Happy Tuesday to you!
My Beltane theme continues and as mentioned a couple of days ago, my novel The Beltane Choice isn't the only novel I've written that contains a Beltane scene.
I'm posting an excerpt from my Historical Time Travel novel The Taexali Game. My time travelling gamers - Aran and twins Brian and Fianna - are invited to join the tribespeople of Balbath who are heading out of the hillfort to the special ceremony that is about to take place. The intrepid trio, from our contemporary times, have had some warning that a Beltane ceremony is about to happen but they have yet to find out what that is like...
~~~
Outside the roundhouse was a revelation. Many torches
burned in high stands like the flambeau he’d seen on Caribbean holiday beaches,
giving the growing dusk a festive air. People milled around chattering
excitedly.
The unearthly beating of skin drums cut short the
hubbub, the signal sound sending everyone scurrying towards the settlement
opening. Aran sensed the restrained excitement around him as he and the other
two trotted after Orla who clutched Caitlinn’s hand very firmly with one hand,
a lit torch brand in the other. Apart from a sizeable number of young guards
who were left at strategic places, everyone followed the drumbeats, surging
outside through the zigzag walkway and on towards the training ground. Burning
flares at the far end of the field beckoned the crowd.
When they reached the area, the brands he’d seen were
markers indicating where the stacks had been laid. He grinned at Brian and
Fianna, all of them caught up in the general excitement. It was the same sort
of anticipation he always felt when he stood around the local bonfire. He was
desperate to see what would happen since this was Guy Fawkes Night with a huge
difference.
The swell of people came to an abrupt halt well before
they reached the stacked wood; waiting for something. It wasn’t long before the
crowd parted to allow someone to pass forward to the stacks.
Tuadh: a splendidly dressed Tuadh whose gold torque
gleamed in the flare of his torch brand, the hilt of his sword and his
unsheathed axe twinkling below. When the chief got to the first of the
bonfires, he raised his arms high above him and began to chant. Though the
words were difficult to make out it seemed he was incanting a spell to every
bonfire as he approached it. One by one, he lit each stack, flickering them
into action as the dry tinder ignited. When each fire was lit, Tuadh cast the
marker flare into the flames making the corridor between the fires even wider.
Soon eight roaring blazes lit up the darkening blue dusk, four to each side of
Tuadh.
To more ceremonial drumbeating, Aran watched the
elders of the tribe proceed up the now well-lit walkway towards the chief.
Eventually coming to a halt, they arranged themselves alongside or behind
Tuadh, a few rows deep, facing the awaiting tribespeople.
The drumbeat changed very slightly.
“Follow me!” Caitlinn in her firm grip, Orla moved
through the noisy clutch of people and gradually made her way along the fire
corridor, to her hearth-husband.
Aran and the twins towed at her heels, among the many
people who now surged through the fire curtain. It seemed to be the turn of
important warriors, those of high rank but who had not reached the status of
being an elder of the tribe.
Orla whispered to Tuadh on reaching him. After the
chief nodded, she turned back to Aran.
“Follow.”
Orla was a woman of few words. The twins at his side,
he trailed after her and Caitlinn as she went to one end of the row of elders,
the bulk of the important tribespeople now clustered alongside the chief.
“Stand next to me, Warrior Aran.”
Another order from the chief’s wife but Aran wasn’t
too bothered since the view was good. Fianna stood next to him, Brian on her
far side.
Tuadh raised his hand, the torch brand held aloft. He
said nothing, yet at his signal, the crowd at the far end quietened till the
only sounds to be heard were the spitting and crackling of the fires. They
burned brighter and brighter as the flames licked their snaking tongues to the
topmost wood. The sparks flew high, and the cracking and popping filled the now
deepening dusk. A column of puffing smoke rose majestically from each blaze,
since there was no wind to speak of. The wood smells were unmistakable as damp
fiery debris floated into the air around their cheery brightness.
Anticipation was palpable, an edgy strain circling all
around. Aran just knew something fantastic was about to occur. Then, as though
no mortal person started it, a different thrumming rippled around him. From
somewhere he couldn’t see, the low beat of the skin drums rumbled through the
air – sending an even deeper expectancy over the throng. Eventually, when the
tension had become almost unbearable, the faraway crowd silently parted and
from out of the inky blue dusk came the strangest, most alarming figure he had
ever seen. It walked with the body of a man, though the head was a huge stag
with glittering rings adorning the twisted full-grown antlers.
It was fantastic!
It towered over the mass of people who parted to allow
the figure to be visible by Tuadh.
Aran shared a quick glance with the twins. Fianna
looked beside herself with glee. Brian all but hopped in his enthusiasm, as
well. Nobody else grinned around him, though. Whatever was happening was a
serious business to the people of Balbath. He suppressed the smirk that wanted
to escape; his stomach flutters of pure exhilaration and expectation.
At the far end of the fire corridor, the figure
stopped in all its splendour.
