by Peter Green
The antlered form was gone, consumed by the crystal clear water... and now rippling and reflecting in the lagoon...a silver-scaled, rainbow coloured salmon hurtling across the shallows towards her, “A changeling, like her!” The speed of transformation shocked Eiru. The thrashing, silver-scaled Salmon and its thousands of reflecting scales swam effortlessly into the lagoon. The shallow, clear water over the golden brown and green pebbles erupted in a wall of liquid. Instantaneously, a tall slender, pale, spirit of the woods stood before her, “I am Erhombu!” whispered a quiet, calming, soothing voice, “I come to you as the Guardian of the Woodlands of Derwydd... tell me your message ...!” Before Erhombu could continue, Eiru transformed from her avian form into the raven haired, silver cocoon clad witch. As the energised photons and atoms settled, Erhombu spoke again, “You are Eiru, one of the notorious Witches of Hawardden, estranged wife of the dark one MacCuacht!”
All around her, Eiru sensed other spirits of the Woodlands gathering, but the mood had changed. Her infamy had travelled before her. Her former life in league with the dark Sidhe threatened to be her undoing. How could she convince them?! “Erhombu... let me show you the danger you are in! Allow me to take one of your trusted spirit beings... I will fly high over Derwydd and you will see ..!”
“You will show all of us!” roared Erhombu... The wood spirits metamorphosed as one, into one of nature’s greatest wonders, a huge collective of starlings, a murmuration. Shape shifting and morphing, they flew higher and higher...
Eiru was stunned in amazement, for a moment... then she transformed and followed.
For the observer, this was a high altitude natural phenomena, unusual but explainable. Just as well, as there were sinister observers on the edge of the Woodlands of Derwydd, cloaked and hidden by undergrowth and dense, dank mist.
Higher again went the white-tailed eagle, supposedly hunting the flock of morphing Starlings. Then they were gone! The murmuration swooped down at break neck speed and disappeared in to the depths of Derwydd. Eiru was alone again, flying on towards the eastern edge of Derwydd. She knew this part of the mission was complete. Erhombu and the wood spirits of Derwydd had been warned. They will confront the dark one MacCuacht and his army of lost souls. This will give Amergin time to reach the great Portal of Machlleth, and free MacCuill and Thiorn and his cohorts from the limbo of the spirit world.
Erhombu looked on from the sacred Oak groves of Derwydd, he saw Eiru flying on alone. He sent a prayer out to her. He was aware of her mission, “Be brave Eiru, you do this for the greater good, for the cause of the enlightenment... We thank you!”
Now the sinister observers on the edge of Derwydd watched again... the word was out, “A white- tailed eagle flies alone and is entering our realm. It flies in to the mist!” MacCuacht craned his neck gazing upwards, “This is no ordinary eagle!!” He could hardly contain his rage. His darkening veins bulged and pulsed. His eyes were as black as coal, “Eiru!!!” he screamed from deep within his stone cold soul. He was usually incapable of such expressions of humanity. But she sparked memories that still stirred faint echoes of a former existence.
Eiru would have to rely on that sliver of memory to keep her alive, for more than a heart beat, when she touched the ground. The future of the Promised Land, the fulfilment of the prophecy of the destined one Amergin, the enlightenment of this Island of Destiny, all relied on her ability to outwit and her guile to deceive the dark one MacCuacht.
Wing tips feathering as she made her silent descent. Eiru had no doubt that she was being watched and a welcoming committee despatched to greet her. The dank, dense, demonic mist clung to her flight feathers. She had to push ever harder to stay airborne, barely skimming the high canopy tree tops of Derwydd. Eiru looked for an opening, a clearance where she could safely land.
Her avian senses tingled alarmingly, the woods below were alive. Not with the ethereal spirits of the Woodlands, but the otherworldly beasts and demons of MacCuacht’s dark army. They lurked in the shadows, waiting for her to get too close...
Eiru’s wing tips brushed the branches of a mighty Oak. Where were the spirits of the Woodlands now? She focussed on her mission now. Guile and deception would be the key!
Eiru felt the mesh of a fine netting touch her cheek, she had flown headlong into a trap! With a crumpling of wings and a crashing of branches, Eiru fell to the ground... She heard hoots and hollers of her captors revelling in her plight. She lay trapped and entwined in a feathery heap on the ground.
