Overcomer - The Journey, Judy Colella [book reader for pc txt] 📗

take care of this, young man. Does any of it hurt right now?”

“J-just the – the – wh-where Buddy h-h-hit me the la-last time.”

“Where was that?”

“All over.”

After a momentary hesitation, the doctor pulled the robe off Cian’s shoulders and down to his waist, then stared at the scars and bruises covering every part of the boy’s torso and upper arms. “I promise you as does Mr. Bell, I’m sure, that no one – no one – is ever going to hurt you like this again.”

EIGHTEEN

 

Connecticut – Present Day

 

Within the silence following Croghan’s explanation of Celeste’s involvement, Cian got up to join him at the fireplace. “I’ll take the story from here, if it’s all right with you.”

Elements of his journey from Tír Conaill to Connecticut had been lost one by one along the way as he had traveled through time to this place. But as the Croghan had told his tale, most of those long-forgotten details had returned. Steady streams of flashing images blossomed into full-blown recollections until Cian was back to himself at last.

Croghan shrugged. “Very well. I assume you’ve remembered some more?”

“A lot more. Almost all of it.”

“Good! I think I need a little rest anyway.” He smiled, taking the chair Cian had vacated.

Cian took a quick, deep breath and began. “As the Croghan stated, we crossed Ireland from Tír Conaill to the northern shore across from Tory Island near sunset many days later. I was familiar only with the calmer waters of Donegal Bay – we never went there during storms, of course – but here the sea was different and I was awed by the size and beauty of it. The island was a daunting distance from the shore, the waters between wild and full of rocks and foam. A small boat could cross, but it looked to be a dangerous trip. My mother asked the Croghan how he proposed we get over there. I remember her having to raise her voice to be heard over the sound of the waves.

“Croghan took out his harp and said he was going to take us to the Island with music. Before anyone could ask how, he played several chords, and then sang out a melody with no words, or at least I don’t recall any. I do remember feeling as though the wind had gathered itself into a gigantic hand that swept us up into its palm, closed around us like a fist, and before we could take another breath, opened again to leave us on the shores of Tory. It was... it was amazing.

“Tory Island mustn’t be large, even though as a child I saw it as huge. Before long we had rounded one side of it and were looking out at a rock formation that made me think of a gigantic comb, its teeth pointed upward. I guess to others it resembled a key, because I’m told it was called a jetty, and in some later age became known as The Key, but I don’t know who told me. Niall, maybe. The Croghan led us out onto this insane-looking thing, telling us – unnecessarily, I might add – to take care to watch our footing. By the time we got to the end, the sun was all but gone, but a few last rays were shining gold on one face of the crag directly before us. To this, the Croghan made his way and raised his hands with Niall standing beside him while we waited a few feet back.

“He began to sing, but without the harp, and within seconds the rock dissolved. I can’t think of any other description. It… disintegrated into a curtain of golden mist, and it was beautiful. I don’t know if I was, uh, ‘freaked out’ by what was happening, but I’m sure I was elated, you know, the way children are who have never had reason to fear anything and are having a sudden grand adventure.

“I don’t know how to describe what I was looking at once we passed through the curtain except… imagine being woven into a massive cocoon, maybe. All was soft and grey, and at our feet was a pathway that looked like ash. There was no sound, only a sense of vastness.

“I looked up to see the ceiling –common sense was telling me we were inside this bloody great rock formation, so there would have to be one, right? Well, there wasn’t. The greyness darkened into nothing overhead. And instead of walls of stone, what looked like high, grey curtains were all that defined both sides of the pathway. Ahead, the distance was also greyness. I looked at my parents to see if they had become that same color, too.” The memory came with a grin. “They were normal, much to my relief, but I couldn’t say what light made it possible for us to see at all, never mind colors.

“We followed the Keeper and Niall, on and on through this bizarre place. I’ve no idea how long we traveled, but I never felt tired, hungry or thirsty. Still, it seemed longer than our journey from Tír Conaill. But at last, in the distance was something gleaming and green. As we got closer, I saw a hill, and on top something white and blue shimmered. The hill was only about twelve feet at its highest point, and its sides had a gradual slope.

“Since the hill had come into view I’d been hearing music unlike any I’d heard before. Because bards were common in our land, I recognized the sounds as coming from a harp, but this music made me feel as if I could walk on a cloud.

