The Forgotten Isle Page 3

“Danu, these dolmens, are they monuments to the dead?” the boy asked her.

  “No, Arthur. They are a resting place for the dead,” she replied. “The dolmens have been used by the people of the Emerald Isle for over a thousand years. Like in your time, most of the people here cremate their dead, but here they place the body on the table stone, that large stone on top of the dolmen. The body is burned, the ashes fall inside the dolmen, and the soul ascends to the heavens. If the body were placed on the ground, they believe that the soul might get confused and descend into the Underworld instead so it’s important to place it up high. The ashes are then collected and put in a ceramic pot. The pots are often kept inside the Dolmen. So you see that the dolmens are a very important part of the Finian’s religion.”

  “There are hundreds of them around here. Do they build a new one each time someone dies?” Since Arthur had not learned about this in school, he was curious about these people’s customs and rituals.

  “No. Dolmens are quite difficult to make as they require many large stones. Generally each family will have one and each time a family member dies, they use it for the funeral,” Danu explained.

  Arthur nodded. “I arrived inside one of the dolmens when you transported me.”

  Danu smiled. “My ability to bend time works best near large stones. There is an energy contained within the rock that aids my powers.”

  Arthur crinkled his brow and stared at the rock structure. “I am a bit confused. I was told by my teachers that ancient peoples were all pagans and heathens who worshipped many gods and goddesses, not one God like the Christians,” Arthur asked the Earth Mother.

  “Many ancient peoples did worship multiple gods and there are many different religious beliefs on the Emerald Isle. The Finians believe in one God but they are also mystics. Their religion relies heavily on magic. Do not confuse it with Christianity.” Danu’s white robes swayed in the breeze as they walked across the grassy plane. She moved remarkably fast for one so small.

  But Arthur wasn’t surprised by what she told him. “We have wizards who claim to be both Christian and Druid. Their Druid learning explains how they know when eclipses will happen and the art of healing and poisonous herbs. Their Christian teachings keep them in good standing with the church and the state. Without it they would be branded as heretics and exiled from all of Christian Britain. As it is, they walk a fine line between the worlds. They try to be all things to all people and a lot of people are angered by that attitude. Many of our wizards are feared by the common people.”

  As he walked across the grassy plane with Danu, Arthur realized they were headed for a particular dolmen where he assumed they would find the king. He wondered what the king would be like. Would he be dressed in royal robes like the great kings of Europe? Arthur imagined that he’d be wearing a gold crown with lots of jewels.

  Danu continued to talk as they walked across the Senmag. “People tend to fear what they do not understand. Or they glorify it. Magic is a part of the religion of all the peoples of the Emerald Isle, and the power of the sages. The art of healing – medicine of any kind – has been one of the greatest necessities of mankind since the earliest days of the world. The power of certain natural things: animal, mineral and vegetable, to make changes in the body and the mind, is taken as magic. He who controls magic has a special place in the religion of all peoples. Knowledge of healing and poisonous herbs is a kind of magical science, part true science and part inspired imagination. The sages know this and take advantage of it.”

  Arthur replied, “So the sages are not only teachers but priests as well.”

  “Remember Arthur, you are in a time more than two thousand years before the birth of Christ. This is a very different world from the one you know. There are so many religions right now. True science at this point in time only involves the working of metals, some basic astronomy, and some basic earth science. But almost everything is thought to be caused or influenced by spirits or magic. The druids have not even appeared yet,” said the Earth Mother.

  “How is that? I was taught that the great standing stones at Stonehenge were built by the Druids for religious uses thousands of years ago. Isn’t the monument a temple to the Druid’s gods?” Arthur questioned.

  “Ah, so much of history has been lost by your people!” Danu looked disappointed. “The people on the Eastern Isle, your Britain, are building the second phase of Stonehenge right now. But it is not a religious structure at all, merely a calendar – a tool. It tells the people when the seasons will change by tracking the movements of the sun and moon. Without it, they would not be able to plant their crops in time to harvest them and there would be famine and great troubles for all. That is how your Druid wizards know about eclipses.”

