“What, what is it?”
“Kate you’re sunburnt.” I told her gently.
She looked down at her red thighs, she cringed. “Aw that’s gonna hurt? Why do I always do this to myself?”
We laughed together all the way to Hayden’s car, especially when she took her sunglasses off and displayed the white rings around her eyes. He dropped Kate off first and then me.
“Do you want to come in before you head home?” I asked him.
He stopped the car and took the keys out. “Yeah why not, Tom promised to slaughter me in a game of Sonic the Hedgehog anyway. I’ll do that before I head home.”
I laughed as I got out the car. Hayden ended up staying for dinner and Tom held true to his promise and slaughtered him in Sonic the Hedgehog much to Hayden’s disgust. It was a good day and yes, my dreams that night we filled with light, warmth and a gentle man’s hand within my own.
CHAPTER 5
I stood staring at the concrete façade of Cargill’s Castle. It was early morning and nobody was there. My Dad had asked me where I was going at the crack of dawn, I told him I was going for a run. He’d looked at me strangely but accepted it. He knows that I don’t run. I hated lying to my father, but this had to be done. I gave him a hug before I left.
I had to come again and this time it had to be by myself. I remembered the looks on my families and Hayden’s face the last time I came with them, it was not good. I didn’t want to put them through that again and I didn’t want them to see me turn into a looney if that’s what I was becoming. It was early Saturday morning and yes, it was finally the school holidays. Today was the day I was finally going to find out what was going on. These dreams, my arm glowing and Cargill’s Castle were all connected, I could feel it in my bones and I needed to find out why. I walked slowly towards the concrete stairs. I started to feel the familiar pull, the tug towards the archway. I looked down at my arm, it started to glow. It was happening. My heart started to pulse and my vision blurred. I fell to my knees as they buckled beneath me. “I can do this, I can do this” I whispered to myself, I hung my head and tried to clear the blurriness in my mind. “Get it together Brigid” I encouraged myself. The glow was spreading like flames to my hand. The pull to touch the stone was immense. I stopped fighting it. I braced my legs and stood up. The pulse of the light was pulling me, pulling me to a place unknown but familiar. I drifted up the stairs and stopped at the top. There was a smell, a smell of flowers, of spring. I could hear my name being called over and over again. Gently, it was being gently spoken, a beckoning, someone needed me. I held my hand up, I had to touch, had to feel the pulse from the wall.
As I touched the wall, a flash of light burst from my hand. The energy was intense, but it felt good. I could see the stone melt away, the light was spiralling and trying to pull me though the stone. A hand shot out from the light. I grabbed it. I knew I needed to grab it. Everything spun, it was spinning me around, spinning me, stretching me, bending me. I couldn’t hang on much longer. I could see blond hair in front of me, an assurance everything was going to be okay. I felt safe. I held on for as long as I could until I passed out. The next thing I saw was a face, a male’s face, a devastatingly handsome male face with blond mid-length hair staring into my eyes. I took a deep breath. I put my hands up and felt his face. Yep, it felt real. I closed my eyes and opened them again. He had a smile on his face this time.
“Hello” he said.
I sat up with a fright and whacked my head with his. I passed out again.
I moaned. My head pounded and I felt like I needed to throw up. I could feel the ground under my hand and remembered what had happened. The blond man! I sat up quickly.
“Easy my lady, remember what happened last time.”
I opened my eyes and spied my blond dream-man holding his forehead smiling at me. He looked to be the same age as me.
I cringed. OMG I nearly knocked out my dream-man, how embarrassing. I decided to not go there and sat up. “Where am I?”
“You Brigid are where you are supposed to be. Quick we don’t have much time, come with me before they find you.”
I could feel his urgency. “Who? Who will find me?”
He grabbed my arm and pulled me up. “We need to get you to the oak trees, they can’t find you there, quick.”
I stalled. “What are you talking about? Who are you? Who’s after me?” I looked into his pale blue eyes and I could feel my knees buckle. I knew who he was - he was the man from my dreams.
