“Fly to your destiny, we will meet again.”
I released the tension, sending them flying to the two Romans running toward him.
“Down!” I heard Eisha yell.
I instinctively dropped to the ground rolling on to my back. Bow and arrow in hand, ready to defend myself. A massive boulder flew over me, pulverizing the arrow right out if my hand. It connected with the chest of a Roman soldier, I had not seen coming for me. I turned startled to look at her. Her hands where still glowing while she grimaced.
“Forgive me!” She called from her end.
I shook my head and got up from the ground. She needed a substantial amount of practice. I rose to my feet and spotted a few soldiers running close to the edge of the cliff. They made their way towards our people gathered at the other end. Feeling the rush of the magic I lifted glowing hands. My vision adopted its blue hue.
“Nigheadh air falbh”—Wash away.
I said and a massive, turbulent wave rose above the cliff. It splashed the ground on its way downward and swept the Romans with it.
Fighting alongside Eisha, I made my way to the group of people my brother had gathered. He and his warriors were still fighting the Romans. Without wasting time, I threw the blessed passage stones in the air.
“Leigeil le trannsa!” I yelled
The portal immediately formed. As soon as the inside became clear. I began guiding the people towards it.
“It will be alright, no need to fear” Eisha said as she took them through it to our village.
I turned and pulled three arrows from my quiver, sending them flying into the hearts of the three of the four soldiers surrounding Art. As they fell to the ground, my brothers’ swords crisscrossed on the neck of the remaining one. Looking behind me and seeing our people gone, I asked forgiveness to our Goddess earth. There was no time to pray for the fallen Roman soldiers. We needed to leave or risk losing this battle. I whistled and immediately Art and his warriors turned towards me. I motioned for them to run. They did, the Romans followed after. I signaled to the portal behind me.
“Go through the archway!”
I urged my brother’s warriors. Art stopped to fight a soldier that caught up to him. Finishing him off with a swift strike of his swords, he continued running towards me. The remaining soldiers came a distance behind him. When he reached me we turned to go into the portal just to watch it close before us. All magic was limited and the portal was not meant to be open for such a lengthy period.
“No!” I yelled. The stones disappeared inside it.
My brother’s hand rested on my neck and mine sought his. We exchanged a determined look and we rested our foreheads together.
“Brothers in light and darkness”
We said as one, and turned assuming our fighting stance. We watched every movement of the last twenty Romans headed for us, to anticipate their strike. My fingers pulled the arrows back building the tension. I prepared to release them. Suddenly, the swirl of energy appeared behind us, Art and I fell on our backs. Hands pulled us through the portal. Panting, I looked up to see Eisha’s triumphant face.
“I paid attention,” she said. Her expression became alarmed.
“Close it, close it!”
I looked at the portal and yelled “Dùin!” it closed just before the soldiers reached us.
“You paid attention?” I questioned accepting her hand and standing up. The map disappeared from her skin. Lucky for me she was deemed worthy.
She shrugged. “Well, I failed to hear that other part.”
Art laughed while a relived breath escaped me. Fourteen people stood around me, including my brother and his warrior support. We had saved Art’s clan. Now it was time to search for the others…
“And they lived happily ever after.”
Arts voice resounded in the room, bringing me out of my remembrance trance. I looked at him as he leaned against the wall. His arms and ankles crossed as he watched me with an amused look.
I blinked, “What did you say?”
He pushed from the wall with a chuckle and walked to sit next to me on the bed.
“I said, and they lived happily ever after… You know, like in the fairytales. From the look you had on your face it just seemed like whatever story you were reliving in your mind, it desperately needed one.”
I frowned at him still confused.
“When did you get in?”
I looked at the door then at him. He chuckled once more.
“While you were traumatizing yourself yet again with the memories of the past, Bro. I knocked for about half an hour then decided to let myself in. I’ve been standing right there,” he said pointing to where he just stood. “Looking at you and waiting for the trance to end so I can tell you that we should probably go see if Eisha has food, I’m starving.”
“What time is it?” I asked dazed and looked out the window. The morning sun had long left us.
“Time for you to come back to the living, Bro. You’ve been in here all morning and part of the afternoon. You are making me claustrophobic. Come on, up you go.”
“Would you cease speaking to me in that manner?”
He shrugged nonchalant, “It’s the way the mortals speak now. I like it. It has a certain something, something, you know.”
I let out a frustrated sigh. I loved my brother, he was a great warrior and man but at moments, I could not help but feel disappointed in him. Countless times I had reproached him for mingling with the mortal world. He did not understand that he was putting us all at risk. We had survived by remaining hidden, as far as the world knew were dead. All it took was one person to take an interest and discover what he could do, for history to repeat itself. The greed. The envy. The devastation. Everything we had rebuilt and achieved. Our families could be gone in one night. I had taught him and the other warriors the ways of the elemental connection. I had showed them the magic within the blessed passage stones and talked to them about the stone circles and portals that existed around the world. I trained them, indicated how to travel through the layers of space and provided each with a set of stones. They have been deemed worthy and once they had mastered it, we had conducted rescue missions to locate the rest of our family and bring them home. To bring Mo meantóir, home. We had succeeded on only one mission, and had been too late in all others. One more clan had been rescued and we had managed to remain safe here. Yet Art still used the portals to travel to the world outside the village and learn about the mortals. He failed to comprehend, that world was not part of us. We no longer belonged to it.
