CHAPTER 14
Once again I found myself staring into the fire pit back at the safe house. We’d come up with a plan and we were going to leave before first light tomorrow. Everyone was to get a few hours’ sleep before we left. Everyone except for me - I couldn’t sleep. I felt like I was walking into my death bed. Could I survive this? The graceful movements of the fire comforted me. I grabbed my blanket and quietly dragged it to the fire. I wrapped it around myself as the flames leaned gently towards me.
“What am I going to do?” I asked the flames in a whisper. “I don’t think I can do this. I can’t fight, I can’t really do anything?”
The flames leaned over further and brushed my wrist. I pulled away waiting for the burn, but nothing happened. It didn’t hurt. I held my hand out and the flame was drawn to it. A small part broke off and stayed in the palm of my hand. I watched in awe as it danced around comforting me. “You can do something” it quietly hissed.
“What?”
“What are you doing now?”
“Holding fire in my hand.”
“Yes and how are you doing that?”
I didn’t really know. “Has it got something to do with the light inside me?” It looked like it nodded. It dawned on me. Brigid was the bearer of light, she can control fire. “Can I control fire?” I asked the little flame dancing around on my hand.
“Yesss” it hissed gently.
“But how?”
“Use your mind.”
Use my mind? Okay. I focused on my little flame child. Nothing happened. I huffed. I shook my head, no, I wasn’t going to give up. I have to do this, I have no choice so I may as well contribute and try. I closed my eyes and focused again. I slowly opened my eyes. I let out a loud Eek! The flame was floating above my hand. “I did it” I lowered my voice not wanting to wake anybody. “I did it” I whispered again to my baby flame. It did a little dance for me before it jumped back into the fire.
“Well done!” Uar quietly clapped behind me.
I spun around shocked he’d been watching me. “What? You saw that?”
“Yes, I saw it. How did it feel?”
“It felt amazing! I can’t explain it, I can just think about what I want it to do and it just did it and it felt right… it was weird, but in a good way.”
He sat down beside me and rested his leg against mine as we both looked into the fire. Inwardly I was doing high fives with myself. I wanted to keep going and see how far I could go with this. “I appreciate what you are doing Brigid. You don’t have to help us, but you are and for that I thank you, we all thank you.”
I sat there looking at my new friend, the fire. “I kind of have to.”
“You don’t, not if you didn’t want to, we would never force you… well Brea might.” He smiled with the mention of her name.
“I didn’t mean it like that. What I meant was, I have this precious gift inside me, your Mother’s light and in a way, my Mother’s too. It’s in me for a reason. I just needed to come to terms with what was expected of me. I just didn’t know how I was going to do it and what it all meant. I was afraid, actually I’m still afraid.”
He put his arm around me and gave me a squeeze. “It’s okay to be afraid.”
“I know that now thanks.”
“If you weren’t afraid, I would be worried.”
“Are you afraid?”
“Yes I am, very afraid. I’m afraid of the journey and I’m afraid of the outcome. What if it doesn’t work? What if I let you down?”
“What?! You can’t let me down, look at you – you are like, a god warrior person. I’m afraid I’m going to let you down, let everybody down. I don’t contribute anything. You all have amazing gifts, and most importantly you all know how to fight, I have no idea about any of that sort of thing.”
“You do contribute Brigid, you do. You have the light and that is the most important thing. That is the whole reason we are all here. You held the fire before, some of Mother’s abilities have transferred to you also. You have abilities that you may not be aware of yet.”
I nodded in agreeance. I did hold the fire, what else was I able to do? I was looking forward to finding out. But for now I needed sleep. “Hey” I turned to Uar. “Have you ever heard of Chocolate?”
“Chocolate? No, I don’t think so. What is it?” He looked confused.
“Just you wait and see.” I grabbed my bag and brought if over to the fire. I opened the zip and looked around for my Mum’s chocolate I grabbed as I ran out the door the other day. If he hadn’t tried chocolate before, this was going to blow his mind. His reaction was going to be awesome! I moved my hand around the inside of my bag. I couldn’t feel it. I opened the zip further and peeked in. Empty packets were everywhere. “What?” I urgently moved all of the empty packets to the side, I have hardly been in my bag since I’d been there. Where was my chocolate? I kept searching, I felt something warm and soft under my hand. I peeled back the empty wrappers. “B!”
