The next morning, clouds covered the autumn sky above the Bauman’s home, and a light rain had come down throughout the night. Even now, it was dripping off the roof, splashing against the windows, and leaving the trees, shrubs, and meadows across their estate refreshed, vibrant, and lush. It was a perfect day to sleep in, and Aran and Anu were clearly taking advantage of it, although no one else had. The rest of them had awakened early, eaten breakfast, and were now whiling away their time in conversation, staring at their phones, reading, or just simply sitting in front of the fireplace, catching glimpses of the stairway in anticipation of seeing Aran and Anu coming down the stairs.
The Alban Saga is a fantasy trilogy made up of Beatrice, Black Grotto and the new book that I’m writing entitled The Vortex. All three books take place at real locations in Scotland, with actual Scottish history woven into their plot lines. The Vortex begins just as Black Grotto ends. Bea Bauman, a young Druid Priestess, is brought into the future by an ancient prophet named Erin. She cannot resist his call. He reaches for her from the center of the Vortex inside the Black Grotto, and she takes his hand, leaving her family and friends behind as she travels with him through time and space.
Just as Bea enters the Vortex, Aran Brodie, who has become a close and dear companion, cannot let Bea go alone into the void. He jumps in after her. For a time, they travel together inside the violent maelstrom, but they cannot maintain their grip on one another and become separated and lose consciousness. When Bea finally awakens, she finds herself at the Stones of Calanais in the year 2026 - three years in the future - staring into the eyes of Erin the prophet. In the meantime, Aran Brodie is expelled from the Vortex at the same location as Bea, but his exit casts him over 4500 years into the past where he finds himself surrounded by primordial Druids in search of a human sacrifice.
As all of this is going on, another character from the previous books also finds herself at the Stones of Calanais in the year 2026. Her name is Obsidian. For years now, she has been an acolyte in the grove of an extraordinarily powerful Druid Priestess named Brenna. Brenna brought Obsidian with her to this time and place to help her battle her nemesis, but Brenna is overcome and vanishes. Saddened and distraught, Obsidian is left alone without a way to return to her own time. She wanders aimlessly for days, but then remembers something that Brenna once shared with her. A Druid, even more powerful than Brenna, lives somewhere near the Stones of Calanais. She is called The Keeper. Obsidian sets out to find her in the hope that she can bring Brenna back and restore her to her former greatness and power.
The Vortex carries forth the story of the Alban Saga, weaving the plot lines of the three books into a surprising and volatile romp through time, space, and Scottish history. This dangerous and risky journey will either end in the past being completely reshaped, leading to a malevolent and dire future, or… the current timeline will remain untouched and safe for the development of humankind. Bea Bauman will be at the center of this struggle. She will attempt to unravel and countermand whomever or whatever is trying to alter history, while also dealing with her feelings for Aran, her fear for his survival, and having to navigate the treacherous intricacies of traveling through time and space via The Vortex.
On the morning of Bea’s twenty-first birthday, the break of dawn arrived behind a thick layer of fog, burying the land beneath for most of the night. Bea, too, had been buried…stretched out under a thick, warm comforter, sleeping soundly - unmoving and dreamless - as the minute hand of her bedside clock ticked through its circular arc and the sun began to journey across the sky. The light outside her window had not yet attained the correct angle to enter her bedroom and nudge her awake, but it had brightened and warmed the air enough to fully dissipate the remaining fog and the bothersome midges that were much better suited to cool and dark than to sunlight. Beneath that same window, the earth and rocks of the meadows and forests of Bea’s family estate had also started to soak up the sun’s rays, releasing puffs of vaporous steam into the air and adding their own type of beauty to the morning. But Bea…she remained oblivious to it all.
The Alban Saga is a fantasy trilogy made up of Beatrice, Black Grotto and the new book that I’m writing entitled The Vortex. All three books take place at real locations in Scotland, with actual Scottish history woven into their plot lines. The Vortex begins just as Black Grotto ends. Bea Bauman, a young Druid Priestess, is brought into the future by an ancient prophet named Erin. She cannot resist his call. He reaches for her from the center of the Vortex inside the Black Grotto, and she takes his hand, leaving her family and friends behind as she travels with him through time and space.
Just as Bea enters the Vortex, Aran Brodie, who has become a close and dear companion, cannot let Bea go alone into the void. He jumps in after her. For a time, they travel together inside the violent maelstrom, but they cannot maintain their grip on one another and become separated and lose consciousness. When Bea finally awakens, she finds herself at the Stones of Calanais in the year 2026 - three years in the future - staring into the eyes of Erin the prophet. In the meantime, Aran Brodie is expelled from the Vortex at the same location as Bea, but his exit casts him over 4500 years into the past where he finds himself surrounded by primordial Druids in search of a human sacrifice.
