The Third Witch by Rebecca Reisert

From Barnes & Noble

Rebecca Reisert's debut novel is a richly imagined, mesmerizing tale that revisits Shakespeare's story of Macbeth through the eyes of a fiercely independent and mysterious young woman, one of the three "witches" who foretell Macbeth's ascendance to the Scottish throne. Through young Gilly's eyes, we witness Macbeth's rapacious hunger for power and paranoic madness -- even as Gilly relentlessly pursues her own mad quest for vengeance.

From the Publisher

In this stirring debut novel, Rebecca Reisert enters the world of Shakespeare's Macbeth, in which a young woman's search for vengeance plunges her into a legendary tale of deceit, murder, and retribution....

I have made my life an arrow, and His heart is my home. I have made my life a blade, and His heart is my sheath....So pledges Gilly, vowing to destroy Macbeth, the most powerful man in medieval Scotland. She escapes from the hut in Birnam Wood in which she has lived for the past seven years, ever since she was taken in by Nettle and Mad Helga — wise women whose powers are widely feared and reviled. Disguising herself as a servant boy, Gilly finds work in the kitchen of her enemy's castle. Soon she insinuates herself into the lives of Macbeth and his beautiful, dangerous wife, subtly manipulating the forces governing their fate. But as Gilly moves closer to her private revenge, she finds herself at risk when she confronts the startling legacy of a long-concealed heritage.

Publishers Weekly

For her first novel, high school teacher Reisert gives herself a tough assignment: rewriting Macbeth from the perspective of one of the three witches, here a feisty teenager named Gillyflower, or Gilly. It's an audacious approach that occasionally yields fresh insights, but more often strips bare the chilling allure of the play. The story is that Gilly, having served seven years in Birnam Wood with the witches Nettle and Mad Helga, is ready to seek revenge against Macbeth, who slaughtered her family. Disguised as a cheeky lad, she lands a job in Macbeth's kitchen and then cases the castle, once even climbing up Macbeth's private latrine shaft to eavesdrop on the conniving spouses. But there are distractions, such as her growing attachment to the orphan boy Pod, a young "moonling" she rescues in the woods. And various characters from the play keep implausibly demanding her friendship, including Banquo's son Fleance, and King Duncan's son Prince Malcolm ("Kitchen lad... Without your aid I fear I will perish in earnest"). Soon Gilly has more than Zelig-like ubiquity in the castle: she becomes the prime mover, implicated in everything from the Macduff family's slaughter to the appearance of Banquo's ghost. Reisert even uses Gilly to justify the Macbeths' marriage, as if their intimacy needed explanation. The supple language distantly evokes the poetry of the original ("I am a gapeseed, a strutting hobbledee horse, full of fury and threats but able to do nothing but playact"), yet what's best here is the fetid atmosphere, and the intriguing exploration of the place of women in macho Scotland. But Reisert overdoes the latter, concocting a cheery ending better suited to a politically correctfairy tale than to a female-centric Macbeth. 5-city author tour. (Oct.) Forecast: Fans of Rosalind Miles's Guenevere trilogy will appreciate this title. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Reisert's first novel is a satisfying coming-of-age account of loss and loneliness and of revenge and its consequences. It tells the story of the young foundling named Gilly living in Birnam Wood with Nettle and Helga, who take her in after Macbeth's deeds leave her homeless. Though she is considered a witch, Gilly is also just a young woman driven by ordinary but powerful emotions. Her goal is Macbeth's destruction, and the action relates closely to Shakespeare's play, offering considerable tension and suspense for those who know that story. Reisert, a playwright who has also directed four productions of Macbeth, offers an intimate look at life in an 11th-century castle from the servant's point of view, portraying a period in history that is somewhat neglected in fiction. Though Gilly's journeys in pursuit of her goal put her in unlikely circumstances, she is believable as a strong, dynamic, and sympathetic heroine who struggles with her emotions and personal identity. Fans of historical fiction will enjoy this novel; recommended for all public libraries. Jean Langlais, St. Charles P.L., IL Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

