Disclaimer: "Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog" and its' characters are owned by Saban and whoever else was involved with the creation and production of this show. Any new characters and story lines that come into play are of my own creation. No copyright infringement is intended. This is a fanfiction intended for entertainment purposes only and no money is being made off of it.
guardianM3: I apologize for taking so long to post this chapter. I have been busy with work, but I have also been contemplating several different ideas and I haven't been able to decide which one to do. I hope you all will enjoy this chapter and will choose to review.
Chapter 18: Truce
Ivar awoke just as the sky began to light up. He sat up and stretched out his arms as he looked around. The fire had slowly burned out during the night. He saw that Garrett was still asleep on his bedroll, but Deirdre's was empty. Ivar quickly stood up and walked over to Deirdre's empty bedroll.
"Deirdre?" Ivar called out as his eyes scanned the campsite. Out of the corner of Ivar's eyes, he saw Garrett stirring from his slumber until he sat up and looked in the direction where Deirdre had slept. .
"Deirdre?" Garrett said as looked around and spotted Ivar. "Ivar, where is Deirdre?"
Ivar looked at the mountain and saw several signs that someone had scaled the rocky terrain. "I believe Deirdre has decided to begin this quest without our aid." Ivar said with a soft sigh as he shook his head.
Garrett scrambled to his feet and headed over to the bottom of the mountain. He studied the mountainside as he determined future holds that he would use to scale the mountain.
Ivar walked over, grabbing a rope along the way and stood next to Garrett. "We must catch up to Deirdre."
"She has quite a head start." Garrett said as he grabbed the rope he had brought.
"True, but we shall catch up to her." Ivar said uncertainly even though he tried his best to be optimistic.
Garrett nodded but remained silent as he began to tie a knot. He prayed that they would make it in time to aid Deirdre and that he would have time to scold her for being so foolish.
Rohan had ridden the fiery horse throughout the night, only giving the horse a few moments rest when he stopped to get both of them a drink of water and once something to eat. It was as though the horse could sense the Mystic Knight of Fire's urgency for the stallion's energy didn't wane throughout the night.
"Rohan. Rohan!" Aideen yelled as she flew beside Rohan easily keeping pace with the Mystic Knight and his horse.
Rohan shook his head when he focused in on the fairy. He saw the light from the morning sun light up the natural light of the fairy. He hadn't realized the sun had risen since his mind had been within dark places.
"Aideen, why have you been following me?" Rohan yelled out above the air rushing past him and over his horse's hooves pounding on the ground. He turned his head slightly so he could look at the fairy.
"I am here to aid you in rescuing Angus." Aideen replied.
Rohan was about to refuse Aideen's assistance but he knew that she wouldn't have listened anyway. He nodded his head in approval and looked straight ahead. He hoped, by Dagda, that he would save Angus in time.
Garrett and Ivar had made it to the opening in the mountain quickly. They were glad because the sky outside had darkened considerably by the dark clouds that seemed to have just appeared.
They walked into the mountain cautiously, Ivar carrying the torch that he had brought with him. The torch's light provided very little illumination but they were soon able to see that the walls of the tunnel had strange symbols carved into them.
They had walked for about half an hour until the came to the end of the tunnel. Garrett was grateful for he felt immense anxiety being in the tunnel and he had no idea why it had made him feel that way. He thought it might have had something to do with the strange symbols.
"Here is the first room of this mountain. We must be cautious; we do not know what lies before us." Ivar said quietly as he took several steps forward. Garrett was about to respond but he felt the floor shift and the light of the torch drop to the ground. He heard Ivar gasp and grunt.
"Ivar!" Garrett yelled as he leapt forward and grabbed his friend's arm. Garrett grabbed Ivar's arm and pulled. He dug his feet in more firmly as he tried to pull Ivar loose from the rock.
Garrett struggled to pull Ivar up. "You must release me Garrett, or else you shall have the same fate."
Garrett looked at Ivar firmly. "Ivar, we are Mystic Knights and friends, we do not give up on our friends without a fight, even if it means the end of our own life."
Before Ivar could respond, a hand shot past Garrett and grabbed onto Ivar's arm. Garrett turned his head and saw the head of red hair. "Deirdre!" Garrett exclaimed.
Deirdre didn't answer as she helped Garrett pull Ivar up. They all rested for several moments to catch their breaths.
