Gathering Storm

by Jess Parry

  She stood up and started running as fast as she could, she heard the pounding of feet following behind her. The canopy of trees overhead had blocked the moon, so she tripped over the roots rising from the ground. Her side growing tight, she pushed on tripping over a root she had missed. She fell hard enough she felt her teeth rattle. Pushing herself back up, she pressed herself to go just a little further. She didn’t dare look back, but she thought she could almost feel the breath of her attackers on her neck. A deep chuckle rumbled from the bushes a few feet away from her. Stumbling, she caught herself before she fell again; pushing herself to the left she closed her eyes and ran blindly.

  She raced out of the woods into a clearing; leaning down she greedily took deep breaths. Her breath came out in light wisps as she stood up to look around. It was a large clearing, a field of wild flowers swayed in the evening breeze. She didn’t remember ever seeing this place before on her travels.

  The noise of the night had starting again around her. Now that she was out of the woods the moon once again bathed her in its glow. Her eyes widening as she saw hundreds of tiny lights blinking everywhere in the field. She heard laughter and music playing softly, she looked around trying to locate where it was coming from. Stepping further into the clearing, she stopped as she watched a beautiful black horse racing out from the opposite woods. It ran towards her at an alarming speed. Frozen in place, she couldn’t move her feet to get out of the way of the baying beast. She tried to scream, but no sound escaped her lips.

  Just a few feet from her the horse came to an abrupt stop shaking his head restlessly. Siobhan’s whole body was shaking with fear; she looked up at the rider of the horse sucking in a gasping breath. He was dressed in black, but the glint of the sword strapped at his side glinted in the moonlight. She followed her gaze up to his broad chest looking into the most beautiful face she had ever seen.

  An angular face, with sharp cheek bones, strong lips that Siobhan wanted desperately to run her finger across, slightly frowned down at her. Coal black hair, with streaks of Silver woven throughout fell past his shoulders, but was lifting up around the edges as the wind blew around them. She continued to look up meeting dazzling gray eyes looking quizzically down at her.

  Siobhan’s eyes flew open as the car jolted to a sudden stop followed by Shawn cussing. The dream lingered on the fringes of her mind as she looked out the window almost expecting to see that they were in the clearing. Instead she found they were on a small road, nothing but green hills surrounded them. She looked out the windshield to see why they had stopped.

  “Buggering Sheep” Shawn said as he looked into the rearview mirror to see Siobhan. She blinked a couple of times as a giggle erupted from her mouth. Sarah started shaking with laughter, but Shawn continued to watch Siobhan, he noticed her eyes were brighter than they should be. A feeling of dread washed over him as he felt an antsy energy surrounding Siobhan.

  Siobhan was leaning over Jason to look out the window. She watched as the sheep lazily made their way across the road, heading to the grass on the other side. One ambled over towards the car raising an inquisitive head up to the back window. Siobhan met the sheep’s gaze, their eyes locked unblinking. The sheep’s gentle eyes watched Siobhan as a wave of shudders racked her. Jason pulled her tighter into his embrace as he watched a tear falling lazily down her cheek.

  “Shoo” Sarah yelled at the sheep. She had crawled over into Shawn’s lap, rolling down the window flaying her arms through it.

  The sheep turned and ba’ed a few times at Sarah before moving along, joining the herd.

  “Well, I can always add sheep herder to my college applications” Sarah chuckled as she eased back into her seat. Buckling up, she turned to Shawn who was gazing at her.

  “What?”

  “Nothing” Shawn replied then broke his gaze to turn towards the younger boy who was running towards the herd to move faster.

  Turning, Siobhan watched as Sarah slumped back into her seat, her lips pursed as she turned to look out her window. Sorrow seeped into Siobhan as she watched the hurtful look crossing her friends face.

  Finally, the last sheep crossed and Shawn gunned the engine, the car lurching as it began its forward motion.

  Shawn mumbled an apology, but didn’t take his eyes off the road.

