The Raven's Curse

Chapter Forty Five

Two days before Yule. But only one day to plan their attack. The Ace Team were in Arthur's library. Those who were in fieldwork had returned exhausted, but still in high spirits to keep going. (F/n) and Feli returned from Ireland with some brown bread -which they all had for breakfast that morning. Apparently Feli liked them. Yao and Alfred met at London before returning together to Arthur's house. Kiku caught up with Ludwig in Scotland and both went back together. Ludwig was glad to see Kiku looked more alive since returning from Japan. And he hoped Kiku will always be, seeing as the odds were actually against his favour.

"Right." Arthur said as his palm slapped against the map pinned on the board. Catching full attention of his teammates. "Based on this map we can see that there were only four places marked with the triskellion. But there could only be one place for the ritual. Romania."

Upon his name called, Vlad stood and began explaining. With a wave of his hand pictures and words appeared midair like a hologram. Except for the fact that technology wasn't involved. The pictures depicted stories of Morrigan and words describe that them. They were like pages from a book.

"With further reading in the library and comparing all the foretold legends," Vlad gestured to themselves ;the magic trio, as he read the text in midair. " we found that it was believed Morrigan was stabbed by Merlin at a place 'Surrounded by the mysterious huge stones that stood mightily among the empty green fields' . Meaning to say this text clearly means in a place where monoliths existed. So we could cross those two out."

Matthew who was the nearest to the map took a red marker pen and crossed out the two places ;Glastonbury Tor and Newrange tomb. Leaving only the monoliths.

"So all that was left were the Callanish Stones at the Isle of Lewis." Ludwig stated. "In Scotland."

"And the Stonehenge in Wiltshire." Yao said. "2 miles west of Amesbury and 8 miles north of Salisbury."

"The only problem left was this." Arthur said uneasily. "The thing about passed down legends and myths are that the infos aren't actually crystal clear. Besides, can't really blame the people of long ago for not coming up with a proper name for the place."

"So you want us to discuss our opinions on which the place might be." Kiku said looking at Arthur.

Arthur only nodded. The magic trio had really tried. But none of the books actually gave a specific place. They were running out of clear references from the libraries. Besides, the names of places could have change over centuries including the distribution of land.

"I haven't told you about the old lady I met in Lewis, had I not?" Ludwig asked suddenly.

Everyone either gave him questioning looks or shook their heads. They heard nothing about the tale of an old lady or whatsoever. Even Kiku didn't know about it upon arriving in Scotland. But he did remembered Ludwig's face when he came back from the isle. It looked grim as if he had seen the dead.

Ludwig cleared his throat as he began his tale. "On my way to the Isle of Lewis, I met a peculier boy on the ferry. He was annoyingly chatty. But informative surprisingly. He was alone without a guardian. Said his mother went to the celestial world. And he was going there to celebrate Yule with his grandma."

Arthur was on full attention mode. Only people associated with magic would call the life after death realm as the 'celestial world'. Besides, normal people nowadays gathered for Christmas. Not Yule.

"I asked to meet his grandma and he happily agreed. This grandma looked like she was in her 70's. But she could still walk well without a walking stick. Upon meeting her, she somehow knew my intentions without even asking and without a word brought me to the Callanish stones. She showed me where the triskellion emblem was carved. Later she invited me for tea. I asked her about their Yule celebration. It seems that they celebrated it like Christmas. Except that they did rituals by giving offerings at the stones. Then they offer their prayers to the goddess Morrigan. For they claimed themselves to be faithful followers of the goddess and awaited her return every year. They believed the mentioned monoliths were refering to Callanish. Especially since 'The Old Woman of the Moors' was believed to be Morrigan's dead body that had been lying there since Merlin stabbed her. She also mentioned that this activity had been going on for centuries already. After that I thanked her and left."