“We’ll split the cost,” Brent told him.
They were there in plenty of time for the movie, but the theater was already crowded, thanks to its central location and the movie being a big action picture featuring an equally big star.
Rocky sat next to her as if it was a matter of course.
She was surprised by the way the night had gone so far. He seemed at ease. Her friends were having fun.
Only she was tense.
The movie barely distracted her.
When it was over, the others were excited; it had apparently been a good movie.
They chose a late-night restaurant/bar at the end of the pedestrian mall for dinner and drinks.
Devin wasn’t sure how he did it, but Rocky managed not only to end up next to her but across from Gayle, the perfect place for conversation.
Devin placed her order, and when she turned back to the table she realized that the conversation had turned to human sacrifice.
“Well, for years,” Brent, sitting beside Gayle, said, “everyone assumed that the belief that druids engaged in human sacrifice was all a lie spread by their oh-so-civilized and advanced Roman conquerors. But scientific discoveries proved them wrong. ‘Lindow Man’ was discovered in England in the 1980s—so well preserved that they know he had manicured nails, and that he ate well and might have been one of the druid elite himself. And the evidence made it very clear that he was a victim of ritual sacrifice. There was a rope around his neck, his head was bashed in and his throat was slit. Scholars believe that when the ligature was tightest, that was when they cut his throat. That would mean a lot, lot, lot of blood, right, Gayle?”
Gayle rolled her eyes. “I’m sure I wasn’t that grisly back when I was teaching. I can’t speak to the amount of blood, since I’m not a doctor, but I can tell you that current thinking is that he was sacrificed to halt the Roman troops, probably about 60 AD. Obviously the sacrifice didn’t work very well, since the Romans wiped them out pretty thoroughly, but there’s plenty of evidence that the druids kept trying. About one hundred and fifty victims were found in a mass grave cave in Alveston, England. They’d had their heads bashed in, as well. There are also signs on the bones that suggest cannibalism. But, due to the deterioration of soft tissue, there was little else they could tell.”
“Hey! We’ve just ordered dinner,” Theo said.
“Now you all understand why I’m a vegetarian,” Beth said.
“The problem is,” Theo said, lowering his voice, “some people think of it as a direct line. You know. Druids are pagans are witches. Druids practiced human sacrifice, so witches—Wiccans—must practice human sacrifice, too.”
“Oh, please!” Beth said.
“Hey, don’t jump down my throat. I’m a Wiccan,” Theo said. “I’m just telling you how some people see it.”
“There are always people who will see what they want to see all the time, on any subject,” Rocky said.
“That’s true,” Beth agreed. “I’ve seen it myself. A group of us were setting out for our Midsummer Sabbat one night and right here—right on Essex Street—I heard a mother telling her little girl that I carried a knife so I could kill goats.”
Theo laughed. “You? You won’t even kill spiders that come into your store.”
“Perception—especially when it’s wrong—can be frightening,” Rocky said. “Do all Wiccans carry knives?”
“We call it an athame, and like a sword, it’s a symbol of fire,” Beth explained. “The five points of the pentagram stand for the soul or spirit, then the elements—fire, earth, wind and water. And each one has a symbol. In whole, it stands for the soul, with each point being one of the elements of the world we live in. We don’t walk around with swords, not in my tradition, because our circles can be small and we don’t want to accidentally stab one another. The cup, or chalice, is like the cauldron of folklore, and it symbolizes water. The wand symbolizes air, and the pentagram, the earth. Our religion comes from ancient traditions. It’s about the earth and drawing strength from the earth, and finding magic—good, positive magic—in our faith. It’s about our care of the earth.”
“So all practicing Wiccans would have those tools?” Rocky asked.
Devin couldn’t stop herself from jumping in. “Wiccans might have them—but so would anyone else who wanted one and had a few dollars to spend in a store or on the internet,” she said, realizing too late that her tone sounded more aggressive than she’d intended.