by Peter Green
The coven of corruption kept watching in smug satisfaction as the funeral procession edged along the Ridge of Thormond. Amergin, head bowed, tears streaming, followed the bearers. The Portal of Hushinish came in to view in the distance, the giant Bluestones reflecting the low morning sunlight.
Clouds raced through in the freshening westerly breeze, occasionally obscuring and casting shadows over the awe inspiring standing stones.
Amergin’s heart beat faster as he raised his eyes to the horizon. He listened intently to the conversation the priests were having. He couldn’t hear everything being said, but again and again he heard the words, “Secret of the Alignment”... Sceine too had mentioned the secret, as they journeyed beyond the veil together, in those blissful moments of union.
Amergin had not fully understood, but all he knew was that as they journeyed beyond the veil, time stood still... they had been blessed by the Guardians, allowed to travel deep in to the spirit world, travel through the portals in to the mortal realm and enjoy each other physically and spiritually for what seemed to be an ecstatic age... when they returned through the veil, time had barely moved.
Amergin was beginning to understand.
The procession arrived at the Portal of Hushinish. Sceine’s faithful priests came to Amergin... now he would fully understand... “You must go to the Magine Islands, to the Portal of Sceilge. You will meet the Guardians Endinou and Erhombu.Take them with you. These enlightened beings will show you the way. You must take the purest and most ancient of the Bluestone keystones to the Portal of Sceilge. You, with the Guardians, will be able to energise this most powerful of all the portals. The Guardians of Light will come through the veil. All the great portals of the Western Province, the Temple of the Sun, Machlleth, and of course Hushinish will connect with the Portal of Sceilge,” their revelation almost complete, “This, my lord Amergin, is the Secret of the Alignment! The enlightened one, who connects the portals, can turn back time.You! The destined one! Will turn back time! The Secret of the Alignment will be yours to use! You will take your beloved Sceine, High Priestess of the Temple of Xhara and Princess of the Western Province, back in time. You will meet your beloved Sceine again!” Diarmuid, the most loyal and most faithful of Sceine’s priests and her closest confidant, took Amergin’s hand firmly in his, “Go now! We will keep Sceine here. Preserved in the aura of the Portal of Hushinish... when the moment comes... when the Alignment begins... she will return to you!”
Amergin could scarcely believe his ears, the “Secret of the Alignment”! Surely this cannot be! He had resigned himself to a new, desolate, lonely life without Sceine... He roared out aloud, shouting to the heavens,”By the Great Spirit, how can this be!?” in a mixture of rage, delight and confusion. His voice echoed loud and long, rebounding off the Bluestone sentinels and out in to the ether.
In the woodlands fringing the Valley of the Mad, the raven haired witches turned to look up at the Ridge of Thormond. They noticed with a sense of disquiet, a small group descending. They were too far away to discern who they were, but questioned, “Who would be journeying away from the portal before the funeral pyre had been lit? Why would they go?” Reading each others thoughts... no need for words... the three witches sensed this was a sea change moment... even though they could not know the real truth!
Amergin had chosen to journey with his most loyal and faithful ones, Xomas, Eiremhou, MacCuill, and of course Terese of the Xantha with a troop of her amazonian warriors, a potent group of his strongest and most resourceful Milesians. They must travel over land and over sea... they must travel quickly, avoiding the forces of the dark. They had already been observed. Their journey will be fraught with danger!
The three raven haired witches transformed again in to wolfish form. In this form they were perfectly adapted to track their prey, from a distance...
The rapidly mobilised travellers soon made their way through the Valley of the Mad. They would stay in the low valleys, foraging off the land. They would skirt to the South West of the Woodlands of Derwydd. Amergin was unsure how far the dark one MacCuacht had penetrated in to the woodlands. His group of faithful travellers would make straight for the great Portal of Machlleth.
Here they would meet the Guardians Endinou and Erhombu...
