Participles and Portents (63)

From Grey to Black

The morning did not so much dawn as drizzle.  It was a grey and overcast day that greeted them.  Seated at their table over a traditional breakfast of grilled tomatoes, eggs and bangers, they tried to make plans for where they could possibly search next.  Ian's journal made short references to Finvarra and Aine, both rulers of note of the Sidhe.  Lin had a vague remembrance of Finvarra as being linked to Connaught.  Roary was certain Aine was seated in Knockany, also of that region.  The journal also had several passages dedicated to cromlechs.  These, as Ian described, were typically constructed of three or more unhewn stones placed to form a small enclosure with a stone over the top forming the table.  The top stone was known to have a slope, though the angle varied too much to be predictable.  Cromlechs were sometimes found within small circles of stones.  He had underlined this last part.  A few notes included place names: Phoenix Park, Howth, Kilternan, Mount Venus and Druid's Glen.  Finally he had included short notes on pillar stones and perforated pillar stones with a very brief reference to Tara.  There were simply too many options, and it felt like they had spent far too much time searching already.  How on earth were they supposed to know what to do next?

They tried to approach it logically. Ian had written the most about the cromlechs, so they decided to concentrate there.  New Grange was too highly trafficked and had turned out to be a bust of sorts.  Besides, Roary had developed a distinct aversion to the place.  They decided to rule out places that were likely to have the most visitors and also those that were the farthest away in an effort to conserve time.  Phoenix Park was well known for its political associations and, as such, was the first off the list.  They dropped Druid's Glen next, sitting as it did within the resort community.  They excluded Mount Venus mostly on a whim by its name alone, settling on visiting Howth and Kilternan.  These two cromlechs should be close enough to visit in a day if necessary.  They eyed each other warily, all silently praying that they had made the right choices and this would be the last day of the search.  They asked for packed lunches and, once they had paid and packed, set out for Howth.

The cromlech sat almost linearly between the castle of Howth and the ruins of St. Fenton's church.  Lonely and desolate on its own, roughly a half mile from the castle, the wild grasses surrounded the old burial site.  Still in all, it was impressive, seeming almost square and over eighteen feet to an edge.  It sloped to the east, and unless Fiona was mistaken, the table, or top, appeared to be quartz.  Its weight must have been massive, thought Lin, as it lay broken in half.  It reminded her of the Chronicles of Narnia and the fated moment when the sacred table had split asunder when the hero-cum-godlike figure had been sacrificed.  She shuddered, reminded of the visceral description of the desecration in the book.  That was a story full of images of the fey, and here they were seeking them outright, three adults who long since had been taught that such tales were only for children.  Her breath caught on the word, children, her children.  Where were they? What were they doing? And what had they become?  She stumbled as her vision blurred with unwanted tears.  Fiona caught her quickly by the elbow.  They exchanged a long knowing look, mother to daughter.  "Try not to worry.  No matter what, those boys will always know what they are to each other, voices or no, hands or paws," assured her mother.  She squeezed Lin's cupped elbow and strode ahead, eager to reach the glinting rocks.

As Fiona neared the Howth cromlech, she could sense the wildness of the stones.  The grey clouds hung overhead, forcing the sun's rays to shoot out like fingers to pick the sparkle out of the quartz and make it appear to pump with life.  She fingered the star stone in her pocket and whispered a silent request for guidance and perhaps deliverance. Striding directly to the stones, she reached out to place her hand on their rough-hewn upper edge.  As her palm made contact with the cool surface, the clouds moved, sending a finger of light directly into her eyes.  She shifted her weight to avoid the light and brought herself abruptly into full contact with the cromlech.  Her eyes moved from the light into a full sheet of black.  It felt as if she had been eclipsed.  The cool of the stone flooded from her hand and up her arm, running through her body.  The sensation was three parts soothing and one part completely unnerving.  Unfortunately the unnerving part came last and lingered.  As the sensation traversed her senses, so did a flicker of images slip through her mind's eye.  She caught a glimpse of a fibula of bone; an arrowhead; a bed of shells; bodies in full dress, their tartans wrapped about them and pinned with great Celtic knots at the breast; rolling hills of green; a standing stone; ruins; and again the standing stone, followed by a grey wash which turned to a blur and a blast of light as the sun found her eyes yet again. She stood there, reeling, her hand on the stone her only anchor.