  They didn’t see Ash sitting astride his horse watching them from the hill beyond them.

  “What in the devil were you thinking?” Marcus asked as he and his horse strolled over to where Ash sat watching. His horse whinnied softly nudging the black horse, which turned nickering back.

  “Giving a little extra push” he answered coolly

  “You gave her one hell of a push, Ash” Marcus replied

  “Well, what bloody choice did I have, that boy is pulling her away from me” Ash turned glaring at Marcus.

  “The boy is taking your beloved to his grandmother. How much could this old woman possibly know to help?” Marcus replied

  “I don’t know, but she is closer to our place.” Sighing softly Ash watched the kaleidoscope of colors swirling in his eyes. “They are heading towards the beginning of our story, Marcus, so I don’t know what this old woman knows or doesn’t”

  “So you push the very memory of that night to her?”

  “She’s dreamt it before. She started it the first night I touched her, then again a few nights ago.”

  “What!” Marcus roared

  “You heard me” Ash replied softly

  “And this is the first you choose to tell me?” Marcus bellowed “I gave her the damn winter wine, do you know what that could have done? Especially if she bloody well dreamt of you in the woods the first night you brought her memories to the dream stage?”

  “I didn’t know you were going to stupidly give it to her, I also didn’t know that would have been the first damn thing she would have dreamt of” Ash replied hoarsely

  “Yes, that is a first for all of us” Marcus gripped the reigns tugging his horse to attention. Shifting in the saddle he turned to look at Ash. He caught the shimmer of excitement and trepidation shadowing his friend. Lifting a brow as he contemplated when exactly his charge had turned into a comrade.

  Ash met Marcus stare, they sat in silence atop the striking horses. The majestic creatures of black and white stood near each other absorbing the power that shimmered around them. Their spellbinding brown eyes taking in the strength the other possessed, they stomped their feet in impatience.

  “She has power, Ash, I don’t know how much, but it’s there, just under the surface.”

  “I know” Ash whispered

  “I know we have done this over many moons, felt the rush of almost finding the trust in her again. To almost break this twisted curse you brought out.” Marcus sighed softly “But, this version of your beloved has power of her own. The choices you make could be your undoing.”

  Ash nodded at Marcus then broke the contact, clicking his tongue the black horse snorted loudly before pounding his hooves into the moist ground. Giving his master and himself some distance from the troubling unanswerable truth of what would happen lingering in the crisp air.

  Marcus watched Ash’s horse carrying him away from their conversation that was far from over. The damned fool always ran when the situation became too much. He shook his head, tugged the reigns as his white stallion whinnied before galloping off in the other direction.

  “Let the bloody fool go brood” Marcus murmured into the air before it split letting him into the blackness of his world

  Ash pulled tightly onto the reigns to stop his horse, which was hell bent on getting as far from Marcus as possible. Swinging his leg over the horse’s broad backside, he slid off the beast’s back, smacking him lightly on the hind quarters.

  “Thank you Storm” Ash’s voice carried to the horse, ears twitching he turned to nip at Ash’s jacket. Chuckling, Ash pulled a carrot out, Storm nipped it gently from Ash’s hand before sauntering off. Ash stood there staring out at the open land before h
im. The green fields a stark contrast to the gray storm clouds rolling through the sky, watching as pockets of blue would peak out between the clouds flowing.

  Turning, he caught wisps of mist billowing from Storm’s nostrils as he nickered softly, hoarfrost began creeping silently along the ground towards him. Storm pranced in place, raising his head to eye his master questioningly.

  “I’m not doing that my friend” Ash voice crawled over the creeping hoarfrost, calming Storm

  Closing his eyes, Ash took a deep breath, holding it longer than necessary, he expelled loudly as he felt the hoarfrost finally reach him. The coldness encircled him, coating his shoes in white as it curled around him. Just as he felt the bitter cold close around his waist did he snap his eyes open.

  “You do realize that I can do the same to you brother?” Ash voice tensed as the hoarfrost crept further up, now coating his chest.