He snorted as he rolled over and scratched his stomach. His eyes slowly opened. He jumped up when he saw me staring down at him. He’d been caught. “What are you doing here B?” I whispered between clenched teeth.
“Is everything okay?” Uar asked as he looked over my shoulder. “Zeg!”
B looked up at Uar with a huge smile and scampered up my arm to get to Uar. They must know each other? Zeg?
“Zeg, what are you doing here? I haven’t seen you for… well, for a very long time.”
B motioned to his throat. “That’s right, you can’t talk anymore.” B nodded his head sadly, but then his smile came back. “It’s so good to see you, Mother will be happy you are here.”
“Mother? Do you know B?” This had me floored. First of all B was here, second B’s name was actually Zeg, and he knows Uar.
“Yes, Zeg was Mother’s brownie. Zeg lived with her, helped her. They were good friends.”
“Wow! What a small world.”
They both looked at me strangely. “Sorry, it’s a saying from where I come from. Wow!” I turned to B. “So your name is Zeg.”
He was now sitting on Uar’s shoulder. He nodded his head at me as his large pointy ears bounced with the movement.
“Nice to meet you Zeg.” I held out my hand and laughed as he held my little finger for a hand shake.
“Zeg helped my Mother try and get away from the Fomorians before they could get to her. They froze Zeg’s voice at the same time Mother was frozen. Zeg jumped in the way.” Zeg bowed his head and shook it. He was clearly upset about it. Uar gave him a little nudge, “You did the best you could do. You were there and you helped. The forces of the Fomorians were too strong, you did your best Zeg and I’m sorry you lost your voice and I’m sorry for not being there.”
Zeg looked up at Uar with his big black eyes glistening. He quickly wiped away his tears, embarrassed that he was crying. So that’s why he couldn’t talk. What a personality Zeg was, loyal and furious. He’d tried to save Brigid and lost his voice for his efforts. I wondered if his voice would come back when Brigid came back. Was that something I could do? If we were successful tomorrow, getting Zeg’s voice back was going to be first on my list of things to do.
We talked for a while longer before we tried to get some sleep. Before I knew it, Uar was getting everyone up. I closed my eyes again, wishing it was the weekend and wishing I was at home in my comfy double bed and I could go back to sleep and forget about all of this. But the reality was, I couldn’t. It was “D” day today, today was the day!
There was a knock at the door. Everybody froze. There was another double knock a few seconds later. Uar let out a breath of relief. “It will be Tunnan.”
A man walked in, a handsome man with long dark wavy hair, held half up in a leather tie. He swung his cape off as everybody welcomed and greeted him. He had a bow and arrow strapped against his back and a smaller one on his side. He had daggers strapped up his leather pants. Yes, his chest was bare, like everybody else’s here in the Other
world and he had on a large ring with a huge blue stone in the centre of it. Tunnan certainly knew how to make an entrance.
Once everyone had greeted him, he made his way over to me. I was sitting on the ground and he towered over me with his hands on his hips. “And you must be Brigid?”
“Yes she is” Uar replied for me as he made his way over to us.
I was feeling small and stood up. He still towered over me, they both did. “Nice to meet you Brigid.” He held out his hand and I shook it.
“Nice to meet you too.”
“Thanks for coming Tunnan, we all appreciate it.” Uar slapped him on the back.
“Of course. If she…” pointing to me “can change this place I’m all for a bit of sunshine in my life.” He gave me a glare. He didn’t seem convinced I was the one for the job. I held out my hand as part of the fire jumped onto it. I twisted it around my wrist as he stared at it. I could feel Tunnan’s surprise. “Well maybe there is hope after all.” He smiled and nodded his head in acknowledgement to me.
I smiled smugly as he walked away.
“When did you learn that?” Brea asked as she made her way to my side strapping on her belt.
“Last night.” I gave her the biggest smile. “Pretty cool aye!”
“Yes, whatever cool means.” She laughed. “I’m glad, you seem to be happy today, more assertive. It’s reassuring.”