“I am not hungry, brother.” I said, turning my back to him and walking to the trunk.
He sighed. “Ok brother, forgive me. I will not speak to you in that manner any longer. Now please, come with me so we can visit Eisha. I am certain she has prepared something for you. Do not disappoint her.”
I took a calming breath and nodded.
We walked towards Eisha’s hut. I looked at the sky studying the position of the sun and its corresponding shadow on the ground. It was midafternoon for what I could gather.
“Àrd-shagart, please bless us.”
I stopped abruptly when I saw Alena and her three girls kneeled before me. Their heads bowed—Immortality was an extraordinary thing. It offered an eternal existence of the mortal body, barring a few exceptions of course. Nevertheless, when the body becomes immortal, you are frozen in time. Forever remaining as you were at that moment. Your mind and soul may continue to mature through the experiences time offers. Yet, your physical being is never changing. You will forever live, as you were when you turned. Immortality was indeed an extraordinary thing, but the wrong thing to choose when anguish was all you carried within—Pain sliced through me. All I saw was Druce’s lifeless body on the ground and his girls crying at his side. I had failed them, and now they called me their Àrd-shagart. I did not deserve that title. We already had an Àrd-shagart. I just needed to find him.
Taking a deep breath I forced the memory from my
mind and raised my hands over their heads. The magic awakened inside me.
“Grant Oh Mother, what I ask today,
Sanctify the essences before me,
Use me as your humble instrument and
Pass on your blessing through me…
Let it be so.”
I opened my eyes and looking upon them I continued.
“Our Earth Mother blesses you. May she look after you and guide you in peace and light.”
They rose and smiled. The image of my child-self rising in front of Mo meantóir after he had performed the same blessing caught me off guard. I stared after them when they walked away, and turned on my heel heading back to my hut.
“Brother… Cyn, wait!”
Entering my hut, I closed the door behind me and opened the trunk. I pulled the cloth sac with my blessed passage stones in it. My eyes lingered inside it when I spotted Mo meantóir’s Spioradálta iris. I pulled it out, removed the cloth that wrapped around it and whispered.
“Mhàin airson an airidh”—only for the worthy.
The journal shimmered and opened. I allowed my fingers to trace the words inside it. The scars in my heart began to ache.
The sound of the wood scratching the ground reached me. Art had opened the door to the hut. I closed the journal covering it with the cloth once more and placed it inside the trunk. His eyes were on me. I walked to the middle of the room and emptied the bag on my palm.
He sighed. “You need to let go of this brother. You are hurting yourself.”
My gaze remained down.
“I am not their Àrd-shagart,” I answered.
I prepared to throw the stones when his hand caught my arm.
“Yes, you are.”
The conviction in his voice made my gaze connect with his. He continued.
“You fought for them, saved their lives. Found a safe place for them to begin a new path. You have been there for them, guiding them, blessing them and continuing the teachings of the order of the Druid. You have healed them. Helped their children come into the world. You performed the eternal bond rite to ensure their survival. And continue to do it for those that become adults and choose to remain in this world as we are. That means something to them, Cyn. They respect you and you deserve every knee that touches the ground. Every bowed head, and every offering they want to bestow upon you.”
When I remained silent he stepped closer and placed his hand on my neck. He rested his forehead to mine.
“Please brother, let go. I cannot see you torture yourself like this any longer. Two thousand years is too long a period to punish yourself. You need to let it be and start living again. I know how you feel Cyn, but…”
“No, you do not!” I roared, pulling away from him. The emotions I had kept repressed inside me all these years threatened to rip me apart.
“You have no notion of what it has been like for me. You could not possibly know what it means. How it feels to know that everything that happened that night was my fault. That if I had planned better, if I had stood guard that night. If I had prepared the warriors properly we could have saved our people. I have seen the faces of the fallen in my mind for two thousand years, Art. I have relived every excruciating second of that night, time and time again. Every night I hear the screams, the cries for help. Every tear shed is a blade slicing my insides a hundred times over. I was supposed to protect them. I was meant to protect him…”
I looked into my brother’s eyes. A tornado raged inside me, threatening to destroy what was left of me.
“He was Mo meantóir, Art. He was a Father when ours was no longer with us. You have no notion of how it feels to know with absolute certainty that he is alive. That he is somewhere out there and I do not know whether he is well or was taken. He could have been captured by the soldiers and held prisoner. He could have spent years in their hands. Being tortured for our knowledge and power, and I am the one that made him immortal!”
I turned around and fisted the brick wall behind me, letting out my frustration. I instantly felt the pain on my crushed bones. The magic awakened and rushed through me, instinctively healing them. I took a deep breath, bracing my forehead and fists on the wall as though it would help hold me together. I could not fall apart now. I was a warrior. My people depended on me.
