Dullahan

1 - Childhood Games - 1

THE SUN WAS WARM and bright, golden rays piercing through fluffy white clouds to fall, dappled by the canopy above, on the three children that lay there, staring up. The small clearing was bathed in green-tinted light, a gentle breeze floating through the leaves on the unseasonably warm day. A hint of autumn gave the wind an edge that hadn't been present only a week ago, and Eldred was starting to wonder if he should have taken his coat like his mother had said.

Gathering the leaves to make the pile they all lay on now had been activity enough to keep him warm. They had darted between trees, scooping great piles from wherever they could find them, returning to the clearing to add them to their growing hoard. It had been deep enough, before they had laid on it, for Eldred to stand knee-deep. From the stick now jabbing into his back, it wouldn't be quite so deep now. He shuffled a little, readjusting so the protrusion no longer bothered him, and returned his attention to the great expanse of blue and white above them. From their vantage there were only a few branches reaching out long arms into the open space above them, and their leaves were now few enough that they gave no meaningful hindrance to the task.

"El-!" A hand shot into the air, wavering from side to side in an attempt to point at one cloud in particular. It belonged to the smallest of the three, sandy hair haloing around his head in the mass of red and yellow. "-Look at that one!" he continued, his arm steadying, "It's so big!"

His companions crowded closer to see the cloud, knocking heads together as they all looked up. The dark-haired boy, Eldred, grinned at the sight. It was multi-layered, a wispy skirt of cloud bordering fuller, fluffier clouds that rose up like walls from fog, and from behind those even taller clouds emerged as spiralling turrets of a great castle, reaching up high into the blue around it. One of the clouds shifted, and now it looked like a hand cupping the sky, the wispy cloud a diaphanous sleeve that drifted gently away from its wearer.

The girl to the smaller boy's right pulled a face, squinting hard at the cloud. "Maybe it'll cover the sun," she said, lifting one hand to shield her pale eyes. "It'll make everything go cold."

The small boy's hand fell, dropping back to his side with a crunch, the leaves crinkling. His smile faded, and he turned his head to look at the girl indignantly. "The wind's in the wrong direction, isn't it?"

"Well..." she shrugged, not turning to look at him, "I guess."

The trio started up with renewed interest. It didn't last long.

"I'm bored," Eldred declared, sitting up. The girl followed, picking out a stray leaf from her hair.

"Clouds aren't very interesting," she agreed, shaking the last of the leaf-debris from her head.

The last boy got onto his elbows, frowning at the other two, "They are interesting, we just haven't seen a very good one yet." They both looked at him, and he sighed, relenting. He sat up fully, giving them both a calculating look. "I saw some good sticks over there," he suggested, pointing toward another part of the woods.

The girl considered this, "Good for a fort, Cal?"

Cal nodded with enthusiasm, ruffled hair bobbing with the motion. "They'd be perfect," he assured her, rocking to his feet and brushing himself down.

She needed no further convincing, and stood up as well, peering off into the forest in the direction Cal and pointed.

Eldred shrugged, clambering to his feet to join them, and the trio set off into the forest again, this time in search of branches and sticks.

The smaller boy had been right- their first bounty easily surpassed May's four feet and three inches, and it took all three of them to haul it back to their clearing.