The story of Macbeth's downfall told from the point of view of the title character, a young girl out to avenge her father's murder. Since early childhood, Gilly has lived in Birnam Wood with Nettle and Mad Helga, who scrounge out a livelihood concocting herbal remedies and scavenging among the battlefield dead. Adolescent Gilly fancies herself "an arrow of vengeance" aimed at Macbeth, whom she blames for the destruction of her original family. She nags the kindly old women until finally Helga promises she will help bring down Macbeth if Gilly can bring her three pieces of his heart. Full of self-importance and hate, Gilly sets out. She pretends to be a boy to get work into the kitchen of Macbeth's castle and plot his destruction. She also befriends Banquo's studious son Fleance and good King Duncan's handsome son Malcolm. Sneaking into the couple's chamber, she overhears a conversation between Macbeth and his wife, who the reader will not be surprised to learn is Gilly's mother. Realizing the "three pieces" of Macbeth's heart are his loyalty to the king, his love of his wife, and his longing to be king himself, Gilly returns to Birnam Wood and goads Nettle and Helga into a meeting with Macbeth in which they will pretend to foresee his future. Back at the castle, she witnesses Duncan's death and helps Malcolm get away, then unsuccessfully tries to save Banquo and manages to rescue Fleance. Her sense of responsibility for these deaths and that of Lady Macduff, who showed her great affection, gnaws at Gilly's conscience, but she steels herself against emotion. Finally, Macbeth comes to ruin, and Lady Macbeth in her madness shares with Gilly her version of their family tragedy. To playwrightReisert's credit, the parallels between the avenging lass and her enemies are not lost on Gilly any more than on the reader. A witty and thought-provoking debut, with an imperfect though endearing heroine whose flaws are not tragic but very human. Author tour

Product Details

• Reading Group Guide
• Forewords & Introductions
• Read an Excerpt
• Read a Sample Chapter

Reading Group Guide

Reading Group Guide for

The Third Witch

by Rebecca Reisert

1) The way gender dictates actions and behaviors and affects expectations plays a central role in this story. While Lady Macbeth utilizes traditional views of womanhood, claiming that she is "only a weak woman" when she is, in fact, manipulating those around for personal gain, Gilly sloughs off her female status to embrace the anonymity and freedom that boyish-ness allows her. Yet both women ask to be "de-sexed" so that they may fulfill their murderous plans without hesitation. Why do these two women feel that their genders stand in their way? Is it fear and cowardice that they see as inherently female, or empathy and compassion?

2) Does it logically follow then that men find it easier to kill, either for revenge or for selfish gain? What do you think the character of Macbeth suggests? Is Macbeth less susceptible to the madness that guilt brings than Lady Macbeth because of his gender? When Gilly speaks of being "de-sexed," is she referring to her desire to be like a man, or is she asking to be made sex-less, or somehow less human — an inanimate object, without consciousness and therefore conscience?

3) The Third Witch is the story of a young woman in a desperate search for justice. And despite numerous warnings that "Doom is more costly than love," Gilly chooses to seek this justice through mad, blind revenge. What is the price of Gilly's revenge, both literally and figuratively? To what degree do you blame the young girl for failing to see the folly of her ways? Although Nettle assures her at the end of the novel: "You did not kill them. Macbeth did," do you think sheshould be totally absolved for the destruction that takes place in the story?

4) How does the idea of responsibility — to one's family, to one's friends, to those who cannot defend themselves — play out in this novel? Although we see Gilly struggle with her feelings of responsibility and her desire to be free and unfettered by others, to what degree does she abandon this idea when it suits her (keep in mind her rationalization when she abandons Pod)? Would you consider her sense of loyalty to those who she loves to be strong?

5) Similarly, what do you make of Gilly's concept of family loyalty? She spends her entire young life avenging her father, yet she treats her mother, the woman who bore her, as her archenemy and, at times, thrills in the woman's suffering. How is she able to shut out the emotional and familial bonds that might have once tied her to her mother? What do you think family means to Gilly? Does this change for her by the end of the novel?