“You are in immense danger my lady, you need to come with me and quickly.” He started to pull my arm to follow him.
“What? Are you mad? I, I, I have no idea where I am or who you are? I’m not about to follow you to the oak trees, or whatever that is.” I exclaimed. His eyes were awesome.
“You took my hand, are you not already following me?”
I quickly looked around at my surroundings. I was in the middle of some town square. There was a fountain. I could hear the running of water. It was a town, a medieval looking town. Everything looked grey and glum. There were no leaves on the trees, no noises, no birds, and no people. He was right, I was already following him.
“Where am I?” I asked again.
He moved closer to me as he wrapped his arm around my waist. My heart raced. “I’ll explain later. You need to move now… now!”
I started to run, I felt his urgency, and I ran. I ran behind him as he dragged me along the dirt hardened streets. No one was around, it must’ve been early in the morning there to, where ever we were. This all felt too surreal. He turned his head and put his finger to his mouth, motioning for me to keep quiet. I ran quietly behind, mistrusting my eyes. My dream-man was wearing a green leather skirt held together with a thick gold belt. His blond hair was loose and bounced around as he ran. He had wide leather bands around his ankles and wrists with a symbol of the sun etched into them. He had a shield strapped to his back which also had the emblem of the sun on it. His broad, muscular shoulders and arms moved on either side of the shield as he ran and his top half was naked, completely naked for all to see. I think I was officially going mad. I was running behind what looked like a god.
He stopped suddenly. I nearly banged into his shield. “What?” I asked. I was happy I wore my running gear this morning or this would not have worked.
“Shh, we need to walk slowly from here. We could be sensed if we flee too fast.”
He grabbed my hand and looked into my eyes. “Trust me, I would never harm you, trust me.”
Before I could think, I was already telling myself I trusted him and followed him like a little lost lamb. What would Hayden think if he saw me in my current predicament? He’d be howling with laughter I was sure of it. I grimaced, but I was sure I was doing the right thing. We kept going in silence, dodging the rare person that came across our path. After a while I could see the large trees in the distance from my dream, they must be the Oak trees. Hayden was right. My arm started to glow, I could feel it race down my arm to my hand, the same hand that my dream god was holding. He jerked when the glow hit his. He stopped and looked at me and smiled. “Run” he said.
“What?”
“Run! Run now!” I could hear movement from the hay. I bolted, he quickly followed. I knew this was not good. I could feel shots of air whizzing past my ears. What was going on? I turned to see my dream god block our behinds with his shield. Someone was firing something at us. I couldn’t see who or what they were firing. I faced the oak trees and ran faster, still thankful for my Lycra running pants and Nike running shoes.
I stopped just before the path to the oak trees. I couldn’t move. I saw the familiar little bones hanging on the trees, singing their little songs. I froze. I was cemented to the ground.
“I can’t move” I said. “I can’t move past this point.” I looked at my dream god as my heart starting racing. I tried again but it was like my dream, I couldn’t move, I was stuck.
He took my hand and looked into my eyes. �
��Breath, close your eyes and breath. Let your light shine, breathe, and let your light find its way home. You are the light Brigid. Imagine your light creating a door, open it and walk through.”
I breathed as he held his shield up high and deflected a shot to my head. I did my best to ignore it. I had to get to past this point. I willed the light, the glow from my arm to shine. Shine, come on shine. I could feel the flow coming, it was happening. The light was blinding. He pushed me over the threshold. All the panic, all the whizzing, everything stopped. I could hear the birds chirping, I could feel the light from my dream. It was sanctuary.
I turned to see him leaning over me again. “You need to tell me what is going on? I have dreamt of you, of all of this, this is not right but yet it is.”
“You Brigid are our saviour, my…”
My vision started to blur, my light went out. I could see concrete it was spinning and melting, I was getting pulled back. “No!” I shouted, “No!”
CHAPTER 6
I could feel the cold ground underneath me. My head pounded. “What?” I whispered to myself, “What just happened?”