Unbeknownst to the group they were being tracked and were in mortal danger. The saving grace was the element of the unknown. The witches again quizzed, “Amergin! Terese! Where were they going? What was their mission?!”
Banba felt the open wound on her flank. Still raw and oozing dark blood... inflicted by the flailing sword of the Sea Druid Amergin, just as she clawed and lacerated the High Priestess Sceine to death! “Why is Amergin marching at this time, when his beloved Sceine lies cold and lifeless at Hushinish?” They thought collectively, but none of the witches had an answer...
Eiru was sent, once more in avian form, to find MacCuacht in the Woodlands of Derwydd.
The witches realised the track the Sea Druid was on, “tell MacCuacht to go straight to Machlleth! We will meet you there! We must discover the reason for this mission!” Eiru was airborne with an explosion of photons and powerful thrusting down beats of wings. Low at first, then climbing, looking for signs of the dark one. From soaring heights she saw the giveaway, far distant wall of dense shrouding mist... she would soon be with him...
Amergin and Terese had both heard the low thrusting sounds of powerful wing beats. Neither could see anything through the high canopy of the ancient deciduous woodlands, but they both recognised the rhythm that made their syncopating hearts miss a beat...
“Eiru!” whispered Terese, “The other witches must be close!” Amergin drew his bronze and iron sword from its sheath... still encrusted with the dark dried blood of one of the wolfish assassins.
He sharpened the blade slowly and deliberately with a piece of weathered, red sandstone. He was ready for revenge... he wasn’t the only one with a bloodlust! Remaining vigilant, they pressed on. The Portal of Machlleth was a good day’s march away.
Skirting the southern fringe of the Woodlands of Derwydd, they could feel the life giving energy of the Portal of Machlleth. The extremities of the woodlands were still in their lush and verdant glory.
But the dark one comes again... once more the summits to the East were shrouded in threatening storm clouds, a cold condensing mist percolated through the woodlands. MacCuacht was on their trail... Eiru had betrayed them again...
Amergin was unsettled at the thought of Eiru being with the demonic MacCuacht again. The very notion of her soul darkening and she lying with the beast, made him physically sick... particularly while his beloved Sceine lies cold and lifeless at Hushinish. The reason for Amergin sending Eiru to her martyrdom was all around... the life and growth of woodlands bathed in the Light of the Divine. Eiru had saved them once, but at what cost? Now she betrays them and grows darker and more powerful every day.
Amergin walked resolutely on... the dark forces were gathering... but he was more determined than ever. The further they walked through the southern extremities of the Woodlands of Derwydd, the closer to the great Portal of Machlleth, the stronger the life force.The travellers were joined by the many and diverse Spirits of the Woodlands, an army of enlightened beings marching to Machlleth.
From the Sacred Oak Grove of Bendigedig, Erhombu appeared. He came in the form of a magnificent red deer stag, stamping and tearing at the ground. Amergin was at first shocked, but then in a magical slight of energy, antlers and hooves transformed in to the pale, slender, gaunt Guardian of the Woodlands, “We will travel with you to Machlleth my lord Amergin!” He offered his elegant hand in welcome. Amergin thanked Erhombu. There was no need to explain his mission... Erhombu had heard of Sceine’s fate and he was one of the enlightened few privy to the Secret of the Alignment.
Amergin became more and more heartened the closer they got to Machlleth. The Light of the Divine bathed everything in a wondrous glow. For the first time since the appalling demise of his belove
d Sceine he began to feel a spark of hope. Until now he was on a blind mission, resolute, but unfeeling.
The beauty and the glory of the Western Province bathed in Divine Light gave him the spiritual strength that had been missing. He stepped out more confidently with his band of brave travellers. Erhombu by his side, he began to rekindle his sense of destiny, with every purposeful stride.
Machlleth next and then the Magine Islands and the Portal of Sceilge!