6) Nettle tells Gilly, before the young girl begins her journey, that " 'tis easier than anything — easier than breathing, easier even than death — to find that you yourself have become the very thing you hate most." Discuss the transformation that Gilly undergoes, both physically and emotionally, as she makes her life an arrow. Do the characters of Lady Macbeth and Gilly have so many similarities simply because they are mother and daughter, or are there other reasons for the traits they share?

7) Discuss the way fear acts as a motivating force for the different characters — both major and minor — in this novel. What kinds of mechanisms do the people in this story use to handle their fear? Who do you think is the most frightened character and why? Does anyone appear to be fearless? How does the concept of fear give us a window into the souls of many of these characters?

8) Look at the various ways motherhood is presented in this novel. Compare and contrast Lisette and Nettle, two seemingly disparate characters who often mirror each other.

9) During one of their conversations on the nature of Science, Fleance remarks to Gilly, "Oftentimes the best discoveries are made by observing a thing until it reveals its true nature." How does this quote apply to this novel as a whole? By the end of this story, do you feel that you have grasped the "true nature" of all of the characters? Do any of them remain convoluted or ambiguous?

10) Witchcraft, or at least suspected witchcraft, plays a large role in this text. Gilly seems confident that both Mad Helga and Nettle are not witches, and yet the opinions of many of the townsfolk and the way Nettle's premonitions come true might make us believe otherwise. Do you consider the two women to be witches in the traditional sense? Does that characterization have any effect on how you view their role in the story?

11) Discuss setting as it is presented in this novel. What does the forest represent for Gilly and for the other characters in the novel? In what ways does the wood serve as an individual character — one that helps shape and alter the plot?

12) In her moment of truth, as Macbeth kneels vulnerable before her, why do you think Gilly abandons her chance to slay him in order to save Pod? Do you think Gilly ever really wanted to kill Macbeth? Is she simply a Hamlet-like character — bloodthirsty yet incapable of action — or is there something else at play here? How might her choice to save Pod be representative of the ways in which Gilly has changed by the end of the novel?

13) If you were familiar with Shakespeare's Macbeth before this novel, how did you find the experience of reading a re-telling such as this? In what ways did the author depart from the traditional storyline and/or embellish certain scenes to tell the story of Gilly? Did you find that you had certain expectations that you might not have had with a piece of fiction where you were completely unacquainted with any of the characters? Did you find that the author's depiction of certain historical figures met with the vision that you had in your mind?

Forewords & Introductions

1) The way gender dictates actions and behaviors and affects expectations plays a central role in this story. While Lady Macbeth utilizes traditional views of womanhood, claiming that she is "only a weak woman" when she is, in fact, manipulating those around for personal gain, Gilly sloughs off her female status to embrace the anonymity and freedom that boyish-ness allows her. Yet both women ask to be "de-sexed" so that they may fulfill their murderous plans without hesitation. Why do these two women feel that their genders stand in their way? Is it fear and cowardice that they see as inherently female, or empathy and compassion?

2) Does it logically follow then that men find it easier to kill, either for revenge or for selfish gain? What do you think the character of Macbeth suggests? Is Macbeth less susceptible to the madness that guilt brings than Lady Macbeth because of his gender? When Gilly speaks of being "de-sexed," is she referring to her desire to be like a man, or is she asking to be made sex-less, or somehow less human — an inanimate object, without consciousness and therefore conscience?

3) The Third Witch is the story of a young woman in a desperate search for justice. And despite numerous warnings that "Doom is more costly than love," Gilly chooses to seek this justice through mad, blind revenge. What is the price of Gilly's revenge, both literally and figuratively? To what degree do you blame the young girl for failing to see the folly of her ways? Although Nettle assures her at the end of the novel: "You did not kill them. Macbeth did," doyou think she should be totally absolved for the destruction that takes place in the story?

4) How does the idea of responsibility — to one's family, to one's friends, to those who cannot defend themselves — play out in this novel? Although we see Gilly struggle with her feelings of responsibility and her desire to be free and unfettered by others, to what degree does she abandon this idea when it suits her (keep in mind her rationalization when she abandons Pod)? Would you consider her sense of loyalty to those who she loves to be strong?

