The Prophecy (Kingdom of Uisneach Book 1)
Page 49
With the grace of a mountain lion, he swung up on Aldebaran, turned the reins, and headed south behind the Winges and Cailleach.
Briana stared after him, feeling her heart shatter with every step he took into the forest.
Briana?
Her mind filled with words promising a love that could not be broken in a single lifetime.
Unbroken, one soul, given forever. I’ll always love you, a mhuirnin. Always.
Then he was gone. She took in a ragged breath, remounted Banrion and turned to face Brath. She refused to hide, and he didn’t turn away from her pain. He offered his hand. She rode up next to him and grasped it, as though for her life.
“Let’s go fight for Uisneach,” he said.
Setting her chin and eyes forward, she urged Banrion beside him and side by side, they rode to Inis Fail.
Epilogue
Katrina stared at the cards in disbelief. She laid out a seven-card spread and for the third time in a week, drew exactly the same cards. In exactly the same positions. The initial card, Briana’s card, always came up Deer, the card for gentleness. That makes sense. Briana is nothing if not gentle. When she laid an opposing male card in hope of getting some sense of where the “romance” was, she pulled the Archer. A second card fell from the deck on top of it – the King of Bows. This had happened all three times, in one way or another. She wondered at the significance of a card having to do with leadership and dominance. Two male cards together. Another relationship? The card she pulled for the present, the Wanderer, and the next card for challenges, Journey, indicated a change about to occur, which likely included the death of something, or the change from one state of being to another. Is Briana coming home? Oh, how she wished that were the case. The fifth position she called influences, and for the third time, it came up Lovers, only in reverse. Katrina’s eyebrows knitted together. Some kind of problem with her lover? The next card – Six of Bows. She seems to have a lot of men in her life, she mused. Travel. Transition. Cycles. Eight of vessels was the last card pulled. Rebirth, healing and new possibilities. She tried to center and focus her mind on Briana. Was her daughter sending a message? All she knew for certain was that something huge was about to happen. And all she could do was wait patiently.
The End
Glossary
a ghrá (uh hraw): my love
a leanbh (uh lyah-noo): child or baby lyah-noo
a mhuirnin (uh war neen): sweetheart
a sonuachar (uh sun uh khar): my true spouse or soulmate
art: mountain
a stor (uh store): my treasure
Banrion (ban-reen): queen
bodhran (bow rahn ): a handheld Irish drum
Cailleach (kyle-yock): witch
cath: fort
Leanach (lee a nock): plains in Uisneach
mo chroi (ma kree): my love
Nuada Airgetlam (Noo-a-da/tha AR-gid-lawv): first king of the Tuatha DéDanann, known as “Silver Hand”
ríocht (rot): kingdoms, realms; an Uisneachan form of chess
smooring: banking a fire in a hearth
Teaguen (Tee gin): faerie of Evalon
Tir fo Thuinn (Cheer fo hin): the land under the sea
Tuatha DéDanann (too-ah-day-don-an): children or people of the goddess Danu
Tuathla (Too uh la): princess of the People (the faeries)
Tynan Ibor (Tinin i bor): kingdom in the center of Uisneach
Uilleann pipes (ill-in or ill ee un): Irish bagpipes
Uisneach (oosh-nay): mythical place and geographical center of Ireland
Some terms or names in this book are fictitious or based loosely on Irish words, using pronunciations consistent with Ulster. Elsewhere in Ireland, pronunciations would differ.
About the Author
There are worse things than living in a world of kings, queens, warriors, bards, and all manner of magical beings. After a life spent burying myself in the imagination of others and lamenting my inability to create such a story myself, I was challenged by my husband and a friend to bust down the barriers to my own creativity and just do it! I did, and the Kingdom of Uisneach series is the result.
I have been blessed by careers as a Registered Nurse, an interfaith minister and a hospice chaplain, but ever-flowing beneath the surface was my passion for books and writing. Whether I was writing care plans, weddings or journaling my own personal odyssey, I crafted words in ways that others found… interesting.
The Kingdom of Uisneach series taps into the core of my Irish heritage, evoking the spirit of ancient myth and legend. I hope you enjoy this story and would love to hear from you.
Website: kingdomofuisneach.com
Facebook: Heidi Hanley Author Page:
https://www.facebook.com/heidihanleyauthor
Blog: Kingdom Musings, https://kingdomofuisneach.blogspot.com
If you enjoyed this story, I invite you to review it on Amazon.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Once Upon a Time
Chapter One
A Sound in the Woods
Chapter Two
Leaving Kansas
Chapter Three
An Awfully Big Adventure
Chapter Four
Across the Void
Chapter Five
Farmer in the Dell
Chapter Six
Dungeons and Demons
Chapter Seven
You Don’t Want Any of Them Apples
Chapter Eight
Beauty and the Beasts
Chapter Nine
A Wee Endearment
Chapter Ten
Cailleach
Chapter Eleven
The Book of Leaves
Chapter Twelve
Abracadabra
Chapter Thirteen
“Non nobis solum nati sumus…”
Chapter Fourteen
Whither Thou Goest
Chapter Fifteen
Crossroads
Chapter Sixteen
A Storm is Brewing
Chapter Seventeen
The Battle of Ardghal
Chapter Eighteen
Winge Mansion
Chapter Nineteen
Hinterlands
Chapter Twenty
Our Enchanted Sea
Chapter Twenty-one
To Be or Not To Be
Chapter Twenty-two
From the Frying Pan into the Fire
Chapter Twenty-three
Mr. Jonathan Stark
Chapter Twenty-four
Druids
Chapter Twenty-five
Heritage
Chapter Twenty-six
Aurum Castle
Chapter Twenty-seven
Bliss
Chapter Twenty-eight
Unbroken
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Shannon Abbey
Chapter Thirty
A Long Goodbye
Chapter Thirty-one
Ard Darach
Chapter Thirty-two
Getting to Know You
Chapter Thirty-three
Visions and Contracts
Chapter Thirty-four
Matters of the Heart
Chapter Thirty-five
Falling
Chapter Thirty-Six
Comings and Goings
Chapter Thirty-seven
Briana – Queen of Uisneach
Chapter Thirty-eight
Promises and Blessings
Chapter Thirty-nine
E-U Summit
Chapter Forty
Farewells
Epilogue
Glossary
About the Author
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