Immediately she began to transform, cascades of light illuminating the dark recesses of the woods and the enveloping mist. No sign of MacCuacht yet, but assuredly he would be there soon! Eiru prepared herself for the encounter. She was filled with dread, nervous with apprehension and fearful for her life...Deception was the key! She feigned unconsciousness. Her limp body was subjected to prods and pokes by creatures of the dark. She could only hear and smell them. But the awful jeering and the foulness of their stench turned her stomach. They continued to pull her raven black hair, and scratch her ivory white skin, the dark souls cackling in their coarse, grating voices as they rejoiced in her demise.
“Go away with you!” Eiru recognised the voice of her estranged partner. She stayed quiet and limp. “Damage her and you will answer to me!” Was that concern she detected in MacCuacht’s voice? Eiru would prey on that. Eiru did not move as MacCuacht disentangled her silver cocoon clad body from the fine mesh netting. Remarkably gently, she felt his hands on her. He picked her up off the ground and carried her to their encampment at the edge of Derwydd. The further they walked the colder the air and the thicker the mist. More concerningly as MacCuacht cradled her in his arms Eiru felt vestiges of emotion that she thought had long gone. Emotions from before the time she flew from the battlements of the fortress of Hawardden. Emotions long before the moment she began to despise the beast that he eventually became ... “This cannot be!” panicked Eiru, “I am already losing myself to him and to the dark Sidhe!” The inexorable process of convertion was irreversibly happening. She instinctively used all her powers to cocoon her mind, to protect her sanity... her faculties, her thoughts, had to be the last to darken.
A vision of Amergin flashed through her mind, it was as if he was before her, “Fight Eiru! Remember your mission! We rely on you!” MacCuacht barked an order to his minions. Had he sensed her thoughts, her vision of Amergin? She had to focus. She had to concentrate... if he read her thoughts she was doomed! They had arrived at the encampment on the edge of Derwydd. Eiru hoped and prayed like she had never hoped and prayed before. She would need all her super natural powers and the blessing of the Great Spirit to endure, to resist MacCuacht and to remain in charge of her faculties. There must be hope yet, or MacCuacht would have incarcerated her or worse!
Lying on fur rugs laid out on the rough ground, she slowly stirred, opening her eyes gradually, letting the scene slowly unfold. What she saw disturbed her immensely! The face she knew so well, the features that had once entranced her had changed menacingly. Darkening tracks that once were veins, black as coal eyes that once were searing blue. Hands, once elegant and artistic, were claw like, with swollen joints and discoloured nails, “MacCuacht, where have you gone?!” Eiru found herself nearly weeping. She felt sympathy for him. Somewhere deep inside, a sense of allegiance stirred... “No!!” The process of convertion continued. She closed her mind even tighter... she must remain immune to his influence! Amergin flashed through her mind’s eye again. He knew she was in peril!
MacCuacht whispered in his now distorted, dissonant voice, that she barely recognised, “Eiru! I thought you were dead... You left? Why? We have so much to do together ...”
“That voice, it is drawing me in!” thought Eiru in desperation, “I have little time!”
“I had to leave. I needed time to reflect, to consider. I saw changes that I found overwhelming. You were changing so fast! I did not understand, all of life was out of balance!” Eiru chose every word with great care. She could not
falter. This was the performance of her life! All the time she was being drawn to him... “I was captured, held against my will by the Milesians. There I met Gonne, the high priest of the Chapter of Mystics. He persuaded me, convinced me that there was only one way... your way! He released me, but not before I had discovered the plans of the one they called Amergin.” The plan... Eiru must tell him soon! She was being drawn deeper and deeper and more quickly than she thought possible. She closed her mind... probably for the last time! “The Sea Druid Amergin’s plan is to travel south to the high mountain fortress of Sliebh Mis, to meet with Sceine, thus the prophecy will be fulfilled!” She felt herself sinking deeper, “Together, their destiny will be complete and the Guardians of Light will prevail, the enlightened beings will rule the realm!”
The deception done! Eiru had hopefully thrown MacCuacht off Amergin’s real mission to the Portal of Machlleth. She watched his expression to see...