  Arthur thought she sounded like a teacher. “But aren’t the Druids building it?” he asked again, still confused.

  “No, Arthur,” replied the Earth Mother. “As I said, there are no Druids yet. They will not even exist until about 250 B.C. It is true that the Druids in your time will claim Stonehenge for themselves and use it for their own purposes. But that will not happen for quite some time yet. It has taken 500 years to build Stonehenge so far, and it is only in its second phase. There is one more yet to come – the stone structure that you know. It was – or will be, depending on how you look at it – built in three completely separate phases, each one replacing the one that came before it. The second phase is standing now but they have already begun the third and final phase. It will take 300 more years before it is complete.”

  Danu, who knew of all things in all times, spoke in both the present tense and future. It was often confusing trying to follow her thoughts. Arthur thought it must be difficult to know not only the past but the future as well. He wasn’t sure how she kept it all straight in her head.

  “Danu, how will I be able to speak to these people? I don’t know their language,” Arthur asked, suddenly realizing that language too must have changed in 2700 years.

  “I have the power to make you understood by these people and to allow you to understand them. Just speak in your own language as you do to me and they will understand you, although they might notice an odd accent. If you use a word that doesn’t exist in their tongue, it will come out in your own language,” Danu replied. “They will not understand the word and you will be forced to explain. It might make people suspicious. You must not tell anyone how you arrived here or where in time you are from. They will believe that evil black magic is in you and then there is no telling what could happen to you.”

  Arthur nodded his head in acknowledgement. The boy had a long face, with equally long cheek bones, a small nose, and barely visible eyebrows. His face was tanner than the locals as well. He did not look like he was from the Emerald Isle.

  Danu and Arthur soon came upon a group of standing stones where a man was seated in the center. He was murmuring quietly. Arthur guessed that this must be the king that they were on their way to see and he was obviously mourning his son. He missed him terribly.

  The man was dressed in tattered wool leggings with a hole in the left knee. His tunic was woven with multicolored threads running through it. He had long curly hair that was reddish-blond, and was pulled back from his face and held in place with a rope tie. He wore nothing on his head. No crown. Very little gold anywhere except a plain gold ring on his left hand and a hammered half-moon of gold – a lunula – around his neck. This was the king? He looked like a petty chieftain of a poor clan! Arthur walked into the dolmen and stood wordlessly in front of him.

  Well, no matter how he was dressed, this was the king and Arthur would respect his authority here. When the man looked up at the boy, Arthur dropped to one knee and spoke. “King Tuan. I am Arthur. Danu brought me here from a far away land to assist you in this battle. I offer you my services.” Arthur bowed his head to his knee.

  “Rise, child,” King Tuan replied. “Sit beside me and tell me what a mere boy can do to help.”

  Arthur sat down on a s
tone next to the king. “I am from the Eastern Isle, from a land we call Wales. We have excellent knowledge of war; perhaps I can be helpful to you. Could you tell me more about these Kullucks who attacked you? Who leads them?” Arthur waited patiently for the king to reply.

  Tuan thought for a few moments before he began telling the boy what he knew about the destructive invaders. “When I was a young boy there was a story that the older boys told us about a young girl kidnapped from the village of Six Oaks. She was eight summers old when the Kullucks overran her village. She was captured and taken away. She grew up with the Kullucks, forced into slavery. When she was grown up, she had a child and named him Senchos. He was part human like his mother, but part Kulluck like his father. The Kullucks have fanged teeth and claws for hands and feet. Apparently the boy had clawed hands but normal human feet rather than claws. So the Kullucks called him footless. As he grew, the boy became as evil as the rest of the Kullucks. His mother finally escaped and returned home to her village. Regrettably, she had to leave her son behind. There was nothing she could do for him. She could not make him human and she felt it best that he be raised by his own kind. He would never be accepted by humans, or fit in.”

