Solstice - The Goddess Awakens

Walking through the warren of tents, Lola stopped when they came to a small circular stone cottage at the edge of the site. It was like the small satellite mounds that where dotted throughout the Boyne Valley, but Lola cold tell that this building was modern. The enchanting cottage had two small windows in the front and a wooden door with a grass roof. Pots of herbs lay along the window sills, and at the side of the house a vegetable plot housed potatoes, carrots, lettuce and other vegetables, which Lola couldn’t identify. It looked so quaint.

There was an open fire built into a small forge, with black pots and a hot plate for cooking. From the outside the cottage looked tiny and Lola wasn’t entirely sure that they would all fit in. As they approached the door, Daithi lifted Aibgrene, her shrieks of laughter echoing over the site. Pushing the door open with his foot, he carried her over the threshold. Lola hesitated outside, feeling a little like a third wheel. Aibgrene and Daithi hadn’t seen each other in a while so she guessed that they could do with some time alone.

‘What are you doing, Lo? Come in.’

‘It’s okay, guys. I’m going to go for a walk, you two need a bit of time on your own.’

Aibgrene was about to protest, but Lola remained adamant.

‘Really, Aibgrene, I need to stretch my legs, it was intense coming down the road, and a bit of fresh air will do me the world of good.’

‘Okay, but at least let us show you where you’ll be sleeping,’ said Aibgrene, seeming quite excited at the prospect, which made Lola instantly suspicious.

A night under the stars was preferable to sleeping in the cottage with the soon-to-be husband and wife, so she was delighted when Daithi and Aibgrene led her to the side of the house where an old horse-drawn caravan sat. It was one of the most beautiful things Lola had ever seen. The long cylinder caravan had been fully restored; it’s turquoise roof and red inset looked as though it had been freshly painted. Five small steps curved up to the entrance of the wagon, which had a hand-painted stable door.

Stepping inside Lola was completely enchanted. At the bottom, the main feature was a sofabed, which had two posts. The green satin bedding reminded Lola of Aibgrene’s wispy apple-green aura. The padded cushions and pillows that lay scattered on the sofa bed were a pallet of varying shades of green. There was a wooden frame around the bed, and muslin draping from the two white wooden posts. Much to Lola’s surprise there was a tiny shower cupboard and toilet. At the entrance lay a minute kitchen space with a bench, some old cupboards and a small wood burner. It was so bohemian and Lola fell instantly in love with its charm. She could imagine herself quite happily living there, giving up the modern world travelling from place to place, packing up her troubles as she went.

‘So what do you think, Lo? Do you like it?’ asked Aibgrene and Daithi in unison.

‘It’s fabulous guys, I could live here. Did you do it up yourself, Daithi?’

‘Yeah, it’s a present for Aibgrene. It has been in my family for years. It still needs a bit of work, but I’m getting there.’

‘A present?’ said Lola turning to Aibgrene, getting ready to list the many reasons why she couldn’t possibly stay in it first. But, for the second time her friend anticipated her reaction.

‘Don’t start, Lola, we are only too happy to have you stay in it.’

Dropping her things Lola lifted Arthur’s cardigan off the top of the pile.

‘Thank you both so much, it’s really great. I’m going to head back up to the hill. I’ll see you in a while.’

When Lola emerged up the side of hill she was startled by how much the vast sea of green had been transformed. In the short space of time that she’d been down below, the huge marquee that Daithi had abandoned earlier was now fully erect, and a steady flow of foot traffic flowed in and out of it as tables and sheets of linen, glasses and cutlery were brought inside. Not really sure where to go, Lola headed for the mound of the Nine Hostages. This was where Niall, one of the great Irish High Kings of Tara, was said to have kept nine royal hostages in order to keep his enemies at bay. Sitting down on the grassy mound, Lola wrapped Arthur’s worn cardigan around her body. Inhaling its scent resurrected so many happy, but painful memories.

It amazed her how something as simple as a smell could trigger such bitter-sweet emotions. Lola missed him desperately. Every day she thought about him and every day she missed him more and more. She thought sometimes that she could hear him, especially when she was in Brook Mill Manor. Just the other day when she was passing the book room, she could have sworn she heard him calling her name and she could have sworn that she heard his familiar footsteps padding along the carpeted floor, but when she turned to see, she was alone.

