Chapter 10

My Mom was upset when I returned home and she questioned me to find out how things were at the Thomas household. I answered the minimum number of questions I could to satisfy her, before escaping to my room so that I could do some research on the Internet.

The first image I'd seen in my head had been the 'cactus'. The word cactus was something that had been associated with the image, but the plant hadn't looked anything like any cactus I'd ever seen before.

After several hours of frustration I at last stumbled across it. The Rose Cactus {Latin name Pereskia Grandifloria } was actually more of a tree or a shrub than a cactus. There was no doubt in my mind, that this was the plant, and that it would help Linda if I could get my hands on it.

Some further research told me that the plant was mostly found in North-eastern Brazil. It grew in the restingas (a kind of coastal tropical forest) but I couldn't for the life of me think of how I was going to get my hands on it.

I turned to the image of the crystal that I had seen. The name that had gone along with it had been Thenardite. I started to research that. This was much quicker to do than the cactus and within minutes I had tons of information.

The crystal was also known as Natrum Sulph and as soon as I saw a picture of it on my computer, I had an image of it sucking the water from cancerous cells, breaking them down and destroying them.

My research told me that there were natural sources of Thenardite in California and Nevada. That was closer than Brazil perhaps, but still a long way away.

"Fly the Road, youngling. Use the power of the Road."

Charles' voice in my head was a timely reminder of how I could solve my problem. Of course! How stupid was I? I didn't need to worry about flights or driving, I could simply fly to wherever these cacti or crystals were.

Well, Nevada seemed to be the closest, so I figured Natrum Sulph was the first thing to try. My next bit of research told me that Nevada was around fifteen hundred miles away. I wasn't sure how fast I could fly, but even flat out that would take a while.

The stress of the day and the hours I had spent at the computer combined to give me a low-grade headache, and I lay down for a while. What to do? I just had to try to help that brave woman.

Suddenly, I sat bolt upright on my bed. Charles' voice had said 'fly the Road' not 'fly to Nevada'. Was it possible there was an answer to my problem in my dreamtime?

Why not take the chance and find out? After all, if I was wrong there would be no harm done, as I would return to the Midwest a few seconds after I left. It was worth a few seconds surely.

Lying back down, I relaxed and searched for my connection to the Road. Very quickly after that I was flying. The familiar sight of the eagles greeted me once more.

Within minutes I was swooping downward and landing (gracefully now!) outside the stone circle. Charles seemed to be waiting for me, and he smiled as I landed.

"It is good to see you again, youngling. You know that there is still a lot for you to do."

"You called. I thought that you were trying to tell me that the answer to the problem I have is here in Gael."

"I believe that might be the case, but I'm not sure. My logic was that you would have two years here to try to find what it is you are looking for. That sounds better than trying to fly three thousand miles to Nevada and back, all in one night."

Charles had clearly sensed what I had been thinking of doing. I was disappointed that he didn't know immediately where I could find either the Rose Cactus or some of the crystals, but his logic did make sense. I had an idea and did something I hadn't done since the summer. I called the fairies.

Within minutes I had a small band of the little creatures swarming round me. I was careful not to hit any of them, as I knew just how fragile they could be.

Charles was staring at me with wonder written on his ancient, weather-beaten face.

"Are they fairies?" he asked.

"Of course. Haven't you seen them before?"

"No, never. They are spoken of in stories, but I didn't think they were real. How is it that you can summon them like this?"

"But you've mentioned fairies to me when we were studying creatures," I said.

"Yes, I mentioned them. But no one has ever seen one!"

It seemed I had really surprised my teacher this time. He couldn't take his eyes off of the little winged wonders.

"I've always been able to call them. They help me a lot in the 'other-world' - they're very good at getting rid of pests in a garden," I said.

Charles shook his head in disbelief, as I asked the fairies to search for the Rose Cactus or the Naturm Sulph and to let me know when they had found it. They twittered amongst themselves and then they were gone.

"Okay, now that I've taken care of that, I'm all yours. What lessons have you planned for me this time?" I asked.

The fact that, for once, I seemed enthusiastic about studying was almost as much of a surprise for Charles as the fairies had been. After a few moments of stunned silence, he laughed one of his deep laughs and rose to put me to work.

Charles had promised that I would begin my weapons training on this visit and he was true to his word. He began by introducing me to a series of intricate exercises. He explained these were important for several reasons. They would help to loosen me up and warm up my muscles. They would also begin to train my body in the fluid movements required for combat.

"Never forget, youngling, that movement is all important. If you are standing still, you are an easier target. In addition, if you are already in motion, your momentum helps you press home your own attacks."

Once satisfied that I was progressing with the exercises, Charles introduced me to the training weapons. These were shaped like the battle-sword and the complimentary dagger, but were fashioned from wood to avoid injury (he said!).

