Gareth Ogilvie The Great Sea King

by J W Murison

  Gareth stepped in front of the struggling young woman, ‘stop struggling,’ his voice lashed out and she calmed immediately. ‘You can’t transform back into Eagle form with that rope around your neck, it will snap it like a twig but I'm sure you are aware of that. All I'm looking for from you is the answer to a few questions then we will release you.’

  ‘Liar,’ she hissed.

  He stepped right up to her face, ‘my name is Gareth Ogilvie, I am a Highlander, I do not lie.’

  For the first time in her life she felt fear in the presence of a human, this was no ordinary man and she felt it in every fibre of her being realising this was the man who knocked her out.

  ‘You hit me,’ she accused her eyes on his embossed shield which had a feather stuck on it.

  ‘You were about to kill the King of the Eagles. You left me with little choice, why did you do that?’

  ‘He is our enemy, I could not believe my luck when I opened my eyes and saw him there, what do you do in our lands Telamuck?’

  The Eagle King shook his head, ‘I am sorry my dear, I have no idea who you are talking about.’ He turned to Gareth, ‘Eagles fighting Eagles, I can hardly believe it, such a tragedy.’ He turned back to the girl, ‘was it your people that destroyed that city my dear? I will presume some survived and the name of their king is Telamuck.’

  She looked round at the serious faces that surrounded her and realised how different they looked, ’where am I?’

  ‘Probably thousands of miles from where you were,’ Gareth told her, ‘answer the question please.’

  ‘You are not from our lands are you?’

  ‘No we are not and you are now in the middle of the ocean,’ Gareth answered, ‘we are on a voyage of discovery, only to discover that someone has been there before us.’

  ‘We have always been there it is our land.’ She snapped.

  Gareth shrugged, ‘no one want to take your lands from you, we are on a voyage of discovery not conquest, now we only want a few simple questions answered and we will let you go.’

  ‘You will kill me.’

  ‘What for?’

  ‘You are our enemy.’

  The Highlanders there suddenly began to laugh and even Gareth smiled, ‘we are at war with no one and picking a fight with us isn’t the smartest thing to do. However if you do not wish to answer my questions then I will release you. You can make your own way home I presume, just do not try to attack anyone or you will die, this Eagle King is not your enemy, he is a different Eagle king.’

  ‘That is imposable.’

  ‘Yeah, yeah, blah, blah. Beast take her to the edge of the pool and let her go.’

  The Beast dragged her to the edge of the pool and took the noose off. He pushed her none to gently away and stepped back quickly in case she transformed and attacked. She closed her eyes then opened them again, her eyes swung towards the group where Gareth stood, they were already discussing something else.

  ‘Well on you go lass. No one’s stopping you,’ The Beast chided gently.

  ‘I, I don’t know where I am.’

  ‘Gareth, problem,’ he shouted. Gareth joined him and the Eagle King a wise few steps behind.

  ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘I don’t know where I am,’ she confessed, ‘I was out cold when you brought me here.’

  Gareth pointed to the building, ‘the exact coordinates of where you were are in there on a plinth, help yourself.’

  She hesitated then shook her head, ‘I'm sorry I don’t know how to.’

  Gareth frowned, ‘you mean you don’t know how to read.’ She shrugged. ‘Ok don’t worry about it,’ Gareth sighed, ‘I will have some of my people take you home.’

  ‘An Eagle that can’t read,’ the king snorted, ‘I suppose your people still live in mud huts too.’

  Her chin came up, ‘we believe in living close to the earth mother,’ she was about to say more but realised she didn't need to. The Eagle king was staring down the double-barrelled stare of a half dozen Highlanders.

  Gareth cleared his throat, ‘it may have escaped your notice father that almost all of my people live in sod houses, mud huts to you and prey remind me of the accommodation you were living in a few years ago.’

  The puff and pomp seeped out of the man, ‘yes your right son, I am sorry young lady, I should have know better. I was very rude and that is unforgivable in a person in my position, please accept my most humble of apologies.’