The truth was that his loss was still very raw and the constant ache that gnawed at her stomach could only, at best, be ignored. Now that she was in Tara, Lola understood that she needed him now more than ever. She wondered how he had ever let her become so embroiled in this madness. What was she meant to do?

As she sat tangled in her own questions, the small signet ring around her neck began to pulse. Instinctively, without actually knowing why, or how, Lola climbed to her feet and descended the mound. She moved to the other side of the tent, where the second largest mound lay, which displayed a large phallic stone, carved from granite. Lola absently walked towards it, examining the bright white haze emanating from the stone as it beckoned her towards it. Like a magnet, the ring chain began to pull and tug at Lola’s neck as if it too recognised the stone’s energy field. Lola’s vision began to blur and her head felt light as she stood inches away from the Lia Fail.

Closing her eyes, she felt as though she was spinning around and around, getting faster and faster. She could hear a female voice, at first it was a soft whisper but as the spinning intensified the voice grew louder and more audible.

‘Cad a thagann faireim leirionn gan,’ said the mysterious female voice.

‘What lies within, reflects without,’ repeated Lola rhythmically, as she forced her eyes open.

Suddenly the entire Boyne valley was rotating around her, but all her eyes could focus on was the large stone, as she repeated the words that were carried on the wind. She felt at one with the ancient rock. Its magnetism was overwhelming like nothing she had ever felt before. Her body was tingling all over and she felt cold and warm at the same time. She reached out to touch the stone and her hands could feel the warmth of the force field around it, but her fingers fell short of the stone itself. The voice began to intensify, until Lola fell, losing consciousness.

She was running through a dark forest, guided only by her instincts and the light of the full moon. Snow had begun to fall as it blanketed the soft needled floor below her feet. Cold panic rose in her stomach as she realised that her pursuers would be able to see her trail, but she didn’t have time to worry about that, she had very little time left as it was almost dawn. She had to get to the temple.

Reaching for her hip she grasped for the comfort of her sword and wound her snow-white hand gratefully around its hilt. The item she carried stirred as its white light crept out through the bag’s thick stitching. She could tell that it too sensed that it was almost home. A loud bark ripped through the still night air forcing her feet to move ever faster and although the snow muffled their frenzied shouts, Lola could tell whoever was chasing her was closing in. Drawing the silver sword from its sheath, Lola caught a reflection of her jade green eyes, which at first looked like they belonged to her. But they were harder than hers, more defiant. Then she saw it, flowing in the soft breeze, and a flash of flaming red hair. In moment of lucidness, Lola realised that features reflected in the swords steely gaze were not her own.

‘LOLA. LOLA!’ Aibgrene’s panicked voice drifted closer as Lola woke to find herself sprawled out on the bed of the wagon. Aibgrene was wiping the sweat from her clammy face with a cool flannel. She felt as though she’d been run though a spin cycle and spat out.

‘What happened, Aibgrene?’

But Aibgrene only answered with another question. ‘How are you feeling? Are you hurt?’ she asked softly.

‘Hurt? What happened? How did I get here?’ demanded Lola.

‘Sean said he saw you standing by the Lia Fail, he said that you were murmuring something in Irish and then you collapsed. He couldn’t bring you around, so he carried you down here to us.’

‘Carried me. How did he manage that?’ quizzed Lola still disorientated and suddenly mortified all at once. This only made Aibgrene laugh.

‘You’re hardly the heaviest person, Lola, plus Sean is quite well put together, I’m sure it wasn’t too hard for him.’

Stepping to the side Aibgrene motioned towards the caravan door. Lola’s head still felt fuzzy, but she could see Daithi standing outside in deep conversation with a tall, fair-haired boy. He towered over Daithi, who was over six feet tall, and was quite well built. He wasn’t too bulky, but Lola could see that he would have no trouble carrying her and a few others.

‘I see what you mean,’ she croaked apologetically.

‘Lo?’ asked Aibgrene, sternly. She sat down on the bed taking Lola’s limp hand in hers. ‘What happened up there?’

Lola could sense her anxiety which scared her a bit. Aibgrene was always composed and self-assured, but clearly whatever had happened up on the hill had frightened her.