5) Similarly, what do you make of Gilly's concept of family loyalty? She spends her entire young life avenging her father, yet she treats her mother, the woman who bore her, as her archenemy and, at times, thrills in the woman's suffering. How is she able to shut out the emotional and familial bonds that might have once tied her to her mother? What do you think family means to Gilly? Does this change for her by the end of the novel?

6) Nettle tells Gilly, before the young girl begins her journey, that " 'tis easier than anything — easier than breathing, easier even than death — to find that you yourself have become the very thing you hate most." Discuss the transformation that Gilly undergoes, both physically and emotionally, as she makes her life an arrow. Do the characters of Lady Macbeth and Gilly have so many similarities simply because they are mother and daughter, or are there other reasons for the traits they share?

7) Discuss the way fear acts as a motivating force for the different characters — both major and minor — in this novel. What kinds of mechanisms do the people in this story use to handle their fear? Who do you think is the most frightened character and why? Does anyone appear to be fearless? How does the concept of fear give us a window into the souls of many of these characters?

8) Look at the various ways motherhood is presented in this novel. Compare and contrast Lisette and Nettle, two seemingly disparate characters who often mirror each other.

9) During one of their conversations on the nature of Science, Fleance remarks to Gilly, "Oftentimes the best discoveries are made by observing a thing until it reveals its true nature." How does this quote apply to this novel as a whole? By the end of this story, do you feel that you have grasped the "true nature" of all of the characters? Do any of them remain convoluted or ambiguous?

10) Witchcraft, or at least suspected witchcraft, plays a large role in this text. Gilly seems confident that both Mad Helga and Nettle are not witches, and yet the opinions of many of the townsfolk and the way Nettle's premonitions come true might make us believe otherwise. Do you consider the two women to be witches in the traditional sense? Does that characterization have any effect on how you view their role in the story?

11) Discuss setting as it is presented in this novel. What does the forest represent for Gilly and for the other characters in the novel? In what ways does the wood serve as an individual character — one that helps shape and alter the plot?

12) In her moment of truth, as Macbeth kneels vulnerable before her, why do you think Gilly abandons her chance to slay him in order to save Pod? Do you think Gilly ever really wanted to kill Macbeth? Is she simply a Hamlet-like character — bloodthirsty yet incapable of action — or is there something else at play here? How might her choice to save Pod be representative of the ways in which Gilly has changed by the end of the novel?

13) If you were familiar with Shakespeare's Macbeth before this novel, how did you find the experience of reading a re-telling such as this? In what ways did the author depart from the traditional storyline and/or embellish certain scenes to tell the story of Gilly? Did you find that you had certain expectations that you might not have had with a piece of fiction where you were completely unacquainted with any of the characters? Did you find that the author's depiction of certain historical figures met with the vision that you had in your mind?

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

"'Tis time to rob the dead."

Nettle kicks me again. I pull my tattered wolfskin closer about my shoulders and curl into a tighter ball, scooting across the packed dirt of the floor to move as near as I dare to the embers in the fire pit.

"Rise up, lass. Stir your lazy bones, or else half the gleanings will be gone before we get there. Do not think to sleep the day away like a princess in a castle."

She kicks me yet again and I open my eyes. Although she is a small woman, she towers above my pallet, her face and shoulders tense as always. If a sorcerer were to bewitch a needle into life, that creature would be Nettle.

Nettle grabs my wolfskin and yanks it from my shoulders. The air is cold and sharp. "Boil a mug of tansy broth for Mad Helga, child, and then we must be off."

"I'm going to the brook first," I announce. "I'll boil the broth when I return." I yank my wolfskin back from her bony fingers.

"There's no time for your foolishness, Gilly. 'Tis already late, and — "

"I'll not take long, Nettle."

"Gilly, there is no time — "

Before she can finish speaking, I'm already out the door of our tumbledown hut, dodging the trees and sucking in the cold, sweet-smelling air.

The brook and woods are still black in the mist of the early dawn. At the edge of the brook, just below the small waterfall, I fling off my wolfskin and shift and plunge into the water. I gasp at its icy touch but duck my head under its surface. As my head emerges, I shake back my heavy shock of wet hair and breathe so deeply that it hurts. After the rank and smoky stench of our hut, the forest air is unbelievably sweet. A doe, drinking a few feet downstream, freezesfor a moment. I stare back at her until she recognizes me and resumes drinking.

