Chapter 10

The Minor Hall was a room longer than it was wide, about thirty feet long and around twenty feet wide. The ceiling was a good twelve feet above the flagstone floor. There was a large fireplace with a lightly carved mantle above it at the far end of the room. It looked large enough to roast a quarter side of beef in. The kitchen, at the other end of the building, had a similar sized fireplace but with a plain mantle above it. The walls here were paneled also, but in a plainer less elegant and formal manner than those in the Great Hall of the castle. There were two rows of tables that ran down the length of the room. They could accommodate a large number of people, certainly more than the guards and others that presently lived at the castle.

There were only two men in there at this time. They appeared to be guardsmen from their dress. There were empty plates and half full mugs of ale in front of where they sat. On seeing us enter the hall, they both hurriedly got to their feet.

"Do sit back down and finish your ale," I told them in a friendly voice. "We only stopped by for breakfast."

"You may remain and finish your ale," Eamon told them after I had finished. They returned to their seats, but didn't seem to take long to finish their ale and leave.

In the meantime, we were enjoying the fine breakfast that had been brought out to us by the Cook herself.

"After breakfast, I am going to question Master Eogham about the wolf attack last night," I told Eamon and Sunshine near the end of the meal. "Would either of you care to go with me?"

"I must go to the village and check on the wounded," Sunshine told me, not wanting to see her old Master.

"I will accompany you, Master Ken. I want to hear what Master Eogham has to say for myself," Eamon told me with conviction.

"It's always good to have a witness to corroborate one's story," I told him, glad that he would accompany me. One of the assistants from the kitchen came out and cleared away all of the dishes, as we were finishing our meal. We left through the main door of the Hall after that. Sunshine headed toward the gate and the village while Eamon and I returned to the tower.

"Shall I open the cell door, Master Ken?" Eamon asked, as we arrived in front of the door.

"There's no need to," I told him, as I took his hand, and transferred both of us into the cell. Eamon was a little startled by this, but no more so than Master Eogham was. He was lying on the sleeping platform, and he appeared to be older, haggard, and pale. He struggled to sit up on becoming aware of us.

"What have you done to me?" he demanded, but it came out as little more than a whisper.

"I haven't done anything to you. You have done it all to yourself. You are the one that summoned all of the wolves that attacked the village last night. Once we had dealt with all of those that you had initially called, I cast an additional spell around this cell. It was a spell to stop and contain a Summoner. You continued to call wolves, or whatever else you can control for some time after that. It is the spell that has countered this, and drained you of most of your reserve Magic, as you continued to try to summon more creatures," I told him.

"Did you actually send those wolves against the village last night?" Eamon demanded in a harsh voice.

"Of course, why not? What are they, or any of you to me, but a means to an end? You are all nothing. It is WE, the members of the Group, who are important. WE will bring back the old gods, and if it takes sacrificing all of you, or a dozen villages, so what? We will have the power of the gods then, and will take control of the Union from those puny fools running it now. Then WE will rule it with all of its wealth!" he told us in a loud, fever crazed voice.

Eamon and I both took a step back at this horrendous revelation, and my hand brushed a protruding stone on the inner wall. When I did, the stone moved to reveal a hidden compartment in the wall. A voice spoke to us then, as the image of a very old Wizard appeared. He was speaking a very ancient dialect of Celtic, but I had no trouble understanding what he was saying. The image was of very poor quality, like that seen in a mirror that wasn't entirely flat or well coated.

"If you are seeing this message, then the things that I foresaw in the vision have come to pass. The one that you hold is the Summoner. He is the key to bring back the old gods, those here before even the Tuatha De Danann arrived. He and his group desire to use the old gods to rule the entire world. Their plan is madness. The old gods will not obey them as they think, and their group will be the god's first victims, but they are determined.

"I do not know who you are, as my vision didn't allow me to see you. It showed me only your Talents. You and your twin are sufficiently strong to stop them. The first step in that is to use the last seed from the 'Tree of Life' to remove the Summoner. You must not touch the seed yourself. It would bond to you if you were to physically touch it. It must be moved by your Magic and implanted in the lower bowel of the Summoner. It will warm there and take control of his body.

"I must warn you, however, that wherever you leave him, and it, it must be someplace where the tree may flourish, but cannot reproduce, or be reached by anyone else. This is a problem that I do not know how to advise you on, but I believe that you have the strength and knowledge to solve it.

"Finally, you must track down and eliminate others of the group that the Summoner has had contact with. I wish you good luck in your quest," the ancient Wizard finished, as the image faded out of existence, and the stone returned to its place in the wall for now.

Eamon and I just stood there for a time in shock, staring at the wall where the image had been.

"Did ... did you understand all of that?" Eamon finally asked. "I could only understand part of it."

"Yes, I understood all of it," I told him, but didn't explain how I had understood it.

"Did Master Eogham hear it?" he asked in a worried voice. We both turned toward him, but he was locked in a freeze spell now and would have heard or seen nothing.

"Did you understand what was said about the older gods?" Eamon wanted to know.

