Keagan spread the plaid upon the stone while Faolan stood by with Dierdra in his arms. As Keagan glanced up at the position of the moon between the upright stones, he nodded for his father to place her on the altar.
Dierdra curled to her side and stared out across the sea. A serene smile spread across her face as her eyes reflected the light of the moon. She held out a pale hand toward Keagan and nodded toward the knife he held between his hands. “I am ready, dear Keagan. Dinna be troubled, for I will feel no pain. Tell Ciara I am truly sorry I didna get to see her again. She was so verra kind.”
Faolan stood at the head of the stones; his body tensed as though he were the wolf about to spring upon his prey.This is not right, his conscience nettled him. He wrestled with uncertainty. How could this be what they should do? How could they take the life of an innocent? It was one thing to take life while defending hearth and home. But no matter how many different ways Faolan sorted through it; he couldn’t rationalize what they were about to do. Just as Keagan placed the knife in Dierdra’s hand, Faolan snatched it into his own. “If the goddesses want blood to open the portal, then let it be my own.”
He slashed deep across the palm of his hand and shook his bloody fist at the moon. With a sneer of contempt, he showered the altar with his blood as he roared the MacKay battle cry across the valley.“Bi Tren, Bi Treun!”
As the echo of his shout resounded across the hills, the moon shimmered and swelled in the sky. The dark of the night bowed and receded in reverence to the strength of the eerie blue light. The air crackled with increasing energy as though lightning were about to split through the air. The earth’s pulsing heartbeat trembled from the depths of its core up through the marrow of their bones.
“Be True, Be Steadfast. Truly proud words that have always endeared me to this clan.” The goddess Brid appeared between the stones; her fiery hair suspended in the energy of light surrounding her body. “Tell me why ye have summoned me, Chieftain MacKay. It has been an eternity since I’ve been gifted such powerful mortal blood.”
Still clenching the bloody dagger in his left hand, Faolan spat the words as he flung more blood in the direction of the goddess. “Ye know damn well why I’ve called upon ye, Goddess! Give me back my wife!” Taking another step forward, he raised his bloody fist and shook it in her face. “I grow weary of being your pawn. Give her back to me, mighty Brid. Do so and I swear to ye the Auld Ways will ne’er be forgotten. Refuse and my son and I will spend the rest of our days erasing your existence from this plane.”
Her feathery brow arched in wry amusement as Brid floated around the altar. Her translucent gown shimmered in the moonlight and flowed with her every move. “Careful, mortal. I understand your soul is filled with heartache and pain, but dinna grow over brave with your words.” Brid paused to rest a gentle hand atop Dierdra’s head and gifted the frail girl with a motherly smile. “I will bring Ciara here, but she canna stay with ye until a choice has been made.” As soon as she said the words, both Ciara and Alec materialized on the other side of the stone.
Ciara looked around, stumbling in confusion at so abruptly being yanked out of the bowels of the caverns. Her eyes widened, when she realized Faolan and Keagan stood just a few feet away. With an ecstatic cry, she closed the distance between them and jumped into Faolan’s arms.
His arms wrapping tightly around her, Faolan crushed her to his chest. He would never let her go again. If she tried to dissolve into tiny particles of light, he would bury thesgian dubhdeep in the center of his heart to send his essence with her. He kissed her mouth, her eyes, her tear-stained cheeks as she repeatedly sobbed his name. “Shh, Ciara. Dinna fear. I shall never let them take ye again.”
Keagan rushed headlong to join his parents’ embrace; his whoops of joy joining his mother’s sobs. “Mother! I knew the rite would work. I knew it would bring ye back.”
Ciara pulled Keagan to her chest including him in her embrace. She covered his face with teary kisses and crushed him into her arms. “You did well, Keagan. I am so proud of you. I missed you so very much.”
Ear-splitting thunder ripped through the energy in the air silencing their happy reunion. They turned to see the goddess Brid where she hovered just above the stone altar. Her eyes flashed with righteous fire as her voice echoed across the clearing. “Ciara, ye canna dwell in this land. Ye know ’twould be against all the natural laws. Ye are an immortal. Ye are meant to float upon the streams of energies and never settle forever in one plane. Ye would only be postponing the pain of separation when their souls go where ye canna follow.”
Her eyes widening, Ciara wrapped her fists in Faolan’s plaid and clutched it to her chest. “How can you be so cruel as to bring me back here and then threaten to send me away? What is it you want from me, Brid? Name it and it is yours.”