  She nodded dumbly, this was almost too much to believe, her mind raced, who were these people, an Eagle king that bowed to the wishes of a human being. She realised it was her duty to find out as much as she could about these people. Gareth was asking the Beast to get his and Alan’s wife to return the girl home.

  She pretended to stumble and fall, in a moment Gareth was by her side helping her up, ‘are you ok.’

  ‘I sorry I just feel a little dizzy and my head hurts, could I rest for a little while before you send me home, my name is Amber and I am sorry for my behaviour earlier, truly it was a case of mistaken identity.’

  Gareth looked deep into her eyes and knew she was lying and she looked deeply into his and knew he knew she was lying, however both party’s were desperately in need of information. He raised an eyebrow at her, ‘ok you may stay and rest for a while but forgive me if I give you an escort while you remain with us.’

  She smiled and bowed her head, ‘that is acceptable.’

  It left Gareth with another thought, would a normal woman of this race or any race bother trying to gather information when literally moments before she believed she was going to be killed. This one would take some watching. He went and spoke to Natina and her sister before they took charge of the girl.

  Amber’s eyes flew wide at the sight of the two girls that were to be her escort; the look in their eyes left her in no doubt as to what would happen to her if she stepped out of line.

  ‘Stay close don’t give us any trouble,’ Natina smiled.

  ‘I won’t,’ she promised, ‘I'm sorry I almost killed your king,’ she ventured but didn't expect the two young women to burst out laughing.

  ‘You didn’t come close,’ Natina told her and with a couple of fingers gently swivelled Amber’s chin, she had been looking at the Eagle king, now she was looking straight at Gareth. ‘He is our king, Gareth Ogilvie, and he almost killed you if memory serves.’

  ‘You wouldn’t have been the first,’ her cousin smiled wickedly.

  ‘This is all very confusing for me, I've never heard of an Eagle swearing loyalty to a human before, and if I heard right, is he married to an Eagle princess?’

  ‘The princess Melina, considered first now amongst all the Eagle people.’

  ‘No, my people do not breed with humans but even those of your species do not breed their royalty to humans even Kings.’

  ‘You are looking at the most powerful man on this planet and we adore him, many of us have moved to his kingdom and pledged ourselves to him.’

  Amber bore herself upright, ‘my people are strong and many.’

  ‘Can you see what I see?’

  ‘I believe so but only if our heads touch.’

  ‘Then do so.’

  She did and her mind filled with information, now truly for the first time she understood the nature of the man she had met and her spirits quailed.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Natina told her, ‘he comes in peace to explore. You can tell your father that Princess Amber.’

  Amber gasped, ‘What, you know?’

  ‘Knowledge is a two way street princess, but I would advise you to keep away from our King, he collects princesses.’

  She shuddered, ‘no thank you, we may take the form of Humans but the thought of having one touch you.’ She shuddered. The two women advanced and she realised she had said the wrong thing.

  ‘My husband’s name is Alan Fraser he is a Highlander.’

  ‘They call my Husband the Beast and he also is a Highlander, like our king.’

>   Natina smiled coldly, ‘they are wonderful men. They are great heroes; they sing songs about them the whole world over, so do not trash talk them little girl or Gareth or no Gareth I will tear you into tiny little pieces. You saw what a Tyranny is. Look into your mind.’

  She did and shuddered again, ‘they are awful.’

  ‘Our men killed one of them between them.’

  ‘My man killed it yours was being eaten at the time.’

  Natina hissed at her smirking sister, ‘he still managed to drive a sword through its eye blinding it to what your husband was doing.’

  There was a resounding smack and she whirled to find her husband standing behind her, the Beast smiled, ‘stop arguing about that will you and there's no need to tell the whole world, Alan’s probably saved my life in battle as many times as I have saved his.’

  Instead of being angry with him she flushed and melted against his chest, ‘I'm sorry darling I'm just so proud of you.’