Shouts came from the heart of Derwydd! The spirits of the woods were attacking! They would delay MacCuacht as well. The story told, the lies woven, the deception in place, Eiru waited nervously for his response. “Your words ring true my raven haired witch. Gonne of the Chapter of Mystics has told me of such a tale. The Sea Druid Amergin you talk of is the prophesied one! All of the dark Sidhe know this. All of the lost souls, the “Others”, tell this tale consistently. Until the moment of convertion they live and breathe his name. You are right Eiru! I will hunt him down!”
With this, MacCuacht caressed Eiru’s weakening and submitting body. He twisted and entwined his malformed fingers through her raven black hair. Her words received, her task done. Fading visions of Amergin, Erhombu and the spirits of the wood, her will breaking, her memories disappearing, the Light of her soul going. Finally she was gone, lost to the dark Sidhe. She was now in MacCuacht’s power... again... and for eternity...
Eiru had finally succumbed to the evil that is MacCuacht once more. Unbeknownst to the others Amergin had cast a spell on Eiru. All memory of previous conversations and meetings would be erased. Her loyalty to Amergin, as if it had never been. Once infiltrated, no memory of her deception would remain. She would become the wife of MacCuacht again, one of the Witches of Hawardden again. Under the spell of MacCuacht she would become the darkest of all the Witches. She was the most dangerous and deadly of foe now, intent on slaying Amergin and all enlightened beings.
Amergin and Terese mourned the loss of Eiru. The pain of losing such a good soul cut deep. Her resistance had been futile. They felt the moment of her demise, akin to the bending and the ultimate snapping of a sapling. They felt her pain, but they knew her enlightened time was at an end. The enlightened spirit had gone...
Terese of the Xantha empathised more than anyone, only she had experienced the pain and anguish of being converted to the dark. She grasped the hands of Amergin. They were deeply conscious of having lost a brave friend, who now had potentially become their most dangerous enemy. Amergin prayed for her dark soul, “Eiru will always be remembered. Her name will become synonymous with the Island of Destiny, by the blessing of the Great Spirit!”
They embraced, enlightened beings given precious time by Eiru’s sacrifice.
MacCuacht prepared to move to the south. He will take on the spirits of the Woodlands of Derwydd and then go to the high mountain fortress of Sliebh Mis to intercept Amergin before he meets Sceine, “Never will the Sea Druid Amergin meet his destined one! Never will the Guardians of Light rule this Island!” MacCuacht looked around him... the three Witches reunited, his brother MacGreinne, the army of lost souls and the demons and denizens of the dark Sidhe, “Who will prevail against these?!”
In a moment of bitter irony he then sent Eiru in her avian splendour to search for his traitorous brother MacCuill, for she knew this territory, and in her changeling form she could trace him in hours, where as his ground troops would take days. She now threatened the mission to release MacCuill, Thiorn and his cohorts from the limbo of the spirit world. She instantly flew on a route to the great Portal of Machlleth. She could sense his life essence... Eiru was saviour turned predator!
Amergin knew that time was of the essence. They pressed on for Machlleth. There he would place the pure Bluestone keystone into the Portal... The keystone in the hands of mere unenlightened mortals would be powerless... the portal would remain closed and prone to intrusion by the dark Sidhe. In the hands of Amergin or enlightened beings such as Endinou, the Bluestone was pure unadulterated magic. Machlleth would align with the other great portals of the Western Province, the Temple of the Sun, where the rest of the advance party of the Milesians were based and unbeknownst to Amergin, the Magine Islands, where the mariners under the command of Scota and Milidh waited for his signal.
Amergin and the good spirits assembled with him, forged ahead on the trail to Machlleth. Soon they began to feel the damp, dense mist smothering the life out of the Woodlands of Derwydd. With the Portal of Machlleth closed, there was no way to counter the dark Sidhe. The inexorable suffocation of the Divine in nature continued. Only the opening of the portal would help to change the balance, reinstate the equilibrium, giving the forces of the Light a way back. They must hurry!
They strode on faster and faster, eventually they arrived in the clearance in front of Machlleth.
Before them stood Sethse, holding aloft a Bluestone of incredible beauty and perfection. The Cyclops gave them an endearing blink of his huge eye. The portal gaped dark and mysterious. Bearly no light emanated from within.