Since there is no one else around, I kneel so the water comes to my shoulders. Under the water and out of sight, I press my palms together. "Make me a tree," I pray. "Let me spend my life pure and clean in the forest. Let me feel a lifetime of wind and rain against my skin. I swear to cast this whole evil business aside if I can be turned into a tree."

I wait. The woods are silent. Even the doe is still. The only sound is the gurgling of the water.

I jump up, waist-deep in the brook, and fling my arms out like branches. "Change me!" I scream as I close my eyes. Make me a tree. Make me a tree. I will ask nothing else if only you will make me a tree.

I hear the doe give a small leap, then run away, brushing through the bushes as softly as a kiss. There is no other answer. I am still a girl standing like a lackwit in the icy water. I begin to laugh and then shiver. For a while I stand there, shivering and laughing like the greatest fool on earth.

I give a quick bow to the sky that is so dark it looks empty. "You are right, old man. I should not be happy as a tree. I would miss running." I add, "But I gave you your chance. You could have stopped all this. Should I take it as your sign of approval, then, that you are willing to have me kill Him?"

I wait for the length of ten heartbeats, but there is still no answer. "Your stars are comely," I call to the sky, "but I do not care for your silence."

Then I step quickly from the water, shaking my body like a wet wolf pup. I pull my shift over my head as I walk back to the hut. As I push the trestle door open, I call, "I'm back, Nettle. I'll brew the tansy broth, and — "

"Do not bother. I did it myself."

"Nettle, I told you that I would just be a moment — "

"I do not approve of this folly, wetting yourself down twice a day. 'Tis madness, it is, Gillyflower, and more than one king has died of it."

I squat by the hearth and scoop up a handful of ashes. I begin to rub them across my cheeks and forehead. "'Tis madness indeed, and folly beyond all imagining, but have you not said time and again that I'm the mad daughter of a mad, mad mother and will come to no good?" I rub the ashes down both arms. "My bathing costs us naught and provides me with much joy." Nettle glowers at me. I soften my voice. "You have your herbs and such, Nettle. Leave me the pleasure of my water."

Nettle turns away. "Mad Helga, if you have finished your broth, 'tis past time we should be gone."

From the shadows of the rear of the hut, Mad Helga totters forth, her long ashwood stick stabbing the ground in angry taps. I am amazed that someone can be as gnarled as she and still be able to move. Mad Helga is nearly bald, yet she scorns the wool cap Nettle knitted for her. A thick scabrous growth covers her right eye, and a scar runs from her left temple to the top of her jaw. Several long hairs grow from her chin. Nettle tries to take her arm to help her walk, but Mad Helga shakes her away. Without looking at either Nettle or me, Mad Helga stumps out of our hut. Nettle shrugs and then picks up two baskets, tossing one to me as she hurries after Mad Helga. I snatch my woven girdle from its peg on the wall, twist it around my waist, and run after the women.

We look the way the wood should look were it to come alive and walking. We move quickly and silently through the trees we know so well. All of us draped in earth-colored tatters, caked with dirt. My hair and Nettle's as jumbled as bird's nests, Mad Helga's pate as bald as a new-laid egg. We look like the wild heart of the wood, but walking. No wonder the villagers fear us. If I didn't study my face in the brook from time to time, I could come to believe that I am not a girl, but simply a wild and untamable bit of the wood.

The battlefield is a good walk away, and dawn is fully risen by the time we reach it. There are already a few other scavengers at work, all looking as shapeless and sexless as we.

"See," hisses Nettle. "I said we should be late."

"Hsst!" I can hiss almost as well as she does. "There's plenty for all."

Under the body of a yellow-haired man in front of me, I spot a glint of gold. I kneel to wrestle his arm from under him. It is heavy and stiff, like a tree limb turned to stone. Nettle crows with delight at the sight of the large gold ring that I tug from his finger.

