Chapter 2: the road to Toice Bhrean
By Gdwendyml

A road is always long
when there aren't any friends
to talk to
W. Jansen

I walked across,
an empty land.
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand.
I felt the earth,
beneath my feet,
sat by the river and it made me complete.
I came across,
a fallen tree;
I felt the branches of it looking at me.
Is this the place,
we used to love,
Is this the place where I've been dreaming of?

Place unknown, April 26th, 2005

Darkness...

Long, black shadows shrouded the grassy fields of Shaun-Mor, lying before the large city of Finias. At daytimes, a healthy, green landscape spread out wide in all directions. White, red and pink flowers grew among the dark-green grass, working together to make a perfect scenery. At nighttimes, the moon lightened up the lake that lay in the middle of this green desert, making it look like the lake was made out of silver. And when a gentle breeze flew across the landscape, flowers danced with soft movements, sparkling when sunlight toughed they're leaves. Contributing to a breathtaking scenery.

But right now, it was dark, though not completely because morning was approaching, and the sky was now light-purple in anticipation to the sunrise that was nearing. Two voices could be heard among the rusting of the leaves, getting louder and louder.
Then two figures came into view, both were male, not much older then 18 or so, one had curly black hair with dark blue eyes and light skin, he wore a grey shirt with black trousers, which was torn just below his right knee. The other had straight, longish brown hair with green eyes, he was a few inches shorter then the other and he wore a red shirt with brown trousers, this one had a little scar on his left cheek, right below his eye, marking his handsome face.
'oh, Aillell' the one with the scar laughed 'I never thought you would do that!' he said, almost floored with laughter
'yeah, me neither, but don't tell father alright? He would have a fit if he knew' the one called Ailell said indignantly
'why not?' the brown-haired kid said with a wide grin 'I think he would want to know his dearest son is a kidnapper' his grin grew wider 'tonight's the feast right? hmmm when would be the right time? Before or after…'
Aillel nudged him in the ribs 'don't you think about it, firstly I am his ONLY son, and secondly, Oisin, if you even so much as open your mouth tonight, I will tell him what happened to the chickens'
hearing this, the grin literally fell from Oisin's face
'chickens? Nothing happened to the chickens…' Oisin said with a frown on his forehead
the corners of Aillel's mouth went up in an evil grin 'not yet, my friend, not yet' he walked of leaving an open-mouthed Oisin behind.
Oisin followed seconds later 'oh come on! You know I'm just kidding, right? he will kill me if something like that ever happens again' he said.
Aillel just laughed 'yeah I know, that's why I think it's much healthier for you if you keep your big mouth shut tonight'
'is that a threat? Or an insult?' Oisin asked
Aillel snickered 'no, just a friendly advise' he said
Oisin rolled his eyes 'right, thanks, your such a good friend'
'you bet I am' Aillel said with a grin 'oh look, I think we're almost there' he pointed to a large, green hill in the distance 'that's the 'Toice Bhrean' hill, the cottage is on the other side'
Oisin's eyes grew wide 'behind the hill, but that's another hour's walk! Before we left you said it was only a half a hour's walk, we've been walking for over an hour and now you're telling me we're not even halfway yet?' Oisin said with a whiny undertone in his voice
Aillel grinned 'yeah, well, I lied, what are you going to do about it?'
for a full minute Oisin seemed ready smack Aillel, but then, Oisin just sat down with a sigh 'nothing, for now, but as soon as I have the energy to move, I'm gonna kick your sorry little butt all the way to hill 'touchy brain' and back again' he said, while letting his head rest on his knee
'uh, that's Toice Bhrean' Aillel said.
Oisin waved his arm 'I knew that, I'm still going to kick your ass though'
'yeah, sure' Aillel said, while sitting down as well.
Oisin looked up 'say, why did you take the mortal anyway? Didn't you say you would never do that again after the fiasco with that other human, uhm, what was her name again…uh, Eva? Uhm, Eve….?'
'Eveline' Aillel said in a low voice
'oh yeah, that's right!' Oisin said in a cheerful voice 'Fair, beautiful Eveline, what happened to her, anyway? One day you were all over each other, and the next she was just, gone'
Aillel looked at him sadly 'she went back'
Oisin sat up straighter 'She wanted to go back? Why? I thought you were doing alright together?'
Aillel shook his head 'no, she didn't want to go back, I sent her back'
Oisin's eyes grew wide at hearing this 'no way! Why?'
Aillel just shrugged 'she wasn't happy here, she missed her family and her home'
'but this was her home, wasn't it?' Oisin said
'not really' Aillel said 'you know, I really think we should get going, dad wakes up in a few hours, and I really want to be home by then' he said while standing up 'just don't talk about Eveline anymore, alright? To me, it's still a bit of a soft spot' he said before walking off
'yeah, sure' Oisin said worriedly before standing up.
He dusted of his trousers and sighed before following Aillel to the hill.

