible that you may see something in the smoke she leaves in her path. Tell me if you notice anything strange».
As Vera traced the circle with incense, Alyce could feel and see the next layer of energy being built around them. A glance at the two children confirmed that they, too, were aware that something was happening. By the time Vera had returned to the center of the circle to cense the three of them, Alaric was craning his neck to look at the candle-marked boundaries, squinting as if trying to focus on something that was not quite clear to his untrained eyes.
«What did Auntie Vera do, Mummy?» he whispered, tugging at her sleeve again and looking again at the candles. «Something funny. I see it, but I don’t. It’s all fuzzy».
«Shhh, just watch», Alyce murmured, resting her hands on both the boys’ shoulders.
The incense was back on the table, and now Vera moved around the circle again, this time sprinkling the perimeter with water from a small earthen bowl. When she had completed her third circuit, the haze of the protective circle was unmistakable. Alaric’s cherubic face was wreathed in smiles, and Duncan’s a study in delight as he pointed out the golden glow to his cousin. As Vera came to kneel before them with her bowl of water, Alyce caught their gaze and laid a finger across her lips for silence.
The two watched intently as first Alyce and then Vera dipped two fingers in the water and blessed themselves. But this, at least, they understood, for they had done it many times before. Very solemnly, for children so young, each of the boys followed suit, neither of them spilling even a drop in their determination to do things correctly. Both of them watched expectantly as Vera set the water bowl on the little table and changed places with Alyce.
Alyce could feel the boys’ eyes following her as she went to the other side of the table and unsheathed the sword, heard their little gasps of wondering as she lifted it point-upward before her and moved toward the eastern Ward. With both hands wrapped around the hilt to steady the weight of the weapon, she brought the hilt to eye-level and closed her eyes, breathing a silent invocation from a bygone time, whose precise sense was no longer accessible to conscious thought. The crimson light of the vigil lamp and the warmer fire of the eastern candle burnished her face to richest gold, save where the shadow of the quillons fell across her forehead.
She extended the sword in salute then, the hood slipping from her pale hair as she threw back her head and gazed for an instant along the length of shining blade, her eyes momentarily dazzled by a light brighter than mere reflected fire, which rippled along the polished metal.
Then she was lowering the tip of the sword to touch the floor, turning to the right to trace the circle of protection a third and final time. Golden light followed her blade where the sword passed, merging and growing with the earlier glow to rise in an increasing wall that curved inward far above their heads.
She could not see anything besides the light as she walked, though she could feel Vera’s sustaining strength adding to her own and knew that the boys were watching with awe. As she completed the circuit, she felt the shielding canopy of the circle close above their heads with a satisfyingly hollow surge of energy, a golden hemisphere of light that obscured what lay outside.
She saluted the east again, then brought the blade to ground and laid it on the floor at the foot of the eastern candle. She could feel the prickling, tingling sensation of the circle’s protection surrounding them all as she returned to her son’s side and crouched down beside him, disarming his apprehension with a smile. Vera had already drawn Duncan away from his cousin, the pair of them standing closer beside the table, and was speaking with him quietly.
«Alaric, my love», Alyce murmured to her son, lightly touching his forearm with one hand. «Did you like what Mummy did?»
Alaric rolled his eyes upward to study the canopy of light again, then pursed his lips speculatively, nodding. «Mummy made light», he said in a whisper. «How you did that, Mummy?»
«One day you shall learn, my love. Just now, though, Mummy has to help Aunt Vera for a little while. Will you do something for me while I’m busy?»
At his nodded assent, she tucked the fur-lined cape more closely around his baby legs and moved his almost-forgotten candle a little closer to his crossed feet. Alaric was already intrigued, watching everything she did with great interest.
«I’d like you to watch this candle for me», she said.
His eyes darted obediently to the flame, and Alyce brushed his forehead with her hand, watched the grey eyes go glassy, the long-lashed eyelids droop in trance.
«That’s right. Now sleep a little while, my love. Go to sleep».
Another touch, a passing of her hand downward, and the grey eyes closed, the white-gold head nodding against the chest. Alyce touched her lips lightly to her son’s forehead and sealed his sleep, then returned to where Vera was kneeling beside the standing Duncan, one hand steadying the candle he held in his two chubby ones.
«Very good», Vera was saying, as Alyce came to kneel on Duncan’s other side. «Now, I want to ask you another question. Can you tell me the difference between right and wrong?»
Duncan nodded confidently, the light of his candle reflecting twin stars in the enlarged pupils of his baby eyes.
«You can? Well, then, will you tell me about something that’s wrong?» Vera encouraged.
Again, Duncan nodded. «It’s wrong to break promises, and — and to hurt people and animals, and make them cry. I don’t like to hurt things, Mummy».