I did feel better today. I can manipulate fire, B… I mean Zeg was here. Even though I should be mad at him for stowing away, but I was actually secretly happy. He was still sleeping in my bag. I felt confident. “I am” I simply said to her.
“What’s Tunnan’s deal anyway?” I looked in his direction as he talked to Uar.
“Tunnan is a complicated one. His archery skills are legendary though and he’s a formidable warrior with exact precision, he never misses. There was a sense of relief when he walked in before, you would have felt it. Everybody knows we have a better chance with Tunnan with us and I’m glad for it. I will talk to you later about it, but for now, let’s get ready to go. It’s still dark outside, but it’s getting lighter. We need to have the element of surprise because they will be waiting for us and I need to let Tunnan know what we have planned, we cannot fail today.”
CHAPTER 15
I strapped on my chest armour that Brea had given me to wear. It felt cold and hard against my skin. I’d opted for leather leggings rather than the familiar skirt they all wore. I had a picture of a cute little pug dog wearing a pink tiara on the front of my knickers. Slightly embarrassing if I fell over or died with my skirt above my head. Tight leather leggings = embarrassing knickers never being seen. My underwear choice had not entered my mind when I packed for this adventure. Zeg had wanted to come with me. If I’d said no, he would have stowed away anyway. So I didn’t argue and let him come along. I wrapped a long piece of cloth over my shoulder and around my waist then tucked him into it. He was on the outside of my armour, so I had to make sure I protected him. He was as snug as a bug in a rug at the moment and I could feel his snores ringing gently against my armoured chest. As well as my small dagger, I’d also asked for a bow and arrow. I knew I could shoot one and my chances of survival would go up. Tunnan reluctantly sacrificed one of his small ones to me and I strapped it comfortably on my back. It felt familiar and I felt slightly more warrior like with it on.
“Do you know how to use one of those?” Tunnan asked from behind me.
I jumped and put my hand on my heart as I spun around. “My god, Tunnan - you scared me.”
He stared at me. “There are a lot more scarier things than me out there. Let’s hope for all of our sakes you don’t scare so easily on the field or we’re all dead.”
Anger boiled up inside me. I had just gotten my mind to a place that was prepared to fight today and in one foul swoop, Tunnan had fractured it. “For your information, I can use a bow and arrow and the only reason I jumped was because of your stench – it is repulsive.”
I walked away with my head held high and left him with his mouth hanging open. Of course he didn’t stink, but it was the first thing that came into my head to momentarily hurt him for making me doubt myself again. I smirked and kept walking. I heard some of the men snigger and it made my smile grow. Water burst out of Uar’s mouth in surprise as he laughed out loud. He put his cup of water down and wiped his chin. He nodded his head to me and I nodded back. He had acknowledged how awesome I just was. I was ready to fight, I was ready to win.
◆◆◆
Sweat dripped down my forehead and my heart pounded. This was it… this was the day I could possibly die. Hay tickled my cheeks as I lay tummy down on the ground glaring out at the Fomorians. They had made camp in the field of hay, directly in front of the Oak Trees. Small red square tents were pitched everywhere. No pattern, just everywhere. Grotesque Fomorian’s sat by their small campfire’s cooking meat and drinking. Some wandered around chatting to each other. They didn’t look prepared or scared. It was like we didn’t matter to them and they were just getting on with their daily lives. That was a bit off putting – because I was certainly scared of them and as for the preparation, I sincerely hoped we were.
“Is this normal?” I whispered to Uar. “I mean they don’t look scared at all. I on the other hand feel like I’m going to wet my pants with fear.” I instantly regretted telling him that. I needed to think more before I spoke. How embarrassing!
He pushed my head down gently and put his finger up to his lips. “We have the upper hand, don’t worry.” He looked at Brea and she nodded. She pointed to Tunnan and he split off from the group.
“Where’s he going?” I asked Uar. This wasn’t part of the plan.
“He’s going to scout the area.” He looked worried. I matched his expression. “Don’t worry Tunnan’s our best hunter, he won’t be seen.”
I leaned up from the ground slightly as I felt a tap on my armour. I must’ve been squashing Zeg. I gave him a gentle rub as an apology. “What now… do we just wait?”
Uar nodded.
