The Alewife

<p><em>The Alewife brews libations for men</em><br><em>Fate cometh soon though know she not when</em><br><em>Guide foe and friend though know she not who</em><br><em>All from the depths of her bubbling brew.</em></p><p> </p><p><strong>She would soon be dead.</strong></p><p>Kellett knows this with the certainty of a woman trapped. As the village alewife she spends her days brewing golden comfort for the men of the village and her nights surviving the cruelty of one: her husband. Her only solace is the hearth fire and the watchful green eyes of Dagda the black cat who never leaves her side.</p><p>But the night her husband's cruelty turns to violence Kellett makes a choice. She doesn't run to the neighbors who turn a blind eye. She runs to the forbidden dark of the forest.</p><p>The villagers say the woods are haunted. They are right.</p><p>Deep beneath the ancient canopy Kellett is found not by wolves but by a woman who remembers the world before the church bells rang. Under her tutelage Kellett learns that the forest is not a place of death but of power. She learns that there is a thin veil between the world of men and the world of magic-and she has the power to tear it down.</p><p>She fled the village a victim. She will return a force of nature.</p><p><strong>They called her a witch. She proved them right.</strong></p>