  She disappeared into his embrace, ‘you can show me how proud you are of me tonight, I have made a wee shelter for us at the back of the island so we can have some privacy.’

  Her eyes captured those of the strange princess, ‘you’re not going to be hanging around long are you.’

  ‘I am feeling a lot better now thank you.’

  ‘Where’s Alan?’ Natina asked.

  The Beast grinned, ‘not too far away doing exactly the same as I was, as is Graun and everyone else with an Eagle wife.’

  Natina was watching Amber as was her sister, Amber decided it was time to stop playing games. ‘May I take a look around before I go?’ They didn't have a problem with that and Amber rose high on some thermals. Her heart beat faster when she saw how much water surrounded them. She took a good look at the ships then returned to the pool. The two golden Eagles joined her and in an instant they were back to where they had captured her.

  Amber leapt out of the water and when she turned the women were gone. She had expected them to strike out at her but they had simply gone. There was a beating of wings and a dozen Eagles dropped out of the sky. She dropped on one knee at the sight of her father, his fierce eyes burned brightly.

  ‘What happened here daughter?’ She looked round and realised for the first time the change in the old ruins, as she watched more and more of them pulled themselves from the rubble.

  She looked up with a smile, ‘we had a visitor father.’

  CHAPTER 33

  The great council had taken days to assemble and two hundred major Clan chiefs had assembled, all from the coastal regions. Grey Eagle had called them all together to apprise them of what was heading their way. In his hand he held the talking stick. He was the King of the Eagles but tradition gave any man a say as long as he held the stick, it also gave the man immunity from any form of punishment for his thoughts. Normally when they gathered they did so as Eagles, however an Eagle could not hold the talking stick and this time he wanted to hear their thoughts clearly.

  He had passed the information his daughter had given him to all assembled before them. Now they knew what he knew, it had came as a shock to him and was sure it would be an equal shock to the assembled chiefs.

  He tapped the stick three times, ‘when I became King I took the name Grey Eagle King of all the Eagles. This was one of the things we went to war with the golden ones for many thousands of years before, for they say there can only be one Eagle king. Now we find there are three.’ He walked round the council fire his mind in turmoil and lifted his hands to the heavens, ‘how can this be. How can there be three kings, are their more? These are questions we need answered and quickly, but for all of these questions there is another we need answered, who is this Gareth Ogilvie. He is nothing but a human and yet an Eagle King dances to his tune, he marries an Eagle princess. We are a proud nation, but for the first time in our memory’s we face an enemy that could destroy us. Before I make any decisions on this matter I want to hear what you all think. I ask you of the coast here first because you will be the first who encounter them and their ships if they decide to continue the journey by boat.’

  One of the oldest chiefs stood and joined him in the circle, Grey Eagle handed the stick over, ‘we recognise Grey Feathers, the wisest of us all.’

  Grey Feathers looked around him, ‘it has been a long time since so many of us have assembled and my eyes shed tears to see how many of my friends are not here, it would seem I am now the oldest chief amongst us all. I look at our great King Grey Eagle with pride, for if we do face an enemy then we have none better to fly before us.’ There was a grumbling of agreement.

  ‘However I see no enemy, I see a potential enemy. We have the history of the golden ones that are our enemy and have been for a very long time. Yes the golden ones look down their nose at us and their King sneered at Amber, yet one word from this Gareth Ogilvie brought him to his knees. We are one nation, this man commands many. Not only that, he is aligned to the real Golden Eagle king and another nation that resembles the size of ours. He is not yet our enemy, not unless we are unwise enough to make him so. He could have killed Amber, their Eagle king could have ordered the two who took him here to tear Amber to pieces so she could not tell of what she had learned, but that did not happen.