As all of this is going on, another character from the previous books also finds herself at the Stones of Calanais in the year 2026. Her name is Obsidian. For years now, she has been an acolyte in the grove of an extraordinarily powerful Druid Priestess named Brenna. Brenna brought Obsidian with her to this time and place to help her battle her nemesis, but Brenna is overcome and vanishes. Saddened and distraught, Obsidian is left alone without a way to return to her own time. She wanders aimlessly for days, but then remembers something that Brenna once shared with her. A Druid, even more powerful than Brenna, lives somewhere near the Stones of Calanais. She is called The Keeper. Obsidian sets out to find her in the hope that she can bring Brenna back and restore her to her former greatness and power.
The Vortex carries forth the story of the Alban Saga, weaving the plot lines of the three books into a surprising and volatile romp through time, space, and Scottish history. This dangerous and risky journey will either end in the past being completely reshaped, leading to a malevolent and dire future, or… the current timeline will remain untouched and safe for the development of humankind. Bea Bauman will be at the center of this struggle. She will attempt to unravel and countermand whomever or whatever is trying to alter history, while also dealing with her feelings for Aran, her fear for his survival, and having to navigate the treacherous intricacies of traveling through time and space via The Vortex.
As the deep of night further enfolded the multitudes that were gathered round the Stones, the temperature continued to drop, issuing forth countless billows of steam that rose amongst them under the crystal-clear bubble of darkness. Nervously awaiting the grand ceremony, everyone either gazed upwards into the velvety-black sky, bespeckled with millions and millions of tiny pinpricks of blinking light, or they cast their eyes towards the round, full face of the dazzling Harvest-Supermoon as it crossed behind the Southern Hills, outlining The Old Woman of the Moors. To a person, all of them could sense that the critical events of that night had begun to unfold. This triggered their moods and perceptions of reality to swing chaotically in a constant cycle of emotional flux, vacillating between excited anticipation to ominous foreboding to uncertainty to wonder.
The Alban Saga is a fantasy trilogy made up of Beatrice, Black Grotto and the new book that I’m writing entitled The Vortex. All three books take place at real locations in Scotland, with actual Scottish history woven into their plot lines. The Vortex begins just as Black Grotto ends. Bea Bauman, a young Druid Priestess, is brought into the future by an ancient prophet named Erin. She cannot resist his call. He reaches for her from the center of the Vortex inside the Black Grotto, and she takes his hand, leaving her family and friends behind as she travels with him through time and space.
Just as Bea enters the Vortex, Aran Brodie, who has become a close and dear companion, cannot let Bea go alone into the void. He jumps in after her. For a time, they travel together inside the violent maelstrom, but they cannot maintain their grip on one another and become separated and lose consciousness. When Bea finally awakens, she finds herself at the Stones of Calanais in the year 2026 - three years in the future - staring into the eyes of Erin the prophet. In the meantime, Aran Brodie is expelled from the Vortex at the same location as Bea, but his exit casts him over 4500 years into the past where he finds himself surrounded by primordial Druids in search of a human sacrifice.
As all of this is going on, another character from the previous books also finds herself at the Stones of Calanais in the year 2026. Her name is Obsidian. For years now, she has been an acolyte in the grove of an extraordinarily powerful Druid Priestess named Brenna. Brenna brought Obsidian with her to this time and place to help her battle her nemesis, but Brenna is overcome and vanishes. Saddened and distraught, Obsidian is left alone without a way to return to her own time. She wanders aimlessly for days, but then remembers something that Brenna once shared with her. A Druid, even more powerful than Brenna, lives somewhere near the Stones of Calanais. She is called The Keeper. Obsidian sets out to find her in the hope that she can bring Brenna back and restore her to her former greatness and power.
The Vortex carries forth the story of the Alban Saga, weaving the plot lines of the three books into a surprising and volatile romp through time, space, and Scottish history. This dangerous and risky journey will either end in the past being completely reshaped, leading to a malevolent and dire future, or… the current timeline will remain untouched and safe for the development of humankind. Bea Bauman will be at the center of this struggle. She will attempt to unravel and countermand whomever or whatever is trying to alter history, while also dealing with her feelings for Aran, her fear for his survival, and having to navigate the treacherous intricacies of traveling through time and space via The Vortex.