  “Where is this woman now?” Arthur asked.

  “Soon after she returned home she went mad. The pain of leaving her son with those monstrous creatures was too much for her to bear. She died soon after. That’s the story anyway. All we know about Senchos the Footless comes from that poor young woman’s report,” King Tuan explained.

  “Why do they attack?” Arthur inquired.

  “From what the woman reported they are almost completely mindless. They speak with few words, mostly grunts. They eat and sleep.” Tuan continued, “They have no civilization – what they have they get by taking from others. They hunt animals for food. Until Senchos began leading them, small bands of Kullucks occasionally raided villages but other than that they caused us little trouble. Now Senchos has united them and their will to destroy has overwhelmed them. Senchos, being part human, has much greater intelligence than the mindless Kullucks. But his cruelty is equal to theirs.” King Tuan stood up as he uttered this last statement. Tuan was a powerful man. The king was tall and his burly frame showed years of hard labor. This was not a ruler who let his subjects do all the work! His face was weathered from years in the sun and wind.

  As Tuan was speaking, Arthur saw something from the corner of his eye. He turned to look and saw some kind of animal dash into another dolmen about 100 meters across the plane. “That’s odd. I thought I saw something run and hide in that dolmen over there. It looked like a small horse, but with a golden horn!”

  “Yes, Arthur. There are many unicorns that run wild across the Senmag. They are gentle but afraid of humans so they hide. They are fond of the dolmens for protection. It is considered good luck if a unicorn wanders into a family’s dolmen,” the king explained.

  “But unicorns are only a myth!” said Arthur.

  Danu, who had been silently listening to the exchange between Arthur and the king, interrupted, “Arthur, unicorns are quite real; however they may be extinct in your t ... part of the world.” She almost slipped and revealed his true origins!

  Danu continued. “The healing power of the unicorn’s horn is well known in these parts. When a unicorn dies, the people here use the powdered horn for healing potions. Unfortunately, some rather dishonest mystics and wizards have been hunting them for their horn so the unicorns have become afraid of humans.”

  Arthur walked slowly across the plane to the standing stones where the unicorn was hiding. He approached quietly and calmly, then knelt down on one knee and spoke softly. “I won’t hurt you. Please come out.” He didn’t want to scare it away. If only he could get a closer look at it.

  To his surprise, the unicorn came out of the standing stones and looked right at him. She was about the size of a pony and her white hair shone in the sunlight.

  Then she spoke to Arthur! Maybe spoke isn’t the right word. Arthur heard the words in his head since the unicorn could not utter actual words. I am not afraid of you. I know you are a kind human.

  Thought speak! Arthur was astounded. This gentle creature was communicating with him! Arthur now knew what a peaceful creature it was – he felt it in his soul – and suddenly an idea formed in his head.

  Chapter 5: Master Sreng’s Tale

  April 7, 2200 B.C.E. Ireland

  After a few more minutes with the unicorn, Arthur returned to King Tuan and Danu, who had been standing outside the dolmen watching the wordless interchange between the boy and the animal. Arthur said to the king, “I have an idea. Since you don’t have many men left to fight the Kullucks and your weapons of bronze are not much help, we should trap the evil monsters rather than fight them. Do you have a sage who has not deserted Finias – someone with excellent magical skills?”

  “Master Sreng, our sage who teaches the children of Finias is adept at the magical arts. He is loyal to me and has not deserted the city. I will take you to him,” the king replied.

  Danu bowed to the king and said to Arthur, “I will leave you and the king to make your plans. If you need me, Arthur, the king and his family know where to find me.” With that she turned and walked south across the plane of souls. Her white robes trailed behind her brushing the green spring grass as she all but floated across the plane. She was serene and beautiful, yet wise from a lifetime of years.

