THE BLUESTONE
BY MAGGIE
It was dark, it was the middle of the night and Ceryndip was in dreamland. There were green fields, mysterious woodlands, beckoning hills and the sound of gulls away off in the distance. She was drawn to the sound, feeling that she would find something wonderful at the end of her journey. She looked down at her feet and saw they were planted firmly on a path of gold which seemed to shine in the darkness. 'Heavens!' she thought, 'I wonder how I got here? I could have sworn I was asleep a minute ago ...'
She began to follow the path. Everywhere was eerily silent except for the cry of the gulls which she followed, drawn to the haunting siren call.
The grass of the fields around her was so green. She could see it, even though she knew it was night; light seemed to come from somewhere ahead of her, emanating from behind the hills, diffusing softly in the sky overhead.
A large bird appeared, swooping down in front of her; it was a raven and it spoke to her.
"Better hurry," it said, "or you might not catch him ..."
"Catch who?" Ceryndip enquired urgently, confused and a little worried now. Who was it she was supposed to catch? What was going on? But the bird threw itself up into the air and flew off, without answering her question. 'Well, that was strange', she told herself. 'I wonder if anything else will happen?'
Sure enough, a little further along the path, she came to rest for a moment, to catch her breath, under a large Willow tree whose branches swept to the floor and enclosed a space, just right for sitting and resting in.
Leaning back against the bole of the tree, Ceryndip breathed in the air, noticing a vague and very pleasant scent of honeysuckle and sandalwood. It reminded her of Iolaus and closing her eyes, she allowed herself to drift into a daydream or two about the intrepid, fearless, passionate hunter-warrior.
Her dreams were rudely interrupted by another voice, dry and crackly this time, calling her name insistently.
"Wha - Who's there? What do you want?"
"This is no time to be sitting around daydreaming, young lady; didn't you hear the raven? You must hurry; he'll be leaving soon and if you tarry here, you won't catch him...."
Getting to her feet, feeling somewhat nonplussed now, Ceryndip looked
around her for the source of the voice. A frond from the Willow tree waved purposefully in front of her face and she burst out laughing. It reminded her of Iolaus talking to a fern frond in his adventure with Hercules and the ghost Timoron, when they went to catch King Sisyphus and take him back to Hades. Timoron had been invisible for much of the time and Iolaus had been left with him, somewhat reluctantly, while Herc went to catch dinner. Timoron had managed to wave a fern frond to indicate to Iolaus where he was; even so, Iolaus had felt very silly asking a waving leaf whether it had heard any good jokes recently!
The Willow frond brushed softly across her face and Ceryndip gradually got the idea that it must be the tree speaking. She looked up into the branches and felt eyes upon her, though she couldn't see them.
"Go on," said the raspy voice again; "no time to waste, you must hurry now!"
Sighing, Ceryndip turned away from the tree and the fronds in front of her, parted to let her through. "I'm beginning to feel like Alice in Wonderland ..." she muttered to herself.
Once more she was visited by a harbinger, urging speed; a stag, a magnificent White Hart with the most impressive antlers she had ever seen. He spoke to her with a voice of great authority.
"You must run," he told her. "The boat is nearly here and he will be gone, if you do not hurry! Just over the rise of this next hill, you will find him. Run, run!!"
The Hart gazed at her a moment with piercing eyes and then bounded off to disappear into the forest at the side of the path.
Impelled by this last messenger, Ceryndip took to her heels and ran. The side of the hill rose steeply and it was difficult to get her breath, but on she ran until she came out at the top onto a cliff path which spread endlessly to her right and to her left and it was silver, and where it met the path of gold it was the most intense shade of blue; the blue of Iolaus' eyes.
Ceryndip looked out and saw the ocean, and a tall sailing ship harbored in the bay, and there was a long rowing boat with six graceful oarsmen all dressed in elven grey, and the stern of the boat stood a tall man with long flowing wine-dark hair, all dressed in robes of azure and grey and maroon. The rowing boat was approaching the shore. Following the direction of its path with her eyes, Ceryndip finally saw who it was that she had had to hurry to catch; it was Iolaus.
