The Forest of Aisling: Dream of the Shapeshifter (The Willow Series Book 1)

by D. S. Elstad

  It was the same time of year, fall. We sat outside of their little adobe house and played in a sand box in their front yard. It had more sticks in it than sand because Luka liked to build things out of the sticks. While we sat there, not saying anything to each other, Luka began singing a song. It was in Lakota. I couldn’t pick out all the words but I knew it was about a wolf. I closed my eyes as he sang and pointed my face to the sun to warm it, just like now.

  After he finished singing I asked him to tell me the whole story of the wolf, that I didn’t understand some of it. He said it was the Cherokee story of the good wolf and the bad wolf.

  One day a man took his grandson out fishing. Before they got to the lake they found what was left of a rabbit. The grandfather told the boy that the rabbit had been killed by a wolf. The boy was saddened and said he hated wolves. While they fished the grandfather explained to his grandson that every person has two wolves living inside of them…a good wolf and a bad wolf.

  There is an awful battle going on between the two wolves. The good wolf is kind and giving, patient and understanding, full of peace and love. It’s fearless and brave and unafraid of battling evil. The bad wolf is cruel and selfish, seeking only to meet its own needs. It is full of anger, envy and greed. It destroys anything in its path.

  The grandson became anxious and asked, “Grandfather, which wolf will win?”

  The grandfather replied quietly, “The one you feed.”

  After Luka told me the story he closed his eyes. He looked so content, sitting there with the sun bathing his face in its shining light and warmth. He began coughing and Winona came out and carried him inside, putting him to bed. I stayed in the sand box looking at the intricate patterns he had laid out with his sticks. As I studied the sticks I could hear Winona softly crying to Mom. A few months later I remember Mom telling me Luka had died. Mom and Dad went to the funeral but I didn’t. I often think of him on crisp fall days.

  I stood there, facing not the internal battle of the good wolf and bad wolf but this external, surreal one. I prayed that I’d be like the good wolf and battle evil without fear. But then, as I remembered Grandma lying in the morgue, I became frightened of my own mortality. I felt an overwhelming need to connect to Mom, but I had left my phone with Dad. I closed my eyes and pictured her smiling face, the sound of her voice. I held tight onto the image I had of her sitting in the kitchen with our dog Chance laying happily at her feet. I imagined her long black hair, braided, with loose strands flowing freely about her shoulders, and her pushing them back while she sketched in her art book.

  I focused my whole being on her and called to her softly in my mindspeak, Mom, please hear me, Mom. The sounds of birds and wind that had existed outside my head now stopped and became silent. A staticy sound grew in volume in my head until it was replaced by the sound of my mom’s remote voice. Even though it sounded a million miles away I could hear the worry. “Willow! Willow, honey! Speak to me!

  “Mom! You can hear me?” I exclaimed, excited beyond words.

  “Yes, baby, are you ok?” Her voice sounded fragmented and distant.

  “Mom, I’m ok, I just needed to hear your voice.” My own voice was cracking now, not from the noise in my head, but from the emotion in my heart.

  “Willow, Dad told me everything. I’m talking to him now. How are you doing this?”

  “I don’t know really. I just needed to hear you.” My eyes began to overflow as tears fell down my cheeks.

  “Baby, it’s ok. You’re ok. You can do this. You’re a strong woman. You’ve been given this gift because of your strength. Soon you’ll be home and it will all be behind you…” her voice trailed off. It seemed as though my mindspeak only lasted a short period of time, but I was grateful for what I just shared with my mom.

  “Ok Mom, I can’t hold it any longer. I love you…” I yelled internally, hoping the message got through.

  Amidst the static I could hear her distant “I love you too…” fading away with the outside sounds once again taking over.

  Quinn, Bram, and Aaron were now sitting on the couch in Aaron’s living room surrounded by sandwiches with bottles of water, soda, and tea sitting in a cooler under the coffee table. I grabbed a tea and sat down beside Bram. He rubbed my back and then continued on with his conversation with Aaron. They had pinpointed an area that they were convinced was the hiding spot of Balor’s Eye.