"I've found not a bit of anythin', not even a carvin'," reported Roary.  "Fiona, have ye found something?  Do ye need help o'er there?"

Fiona looked at him blankly as his words sunk in.  She pieced them together like a child reading for the first time.  Then she took a deep breath and stepped back from the cromlech.  "I'm fine," she replied,  "But I think we've found another deadend, no pun intended."

"I've a mind that yer right.  Shall we move on to Kilternan then?"

"Lunch, definitely lunch first," was the only response he received.

Lin for her part still stood where her mother had left her, arms folded about herself staring off into nothing as if she could see something other than the grey day and the vastness of the field.

They decided to skip the packed lunches and made their way to a local pub.  Over steaming bowls of Irish Stew, Fiona tried to describe what had occurred at the cromlech.  She wasn't sure why, but she felt strongly that the images were not from that place.  She was certain that they were of the place that they needed to go.  She did not discuss with them the star stone or her silent plea, but she held it tight as she told them of her certainty that they were being guided.   Unfortunately the guidance did not provide enough information for any of them to define a new destination, though it seemed to rule out another cromlech site, as to their knowledge there were no standing stones at these sites.

"Perhaps we should move farther afield.  We've no cause to believe that the other silk would be near Dublin.  That seems too easy anyway, doesn't it?"  Lin asked.

"Aye, sounds logical enough.  Are ye thinking we should head for Connaught?  Perhaps chase down Finvarra and Aine?"

"Perhaps. It seems like the best direction now," said Lin without much enthusiasm.

"Wouldn't it be better to try and find out something more about the sites before we start clocking more travel time?" suggested Fiona.   "After all, if I am right, they would have to have a pillar stone for the site to be the one we are seeking.  Surely any documented Sidhe site would reference a stone like that."

They talked it through and agreed that time spent researching their remaining options would certainly be better spent than driving off pell-mell without any knowledge of what they might find upon their arrival.  They had done enough of that when they took the trip to Rathconnan.  They made their way to Drogheda and the libary there.  Roary spoke with the librarian and got permission to use the Internet while the two women attacked the stacks. They spent the next two hours rummaging the shelves, taking notes from books and re-shelving those they had reviewed while Roary diligently reviewed sites and blogs for anything related to the topic at hand.  Eventually they were shown the door as it was time to lock up.

They piled back into the car and by silent agreement made their way to a quiet restaurant.  They brought in their notes to discuss over the meal.  The waiter came by with the menus and noted the day's specials: a lamb-chop with the veggie of the day and shepherd's pie.  In an effort to lighten the mood Roary suggested they all try ordering something different for a change so the waiter might have a more challenging night.  Neither of the women seemed to get what was supposed to be an inside joke, so he let it lie in the air between them.  And it did, the discomfort of humor gone afoul of the mark making the day's bleakness stand out even more starkly than before.

In the end Lin ordered salmon cooked in parchment paper with dill and caper sauce with a side of asparagus, Fiona got the lamb-chop, and Roary the shepherd's pie.  Surprisingly Lin ordered a bottle of wine to share with Fiona which left Roary the lone Guinness at the table.  They waited until the drinks had arrived to discuss their findings.

"Basically, if we are to try for Finvarra and Aine, it's off toward Connaught as he's for Knockma and she's for Knockany," stated Roary.

"I've found clashing data on the sites and not much o' that to begin with.  Some accounts say it's worth a visit, some say there's no way o' tellin' that ye've found a spot to visit.  All-in-all, I found no real description o' either the King or the Queen's Lording sites," he finished.

"I spent a long day looking up information on standing stones," commented Fiona.  "They are referred to as pillar stones or Galluans and sometimes Leaganns.  Some antiquarians have inferred that they were idol-stones from the ancient religion, some that they were monuments and others that they were merely landmarks or boundary markers.  There are quite a few myths and legends about the stones and their magical properties and links to the Sidhe."  Fiona stopped then and took a sip of wine.