When I first came to live with Nettle and Mad Helga, it bothered me to glean the battlefields. In truth, during my first gleaning, I cried the entire time and suffered screaming nightmares for weeks afterward. Before the second visit, I fell to my knees, tearfully begging Nettle to excuse me.

Then after the first year, the dead men on the battlefield no longer seemed real. They are like trees, I told myself. When I step over a fallen tree in the wood, I do not cry or dream about it. In a way, these dead men are less important than trees. Trees that fall did not die trying to end the lives of others. Trees that fall do not carry instruments of murder in their hands.

This day's field is much like the earlier ones. Perhaps a hundred men lie about, like so many hillocks. In fact, that's how I now choose to think of the dead soldiers. It is more satisfying to think of them as hillocks rather than trees because trees once lived, but hillocks are rock and soil without even the faintest spark of life. These things on the battlefield, therefore, are hillocks, just hillocks, and I am the princess, as in the old tales, exploring the hillock to find the dragon's treasure and take it back to the kingdom. In the old tales, princesses never worried whether it was right or wrong to rob the dragon. So why should I worry about robbing hillocks?

Still, it is a blessing that the victorious army always prowls the field immediately after the battle, killing all their wounded enemies and even killing their own companions who are too badly wounded to make it home. In my seven years of gleaning, only twice have I found a soldier who wasn't yet dead. Both times I quickly backed away, fleeing to the opposite side of the field, but sometimes in my dreams I still hear the moans of those dying soldiers.

Oddly enough, it is the smell that still surprises me each time. The smell is always worse than I remember, that stew of drying blood, loosened bowels, and, occasionally — if we arrive late and the sun is high — the stench of rotting meat. Luckily, as this morning goes on, my nose grows more accustomed to the smell, and while it never fades completely, after an hour or so I don't notice it any more.

I tug another pin out of a hillock's draped shoulder cloth. I carefully work it into the weave of my waist girdle, next to the other pins I've plucked from the garments of other hillocks. The baker in the village has six daughters and will always take a few pins in exchange for a loaf of wheaten bread. Wheaten bread makes a nice change from our usual fare, and my mouth waters at the thought of it.

I push another hillock so that it tumbles over. Good fortune is with me this day since clasped in its fingers is the hilt of a dagger. I work it free. I have to hit the fingers over and over with a stone to make them let loose of the prize. The blade of the dagger is chipped. To test if it can still cut, I saw it back and forth across the hillock's tunic. To my delight, the cloth splits in two.

Although it has been a good morning — a ring, a handful of pins, this dagger — it is back-numbing work. I stand and stretch. There are hillocks as far as I can see. How did they tell each other apart in battle? They all look much the same to me. A few have more outlandish headdresses than the others, decorated with horns and skulls, but I don't know whether that is the insignia of one side or simply a common soldier fashion. What did they fight about? Which side won? A thought hits me, and I shiver.

Is He among them?

I dimly hear Nettle call out, "Child, stay to the edges. You go too close to the heart of the field."

I know it is safer to stay to the edges, but I must find out whether He is there. Every time we glean a field, I'm terrified I might come upon His body among the hillocks.

He doesn't deserve to die in battle! Let Him wait for me. I must be the one to kill Him. He is mine, mine to kill, not the prize of some lucky soldier. Let Him wait for me. I have marked Him, and He is mine.

"Gilly, stay to the edges!"

Then I spot the most marvelous treasure I've ever seen on a battlefield.

Copyright © 2001 by Rebecca Reisert

Read a Sample Chapter

Chapter One

"'Tis time to rob the dead."

Nettle kicks me again. I pull my tattered wolfskin closer about my shoulders and curl into a tighter ball, scooting across the packed dirt of the floor to move as near as I dare to the embers in the fire pit.

"Rise up, lass. Stir your lazy bones, or else half the gleanings will be gone before we get there. Do not think to sleep the day away like a princess in a castle."

She kicks me yet again and I open my eyes. Although she is a small woman, she towers above my pallet, her face and shoulders tense as always. If a sorcerer were to bewitch a needle into life, that creature would be Nettle.

Nettle grabs my wolfskin and yanks it from my shoulders. The air is cold and sharp. "Boil a mug of tansy broth for Mad Helga, child, and then we must be off."

