December 21, 2014. 8:36am

Caerwent, UK

Ériu

“What’s wrong with his voice?” were the next words out of the small woman’s mouth.

Morias let out a hearty chuckle. “He has an American accent.”

“It sounds weird.” She looked at me out of the corner of her eye.

“Uh…” I muttered before she cut me off again.

“Don’t talk, it hurts my head.”

“Tell me about it,” Morias said as he jabbed me softly in the ribs.

I just stood there, my mouth still wide open. She was about 3 feet tall with short dark hair. She had pointed ears that were nearly long enough to reach the top of her head. And her eyes were larger than mine, made up almost entirely of iris. It was as if her irises were made of green and yellow flecks of glitter, all swirling around and covering the pupils in a halo of color.

“You act like you ain’t never seen a fairy before, kid.” The tiny woman smirked as she looked me up and down. “And you dropped your rock.”

Morias grunted as he leaned over to pick up the stone. He held it out to me. When I didn’t reach to take it, he lifted my hand and placed the stone in my palm. “Fíadan Ellyllon,” he repeated her name more slowly this time, holding my gaze.

The woman peered at me. “Did I break him?”

“Bren has no memory of you. He has no memory of the night he was brought to Ériu. He has no memory of Annwn.”

“What does he remember?”

Morias looked at me again. “He remembers everything in Ériu. I was hoping the sunrise would bring back some of those first memories in Annwn.”

The Fairy stared at me and rose to hover in the air. She came close, and I could see into her prismatic eyes. They were hypnotizing. A long moment passed without any sound save for the wind on the barren hillside. Her hand whipped up to slap me.

“Hey!” I said, taking a step away from her. “What was that for?”

“You got to wake up now, chief. Playtime’s over.”

Morias shook his head. “Fí, I don’t think that will help.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Well, how do you propose we jog his memory?”

“We must take Bren home, as HE would have wanted. Perhaps that will rekindle some of those early memories.”

Fíadan froze, then squinted toward the sky.

“What is it?” I asked.

She waved at me to be quiet. “Quiet kid. You hear that, Morias?”

They both listened to the howling of the wind for a moment, and then I heard it, too. From back the way we had come, down toward the bottom of the hill, came the distant sound of thunder.

“Ahhhhhh, great!” Fíadan grumbled. “I didn’t expect them to find him that fast.”

A chill visibly went through Morias and a look of understanding spread across the large man’s face. “I see on my cloak the stains of age... For I am cold indeed.” His words had taken on a sing-song tone, as if he was reciting a song or a poem.

Fíadan looked toward the source of the thunder and picked up where. Morias had left off. “The Stone of the Kings... long since storms reached their cheeks…”

The three of us stood there, in the gray hours of the morning, with the cliff’s edge at our back, for another moment. It was then that I saw her. Coming toward us, against the wind, floated an ugly woman the size of a parade float. She had wrinkled blue skin and dirty white hair, and in her right hand, she held a massive hammer.

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“Now I drink among shriveled old hags…” Fíadan’s voice trailed off as the corner of her lips drew up in a sly, wicked smile. She had blades in her hands suddenly, a long blade from her back and a short one from her hip.

“What the hell is that thing?” I looked to Morias for reassurance.

“Cailleach Bhéara,” he said softly.

“English please!”

“Hag of Beara, numb nuts!” Fíadan yelled without looking at me.

“The spirit of winter itself,” Morias said helpfully.

“Is she… uh… dangerous?” I wasn’t entirely sure what I was even asking. Morias and Fíadan both turned to look at me like I was stupid.

“Everything that comes across the veil is dangerous for this world.” I watched as Fíadan’s muscles tensed like she was about to spring forward.

“Wait,” Morias placed a gentle hand on the small woman’s shoulder. “There is another way.”

“Nah…” she replied with an expression of resignation. “I don’t think there is.”

Morias held her gaze and gestured at me. “Bren has the stone.”

Fíadan’s eyes flashed to the stone in my hands for a brief second and then back up to me. “Do you know how to use that, kid?”

A cackle of high-pitched laughter rose over the sound of the wind. The thunderclaps had turned into a general rolling rumble, growing louder as the hag approached.

“Let’s just jump. You can fly and I probably won’t die…” My eyes landed on my overweight caretaker. “Oh…”

“Bren!” Morias shouted over the rising wind and thunder. “The Stone…has it spoken to you?”

