The Youngest Mage [Completed]

(28) Finn Himself

"Almost instantly they were in the middle of a whiteout, without appropriate clothes. "Where are we?" Cried Deearo.

"I don't know," said Dalbreath, instinctively looking to Bekma for the answer, and being instantly disappointed by the fact that he was unconscious.

"Get us out of here," said Deearo, urgently.

"I can't, I don't know where we are," said Dalbreath. "I always have to have an idea of where I am in order to create a portal to somewhere else."

"Create? What do we do now," yelled Deearo over the howling winds.

A deep voice came from their right. "Maybe I can be of help," someone with a deep voice said,, and then there was a tall being covered in thick white hair from head to foot who came closer. They could just make out his features.

"Who are you?" said Dalbreath.

"Finn MacCoomal," said the tall figure.

"Finn!" yelled the boys in unison.

"Come, my cave is close-by. I can help your teacher there," said Finn.

Finn, who was nine feet tall, picked up Bekma as if he were a child, and Dalbreath and Deearo clung to his back hair so they did not get lost in the storm. "Come, boys, follow close. I have a fire and warm blankets not far from here."

The cave was indeed close, and there was a large fire in the cave. Finn wrapped Bekma in a large furry blanket. Avalon's north pole is a continent like our Antartica. He then checked Bekma's eyes and felt for a pulse. "You boys wrap yourselves in my blanket over there," he said, pointing to another furry blanket near the fire. The boys didn't have to be asked twice, and the blanket was big enough for the two of them.

"When you're warm again, help yourself to some of that stew over the fire," and indeed there was a big pot of stew hung over iron bars that they did not remember seeing there when they came into the cave. "I must tend to Bekma's wounds now."

The boys looked at each other. "You know our master," said Dalbreath.

"I know everyone on Avalon," said Finn. "I am Finn MacCoomal, the high priest of NaGoeVoDaa. I know the heart of every man, woman, and child on Avalon. Trust me, I know who did this to poor Bekma."

"My mother calls her the cat-witch," said Dalbreath.

"She is that and more," said Finn. "Now shush, I must tend to him before the warmth goes out of him."

Dalbreath and Deearo watched as Finn looked at the blackened skin where the lightning bolt hit him. Then he made a salve out of herbs and mud, which he got from a spring not far from the fire. When he was done he dobbed the salve on the wound, then he wrapped some kind of animal skin around his stomach several times. Then he put him under the blanket and moved him closer to the fire. Then he turned and laughed when he saw Dalbreath and Deearo staring at him and watching his every move.

"Relax, he'll live, but I think you all should stay under my care for the next few days," said Finn. "You definitely came to the right place, little Dalbreath, what made you choose me?"

Dalbreath smiled sheepishly. "I thought of NaGoeVoDaa, and this is where the portal took us. It made me dizzy to go so far, but I hung on until we got here."

"Good for you," said Finn. "Well, therre are bowls by the spring. Help yourself to some stew. It's not Jildawilder stew, but it may do as a close proximity."

The boys realized at the same time just how hungry they were. They had watched Finn  for hours.

"Well, go on, it's self serve yourself around here. Boys should learn to do things on their own from an early age."

"Yes sir," they said in unison.

The boys lapped up their stew happily, looking up now and then to see what Finn was doing. The boys couldn't believe how hairy Finn was. Long white hair covered his whole body, and where the skin showed through, it was as white as white could be, except for his lips, which were reddish. He looked like a snowman the boys thought.

"I'm not, you know, said Finn suddenly.

The boys exchanged glances, and then Deearo spoke. "Not what?" he asked.

"A snowman. It's cold up here in the north, and my hair keeps me warm. My daughter thinks I look ridiculous, but that's neither here nor there as far as I'm concerned. She's still mad at me for staying out of it?"

The boys exchanged glances again, but this time Dalbreath spoke. "Stay out of what, sir?" said Dalbreath.

"The affairs of human beings," he said, sadly.

"Why don't you help?" said Deearo, with a touch of anger in his voice.

"I see what you're driving at, Deearo," said Finn. "You wonder why I let your Da die? Why didn't I stop her? It wasn't a fair deal, was it?"

"No," sobbed Deearo.

"When you understand that there is no death, only various forms of life, not all of them physical, then you will be able to let go of your Da, and realize that killing her will not help."

"Why?" said Deearo, sobbing. Dalbreath patted him on the back consolingly.

"That's something you need to figure out on your own, Deearo. My answer won't help you at all. It will just make the wound deeper."

"Where is your daughter now?" said Dalbreath, changing the subject.

Finn smiled. "She's coming here now," he said. "She should be here by morning." Then he shrugged. "We don't get many visitors in these parts."

The boys giggled and then got themselves another bowl of stew. "This stew is really good," said Dalbreath, and Deearo nodded in agreement.

"It's an ancient recipe, going back a ways," said Finn, getting a bowl for himself.

"How far back?" asked Dalbreath.

"A ways," said Finn, smiling.

They ate on in silence, and when they were done they washed their bowls in the spring before they went to sleep. Dalbreath dreamt of his mother, that she was trying to reach him, but she couldn't hear him over the storm raging outside the cave, no matter how loudly he yelled for her.