“Brigid!”
I opened my eyes as I heard my name being shouted. It was a familiar voice, it was Hayden. My vision started to clear but my head was still pounding. I felt strong arms wrap around me. “Oh Brig, thank god!”
I was sitting in the middle of a crude stone circle with Hayden’s arms wrapped around me. All different sized pebbles and rocks secured the circle containing me with four lit candles sitting in four exact areas of the circle. “What? Hayden!” Realisation hit me. “What are you doing?” I was back at Cargill’s Castle.
“Lucky I was here Brig or you may have been stuck there.”
I pulled away from his embrace. “What are you doing here Hayden?” I was annoyed, annoyed at being pulled back before I figured out what everything was about. I never found out who that man from my dreams was, why we were being chased and more importantly, why my arm glowed. He said I was their saviour, whose saviour? He knew my name. How did he know my name? He was about to say something else, but this numbskull interfered. “Well?!” I blurted out. I looked at his sincere look and took a deep breath, it wasn’t his fault, he thought he was saving me. “Look I’m sorry, thank you.” I said solemnly “thank you for coming.” I started to stand up as Hayden gave me a lift from under my arms. I shook and wiped off the loose dirt from my running clothes. Something dawned on me. The circle, the candles, Hayden? “Hayden, you still haven’t answered me. Why are you here and why am I standing in the middle of this circle?” I held my head and felt the bump on my forehead from colliding with my dream man. Mortification came quickly to my mind as I remembered how I’d nearly knocked him out, how embarrassing.
“First off, you are welcome even if you don’t sound like you mean it and second, we need to talk.”
I glanced at the circle again, “yes we do.”
I helped Hayden put the rocks back in silence and we made our way back to his car. The wind was picking up and I pulled the hood over my head as I got in the car. “Right, talk.”
“Okay, this is all going to sound really weird, so keep an open mind.” He smiled as he squeezed my knee.
“I’m starting to get a bit freaked out now Hayden, tell me. Do you know why my hand glows?” I pulled my knee away from his hand.
He looked out the window, obviously hurt by my actions. “That’s certainly part of it for sure,” I sat forward in the passenger seat. I knew I wanted to hear this, but why would Hayden know and why has he not told me before.
He turned back around to me. “First of all, I wasn’t sure it was you?”
“What wasn’t me?
“I wasn’t sure it was you until you told me your hand glowed. Brig, do you know much about the gods? The Greek Gods, the Celtic Gods, those types of gods?”
I shook my head “No, not really.”
“Well Brig, I believe you somehow have the life force of The Great Mother, The Lady of the Sacred Flame running through your veins – Brigid” he announced as he held his hands up to emphasize the claim.
“Brigid? There’s a god called Brigid? With the same name as me?”
“It would appear so, which is very strange that your parents decided to call you that. Maybe they subconsciously knew.”
“Knew what? Who is this Brigid, I have never heard of her and why do I have her running through my veins and more importantly how do you know?” I’d heard of Thor and Zeus, but not Brigid. I was interested to find out what my best friend had been holding back from me all of these years.
He took a deep breath. “I’ll tell it as I remember it and I’ll condense it a little bit so you don’t get overwhelmed. Righto, you ready?”
I took a deep breath and nodded. I wasn’t totally sure if I was ready for it, but I don’t think I had a choice.
“Okay, so Brig, The Great Mother Brigid was married to a half demon-god, Bres. Bres was from an enemy family. The marriage was made to bring the families closer together and to avoid any more fighting. Bres was from the Fomorians, the sea people and she of the Danu people. They lived together happily for a while. They had three sons together - Ruadan, Luchar and Uar. Over the years, Bres became a tyrant in his rule and the Danu people renounced him and sent him back to the sea. Bres took his sons he had with Brigid with him. Ruadan, the eldest son came out of the sea a few days later by his father’s command and killed a sacred tribe member of the Danu people as revenge. Ruadan died for his efforts. Brigid’s roar of sadness and betrayal was heard all other the worlds. Her pain and loss was immense. Her husband’s family turned completely against her and plotted her demise. Anyway, to cut a long story short, before they turned her into stone and froze her in time, in her rage and grief she released some of her light into the universe, the light that made her Brigid, the lady of the sacred flame. This light was destined to attach itself to someone’s soul, but the Fomorians have been chasing it and bouncing it away before it can take hold, until 17 years ago. The light stopped. Some thought the flame had burned out, some believed it had found its home. I wasn’t sure.”
