Faerie

Chapter twenty six

"That bird was in my dream. I followed him and he took me to the centre." I gasped.

"Really?!" Mac sounded surprised, Kieran glared up at the bird.

"You have to be carefully in this woodland. Remember it can construct anything your heart desires or your mind needs." Kieran said

Glancing back up at the robin, it cocked its head once more before flitting to fallen tree. It hopped along it, whistling. I took a step forward and the robin flew to a low branch, low enough for me to reach up and touch him.

"Well we won't know if we just follow him." I said, continuing forward. I heard Kieran sigh, though they both joined me.

However small a robin might be, it was so easy to see him. With his bright red breast and the dumpy shape he held. His whistles were unique to that of other birds and if we lacked behind it would wait for us to catch up. He took us up and over hills, winding our way through the dense forest. I could see castle ruins amongst the thick ivy. Deserted homes, now home to the forest, hidden behind shrubs and trees, sat forgotten.

"We're in the court." Mac whispered beside me.

Everything was almost dark; if you lived here you'd think it was night. The sun managed to prick its way through the trees, highlighting plants, leaves and crumbling stone work. The air was much cooler; I shivered and moved to that Kieran now took the lead. Our paced had slowed as we gawped at the forgotten court. It was mostly covered in plants, shrubs, trees. Ivy and moss grew all over statues, making it hard to see what they were; only the fallen stone at the base gave it away of what the green lump was. There were quite a few of them, all tall. We passed one, where some of the ivy was sticking out. I brushed my hand over it, parting the layers of ivy. I saw a stone hand, palm up as if in offering. I backed away.

"We have got to be close, now." Mac said, as he used the point of his sword to lift a vine up, showing a statue of a fox, curled up into itself. It looked creepy, like an old cemetery, that hadn't been looked after for centuries.

The robin whistled loudly as we continued on. This time, the trees began to lessen and the green ivy and moss lumps dwindled. We weaved around and old well, with a tree growing up the centre, the top of the tree had burst the roof off. The ground became softer; lush green moss covered the floor like carpet. The light came down turning it a navy blue colour.

We didn't walk too much further when Kieran started noticing lump of rock, sticking out of the ground they looked like old milestones made out of dark slate. However, neither told us where we were going. They all had different symbols etched into them, some Celtic and others tribal. The memory of my dream flashed in my mind. They were there, however they glow a neon green. Now, they were just the colour of the rock.

"What do they mean?" I wondered out loud.

"This was the Court of Danus language. We're getting close to what was their sanctuary site. The etches, are blessings to the gods and Danu herself." Mac replied.

I didn't understand and therefore said nothing. I could feel Macs gaze on me as he walked beside me. My heart thumped and my cheeks blushed under his gaze. I wondered what he was thinking. We both didn't talk much after our kiss, we seemed to have shied away from one another like embarrassed school children. Now, had been the closest we had been since.

"The sanctuary was the place where whoever was due to marry they would hold the ceremony here. They also prayed and buried their dead." He whispered.

I looked up at him. "So, it's like a church?"

Mac grimaced, wanting to disagree. "Kind of. however, not as full on. The sanctuary was here to whoever needed it. Some probably didn't even know this was here." He added.

I nodded in understanding, though I didn't actually understand. I glanced at the milestones as we passed. The path seemed to narrow and I cut In to go in front of Mac. Bumping into him in the process, his hands came to rest on both shoulders, steadying me. We faced each other.

"Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was stepping." I said.

"Neither was I," Mac smiled down at me. His hand coming up to brush a strand of hair behind my ear. I could feel my cheeks blaze.

"Come on you two." Kieran called out over his shoulder. "Try and control yourselves." He said to himself.

"Shut it Kieran!" Mac called back in mockery.

"You'll have to kill me to do that" Kieran shot back; he had stopped and was staring at us."

"Easy." Said Mac

"Alright you two, that's enough." I said, defusing the situation.

It felt like forever following this robin and we twisted and turned. The path had narrowed and now we walked in single file, Kieran taking the lead, me in the middle and Mac trailing behind.

"How much longer," Kieran groaned. It wasn't a question.

"It felt a lot shorter journey in the dream." I said, defending myself.

"Maybe it is the forest fooling us." Mac said.

It couldn't be I thought to myself. Looking past Kieran's shoulder the path seemed to bend round a sharp corner. Hedges as tall as me blocked us in on either side, the milestones had gone, flagship stone on the path taking its place, they also had different symbols scratched into them.

My feet were beginning to ache now and I felt a little light headed, I shook myself. It will be okay. As we turned the corner, I stopped causing Mac to walking into the back of me. I could feel a sort of humming feeling in the pit of my stomach, almost like a vibration but gentle. It didn't hurt but surprised me.

"Are you okay?" Mac asked.

"I'm fine. I think we may be close." I said, remembering how the crystal vibrated and glowed brightly in my dream. I hadn't told them about how the crystal came to life.

Just as I thought about sitting down and taking a rest the hedges suddenly gave way and we stood at the opening of a huge space. Soft, green moss highlighting blue from the darkness carpeted the ground. The milestones had returned and were spaced at the edge of the clearing in a circle. I didn't take note of the surroundings all I saw was the large piece of rock jutting out of the ground In the centre and on top was the Lilly shaped crystal. Dull and dead.