For the next half an hour the boys walked in quiet, Aillel only spoke when needed, and after a few failed attempts from Oisin to start up a casual conversation, he had grown quiet too.
They reached the hill in utter silence. Aillel didn't wait for Oisin and just started running, when he reached the top he stopped, admiring the view while he waited for his friend.
'Wow, Oisin, look at this! When I was here last night I didn't know the view was so beautiful' he said. But when there was no answer he looked back. Expecting to see his friend walking up to him, but he didn't see anyone. 'Oisin?' he asked frowning.
He started to walk back of the hill to the spot where he had last seen his friend when a loud 'plunge' was heard from his right. Aillel span around to the river that ran past the hill 'Oisin?' he asked again, but the only answer he got was the soft rumbling from the river
uncertainly, he walked to the river 'Oisin? Are you there?' he asked again, and yet, again there was no answer, Aillel crossed his arms 'come on, this isn't funny, I know you can swim, get out of there RIGHT now before I drag you're sorry ass out!' he waited for a full minute, but nothing happened 'don't make me get you' he said impatiently while tapping his food.
Once again, he was met with silence
'Oisin? Come on, this isn't funny anymore' he asked worriedly. He edged closer to the river 'Oisin?' he asked, now really worried. He was now on the edge of the river, squinting his eyes to see better under the water. Then his eyes fell upon something glittering on the bottom. He bend down to grab it when he felt a presence behind him. Too late to act, he felt something push him foreward and he tumbled down into the cold, sweet waters of the river.

When Aillel came above, he was sputtering and gasping for air. Trying to get instead of water, air into his lungs when the coughing and gasping was over, he heard the laughter.
on the grass, a few meters from the edge, was Oisin. He was on his knees, holding his stomach with laughter. Aillel then understood what had happened 'Oisin, you son of a….if I get my hands you….' He said angrily
's-sorry' Oisin laughed 'I just thought you could use a cold shower' he immediately became serious when he spotted something in Aillel's hand 'say, what's that you got in your hand?' he asked
Aillel looked down at his hand. He was holding a silver necklace with a silver-coloured amulet in the shape of a three pointed star with a blue stone in the middle 'what is this?' he asked while climbing on the shore. Oisin came closer 'I don't know, must've been dropped by someone, I guess' Aillel turned the amulet around in his hand, but didn't found anything interesting on the other side 'well, let's take it to Finias okay?' he said, before putting it in his pocket 'someone has to know to whom it belongs' he said 'but first, I'm gonna have to deal with you, mister' he said with an evil grin. Oisin immediately stepped back with a scared expression on his face. Aillel took a step towards him. Oisin quickly turned around and ran away before Aillel could take another step at which Aillel immediately followed. For over ten minutes Aillel chased Oisin before he finally grabbed him by his neck. Oisin screamed with laughter 'have mercy! have mercy! Please!' he begged. But Aillel would have non of that. He started to tickle Oisin relentlessly.
After a few minutes of begging for mercy from Oisin, Aillel finaly stopped 'hey, guess what? Where here!' he said pointing at the cottage that was right in front of them. A slightly out of breath Oisin stood up 'finally!' he said. Aillel walked up to the cottage and laid his ear against the door. 'uh, what are you doing?' Oisin asked. 'Aillel just brought his finger to his lips to silence him 'shhhh' he said.
Oisin did what he asked and waited for Aillel to explain. When Aillel finaly did look up, he said 'now, I think she's still asleep, so be quiet, I don't want to wake her up, okay? Oisin just nodded.
softly Aillel opened the door and stepped inside.
Oisin followed him inside. It was very dark in the cottage, and his eyes needed some time to adjust, but when he finally saw movements and figures he could see a small figure lying on the other side of the cabin, right beneath a window. He still couldn't really see it yet, but when Aillel pulled the covers from the window, the first thing he noticed was the brown hair the girl had…..

Okay, that's it for now, I think you all know who the girl is, but how did she get there? Why is she there? And what is that necklace all about?

All I can say is, stay tuned!

oh yeah, by the way, if you want to know what the necklace looks like, just visit
www . witchfanfic . com / amulet . htp
see ya! Be sure to leave a review!