The Alban Saga is a fantasy trilogy made up of Beatrice, Black Grotto and the new book that I’m writing entitled The Vortex. All three books take place at real locations in Scotland, with actual Scottish history woven into their plot lines. The Vortex begins just as Black Grotto ends. Bea Bauman, a young Druid Priestess, is brought into the future by an ancient prophet named Erin. She cannot resist his call. He reaches for her from the center of the Vortex inside the Black Grotto, and she takes his hand, leaving her family and friends behind as she travels with him through time and space.
Just as Bea enters the Vortex, Aran Brodie, who has become a close and dear companion, cannot let Bea go alone into the void. He jumps in after her. For a time, they travel together inside the violent maelstrom, but they cannot maintain their grip on one another and become separated and lose consciousness. When Bea finally awakens, she finds herself at the Stones of Calanais in the year 2026 - three years in the future - staring into the eyes of Erin the prophet. In the meantime, Aran Brodie is expelled from the Vortex at the same location as Bea, but his exit casts him over 4500 years into the past where he finds himself surrounded by primordial Druids in search of a human sacrifice.
As all of this is going on, another character from the previous books also finds herself at the Stones of Calanais in the year 2026. Her name is Obsidian. For years now, she has been an acolyte in the grove of an extraordinarily powerful Druid Priestess named Brenna. Brenna brought Obsidian with her to this time and place to help her battle her nemesis, but Brenna is overcome and vanishes. Saddened and distraught, Obsidian is left alone without a way to return to her own time. She wanders aimlessly for days, but then remembers something that Brenna once shared with her. A Druid, even more powerful than Brenna, lives somewhere near the Stones of Calanais. She is called The Keeper. Obsidian sets out to find her in the hope that she can bring Brenna back and restore her to her former greatness and power.
The Vortex carries forth the story of the Alban Saga, weaving the plot lines of the three books into a surprising and volatile romp through time, space, and Scottish history. This dangerous and risky journey will either end in the past being completely reshaped, leading to a malevolent and dire future, or… the current timeline will remain untouched and safe for the development of humankind. Bea Bauman will be at the center of this struggle. She will attempt to unravel and countermand whomever or whatever is trying to alter history, while also dealing with her feelings for Aran, her fear for his survival, and having to navigate the treacherous intricacies of traveling through time and space via The Vortex.
The Alban Saga is a fantasy trilogy made up of Beatrice, Black Grotto and the new book that I’m writing entitled The Vortex. All three books take place at real locations in Scotland, with actual Scottish history woven into their plot lines. The Vortex begins just as Black Grotto ends. Bea Bauman, a young Druid Priestess, is brought into the future by an ancient prophet named Erin. She cannot resist his call. He reaches for her from the center of the Vortex inside the Black Grotto, and she takes his hand, leaving her family and friends behind as she travels with him through time and space.
Just as Bea enters the Vortex, Aran Brodie, who has become a close and dear companion, cannot let Bea go alone into the void. He jumps in after her. For a time, they travel together inside the violent maelstrom, but they cannot maintain their grip on one another and become separated and lose consciousness. When Bea finally awakens, she finds herself at the Stones of Calanais in the year 2026 - three years in the future - staring into the eyes of Erin the prophet. In the meantime, Aran Brodie is expelled from the Vortex at the same location as Bea, but his exit casts him over 4500 years into the past where he finds himself surrounded by primordial Druids in search of a human sacrifice.
As all of this is going on, another character from the previous books also finds herself at the Stones of Calanais in the year 2026. Her name is Obsidian. For years now, she has been an acolyte in the grove of an extraordinarily powerful Druid Priestess named Brenna. Brenna brought Obsidian with her to this time and place to help her battle her nemesis, but Brenna is overcome and vanishes. Saddened and distraught, Obsidian is left alone without a way to return to her own time. She wanders aimlessly for days, but then remembers something that Brenna once shared with her. A Druid, even more powerful than Brenna, lives somewhere near the Stones of Calanais. She is called The Keeper. Obsidian sets out to find her in the hope that she can bring Brenna back and restore her to her former greatness and power.
The Vortex carries forth the story of the Alban Saga, weaving the plot lines of the three books into a surprising and volatile romp through time, space, and Scottish history. This dangerous and risky journey will either end in the past being completely reshaped, leading to a malevolent and dire future, or… the current timeline will remain untouched and safe for the development of humankind. Bea Bauman will be at the center of this struggle. She will attempt to unravel and countermand whomever or whatever is trying to alter history, while also dealing with her feelings for Aran, her fear for his survival, and having to navigate the treacherous intricacies of traveling through time and space via The Vortex.
