[COMPLETED] The Vixen and The Thief

Chapter 33

Fadó fadó in Éireann, blianta fada, fada ó shin....

The fresh damp breeze swept from the boglands to the hills, tossing the woodlands and carrying the scent of damp growing things and places far away.

Atop one hill a girl with long dark hair sat upon her pony. The animal nose deep in grass, the girl watching the wind stir the treetops; where the pale green of spring was hardening into the deeper shades of summer.

I missed the last of the hawthorn, she thought with a twinge of regret, for it saddened her always to see the snowy blanket of the fairy blossoms fade away, and yet..this year she was not so sorry to see it go.

Suddenly, in the mild air she shivered.

Shadows chased each other across the far hillsides and her mind ran with them running on to the distant shadow of Sliabh na bhFian. Under its heather covered stones he lay, and many others. And their souls...what of them..?

A buzzard wheeled above the forest, mewling, and from amid the trees came small birds to chase and chivvy him - fanlóige.

She would tell Ruadhan she had seen them and he would delight, for each year their coming brought him joy. Soon he would once again ride upon the hills and see them himself.

Beibhinn's face creased into a smile. And Conn would come with them, and it would be as old times. Almost.

The buzzard caught the wind and sailed away over the lowlands, leaving the swirling cloud of swallows to their peace..

Almost, Beibhinn thought, for now with them would ride another girl - with tumbling red hair and the name of a warrior queen. A girl whose face was no longer bruised or painted.

Her pony shifted suddenly, rubbing his head against his legs in a jingling of tack , and the bright noise recalled her.

There was the scent of peat smoke too upon the wind. Dinner.

Catching the reins up she drove him to a gallop, sweeping across the hillside as her long hair flew behind her. And the trees whirled and the gold gorse danced, and the grass glowed greener and Beibhinn lifted her hands to the blue mottled sky.

"Saoirse!" she laughed as the wind caught and pushed them, and again, louder again, so that the very mountain must hear:

"Saoirse!"

Author's note:

Well, that's it folks.

Done.

Making this the second novel I have ever actually finished writing, and the first I have ever finished on this Godforsaken site XD And you know what? I'm going to make myself hot chocolate to celebrate. It's still Christmas after all! :)

Please let me know what you thinks, it'd never have gotten finished without the pair of you commenting!

And now the deck is kind of cleared, there's a new year to start new stories. To be precise:

1) A medium length novel about the escape of Red Hugh O'Donnell from captivity in Dublin castle (intended to be an actual proper publishing cadidate, so will be requiring alphas/betas eventually.)

2) An old story I have hanging around about a talking horse and a dragon and a knight who might be a jewel thief and a princess and a false identity or two...I think that'll go on Wattpad, as I have no real ambitions for it right now.

AND

3) Assorted screenplays for the Catholic indie filmmaking group my friends and I have set up. We've made two historical films already and are planning on keeping it going, please God. Hoping eventually to create an original adventure piece entwining well known characters from Irish legend with the coming of St. Patrick (Ancient Irish version of Taylor Marshall's Sword and Serpent series anyone? XD )

If you want any information on any of these projects, or links to view film material etc, please DM me.

For obvious reasons, I don't want to share it here!

WOWEE! That was an essay and a half. Well, thanks for reading. I hope this is not the last!