“I cannot return to the living because I am not alive brother. There is no peace for me. There will never be,” I pushed against the wall, closing myself off. I turned to face him. “He is still alive, Art. I can feel him. He is the rightful Àrd-shagart, and I have no care for how long I have searched, or how much longer it will take. I will not rest until I find him.”
Walking past him I threw the stones into the air.
“Leigeil le trannsa”—Allow passage.
I closed my eyes, locating the closest feel to Mo meantóir’s energy, I concentrated on it. The map appeared on my skin and instantly the portal began to form. Art spoke from behind me.
“You gave him your word…”
His statement sliced through me with the precision of his swords. I turned settling my eyes on his. They reflected the pain that coursed through me and destroyed everything in its path. I understood his plea, but I could not comply.
“I am sorry, Brother. But that is a promise I cannot keep…” I answered and stepped back going through the archway.
“À sealladh”—disappear. I said ensuring my invisibility and watched Art’s pained expression vanish. The portal closed.
Suddenly loud voices surrounded me. I was staring at a cream wall, a large image, a painting as I recalled, was placed on it. Turning around I realized I was in a public place. The tables around me were fully occupied with different types of people. Some were using modern technology, while others walked along the hallway and through the tables getting in and out of the place. There was not a space to spare. I stood flat against the wall, a young man walked right by me almost knocking into me. They could not see me but I could see them. On the other side of the tables and through the people moving about, I could perceive what appeared to be people forming a line near the far wall. I recognized where I was. If I remembered Art’s ramblings correctly, this was a coffee shop. I had been pulled into the city once again. Wherever this was located, I knew Mo meantóir could not be here. He would never seek refuge in a modern city. Mo meantóir would remain close to nature like we had. It was our Mother Goddess. He would never renounce to her.
I dragged my hand through my hair in frustration and looked about me, utterly confused. Why was this occurring? After countless centuries of searching, I had nothing to show for it. I was always transported to a different place in the world, a different city. I had not searched for him in the past thirteen years. I had tried to let go, to honor my promise to him. I could not. When I resumed my search two weeks ago and attempted to connect with his essence, I had been transported to the city. This city. A different place each time yet his energy could not be found here. Perhaps my distraught state was causing the energy connection to rupture as I went through the passage. I would have to hold a rumination rite and clear my essence in order to… My thoughts stopped when I felt it.
This energy was unknown to me yet it had been there every time I was pulled from my connection to the High Priest’s essence. It was strong, powerful, like nothing I had sensed before. It was as if all energies I had ever felt had somehow merged into one. It was calming and electrifying. Gratifying yet confusing, soft still resilient, melancholy but exhilarating, and… Alluring.
I looked about me trying to locate the source. My distraction allowed someone to collide with me. The lady turned to apologize only to realize that there was no one there. Her eyes filled with a mixture of confusion and alarm. She stretched her arm forward and touched me. Hastily, I threw the stones on the floor and thinking the words jumped into the portal before she could pursue her curiosity any further.
I landed in the Forest, among the trees that concealed my waterfall. My heart raced, my breathing was labored. How could
I have been so careless? I had allowed my peaked interest to engross me long enough for that woman to recognize my presence there. I should have left the moment I realized I had been pulled from my original path yet again. But that essence…
I could have been discovered. I could have put my people in danger.
I rubbed my hands over my face and tried to take a calming breath. After a few minutes, I walked through the trees and climbed a boulder. I entered the waterfall. Sitting on a cluster of massive rocks at its edge, I rested my back on the one behind me and closed my eyes. Then I felt its presence. His energy connected with mine instantly. I suddenly felt his calming influence sweep over me. I took a deep breath, the oxygen reaching every corner of my being and I opened my eyes. It was lying on the rock across from mine. Its posture relaxed yet alert. There was no doubt in my mind that stealth would take over if needed. His yellow eyes were luminescent under the shadow of the trees. They filled me with wisdom, and looked right through me. I stared at the jaguar as another wave of calming energy washed over me.
“The power within you is greater than any fear before you.”
The voice resounded in my head for a moment, then he disappeared.
I stood up, took the blessed passage stones and threw them in the air. I was ready for my next attempt.
What is this place?
I thought baffled. I appeared in an enclosed room. The walls were white. There were two doors at each side of the room and the strange contraptions around me hummed with energy. They were big, white, and square… They were modern machinery.
I was in the city again, I grunted in utter frustration and harshly rubbed my hands over my face. This needed to stop. Looking around me once more, I tried to comprehend what was happening. I threw the stones on the floor to return to the waterfall.
The instant the stone circle formed I felt it. The essence that had pulled me out of my path several times was here, and it was stronger than before. My heart raced with the implication, and anticipation coursed through me. Maybe I would once and for all discover whom the energy belonged to. My head snapped to the door on the right when I felt the energy coming from behind it. Slowly the door opened, and suddenly sky blue eyes looked straight into mine. A jolt of electricity travelled through me like lightning hitting its mark. Not possible, the person could not have noticed me. I was invisible. The blue glow of the stone circle illuminated the room. It had connected to the magic inside me, forming the portal. The eyes evaded the glare.
Hidden Magic: An Ancient Magic Novel Page 7