Standing and leaning her shoulder against the door jamb, Bea stared at the open window on the far side of Fiona and Doug’s bedroom. The sun had risen just enough to allow its rays to pierce the opening and splay out across the room. It imbued all that it touched with the soft glow of early morning light, including the shrouded body of ... still lying across the bed.
As fall began to sweep across the Isle of Lewis, altering the circadian rhythms of every living thing, the temperatures dropped and the days became shorter. Summer's end always seemed to carry with it a bit of sadness, though autumn, in its own right, was still a magnificent time of year. It almost felt good to add an extra layer of clothing, cozy up to a peat fire in the evening with an elegant dram of whisky, and, because the nights were now longer and darker, it was also possible for the residents of Stornoway to view astronomical events unavailable to them during the long days of summer. The northern lights could sometimes be seen when the horizon was devoid of cloud or rain, coating the black canvas of the northern sky with vibrant brushstrokes of green, red, orange, pink, or yellow.
Furthermore, fall was typically a time when the locals had more time to relax and do things for themselves and with their families without having to deal with as many tourists. However, this autumn had not allowed them that luxury. It had been marked by the rise, once again, of the Stornoway Grove of Druids, led by their new High Priestess, Una Murray, and nothing had been the same in their small town since her arrival. And now, in a little over two weeks, it seemed that another event was to occur that, if the rumours were to be believed, could alter their lives even further. In fact, it was said that it was of such great import that, if it actually did come to fruition, its impact could be significant enough to alter not only how people lived in Stornoway but all across the globe. It was referred to as the Ascension Ceremony, and not a great deal was known about it outside the close-knit Druid community. The only thing that the locals knew for certain was that it was said to involve some type of transformation of the High Priestess and that it would occur very early in the morning on 18 September when the Harvest Moon began its journey across the sky.
With all the preparations and the arrival of throngs of people via planes and ferries, life for the High Priestess and her grove of acolytes continued at a frenetic pace, but it did not just affect them. The whole town had been inundated with more people than it could handle – even more than during the busiest of tourist seasons. In point of fact, the town’s population, which normally was about seven thousand, was currently over eight and continued to increase almost daily. Businesses were so swamped that they could hardly keep up, and the establishments that usually housed tourists had quickly run out of room. The town’s residents had to take up the slack and open their own homes to the newcomers.
Una Murray’s grove of acolytes had also become significantly larger. Their numbers had swelled from twenty or so to over two hundred, particularly as word had spread concerning the magical abilities of the High Priestess, the trainings that she’d been providing for her acolytes, and because of all the stories that were swirling about concerning her Ascension Ceremony.
All of which should have left Una Murray feeling extremely positive and confident, especially with so little time left before the ceremony. However, Obsidian, who was Una’s closest confidante, had noticed that the closer her leader was to the actual day, the more worried she'd seemed to be. Logically, Obsidian believed that the reason for this had to be that Una was merely having a very normal response to what would have been, for anyone, an astonishing, life-changing experience. After all, during the time Obsidian had known her High Priestess, she had never seen her behave in such a manner and had never known her to over-think or worry about anything, really. However, despite all the logic that Obsidian could muster to the contrary, she still was unable to shake the feeling that there had to be something else going on.
Una had just finished another meeting with her inner circle, laying out in even more detail the plans for her ascension. Zephyr and Abbey had just left, and Obsidian was about to leave as well when Una waved her over and asked, “Do ye think ye could stay a bit longer. I need t’ talk about something that’s been disturbing me.”
Obsidian laid her bag on the floor, sat down opposite Una, and said, “Go ahead, Una.”
“With the coming of my ascension as the Hermaphrodite, all the work I’m doing to prepare, and because I’m connecting with the Heartwood almost every day now, it hasn’t been unusual for me to dream almost every night. But there was one dream in particular that I had about a month ago that I can’t get out of my head. It was unbelievably real, almost a vision of sorts.”
“What was it about?”
“It happened on the kind of night I normally enjoy. A night when earth’s darkest secrets call to me - when I always light a peat fire, and the flames speak to me of the deepest and most ancient Druid enchantments and lore. On this particular night, though, something felt strange and different to me.
“As on most stormy nights, I was sitting by the fire with a dram of my favorite whisky. The wind was fierce and the rain pounding down on the roof over my head. However, on this wild night, the flames of the fire did not comfort me, nor did the whisky help soothe my nerves. I felt anxious, and when I went to bed I tossed and turned. It took me several hours to get to sleep. When I finally did, it must have been during a particularly deep part of that sleep when I had the dream.”