Faolan pushed Keagan and Ciara behind him, baring his teeth as though he’d become the wolf for which he was so aptly named. “Remember my words, mighty goddess. If my allegiance to keeping the Auld Ways alive is nay enough then take my soul as payment for Ciara to stay. When I die, I shall gladly go to the Abyss. Ye have my blood to seal the oath. Ye have the blood of a MacKay.” Faolan took another step forward, shaking his bloody fist in the air, and showered the sacred ground with the crimson droplets. “My family is not yours to take. I’ll no’ let ye destroy us again. “
Brid shook her head as though speaking to a slow-witted child and dismissed Faolan with a wave of her hand. “The choice is not yours to make, my righteous laird. Although, I will admit your self-sacrifice is admirable. If Ciara searches within her heart, she knows what price I seek.”
Ciara stepped around Faolan; her chin raised, and fixed Brid with a defiant glare. “Take it,” she spat and spread her arms wide as though waiting for the goddess’s embrace.
“No!” Alec roared. He threw himself in front of Ciara and raised his hands as though he were a shield. “She doesna mean it, Brid. Ye canna take her immortality. She doesna know what she’s saying.”
Brid’s face softened with an understanding smile and she ignored Alec as though he hadn’t said a word. She held out her hand to Ciara, the affection for her troubled daughter shining in her eyes. “Do ye know what ye’re truly giving up, Ciara? Do ye understand that when ye become mortal, ye will quickly grow to feel the pain of old age and disease and then ye will someday die?”
Ciara glanced first at the look of shock registering upon Faolan’s face and then at the trusting face of her son. She acknowledged the goddess’s question with a smile and a firm nod. “If I can’t be with the ones I love, I might as well be reduced to bitter ashes and scattered upon the winds. I gladly relinquish my immortality. Take it as my gift to Dierdra.”
Dierdra rose to sit upright upon the altar, her eyes bright with excitement. “If Ciara gifts me with her immortality, I can return to the Land Beyond the Mists.”
Brid nodded her approval and floated forward to rest her palm upon the center of Ciara’s chest. A shimmering light, like a golden mist soon gathered around her hand. Then she turned and cast the pulsating energy like a fireball at Dierdra’s body. As soon as the energy orb connected with the tiny maiden’s chest, her body took on a soft and luminous glow.
As Brid lifted the mantle of immortality from within her breast, Ciara fainted into Faolan’s arms. He caught her up against his chest and cradled her as though she were a babe.
Alec dropped to his knees, holding his head in his hands. He moaned and shook his head while rocking to and for. “How could ye do it? Now she’ll die. Now she’ll go where I canna follow. Now I’ll end up being all alone. Why must ye always punish me so?”
Brid rested a consoling hand upon his bowed head and spoke to Alec as though he were a very spoiled child. “Ye will not be alone, Alec. Dierdra will need your help now. She will need ye more than Ciara ever did. ’Twill be all right. Trust my words. This is the best for all concerned.” Brid touched a hand to Ciara’s cheek as she bent and pressed her lips to her daughter’s forehead. “Ye were nearing burnout, my fiery child. We are glad ye made the choice ye did. If ye had not chosen to stay with The MacKay, the madness would have surely taken ye. We have always loved ye best, my tempestuous child. We did not wish to see ye suffer. We hope ye will someday understand why we did the things we did.”
Ciara blinked against the tears as she turned her face into the palm of her mother’s hand. “I love you, Mother Brid, and I thank you.”
Brid nodded once, then turned to pat Alec on the head. “Make your goodbyes now, Alec, so the MacKays can be on their way. We have much to teach Dierdra about the ways of immortals. Ye have quite a task ahead of you and only an eternity in which to accomplish it.”
Faolan knelt to set Ciara down upon the ground beside Alec and reached out to grasp him by the shoulder. “Thank ye, Alec, for always being there for Ciara. Thank ye for being her friend.”
Ciara raised her head and held out her arm to pull him into her embrace. “I’ll always love you, Alec. You truly are the best friend I ever had. I swear to you, we’ll keep your name on the tongues of all the future MacKay generations.”
Alec clutched her to his chest and sniffed in her hair as he struggled to hold back his tears. “Just make me taller whenever ye describe me. And don’t forget to tell them of my charm and unbelievably quick wit.”