He stood, awaiting the arrival of the boat, standing at rest, his sheathed sword over one shoulder, his bow slung around him and a quiver of arrows in his left hand.
Ceryndip, fearing the boat would arrive and he would board it and be gone, before she could reach him, called out to him.
"IOLAUS!! Wait for me..."
She cast around hurriedly for a path down and spied a break in the tall grass which lined the cliff edge, off to her left. It was the beginning of a narrow, thankfully quite shallow, path, and although it would take her a few minutes to descend to the beach by it, she was no longer worried; she saw Iolaus turn and look up at her shout, and a brilliant smile broke out on his face, and he waved to her.
Once she was down, she hurried over to him.
"Ceryndip!!" Iolaus exclaimed, giving her a big hug. "I was hoping you could make it; I'm sorry I couldn't come to your birthday party, but I have something I have to do." His broad, brilliant smile and sparkling eyes cast a warm glow over her as he just looked at her for a moment. Then he reached inside his vest and produced a blue stone, the size of a pigeon's egg.
"This is for you," he told her, giving it to her. "I have to go away from here for awhile; to another place, and I need you to keep this safe for me. It's the only way I can be sure that I'll get back."
Ceryndip looked into his eyes, gravely. "An adventure?" she breathed. "Something dangerous?"
"The elven people have need of my help," he told her. "I was chosen because they know me as a hunter in their forests. There is a land, somewhere across the Seas of Time, and the Oceans of Fate, where I am needed, and I may be gone awhile. This stone is a connection to me and I need someone here to keep it safe whilst I am gone. I had nothing to give you for your birthday, and somehow it seemed appropriate that I give this to you."
"I will guard it with my life," whispered Ceryndip, holding onto it tightly and clutching it to her heart.
"Look into its depths and it will show you where I am and what is happening," Iolaus continued. "More stories for you; and it will let you and all my friends know what is happening and that I am alright."
Ceryndip, still holding the stone with one hand, reached out and gave the Golden Hunter another hug. He clung to her for a moment, as if embracing the whole of his life on this side of the seas and oceans that he had to cross, and then with a broad smile and a wink he stepped back and turned to step into the boat which was waiting for him.
As the boat retreated across the bay to the tall ship, Ceryndip called out to Iolaus,
"Be safe!! Good Luck!! We will all be keeping watch and thinking of you ....!!"
He waved back, and she heard his voice echo back to her across the water.
"I know ... I know..."
Then the rowing boat disappeared into the curling mists surrounding the ship and she lost sight of him. A sudden impulse made her turn and run back up the path, still clutching the stone in her hand, so hard that she could feel the indent of it's facets marking her palm. At the top she stood where she had stood before and watched as the ship slowly began to move away. Her eyes could see nothing but the ship; they searched every detail of the decks, looking for Iolaus, until she spied him, up near the stern, looking over the side, his flashing blond locks streaming back in the wind.
Ceryndip waved once more and he waved back and, for a moment, she could swear she could see his eyes, piercing her as the eyes of the White Hart had. Suddenly she realised that the Raven, the Willow and the White Hart were all friends of the hunter and that they were dependent on her too, to keep the blue stone safe, so that their friend could return to them after his task.
The ship grew fainter and fainter in the distance, but it was still vaguely discernable when Ceryndip saw, or thought she saw, the tall sails reach beyond the horizon and, instead of disappearing, float on, into the sky, off, away into the deepening blue of the night ....
She turned to drag her weary feet back down the gold path ....
...... and nearly fell out of bed. "Aw, NO! You mean I was DREAMING!?"
Sighing with frustration and disappointment she levered herself up and out of bed, only to bite back a yelp of pain as something bit into her right hand. "What the -"
She opened her hand and her heart stopped for a second, only to resume its beat at a full-speed gallup. There, nestled in her palm, was a clear, many faceted stone, the size of a pigeon's egg.
It was the exact blue of Iolaus' eyes.
Finis
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