Chapter 15

Brenda's day in dreamtime included a picnic by the lake that Mòr Dubh had found for us, once before. The big stallion followed her around like a puppy. Brenda had made sure to be prepared for her trip by bringing some apples for her friend.

After we had eaten we simply lay back for a while to enjoy the sunshine and then I sprang my first surprise on my girl. I stood up and stretched my arms wide.

"Aquilaire, afflubh!"

A few moments later the eagle and his two lieutenants appeared and they circled overhead.

Mentally I asked the eagle a question and he squawked his reply. His squawk set Accipiter in motion and he swooped low and then settled onto the ground beside us.

Brenda looked at me quizzically, as if to ask what was going on. I smiled at her and motioned towards the eagle.

"Accipiter has asked whether you would do him the honor of flying with him."

"Don't be silly, Sean. You know I can't fly."

"No, but Accipiter can."

The meaning of my words sank in and I could see a mixture of excitement and nerves playing across Brenda's face.

"You mean, he wants me to ride on his back?"

I nodded to tell her that she had guessed right and then I helped her onto her feet. The eagle crouched down and Brenda took her time thinking about how she could get onto his back without damaging his feathers. In the end I gave her a boost and she settled with her legs astride Accipiter's back, behind where his wings met his body.

No sooner had she settled than the huge eagle used his powerful legs to spring into the air. His wings beat the air furiously as he climbed into the sky and Brenda shrieked her joy at the sensation of flying. Down below I laughed to hear her having so much fun.

When the eagle eventually returned her to the ground, she was breathless and her eyes were gleaming with excitement at the experience. Accipiter bowed formally to her and she curtsied in response, then the eagle took to the air once more with a squawk.

After such a high point, the remainder of the day was pretty tame. We talked about how she could suddenly speak and understand Gaelic and the only answer we could come up with was that it might have something to do with my birthstone and her trips to dreamtime. We rode back to the cabin on the stallion's back and I shared my second surprise of the day with Brenda.

I took her hand and pulled her along behind me to the side of the cabin. There were a number of projecting logs and on one of them I had carved our initials with a sharp dagger. The initials were encased within a love heart with an arrow passing through it.

Brenda squealed with delight and threw her arms around me. We shared a tender kiss, staring soulfully into each other's eyes.

"I love you, Brenda Thomas," I told her

"And I love you, Sean Taggart, you might be a goof, but you're my goof" she replied happily.

That was pretty much the end of my next to last visit to dreamtime and on this occasion there was an added benefit. Instead of waking up as usual and finding Brenda wasn't in my furs, I woke up and found myself in my bed at home in the Midwest. That meant I would be able to see my girl without any delay!

By the time that I was up, showered and dressed, Brenda had already arrived. She was in the kitchen with Mom. Both of them were preparing breakfast for a complaining Cormac.

"But, Highness! It is most irregular for you to be preparing food for a mere envoy."

"Oh stuff and nonsense!" Mom replied.

There was already a large stack of pancakes on the table. I grabbed a chair and began to help myself. Between mouthfuls I decided to tell everybody what I had decided.

"I've been thinking about things overnight," I began.

Brenda smiled. She knew that I'd spent far longer than that thinking about my decision. Mom caught the smile and figured out what it meant, but she bit her tongue.

"I'm not willing to commit myself one way or the other about returning to Gael, but I think I have to make the informal visit, so that I can at least meet my father."

I saw Brenda's face and immediately knew I'd gotten things wrong.

"What I mean is that 'we' have to make the informal visit."

Brenda's smile let me know that I had correctly worked out where I'd made my mistake.

My statement led to mixed reactions in the kitchen. Cormac was delighted. No doubt he had been worrying about having to go back to the King to tell him I'd refused to return to Gael.

Mom was concerned that something awful was going to happen to me and also worried that she would lose me to the world of Gael.

Brenda was just happy that she was included in whatever plans I was making.

"I suppose there's nothing I can say to make you change your mind?" Mom asked.

"Mom, I think it's only right that I meet Dad, don't you? I honestly haven't made up my mind about returning to Gael for good, but I do want to meet my father."

She seemed to accept defeat gracefully.

