The Twister

A good folly is worth what you pay for it.

~ George Ade

Gwendolyn was walking behind the stands when she saw him again. He was still in armor, holding a glass of water in his gauntlet.

"Hello Colin!" Gwendolyn called, "that was wonderful fighting!"

He looked around at her in puzzlement, "Colin?"

Then his face cleared, "Oh."

Gwendolyn cocked her head, "Are you trying to pull my leg?"

"I'm not the one pulling your leg," he said with half a grin, then turned and disappeared behind the pavilion.

Gwendolyn stared after him in puzzlement.

~o*o~

"Gianna!"

Gwendolyn looked around to see Colin coming towards her, "Where have you been? I haven't seen you since the tournament started! Our group, Prince Corin and all, wants to ride to the coast and see the Basalt Causeway. Aravis wanted me to find out if you were agreeable?"

Gwendolyn opened her mouth to answer.

"Excellent!" Colin cried, "Let's go!"

~o*o~

The party was together again, riding away from the town and all things to do with tournaments, hot air balloons and breathing fire.

The deer horn handled knife was gone.

Gwendolyn couldn't help laughing to herself as the lords and ladies of the group talked among themselves about that wonderful Sir Argon the Yellow Goose. Only Prince Corin, as he rode along next to Gianna, had a knowing look.

Gwendolyn sidled her mare up next to Colin's liver chestnut, "And how is Sir Argon?"

"His father showed up for him and brought him home," Colin said, "I'm afraid his horse is going to be yellow until he sheds in the spring."

Gwendolyn laughed.

It was around one o' clock. They'd eaten a lunch of game pie, baked apples and beer, laughing in the shade of an oak tree in the town square as they watched the hot air balloons ascend into the heavens. Gwendolyn had kept an eye on Gianna, seeing her friend's cheeks flush as Prince Corin spoke to her. He had certainly seemed earnest.

"What exactly is the Basalt Causeway?" Gwendolyn asked.

"You'll see," Colin said, grinning.

"If it doesn't rain before we get there," Aravis said, looking at the sky. "There's a storm brewing and not a pretty one by the looks of it."

They all glanced up at the dark clouds, lowering and boiling in the sky. The day was growing decidedly murky and Gwendolyn had half a mind to suggest a canter if they were to get there before the rain.

"We can always duck into Prince Corin's house if anything happens," Colin said. "It's not far from here."

~o*o~

"Corin?"

Corin looked over, half halting his chestnut as Colin's horse fell in step beside him.

"What is it, cuz?" Corin asked, then remembered, "Don't call me that."

"Sorry," Colin said. "But I've got to talk to you."

"What about?" Corin asked, obviously puzzled.

"Can we move away from the group?" Colin asked, touching his heel to his horse's flank. In a few seconds they were out of earshot of the rest.

Colin took a deep breath, "I can't keep this up."

"You not feeling well?" Corin asked with concern.

"Don't be a dolt."

"Born that way."

"I mean to marry Princess Gwendolyn," Colin said, getting it out all at once.

"Do you now? Congratulations!" Corin reached over and pounded his cousin on the back.

They rode on in silence.

"You're not going to say anything else?" Colin asked at last, somewhat painfully.

"What else do you want me to say?" Corin asked, racking his brain. "Many happy returns?"

"I've got to tell her who I am, don't I?" Colin exclaimed.

"Do you?" Corin asked.

"Of course I do," Colin said heatedly. "She's got to know who she's marrying."

"So she does," Corin said. "Well tell her, then, or do you want me to? I could tell her now if you want."

"No!" Colin cried. "Don't! That would end everything. Just shut up for now, I'll tell her myself."

"Yes, your majesty," Corin said meekly

~o*o~

The wind was beginning to blow in small powerful gusts and Gwendolyn could tell by the smell of the air that they were very near to the sea. A bank of menacing gray clouds hovered above the horizon like solemn mountains from another world. They could see the slanting gray mist of the rain that fell from them.

"This is going to be some storm!" Colin said and suddenly realized that he was shouting to make himself heard over the wind.