Great, I was in no hurry to die. This would do for now. I relaxed a bit and felt for my bow and arrow. Yip, it was still there. I wished I had time to practice with it. All bows are different, but until Tunnan walked through the door, I didn’t know they had any, which was stupid now that I think about it, how would they hunt and Hayden, Hayden was a great shot at archery, and of course he was because he was from the Otherworld. I missed Hayden, I wish he was with me. I have some major apologising to do when I get back. He will not be happy I just ran out on him like this.
I felt a tap on my back. It was Uar. He was pointing to Tunnan, he was back. That was fast. He whispered something to Gurt then turned to the rest of the warriors behind us and pointed up. Around fifty other people joined us this morning. All ready and eager for this curse to be over. Gurt whispered down the line. When it got to me Brea whispered “They are waiting in the trees, Hagrid will cloak us from above but be prepared.” I looked into the trees surrounding the hay field, I couldn’t see anyone. I passed the message on to Uar. He held up his fingers for the front line to see and dropped them slowly one at a time. When his last finger dropped he started crawling along the hay, moving towards the Fomorians. I slowly followed as did the rest of the group. I made sure I lagged slightly behind Uar, being in front was not a priority of mine, I wanted to savour the small amount of time I had left. I shook my head. I needed a mental check on myself. I needed positivity. I was their saviour, somehow this was supposed to work out… wasn’t it?
We slowly moved on. I kept my eye on Uar. He looked like a natural at this. He was flat against the ground, his muscles holding him up. He looked like he was barely moving. Then there was me, barrelling ungracefully through the hay, how they didn’t hear me I had no idea. Maybe Hagrid could disguise sound as well? I doubted that though. I could see Uar’s chiselled thighs and his muscles contracting as he pushed his body to the limits and closer to the camp. What a sight he was. He quickly spun around
to me. I looked in the other direction hiding my red face. He must’ve sensed me checking him out. He smiled and put his finger to his mouth. Of course, it was my ungraceful noise that gave me away. I gave him an apologetic facial expression in return. Hey, it’s not my fault I wasn’t a natural at this sort of thing. I started to smell the smoke from the camp fires. We must be close. I didn’t dare poke my head above the long hay to check it out. My trust was in Uar and when he moved, I moved.
It seemed to take forever to get there and with each crawl we took, my heart pounded harder. We finally reached the first tent. The hay had been trampled here by the Fomorians footsteps. There was nowhere for us to hide anymore. Uar crawled out of the long hay first and slowly stood up. We all stayed where we were. I couldn’t see Uar’s face I was too scared to look up. I was waiting for the war cry of the Fomorians, but there was nothing. Uar was relying on Hagrid cloaking us so they couldn’t see us. We had to do this in an orderly quiet fashion. Hagrid was only one person; if we all got split up he couldn’t keep track of us all. Everyone slowly stood up. I followed very slowly. My breath caught in my chest. Three metres away were two Fomorians. Uar put his finger to his lips again, reminding me to be quiet. He wiggled his finger for me to follow him. Brea did the same to the rest of the group. One of the Fomorians was picking his toe nails and had his foot up on a piece of wood beside the camp fire. Yuck, I wanted to vomit. His calf was showing and the boils of oozing pus were disgusting. The other one had his red cape draped over his chest with its eyes closed. He was the dangerous one, was he pretending or was he really asleep? Eek, I slowly tiptoed past them. No movement. Hagrid’s illusion was working. I just had to be as quiet as a mouse and as slow as a turtle. I followed behind Uar. We dodged tents left and right, there was no main walkway. I bet they did this because they knew Hagrid would be with us. It’s harder to focus if we are constantly moving in and out and away from each other. We kept moving slowly and in an orderly fashion. At one point I had to stop quickly as a short Fomorian rushed out of his tent and emptied his bladder on the ground outside. I cringed as he made his way back into the tent. He was so close to me, I could smell his urine. I noticed he had his sword still attached to him. Uar noticed too and widened his eyes at me. We had to be careful, they were ready for us. I heard some dogs barking in the distance. Great, they had dogs. If the Fomorians looked like this, imagine what their dogs looked like. I didn’t want to find out.
The Sun Goddess of Cargills Castle Page 10