  From what he was able to translate from the ancient scrolls he’d inherited with taking on the role of Keeper of the Knowledge, Aaron determined the area to be a sidhe deep inside Killarney Park. He explained to me that a sidhe was an earth mound that is supposed to be a doorway to the otherworld, and that there were many sidhes scattered throughout Ireland. This particular one, called the Ѐadrom Sidhe was the one the Tuatha De Danann used after they were exiled into the otherworld, a fact unknown until now. Thanks to Aaron’s skill in ancient language translation, more of those ancient mysteries were being discovered. Lugh had never told anyone where the Eye of Balor was, but since the Tuatha were all banished below the sidhe, it only made sense that Lugh would take it there with him.

  Aaron explained in greater detail what Bram had told me about the Tuatha. He could make out from the paintings he’d researched, more than the actual writings, that the Tuatha lived in the otherworld for hundreds of years, then transported themselves to mystical lands which they had been creating while submerged in the sidhes. He showed me the fading pictographs which told the story of exile and then eventual resurgence in a land created only for themselves.

  “So then, we’re completely on our own against the Fomorians?” I wondered aloud. “I thought you’d mentioned that Lugh would return to aid the guardians if they were in trouble.”

  “Aye, that I did,” Aaron said, looking through a stack of aged papers that sat on a chair alongside the coffee table. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of latex gloves, snapping them over his fingers. He gently took hold of an old brown leather binder that had images and symbols embedded in its cover. He carefully opened it and lifted a beige cloth that had been encased in some kind of plastic. He slipped off the clamps that held the plastic together and, with the touch of a surgeon, delicately removed the cloth. He laid it gently on the table and carefully unfolded it, exposing a combination of ancient writings and hieroglyphic-type drawings.

  “This appears to be the most ancient of all the documents I have. I believe it to be over one thousand years old,” Aaron guessed, speaking softly now as if he was afraid the mere sound of his voice would disintegrate the aged cloth.

  “See here,” he pointed to a figure carrying an object. “I believe this represents Lugh, and the object he carries is Balor’s Eye. Below it, here…” he lowered his pencil to the script in ancient Celtic directly under the drawing, “if I’ve translated it correctly, says, No creature shall rise against the forces of three, should enemies join the four corners, take heed. The lights of the sky must not reunite or the evil seed of Buarainech takes flight.” Aaron stopped, staring intently at the script before continuing, “Woe be the day of this hideous rebirth…and then something here.” He drew an imaginary circle around a passage, “Lamfhota be released by the power of Triquetra.”

  “Buarainech and Lamfhota?” Quinn asked. “What’s a Lamfhota and a Buarainech?”

  “Not what…who,” Aaron uttered, still lost, trying to translate the entire piece. “Buarainech is another name for Balor and Lamfhota is Lugh. There’s more but I just don’t have time to try and decipher it all. I believe it means that should there be a problem that prevents you all from keeping Balor from rising, then Lugh may be summoned with the power of the Triquetra.”

  “And just how do we accomplish that?” Bram asked, moving in closer for a better look at the cloth.

  Aaron rubbed the back of his neck and began pacing. “I’m not sure. But I’ve got to believe it has something to do with the three of you joining together. Remember when you hugged at the lake? A charge of electricit
y was definitely surging through you all. I haven’t found anything in all of this that tells me how to accomplish summoning Lugh. Hopefully it won’t come down to that. We just have to stop the Fomorians before they get to Balor’s Eye.”

  “So this thing is a real eyeball… like thing?” Quinn asked, wincing as he looked at the picture.

  “Unknown, Quinn, what kind of form it will take. Nothing here tells me but, judging by the phenomenon we saw at the lake, it quite possibly could be his Eye. If the Fomorians get hold of it, the Eye would give them the ultimate power, plus allow them to call upon Balor himself.” Aaron stood above the piles of unreadable documents, frustrated and visibly exhausted. I’m sure he was up all night trying to translate as much as he could. He excused himself and stepped out of the room.