  “I do”

  Hearing the similar deep voice whispering answer, Ash met the cool stare of cobalt reflecting his features. The shock of the resemblance always stole Ash’s breath, quickly blanking his emotions; he met the cool stare with his own steely gaze.

  “She is still mine” Ash’s voice warned of the anger simmering underneath

  “I know” responded the figure standing before him, his stance slightly apart from Ash’s. “I won’t interfere until you screw up, and then the chance is mine, brother.”

  “Brother” Darkly laughing Ash turned his back to the figure “We are more than brothers”

  “Yes” was the only response the figure gave

  Ash felt the flicker of air disperse as power shimmered. Sighing he turned back to the empty space the figure left. His emerald eyes blazed for a moment longer then dimmed as Storm trotted to him and nick him lightly on the hand. Absently, Ash reached up running his hand down Storm’s nose affectionately.

  Things were definitely different this time around.

  Shawn gripped the steering wheel tightly, his knuckles turning white from the pressure. He could feel the hum of the purring engine, but also the underlying hum of power flowing through the car. He felt the waves of dispersed energy flowing off Siobhan. Excitement, longing, anger, love, fear, uncertainty there were too many of them, the chaos swirling inside Siobhan were racking against him at every angle. Sweat beaded on his upper lip, he could feel his control dissipating faster than he thought possible.

  He had grown up around magic; he knew the havoc it could cause along with the good. He had watched it destroy some, while bringing others to staggering strength. His grandmother, older than he knew, was one of the strong ones. She could handle anything and had over the years. She had taught him to control the wildness that flowed inside his veins.

  One night of debauchery on his mother’s part had created him. At least that was the way his mother had it. It was summer solstice, the Beltane fires had been blazing higher than any other past years. She had drunk more than her share of summer wine, danced wildly to the thrumming drums, laughed loudly and kissed many in abandon. She had turned many heads with her beauty as the fire light played off her fiery hair. His grandmother had warned her to be careful that night, his mother had granted, but she had been having too good of a time to remember her mother’s foreboding words.

  She had stumbled into the woods to be sick, she claimed, that was the last thing she remembered. She awoke the next day in a bed of flowers in a patch of space between the woods and the clearing. The clearing still held the thick laying undertones of smoky ash from the fire pyre. The sunlight burned brightly against the disheveled ground as his mother had stumbled haphazardly into his grandmother’s house, twigs sticking about her hair. Her clothes torn in places and hanging askew on her slender frame. His grandmother had grabbed his mother tightly to her as her daughter sobbed in her arms. She told Shawn’s mother she had wondered into the uninhabited on the one night the cover was open. Her daughter wailed shrilly, this wasn’t her fault, his grandmother had tenderly run her fingers through her daughter’s hair, removing the twigs as she calmly explained to her daughter she was with child now and to not be angry.

  He had been born during a spring storm; his grandmother had pulled him out of his mother just before lighting had struck their house. His grandmother had said that as he came, a wail of excoriating pain had exploded from his mother. That pain had torn her soul, snapping what sanity she had clung to, she had been rushed to the hospital after his tumultuous birth. There the doctors had told her with solemn voices, as she lay in the bright green room, with the sun shining through the single pane window she wouldn’t be able to carry any more children.

  His mother had stopped trying at everything; she was just a shell of who she had once been. She wandered the woods at all hours, searching for something that only she knew. He would watch her from the window as she would stumble down the path towards the woods. It was like watching a ghost evaporate before his eyes as she vanished away from him, into the darkness of the woods. He would spend hours watching as the sunlight danced around the edges of the woods.

  The light would sneak into the first line of trees that shrouded the inside of the woods; it would dart in and out of the depths within. Toying with the shadows lurking in a game of cat and mouse, Shawn would be mesmerized as the light would slip in just a little farther only to see the darkness lash out. The strike quick as a mad snake, a light trail of smoke would wasp around the edges of light as it receded back.