‘I don’t know,’ she answered honestly. ‘One minute I was standing by that stone, the next I was gone, out cold. It was so strange, it was like a dream. I remember Arthur’s ring began to pulse again and the next thing I was beside the Lia Fail. I can’t describe it but it was as though it had some hold over me. The ring was going crazy. This might sound stupid, Aibgrene, but it was almost as if the two were communicating. It was as if they recognised each other.’

Lola paused, trying to sit up. She reached for the glass of water at her bedside. Gulping it down in one go, she hadn’t realised how thirsty she was. Aibgrene didn’t say anything, but Lola knew she was contemplating some facet of what she had been told.

‘I could hear this voice, it was only a whisper at first, but as I got closer to the stone it became clearer. She was speaking in Irish, but I could understand what she said. “What lies within, reflects without.” She was repeating this over and over. Then everything started to spin and the next thing I was somewhere else … or someone else.’

‘Somewhere else? What do you mean?’

There was something in Aibgrene’s voice that gave Lola the impression that she knew more than she was divulging, but as she was about to continue, Daithi came into the cabin, along with Sean, who had to stoop a little to get in through the door. Feeling quite self-conscious Lola stopped talking.

‘Lola! You’re back with us I see,’ said Daithi as he moved towards the bed, looking relieved. ‘You had us worried there!’

‘Sorry about that. I don’t know what happened,’ replied Lola. Sensing her uneasiness and embarrassment, Daithi didn’t push the conversation.

‘Well it’s just as well Sean was there to save the day.’ Looking behind Daithi Lola found Sean standing beaming, and lifting his hand he waved at her.

’Nice to meet you, Lola, or should I say nice to meet you again.’

This lightened the mood straight away, which was a relief for Lola, as Aibgrene sat scrutinizing her. She wasn’t off the hook yet.

‘Well, girls, we’ll leave you to it,’ said Daithi as he turned and gave Aibgrene a gentle kiss on the cheek, before making his way out of the caravan. ‘See you in the morning, Lola.’

‘Bye, lads, and thank you so much, Sean.’

‘No worries, Lola, but don’t be making a habit of it,’ he quipped before ducking out the door.

‘Daithi, will you take a look at that for me tonight?’ shouted Aibgrene after him.

With a knowing nod, Daithi and Sean left, leaving Lola to face her inquisitor once again.

‘So you said that you went somewhere else?’

Lola tried to get the vision or the dream clear in her head, before she began to speak.

‘It’s not so much that it was a different place, I was running through this wood and it was dark. It was snowing and I was trying to get to somewhere. I don’t know where, but I felt like I was running out of time.’

‘What were you like in this dream?’ asked Aibgrene, catching suddenly Lola’s attention.

‘What makes you think I was any different?’ asked Lola suspiciously.

‘Nothing, I was only asking, that’s all,’ murmured Aibgrene.

Continuing, Lola tried her best to remember the details but it was all so fractured and hazy.

‘I was wearing strange clothes; it felt like animal skin or something and a long cloak with a hood – not a good fashion choice to say the least. I even had a sword. It was made of silver or something and it was engraved, but I can’t remember with what. I think I was being chased, I couldn’t see any faces, but they had torches and dogs. Then my bag began to glow like there was something in it. I drew out this sword and that’s when I caught my reflection.’

Closing her eyes Lola tried to recall the feeling when she saw someone else’s face.

‘It was quite surreal, I was the same person, it felt like me running through the wood, it was my body. My eyes were the same, but my hair was flame red. It was me but someone else. It sounded like a story Arthur told me many years ago. It was about Brigid. That sounds crazy, doesn’t it?’

The caravan was in darkness now, but Lola welcomed the cool night air that was filtering in through the opened door. She lay in silence waiting for Aibgrene to say something, hoping she would offer an explanation as to what was happening to her, but it didn’t come.

‘Well, what do you think?’ Lola asked, but Aibgrene was just shaking her head in bewilderment, before getting up off the bed.

‘You need to get some rest, Lola, for the big day tomorrow. I’ll be in the cottage if you need anything. Okay?’

Despite the fact that she wanted answers, Lola felt too drained to mount a protest and laying her head on the pillow she closed her eyes and tried to find sleep.