Fianna gasped alongside and he felt her trembling
fingers clutch at his cloak. Her eyes glittered with sheer excitement. Though
it was an unearthly looking figure, he knew it was a real live man underneath
the strange helmet. Mapon was long gone, but he’d said his acolyte would remain
and what a substitute he was. The figure was magnificent. In the tense hush
around him, he truly appreciated the difference between seeing something
similar in 3D on a screen, and what he now experienced in real live, seeing,
smelling, touching… living.
Callum’s interactive story was incredible.
He realised that he’d actually forgotten about it
being a story, being so drawn into the life at Balbath. Right that moment, he
was so glad to be experiencing it.
The druid acolyte carried a strange staff, not unlike
Mapon’s, but this one had a shining silvery animal head atop the shaft. Huge
twisting antlers made it easy for him to recognise the head as that of a full
antlered stag, which matched the figure’s magnificent headdress. The staff-top
glittered malevolently in the firelight as the acolyte held it aloft, the
weight needing both his hands to hold it high. The billowing robe he wore
trailed around as he headed for the fire corridor with long strides.
When the druid’s footfall passed the furthest away
fire, a carnyx shrieked its terrifying resonance alongside Aran, notes that
lingered in the gloom. The tension amongst the multitude was so powerful, he
felt it ripple through him. It wasn’t a frightening feeling: more of an extreme
exhilaration. Any of these objects – staff, headdress or carnyx – would be
incredible evidence to take back to Callum. How could that happen though?
Without looking down, he became aware of Caitlinn
who’d slipped from her mother’s grip. Sneaking in between him and Fianna the
little girl bristled with anticipation. Orla nodded her approval when he
glanced her way to indicate he was aware of her daughter. When the last
resonance of the carnyx could be heard no longer, the acolyte’s voice replaced
it from that furthest away fire, carrying mournfully up into the cloudless, now
star-studded navy sky.
“Cernunnos, Lord of Darkness…”
Brian nudged Aran in the ribs as he mouthed,
“Cernunnos strikes again.” His toothy grin shone white in the flickering
firelight.
“Shut up and listen!” Aran whispered in his friend’s
ear, wanting to be respectful.
The druid intoned a deep boom across the moonlight.
“Go with thanks. Yet come with blessings. With the
mother-earth, Brighde, bring energy to our fires.”
The sounds of his chanting sent creepy shudders
through Aran. Fianna dug her nails into his arm, her trembling transferring
right through the fabric of his tunic. Caitlinn snuggled in even closer to him
when the druid slowly paced his way up through the fire passageway, his eerie
incantation increasing in volume as he walked towards them. Lamenting the
passing of the dark winter moons his dirge was now addressed to Brighde, the
name sounding a bit like the word bride – the name Aran knew to be the mother
earth goddess. The acolyte came to a stop in front of the chief and his elders,
and thumped the bottom of his staff to the ground.
So close now, Aran could see the mouth and chin of the
mask had been cleverly cut away to allow the druid’s voice to be heard clearly.
The man’s fierce eyes stared from eye sockets that had also been carved out. A
soft hush came from the gathering then they all started to intone very softly
in unison after he began to chant again.
“Healing fires. Burn brightly. Burn! Inflame us with
your fiery strength. Bring us forth your fruitful blossoms. Let your sun shine
brightly on us.”
The chant repeated itself as the trainee druid’s arms
opened wide, first pointing dramatically to the right and then to the left. At
the far end, the crowd parted. Still chanting, some of them moved off to the
left and others to the right behind the fires leaving the far end of the
walkway opposite Tuadh totally empty.
Aran looked around him. Everyone chanted quietly with
only the smallest of children not joining in. Pretending to know the words Aran
mouthed silently. Looking at Fianna and Brian he was thankful to see they tried
to do the same. Better not to look too suspicious since it looked like they
ought to know the words.
When the tribespeople were all settled well behind the
fires, the high ranking warriors of the tribe came out and drove their spears
into the ground, purposely set closely together like a barrier, alongside the
staff of the druid. The line of weapons made a wall in front of Tuadh.
The people no longer chanted solemnly. Their pace had
quickened, the verse growing louder and louder till it became a deafening roar.
Yet, again, the sound of the shrieking carnyx stopped its momentum.
Into the immediate and dead silence came another
disturbingly strange noise. Through the darkness, from beyond the rise at the
far end of the training ground, came the loudest protest of bellowing animals
that Aran had ever heard. The yelling of the farmers was impressive as they
herded the poor beasts into a long funnel at the far end of the fire passage, a
funnel created by a wall of warriors. The animals, clearly terrified of the
flames and smoky smells ahead of them, lowed and snorted and bucked as they
tried to evade their fate.
Standing in front of his staff, the druid’s voice
roared above their din.
“Brighde, mother goddess, giver of life, purify our
animals and bring bountiful fruit. Bring your sun’s energy to them through our
conflagration.”