I sat there dumbfounded. I think he lost me at married to a half demon-god. Everything from that point sounded like gibberish.
He waved a hand in front of my face “Brig? Brig? Earth to Brig? Did you get any of that?”
I looked at him with disbelief. “Ah, not really.”
He retold his story as I sat there jiggling my legs, utterly dumbfounded. This can’t be true and if it was, what has Hayden got to do with it all?
We both sat silent in the car listening to the drumming of my knees gently banging together, a nervous twitch. “Okay, so I have the light of a goddess in me… right?”
“That would be right.”
“Why?”
“Why what exactly?”
The wind started to pick up and gentle rain drops hit the windows of the car. “Why do I have her light inside me? Why did it go into me?”
“All I know is that Brigid knew seconds before she was turned to stone by the Fomorians that this was the end and she’d be dammed if this was it, so she shot out some of her life force from her body and whispered a spell for it to find a baby born at daybreak and to bring the glow back to her. Brigid, you are the saviour, you’ve been destined to save a Goddess and not just any goddess, Brigid, the lady of the sacred flame.”
The Saviour, I’d heard that before. The boy from my dreams mentioned that also. “The saviour” I laughed out loud. “Me” I pointed to myself. “I can’t be the saviour, I can hardly save myself. How the hell am I supposed to save a Goddess?” I held my side to stop my laughter. I wiped my eyes. This was ridiculous.
“Brig, this isn’t funny, this is serious.”
“Actually coming to think of it Hayden, how do you know all of this? How did you know I was at Cargill’s Castle and how did you know how to bring me back from wherever I was?” I looked at him intensely. He had some explaining to do.
&nbs
p; He took a big gulp and put his seat belt on. The rain was hammering down now. “Look, how about we go and get some breakfast and I can explain my side of things.”
At the sound of the word breakfast my stomach betrayed me and let a huge rumble rip. “Okay, let’s go, but it’s your shout.”
Hayden turned the car on and put his windscreen wipers on high. I texted Mum to let her know where I was going. She texted back asking for a doggy bag of the shortbread hearts they always had in their cabinet. I couldn’t help but smile as Hayden drove away at my Mum’s text, of course she did.
◆◆◆
I took a large gulp of my banana smoothie. I was anxiously waiting for my pancakes to arrive, but the banana smoothie Hayden so nicely shouted me was filling the gap nicely. We managed to get a seat on the bar leaner facing the road towards St Clair beach. People’s voices filled my ears. I closed my eyes and listened to the voices and the rain that was hitting the window. There was nothing better than being warm and eating good food when it was wet and windy outside. It gave me the warm fuzzies.
Hayden returned from the toilet, sat down beside me and took a big gulp of his iced chocolate. “Right, so you want to know why I know all of this and that I’m not a complete loon?”
“Sure do, in fact I can’t wait to hear what you have to say.” I smiled sarcastically at him. A feeling of betrayal filled me and I didn’t care that his hurt emotions showed on his face. I needed answers, answers from him.
“Okay, so – to put it bluntly, I’m your protector.”
I spurted out my banana smoothie and grabbed my napkin to clean it up. “You’re my what?”
“I’m your protector. At least that is what I’m supposed to be.”
“My protector? Are you serious?”
He took my hands in his. They were cold and clammy, he was nervous. “My whole existence has been to make sure you survive and to make sure the light continues to glow.”
I pulled my hands away from him. “Are you serious?”
The Sun Goddess of Cargills Castle Page 3