"You see now how it must be done?" A clear melodic voice sounded out.
I bowed my head. His lordship had placed the last of the ogham stones into place. This was by far the largest of the oghams in all of Albion even the Lonely Ogben to the north was dwarfed by these stones. I was the youngest of the Truthsayers of Albion and the speaker was one of the ancient spirits that had modelled the first people of Albion from clay and breathed life into our forms. He appeared to me as a handsome man, with hair like flowing fire thick about his head but a beard greyed falsely by an unknown age. He turned to look at my humble bowed kneeling form.
He chuckled. "Of all our children, you Truthsayers are perhaps my favourite." A frown passed across his face and he sighed. "Alas, my kith and kin shall be leaving you soon." I shivered, his sadness touching my soul, pulling at the magical senses therein.
We turned to walk towards Mudwalls, the largest settlement in Albion, south of the high hills of Aeryn. I had been born in Mudwalls, Mother was especially proud to have a Truthsayer for a son. As the name suggested, the settlement was surrounded entirely by a thick and tall mud wall but within the town, many of the buildings were built with roughly hewn stones. Beautiful thatch roofs were visible over the mudwall even from this far down the road. If we had turned to the east it would have been only a day's walk to the fishing village of Gwron on the east coast of Albion. She was not a very large country, but beautiful nonetheless. The Beast Peaks to the north, past Aeryn, were some of my favourite places to walk. On their far side, there were the dazzling lochs of the Hunnaidh.
"You will be leaving soon my lordship?"
"Indeed, young one. There comes a great darkness soon, a storm brewing beyond even the stars. It would not be wise for my blood to stay here much longer." He looked up to the skies as if looking for this coming storm. He shook his head. "Nay, there are a few things left to be done." He stopped and turned me in his large hands. "And you are of great importance to my plans, at least so I should think."
"You do not know?"
"Prophecy is always a fickle thing, even for a race as old and experienced as mine. This will be the last night you spend in Mudwalls, however. And the last moon that you spend in my company. Of this, I am rather sure. I have taught you more than I ever thought I could, you Truthsayers have taken on more knowledge than my kith and kin believed you to be capable of. I am glad you have outperformed our estimations. In fact whilst teaching you, I myself have learnt as well. No matter how old you may be, there is always something that you can learn from a younger mind." He nodded slightly, as if he had not been talking to me, but rather to himself.
We arrived at Mudwalls shortly thereafter. Other ancient spirits were awaiting us. "Lord Obmus! Have you finished making the last ogham?" His lordship nodded and continued into the settlement. "Lord Obmus! We will start the ritual tonight, shall you participate or will we expect you with the dawn?" His lordship looked down at me. "Let us talk more privately." He waved a hand to indicate that I should carry on without him.
That night it was difficult to sleep. The ground beneath me shuddered and groaned. Sometimes it was so loud I thought that I could hear words. At other times it was so violent my body was thrown from the bed. When dawn came, his lordship was stood by my door. I stepped out into the newly born light and saw that the mudwall had collapsed in places and huge men were at work fixing it. Whole trees were being carried through the settlement and a house worth of mud was balled between some of their hands. "These are the Itar." His lordship spoke softly. "They are guardians that we have chosen to leave upon Albion that when darkness presses upon your shores, they may drive that darkness back into the sea."
I nodded, barely listening as I gaped at the huge men. "Come now, there are important tasks for you. Your brothers and sisters in magic have been taken elsewhere to learn their tasks. They shall stay on Albion with the Itar to defend her and the Oghams." As he spoke clouds began to thicken in the sky. We went back to the Ogham that we had finished the day before. There I saw half a dozen Itar sat together. "Your task shall be to travel across the sea and build oghams were you find yourself. But these oghams will be defaced over the centuries, perhaps even the millennia and they will weaken. Over time the darkness will grow stronger and bolder. It will ensorcel the hearts of those children of my kith and kin. Indeed even Truthsayers will be tempted by the darkness. As you travel the world building the oghams where you can, you must do battle against this darkness. You must learn from the other children of this world all that you can, all that I have not had the time to teach you yet."
"But why me my lordship? Surely one of the elder, more skilled Truthsayers should take charge of this task. How could I alone do battle against a darkness so fearsome even the ancient spirits chose to flee it?"
A hand rested on my shoulder. "Have courage young one. You shall not be alone, and there is time yet before the darkness comes. I shall sail with you and these Itar are charged with your protection. But first, it has been agreed that we shall leave behind us some warriors with the breath of our life within them. Surely without it then no matter the nobleness of their hearts then none could truly drive back the darkness. As for why you, I have chosen you for I trust you, and I have spent many a year teaching you the construction of the oghams. There are few others that could do that task." I nodded, fear still deep in my blood. His lordship grinned and opened his mouth wide. Then his lips stretched outwards, such that the whole of his face was swallowed, and this continued until all of his lordship's form was swallowed. I leapt backwards with a short scream.
Where before had stood the familiar and welcoming form of Lord Obmus, now stood some lustrous, small creature, unlike anything I had ever seen, not on the Beast Peaks nor in the depths of the northern lochs. From this creature's mouth came a light blue smoke that struck my face and left me shaking. Dark spots began to fill my vision and a weakness touched my bones. I could feel my legs tremble as I lost my sight completely. I was asleep by the time my body collapsed to the grass beneath me.