  It was still early in the morning and the sun had barely topped the surrounding hills when the king and Arthur walked through what was left of a small village on their way to Finias. The village looked like it used to have about ten small houses, but now they were all rubble. It reminded Arthur of the ancient ruins he had seen in southern Britain before he went to live in Wales with his aunt Morgana.

  Arthur could see his breath in the cold morning air. Danu had brought him to a place and time where winter had just ended. Although his over-tunic was warm wool, and his under-tunic also helped keep him warm, Arthur wished he had his warm cloak as well. The cold air chilled him and he shivered. He rubbed his hands together to warm them up.

  King Tuan and Arthur approached the broken city of Finias. The stone walls were partially demolished; the gate scattered in little wooden fragments across the entrance. As they entered, Arthur could see remnants of houses that were now just piles of rubble. Houses in Finias were not built of large, stone blocks which would have withstood an invading force but of small stones set on top of one another and held together with clay. Such structures were less prone to destruction than wooden houses. They could not burn but it was still possible for them to be, quite literally, knocked over and taken apart if a physically powerful force chose to do so. And the Kullucks had chosen exactly that!

  “Master Sreng’s home is close to the city gate. What remains of it is over there.” The king pointed to his left at a large pile of rocky debris. “The sage is staying in my home now. He escaped the horde and was unhurt, but his home – obviously – did not fare as well. My house is at the center of Finias. We used to have dry-stone garden walls around our property but those are gone now – smashed to bits! But the Kullucks did not reach the walls of my home so it remains in one piece.”

  The king’s house had only one entrance right in the center of the rectangular building. The doorway was stone and a wooden door hung from three wooden hinges secured to the door frame. For a primitive people, the Finians were quite skilled at manufacturing! No wonder the ruins of structures built in the Bronze Age had survived more than two millennia. These were the same people who built Stonehenge with such a high degree of accuracy. That required a lot of mathematical cleverness. This ancient culture might have been forgotten by Arthur’s people but that didn’t mean that they weren’t intelligent and skilled.

  “The front rooms are for entertaining and conducting business. I used to meet with my men here. But now Master Sreng occupies those rooms. Please come in,” King Tuan said as they walked through the door.
Arthur felt the warmth of a fire from somewhere in the house and he began to warm up right away. There was a large wooden table and massive dark oak chairs in the room. A wizened old man wearing fine woolen robes was sitting in one of the chairs.

  King Tuan introduced Arthur to the sage. “This is Arthur, Master Sreng. He comes to us from the Other Land. Danu brought him here in hopes that he can help us with our current situation. Arthur has been telling me of his plan, and it seems sound, but he will require the use of magic to make it work. I hope you can help him.”

  Master Sreng had long white hair and a beard to match. His face was cracked with age, and when he stood up, Arthur noticed that he was quite tall. The Finians were generally tall and lanky but the sage towered above even King Tuan. When he spoke, his voice boomed through the room. “Tell me your plan young man.” Arthur was surprised at the forcefulness of his voice. For an old man he had unexpected strength!

  “King Tuan has explained to me that the Kullucks seem interested in unicorns as a food source. I am guessing that the unicorns have all been hunted out where the Kullucks come from so they would be eager to hunt them around Finias. I spoke to one of the unicorns today out on the Senmag and she assured me that she would be willing to act as... bait... to trap the Kullucks,” Arthur explained.

  “What do you mean, you spoke to a unicorn?” the sage responded. “Unicorns do not speak!”

  “They do speak, My Lord, although not with words. The unicorn sent her thoughts right into my head. I understood her meaning. They are gentle creatures and right now they fear for their lives! This one is afraid enough to act as bait in the trap I plan to set up. But I’ll need your help with the magic,” Arthur appealed to the sage.

  “My word! In all of my years, I have never heard anyone say that a unicorn is intelligent and has thoughts and language. There must be something very special about you, young man, that such a creature would place her trust in you. Tell me what kind of trap you intend to set and what magic you require,” requested Master Sreng.