My teacher was merciless, believing the odd whack or two with the wooden sword would do wonders for the speed with which I would catch on. It wasn't long before my arms and upper body were a mass of bruises - which only seemed to make Charles laugh more frequently.

My other studies were not neglected either and I was thrown into level three religion with Grandma and level four geography and language.

Several months had passed since I had set the fairies on their quest and I was growing concerned the longer they were away without reporting any progress.

The next event of note on this most recent visit to my dreamtime was one that I controlled myself. I'd made sure to return my birthstone to Brenda and asked that she ensure it was with her each night when she slept. I'd promised myself that she would spend one day with me on each of my visits and I couldn't put that off any longer.

I missed my girl, and even though I knew that no time had passed in the 'other-world' (and she wouldn't even know therefore that I was away), I wanted to see her cute face, her smile, and her freckles. I'd put this off, hoping that the fairies would complete their task so that I could give Brenda some good news when I saw her. Now I decided I couldn't wait any longer.

Focusing all of my effort on conjuring up a mental image of the birthstone, I found that Brenda was holding onto it and I was able to see inside her mind back in the 'other-world'. The shock of being able to do that caused me to completely lose my concentration! I had to start over again.

The possibility of a link raised an idea in my head for something I had meant to test, but which I had forgotten before 'flying the Road'. I focused again and this time wasn't surprised at what I found.

Brenda was definitely asleep, but it wasn't a deep sleep. I could tell she was struggling to cope with the news about her Mom, but other than that I deliberately stopped myself from examining her thoughts. I'm sure I wouldn't want anyone wandering around inside my head (although it was possible that Charles did that already?) and I wanted to try to respect Brenda's privacy.

I called out mentally to her now.

"Brenda? Brenda? Can you hear me?"

Her thoughts answered without any hesitation.

"Are you ready?" I asked her.

"Yes."

I used the summoning words for the second time. I had chosen a spot on the far side of the hill away from the village before trying to contact her - I didn't want anyone to see her arriving out of nowhere.

"Afflubh! Afflubh!" I called out.

Brenda appeared before me immediately and I stepped forward to catch her before she slumped to the ground.

"Sean! You did it!"

I could see that she really had been having a hard time of it in the 'other-world'. Her eyes were puffy, red and swollen from all the tears she had been crying. My arms were already around her from stopping her fall and I let myself tighten the embrace into a comforting hug.

The contact seemed to start Brenda off again and I felt her body shudder in my arms, as more tears fell.

"Hush now. I'm doing everything I can to find something that will help your Mom," I whispered to her.

I looked down and saw the birthstone in her right hand but there was no sign of the toaster. That seemed to confirm my suspicions.

Before I could explore that, there was a thundering of hooves and the big black stallion came galloping towards us. He didn't hold back this time and put on his normal display. He stopped, reared up and pivoted on his rear legs while his front hooves slashed the air.

His antics had the desired effect on Brenda, as I felt and heard her giggling in my arms.

"Now I've found a bigger show-off than you, Sean. Mordew! You look as beautiful as ever," she called to the horse.

I was reading Big-Black's thoughts and was surprised that his intention was for both of us to ride him together. To my knowledge he had never let anyone else onto his back save me. I felt the pain he was feeling on behalf of my girl, in sympathy for her obvious suffering. I sensed he wanted to try to take her pain away if he could.

"He wants us to climb up onto his back," I told Brenda.

She looked unsure and glanced over at the powerful stallion. Mòr Dubh fixed her with his large eyes and dipped his head several times as if he was nodding. I could see Brenda make up her mind to trust him and that familiar, determined, look of hers appeared on her face.

All the exercising I had been doing had strengthened my muscles, but not to the point that I could leap onto Mòr Dubh's back. Instead I used a short burst of the power to lift Brenda and myself, until we were both astride the huge beast. As soon as we were settled, he took off at a fast clip and Brenda squealed her delight, the wind blowing through her brown hair.

Mòr Dubh took us down the hillside, through fields and woods and past streams and rivers. At last he stopped on the banks of a lake and we looked at the setting. It was delightful. High mountains flanked the lake on two sides and pine forests grew down almost to the water's edge.

The lake's edge was a mixture of broken rock (no doubt rock that had tumbled down from the mountainside) and fallen trees. There was one patch where these natural hazards were broken however, and it was to that spot that the stallion had brought us. Here there was a sandy cove, with the water lapping gently on the shore from the breeze.

My girl thanked Big-Black for bringing us to such a perfect spot and then began to pull off her nightshirt (yes, that's all she'd had on when I had summoned her).

"Come on, slowpoke!" she yelled as she ran into the water.

I waited for what I knew was coming. The mountains around us had snow on their tops. Unless I was mistaken, Brenda was about to discover that the water of this lake was very cold! My suspicions were soon confirmed, when she screamed at the shock of the cold water making contact with her warm body.