The woman halted her horse beside that of the hooded figure. She was vibrant and animated, and she looked to be pleading with the figure about something. Her face told Niall that something terrible had happened, something that she was trying desperately to fix. The figure seemed to give no response. She continued pleading her case, to which the figure eventually reined his horse to the right and allowed her to move towards the line of prisoners. She motioned her horse towards Niall. As they approached, Niall couldn’t help but feel a small wave of fear wash over him. He had no idea what was going on, where he was, why he was there or how he got there. Maybe this woman was going to explain everything, maybe things were just going to get worse. Nothing seemed real or out of the realms of possibility anymore. The woman halted her stead in front of Niall. His fear seemed to melt away as she looked down at him from atop the graceful beast. Her bright baby blue eyes gave him a sense of comfort as they looked into his. It was like she had known him for his entire life.
She dismounted the horse and came over to Niall with a pleasant smile on her face. The whiteness of her robes was almost blinding, and it seemed like she had a glowing aura around her. Everything about her seemed to be vibrant; she brought with her an atmosphere of life, like it followed her wherever she went.
“Dia duit, Niall Óg”, was the first thing she said to him.
“Dia is Muire duit”, he responded. “Ehh, cad is ainm duit?, he asked with more than a little hesitation.
She looked at him for a second and then said, “Ah, so you’re an Irish speaker. Brilliant! That’ll make things easy here. I’m sure you have hundreds of questions, but we need to get you out of these chains first. I’m Brigid or Bríg, whichever you prefer, and I’m the protector of children. Donn and Lugh here were just doing their duty, they didn’t mean to scare you or nearly bring you into Teach Donn. Once you have the chains on, you’re marked to go there, so they couldn’t have known that you weren’t supposed to be there. First things first, let’s get you out of here and back to where you’re supposed to be.”
“Back to where he’s supposed to be? Could she get him home?”, Niall thought while just smiling and nodding along. He looked down as she waved her glowing hands over his. He felt a calming warmth on his wrists as she did so, and the chains simply melted away. What kind of illusion was all of this? It was like he was in a different world, like Lord of the Rings or something. Was this a really vivid dream? Was he in a deep virtual reality experience? He couldn’t wrap his head around it. He knew magic wasn’t real, that hands don’t melt metal, that chains don’t emerge from soil, that they don’t burn without a heat source and that horses are not normally as big as the ones he was seeing around him right now. None of this made sense. Things weren’t normal here. He had to be dreaming. That’s what it was, he was in a really deep and vivid dream that seemed to be going on for a very long time. It was the only explanation that made sense because he could feel everything that was happening, as if it was real.
The large man with the red hair and beard also dismounted from his horse. He approached Brigid and Niall with thunderous steps that almost shook the ground under them but seemed completely normal under his huge frame. His hair and beard moved like fire with their own agency, almost pulsing, like his entire face and head were engulfed in flames. His eyes were light blue, like Brigid’s, but his were piercing and had a fierceness and determination behind them. Brigid clearly had no fear of him, she was completely calm as he approached, even with his gigantic silhouette looming towards her.
“Bríg, céard sa diabhal atá ar siúl?”, he boomed with authority. “Who is this boy?”, he asked with genuine concern in his voice.
“This is Niall”, she replied with care in every word. She stood from Niall’s side and talked to the man quietly. Niall couldn’t make out what they were saying, but he definitely knew it was about him. They weren’t arguing, but the man looked pretty confused at times. His thick red brows furrowed at some of Brigid’s animated explanations. Niall studied him even more while they talked. Everything about him was striking and impactful, his facial features, eyes, hair, the way he held his massive frame, all of it seemed large and strong but not rough in any way. His hands reached down to his knees while he was standing upright. His long spear was strapped to his back and the head was made of metal that was at least painted gold, but it wasn’t glittering, as Niall thought, the head of it was constantly engulfed in low flames. That definitely didn’t make any sense, but all of this was a dream, so it doesn’t matter, Niall thought.
Their conversation had clearly finished as Brigid made her way back over to Niall, who was now standing. He felt extremely light, he wasn’t a very heavy 14-year-old anyway, but this was almost a feeling of weightlessness.
Brigid came to him first, “alright Niall, this is Lugh, spelled L-U-G-H, not Lou like you were thinking, he hates when people think that, trust me. I told him about your situation, and he’s agreed to help me get you back to your world, but we need to go right now. I’ll explain more on the way, but we need to get moving.”
Lugh simply nodded in agreement and put his hand up, in a sort of stationary wave, in the direction of the figure that Niall could only assume was “Donn.” It seemed like this was all about to get a lot more confusing than it already was.
By Owen Coyne
Taken to the Corner 