*
Eiru had found MacCuacht. He was marching towards the Sacred Grove of Bendegedig. They were closer than Amergin and his faithful realised. The dark one and his army of lost souls were soon on course to Machlleth, “Why march for Machlleth?” he asked Eiru after she had given him the news. He could not understand why Amergin would leave his beloved Sceine. She has been slain, her body remains uncremated! Surely he would take charge of the ceremony and spread her ashes across the Western Province... MacCuacht contorted his now hideous face at the prospect of the Western Province without its Princess, and the Island of Destiny without its High Priestess, and the prophecy without fulfilment!
“This is the only unknown MacCuacht!” Eiru was distraught... if he is so powerful and in league with the dark Sidhe. How does he not know?! She thought that this showed weakness and it displeased her immeasurably! He had already lost face against Sceine at their earlier encounter at Hushinish and now he shows weakness again... “I must return to my sisters. We will meet you at the Portal of Machlleth. You must counter this insurgency. You must stop Amergin. He must not pass Machlleth. Do not fail again MacCuacht!”
She could still pierce him to the core. He was enraged at how a mere woman could admonish him so and cut him to the quick. Eiru was becoming an irritation to him... she was a threat to his power.
Eiru left feeling there had been a perceptible power shift. Her dark power grows! MacCuacht shows frailty. He had failed to intercept the Sea Druid on numerous occasions. The champion of Milesia still marches! Amergin travels in to the unknown! MacCuacht’s weakness threatens their dark cause!
She transformed in to her avian splendour and returned to the coven. Banbha and Fodha greeted their sister. They sensed her rage. The Witches of Hawardden were the dominant ones now!
They had slain Sceine! All their enemies had cause to be fearful! Even MacCuacht!
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE:
REVELATION OF SCEILGE
The monolithic standing Bluestones of Machlleth radiated their ethereal Light, stood before the portal was Endinou, the Guardian of the Bluestones and the Quarry of Izion. He walked, or rather glided across the clearance towards them. White haired and wizard like, of indefinable age and blessed with the wisdom of the aeons. Behind him at the edge of the clearance was Sethse, the cyclopic Quarryman of Izion. Nearer to the portal, Thiorn and the elite guard.
Endinou raised his arms in his familiar welcoming gesture. His ornately carved staff raised high in the air, “The Sea Druid Amergin! Erhombu!” he surveyed the many wood spirits and Milesians that arrived, “All of you are most welcome!”
Straightaway, Amergin went to the sage, “Endinou, we journey west!” Before he could say any more, Endinou grabbed Amergin and placed his finger over his pursed lips, “Say nothing more my lord Amergin! You are being tracked! These woodlands have sinister ears!” He ushered the Sea Druid and the Guardian of the Woodlands of Derwydd, Erhombu, to the far side, nearer the Portal of Machlleth, out of the earshot of any predating forms. Endinou glanced furtively from the surrounding woodlands to the portal and back again to Amergin and Endinou, “I know your mission! I know of the Secret of the Alignment! We will travel together to the Magine Islands!” he glanced around again, conscious of a malevolent presence, conscious of the nearing army of lost souls and the dark one, MacCuacht, “You my lord Amergin! The destined one! You, with our guidance and help, shall energise the Portal of Sceilge! You shall connect the great portals of the Western Province! You, my lord Amergin, will have the power to turn back time itself… your beloved Sceine shall live again!!!” Endinou scanned the woodlands once more, “We are being watched!”
They were indeed being watched. The Witches of Hawardden in their wolfish form observed the three conversing. They snarled in frustration. The aura radiating from the portal masked the conversation. They could not read their minds. They were still oblivious to the Secret of the Alignment and even unsure of the significance of the Magine Islands.
Endinou stabbed his ornately carved staff in to the soft turf, “We must journey west now! We are in peril here!” With a rallying gesture he pointed west, “We go with you my lord Amergin! We go to resurrect your destiny!”
They were all very aware that the journey will be fraught. They were being preyed on by a hidden menace and the dark one MacCuacht marches onwards...
