by P. C. Cast
“Lead them, Brighid, High Shaman of the Dhianna Herd. It is your love and their hope that will heal the soul of the land,” Etain said.
“Let me lean on you?” Brighid asked Cuchulainn.
“Always, my beautiful Huntress,” he said.
With her arm around his broad shoulders she limped down the embankment, crossed the scorched river, and with the rustle of the moving wings that followed her, Brighid, Cuchulainn and the New Fomorians stepped onto the destroyed plain.
Brighid turned to face the children and their Shaman. “Will you help me make it grow again?” she asked them.
“Yes, Brighid!”
“Of course, Huntress!”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
She smiled as their joyous voices sang over the deathly stillness of the burned land. “Then join me.” She held out her hand and Liam ran to take it. Ciara stepped up next and took Liam’s hand. Then Kyna skipped up to clutch Cuchulainn’s hand and grinned toothily up at him. And one-by-one, the New Fomorians linked hands and spread out in a semicircle, facing the destruction of the southlands.
“I—I’m not sure…” Brighid said quietly.
Ciara caught her eye and smiled that joyous smile of hers that was so full of love and kindness. “Yes, you are, Brighid. Just let your heart speak.”
And then Brighid opened her mouth and her heart poured forth.
Gracious Goddess Epona!
Guardian of those wild and free,
we seek Your blessings upon this place.
It was a place of hatred and strife,
but it has been purified with fire,
now let it be rebuilt as a
place of happiness and love!
A place of refuge and peace,
a place of enchantment!
Wild and free as the Goddess who created it…
Brighid paused as Ciara, and then the children following her, began to hum a wordless, lilting melody that reminded her of the wind as it swept through the long grasses of deep summer. At the same time an emerald glow began to emanate from all of the New Fomorians. Cuchulainn’s hand tightened on hers as Epona’s voice, filled with love and happiness swept over them like a magical wind from the depth of their hearts.
“I consecrate you, Brighid Dhianna, as Guardian of the Centaur Plains. You are tied to it through blood and love and hope—and now by my sacred trust!”
Overcome with emotion, Brighid bowed her head in acknowledgment, recollecting herself before she could complete her prayer. When she spoke again her voice was thick with the love and happiness that surged through her.
O Gracious Goddess!
Divine protectress of those wild and free,
Be always present
in this place of beauty!
Hail Epona!
So may it be!
As she spoke the last words of her prayer the emerald glow that had been hovering over the children suddenly exploded, and like a jewel-colored whirlwind that had the power to blow away the past, it swept across the plain, removing the ugly black ash and smoke to suddenly expose the beautiful new growth that was already pushing through the rich soil underneath.
With tears streaming unheeded down her face, Brighid watched her homeland be reborn. And then, before she could comprehend the enormity of what the Goddess-blessed children had done, there was a stirring in the newborn land as centaurs suddenly appeared. They were led by a silver-blond male whose hair had been singed from his body and whose skin was blistered and burned.
Brighid stood very still in the center of the line of linked hands while he and the other centaurs made their way slowly to her. As they drew closer she recognized many of them, especially the females, as Dhianna Herd members, but the focus of her attention remained on her brother.
Bregon stopped just a few paces before her. Slowly, deliberately, he executed the low bow of respect paid only to centaur High Shamans.
“Forgive me, Brighid.” When he raised his face to her, his soot-covered cheeks were awash with tears. And then he dropped to his knees. Keeping his eyes on his sister, he began speaking in a deep, earnest voice.
“Through the deep peace of the flowing air I bind myself to you.
“Through the deep peace of the crackling home fire I bind myself to you.
“Through the deep peace of the quiet earth I bind myself to you.
“Through the four elements I am bound to you, Brighid Dhianna, High Shaman and Guardian of the Centaur Plains, and through the spirit of our herd I seal this bond. Thus has it been spoken, thus will it be done.”
Shocked, Brighid could only stare at her brother and the other members of the Dhianna Herd who had all knelt as her brother had spoken the ancient words of binding.
“You must accept them or not,” Cuchulainn said quietly. “It is your decision.”
“Rise, Dhianna centaurs. Your High Shaman accepts you.”
With a glad shout, the centaurs rose—all except her brother—who bowed his head again and wept openly.
There was a stirring in the line to Brighid’s right, and Ciara dropped the hands of the children on either side of her. With that grace that was so singular to her, the winged Shaman approached Bregon. He raised his face and stared into her eyes. Brighid saw the jolt that went through his body, and she began to limp forward, but Cuchulainn’s hand on hers restrained her.
“Wait,” he whispered.
Slowly Ciara wiped the tears from Bregon’s cheeks and then she offered him her hand. The centaur took it, and lurched up so that he was standing again. Keeping his hand in hers, the winged Shaman turned to face the children.
“This is Brighid’s brother,” she told them. “Let us make him welcome.”
Instantly the little winged dam broke free and small bodies clustered around the singed centaur, jumping about and asking their usual assortment of unending questions.
“Look at him, Cuchulainn, and tell me what you see within his soul,” Brighid said.
The warrior watched his wife’s brother, and then his eyes shifted to hers.
“I see redemption, my beautiful Huntress.”
Epilogue
FAR TO THE north, deep in the Trier Mountains, a heavily pregnant Fallon leaned on her mate’s arm as they entered the dark slash under the rocky outcropping through which they had spotted the single trail of smoke.
Inside a small fire burned in the center of the cave. At the sight of the newcomers the wings of the huddled creatures stirred and lifted dangerously. Fangs and claws glinted, even in the weak light of the waning fire.
She’d known it! She’d known that they hadn’t all perished! It hadn’t been possible that beings who were so strong, so filled with the will to live, had all died. No…they’d been here, waiting for her…just as she’d dreamed…just as she’d hoped.
“Who are you?” one of them snarled.
Fallon shook off Keir’s arm and drew herself up to her full height, showing off the living bulge that mounded her abdomen.
“I am your salvation!”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-4971-8
BRIGHID’S QUEST
Copyright © 2005 by P.C. Cast
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