The Vortex: Book III of the Alban Saga
Below, I've included the beginning three paragraphs of Chapter 8. Those of you who have read the other two books in the Alban Saga will recognize the characters mentioned in this section.
Chapter 8
Bea’s Quest
15 December 2026
The sound of birds nearby engaged in their early morning calls was the first thing that touched Bea’s senses. She felt drugged and dizzy and couldn’t open her eyes without the world spinning about her. She felt ill, but the bird songs calmed her. The first rays of the rising sun lit up the undersides of her eyelids, and she stretched to rouse herself and fight off her nauseating sickness. As she did, a slight breeze floated over her skin and caused what sounded like the rustle of leaves overhead. Flexing her fingers, she also noticed damp blades of grass beneath her. She clutched and pulled at them, continuing to fight her way back to consciousness.
With her eyes still shut, she began to recall what had happened. She had just left Erin standing outside the Cave of Dreams and had used her magic, her staff, and the power of her mind to call up a Vortex. She had guided its direction and purpose with a vision of the location and time of her first destination. She was to travel inside the walls of the ancient city of Edinburgh on 1 June, 1566 and arrive near the base of a hill leading up to its great castle. Of course, she had never seen it during that time period, so Erin had helped her place the correct picture in her mind allowing her to arrive at the safest spot during the best time of day in order to avoid being discovered. She also remembered him telling her that on this first attempt at using the Vortex she might lose consciousness as she neared her destination, especially considering she would be traveling over such a long and difficult expanse of time. If she did, he urged her to allow herself to first recover from the journey and then determine if she had made it to the correct place and time – all this before beginning her search for Obsidian.
Not only was she nauseated from the journey, her whole body ached, including her head. It pounded terribly, but she had to ignore her symptoms as much as she could and force herself to become fully aware and mobile. She didn’t want to lay there incapacitated very long. So, she stretched and slowly raised the heavy lids of her eyes. Forcing them open and beginning to focus on the area around her, she sat up slowly and noticed that she was hidden within a small copse of trees on a sloping hillside. She was alone, at least for the moment. Glancing up the hill, she could see the walls of what looked like Edinburgh Castle.
