From Night On: Sacred Grounds

Chapters 25-26

Chapter 25:

What Does Truth Cost?

Collin needed to leave to retrieve his tour bus before he could pick up everyone and move along to the landmark. Terry looked at the location through his map app and suggested that they simply run the short distance, but, once again, the others insisted on taking the slower path.

"Rafael wants to go, too," Shei argued, seeing the excitement in the man's eyes as he surveyed the surrounding rolling hills. "After flying us this far, do you really want to deny him the sites? How long will it take us to drive there?"

Terry looked at the map, again. "About an hour," he answered. "I guess it's not too bad of a drive. Do we know how long Collin will take?" They all looked to Creigan and Barneas without a clue as to how to communicate. "Rafael," he turned to the pilot, "maybe you could show these guys the interior of Esperanza?"

Rafael's eyes lit up and a boyish grin grew across his face. "Oh, yes, definitely!" he said, hopping at the opportunity to show off his prized possession.

"Mi amigos!" he called to the two undead Scotsmen. "Mira!"

When Collin returned, he nearly leaped from the bus, screaming for Creigan and Barneas to get out of the jet. "It might be impossible to get'em out of there, now," he laughed, but Rafael had already bridged the linguistic gap with a simple promise: he would take them for a flight after all was done.

To Collin's surprise, the two came cheerfully off the plane without any fuss, but with eagerness to get on with the business at hand. The fact that their hastiness to move along was motivated by Rafael's promise was something that they agreed would remain a secret for the moment.

The bus itself was nicely kept with large windows, so all the passengers could see out either side with ease. From the speakers, bagpipes quietly played traditional songs mixed with contemporary covers accompanied by electric guitars. Creigan and Barneas nodded along thoughtfully at the traditional songs that were actually a couple thousand years after their time, but smiled and bobbed in their seats when the "Celtic Rock" came on. "These Scots 'ave been lovin' the metal and punk," Collin smiled as he turned up a song.

"Do you know what time they're from?" Terry asked as he glanced back at the two, catching their attention.

"Dè tha e ag ràdh?" Creigan asked as he and Barneas moved closer.

"Tha e a 'fraighneachd dè an aois a tha thu," Collin answered. "He was wondering what you were asking," he explained to Terry as the two stood up and presented themselves. "They want ye ta guess who is the oldest,"Collin interpreted with a chuckle.

To Terry, he could only see them in their prime, so his guess wouldn't have been useful, but to the others, it was even more of a mystery. "I don't know," Terry answered. "I'd say that Barneas is the oldest, but that's just a guess."

After the translation, the two turned to Mike, Rafael, and Shei for their thoughts. The two corpses were obviously in two states of decay and Barneas, too, looked to be the oldest of them with much more damage from the years. With their answer, Creigan stepped forward with his leathery skin and cracked a smile.

"We know that, through his memories," Collin lectured, "that Barneasis from Britain's Bronze Age, which was from 2,500bce to 800bce. By that time, they had already been utilizing metallurgy. We did no' find him until he pulled himself from one of the peat bogs in South Uist. Creigan, on the other hand," he reached over and grabbed the microphone for the overhead speakers. "Creigan, inns dhaidbh dè an aois a tha thu," asking him to announce his age for everyone.