“We have come just in time!” the veil was shifting, slowly converting to the dark Sidhe…
CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
VISIONS OF SCEINE
Amergin pondered on the fate of Eiru. They had been given time by her sacrifice.If she has been successful MacCuacht would be marching south.Marching into an ambush layed by Erhombu, the Guardian of the Woodlands of Derwydd. Erhombu will give his life to protect the Woodlands.
Would MacCuacht see through their deception?
Amergin wondered how many of the spirits of the Woodlands would be lost in the ambush. The loss of Derwydd would be a huge price to pay for attempting to save Machlleth. The cold mist drifted in the air. He was brought to his senses!
Machlleth must be liberated at all costs.
Erhombu and the spirits of the Woodlands of Derwydd waited in the densest Oak grove.
Beyond them the Clearance of Conwyl and the path towards the distant mountains of the Iveare range and in the southern peaks the high mountain fortress of Sliebh Mis.
All the wierd and wonderful spirits of the woods gathered in wait, laying their ambush. Erhombu had taken up the form of the mighty red deer stag once more. He bellowed loudly through the Woodlands, calling for all to defend Derwydd with bravery and valour. Erhombu shredded the bark of an ancient yew tree with his many pronged antlers, allowing the rich, red, aromatic resin to flow freely.
The sap of 2000 year old yew tree is a potent potion with qualities that give the wearer a cloak of invisibility. Once the tips of the antlers touched the resin, everything slowed and was still.
Erhombu could travel back into the woods, seeing without being seen, an ephemeral being, just a whisper through the trees. In no time, he was among the hordes of MacCuacht. They were oblivious to Erhombu’s presence. He moved among them as they travelled south. In the vanguard of the marauding hordes was MacCuacht, together with his vengeful brother MacGreinne and the raven haired Witches of Hawardden, Banba and Fodha. But where was Eiru?
What he saw in the Woodlands made his skin crawl... the verdant green now grey and stultified, emerald green turning to burnt umbers and ochres, akin to an early autumn. Withering leaves fell to the ground, life given, now lifeless. Was this the fate of all of Derwydd? The enveloping mist clung to everything, a deathly shroud sucking the very life essence from the Woodlands.
Erhombu soon realised that even with his cloak of stealth, he was not immune to the insidious infection of the dark Sidhe. The Woodland was his realm,
but beyond the pall of rolling mist he too was being converted to the dark. This was MacCuacht’s realm now! Hurriedly he scoured the Woodlands looking for Eiru, and at the same time seeking out weaknesses of the marauding hordes. He found no sign of Eiru. She must have deceived the dark one, for they were marching south and more importantly away from the Portal of Machlleth. He must listen to the conversations of MacCuacht and the Witches... he stealthily approached them... closer and closer he approached them. Erhombu was risking his life, one sound, a snapped twig, would mean the end! He was close enough to see their breath hanging in the mist. MacCuacht reacted as if he sensed something amiss.
He beckoned to the Witches to come closer... “Your sister should be back with us soon. She will surely have caught up with MacCuill!” He turned again, he was sensing something! He strode towards the cloaked and now very nervous Erhombu. MacCuacht peered into the gloom. Erhombu could clearly see the darkened features now, and how they shocked him! Dark veins on a petrified white complexion. He oozed evil. He stepped closer ...Erhombu was making ready to fly!
My Lord, you see something? Banba and Fodha, in unison, stepped up beside MacCuacht.
They all peered into the gloom. The shrouding, swirling mist had picked out Erhombu’s form.
“There! A deer in the mist! A great stag to feast on!” yelled MacGreinne. Erhombu, his faculties already slowed by the numbing mist, was at first slow to react. MacGreinne had surprised Erhombu, coming in from the darkened side of the enclosure. His sword unsheathed, he swung at Erhombu’s form, but his flight instincts had kicked in, he reacted far too quickly for the cumbersome MacGreinne. Erhombu was gone just in time, saved by the very mist that betrayed him and now consumes his realm. MacCuacht was enraged, “Go! Catch that stag my brother! Do not come back empty handed!” MacCuacht was perplexed, how could such an animal have got so close without detection? He suspected magic at work! Maybe the spirits of the woods …What did they hear?