"Should we go back?" Prince Corin urged his horse up next to Colin's, "We can't have the ladies getting soaked!"

"It hasn't started raining yet," Colin pointed out.

"It's going to," Prince Corin said.

"Yes your majesty," Colin said jokingly.

The wind had stopped blowing and the air was strangely hushed, breathless and very hot. Then the rain came, huge warm drops, leaping on the ground like drops of silver. Anyone who had a cloak pulled it up at once and as if one body, they urged their horses to a gallop. Ahead, they all saw a small roadside inn.

"Let's stop here," Prince Corin said as they clattered into the courtyard.

"It hasn't really started," Colin said, "I'm going on. There's nothing like seeing the sea raging."

"I'm coming too," Aravis said, shouting as a rush of warm wind swept her words away.

"Can I come?" Gwendolyn called.

"What?" Colin cupped a hand around his ear.

"I said, 'can I come?'!" she called again.

Colin nodded. There was no point in talking.

"Suit yourselves," Prince Corin said, lifting Gianna down from her saddles. "Or should I say, 'kill yourselves'." He muttered to himself.

Gwendolyn turned her mare and spurred after Aravis and Colin as they galloped from the courtyard. The rain was coming harder now, but she was still dry under the thick wool of her cloak. Ahead the land was rising, there was only waving grass ahead, then the sky. She knew the sea was just under the hill before them.

The land was nearly treeless here, stretching all directions, heather tinted slopes running gently uphill and meeting the sky. There was a lonely wildness about the place; something about the way the wind blew and the grasses waved, windswept as a stallion's mane. The seagulls wheeled above them, starkly white against the fitful sky, their wild cry echoing across the fields.

They pulled up the horses on the ridge and found themselves looking down into a raging pewter sea, rolling and white capped, misty in the distance. The seas rolled in endless white-maned lines to hurl themselves up the beach, leaping against the rocks.

"The Basalt Causeway is further down!" Colin called, waving them on. They turned their horses after him, turning back on the main road as it followed the coast. Fifteen minutes later he was pulling up again, pointing and Gwendolyn looked to see one of the strangest sights she ever hoped to see.

Below them blocks of hexagonal rocks were stacked in strange columns, forming a sort of sea wall to the raging water. In some places they had fallen, laying for all the world like the blocks of a heathen temple. The crashed in mighty fury over them, but they would not have sifted even if struck with all the force of Poseidon's trident or the hooves of his white-maned horses.

"Who built it?" Gwendolyn called.

"Nobody!" Colin roared over the wind. "It's all natural. Basalt forms those shapes!"

Gwendolyn stared in awe as white water surged and broke over the strange rock formation below them. Above them, the seagulls flew inland, screaming. Aravis watched their progress, then plucked at Colin's sleeve.

"Is the sky green?"

They looked up. The rippling sky seemed to have taken on strange eerie colors, glimmering in the darkness that was falling with the storm. The heavens seemed in violent turmoil, as if Zeus himself were stirring it with his finger.

"I've never seen it that color before!" Colin cried, looking up, then inland. Slowly, the color drained from his face and with beating hearts, the others followed his gaze.

What they saw made their hearts skip a beat.

Author's Note: Everyone's heard of the Giant's Causeway in Ireland. It has to be one of the most spectacular natural formations along with Monument Valley in Arizona and the Great Blue Hole off the coast of Belize. I'd love to see them all someday!

~Psyche

Hannah Skipper: The fall colors aren't so good this year. We haven't had enough rain. Once, a few years ago, we had some flooding and the trees were the most vibrant I've ever seen. I remember two great maples standing in the middle of the river as brilliant gold as an emperor's crown. Unfortunately the really good colors only last a week, then all the leaves are stripped off and the snow comes, which it a bit boring. It gets to the point where you wonder if you're permanently color blind because everything looks black and white.

Val: I'm very glad you like the descriptions. I'm always afraid I'm going overboard with it and might be driving people crazy, but I'm glad you don't mind. The world is just such a beautiful place I'd like to get it all down somehow. Thanks for your review! I'm really glad you still like the story.