“What? No. What are you talking about?” I looked at the rock in my hand.

Fíadan shook her head and bounded forward, blades flashing in the early morning light.

The hag, also flying, charged forward, and the two met in the air over the frosty ground. Fíadan was fast, but the large form of the hag seemed to possess a preternatural agility. Her form accelerated, twisting in a parry with the hammer. Fíadan’s blades struck the head and sparks fanned out across the hillside.

I don’t know how to describe the feelings that overtook my body. I had never, as far as I could remember, felt this way before. The scene in front of me was literally out of this world. It was like watching a car accident or experiencing a natural disaster. It was happening, but it felt unreal.

I turned to Morias. “What do we do?”

“We should get you back down the hill to the standing stones.”

“What about Fí?” I asked, choosing to use the shorter name I had heard Morias use.

“She is doing her duty.” He began to move around the fighting pair. “Come!”

I followed, but kept a close eye on the combat, not knowing whether I was doing the right thing. The two continued to swing at each other, both unable to connect a blow. As we made our way past them, back the way we had come, I saw the cloak of the hag wrap itself around Fíadan.

“Wait!” I called to Morias, who was moving faster than I had ever seen him move. He didn’t hear me over the cacophony of sounds around us.

I’m not sure why I did what I did next. I wasn’t thinking any brave thoughts. I don’t even recall feeling a particularly close connection to the fairy who was attempting to protect us. But before I knew how or why, my feet were taking me away from Morias, back toward Fíadan.

“What are you doing, you idiot?” I heard Fí shout as the cloak of the hag twisted itself tighter around her body. Her weapons fell to the ground.

The hag cackled loudly as she held Fíadan aloft. She raised her hammer high. The crushing blow was about to strike the fairy, and I knew that I had to do something fast. Without anything else in my proverbial tool belt, I threw the only weapon I had at the hag, the stone.

I realize that this was arguably the worst thing I could have done. After all, Fíadan had engaged the hag to save us, and instead of running away, I had gone back to battle the very spirit of winter. I had no weapons, and I decided to throw an actual relic to the “bad guy.” All bad decisions. I’m willing to admit that now.

That is why when the rock expanded to its full size and slammed the hag to the ground, I paused to consider my next actions.

“That worked pretty well.“ I watched the hag wail beneath the weight of the large stone. And though it was heavier than anything I could ever lift, the hag was still somehow sliding the stone off her body. She would be free soon.

Fí was at my side before I even realized she was free. She had recovered her blades and was looking at me with a mixture of gratitude and extreme shock. The look passed quickly.

She scowled. “What is wrong with you?”

“Uh… you’re welcome,” I said, confused.

“You and that stone are worth more than the life of an Ellyllon. Get out of here!”

“Look out!” I pushed us both out of the way of a clawed hand the size of a small SUV.

Fíadan readied her blades again just as the hag pushed the stone fully off her undulating form and rose to her full height. She raised her massive hammer above us.

Fí grabbed my arm, pushing me behind her. “Stay behind me.”

“What good is that? You’re three feet tall!” And for the first time, I heard Fí laugh. She smiled and braced for the hammer strike.

I instinctively raised my hands to ward off the blow, and to my surprise, the palm-sized stone flew back into my hand. Just as the hammer connected with us, the stone expanded its form into what can only be described as “shield-shaped.”

The hag flew backward as if being propelled by an explosion. The blow knocked Fí and me to the ground as well, but except for numbing my right arm, we were mostly unharmed. The same could not be said for the Stone of Destiny. The shield had changed back into a palm-sized rock, only now it lay before us in two broken pieces.

“What have you done?” Fíadan looked horrified. “Get the stones and go!”

I didn’t argue. I grabbed the broken pieces of the stone and ran as fast as I could. I didn’t look back. Fí led me to Morias, who was standing at the highest standing stone upon the hill.

The swirling colors were back, and again, they were changing the landscape around me. I knew, based on what Morias had said, that I was seeing the hill throughout the decades and centuries. The color was giving me a glimpse of the past.

“Touch the stone,” Morias said. I did as I was told, and he nodded to Fíadan.

She nodded back, then turned to me. “Get ready, kid. You think things are weird now…just wait!”

And with that, the colors flooded my senses, and the world I was used to faded from my vision.