"All right, that's settled. Now all we have to do is speak to Brenda's parents and get permission for her to go with me. I think we'll have to tell them that it's an early birthday present, Brenda, and that we're going to Scotland to visit my father."

Brenda's birthday was on March the thirty-first so an early birthday present would sound like a plausible excuse for me to pay for her to join me on a trip.

"The only white lie in what I intend to tell your parents is that we are going to Scotland," I said to Brenda.

"Actually, Prince Sean, we will be going to Scotland. We have to go there to get to Gael," said Cormac.

Cormac proceeded to describe how we would get to Gael and it was something of an eye-opener. At least the first stage - O'Hare to Glasgow by plane - was straightforward enough, but I couldn't wait to experience the final leg.

Brenda's parents were surprisingly easy to persuade, especially since it would mean she would need to take a week out of school. Everything was fixed for us to leave with Cormac on the coming Saturday.

Mom drove us to O'Hare airport and parked so that she could stay with us until we had to go through the departure gate. I tried to re-assure her that everything would be all right, but there were dark circles under her eyes that screamed out the fact that she hadn't been sleeping well.

"It's only going to be a few days, Mom. We'll be back before you know it."

Neither Brenda nor I had been on a plane before and we were excited at the prospect. For those of you who have travelled a lot, you won't be surprised to learn that our experience turned out to be a big anti-climax.

It was all new of course, but it was so cramped and uncomfortable that the novelty soon wore off. The meals didn't really taste of anything, either. The movies they showed during the flight were some we had seen before.

For an experienced envoy (I guessed the King would send his best man on this mission) Cormac was as nervous as a kitten. I found some time to speak to him during the flight although we had to communicate in whispers so the other passengers wouldn't hear. It transpired that he was experienced, but that virtually all of his work had been within Gael.

The technology that surrounded him was a constant wonder, but also a source of fear and anxiety. His knuckles gleamed white as he gripped the armrests of his seat on take-off. He looked out of the plane's window once and nearly suffered a heart attack when he saw how high we were above the ground. Cormac apologised constantly for the fact that he was not performing as well as a man of his experience should.

"Look, Cormac. It's all right, stop worrying would you?"

After too many hours of being cramped and extremely bored, we touched down at London's Heathrow and caught our connection to Glasgow airport. Just over an hour later we landed in Glasgow and looked out of the plane's window at the rain.

Clearing customs in Glasgow was not half as bad as we had expected. After 9/11, air travel had been the subject of so much additional security that we expected to have a hard time. Surprisingly, we were simply waved through!

There was no delay in retrieving our bags, as we were travelling very light and only had carry-on luggage. We were only going for a few days after all (although Brenda did complain that she wanted to take more time).

Still very nervous, Cormac directed us to a taxi rank, and asked the driver to take us to Queen Street railway station in Glasgow city centre. The cab driver talked constantly during the journey, but we found it difficult to understand his strong accent.

When we arrived at Queen Street, Cormac counted out the correct money for the fare and then led the way inside the station. We had a wait of several hours before our train was due and we took the opportunity of eating something that didn't taste like cardboard.

Queen Street station wasn't huge, but it did have a bar and several fast food outlets. We chose Burger King and ordered up burgers and fries with large cokes, eating them while we watched the good people of Glasgow going about their business.

Cormac scuttled away to the booking office to buy the tickets we would need and Brenda and I took the opportunity of laughing at just how nervous he was about everything around him.

"Did you see the way he was watching the traffic on the freeway on the way into the city?" Brenda asked.

"I know, but it must be difficult to go from a world where there are no cars at all to one where you can't walk safely for fear of being run over!"

After our experience on the plane, the train journey was really something to get excited about. It started off much like any other train journey, as we pulled out of Glasgow and travelled through the city centre and then through the suburbs. Within half an hour though we were stopping in Dunbarton and we could see a castle perched on top of a rock that overlooked the River Clyde.

After that it was like a seeing series of Christmas cards, as the train took us effortlessly through the West Highland glens and mountains. We passed through Crianlarich, Spean Bridge (where the World War II commandos apparently did their training), Loch Eil and finally, more than five hours later, we pulled into Mallaig. The scenery was snowy, raw, rugged and absolutely spectacular.

Brenda and I agreed that we would need to return during the summer to spend some time here rather than simply pass through such remarkable countryside.

