A magical trip to Stonehenge lands a
witch in the Otherworld where an ancient goddess is up to no good.
Hart and Hound
Researching Celtic mythology, I knew I
wanted to use some of the lesser know magical creatures. I also
decided that they needed to be “like” animals, but not quite. The
reason for this is obvious to readers who’ve been following Kat’s
story from the beginning. Kat’s magical ability is to talk with
animals. She has greater or lesser success depending on the innate
brain-power of a natural animal. For example, she chats along nicely
with Salmon the Orca since a killer whale is the largest of the
dolphins and are at the top of the IQ charts. I believe the ability
to communicate to others shows greater intelligence. Sorry. Don’t
want to offend any fish out there, but you guys just aren’t that
bright.
I found two mythic creatures who met my
criteria. Sianach, a huge stag (possibly a Red Deer) and Cusith, a
giant-sized green dog with a braided tail.
Cusith
An enormous hound of the Scottish
Highlands. It is said to be a dark green in color, with a long
braided tail and the size of a bullock. Whenever his baying was heard
on the moors, farmers would quickly lock up their women because the
hound's mission was to round up women and drive them to a fairy mound
so they might supply milk for fairy children.
I’m a bit leery of that rounding up
women part, but decided that was just an ancient attempt to keep
women close to home. Clearly, not much has changed except for the
mythological excuses.
Sianach
"Monster." In Scottish
Gaelic oral tradition, a large, malevolent, predatory deer.
That’s to the
point. Other research indicated that the basis for Sianach might be
the Irish Elk, which is now extinct.
Now that I’d
identified a couple of mythical critters, then all I had to do is get
them together with Kat. Since she was tricked into entering the
Otherworld (land of fey), she has been searching for the hall of the
Trow King. She meets Sianach first and he agrees to guide her to King
Connor’s hall. What Kat find strange is that she can’t look into
Sianach’s mind; he can close off his thoughts from her. This makes
Kat a bit nervous since Sianach, while seeming to be amenable to
helping Kat, is also very vague as to his reasons for doing so.
The two begin their
search for the Trow Hall, although Sianach claims, reasonably, that
in the Otherworld, there is no such thing as a map to anyplace.
They’ll have to seek the Hall in other ways. Apparently, Sianach’s
method is to simply wander around through the swamps.
They camp for the night, and the next
morning, Kat meets another denizen of the Otherworld, the giant green
hound, Cusith.
Excerpt:
Sianach grazed near the edge of the
small clearing. When the lean-to disappeared, he raised his head.
“Good morning. I thought you were going to sleep all day.”
“You sound just
like my mom.” Kat let out an exasperated snort. “Besides, it
can’t be past eight o’clock.”
“I do not carry
a timepiece.”
“Of course, you
don’t.” Kat opened her pack and rummaged through it. “Cool.
I’ve still got the granola bar.” Her head snapped up when she
heard something large crashing through the underbrush. Sianach stood
stock still, staring toward the ruckus.
“HHHHRRRRROOOOOWWW!”
“Omigosh,
what’s that?” Kat’s voice trembled as she looked to Sianach for
an answer. The hairs on her neck and arms stood at attention.
Sianach turned
toward a nearby tree and struck his antlers against it. The clash of
antler against bark rang like a warning bell. Kat didn’t expect the
loud clang coming from horn against wood.
“HHHHRRRRROOOOOWWW!”
“Hide,”
Sianach said in a breathy whisper. His head raised now and pointed
toward the howl that sounded closer than before.
Kat did as he
told her but had to ask, “What is it?” just before she crouched
behind a bush.
“The Hound from
Hell,” Sianach replied. He dashed into the woods with antlers
thrust forward to meet the howling canine. Kat heard a sharp yip from
the dog. Sianach must have scored the first strike. Sianach bugled,
and the hound yowled. Thuds punctuated the vocalizing, when one or
the other creature struck a blow.
“I have to
help,” Kat muttered. She jogged across the clearing and pushed her
way through the saplings and undergrowth blocking the way. She
followed the battle sounds—bugling stag, baying hound, splintering
of small trees being knocked aside. She darted around another large
tree and saw the combatants squared off in an area beaten down by
their fighting. She stopped still, her eyes widened. A huge green dog
faced Sianach, its fangs exposed from under snarling lips. Kat gulped
and stood frozen with fear.