Amergin and the Guardians Endinou and Erhombu immediately prepared to march west to the ocean. They will travel with Xomas, Eiremhou and Terese of the Xantha with her amazonian warriors. MacCuill, Sethse, Thiorn and the elite guard, and the wood spirits of Derwydd will remain at Machlleth to protect the portal from the oncoming dark hordes. They will slow the progress of the army of lost souls. They will frustrate the progress of the dark one MacCuacht.
Endinou advised Amergin that they must visit the Quarry of Izion en route. Again he glanced furtively in to the dense woodlands as they walked westwards, “The purest Bluestone ever hewn and crafted from the Quarry of Izion is the keystone to the Portal of Sceilge, quarried, hewn and crafted by the ancients who first travelled to the Promised Land.” He spoke quietly, still conscious of the lurking menace, “This keystone is perfectly designed and crafted for the Portal of Sceilge. With this stone, the enlightened being of destiny can energise the portal and the Secret of the Alignment realised!”
The weight of the Prophecy fell heavy on Amergin’s broad shoulders... he thought of Gerridh of the Diventii and the tales of the ancient Sea Druids, who had originally journeyed to the Island of Destiny. They had foretold of the coming of the enlightened being, the champion of the Milesian nation. They had instilled in his tribes the sense of destiny. Amergin felt to the core of his being that the ancient Sea Druids were calling him to the Portal of Sceilge... the Secret of the Alignment was in his power...
So it is written... and is in the stars... and is in the Prophecy...
Through the night they marched. Terese and her Xanthan warriors carried torches to light the way.
An occasional flash of light reflected from the retinas of animals of the woodland causing missed heart beats in the ranks. Terese suspected an attack could happen any time. They were all on tenterhooks! Waiting... marching...
They came upon the Quarry of Izion. “Praise the Great Spirit!” Amergin was relieved, another stage of his sojourn complete. Endinou led him deep in to the minings. Terese accompanied them as torch bearer. Her Xanthan warriors would carry the keystone. A maze of tunnels took them deep in to the hillside. Without Endinou they would be lost. Soon they followed a tunnel irradiated by ethereal blue light, a vein of Bluestone of the purest quality, running deep in to the rock face. “Here my lord Amergin is the purest Bluestone ever mined!” Endinou pointed to a subterranean passage that appeared to penetrate to the core of the earth, a sink hole so deep that it connected with the underworld. “Here the ancients first discovered the power and the energy of the sacred Bluestone, the power to conduct the Light of the Divine from the spirit world to the mortal realm.”
The flickering torch light revealed the keystone, hewn and crafted out of the Bluestone of the purest quality, the size and shape of a human skull. Clean, precisely cut facets reflected and magnified the torch light a thousand times.
Endinou encouraged Amergin to lift the keystone from its resting place... he could feel the Bluestone conducting the energy coursing along the lay line. The veil so close... he could feel the presence of the Guardians of Light. Here was the key to the Portal of Sceilge, the key to energise the portal and connect the great portals of the
Western Province. The key to reveal the Secret of the Alignment!
Amergin presented the skull shaped keystone to Terese. She and her Xanthan warriors would protect it with their lives...
They made for the surface. The journey west must continue!
From the depths of the woodlands, Eiru and her deadly coven, still in wolfish form, watched with curiosity and increasing frustration. Eiru seethed with rage! Where was MacCuacht? The Xanthan guard never left the Sea Druids side. They needed the army of lost souls to put this venture to an end! What was this mission? What is the significance of their visit to the Quarry of Izion?
Too many questions! The frustration festered in her dark heart! Her bile knew no bounds. Her contempt for MacCuacht deepened. The further the Sea Druid marched west, the more her frustration grew and the more she placed the blame on the inadequacies of MacCuacht! Eiru could feel the pent up bloodlust coursing through her wolfish form. She would have her day!
On they marched... now to the Temple of the Sun on the western shores of the Island of Destiny. Occasional standing stones marked their route. The ancients had placed these on the lay line centuries ago. A soft spectral Light came from the last vestiges of dusk over the western horizon.