Highland Dream (Book 1)

Chapter 40

Chapter 40

The atmosphere within the little cottage was thick. The only real light coming from the small fire in the hearth and the corners of the single room were thrown into the deepest of shawdows. Half of Gilbarta’s face was in shadow as the other half was lit by the flames. It made the telling of a story even more mysterious, but it also held an edge of pain or suffering. It was indefinable, though something indefinable seemed to hover around the edges.

“Camdyn, you have heard this tale before. As a young child you found me once. I told you a tale you thought was a wonderful story. And after you probably thoguht no more about it. Took yourself back to the Keep and became who you are today. Finally ready to hear the tale for what it truly is. It is not a bedtime faerie story for a young boy, but a history of him and his people.”

Taking a sip of her tea, she looked over her captive audience. The couple before her, she knew fate had placed them together. The pieces of their souls fit in a way she could almost see and touch. She did not even think they knew they way the reacted to each other. As one moved the other moved in perfect synchronicity. They at side by side, hands clasped. She knew this tale would only bring them closer together.

The one she worried about her was Hamish. She could only wait to see how he would take what she had to impart. He was connected to the couple, but chose to stand alone, guarding what he saw between the two.

“You have heard the tales on Samhein of the time before. When the druids walked the earth. How the forefather of the MacKay and other clans of the Highlands were in battle with those from a land of seemingly endless sun. They tried to take all they surveyed, only after conquering half the known and unknown world they met their match.

The warriors and druids of the Highlands kept them out, using both of their powers together to keep the force out. A wall was built and they were feared so much the force they were so feared by only rarely came into the Highlands, if they ever got that far.

There had been an agitated peace between the people. Until one druid, his name lost in the river of time, decided the power he could have was beyond the peace they had created. He betrayed himself and his people to the force behind their wall. He came back, to his village, with a tale of torture and escape. How he had tricked the enemy, and learnt of their plans. He sent the people into a shocked fear.

The druids had been picked off one at a time, any found by the enemy force taken, their secrets spoke at the height of torture and pain. This time was different. They were sending a full force out, coming to wipe out the entirety of their people.

The druid warriors were the strongest of the Highalnd people. They had it built into them from birth to protect what was theirs. Learn to be the fastest and dealiest, they had never been beaten. Only with the diminishing numbers over the years, the fear that gripped the people led to weeks of discussion.

Those weeks they knew they had. Due to their ‘informant’. Only he knew the truth. He needed them demolralised. He came up with a plan. One that would tear out the very hearts of the people and the warriors main weapon was the fight they gained from their hearts. These were a people who wanted the best for their future.

It was not the easiest of lives, but the community would come together for anyone who needed them. The children ran free, and happy. Status did not truly matter from day to day. The council managed major decisions. And all knew they were protected and nothing could truly harm them. This threat took away all that.

That future was taken away. The debates that lasted those weeks was whether to put into place, what the traitor had planned or not. In those weeks children were kept close, as if everyone knew they would nt have long left. Though the laughter left them, there was a loss surrounding the village before the final decision was made.