Chapter 3

Donnie had no sooner said the words:

"I will serve you with all that I have in me."

than he felt a sharp pain on his left shoulder. He had no time to dwell on that however, because he suddenly experienced a rush of vertigo and when he blinked and opened his eyes he found himself hanging precariously from a sheer cliff-face.

Glancing down, Donnie gulped as he saw that he was some hundreds if not thousands of feet up the side of a mountain. This was like something out of his worst nightmare.

He had learned the meaning of the word 'acrophobia' from a very early age, when he had climbed from his bedroom window onto the farmhouse roof and then looked down. The sudden dizziness and irrational terror had forced him to realise that he was afraid of heights.

Now, his entire body seemed to seize up and fear robbed him of the ability to think straight.

His eyes just happened to be focused on his right hand where it was clinging to the cliff face and he noted absently that the knuckles were white. The muscles in his right leg began to cramp.

Through his terror, he heard a voice inside his head.

"Face your fear, Dòmhnall. Climb. Climb for your goddess, someone needs your help."

The voice was enough to at least blow away some of the fog in his brain and that allowed him to think more clearly. He took another glance down and felt his stomach turn and then his entire body began shaking.

"Don't look down!" he chided himself. "Whatever you do, don't look down!"

"Face your fear, Dòmhnall. Climb. Climb for your goddess." he heard once more.

Beira's voice helped steady him a little more and he was able to consider her words. He began to take deep breaths, letting each one out slowly, as he used sheer will-power to try to calm himself.

"She said that someone needs my help. I can do this; I know I can do this. She knows I'm afraid of heights and she's testing me," he told himself.

Donnie forced himself to examine the rock around him.

"One foot at a time, that's all it takes, just pick out one hold after another."

Unconsciously he searched within himself to draw on some inner strength that he had never had to draw on before, that he had never even suspected existed. Finding a deep well of 'something', he was able to tap into it and immediately felt a little better.

Gradually he got his shaking under control and the terror receded somewhat. Beads of sweat now glistened on his forehead as he willed himself to take a first step. Lifting his right foot, he felt around for some purchase and was able to wedge the toe of his boot into a crack in the rock. Looking up, he saw a hand-hold and putting his weight on his new foot position, he reached up to grab it.

"One foot at a time, that's all it takes, just one foot at a time," he kept repeating.

Painfully slowly he picked out and tested a series of holds and continued to climb upwards. With each foot gained, his belief in the strength of the inner 'something' increased, as did his confidence. He still refrained from looking down again though, not wanting to run the risk of losing control once more.

Twenty minutes later, Donnie had climbed around one hundred and twenty feet higher when he noticed what looked like a ledge only ten feet above him.

"Maybe I'll be able to rest there for a few minutes. I just have to keep my concentration for another ten feet and then I can take a breather – no mistakes now," he warned himself.

As he got closer, Donnie saw that there was a large bird nest at one end of the ledge. He put it out of his mind and focused on each hold until at last he was able to pull himself up and onto the ledge. Lying on his back, he took a few minutes to just let his muscles relax. He was of course looking upwards and he thought could see the summit of the mountain only about fifty feet or so above.

"Here's hoping there's an easier way down," he thought.

Donnie lay for a full ten minutes before his arms and legs stopped screaming at him. Once the pain of the climb was receding, the sound of rustling from the direction of the bird's nest registered in his ears. Turning over to lie on his front, he looked at the nest. It was constructed with twigs and looked at least two feet high. Another noise reached him and Donnie realised there was something in the nest.

Once he rose to his knees he immediately saw the large, magnificent, bird of prey. It was clearly in distress and all thoughts of aching muscles were suddenly gone as Donnie crawled closer to see whether he could help it.

Up close, the bird was even more impressive. Donnie guessed it was over two feet in length, its feathers mostly brown but with flecks of gold on the back on its head and neck and some splashes of white on the wings and tail. The bird's feet and part of one wing seemed tangled in something – "fishing line," Donnie thought – and it was struggling to try to free itself.