  I think we should send a delegation, if you are wise Grey Eagle you would marry Amber to this Gareth Ogilvie as well, rather him in the family than a golden one I think.’ There was a burst of laughter but Grey Feathers held up his stick, ‘I am glad we are all in such high spirits but listen to my words now. When they arrive at these shores the golden ones will want to seek out those of their own kind. When they meet there will be a reckoning because I cannot see Telamuck tolerating another Eagle King in these lands.’ There was a murmur of understanding, ‘it would seem that this new Eagle King would be closer to the original. I have no idea what will happen when the two meet but I know Telamuck, and I believe I know how he will react. If conflict arises I know whose side I want to be on.’

  A few raised their voices but he held the stick high and they all shut up, ‘we saw in our minds how fast the Highlander reacted. We have seen the beasts these men have defeated in combat. If Telamuck reacts as we think he will then he will die that day, they may both die. I am sure we all know who will win the conflict and he will add that kingdom to his own; there is no doubt in my mind and then what. I will tell you my people; we will have a nation of Golden Eagles who have learned to hate us at birth talking into his ear. The conflicts that happen between our people on an almost daily biases, how do you think he will react to that. Look inside your own mind first and you will see exactly how he reacts to that kind of thing. We have an opportunity here Telamuck does not. We can make friends with this man, this human man, this warrior, this king of kings. We can stand at his side when Telamuck kills his father-in-law and defend him from our enemy’s. Stand at his side in his fury, so that when he has killed Telamuck and his descendants then he will not turn against us.’

  His speech finished he handed the talking tick to the next chief who puffed himself, ‘I think we should take a thousand warriors and kill them all.’ There was a great roar of approval. Others had their say and although many liked the war option most realised it would be a bad choice.

  Eventually Grey Eagle took the stick back, ‘thank you my chiefs for all that you have said tonight, but I feel in my soul the option of war is a bad one. When the golden ones came here they tried to take the land that was ours and those that worship us from us to make them their servants. If what we have learned is true, the man who had made himself king has shown no desire to enslave others, in fact the exact opposite is the truth. Where he has found a kingdom under his rule capable of self-rule then he has turned that kingdom back over to its own people. He has freed an entire race from slavery. He has defeated enemy’s of unimaginable force. This is not a man I wish to annoy. Since the time we first walked upon this land in this form we have treated the humans as simple animals. I think the time has come to treat them
or at least some of them as equals and I think we should take the first steps towards this new understanding. Tomorrow I will go with members of my army to meet this Great Sea King, this Gareth Ogilvie and at least make overtures of friendship, this is my decision. Grey feather would you join me as an elder from the tribe.’

  Grey feather stood, ‘I would be honoured my king.’

  CHAPTER 34

  They appeared from the morning mist like grey wraiths. Gareth stood and moved out of the foliage. ‘Hold,’ was his command. Gray Eagle stiffened with horror as he realised he was completely surrounded by armed men. ‘Don’t do anything stupid,’ Gareth cautioned.

  A young boy ran out of the mist and was caught by his father, ‘I have come here today with my family, Great Sea King not to fight.’

  Gareth nodded and turned his back on them, ‘stand down, everyone get their breakfast.’ He turned back to Grey Eagle, ‘it said in the writings inside that small building over there that you were at conflict with my father-in-laws people. It occurred to me that you may yet wish to make war on him and me.’

  Grey Eagles heart was hammering, if he had taken the advice to go to war, he and his family, the people with him would be lying dead right now. He managed a weak smile, ‘we came unarmed, we consider those we fought and still fight to be a different race of people. If not my favourite daughter would now be dead or worse. You released her without harm. I took that as a sign of good will and a basis for a good relationship between our peoples if you still wish to travel as far as our shores.’

  Gareth studied the man in front of him; he was taller than he was with a strong hooked nose. There was no spare flesh on the man either and his grey skin was a darker shade than the young woman who now stood at his side. His hair was the colour of new snow and the king’s blaze in his hair was golden while his father-in-laws was snow white. The comparison made Gareth smile.

  ‘Please come join us for breakfast and let me apologise for this reception, it was not kind.’