"I'm going to the brook first," I announce. "I'll boil the broth when I return." I yank my wolfskin back from her bony fingers.

"There's no time for your foolishness, Gilly. 'Tis already late, and -- "

"I'll not take long, Nettle."

"Gilly, there is no time -- "

Before she can finish speaking, I'm already out the door of our tumbledown hut, dodging the trees and sucking in the cold, sweet-smelling air.

The brook and woods are still black in the mist of the early dawn. At the edge of the brook, just below the small waterfall, I fling off my wolfskin and shift and plunge into the water. I gasp at its icy touch but duck my head under its surface. As my head emerges, I shake back my heavy shock of wet hair and breathe so deeply that it hurts. After the rank and smoky stench of our hut, the forest air is unbelievably sweet. A doe, drinking a few feet downstream, freezes for a moment. I stare back at her until she recognizes me and resumes drinking.

Since there is no one else around, I kneel so the water comes to my shoulders. Under the water and out of sight, I press my palms together. "Make me a tree," I pray. "Let me spend my life pure and clean in the forest. Let me feel a lifetime of wind and rain against my skin. I swear to cast this whole evil business aside if I can be turned into a tree."

I wait. The woods are silent. Even the doe is still. The only sound is the gurgling of the water.

I jump up, waist-deep in the brook, and fling my arms out like branches. "Change me!" I scream as I close my eyes. Make me a tree. Make me a tree. I will ask nothing else if only you will make me a tree.

I hear the doe give a small leap, then run away, brushing through the bushes as softly as a kiss. There is no other answer. I am still a girl standing like a lackwit in the icy water. I begin to laugh and then shiver. For a while I stand there, shivering and laughing like the greatest fool on earth.

I give a quick bow to the sky that is so dark it looks empty. "You are right, old man. I should not be happy as a tree. I would miss running." I add, "But I gave you your chance. You could have stopped all this. Should I take it as your sign of approval, then, that you are willing to have me kill Him?"

I wait for the length of ten heartbeats, but there is still no answer. "Your stars are comely," I call to the sky, "but I do not care for your silence."

Then I step quickly from the water, shaking my body like a wet wolf pup. I pull my shift over my head as I walk back to the hut. As I push the trestle door open, I call, "I'm back, Nettle. I'll brew the tansy broth, and -- "

"Do not bother. I did it myself."

"Nettle, I told you that I would just be a moment -- "

"I do not approve of this folly, wetting yourself down twice a day. 'Tis madness, it is, Gillyflower, and more than one king has died of it."

I squat by the hearth and scoop up a handful of ashes. I begin to rub them across my cheeks and forehead. "'Tis madness indeed, and folly beyond all imagining, but have you not said time and again that I'm the mad daughter of a mad, mad mother and will come to no good?" I rub the ashes down both arms. "My bathing costs us naught and provides me with much joy." Nettle glowers at me. I soften my voice. "You have your herbs and such, Nettle. Leave me the pleasure of my water."

Nettle turns away. "Mad Helga, if you have finished your broth, 'tis past time we should be gone."

From the shadows of the rear of the hut, Mad Helga totters forth, her long ashwood stick stabbing the ground in angry taps. I am amazed that someone can be as gnarled as she and still be able to move. Mad Helga is nearly bald, yet she scorns the wool cap Nettle knitted for her. A thick scabrous growth covers her right eye, and a scar runs from her left temple to the top of her jaw. Several long hairs grow from her chin. Nettle tries to take her arm to help her walk, but Mad Helga shakes her away. Without looking at either Nettle or me, Mad Helga stumps out of our hut. Nettle shrugs and then picks up two baskets, tossing one to me as she hurries after Mad Helga. I snatch my woven girdle from its peg on the wall, twist it around my waist, and run after the women.

We look the way the wood should look were it to come alive and walking. We move quickly and silently through the trees we know so well. All of us draped in earth-colored tatters, caked with dirt. My hair and Nettle's as jumbled as bird's nests, Mad Helga's pate as bald as a new-laid egg. We look like the wild heart of the wood, but walking. No wonder the villagers fear us. If I didn't study my face in the brook from time to time, I could come to believe that I am not a girl, but simply a wild and untamable bit of the wood.

