The tinker wandered amongst the hills that day. For as long as he could remember, he had felt a sense of incompleteness. On and on he walked until, at last, he was standing at the pool's edge. Drawn back as if by an invisible cord.
The moon would be full that night. It was dusk. The tinker ate a cold supper and spread his blankets, but he could not sleep. The moon rose over the hilltops, a vast white orb in the star-studded sky. He lay back, resting his head in his hands, and watched as it traversed the heavens. Moonlight edged down the boulder by the long pool, illuminating the grey rock.
The intense brightness created sharply defined shadows. He had not seen the inscriptions etched in the rock before. There were three sets. The tinker got up and traced his fingers along the worn letters.
There was a glint of gold in the corner of his eye, and his heart skipped a beat. The girl was standing at the far end of the pool. The rings on her fingers and the circlet about her head glittered in the moonlight. She was a stranger, and yet, it seemed he had known her all his life.
She stood still, eyes closed, face innocent of expression. The tinker stared at her, trying to hold on to emerging half-memories. Then a moment later he was standing in front of her. He held her shoulders, then took her face in his hands.
Her skin was ice cold.
The girl's eyelids quivered and opened. She closed and opened them again, puzzled. Then her lips parted to reveal pearl-white teeth, and her face lit up with joy. Her hands reached up and touched his cheeks.
"Who are you?" he whispered.
She did not answer. Instead, she looked down at the strange skies beneath the pool's surface. The tinker knelt and skimmed his fingers across the water.
He pulled his hand back as if burnt. The chill exceeded the greatest cold he had ever experienced. And yet, there was an icy intimacy about it that stirred memories.
The tinker gave the girl his blankets and as he sat at the pool's edge; he felt her eyes upon him. He tried to keep his own eyes open in case he awoke to find her gone. But when her eyes closed, he too lay back and sank into a dreamless sleep.
YOU ARE READING
The Tinker And The Enchanted Pool
FantastikTwo thousand years separate Hamish from Esibell, his Iron Age sweetheart. He remembers nothing of her but is drawn to a strange pool high in the hills outside Edinburgh. Carved into the rocks are inscriptions in an ancient tongue. The pool is a port...