  He yearned to wander in the woods, to feel the coolness of the chaos that darted within. It would always call to him at dusk, whispering on the evening breeze to come play. His grandmother would shush the breeze with a flick of her hand as she would turn him from the window into the kitchen for dinner.

  He had just turned fifteen; it had been a sunny day, he had ventured outside with his mates to romp in the warm spring day. They had unusually warm weather and had driven his grandmother wild with their longing for adventure. He had been warned sternly by his grandmother not to wander onto the path. She had foreboded a painful awakening to his soul if he went.

  The boys had raced out into the sunny day, romping around the edges of the wood. Daring each other to step into the cool depths beyond, who would be the strongest of the group. Running closer to the edge, but never taking the last step into the abyss beyond, they called each other names as each stopped just shy of entry. His grandmother had called them back for lunch. Shawn had blown the candles on his cake out with abandon, unwrapped presents in a frenzied rush. That day had been different because his grandmother had kept his mother in the house. She had balked at being kept away from her woods, but his grandmother had sternly clapped her hands together. The doors to their house had shut loudly, shaking the thatched roof slightly. His mother had grumbled, but stayed in, she had even had a bite of his birthday cake.

  It had been close to dusk, when the boys began their taunting again. Shawn had stood just beyond the path his mother wandered daily. The whispers had gotten stronger, the chaos inside his was singing with release. His grandmother had whispered to go out the back and release some of the tension, but not into the woods.

  He wandered the path, stepping softly along the edge; it had been his best mate who had balked enough to make Shawn take that fateful last step. He walked into the wildness within the woods. The darkness of the woods had descended faster than nightfall onto him. He stumbled a couple of times by a rotten tree stump, as a few low hanging branches lashed out at his face. He had felt the blood sliding down his cheek from a nasty cut, but there he hasn’t felt any pain. He stopped and sighed as he felt the release, a weight lifted slightly as some of the chaos seeped out of him. He had wandered deeper than he had meant to, lost his bearings, turning he searched wildly for the path that would lead him back to the light.

  It was then he saw the shadows descend. They wrapped around him, nipping at his skin that wasn’t protected with clothing. Sharpness penetrated, but again more release and he felt the shadows pressing him onto the cool dam
p earth. He could smell the musty dirt below him, he felt ferns tickling his face, but was in sheer ecstasy as more shadows crawled over him. Power unbridled erupting from him as he screamed in pleasure. He didn’t know how long he laid there, but suddenly his grandmothers voice called to him. It was faint, but the call drew him off the ground and he followed the soothing voice.

  Emerging from the woods, his eyes widened as the moon was high in the sky. He had stopped in the middle of the path and stared in awe. The fullness of it, the brightness of white against the black night, he couldn’t remember ever seeing the moon so full. It was bursting into itself; he understood that feeling all too well. He listened for the sounds of the night to call to him, but silence settled around him. The scream of pure hatred pierced the bubble surrounding him.

  He cringed slightly as another memory of his mother standing in the doorway screaming that wild one wasn’t her child that hell would freeze over before she loved it. Those had been the last words he had ever heard from her mouth before she had ran away from him.

  A few months later his grandmother had broken the news to him that his mother had died in the streets of Dublin. It was then that he had asked for her help to control the wildness within him. It had taken years of sheer stubbornness to not let the chaotic side of him take over. He had prevailed so far, but he had never been so close to the simmering power that was slumbering inside Siobhan. His grandmother had said he would one day meet a true one, that she would bring that wildness to the front. He had sworn that would never happen, he wouldn’t be his mother’s son and repeat history. He had asked his grandmother how his mother had died, but she had refused to speak of it. She had told him that when his mother had gone, she had been lost truly from everything. He hadn’t pushed the issue with his grandmother, knowing it wouldn’t have done any good, but years later when he had gone to Dublin for school he had searched the archives of articles in the library. He had found the story hours later, she had apparently taken her own live by walking into the oncoming path of a Lawry.