"DRUIDS BANE" A Tundrawolf Story

DRUIDS-BANE 'To Alba'

Part Seven 3500 BC 'To Alba'

A fortnight had passed before Morcant and Haerviu returned with the boat that would take them across the Narrow Channel Sea. They were unable to find a skiff of sufficient size to transport the altar table and all of their warriors, so they found something better.

A raiding party from the land of Alba had beached their longship about a six day ride to the south of where they were camped. The cliffs along the shore had disappeared and were replaced by a rocky beach and heavily wooded hills to the west. The hills were dotted with small villages of fishermen and hunters who were easy pickings for the Alban raiders before the full of winter set in. When the warriors from the ship left to go raid inland the two young Druids made their move on the men that were left to guard the boat. The two boys attacked with their handful of warriors while weaving a powerful spell of compulsion and quickly subdued the men on the beach. Twenty Alban raiders became entranced to the will of the boys and they now had a crew for their new longship. They sailed away well before the raiding party returned leaving those men to wonder how everything they had left on the shore had disappeared.

Arthfael was more than pleased to see the ship sail up with his friends in command. The weather had turned cold and for the past few days snow had started to fall on and off. He was eager to get to Alba and begin the journey south to warmer weather before the heavy snows came. With this longship his acolytes had captured they would be able to sail down to the warmer climes and take their horses with them. Plus they now had more warriors to surround themselves with.

The darkness that lived and grew in the young Druids wanted to feed, it demanded it from them. Now that all five were together again the sacrifices could be performed. The altar table and the stone knife would only give up the life force of the sacrifice if one of them were at each point of the pentagram. There was no way they could conduct them on a sailing ship as it pitched and rolled on the sea so Arthfael decided they would do them before they left. Many of the people Drest had captured over the last two weeks were still alive and ripe for the taking. They had their warriors set the oak table up in a large open sea cave at the bottom of the cliffs on the beach. The sacrifices were performed at dusk with large bonfires burning around them over a period of several nights. The darkness in the boys took over as they feasted on the souls of their victims and they stayed far longer on the beach than they should have.

The young Druids did not notice the boats that sailed or rowed by on the open sea. The boats carried fishermen with excellent eyesight that wondered at what strange rituals the Druids and Alban raiders could be conducting on the beach. They where surprised and alarmed for they had never seen a dragon ship beached along this rocky stretch of the coast where the cliffs were difficult to climb. The fishermen worried for their famalies as they gave the longship a wide berth and quickly turned their boats for home. Most hailed from the village of Inbhear nOllarbha that was located about a days ride to the north along the coast. They sensed a blackness coming from the men that had landed on their shores and made haste to return to their village and give warning.

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The army of the High King rode into the village of Inbhear nOllarbha when the full of the Snow Moon was almost upon them. They had been away from home for almost a month now and had lost all trace of their quarry no matter the best effort of their trackers. Frustrations were growing high as Tribal and Clan Chiefs came to the High King's tent each night wishing to take their men in different directions and follow their own trackers to search other parts of the northlands. The High King and the High Druid Priest were firmly against this. The tribes of the northlands had no love for the men of Meath and the only reason they had not been attacked was due to the size of their army. They did not want their men picked off by the northern tribes that were keeping watch on them. The High King and his advisors thought that may have been the fate of Captain Bradan and his men. They feared they had been killed or enslaved especially after finding the grisly remains of bones that had been cut up and chewed on in the glen where the Captain had last been reported searching. The men up in these lands were no better than animals but the High King did not want to anger these northerners and end up having them band together. The last thing they needed was a war with the north.