She was beautiful to behold. Long, white hair was flowing about her shoulders as if a strong breeze followed her, yet no leaves blew. She was dressed in a long, white gown, the tattered edges also swirling in this imaginary wind, and her piercing, green eyes seemed to look all around without moving. She wore neither jewelry nor shoes, and as Sean watched her walk across the twigs and leaves he could hear no sound of her passing. Her song ended right when she came up to him, the echoes of it reverberating off of the trees and rocks for another second or two.
“Who are you?” he asked in a tiny voice as she bent down to look at his ankle.
She seemed to flinch at his voice, recoiling just a bit before smiling at him. “My name is old, and probably not known to you or any you know in this age,” she said, “Yet it would violate the pact if I am asked in sincerity and did not tell. My name is Cairenn, and I am here to help you...for a price.”
Sean knew that name. He had seen it somewhere recently. Then he had it; his mother’s books. “Cairenn Chasdub?” he asked incredulously. “The mother of Niall?” It was impossible that this was the wife of the long-dead Saxon king, which was only an Irish legend.
“That was a long time ago, indeed,” she said, staring off into the canopy. “But that is for another day. For now, in this moment, you have a choice.”
“What choice?” he asked carefully.
“I can save your life, but it comes with a cost. If I heal you, you have to come with me and serve me forever in Tir na nOg,” Cairenn said, the gravity of her words like a palpable thing weighing down the very air.
“Forever?” Sean asked, thinking of his poor sister who would be left all alone in a strange country. “Serve you?” Yet, if he refused, he may never see her anyway, dying here alone in the woods. This can’t be real, he thought, I’m dreaming.
“Yes, but don’t fret. Time moves differently there, and you won’t even notice the flow as it passes you by,” she said with a cryptic tone. “You will be one of my Will-o-the Wisps.”
Consequences
Sean closed his eyes and nodded, knowing that he could always find a way around this later. He saw her reach out and touch his ankle, a white glow surrounding it and tingling up his leg. The veins in his leg started glowing white, and the light travelled up his legs to his body. Within seconds he was whole once more, and feeling better than he had in a long time; both physically and mentally.
Sean stood and put weight on his ankle, seeing that even his clothes were mended. Cairenn was already walking away, beckoning him with a hand over her head as she started to fade from view. He looked down at his compass and saw that it was no longer spinning, instead pointing north as it should. North, towards Siobhan. He dropped his pack, turned and ran north. He dodged branches and leaped over rocks, a new-found vigor propelling him faster than he should be able to run through the forest.
“You must not!” Cairenn called from far away, her voice like a distant wailing. “The ash will come!”
Sean ignored her and ran on, catching the fading sun through the canopy above. If he could get to the road he would be able to walk home, home to his sister. The stories are real...it’s all real, he thought as he plunged on through the forest, making such time that he could start to see the road. He burst out of the trees then, stumbling on the grass and onto the pavement in the fading light of the day. How long was I in there? he asked himself as he rolled over catching his breath.
“Gods boy, where ya been!?” McBride asked, helping him up.
“You’re still here?” Sean asked, looking around and seeing the truck. He waited for me, he thought, I really am going to make it.
“No!” Cairenn’s voice echoed through the forest like the wail of an injured animal.
“What in God’s green earth was that?” McBride asked as they walked to the truck.
Sean smiled, thinking that he had gotten away, but then he felt something pricking down his spine. It was a tingling feeling, like something leaving him. He felt funny — light-headed again, but more pronounced. “We have to hurry,” he said, as he quickened his pace to the truck. He fell into the side of the vehicle, holding the bed of the truck and stiffening in shock. His fingers were turning black, and starting to flake. “No...no, please...” he begged, his body frozen.
“What’ve you done boy...what did ye promise?” McBride asked, seeing the boy’s fingers, and now his arms start to fall to black ash. “You went too far, didn’t ye? I told ye...Oh laddy, I’m sorry.”
Sean watched in horror as his arms, then his legs flaked away into ash, his consciousness drifting up like it was lost from his body. He could see the pile of ash, and the frightened look upon the old man’s face, as he looked down at what used to be himself. He felt it then, a pull. He turned and looked at the forest, the deep woods pulling his soul back in. He had broken a vow to the Old Ones, and now he was paying for it. He heard Cairenn’s voice then, as if from far away, carried on the wind.
“Now, Sean, you will forever be part of the old ways; but I do thank you for the books you left behind. I do so love the old stories.”
Michael D. Nadeau
About the Author
Born in the usual way, author Michael D. Nadeau found fantasy at the age of eight with Dungeons & Dragons. He loved being different people as well as casting magic. By High school he discovered his love
