Wild Watchtower: Shield & Claw Book One

Chapter Eighteen: Secrets at the Standing Stones

We travelled in our fur, trotting side by side, shoulders bumping as we made our way across the fields and then turned south, following the treeline until we came to the river. There, we crossed the Old Bridge, a timber construction that served only foot traffic, too narrow for the carts that travelled south over the stone-built New Bridge, to cross the causeway to the mainland.

Once over the river, we followed the valley between the Hare Hill and the Great Barrow, to the Túrfaire Barrows, cutting across the burial ground and on to the second river, a shallow but fast-flowing stream that nonetheless had to be waded. I positioned myself downstream of Aoibhinn, ensuring that my body and my strength would support her against the force of the water, if needed. As it happened, she remained as sure-footed as me, but licked my cheek as we climbed ashore, in a gesture that indicated she appreciated my concern.

Still, a spark of mischief flickered in her eyes, moments before she shook out her fur, sending drops of water flying, the spray hitting me in the face. I huffed a laugh at her antics, then did the same, shaking until my sodden fur stuck up in all directions, no doubt making me look bigger and shaggier than I did anyway. At least the late summer sun remained warm enough to dry us quickly, and we need not fear the cold that such crossings always brought in the winter.

From there, we took another valley, one which led east between Great Otter Ridge and The Little Otter. At the end of the valley, the vista opened out to reveal the standing stones, perched on the clifftops and overlooking the Tírlaochra Sea (the narrow band of water which separated our islands from the mainland). From the cliffs, the mainland to the south and both the second and third islands of our chain were all visible. In truth, it was a beautiful spot. The sea was blue under the summer sky, and to the north east, golden sand formed an undisturbed beach, the bright divide between the water and the lush green of the island's heart.

Even the 'cursed' stones seemed beautiful; impressive and enchanting in their own right. Huge slabs of hewn rock had been erected to form a ring, with further stones laid across the vertical stones to form a series of arches. In one place, a second arch still stood atop the first, towering over us, and I suspected some of the rocky mounds which lay around the circle's edge were formed by the tips of other stones that fallen from on top of the single arches, which now lay hidden beneath centuries of built-up earth. Who knew how tall the monument had once been, or what ancient gods had been worshipped at the foot of the central stone, the hub around which the circle had been formed.

"It's amazing that the people of the past could lift such huge lumps of rock," I mused as I took my human-like form once more, my bones shifting as easily as I drew breath. "I wonder how they did it."

"With ropes and determination," Aoibhinn answered as she did the same, then placed her palm against one of the standing stones, closing her eyes as if in silent prayer, before adding, "And with the help of giants."

I laughed at that, but when she frowned, I suspected she hadn't been joking.

"There are no giants this far south," I pointed out, looking up at a towering megalith. "Nor this far west. They don't leave the frozen lands of Farangeard. They rarely even enter Veðrheimr these days."

"That is true," my female said, looking north east, along the coastline towards the second causeway, and beyond that, towards the Strait and then the Northlands.

"It's true now, at least," she added. "It wasn't always. There was a time when wolves and giants were allies. Wasn't the Great Wolf himself said to be the son of a giant?"

"Wolves didn't come this far south either, not when these stones were erected. We came later," I countered, but something like anguish shadowed Aobhinn's expression, and she took my hand, tugging me towards Great Otter Ridge and whatever revelation she felt she needed to draw my attention to.