FORBIDDEN PLACE 14

The eastern sky was tawny red banded with grey, then came an expanse of lemon-yellow light, and above it pure clarity with here and there a small cloud tipped with gold floating like an island in a fairy sea. Mist hung at the base of the heavily wooded hills, curving in and out of the gullies, pre-saging another fine day, and bird calls fluted from the tree tops as Karen walked out into the garden.

The storm had passed: the fecund earth was washed clean and the crystal air felt like chilled wine. Karen stood for a moment, breathing deeply, absorbing the sounds and scents, taking the dawn into herself. The grass beneath the trees sparkled with diamond dew, wetting her bare feet. She curled her toes downwards, rejoicing in this contact with the chthonian realms beneath that green carpet. The grasses were coarse and she could almost feel the tremor of their fibres.

She closed her eyes, cleared her mind, raised her arms and began the slow, meditative moves of T’ai Chi by which she could