My girl couldn't see everything that I could though and there was something else about this Scottish scenery that had me excited - there were ley lines and I could feed off of their power!

Cormac seemed to be getting more relaxed the closer we got to Mallaig. When we eventually arrived, it was already getting dark and the February night air was bitterly cold here by the sea. Our guide urged us to hurry and he managed to grab the only taxi available.

A short cab ride later and we were dropped off at a tiny village called Beoraidberg. The driver clearly thought there must be something seriously wrong with us for asking to be dripped off in the middle of nowhere. Cormac assured him that that we knew what we were doing, and that everything was fine.

Once the cab had driven off, Cormac led the way off of the road. We made our way into the fields, which were covered with snow. I knew better than to use the power to make our journey easier, as Charles had warned me I had to keep such abilities a secret. That meant that we had a rough twenty minutes struggling through ankle deep snow until it began to thin out.

The closer we got to the coastline, the thinner the snow became. That was probably due to the combined effects of the wind blowing off of the sea and the salt in the spray. Whatever the cause was, we welcomed the fact that the going became easier and it didn't take much longer to reach a sheltered cove that had a small sandy beach.

This was the part of our journey I had really been looking forward to. Back in the Taggart household, Cormac had explained that the only way to reach Gael from the 'other-world' was if you had a sponsor who could call the special transport. This ensured that there was virtually no travel between the two worlds other than those few journeys the royals permitted.

The journey involved leaving from the west-coast of Scotland and entering into the different dimension in which the world of Gael existed. The crossing was achieved using a very special method of transport and our guide called for that transport now. We stood shivering on the beach, watching the huge waves crashing ashore.

Almost instantaneously, three brilliantly white, winged, horses appeared as if from the very sea itself. They seemed to gallop up the beach just like the angry waves and before we knew it, the magnificent beasts were standing in front of us.

"Don't be afraid of them, they are very gentle and there is no danger of you falling off," Cormac assured us.

Each of the horses knelt down on their front legs to make it easy for us to mount and then stood again before wheeling and charging back down the beach.

The crossing was almost a disappointment after the dramatic appearance of the horses. One moment we were skimming across the rough seas and then we were in sunlight and riding up a much different beach on what I presumed was now Gael.

There was a large party of men, sitting on much less impressive horses, waiting at the head of the strand of sand. I could see that they were wearing half-armour and they were heavily armed with swords and spears.

"No need to be alarmed, these are Axonite troops sent by King Kenneth to make sure no harm befalls you, Highness," Cormac called out.

The winged horses slowed and came to a halt before kneeling once more to allow us to dismount. Brenda and I felt it necessary to stroke the magnificent beast and to thank them for seeing us to Gael safely. They wheeled with a flourish and were gone within moments.

Cormac led the way towards the welcoming party and suddenly began shouting angrily at them.

"Fools! Have you no respect? This is Prince Sean, son of our King!"

There was a scramble as all of the men tried to dismount at once. The fact that their horses were standing close together made that quite difficult and Brenda and I were soon trying to stop ourselves from laughing at the mess they were getting themselves into.

"Wait! Wait! There is no need to dismount on my account. I don't expect anybody to stand on ceremony because of me, remain on your horses please," I called out.

Cormac gave me a doubtful look as if to tell me that this was not the way things were normally done. I smiled to myself at the thought that this was certainly not going to be the last time I received such a look. There was no way I was going to accept people constantly bowing and scraping. The very thought of that left me feeling uncomfortable.

Despite the fact that I had tried to save them some bother, the soldiers were not looking at me kindly. I got the impression they resented my presence altogether, but why? I didn't know. As far as I was aware I hadn't done anything to upset them.

To try to avoid any further awkwardness, I thought it might be an idea to start the final leg of our journey as quickly as possible. There were three spare horses to one side and I assumed (this time rightly) that they were meant for us.

"How far do we have left to travel?" I asked Cormac, leading Brenda over to the horses.

"I'm afraid we still have half a day of riding, Highness."

I was worried that Brenda would be too tired to stay on a horse. I had been soaking up power to replace my reserves of energy and felt as fresh as when we had started our long journey, but my girlfriend didn't have the benefit of that. Despite that, when I studied her, she looked fine. She smiled one of her patented smiles at me.