The battlefield is a good walk away, and dawn is fully risen by the time we reach it. There are already a few other scavengers at work, all looking as shapeless and sexless as we.

"See," hisses Nettle. "I said we should be late."

"Hsst!" I can hiss almost as well as she does. "There's plenty for all."

Under the body of a yellow-haired man in front of me, I spot a glint of gold. I kneel to wrestle his arm from under him. It is heavy and stiff, like a tree limb turned to stone. Nettle crows with delight at the sight of the large gold ring that I tug from his finger.

When I first came to live with Nettle and Mad Helga, it bothered me to glean the battlefields. In truth, during my first gleaning, I cried the entire time and suffered screaming nightmares for weeks afterward. Before the second visit, I fell to my knees, tearfully begging Nettle to excuse me.

Then after the first year, the dead men on the battlefield no longer seemed real. They are like trees, I told myself. When I step over a fallen tree in the wood, I do not cry or dream about it. In a way, these dead men are less important than trees. Trees that fall did not die trying to end the lives of others. Trees that fall do not carry instruments of murder in their hands.

This day's field is much like the earlier ones. Perhaps a hundred men lie about, like so many hillocks. In fact, that's how I now choose to think of the dead soldiers. It is more satisfying to think of them as hillocks rather than trees because trees once lived, but hillocks are rock and soil without even the faintest spark of life. These things on the battlefield, therefore, are hillocks, just hillocks, and I am the princess, as in the old tales, exploring the hillock to find the dragon's treasure and take it back to the kingdom. In the old tales, princesses never worried whether it was right or wrong to rob the dragon. So why should I worry about robbing hillocks?

Still, it is a blessing that the victorious army always prowls the field immediately after the battle, killing all their wounded enemies and even killing their own companions who are too badly wounded to make it home. In my seven years of gleaning, only twice have I found a soldier who wasn't yet dead. Both times I quickly backed away, fleeing to the opposite side of the field, but sometimes in my dreams I still hear the moans of those dying soldiers.

Oddly enough, it is the smell that still surprises me each time. The smell is always worse than I remember, that stew of drying blood, loosened bowels, and, occasionally -- if we arrive late and the sun is high -- the stench of rotting meat. Luckily, as this morning goes on, my nose grows more accustomed to the smell, and while it never fades completely, after an hour or so I don't notice it any more.

I tug another pin out of a hillock's draped shoulder cloth. I carefully work it into the weave of my waist girdle, next to the other pins I've plucked from the garments of other hillocks. The baker in the village has six daughters and will always take a few pins in exchange for a loaf of wheaten bread. Wheaten bread makes a nice change from our usual fare, and my mouth waters at the thought of it.

I push another hillock so that it tumbles over. Good fortune is with me this day since clasped in its fingers is the hilt of a dagger. I work it free. I have to hit the fingers over and over with a stone to make them let loose of the prize. The blade of the dagger is chipped. To test if it can still cut, I saw it back and forth across the hillock's tunic. To my delight, the cloth splits in two.

Although it has been a good morning -- a ring, a handful of pins, this dagger -- it is back-numbing work. I stand and stretch. There are hillocks as far as I can see. How did they tell each other apart in battle? They all look much the same to me. A few have more outlandish headdresses than the others, decorated with horns and skulls, but I don't know whether that is the insignia of one side or simply a common soldier fashion. What did they fight about? Which side won? A thought hits me, and I shiver.

Is He among them?

I dimly hear Nettle call out, "Child, stay to the edges. You go too close to the heart of the field."

I know it is safer to stay to the edges, but I must find out whether He is there. Every time we glean a field, I'm terrified I might come upon His body among the hillocks.

He doesn't deserve to die in battle! Let Him wait for me. I must be the one to kill Him. He is mine, mine to kill, not the prize of some lucky soldier. Let Him wait for me. I have marked Him, and He is mine.

"Gilly, stay to the edges!"

Then I spot the most marvelous treasure I've ever seen on a battlefield.

Copyright © 2001 by Rebecca Reisert