The crowd repeated the chant three times, and then
stopped. They hushed again and waited for him to finish his entreaty. This time
the druid’s voice was different. Not a chant any more as a druid, but the
warnings of a concerned, mortal man.
“This Beltane must be different, people of Balbath.
Let your animals be sacrificed again rather than yourselves.”
The crowd’s low moan was eerie. All around them Aran
and the twins could feel the alarm of the people of Balbath…though they could
also see determination in their faces. Were the animals going to be sacrificed
on these fires? Aran felt Caitlinn burrow in closer to his leg.
“Are they going to burn these poor cows, Aran?” Fianna
whispered in his ear.
Aran’s head shaking was her only reply as the druid
returned to his prayers. In actual fact, he hadn’t a clue what was about to
happen.
“Let these healthy animals aid us to fight our foe as
they did last Lughnasadh.” After the druid warned another time, he walked to
one end of the spears and gestured to the people ranged behind the fires on
that side, his arms waving towards the sky in a wide circular movement.
His silent signal didn’t make any sense to Aran. It
still made no sense when the druid walked to the opposite end of the spears and
made the same gestures.
Returning to his staff, his arms and stag’s head rose
skywards in open supplication. His voice reached epic strength as he bawled a
prayer to the heavens.
“Oh, mighty Taranis, from your realm above, give our
animals your blessing!”
On the last word, the corral of warriors holding back
the cows began to split open. The first of the animals was lashed into
movement, forced to launch itself down the avenue of fire towards the druid.
The thwacking of birch switches, and the cries of farmers alongside the
terrified beast, kept it in motion as it howled and screeched through the fire
corridor. The rest of the animals surged forwards into the walkway on the
hooves of the first. Running alongside the lowing beasts, to keep them in
order, the farmers kept up their hollers.
 |
| I just wish I could draw.... but you can get the idea. |
It was like a mini-earthquake as the cows thudded
their way up the glowing orange and red channel. Aran watched the people of
Balbath kneel down at their place behind the fires as the beasts proceeded
through the fire corridor. The tribespeople touched both hands to the earth
below them to feel the pounding of the beasts. Women pulled down some now
screaming and howling infants as the great charging of hooves rocked the soil
beneath them, the reverberations rippling below the whole arena.
Aran felt Caitlinn tug him down, Fianna and Brian
following suit mimicking the tribespeople, since the elders alongside him had
knelt to the ground as well.
The terrified cattle reached Tuadh’s end of the fire
corridor. One by one, they hurtled themselves right or left when they were
confronted by the line of spears. Once they had turned, they loped away from
the crowds to disappear out into the darkness, where other warriors waited
ready to quieten them.
Now Aran understood the significance of the druid’s
arm gestures. The acolyte had been ensuring the space was cleared for the
beasts’ exit. When rounded up, the terrified cattle would be taken back to
their enclosures.
As the last few animals started their charge, a huge
and totally deafening roar went up from the crowd, drowning out the thunder of
the cows as the people heralded the end of their cleansing ceremony. The few
cows that remained bucked and swerved, here and there, trying to run off but
were completely distracted by the human clamour around them. One bewildered
animal escaped the handlers and swivelled between the last two fires instead of
completing the journey along the whole fire corridor. Terrified shrieks rent
the air as the beast trampled over two men in the front row, pounding them into
the ground, smashing limbs to pulp as the creature blasted headlong for the
darkness beyond the kneeling people. Panic set in as the throng scattered in
all directions away from the snorting and crazy beast. Not knowing which way to
go in its headlong flight, it constantly changed direction.
“Flee!” Orla cried as the beast whirled towards them.
Aran felt his cloak yanked back as he leapt to his
feet, the warrior behind him dragging him away. Brian’s shout indicated much
the same was happening to him as he, too, cried out.
“Run, Fianna!”
Caitlinn whimpered in front of Fianna, too transfixed
to even get to her feet. Scooping her up by the shoulders Fianna whirled the
little girl out of the animal’s path, throwing her aside like a Frisbee and
straight into the arms of a warrior who rushed to help them.
Her back now to the animal, Fianna began to run but
she’d only taken a couple of steps when its head pounded into her, pitching her
high into the air like a rag doll before it charged off into the now cleared
space around her.
Fianna thumped to the ground.
~~~
I hope that whetted your appetite for The Taexali Game and made you want to read more of the novel. Here are a few reviews for The Taexali Game:
“…this was one of the most original approaches to (time
travel), by using developing technology we can all relate to.”
“The Taexali Game takes the idea of Time Travel and sets it
in a computer game thereby making the concept wholly believable. I thoroughly
bought into the idea.”
“As usual, Nancy Jardine's characterisation is fantastic and
the action never stops. You are gripped and have to read the next chapter.”
It's available from Amazon in eBook & paperback. Paperbacks can be ordered from bookstores and from major online retailers like Waterstones.com.
Slàinte!
.jpg){kind=link}
