Soul Of The Dragon Fae

The Fairy Pools turned out to be a set of pools created by a burn which gushed down the mountainside, before meandering away down the lower part of the glen. Leaving the dogs in the van, Kaia set out to explore. The pools were deep, filled with ice-teal water and connected by small waterfalls, ranging from ten to fifteen feet high. One of these fell through a natural rock tunnel, plummeting like thunder into the pool below. Kaia climbed past them all, surveying their different shapes and sizes, as she clambered among rocks and crevices looking for a potential hiding place for a crystal shard. Finding nothing, she stood at the topmost pool looking down into the glen. It spread before her like a green and brown carpet. It was easy to imagine Druids walking amidst the heather bushes. She could even hear them screaming. She jolted and turned to stare at the mountain behind her. Screaming. She could hear screaming, and what was more, it sounded like her own voice. A chill ran through her body, and in a trancelike state, she continued her ascent. It was clear to see that at some point in time, huge rocks had fallen from the summit to create a veneer effect and in one place they had left a dark, narrow cleft. As Kaia stared at it, a deep sense of unease crept down her spine. Somewhat reluctantly, she clambered across to the gap and squeezed through. The sound of the wind and of birds instantly ceased, to be replaced by a deathly stillness. The cleft let in very little light, and she could sense, rather than see, that the fallen rocks had created a huge cavern. It’s like a tomb. She pulled her phone from her pocket, switched on the torch, and stepped deeper inside. The floor of the cave was littered with what she assumed were sheep ribs. Yet the cleft was very narrow. A lamb might get through, but not a fully grown sheep. Come to think of it, they were the wrong shape for a sheep. Human! She shone her torch around the floor. There were an awful lot of rib cages … the battle. Her heart began to pound. If these were the remains of fallen warriors, then this mountain and glen could have been the battleground when the doorway to Shadow Side was last opened. Oh God! She stared in horror as her torch illuminated the carved frieze of figures. Strange forms with elongated limbs, which seemed to have bone and muscle but no skin, were depicted as scrambling over one another in a frenzy. She craned her neck to see the top and saw that the frieze was in the shape of an enormous arch. This was what she had seen in the Akashic library. The door to Shadow Side! In places the carvings looked fresh, but elsewhere they were worn and weathered. She ran her fingers over one area, instantly causing large pieces of stone to fall away and smash at her feet. The noise echoed through the stillness like a bomb exploding, and a bolt of hot electricity shot through her. Ianna. The voice cut through her mind like an ice-cold knife. Recoiling in horror, Kaia squeezed back through the opening and scrambled down the mountain. Moments later a screech came from the cleft above her, and glancing back she saw black shadows seeping from the opening. Demon wolves! Remembering what the Old Man of Storr had said, she skidded down scree to the first pool and threw herself in. The force of the water thrust Kaia around rocks to the top of a fall and then plunged her into the pool below, where she was churned like clothes in a washing machine. Yet adrenaline gave her extra strength, and kicking free from the pull of the water, she swam for the next waterfall. This one was higher, and hitting the water below was like hitting against stone. Winded, she half swam, half sank to the next waterfall, and then the next. Water splashed in her face, and every time she tried to breathe, her mouth filled with water. Her battle was not simply to stay above the surface but to catch a breath. Her body was now screaming in objection to the abuse and the pain. She consciously detached, focussing only on the momentum of the water and the next waterfall, as the demon wolves streamed down the mountainside in pursuit. Had she been on foot, they would have caught her, but the water flow was strong and whipped her down the mountain. Ahead now she could see the entrance to the tunnel. The water roared as it spun like water down a giant plug hole. Terror flooded through her as she fell through rock to crash into the foaming pit below. The water churned, sucking her under, but somehow, she managed to kick free. Breaking the surface, she let her body crash down the last fall then made for the bank, battered and bruised. Yet there was no time to assess any injuries; the wolves were nearly upon her. Summoning every ounce of remaining energy, she dragged herself onto dry land and sprinted for her van. She was shaking with cold and exhaustion, but her van, unaware of any urgency, refused to start. She muttered a curse and then, realising in her haste she had not pressed the clutch, she rectified her mistake. Slamming her foot down she turned the key again and this time the engine sprang to life. She put the shift into first, pressed hard on the accelerator and screeched away, just as the demons reached her.