“The Croghan brought us to the top, but as we approached the harper, we became overwhelmed by her size and beauty. My parents fell to their knees, bowing their heads. I remember staring up at her – even seated, she was much taller than any of us – and asking her what she was.

“‘I am the angel Celesta,’ she told me, and smiled, and I thought my heart would burst with joy. Then she said something I vowed at the time that I’d never forget. She said, ‘I found you, dearest Cian, and chose you to be the Sword-Wielder of the Light, the Defender of the Balance – our Time Warrior.’” He shook his head. “What glorious words those were to a little boy, but I didn’t remember them until now.” He paused, his mind’s eye filling with the long-forgotten scene. Celesta – he could see her exquisite features still, but those of his parents? Lost. Nothing.

“Cian?”

He took a quick breath, refocusing, and realized Celeste had spoken. “I’m sorry.”

“For what? Are you all right? You look so… so sad.”

“I am a little, but it’s okay.” He smiled, grateful for her concern.

Croghan stretched and crossed one leg over the other. “After this, I do believe Celesta explained to Cian’s parents our plan for training him and why he had been chosen. She said the boy would have to go on a quest even as he was learning the ways of the sword, and that this quest would take Cian beyond their lifetimes.”

“An angel’s touch is an amazing thing,” Cian added. “My mother was, as you can imagine, more upset about this than ever, but Celesta called her forward and took her hand, and I saw my mother, I don’t know, relax. A moment before, she’d looked as if fury would overwhelm her awe, but the next she was at ease, smiling. I can’t explain it better than that. After a few minutes, Celesta promised that my mother’s sadness would be taken away, as would my father’s, and they would be given peace.

“I asked if I would have that, too. Celesta told me I had to find my own peace, but that when I did, it would be complete, and no more sadness would darken my soul, or some such words.”

“Well that doesn’t seem fair!” Katie crossed her arms, glowering.

“I suppose I’ll find out.” He stared over everyone’s head for a moment, pulling together the rest of what he remembered. “My parents were told they could stay with me for the first part of the quest, and that made me glad, but The Croghan, said he had other matters to see to, so the Breslin would be our guide, something else Servant Helpers do. Before he left us, Croghan told me that at the end of my first journey through the Doors – I remember going through several – I was to seek someone named Celeste, that I would recognize her because she would know things she shouldn’t, and be able to play the harp, which he would have taught her himself. She would be the final step toward my destiny, and I was to befriend her. I’d forgotten all about that until shortly before moving into the Connecticut foster home, and even then only part of it.”

“Wait – ” Celeste put her head to one side. “So that ‘know things she shouldn’t’ bit refers to my trances?”

“It does.”

“Okay; sorry.”

Tearing his gaze away from her was becoming difficult. What did that mean? Cian! Finish the account of what brought you here – you can think about your feelings later. A blink, a shift of focus to the far wall. “Niall brought us down a pathway once the Croghan was gone, and stopped at a place where the grey was almost black. He muttered something and another curtain of golden light appeared. When we stepped through, we were in a cave with a sandy floor, light at the far end, and the sound of the ocean loud in our ears.

“Once outside, we followed the Breslin along the shore to an upward path that ended at a barren stretch of land. I don’t remember a lot more about it, only that we soon came to a wooden structure resembling a cottage, but taller. Walls within made separate interior spaces. Ours had been a cottage with one large room, two windows and one door. This place had windows on every side, a door in front where we entered, another in back, and wooden steps leading up into some mysterious area overhead. When I asked where they led, Niall’s answer was my introduction to the concept of bedrooms. My father, I think, had seen bigger homes than ours, but this one was like nothing in Ireland, and I said so.

“I was right – Niall told us we were in Cornwall, in a part that would become known as Land’s End. I’d never heard of Cornwall, but somehow it didn’t sound like the name of a town. As for the house, Niall told us another of his kind, a Servant Helper, who was away for bit helping someone else, owned it.

“My guess that Cornwall was a place like Ireland was confirmed when he explained that here our native Gaelic was not spoken. This, he said, would be the first part of my quest. I had to learn the tongue of the English. That wasn’t the word he used for them, nor was their language the same English as we speak now. Come to think of it, Cornish has a lot of the Celtic in it, Cornwall being a Celtic community, and little