  Quinn and I looked over at Bram. “Your dad ok, mate?” Quinn signed to Bram.

  Bram shrugged. “As ok as he can be. He’s taken all this on himself, you know?” He motioned to the pile of papers scattered about. “He feels responsible for providing us with all the answers.”

  “Yeah,” I mumbled “and there aren’t any easy answers to be found.”

  Quinn stood up straight up and began tapping away on his phone. A huge smile crossed his face as he chuckled, reading the response to his text. “I just had a brilliant idea, chum,” he signed to Bram.

  Fifteen minutes later, someone rang the bell at Aaron’s house. Quinn jumped up excitedly. Bram stared at Quinn as he crossed the room and opened the door.

  “All right, I’m here now, show me these papers so I can get started with this,” Kelleigh ordered, pushing her way into the living room.

  Bram and I stood staring at her while she stripped off her jacket and gloves and made herself comfortable on the burgundy sofa.

  Aaron stepped back into the room carrying a bowl of chips and some fruit. “Hello, Kelleigh,” he said, looking her over curiously. He sat the food down on the coffee table and began clearing off the layers of paperwork.

  “No, here, let me help you, Aaron,” she offered, jumping up and taking hold of the priceless documents, tossing them aside.

  Aaron grabbed her wrist, “Please Kelleigh, these items are extremely fragile.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry, of course they are.” She put the papers down carefully and for the first time since I’d met her, she actually blushed.

  “Aaron, I thought Kelleigh could help you translate this. She’s really quite good at it. She was able to find answers to some of these things before we knew that Bram was a part of it all. And you could use the help, couldn’t you?” Quinn joined his sister and put his arm over her shoulder. “She’s anxious to help out in any way she can…since she wasn’t able to take on the shifting part, I thought you may be able to use her help,” he repeated, trying to convince Aaron to allow Kelleigh to join in.

  I thought it was very sweet and thoughtful of Quinn to want to include Kelleigh. She was pretty heartbroken about not being the guardian and this did seem like the perfect job for her.

  Kelleigh kept her eyes lowered and folded her hands in front of herself. She looked like someone who had just been sent to the principal’s office. I wanted to laugh. She was really working it. Aaron stepped over and put his hand on her shoulder. She raised her head, batting her big blue eyes.

  “Of course you can help, sweetheart,” Aaron said smiling, looking over the top of his glasses, “I can’t think of anyone better suited to take on this challenge.”

  “Thank you Aaron, you won’t regret this! I am quite good with languages and I’ve studied olde Irish so I do think I’d be very helpful. Oh, and I’ve brought my tablet so I can do major research. You do have internet, don’t you? Oh what am I saying, of course you do, everyone does. And also I…” Quinn poked her in the arm and shook his head no. Kelleigh stared at her brother and was just about ready to get into something with him when she stopped herself, looked back at Aaron, and smiled. “Thank you, Aaron, I’ll do my best.”

  Aaron chuckled and reached back down to the coffee table and continued picking up the papers. “No one can know anything about this, right, Kelleigh?” he said, glancing over his shoulder.

  “Of course not,” she answered, then joined Aaron in cleaning up. He took her aside and began the task of explaining to her the intricacies of the documents in his possession. She followed him as he led her downstairs to show her the rest of the artifacts and to set her up with some research he needed done.

  I sat back down on the sofa and rested my head against the jacquard cushion. Bram sat by me and Quinn alongside him. We were so quiet, each one of us lost in our own thoughts about what lay ahead and how we would deal with it.

  I decided to try and use my mindspeak to communicate with both of them simultaneously. It seemed like we’d better get a full understanding of what our abilities were and how to use them. I knew that I was able to hear external things occurring miles and miles away, but my mindspeak also gave me the ability to tap into peoples’ minds, hear their voices inside my head, and, thereby, communicate with them.

  I tried to get into Bram’s head to see if I was able to read his thoughts but it didn’t seem to work that way. The only time I was able to actually speak to anyone was if I directed my internal voice their way and engaged them in a conversation. So, simply reading anyone’s thoughts wasn’t part of my ability. In a way I was relieved at that. I was afraid I’d be trying to read minds way too often, especially Bram’s. I focused on the two of them and began sending out my voice.