"You boys should learn to be more careful and be thankful that I arrived in time." Deirdre said as she rose to her feet and brushed the dirt off of her.
Garrett stood on his feet, but ignored the dust on his clothes, for the moment. "You should not have gone without us. This mountain is dangerous. You could have fallen down that hole." Garrett left out the part that she would never have been seen again.
Deirdre gazed at him coolly. "I figured out how to avoid the traps within this mountain."
Ivar looked up at Deirdre with curiosity mixed with amusement. "How?"
Deirdre picked up her torch and brought over to the wall that was covered with symbols. "When these three symbols are in this sequence, it means that there is a trap located straight across from it."
"How did you figure that out?" Garrett asked curiously.
"Rohan isn't the only one who has been learning from Cathbad." Deirdre said as she turned away from the wall and headed toward the entrance to the next tunnel. "Are you two coming along?"
Ivar and Garrett exchanged a look as they followed Deirdre. Once they had learned how to spot a trap using the three symbols, avoiding them were simple. They had quickly entered the heart of the mountain. They came to a wall that blocked their progress. This wall had a few symbols and Deirdre was able to read them.
"We must find a way to get past this wall." Ivar said as he looked at the symbols that he couldn't understand but he was thankful that Deirdre had been able to read them.
"Yes, but how? The message says that "thou must answer thy question rightfully" but we do not even know what the correct answer is." Garrett said with frustration
A cough rang within the room causing the three Mystic Knights to quickly spin around and look for the source. Standing before them was a man barely five feet tall holding a pipe, wearing a green shirt, and matching pants. He didn't seem to be bothered by the three Mystic weapons pointed in his direction.
"Ye are all trying to get the cauldron?" The man asked as he blew several smoke rings.
"Yes, we are here for the Cauldron of Heart. Do you know where it is?" Deirdre asked as she walked toward the man.
The man nodded his head as he blew a couple smoke rings. "The cauldron is behind that wall."
"How do we get the Cauldron?" Garrett asked hiding his frustration by squeezing the handle of his sword.
"Excellent question but a better question would be: why should you three obtain the Cauldron?" The man asked as he watched the smoke from his pipe drift away.
Ivar narrowed his eyes as he studied the man a little more closely as his suspicion rose. "Who are you?"
The man gave Ivar a secretive smile and his eyes burned brightly with respect. "I am of no importance, young Prince. You are one of three who wish to retrieve the Cauldron of Heart, so precautions have been taken concerning the person or persons who get the Cauldron of Heart."
"So, the question you asked is why should we three obtain the Cauldron?" Deirdre asked as she tightened her lips in concentration.
The man nodded, apparently pleased at Deirdre's quick acceptance and understanding.
Garrett followed Deirdre and began to think of reasons himself, but several of the ones that had gone through his mind he felt were not the right answer. Ivar and Deirdre thought of several possibilities, but they both felt that the question might be a trick question.
"We should have the Cauldron of Heart because we are Mystic Knights." Deidre said but the man shook his head.
"We should obtain the Cauldron because we need it to save Kells." Ivar said.
The strange man shook his head and watched as Garrett continued to think out his answer. It was almost five minutes before Garrett was ready for his answer.
"In our hearts, we know that we shall not use the Cauldron of Heart for evil." Garrett said.
The strange man beamed them a smile as he nodded his head in respect. "Well done young Prince that is the answer that I had been seeking."
Deirdre looked from Garrett to the strange man. "So the answer to the question was that we have the heart to have the Cauldron of Heart?"
The man smiled deviously. "If someone were evil seeking the Cauldron, they wouldn't think about matters of the heart, now would they?"
"I still do not care for riddles." Garrett muttered as they watched the wall fade away to reveal a doorway.
The man tipped his head toward the door. "Through that door all of ye shall find the Cauldron of Heart. I hope that ye all shall use the cauldron wisely."
"We shall." Ivar replied politely, finally understanding that the man was dutifully protecting the cauldron and that he did so with great honor.
The man jumped up and walked toward the tunnel that had led the Mystic Knights into the heart of the mountain. The man stopped, turned and tipped his hat before he continued.
Once the man had left them, Deirdre turned to her comrades and commented that the man was quite strange. Ivar and Garrett nodded their heads in response. Ivar opened the door and the three of them entered the room.