Sianach’s head
lowered, and he charged the hound with out-thrust antlers. The dog
jumped aside at the last second and leapt on Sianach’s back. The
monstrous creature bit down hard on the stag’s neck. Kat heard the
sickening crunch of breaking bones. Blood gushed high, and Kat gasped
at the sheer volume. Kat screamed. “Sianach!”
The hound jumped off Sianach and stood
aside, panting and watching the deer fall to the ground on his side.
Sianach’s head dropped, held up only by his antlers, then the
mighty rack shrank, and his head hit the ground with a thud.
“No!” Kat
screamed and raced toward the two. The dog looked away from the dying
stag toward Kat. His lips peeled back in a slathering snarl. His
muscles tensed to leap on her, and she cast her eyes around trying to
find a defensive weapon. “Of course!” She cast a defense spell
around herself. The hound lunged toward her and smashed into the
fragile shield. It shattered and pale yellow splinters like glass
scattered through the air. However, it protected Kat for a moment.
The hound rolled aside yelping in pain.
Gathering her
strength, she blasted the dog with a clear message: “Sit!
Stay!” The hound rose to his feet
then plopped his rear end on the forest floor. His tongue lolled from
the side of his opened mouth, and his tail thumped on the ground.
Kat’s jaw
dropped. “Oh! Um, that’s better.” Kat was amazed her command
worked at all. “You stay. That’s a good dog.” She stepped
slowly toward Sianach but kept her attention on the dog, watching for
any change in his now friendly demeanor.
“Oh, no!
Sianach?” She dropped to one knee by the deer and placed her hand
on his brow. Eyelids fluttered and then opened. Sianach looked up at
her. In a weak voice, he said, “That was fun.” He then jerked
himself upright and stood. Kat jumped back, astounded as she watched
the wound close, the blood slow, and then stop.
Kat glanced at
the dog and saw that he stayed put. She didn’t know whether to keep
watch on the mutt or try to do something to help Sianach. However,
the stag was rapidly healing and soon seemed unharmed, except for the
drying blood on his neck.
“What? How?”
Kat stammered. But Sianach was not your average, everyday red deer;
he was a creature of magic. It shouldn’t surprise her he couldn’t
be killed.
Turning her
attention back to the dog, she looked him over with interest. His
shoulder was as tall as her own. The dog’s shaggy fur coat was a
startling, and quite attractive, forest green, and he sported a long,
braided tail. By the shape of his blocky head and the size of his
jowls, Kat thought he must be a mastiff.
“Just what is
going on here?” she asked, planting her fists on her hips and
glaring at both creatures.
Sianach stepped
toward Kat and pointed his rack toward the dog. “Our apologies,
Kat. We did not mean to frighten you.”
Kat looked back and forth at the two
legendary beings. She closed her mouth when she realized she’d been
gaping. “You scared the stuffing out of me!”
“I would not
want to do that. I imagine you need your stuffing. Meet my good
friend, Cusith. Cusith, this is Kat, a witch from a far off land.”
The dog raised
his right paw. Kat hesitated, her adrenaline still pumping.
“I would not
have harmed you,” Cusith said. Kat took his paw and shook it.
Kat shrugged off
the scare and nodded to the big dog. “I’m pleased to meet you,
Cusith?”
“Pleased to
meet you, young witch.”
Sianach said,
“We’ve been good friends for years. Since neither of us have any
of our own kind to match ourselves against, we fight with each other
for practice. All in good fun, naturally.”
“Yeah, right.
Good fun. You nearly gave me a heart attack. I thought Cusith killed
you, Sianach.”
Both hound and
stag broke out in laughter. Cusith with woofs coming up from deep in
his chest. Sianach with a weird combination between a snort and a
bugle.
“I am truly
sorry. I assumed you’d know the creatures of the magic realm cannot
slay each other; only an outsider can kill us.”
“Well, I didn’t
know,” Kat replied grumpily. But then she tried to laugh with them.
Why not? Everybody was fine, and she learned something new about how
the Otherworld worked. She briefly considered asking whether an
Otherworld creature could kill an outsider. Sianach began to tell
Cusith of their quest, and the thought disappeared as she filled in
details. The giant dog nodded. “Aye, I
could help. After all, my nose is much better than either of yours. I
can probably pick up the scent of the Trow Hall from several miles
away.”
“I’d love to
have you come along, Cusith. I’d never realized there was so much
more to the Highlands than beautiful scenery.” Kat loosened her
tense muscles, relieved the dog was friendly and could be a big help
in the search.
The Emerald City by J.A. Beard
