I looked at her and smiled. “Tell me something about yourself.”
Her eyes left the river, and she frowned. "I told you, I am not able…"
“I understand,” I said interrupting her. “Yet if we are to spend so much time together we should be able to get to know each other somewhat, do you not agree?” She smiled. “There must be something you can share with me that will not affect your mission. Something not directly relevant perhaps?”
She looked towards the river thinking about it. When her gaze returned to mine, she seemed amused.
“I am the oldest of four girls, and somehow I am the one that always gets in trouble.”
I grinned. “I wonder why… It certainly must not be because of you do things like coming here, breaking a set of rules only the Goddess knows about, to help absolute strangers.”
She chuckled. “Well, maybe I do have an idea why.” She cringed. “Mother will kill me once she finds out what I have been up to.”
I laughed. “Why do you do it then?”
“Because it is the right thing to do,” She answered without hesitation. She stood for what she believed in. I respected that.
"What are your sister's names?"
“I cannot say.”
I nodded. "What are their ages?"
“Ten, Eight, and four.”
“How old are you?”
"Sixteen and a half," she answered, looking onto the river once more.
"Which one of you makes the light shine in your Father's eyes?"
She grinned proudly. “I do.” We laughed.
“I assume then that he is the one to defend you when you get in trouble.”
She nodded. "My mother is the one to enforce the rules and keep us in line. Father is absolutely mad about all his girls. One smile and a 'please, Daddy' and he's as good as gone."
I chuckled. "Does your mother have a favorite?"
“No, she loves us all the same.”
"But?" I asked, hearing the hesitation in her voice.
"She fusses over my baby sister a lot."
“It is normal if she is still a baby.”
She nodded, knowingly. "And she is absolutely adorable, so it is understandable." Her gaze settled on mine and she became serious. "May I ask about you?" I nodded. “Did you always know you would be a Warrior?”
I thought about her question. “No.”
Her eyes widened. "Really?" I nodded, looking into the river. "If you had not taken the Warrior vow, what would you have become?"
"A teacher." My gaze returned to hers, and I smiled. "I have always loved kids. That is a part of my duty that I truly enjoy. I love training new Warriors. I like helping them learn a strategy, test the endurance of their bodies and find out what they are capable of. It is so rewarding when you see a light fill their eyes, once they grasp a concept and are finally able to perform a movement with absolute precision. Recognizing the feeling of accomplishment that fills them, and knowing I was the one to help them achieve it. It is bliss for me."
“I’m sure you are an excellent teacher.”
I chuckled. "Thanks. The day Cyn asked me to become Warrior Leader was one of the happiest days of my life, because I knew I would get to teach." She looked at me kindly, and I could not understand the emotion that tugged at my heart.
“Why did you decide to be a Warrior instead?”
The question fell on me as though it was a great wave from the sea, pushing me down and threatening to drown me. Typically, I would have avoided it, changed the subject so that I would not need to remember. Nevertheless, Asrhia had been right yesterday when she required my collaboration. She was here to help me, the least I could do was let her.
“I wanted to be tough. I needed to. After my mother died, life as I knew it ended. I vowed that I would not let anything in life hurt me like that again, and I knew I needed to make myself strong.”
“Is that why you will not become an Ovate?”
I nodded, expecting for her lecture to commence on why I should try to learn to control my powers, but she smiled. Her eyes filled with nostalgia.
“Where I come from, we have a coterie for Ovates. It is very exclusive. One the likes no clan has ever seen.”
I stared at her in shock. "I have never heard of a school for Ovates. There has never been enough of them together I one lifetime to form a clique, let alone a school."
She smiled, proudly. “We have fifteen.”
“What?? Fifteen Ovates in one Clan?”
She nodded. "The founder, my mentor, opened the coterie when I was a little girl, and realized I shared her gift. My mentor was also able to recognize it in others when no one else would have. Most times it just went unnoticed, and undeveloped it is easy for it to become dormant as though it does not exist. That is the actual reason why this gift is so rare. It manifests as early as babyhood. Most parents have no knowledge of what to look for, or are unable to recognize the signs, so it is not stimulated in the child. Once it is acknowledged and enthused, the gift begins to develop, after that there is no stopping it. One of my little sisters also shares this power. She is in the school with me. However, I am almost done with my training. Due to the masterful hold I have on my abilities, my mentor said that I am to become a mentor just like her."
I swallowed as her words played in my mind over and over again. “Undeveloped it is easy for it to become dormant as though it does not exist.” Why was I not one of those cases? I would give anything not to have this curse. Then my mother’s words returned to me. “I knew you were special since you were just a baby.” Had she seen the ability in me? Had she begun developing it and that was why it haunted me now? I looked towards the river unable to speak.
“I am truly sorry. I did not intend to bring painful memories to the surface.”
I shook my head. "No, it is all right. This coterie you speak of sounds wonderful. Your clan must be very powerful if it has fifteen Ovates among its midst."