  “Bram, Quinn, I’m just trying to see if you can hear me at the same time,” I explained.

  Both their heads jerked in my direction which made me laugh. The look on their faces was priceless. Once they got over the initial shock of the three of us being able to communicate all at once, we could engage in conversation. It was just like being on a telephone conference call. The only disconcerting thing was the fading in and out between them, but it was something I could learn to deal with. I continued communicating with them to see how long I might be able to hold on. We went back and forth for about two minutes, according to Quinn’s watch. That felt good. If we needed to get messages to each other, that should be enough time. After practicing for about a half hour we determined that I needed at least five minutes between each session for my ability to recharge itself. I was excited. This would be a huge asset.

  Bram decided he needed to work on his visual ability. He knew he could narrow his sight to distances in and around town, but up until now he’d never tried to go any farther. He stood up and said he was going to focus his visual ability on Dublin since he had been there so many times. He knew that, for his ability to work, he had to think of a specific area and zoom in to it with his mind’s eye or his eagle’s eye as he called it; then he’d be able to see it in real time. He closed his eyes at first but then opened them, saying that didn’t help. Instead he focused on a picture that hung above the fireplace. Without blinking his eyes, he stared at the picture then a smile of satisfaction spread across his face. He nodded his head up and down and we knew he was in Dublin, only visible to him. Five minutes passed before he began blinking his eyes and looked over to Quinn and me.

  “Incredible,” he said softly. “It was as though I was there, flying. I literally moved through the city the way I do when I’ve shifted.”

  Quinn stood up and patted Bram on the back. “That’s brilliant, mate!”

  Bram visited a couple more spots visually and discovered that, like me, he needed a few minutes between each session to sort of recharge the ability. He felt confident in the fact that he could use this new skill comfortably and when needed.

  “Hey, wait. Your dad said that you could see inside of things as well, right?” Quinn began. “How about trying to see inside of something?”

  “Like what?”

  We all grew quiet trying to think of somewhere where Bram might try out his ability even further when suddenly it hit me.

  “I know!” I jumped up and stood
in front of Bram. “Try the sidhe. You know, where your Dad believes the Eye is. Do you think you can?”

  Bram raised his eyebrows as he watched Quinn interpret my suggestion. “Never know unless I try,” he answered excitedly. “Only thing, I’m not quite sure where it is.”

  “Do you need to know the exact location before you can see it?” Quinn asked.

  “Not sure, I’ve only done this a few times and it was places I’d been to…just like now with Dublin.” Bram twisted his mouth in concentration. “The sidhe is in Killarney Park, and, I’ve been there a million times so...” He motioned for us to sit back down as he directed his eyes back to the painting above the fireplace. He stood unblinking for quite a while before we saw the change in his posture.

  I nudged Quinn and pointed out to him how Bram’s shoulders had lowered and his knees were bent, almost as if he were getting ready to jump. Judging from what he had done a few minutes earlier, he seemed to get into a position almost like he was getting ready to fly when he had successfully transferred his vision to another location.

  He froze in that position for almost ten minutes, then began blinking rapidly and breathing hard. He slumped down and almost fell to the ground when Quinn and I rushed over and grabbed him, helping him to the couch. He kept blinking and staring past us. Quinn shook his shoulders fiercely hoping to jog him out of the trance he seemed to be in.

  “Bram…Bram, are you ok?” I asked in mindspeak, worried at the growing paleness crossing over his face.

  He nodded yes and then began coughing. I grabbed a water bottle and held it up to his lips. He focused on the bottle and eagerly took it, downing the entire contents in one long swallow. Once he put the bottle down I was relieved to see he was with us. His eyes shot back and forth between Quinn and me.

  “I found the sidhe,” he began, leaning to the edge of the sofa. “I circled around it a few times just to be sure it was the one we’re looking for. But I knew it was. Something inside me knew it was. I landed away from it and noticed tracks. They were all over.”