In the center of the room on a pedestal was a red cauldron that was the size of a small cooking pot. Ivar waved his head for Garrett to retrieve the cauldron. Garrett stepped cautiously forward, grabbed the handles of the cauldron, and lifted the object into the air.
"We must leave." Deirdre said as she broke the triumphant silence.
The three Mystic Knights were close to completing this quest, but they still needed the stone of spirit from King Fin Varra as well as the Amulet of Life from Macha. The three Knights hoped that Cathbad and Nemain had discovered what 'Blood of legends' meant and that they would be able to rescue Angus from Anian.
Angus had been sitting on the cold rocky floor with his head in his hands all night long. He wasn't certain if he had even slept, but that didn't matter to him. He had tried not to picture Macha in the Catacombs of Temra fighting horrendous creatures, battling for her life but the images continued to invade his mind.
He sighed softly as he lifted his head up and looked around the room. His brow furrowed as he realized that the minimal amount of sun light that he received within his prison had vanished. He looked above him and saw that the sky had darkened considerably with thick, black clouds. For some unknown reason, he shivered.
He shook his head as he tried to think of a way to break out of his cell. Even though the bars of his prison were old, they were well built and were not loose at all. Either that, or Anian had done some magic on them which Angus didn't doubt that the man wouldn't allow anyone or anything to pass him.
He sighed as he ignored the sound of descending footsteps. "I do not wish to hear your mocking, annoying, sniveling voice again, Anian."
"I am not Anian."
Angus looked up once he had heard the sweet clover voice. "Macha?" Angus asked as he stood up but Angus knew that he had to be wary, being uncertain if Anian had decided to play one of his games.
"Yes, and we must leave here quickly before Anian returns." Macha said as she stepped out of the shadows and into the dim light. She had two, two-inch long pieces of metal and used them to pick the lock. She opened the door and studied Angus whose hair and clothes were covered in dirt. He had a few bruises on his face and he looked a little pale.
As Macha turned to head back to the stairs, she stumbled. Angus quickly caught her and he studied her.
"Ye are hurt." Angus said as he noticed the blood and the large rips on Macha's leg.
"Do not concern yourself about that right now, Angus." Macha said as she grabbed Angus' arm and pulled him to the stairs.
Before they began their ascent, Macha stopped and brought her finger to Angus' lips, signaling silence. She pushed Angus to the side of the stairs into the corner while she stood with her staff in her hand raised into the air.
Angus was about to ask Macha why she had paused when he heard faint whispering and footsteps. He tensed as the footsteps came down the stairs toward Macha and him. He wished he had his mystical weapon, but his fists would do just fine in protecting Macha.
Finally, the owner of the footsteps had made it to the bottom step but there was another with that one set of footsteps, who didn't make footsteps because she could fly.
"Rohan? Aideen?" Angus asked as he studied Rohan and the fairy as he had Macha earlier making sure it was not Anian playing any tricks.
Macha brought her staff down to her side and waited while Aideen stood between Rohan and her.
Rohan didn't answer as his eyes become fiery as he stared at Macha. He removed his sword from its sheath and aimed the point of his sword toward Macha's heart. "What are you doing here?"
Before Macha could respond, Angus stepped in front of Macha, the point of Rohan's sword grazing his clothing, but not causing any damage. "She came to rescue me, same as ye; therefore, at this moment there is a truce." Angus looked firmly at Rohan, silently praying that Macha would agree.
"I agree with you, Angus. Rohan and I shall have a truce until you have been safely returned to Kells," Macha said as she looked over Angus' shoulder at Rohan. "Do you agree, Rohan?"
Aideen flew to Rohan's ear and whispered something to the Mystic Knight of Fire that Angus and Macha did not hear. Rohan nodded his head at Aideen and then looked at Macha with distrust. "Very well, but I want no tricks from you."
"Of course." Macha said with an agreeing nod of her head. "We must leave here now before Anian returns."
Rohan nodded as he indicated that Macha should go first up the stairs. There was no hesitation as Macha began her ascent up the staircase. Rohan walked up to Angus.
"I hope that your feelings are not clouding your judgment, Angus."
Angus didn't respond to Rohan's question as he headed to the staircase, ignoring the look that was aimed at him by an infuriated Aideen. He didn't know if he could trust his own judgment either and he certainly didn't want to explore that possibility because if he was wrong about Macha, then he didn't know if he could ever trust himself again.