The Encounter

by Idaean Halley

The Encounter

  Travels to Eilean Saga, Volume 1

  Idaean Halley

  Copyright 2014 Idaean Halley

  The Encounter

  Author: Idaean Halley

  Translator: Georgia L. Snelgrove

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IdaeanHalley2

  Twitter: @Idaean_Halley

  Copyright of this edition: © 2014 Idaean Halley

  No part of this book may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  This book you are going to begin is the first part of The Travels to Eilean Saga. You’ll find all the information about it in the last pages of this ebook.

  DEDICATED TO LUANA FROM YOUR AUNT,

  FOR YOU TO ALWAYS BELIEVE IN MAGIC.

  The Way to Eilean

  Table of Content

  Prologue: Agnes

  I. The Encounter:

  1. The trip

  2. The first day

  3. Revelations

  4. Dream of another world

  5. The promise

  PROLOGUE

  Agnes

  Laigin (Ireland)

  Year 514 A.D.

  The sound of people running in the lush forest made Agnes raise her head, looking for somewhere to hide. She picked up the basket that she had been filling with mushrooms and hid behind some bushes.

  A short while afterwards, she recognized the voices of her unexpected companions in the forest. They belonged to three boys from the village, Eremon, Niall and Finegas. For a brief moment, she thought about leaving her hiding place and continue to look for mushrooms, but she decided that it was better to wait until the voices vanished in the distance. Eremon scared her. The robust blacksmith's son was not a nice person. He had tripped her over many times in the past when she had walked by him or he had hit her when he thought that nobody was looking. The other two lads weren't that bad, but they followed Eremon like sheep with their shepherd and they followed his every whim. And they also laughed at her every time they saw her. It would be best not to go looking for trouble.

  She remained sitting on the floor for a long time, picking petals off of flowers, until she felt it safe to leave her hideout. She decided that it would be better to go deeper into the forest. She knew the area very well and the lads would most probably not dare to walk travel so far in. The old ladies of the town told stories of the Village of Shide, deep in the heart of the forest. There were hundreds of tales about fairies, goblins and elves, but Agnes was not afraid. She did not believe that the magical beings could be any more cruel to her than the people in her village and, deep down, she wished she would find them, for them to take pity on her and that they could change her sad life. And why not? It was said that they could change time. Maybe they could make her go back to the day when the cabin set on fire and help her father to get her out of there before that wooden beam crashed down on her crib, leaving her body burnt and deformed for the rest of her days.

  She gripped her basket and walked away from her hiding place. As she walked deeper into the forest she felt safer, happier. There was nobody laughing at her there, nobody to turn their face away with disgust or pity. There was only her and the ancient trees, the sound of running water, the breeze above her head... Plus, the dark and damp forest seemed to welcome her with gifts in plentiful, as the mushrooms were much bigger and more abundant in that area. She smiled, imaging the look of delight on her mother's face when she handed her such a full basket.

  All of a sudden she heard a strange noise. It seemed like whining, like a small child crying. She edged closer without making a sound. She separated the branches and smiled at the sight she saw. Two small fox cubs had left their den and they were whimpering nervously, most probably calling for their mother. Agnes approached them without fear. She had always got on well with animals. The two cubs clumsily walked towards her and, when she sat on the floor, they began to sniff her out of curiosity. She spent some time playing with them until the sound of dry twigs breaking and hushed whispers made caused her to stand up and hide again.

  She recognized the voices at once. It was the lads from the village again and they seemed to be heading directly to where she was hiding. Had they followed her? She bent down even further and waited, begging for them to leave there. The voices got louder until the lads walked into her sight.

  — I don't know what we're doing here— Niall said to his buddies—. We'll just end up getting lost.

  — Niall's right—Finegas agreed.

  — Shut up both of you—Eremon ordered—. I know exactly where we are. You're a pair of cowards.

  All at the same time, the three lads fell quiet. Agnes peaked out of her hideout and, to her horror, saw that they had discovered the foxes den, where the two cubs were still sitting outside waiting for their mother. Eremon crouched down, picked up a stone and threw it at the cubs. The baby foxes got scared and run a few feet away but they didn't dare to run any further.

  — Come on, help me kill them— Eremon shouted.

  — But they are only babies— answered Niall.

  — Tell that to your mother when they grow up and eat your chickens— said Finegas, picking up a handful of stones—. They're just vermin.

  The three boys continued throwing stones, knocking out the two cubs. They continued with their attack for what seemed like an eternity to Agnes. With tears in her eyes, she watched how the blood flowed from the small and defenseless bodies, how stones kept hitting them even though they had been motionless for some time. She felt tempted to leave her hiding place to defend the animals, but she was too scared of the boys. Their faces were twisted with hate; their eyes seemed to glisten with an evil gleam. They looked like monsters, terrible demons, and Agnes was sure that she would become their next victim if she showed herself to them. After all, she knew that she was also vermin in their eyes.

  Eremon stopped throwing stones and walked towards the cubs. He grabbed one of them by the tail and shook it, showing his friends that it was dead. The three boys broke into wild cheers of joy. Eremon threw the little bleeding body and walked back over to his friends, who slapped him on the back, as if he were a hero returning from some glorious battle. The three of them turned to leave the forest, shouting and running as they went.

  Agnes waited until she could not hear them any longer and left her hiding place, sobbing. A noise in some nearby bushes startled her. A larger fox appeared from the thicket and ran over to the cubs. It sniffed them for a while, nudging them with its snout, unable to assimilate the fact that they were dead. Agnes walked towards them slowly, with her palms outstretched to show that she did not mean any harm. The vixen bared her teeth, growling menacingly. Without really knowing what she was doing, Agnes continued to approach them. She sat down between the two small bodies and extended a hand over each one of them.

  The vixen stepped back scared, staring at the white light that emerged from Agnes's hands. Agnes was not afraid. Although nobody knew, she had already done this on other occasions, like when her only cow fell ill and died and she didn't want her mother to be sad. She concentrated on the two bodies on the floor, on making the light which came from her hands become stronger and purer. The wounds began to heal and the fur which had been torn out by the stones began to grow. One of the cubs started moving and began to whine once again, waking up from its cold slumber. Seconds later, the other cub also began to move. Both cubs got up and headed towards their mother, who instantly started to lick them affectionately.

  All of a sudden the three animals ran away terrified and disappeared in the forest. Agnes stared at them, wondering what could have sc
ared them. A stone hit her on the head before she even had the chance to see what was happening.

  — Witch! She's a witch! — shouted Eremon's voice behind her.

  She crawled away, trying to turn herself towards them whilst the onslaught of stones kept hitting her. The three boys were standing at the edge of the clearing, looking at her with a mix of hate and fear whilst they stoned her. Agnes held up her arm, trying to beg for mercy but this only increased the ferocity of their attacks.

  — Quick or she'll cast a spell on us. We have to kill her— shouted Finegas, terrified.

  Eremon looked around him and found a large rock. He picked it up with some effort and aimed it at Agnes, directly at her head.

  — Please, no...— Agnes managed to stutter.

  — Kill her, kill her...— shouted his two friends hysterically.

  Agnes locked her eyes on Eremon's face, searching for a glimpse of compassion, but all she could see was the boy's cruel and savage smile.

  When she opened her eyes and found herself in the middle of that tunnel of white light, she felt scared and alone. She tried to remember what had happened and shuddered when Eremon's smile returned to her memory. What had happened? Where was she?

  She stood up awkwardly and tried to look at her wounds, but there was nothing to see. She couldn't see her body or even feel it. She felt pure terror invade her. What did all of this mean? How was she supposed to get