How I edit my own work - Plus a story to read too - 14

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She thought of the trees where she had spent the happiest times – not when she was an apprentice to Dominic, but when she was a child and her mother was with her.

She produced new trees with her new skills, closing her eyes and conjuring them from her heart. Katherine at last opened her eyes. The trees were not quite the same as the ones she remembered from any woodland or forest that she had encountered in her life; they were taller and more overwhelming and yet, comforting in the familiarity of them.

The paradox puzzled her; she had never seen the like, yet they were familiar. Then she realised, the woodland was an extension of her very self, her own heart.

The flowers she induced to grow in the place where she considered home in this spiritual half-world were bigger, more vibrant in their colours. They were sweeter scented and yet also more delicate. The reds were deeper and more alive and the blues were closer to the sky’s colour. The grass was always green, never brown and dried like hay and it was the softest grass that she had ever walked upon.

Once she understood that her skill came from her heart, she could create anything she desired.

Katherine didn’t dare start forming creatures just yet, she knew she had to go and to create beings and then not be there to keep a watchful eye on them somehow seemed wrong.

Rocks seemed to have a different basic make up, however. Her sense never faltered when it came to recognising those. She realised that rocks had never been living and so they were just there rather than the trees that had lived and therefore had only a rudimentary existence in the spirit world.

Rocks may not have been in her scope of power to create – neither did she want to create rocks, but she found she could move them. At first, all the rocks she found were placed around her realm, designed to keep out anything that ventured close. She remained in self-imposed isolation for a while and she grew maudlin. There was nothing to come and invade her space, yet she built a barrier to keep it out.

When she realised that she needed to protect herself in other ways, she pulled down the wall and created living things to populate her sanctuary.

Contacting trustworthy spirits proved more difficult than Katherine could have imagined.

The spirits occurred infrequently and far between, and even those who she did see were reluctant to allow her close.

Sometimes she would encounter a spirit that did not seem as reluctant, but in those cases, more often than not, Katherine was the reluctant one, avoiding the spirit as though it were a danger to her.

Katherine’s instincts grew and developed with every encounter, she learned signs that she would have missed before. She started to watch for sharp movements, the curl of disdain on a lip and an unkind eye.

Her senses guided her more than she realised, for the spirits she was cautious of could well have been malignant forces, set on harming other spirits to enhance their own power.

She drew back from one imploring spirit, protecting herself even as it held its hand up to her to beseech something from her. Another spirit came into view and the expression of sheer famine about it warned her to leave the beseeching spirit and hide herself.

Drawing herself into a protective veil, she watched. The predatory spirit drew close to the one she had almost helped and even while the spirit looked around, trying to see where Katherine had gone, the predator absorbed it into itself. The spirit dissolved into the host with a whimper that tore at Katherine’s heart more than if it had screamed.

The predator looked up as Katherine gasped but it could not see her, she had drawn her protection around her well.

The predator’s expression of deep satisfaction was replaced by a tormented look. As though the predator spirit needed the sustenance but there was a hefty price to pay for hunting spirits of its own kind.

Katherine understood then, cannibalism had its own punishment in the spirit world. The spirit predator departed in anguish; its hunger sated, it had nothing to distract it from the purgatory it had created.

She was aware of her mother’s warnings and advice. She did need to develop her own sense of self-worth and it may be easy to imagine such an achievement – in reality it is far more difficult. The lesson of the spirit’s absorption stayed with her, haunting her, always on the peripheries of her thoughts.

One morning, Katherine wandered deep in thought along the bank of a wide ravine. She felt compelled to look across the wide gorge and the movements of a figure, also wandering, lost and aimless caught her eye.

On a whim, or perhaps by the same compulsion, she took flight and ascended in a steep climb to descend and drop silent and unnoticed behind the figure she had spied. Recognition swamped her and she gasped aloud, giving the other spirit notice she was there.

Dominic stepped back as though perhaps he thought she would strike him. His expression one of shock; eyes and mouth wide. He recovered his composure swiftly, though wary. Katherine remained serene and calm. She greeted Dominic with a warmth and familiarity that surprised him. He returned the greeting in a similar fashion.

Pretending she only remembered that he was preparing to take her hand, and not that he had taken her life, Katherine engaged Dominic in conversation. She was neither intrusive nor informative. She feigned confusion when she mentioned her death.

“Dominic, I do not recall what happened. You were about to take away the cause of the loss of my visions, but please tell me, how did I die?”

“My darling wife,” the term of endearment surprised her. Katherine had never heard a word fondness from him when she was alive and it surprised her.

“You fainted, lapsed into unconsciousness as I took your hand. I could not staunch the blood flow. I tried to cauterise the wound as you lay on the forest floor, but I had only candles and they did not perform the task. You died in my arms as I wept. I could only watch you pass; crying, ‘Katherine I am sorry, I am so sorry.’ over and over again.”

Katherine managed to affect a wistful air as he told her his version of her death. She decided to give Dominic cause to believe she regretted the decision and therefore, the cause of her own death. “Ah, but I agreed to it, Dominic. The fault then, is mine.”

He nodded and allowed her to blame herself. Katherine was once more reminded that she must kill this spirit. He was a great actor and she at last knew how he had fooled her for the years she was with him.

After a short while of walking in silence together, Katherine asked a question. She knew the way he answered would either help or hinder her task, yet she had to ask it. “Husband, how did you bury my body? Did you follow the proper ceremonies? I was buried whole as I asked?”