"A golden eagle! Is that why you've brought me here, Beira? Is this who needs my help? Am I to save this magnificent bird for you? That's not much of a challenge! I would gladly climb this mountain all over again for the chance to help such a king of birds," Donnie thought.

He could see that the bird's struggles were growing weaker and he wondered just how long it had been trapped.

Rummaging through his pockets, Donnie found his pocket-knife and prepared to try to cut the fishing line to free the eagle. The bird had stopped struggling altogether now and was instead watching him intently, following his every move. Its eyes were a mix of brown and gold with coal black pupils, and there was no doubting the intelligence reflected there.

Donnie was more focused on the eagle's wickedly curved beak and the powerful talons on each foot – they were the bits that looked dangerous!

He took a deep breath before leaning forward to begin cutting. Just as he touched the first strand of the fishing line a painfully loud shriek sounded in his ear and he instinctively ducked, pulling his head into his shoulders as he dropped prone on the ledge.

When he looked up, a second eagle had appeared and it swooped towards him before flaring its wings and settling on the opposite side of the nest. If anything this eagle was even bigger than the one tangled in the line and it too focused its golden eyes on Donnie.

"Shit! Don't do that," Donnie cursed aloud, sitting up once more.

He surmised this second eagle was the mate of the one trapped in the nest. It WAS bigger and its wingspan must have stretched to seven feet when it had alighted on the nest. Donnie eyed it warily. Would it attack him if he tried to free its mate? There was only one way to find out he decided.

Leaning forward again, he took hold of a strand of fishing line and doubled it over the blade of his pocket-knife. Neither eagle made any move to attack him and Donnie relaxed a little, as he focused on cutting the line. It only took minutes before he had removed it all and the eagle was free. Donnie expected it to immediately spread its wings and take to the air, but instead it settled on the nest as if brooding.

Just looking at the bird, Donnie could see that it was very weak. He wondered when it had last eaten anything and that reminded him of the remaining half of his roast beef sandwich. Pulling the bag from his pocket, he extracted the beef and tore it into small pieces. The eagle was surprisingly gentle as it took the beef when he offered it, but it gulped the meat down without chewing and was ready for more in an instant.

"I'm sorry I don't have any more, my friend," said Donnie when the roast beef was all gone. "I'm not sure if eagles eat bread?"

He soon found out that a starving bird will eat most anything, and the eagle quickly gobbled up the bread too. The second eagle let out another cry and took to the air, soaring with minimum effort on the thermals in the area. Donnie watched it fly in an ever increasing circle before it descended to the floor of the glen. Incredibly, he found that he could now look down from this great height without his acrophobia kicking in. It seemed as if he had conquered his fear of heights by confronting it and managing to make the climb.

"How about that?" he smiled to himself.

Within seconds the eagle below was aloft again and heading back towards the ledge. This time its landing was slightly awkward, owing to the fact that it held part of a dead rabbit in one claw. This was the left-overs from an earlier kill by the looks of things. As Donnie looked on, the eagle tore pieces of meat from the carcass and fed its mate. He hoped that the roast beef, bread and rabbit meat would be enough to revive the now freed bird.

"I'm afraid that it will not be enough. He damaged himself trying to get free from the line."

Donnie almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of the female voice. He spun round to find himself face to face with possibly the most beautiful woman he had ever set eyes on. She had long corn-coloured hair framing perfect features. Her blue eyes sparkled with mischief, as if she was amused at having surprised him so. A gossamer dress of pale pink seemed to ripple in the breeze.

"I almost fell off the mountain!" Donnie complained.

"No, don't do that. Beira would be very upset with me if that happened."

She laughed. It was a sweet, clear, musical laugh.

"Who are you? How did you get here?" Donnie asked, his heart-rate beginning to return to normal.

"I am Sironaidh (Sironay), and I go where I choose."