The pride returned to her eyes. "We are the most powerful Clan the world has ever seen. In the Àrd-shagart’s Court, we have a member of every Celtic power that exists. Including an Anam Sealgair. ”
I gasped, and my hand flew to my lips. I stared at her, astonished once again. Unbelieving. A few seconds had passed before I was able to speak. "A Soul Hunter? Impossible! I thought those were a myth. It is said no Druid has ever been born with that ability. That it is a…”
"A power delivered by our Mother Goddess herself." She completed my sentence. "Yes, it is true. It does exist, yet it has only occurred three times in the history of our race. That is the reason why it became a legend."
I slowly shook my head, disbelieving. If I were not able to see the truth written in her very eyes, I would not believe it myself. An Anam Sealgair was part of children’s stories as we went to sleep. A tale of hope told to the families of the fallen Warriors and any others that had passed away. A being, able to cross the golden gates of the Blessed Isles, and speak to the souls at rest. Able to find an essence wherever it may be, take the words of love from their families and return with messages of hope for the ones left behind. One that existed between the dead and the living, and was even believed to harness the power to awaken a reincarnated soul transiently.
A Messenger of our Mother Goddess, herself.
"I know it is hard to believe," She said, kindly. "Yet it’s the truth."
I leaned back from her, taking a deep breath and trying to grasp my bearings. “Where do you come from?”
She leaned forward. “You finally asked the right question.”
I frowned, searching her eyes. She had not given me an answer. "Where do you come from?" I asked once more, and her beautiful heart shaped lips curved into a brilliant smile.
“The future.”
CHAPTER 4. THE FUTURE
EISHA
* * *
I gasped so loudly that she jumped, startled. The words had spilled from my lips before I was able to grasp them. “Will you take me there?”
> “Yes.”
My heart raced as the truth she had shared echoed in my mind. “The future.”
She stood from the grass, and I followed. Her hand lifted and her fingers touched the light honey stones of her necklace. A necklace I had not noticed her wear until this moment. My eyes widened when I realized they were Clocha sliocht bheannaithe—Blessed passage stones. The glowing lines swiftly appeared on her skin, tracing the map. She held my hand and a small smile curved her lips.
"Ar toirt dhachaigh"—Take us home.
Suddenly, the air changed in front of my eyes. A portal formed but it did not resemble our own. There was no stone archway, no white revolving mist in its core, which shimmered until it became transparent. This was almost an instant transformation. The glow that would normally illuminate the stone archway engulfed us instead. The air around us changed, and in the blink of an eye, I was staring at a completely different landscape.
“Shall we?”
Asrhia asked, and I swallowed, no longer sure of what I had requested from her. We took a step forward, and the moment I turned to look behind me, the river disappeared before my very eyes as the invisible portal closed. My heart slammed against my chest while I looked all around us. The landscape that surrounded us was the most majestic sight I had ever witnessed.
The grass was a bright lime green, tall and adorned with hundreds and hundreds of delicate red flowers that brushed my skin. The planes were vast and flattened for kilometers on end until a large cluster of tall trees with vivid green foliage created a beautiful wall all around us. Large mountains rested just beyond the trees. It was a valley. A gasp escaped me the moment my gaze finally reached the skies, and I whirled around looking in every direction possible, unbelieving. The clouds were comprised of three colors, making the sight worthy of a canvas. Light cream yellow, bright pink and dark purple clouds painted the sky in a mesmerizing way. The clouds were thick and tufted, messy, and utterly perfect.
"This is impossible," I whispered, still unable to accept the painting nature offered me at this moment. "The colors are just so vivid, intense and…"
"Out of this world?" She asked, and I could hear the peace and joy in her voice. She loved it here.
"Yes…" the words disappeared from my lips as the clouds shifted and I gazed upon the lightest purest blue I had ever seen. Just underneath, the sky was a soft blue, almost white. I stared at Asrhia." How is this possible?
"Magic," She answered simply, and I frowned. She chuckled and looked upon the sky. "The concentration of magic here is one of the most potent in the realm. The pure form of this magic affects nature in a nurturing way. It allows it to thrive and be this…" She added gesturing to our surroundings. "Where you come from, magic is regarded as dead. The world you live in, no longer practices or believes magic exists. This has caused nature's power to lessen, and turn these beautiful clouds into simple white masses, water is clear, sand is tan. Everything you perceive in your world has been affected by the absence of magic as we know it. There are still a few places that emanate magic although unknown by man. These places are what you call natural wonders and display the most incredible colors, flowers, mountains, animals. Any natural place that seems extraordinary in your world is filled with magic. Yet, its power is not being fed or harnessed, so it is slowly dying. Our magic is strong and free. We give it power and use it, keeping it alive, and making it stronger every minute of every day."
The joy that filled her words forced me to smile. She was so proud of her home. Everything was different here. I could feel it on my skin, in my soul. Looking down I realized we were standing on circles upon circles of small portal stones. They almost formed a carpet or floor under our feet.