At that point Una took a sip of tea, collected her thoughts, and then continued. “In the dream, I could sense that someone had entered my cottage. I didn’t know who. I just knew they were there. I could sense their movements outside my bedroom, but for some reason, it didn’t actually wake me up. It wasn’t long, though, before I knew they were inside my bedroom.
“Next to my bed, I always kept the Heartwood in a cloth bag. I like to have it nearby in case I need to use it to answer a question or look into something during the night. The person in my dream seemed to be moving towards me. When they were right next to me, the sounds they made indicated that they had picked up the bag with the Heartwood inside. My pulse quickened, and I began to panic. The Heartwood has always been such an important part of me, and I’ve had it for so long... I didn’t know what to do. I tried to wake up…and felt a great need to protect the Heartwood, but then I stopped as I heard the person whisper something. I listened carefully but couldn’t understand what they were saying. Then, at that very same moment, the dream abruptly disappeared from my mind, and I fell back into a deep and peaceful slumber.
“I must have stayed that way for some time, but gradually my concern and worry about the dream resurfaced, and this time, I actually woke up, rolled over, and reached for the bag… I felt immense relief! The bag lay where it always had, and the Heartwood was still inside.
Then the sound of the raging storm outside, still pounding against my bedroom window, caught my attention. I sat up and tried to look through the glass, but in truth, I could hardly see beyond my outstretched hand – my bedroom almost completely devoid of light. It was then that the memory of the dream resurfaced. It had seemed so real to me. I tried to use my senses, despite the storm and the inky blackness, to make sure that no one was actually in my home. As I did, I heard a brushing sound, and out of the corner of one of my eyes, I couldn’t help thinking that I saw the shadow of someone stepping out of my bedroom and vanishing. I knew it was probably just my imagination, but I had to know one way or the other. I quickly lit a candle on my bedside table, got out of bed, and checked everywhere in the cottage. I heard no other noises and saw no other shadows. Everything seemed exactly as I’d left it before going to bed.
“My heart was pounding. Part of me thought that it had all been real, but another part knew it was simply a dream. Then my mind returned to the Heartwood, and I walked back into my bedroom. I took it out of the bag, and engaged with it. If there had been someone in my cottage, and they had touched it or tried to use it, I would have known. But, just as my cottage did not show any evidence of the shadow I’d seen, the Heartwood did the same. No one had touched it or tried to join with it.
“Gradually…I slept a bit more, but only in fits and starts. And as I mentioned before, the dream was so real and unusual that it has bothered me every day since. What d’ye think, Obsidian? Could it have been real? D’ye think someone was here?”
Obsidian could easily see that Una had been profoundly affected by the dream she’d had. She didn’t want to give Una an answer without thinking carefully about it. It took her a few moments, but then she finally said, “Una, I know how important the Heartwood is to you, and I know you’re constantly thinking about your upcoming ascension. Deep inside, within your subconscious mind, I’m sure you have a great many worries and concerns about someone stopping you from becoming the Hermaphrodite. Anyone in your situation, with all that pressure and with so many people counting on you, would be. But to me…it doesn’t sound as if anyone was really here. Your dream, most likely, came from an extremely deep and heavy sleep where all of your worries coalesced into that terrible nightmare. It has to be that! Don’t you think?”
Una nodded and agreed. “Aye…you’re probably right, but just to be safe, especially with my ascension so close, I’m going to place a protection spell around my cottage every night. It will wake me if anyone tries to enter. I’ll sleep better that way…”
Then Obsidian noticed a red blaze in the pupils of Una’s eyes and a flash of anger in her voice as she said, “And…if anyone does try to make their way inside, they won’t live to talk about it. That I’ll guarantee…!”
Over the previous days and nights, Aran had lain in the tall grass in two distinct forms of hell. In one, he was completely comatose, in a deep fog of unconsciousness - a black, empty hole of non-existence. In the other, he endured a partial awareness, just cognizant enough to comprehend that something horrible was causing him severe confusion, pain, and suffering. In those moments, he could feel himself screaming for help and sense his body struggling mightily against whatever was inside him.
Then, without warning, his situation was altered. He no longer felt as utterly alone and desolate. Something or someone had arrived, providing a bit of solace and comfort. For the first time since entering this living nightmare, a calmness began to wash over him. He could sense the light of reality far off in the distance, and in that moment, he felt the touch of another human being, first on his shoulder and then his face - a hand brushing across his forehead.
Aran desperately wanted to open his eyes and speak, but as of yet, that was impossible. He was still held in the grip of incongruity and confusion. He did the only thing he could. He transformed his focus from what was going on inside to whomever it was that had touched him. The change was small but significant.
Then something else entered his awareness...
BLACK GROTTO
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