CCC#67
What remained of Bicker’s Mill still stood, the wooden pillar like a lighthouse in an ocean of reeds and sedge.
Mist was developing as we approached the whitewashed boards, not so much rolling in across the marshes, but rising upwards as if expelled from the ground.
Dor had waded close behind me all the way from the road, grumbling about the wet and the cold and the wisdom of being at the ‘Tween Place’ at twilight. She mumbled, the words becoming formless, an incantation against my foolishness.
‘Hush now,’ I said, taking her hand, and the warmth of me quietened her a little. ‘You know why we’re here.’
The sun settled low, the clouds ink and fire, the low mist a stubborn grey. I lit a smoky fire to warm our hands, to ward off the tremors.
As night crept in, Dor stared across the marsh. ‘There,’ she said.
***
Written for Crimson’s Creative Challenge #67. See here to join in.
Crispina’s talk of Boggarts and Trolls led me to comment about the nature of these between places and the belief that the margins between dry land and water were also margins between this world and others.
Perhaps also part of the reason bog body sacrifices such as Tollund Man (below) were made in Europe through pre-history.
Word Shamble 
You’ve really captured the place, as if you’ve been there (I’m guessing you’re been somewhere similar). And I love your picture of Tollund Man. A sacrifice, yet he looks so at peace, like he’s happy to take his people’s message to the gods.
And that association with bogs… are you thinking that could be the origin of the boggart words? Certainly with the way the mists wreathe such places, one might imagine all manner of spine-creeping horrors
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Thank you! I briefly visited Norfolk as a kid, but not since. I know Suffolk better. So glad you felt I captured something if these places – they do fascinate, don’t they? And Tollund Man had actually played a part in my imaginative processes for over 40 years. Ever since I found my mum’s book on bog bodies as a kid. He in particular fascinated me. As you say, that face! Be good to know if boggarts emerged from bogs, wouldn’t it? As you say, it seems fitting
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I’d like to think so…
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This was lovely, Lynn. I could just imagine the trek!
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Thank you so much Dale. Glad you liked it- might expanded this into something more. Thank you for reading
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very atmospheric and I wanted more – start of a short story??
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