Hidden through time

7. New surroundings

Written 2015 by VeGirl ©, and this photo is not mine either. He looks fitting for Taithtleigh though, at least for my inner eye.

* * * * * * * * * *

Charles couldn't believe he had fled without any concern about Frances. Guilt rid him like a cacodemon.

Was she really gone?

On shaky legs he walked the path back to where he had fled, scared to find her and terrified to find not find her.

He remembered how they had stopped to drink water by the spring a few days ago and the place had been bursting with life. Now it was empty.

The last bit of the path towards the deceptive water he stepped carefully on shaky legs. His eyes scanned the area but nowhere was his wife to be seen.

"Frances!" His calls out to her were whispers in the beginning, but turned to frantic hisses and then he called out loud. "Frances, please come out!"

The loch lay still as a mirror and he turned towards the forest next to it instead.

"Frances!"

The place that had been bursting with life not long ago was now eerily silent and still. Vacant was the only word that sprung to Charles mind. Empty was not a word he described himself with yet, but he knew he would.

Guilt ripped through him and he could hardly breathe. Had that creature really taken her; had he sacrificed his wife for his own life?

What on earth had he done?

He had always though himself as an honourable man, but that had changed in the blink of an eye.

He had sacrificed his wife.

Bitter and angry tears fell down his cheeks as he contemplated the choice he made so many years ago.

Why hadn't he just given up then?

He remembered the accident vividly as if it was yesterday it occurred. The dark force that had pulled him under had merged into a stunning beauty and mixed with his short life flickering before his eyes that blackhaired beauty had danced with him. She had seduced him totally and when he was just about to abide and live his life, or death by her side, she had laughed mean and he'd been swept back into his own life where he laid coughing on the smooth cliff-side by the water.

Now, he had sacrificed his innocent wife!

He slumped down on the moss in the vast forest with the gnarled silver birches and pine trees.

How was he to live with this?

* * *

When I woke up, I had no recollection of the previously events. The smell indicated that I was in a forest, but I didn't recognize the surroundings as I carefully looked around. My head was still dazed, but not painfully as after a bender.

"Are you okay?" someone asked and I bounced upright to find a man with long fair hair looking at me with deep green eyes, filled with concern.

My mouth fell open at the sight of him. I couldn't understand why he was even talking to me, he was stunningly handsome. "Who are you?" I asked but thoughts of some guy in a film I saw with my grandchildren flitted through my mind. I didn't remember his name... yes; Aragorn. Between that billowing blond hair a pair of dark green eyes glistened towards me.

"I'm Taithleach, but you can call me Ty."

"I'm...

"Frances; I know."

My surprise only deepened. "How do you know my name?"

"You told me."

I looked confused around us. "But we just met."

Ty frowned slightly. "No, not really..." he admitted, his hair swayed softly in the breeze. He raised a finger to touch my forehead, but I shied away from him. "Come on!" he said impatiently, stretched further and placed that finger on my forehead and a jolt shot through me. Instantly I remembered sitting on the stone beside the smooth water as he came to chide me.

I gasped. "Where you the one stalking me in the woods?"

He pressed his lips together. "Someone obviously needed to keep an eye out for you," he stated, without flat out admitting how much he had followed her around. He gathered his long hair in both hands and swirled it up in a bun in the nape of his neck. "Were you really ready to die?" He sounded gobsmacked.

I knew exactly what he was referring to even if his beauty made it hard to form coherent thoughts while looking at him. "Die? No! I just wanted to talk to the wench!" There was trouble to curb my emotions and just looking at him made it worse.

"You can't just talk with a water nymph! She kills for sport!"

I snapped out of my admiration for his exterior. "Are you aware of how crazy this conversation sounds?" I glared at him. "Waternymph!" I snorted.

He laughed and the sound sent pleasurable chills along my spine that travelled into the deepest core of me. No matter what had happened or what might have happened I knew I wanted to stay by his side. The stress was profound, but also the intrigue. I finally started to look around. We were no longer by the woods and the loch. The trees looked different and there was a shimmering lens-effect like in a film. I blinked a few times to clear my eyes. "Where are we?"

"Andlang."

"Excuse me?"

Ty rolled his eyes tiredly. "Andlang."

It sounded as if he questioned my sanity as much as I did his. "What the bleeding... What is Andlang?"

He pressed his brows downwards. "Don't you know anything anymore? Are there no elders to tell the stories?"

Which stories? I didn't understand what I was supposed to know and to try and figure it out; I sharpened my eyes and looked around in this enchanting forest.

This place looked like nothing I had seen. The buzzing bees I had happened to see was not bees at all when I looked closer; it looked like tiny hummingbirds, and the trees seemed to sway slowly albeit no wind moved them. My mouth fell open as I stared to find more mysterious things around me. A tiny flock of what looked like flying seahorses passed us and I suddenly understood. "Blimey, this is a dream! It feels so real, so vivid!"

"Gods!" Ty exclaimed and it seemed like he wondered again what he had got himself into.

I looked up at him and the relieved smile once again changed into bemusement. "Dalang is real?"

"Andlang!" he corrected irritated.

I nailed him with a sharp look. "You claim that, but this is clearly a dream." I flung my hands out with a mischievous smile. "I mean, look at that! That is absolutely stunning, but there are no trees with that colour." I pointed towards the closest tree where the trunk coruscated softly in purple.

"That is just because it is about to go to seed." He sighed tiredly. He had barely explained about the tree when there was a pop and purple dust fell over us.

I was momentarily stunned by the magic of it. "This is just too hard to swallow, don't you get it?" I was not that gullible. "I'll be waking up in a few sec's."

"Good luck with that one..."

.