"According to the Lebor Gabala (the Book of Invasions), there were more than eleven generations between the time that the Nemedians fled Ireland after their defeat by the Fomorians, and when the Firbolgs, descendents of the Nemedians, returned. During that time the land was occupied by another people, besides the Fomorians that is," I started, as the knowledge appeared in my mind. It would appear that the 'Book of Dreams' had left something for me last night also, I thought.

"These people were known as the Cruithni (Picts). No one is sure just where these people originated from, but it is believed that they arrived here from ancient Alba (Scotland). They were a wild and barbarous people with strange, powerful gods. Little is known of them, as they left no written records. However, it is believed that they battled the Fomorians until they eventually reached a truce, as neither side could totally defeat the other.

"By the time the Firbolgs returned, the gods of the Cruithni had abandoned them, as they had proven incapable of defeating the Fomorians. The Firbolgs defeated the Cruithni when they landed, as they had superior Magic skills. They also held off the Fomorians with their Magic.

"The Firbolgs only ruled in Ireland for a short time, however, before they were defeated by the Tuatha De Danann, who were also descendents of the Nemedians, but who had fled to a different place to regroup. Their weapons and Magic were superior to those of the Firbolgs. They also defeated the Fomorians, but were in turn later defeated by the Milesians," I finished.

"How do you know all of that?" Eamon asked in amazement.

"I studied a lot of history. My Great Grandfather is a historian," I told him.

"This means that you will be leaving soon, doesn't it?" Eamon asked, perceptibly.

"Yes, I believe it does. Do you know whom Eogham has had contact with?" I asked.

"Some of them, yes. I will need to consult my notes and my memory. There have been only a few that have stopped here since he arrived. He has a bad reputation from when he first came here. He chased away many people, and wasn't kind, or gentle in doing it. He ruled the village and the castle as a tyrant," Eamon told me. "This is why no one was sorry to see you replace him, except perhaps for 'Red' Hugh, and Pilib, who always did his bidding."

"What will happen to us when you leave?" Eamon asked after a few seconds in a voice that cracked in fear at the end.

"Do not worry, I will not abandon you. I have many Brothers, Sisters, and Cousins. I will send one, or two of them here if I am unable to return for an extended period," I assured him. He seemed relieved to hear this.

"For now though," I continued, "I need to consider how to accomplish the task that the Ancient Wizard has set me. Tonight at the evening meal, I want all of the principal leaders from the Castle and the Village here. I need to speak to them all before I leave."

"I will arrange it. The women and children can eat in the Minor Hall tonight," he told me.

"Include the Cook and the Baker with the other leaders," I reminded him.

"Yes, Thank you, Master Ken."

I transferred us out of the cell. Eamon went to consult his notes and alert the necessary people, and I went up to our apartment on the third floor to think about how to accomplish the first part of the task the Ancient Wizard had set me. It was some time later when Sunshine rushed into our apartment in a panic.

"Are you leaving?" she asked near tears.

"WE are leaving. I have a task to accomplish," I told her.

"You will take me with you then!?" she asked in surprise.

"Oh yes, my Sweet. Most definitely. I couldn't leave you behind," I assured her, as I took her in my arms and kissed her tenderly. Sunshine just melted into me for a while. She was so soft and warm; I could never leave her behind.

After a time, we returned to reality, and Sunshine stepped away from me.

"What must we do in preparation for leaving, my Master?" she asked.

"Remember, you were going to call me Ken," I reminded her quietly.

"Are you sure that is the correct thing to do?" she asked, worried.

"Yes, my Sweet! It is definitely the correct thing to do," I assured her before turning to other matters.

"You should go through the clothing here and pick out what clothes you wish to take with you. I will do the same. Also take whatever you wish in the way of hair brushes, combs, and those sorts of things. However, we will only be taking one pack horse with us, and he will need to also carry the grain for the three horses," I told her.

"Yes, I will be careful in what I select, my Ken," she answered with a smile. We both spent time then selecting what we would be taking with us on our journey. I still hadn't decided what to do with Master Eogham and the seed from the 'Tree of Life', and that bothered me no end.

Eamon came to see me shortly before it was time for the evening meal.

"It has been a most peculiar afternoon, Master Ken," he told me, after I had invited him to be seated at the table with me.

"How do you mean?" I asked.

"When I went to consult my notes, and to remember what I knew of Master Eogham's visitors, I found that I could read the notes before there was a visitor mentioned and then again after he had gone, but I could not read the notes from when the visitors were here, or remember who had been here, or when!" Eamon told me in confusion. I was immediately sure that Eogham had cast a spell on him at some previous time to prevent him from reading the notes, or remembering who had been here at a later time. Eamon was still speaking, however.

"Even more curious was the fact that I could hardly keep my eyes open after discovering this, and I actually fell asleep there in my chair for a time. To my surprise when I awoke, I could read all of the notes and remembered exactly who had visited him and when. It was a most curious occurrence," Eamon finished, still somewhat perplexed. I, however, smelled the intervention of the 'Book of Dreams' in removing the spell and restoring his memory.

"That does seem unusual," I admitted. "Do you still remember the names?" I asked.