Part 33 (1/2)
Cate sighed and fought back tears. ”When I tell her what you have just told me, the Isle of Mona will be exactly where she will want to head. She will want to save as many of us as she can. It is how she is, and I would expect no less from her.”
”And Lachlan?”
”He goes where Maeve goes.”
”Where are you now?”
”Nearly two days' ride from the coast.”
”Then you still have time to have the Chieftain stop sending Druids to Mona.”
”Jessie, it is possible that the Chieftain may not even believe my report.”
”Why not?”
”I am supposed to tell the greatest warrior of the Silurian people that there are sixty thousand soldiers preparing to run us all through, and that those sent to a sanctuary will be run down like wild boars by *
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men on horses? He will be disgraced. Disgraced men do not often act in the best interest of their people.”
”Then forget him. You take Maeve and Lachlan to Mona if you must. If you're going to save lives, it will only be from there. That's what the historical information reports.”
Cate looked up at her for the first time. ”What historical information?”
”Your people's written history, what little there was of it, will be largely destroyed by the new religion called Christianity. The Catholics will do everything they can to eradicate your people's philosophies from history.”
For a long time Cate said nothing, she just stared at Jessie. ”I have so many questions, but I am afraid my heart would break in the knowing.”
Jessie sighed. ”I apologize I don't have more for you, but there isn't much. Believe it or not, the first mention of Druids that we can find comes from Julius Caesar.”
Cate held up her hand signaling Jessie to stop. ”Please. I can bear it not. I wish I would be able to hear it, but it is too hard to think that my people have nearly been forgotten, remembered only by a man who reviled us. It is as if all the work we have done has been for naught.”
”But that's not true. The Druids who do survive Mona keep your religion alive. It is during a time now called the Dark Ages that Druids make a comeback and actually have kings consulting them.”
Cate's dark expression brightened. ”For truth?”
Jessie nodded; glad she could offer some, any positive news to Cate.
”For truth. A guy named Merlin comes along, and there are great tales told about his powers and his love of a king called Arthur.”
”Then why are the times considered dark?”
”Well, I don't know much about history, a fact I intend to rectify, but Christianity and religious fervor took over for rational thought and people stopped learning.”
”Stopped learning? How can that be so?”
”You'd be amazed. Like I said, I don't really know much about history, or I could tell you more. I just know your people and the *
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Druids make a big comeback.”
”It does my heart good to know that we are not entirely extinguished by the blood-thirsty Roman army.”
”The Roman Empire will extend quite a ways, Cate, and for hundreds of years longer. They do not get their comeuppance until the fifth century.”
Cate once again held up her hand. ”No more. Maeve tells me that too much information from you will cloud my true vision-but-it is good to know they do not go unpunished.”
”Let's just say they lost it all except for a country now known as Italy.”
”No!”
”Yep.”
”Oh-my.” Cate leaned forward and gazed into the fire. There was so much she wanted to know, so many things she wanted to ask, but there just wasn't time, and she needed to heed Maeve's words because- ”Because I would be disappointed in you if you did not.”
Both Cate and Jessie wheeled around toward the mist, where the third voice had come from. Out of the fog that swirled around her head walked a tall, auburn-haired woman wearing the same robe Cate most often wore.
Jessie immediately knew who it was. ”Maeve.”
Maeve glided across the surface of Cate's Dreamworld to where they now stood.
”You've come,” Cate whispered greeting Maeve. ”It has been a very long time since you visited my dream self.”
Maeve lightly brushed Cate's cheek before turning to Jessie and greeting her. ”It would be rude of me not to come and thank the woman who helped save my life. h.e.l.lo, Jessie.”
Jessie walked up to Maeve and, oddly enough, bowed. ”It feels like I have known you forever.”
Maeve smiled and repeated her gesture on Jessie's cheek. ”You have.”
Cate agreed. ”You just did not know it.”
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Jessie looked up at Maeve, amazed at how tall she was, at how beautiful and regal she was. ”How-”
”How is it that I am here in Catie's Dreamworld?” Maeve smiled.
”You need more information about the nature of the creatures we are.
There are many other worlds one can visit if one knows how. Normally, I would never presume to come uninvited, as it is a very invasive act, but under the circ.u.mstances, I knew Catie wouldn't mind.”
Cate shook her head. ”I learned long ago, Maeve, that you come and go where and when you please.”
Maeve's eyes softened as she looked at Cate. ”Indeed.” To Jessie, Maeve said, ”If, as I suspect, your world no longer honors the true soul of the earth, then the very fact that you listened to the warning regarding myself and Lachlan says a great deal about the power of the craft residing within you.”