"It is the center that pulls me forwards or backwards to travel through time and space," Asrhia said, forcing me to look at her. "You see, this is not just a regular portal like the ones you are used to." She touched her necklace. "We are Ovates, and therefore we have a gift. We have been given access to every minute of every day in any part of the world at any time. Past, Present, or Future. We have been blessed with this gift. We are witnesses of life itself. A gift we have been destined with, to guide and support our Àrd-shagart when he needs it the most. Because we have this ability, the Clocha sliocht bheannaithe work differently for us. Unlike your portals, when we ask for passage it is not the stones' energy traveling to a different place and opening a door for us to cross over. As Ovates, the power in our ability connects with the Clocha sliocht bheannaithe, taking us from where we are to where we wish to be. It is we, our bodies, moving through time and space, not the stones."
I stared at her astonished. I had never heard of an Ovate able to do this. Mother was never able to perform such an act, and she was regarded as one of the most powerful our clan had ever raised in its midst. "How…" I was barely able to ask within my amazement.
Pride filled her eyes until they shone as brightly as the stars. "My mentor discovered this ability within and developed it. It is taught in the coterie, and necklaces are forged for those of us with enough power to utilize them. We are each given one as a gift in the graduation ceremony."
“Not every Ovate is able to travel, then?”
She shook her head, sadly. “It requires a certain level of power in our ability for us to be able to do this. Not everyone is capable.”
"If you have not graduated, how do you have one?"
“This was a gift from my mentor, because of the masterful hold I have on my ability.”
"Oh," I said, understanding. "You are powerful." It was a fact, not a question. Unlike before her smile was small and humble. She nodded, and for a moment it seemed as though she was searching for something within my eyes. I looked away.
When my gaze returned to the landscape, a glimmer of light caught my eye. Without thought, I began walking towards it. The light grew just beyond the trees, and I wanted to see what it was causing it. As I walked, I noticed another circle of stones upon the grass. My eyes searched the ground, and there were several upon the mound we stood on.
“This is a ceremonial ground,” She said, answering my silent question. “We have many trannsa cearcaill— passage circles here for our Ovates.”
I nodded absentmindedly. My eyes returned to the rising glow that called to me. I gasped when I realized what it was. Just under the mountain we stood on, was a village. The largest I had ever seen. A city made of what seemed like glass houses. They resembled our huts in a way, but its construction was unlike anything I had ever witnessed. The roofs were made of a hazy white glass that sparkled in the light as though it was made from diamonds. The clouds shifted in the sky unveiling the sun, and as the power of the bright sunlight hit it, the light became so bright that the whole city seemed to glow, yet it only lasted a second. Suddenly, its surface darkened, transitioning from clear to a deep gray and shading the homes. The magic was strong in that city. The Glass City.
“That is my home.”
I turned around and looked into Asrhia’s eyes as everything she had shared with me since I first met her replayed in my mind. The manner in which she spoke of this place, of her ability, of magic and the things she could do almost made me want to be one of them. An Ovate. Panic filled me at the realization. The way she regarded her mentor… maybe he could help.
“I wish to meet with him.”
“With who?” She asked, perplexed.
“Your mentor.”
Her eyes widened, and she began to shake her head adamantly. "No. No, no, no. You cannot. Are you insane?"
“Please. I need to meet with him. Maybe he can help me.”
“No. I cannot. They will kill me if they ever find out that I brought you here. It is bad enough that I have traveled back repeatedly, against all rules and even common sense just so that I can help you.” She began to pace in front of me while she bit her nails. “And my mother,” She said stopping in front of me. “Mother is not the kind of person to be trifled with. She does not like to be lied to, and rules must
be followed." She whimpered, beginning to pace again and started twisting her ponytail as though it gave her comfort. She was having an emotional breakdown. She seemed terrified of her mother.
“Is your mother powerful too?”
She stopped abruptly and stared at me as though I had asked the silliest question in the world. "She. Will. Kill. Me."
She took a deep breath regaining her composure. “That is it. We are leaving.” She held my hand and pulled me towards one of the stone circles on the grass.
"No, Asrhia. Please. I need to talk to your mentor." I pleaded, planting my feet and resisting her pull. "Maybe he can heal me." I looked over my shoulder at the Glass City, and the sight tugged at my heart. Something told me the cure to my curse was there. I could feel it inside me. "If he is as powerful as you say he is, then he might be able to take this curse away from me. Perhaps he can absorb my powers, or transfer them to someone else. Please."
She whirled around, and the look in her eyes scared me.
"Heal you?? You have got to be kidding me! This is not an illness, it a gift. You cannot get rid of your powers, Eisha! You must control them or nothing will…. Ugh!!" She stomped her foot, but it did not seem to aid with her temper. "How can you be so blind to the truth before you, especially after everything that I have shared with you? How can you be so selfish??"
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” She answered defiantly, and took a step towards me. “I said it loud and clear, but if you wish I would be delighted to say it again. You. Are. Selfish!!”
My mouth dropped. “You do not care about anyone but yourself. You have no idea the pain you have and will put those around you through by denying your destiny, and you do not even care. You do not care that you can help your Àrd-shagart, your clan, your friends. You could make life so much easier for them. You are putting them in danger by denying who you are and what you can do. Your ability to protect goes far beyond being a Warrior, Eisha. Can you not see that?"
Unwanted Magic (The Ancient Magic Series Book 3) Page 6
