Lochlainneach

Hy-Brasil

Featured Gaelic and Pronunciations:

- Tarbh uisge (tar-uhv oosh-guh) - water bull

- Aos sìth (oohs shee) - Celtic name for the fae

- Daoine mhath (doon-yeh vah) - good folk

- Deamhain adhar (jeh-vayn ahd) - air demons

- Cat-sìth (kat shee) - a cat-like dark fairy that resembles a black cat with a white spot on its chest

- Bi faicheallach (bee fye-keh-lok) - be careful

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1 May, 1751

Day 1 on Hy-Brasil

I went from darkness and silence to feeling the warmth of the sun on my back with the sound of the waves crashing delicately on the shore somewhere nearby. I tried to gather my senses to determine where I was, but my brain couldn't connect the sounds right away. What was the last thing I remembered? The rock, the splinters of wood as the ship crashed into it, the cold of the freezing April sea... Jamie . Where was Jamie? Was he alive? Someone had grabbed me when I fell into the sea... Was it Jamie? Or was it Cailean? Where was Cailean ? They had both been standing beside me when we saw the shadow of the dark horse in the storm clouds... Finally, I could feel sensation in my fingers and began to move them, feeling the soft crunch of damp sand beneath them. Sand? Not water... I groaned softly, then erupted into a sputtering coughing fit as my lungs tried to evacuate the water inside of them. I gathered the strength to push myself up a little and coughed up the remaining water inside of me, then gathered the strength to open my eyes.

Sand. There was sand everywhere. In front of me, all I could see was sand and... trees... Trees everywhere. Bright, verdant greens filled with life and... and red bark on their trunks. There were brilliantly-coloured hibiscus flowers on them - hibiscus? No, those weren't hibiscuses... They weren't even flowers, they... they were berry bunches... Bright red berries. Suddenly, I heard a soft scratching sound, as if a small creature was digging in the sand, and turned my head to find a small black rabbit digging in the sand beneath...

"Cailean," I muttered quietly, finding the limp form of my brother, his head turned to face me, as the black hare dug in the sand beneath one of his hands. "Cailean..." I gathered the strength to crawl over to him, looking for the rise and fall of his chest with each breath of air, but he was motionless. "Cailean..." My voice cracked as I reached out a hand to touch his. "No... no, ye cannae leave me now..."

Suddenly, he coughed, spitting out water and shifting so he coughed downwards into the sand, and I let out a joyous sound, catching him by surprise, and he opened his silvery eyes to meet mine. "Cat..." he muttered weakly. "Oh, thank Christ..."

"I thought ye were dead," I said to him, giving his hand as firm of a squeeze as I could muster. "Where... Where's Jamie?"

"I... I dinnae ken," he muttered in response, and I lifted my head to look at the land behind him. I searched for Jamie's bright red hair, but all I could see were broken, splintered pieces of the wooden ship, scattered debris and bodies either floating in the surf or being picked at by seagulls; Not one of them was Jamie. Thank Christ , I thought to myself. "Are ye hurt, Cat? When ye fell off the ship... I jumped in after ye... We hit a rock, I think..."

"I'm fine," I said, sitting up fully and scanning my surroundings.

"Thank God yer alive," he muttered quietly in response. "I dinnae ken what I'd do if I lost ye..." Suddenly, I saw him, lying face down in the sand motionless some thirty feet away from me.