"There is one at New Grange.  I think we can safely rule that one out.  Another is located at Ballynacraig; I did not find much information about that one.  Apparently there is another one at the old Greirson estate in Glanismore.  Of course, most of the texts said they can be found throughout Ireland, so that leaves quite a bit of land to cover." She ended on a heavy sigh.

"I've not much to add, except there is another pillar stone at the ruins of Forradh near Teach Cormac.  It's only interesting because it is supposedly the Lia Fail," added Lin in almost a faint whisper.

Roary's eyebrows rose, "Isn't that supposed to be in Scotland?"

"It did once stand near Rath Righ, and I suppose it could be true that it was stolen and taken off to Scotland at one time.  But really, can you imagine the High Kings and Chieftains of Ireland allowing it to stay there? So according to the scholars it now stands in Forradh, ready to continue its service in crowning the kings and princes of Ireland."

"Well, that sounds pretty impressive. Could that be our stone?" asked Fiona

"Och, it seems unlikely.  There's not much at Tara to see anymore, just the hills where things used to be really," sighed Roary.

"Still, it sounds interesting," pressed Fiona.

"I think we have two real options, Finvarra and Aine or Tara," stated Lin.  "The question is, which way do we go next?"

No one seemed prepared to answer the question that hung in the air,  Luckily the plates arrived and they could leave the subject to tuck into their dinners, which were remarkably succulent.  It surprised Lin how fabulous the food tasted.  The salmon's texture was perfect, its smoky flavor offset perfectly by the perky zest of the dill and caper sauce.  She amazed herself by finishing every bite without exchanging another word with her mother or Roary.  Apparently they were equally as impressed or  perhaps hungry as they did not speak either.

The meal was followed by coffee and profiteroles, a rather sticky sweet dessert that they all shared, much to the waiter's chagrin.  Apparently he would have preferred a larger tab.  They tipped well enough to make sure he was not overly disappointed by the shared dessert and left to make their way back to the bed and breakfast they had stayed at the night before.  Luckily she had room, as they had not confirmed, since they had not really known where they would end up.  Pleased that she was now full for the night, their host offered them a nightcap, which they politely refused.   Before they separated for the night, they agreed not to press the decision of where to go just yet. They would all get some sleep and perhaps be inspired enough in the morning to wisely choose the next destination.

Fiona set about getting ready for bed briskly.  She was not certain if sleep would come, but she knew she would need to read awhile if it was to come at all.  Her mind was too busy to settle and the reading might help her focus on something less compelling than the Howth cromlech's effect upon her and her inability to sort out its messsage.

Lin tried to concentrate on reading, but the words kept swimming on the page.  When she tried closing her eyes, she kept seeing her boys replaced by two wolfhounds, a blond and a grey, and the sea gulping them up.  As the wave enveloped them, her eyes would snap open and she would lie there with her pulses racing.  Finally she gave in and took one of the melatonin tablets that Fiona carried with her.  Eventually sleep claimed her and with it came dreams of hounds playing in a clean stream, wrestling in a hidden glen beneath a dense canopy of leaves, and of hounds hunting.  Her dream followed the pounding paws, the lolling tongues, the sudden leap and the tearing of muscle as teeth sank ino frightened prey and the warm tangy taste of blood flooding her mouth.  She woke up sweating and just made it to the sink in the room where she vomited. The pink and green of the salmon and asparagus made an awful visual against the white porcelain and left an acrid taste in her throat.  Her mind still twisted around the dream, she rinsed the sink and used her hand to cup some water to rinse her mouth.  Then she brushed her teeth vigorously and washed her face.  She stood for a moment staring into the mirror braced by both hands.  Then turned back to the room.

Fiona had fallen asleep with the light on.  Rubbing her chilled arms Lin crossed over and turned out the light.  She felt her way back to bed in the dark and pulled the covers up to her chin.  Staring out into the inky blackness of the room, she knew they had to finish this horrible quest soon.  The trail of silent tears rolled from the corners of her eyes and down to the pillow.  It was going to be a very long night.