Donnie guessed that this beautiful woman was another goddess – how else could she appear out of nowhere at the top of a mountain? How else would she know Beira's name? He replayed what she had said when she had first appeared and was puzzled at her almost teasing manner.

"Why are you laughing?" he asked. "If the eagle is hurt, then I will have failed the challenge that Beira set me. If he's not going to live then what's so funny?"

"Beira warned me that you still have much to learn, but I didn't realise just how much. You are mistaken, Dòmhnall (Donald). Your task was not to save the eagle, although save it you will."

Donnie looked at her, confused.

"But if my task wasn't to save the bird, why am I here? Why would Beira put me here?" he asked.

"Think, Dòmhnall. I can tell that you are intelligent. Use your wits. Answer your own question – what challenge did Beira set you?" the goddess asked.

Donnie tried to figure out what she was getting at. What else could the challenge have been if it wasn't to save the eagle? He reviewed everything from the moment he had looked down and realised he was perched on the side of a mountain, thousands of feet up. There was only one thing he could think of.

"I found something inside of me that I didn't know was there," he said.

"Yes! You see, you are intelligent. There is hope for you yet. Yes, that was your task. That was what Beira wanted you to learn. Do not lose touch with that special place inside yourself now that you have found it."

"But what about the eagle? Why are you laughing and teasing me while it is suffering?" Donnie demanded, still confused by this new goddess,

"To answer that I must first give you a gift, which was Beira's second reason for sending you here. Take my hands," ordered Sironaidh.

The goddess held out her own hands and Donnie hesitantly reached forward to take them in his. This touch was different to what he had felt from Beira, it was exhilarating. He felt a burst of pure energy and there was a sudden metallic taste in his mouth. The goddess' hands gripped his tightly and the energy burst continued. Donnie then heard the beautiful woman chant quietly.

"I am Sironaidh, the healer. I serve mother Beira with all that I am. As she has commanded, so shall I obey. I bestow upon you my gift."

Donnie felt the energy burst surge even more for just an instant and then Sironaidh dropped his hands and the sensation ceased. There were a few residual waves that pulsed up the length of his arms for a few seconds and then they faded.

"I felt the spirit of Tailtui strong within you, young one. I see now why Beira has taken you under her wing. Use my gift wisely and now finish what you believed your task to be."

Donnie's head was spinning and he had a number of questions. What had just happened? Who was this Tailtui that first Beira and now Sironaidh had referred to? Why were they suggesting he had something of her spirit inside him? What did Sironaidh mean when she said he was to finish what he thought his task to be?

The beautiful goddess laughed anew at his questions, even though he had not voiced them.

"I will answer one of your questions before I must go. The rest you can answer for yourself. Tailtui is the Earth-goddess. You have been born with a deep love of this earth and all that grows or lives on it, that is the spirit of Tailtui that lives within you. That is a true gift, not one given by the likes of me. Cherish all of your gifts, Dòmhnall, but the gift of Tailtui most of all."

The beautiful woman smiled, laughed once again at the look on Donnie's face and then simply disappeared.

Left alone once more, Donnie tried to marshal his thoughts. Sironaidh had said he was to finish the task that he thought had been set for him. That had to mean saving the eagle, but she had said that the bird had hurt itself.

"How can I save him?" he asked himself.

Other elements of their conversation came back to him. She had said "Your task was not to save the eagle, although save it you will." That suggested that he could still do something for the magnificent bird. Turning to his right, he looked at the golden eagle once more. The food seemed to have done wonders, but he could now see that the wing that had been tangled in the fishing line was hanging limp.

"She called herself the goddess of healing and said that she was giving me a gift. Does that mean that I've somehow been given the power of healing?" he asked himself.

The eagle was still looking at him, its golden eyes fixing him with a beady stare. Feeling just a little foolish, Donnie knelt down beside the nest again and reached over to take the eagle's damaged wing between his palms. Nothing happened.