The Forest of Aisling: Dream of the Shapeshifter (The Willow Series Book 1) (32 page)

Another bolt of lightning illuminated the skies
and made a connection with the massive creature.  We watched in horror as
the serpent twisted and turned, stretched out its tentacles, then grabbed hold
of the electrical charges.  Its body flashed and lit up, becoming like an
x-ray and allowing us to see inside its tremendous form.  The charge
lasted about ten seconds and when it stopped the serpent froze, but only for a
moment.  It let out an ear-piercing roar and lowered itself below the
surface of the water, creating a tidal wave that reached us on the shore
instantly.

Bram and I scrambled back towards the ridge and
searched the body of water for any hint of either the serpent or Quinn. 
Bram focused his vision to zoom in around the island where we had seen Quinn
moments earlier, but didn’t locate him there. 

“Quinn, where are you?” I shot through my
mindspeak but didn’t receive an answer.

Bram took hold of my arm and pointed to the north
side of the lake.  Quinn had jumped into the sky and was diving back into
the water.  Not twenty feet from where he was landing, we could see the
twisting tail of the serpent rising above the surface of the white-capped
waves.

Panic shot through me as I watched the serpent
make its way towards Quinn.  This thing was so massive I wasn’t sure if
Quinn would be able to handle it alone. 

“I’m going out there,” Bram snarled as he
positioned himself for the shift.

I grabbed his arm. “What can you do, you’re like a
fly compared to that thing!”

“I don’t know, but I can’t just stand here and
watch!” Bram shifted quickly and spread his wings and took flight.  He was
over the area of the serpent within seconds. 

Luckily the storm had subsided somewhat and it was
only raining now.  Obviously the energy from it had fed the growth of the
creature. 

“What do you see, Bram?”  I asked nervously.

“This thing is incredible!  It must be five
city buses long,” he reported. “I see Quinn as well.  He’s about half the
size.  The serpent is closing in on him.”

I tried to channel my hearing to the surface of
the lake in hopes of picking up something, anything, that might help
Quinn.  The only sound I could detect was the movement of the water. 
I remained standing along the ridge, eyes focused on the eagle flying above the
serpent, when my ears honed in on the strange whispering sound I had heard
earlier when Quinn and I were making our way to the lake.  The sound came
from behind me; I spun around and channeled my hearing back into what was left
of the forest.  A strange sense came over me so I immediately
shifted.  I let my auditory sense travel into the depths but lost track of
the noise.

“Quinn hit it twice!” roared Bram. “He made it
coil back!” 

I ran to the shore and saw the monster retreating,
pulling itself away from the strikes.  Quinn dove above the surface and
splashed down alongside it.  He threw his body against the creature. 
A roar shot through the night as the serpent lowered itself into the
lake.  Quinn circled the area where it had just been, when in a flash, the
monster rose straight up and latched onto Quinn with its tentacles.  It
lifted Quinn out of the water and screeched as it held him high.  With
unimaginable force it slammed him back into the surface of the lake with a
sickening crack that sounded like bones breaking.

A painful bellow came from Quinn as he disappeared
below the surface.  The serpent rose and then plunged into the depths with
so much speed it created another tidal wave.

“God, I’m afraid he’s really hurt,” Bram screamed.
“See if he’ll answer you.”

“Quinn, Quinn, p…please be ok!” I stuttered,
trying to connect the three of us as I had done at Aaron’s house.

There was no response for a full minute; then,
finally, the muffled sound of Quinn’s voice came through.

“I’m ok.” His voice sounded weak.

“Mate, try and seek some shelter.  Don’t
fight that thing on the surface.  It’s too bloody big. You must use your
sonar,” Bram screamed in desperation.

“Right, I will…” Quinn answered before the static
wiped out the connection.

Swirling clouds began forming overhead until the
sky became white, with a sulphur smell to the air.  The rain stopped and
the wind grew still.  The silence felt eerie after the tumultuousness of
the storm.

I looked all around and felt threatened by the
inexplicable calm.  Looking to the lake I saw Bram land on a tree on the
small island.  There was no sign of Quinn or the serpent.

“This is weird,” I channeled to Bram.

“I know.  Why did everything get so calm?”
His voice echoed the very thought in my head.

I once again stared out over the ridge and let my
hearing swoop the forest.  The whispering sound was barely detectable but
grew in volume as my auditory sense neared the area of the sidhe.  My eyes
narrowed and in the distance I could make out a faint glow near the
horizon.   I looked back over my shoulder and saw that the water was
still…no sign of Quinn or the serpent. 

“Bram, something is going on over by the
sidhe,”   I related, keeping my eyes on the isolated glow.

In a flash he was perched on the ridge by my side.

“Eh, that can’t be good,” he warned. “I’ll check
it out.”

I watched as he took off in the direction of the
sidhe.  The sulphur smell was overpowering now and made me cough.  I
felt like I was at a tennis match as I switched my focus from sidhe to lake and
back again.  An unnatural quiet had encompassed the entire area.  It
made me wonder just how far these weather disturbances could be traced, so I
channeled my hearing to Dublin.  I was hoping that I’d hear normal city
activity and not the uncanny silence that had settled here. 

At first I thought I was hearing voices; then with
a tilt of my head, I made a clearer connection.  I was making out voices,
all right, voices in distress.  Single words became impossible to discern
in the chaos of sound.  Cries and panic rippled in and out.  My heart
sank at the thought of what might be causing the grief in those people.  I
withdrew my hearing and shook my head.  I had no idea how far the attack
had spread but I knew it was definitely way beyond the area of Killarney.

I looked back to the sidhe.  The glow was
expanding and moving up and out from itself.  I shivered at the thought of
what it may be a precursor to.  I looked back to the lake and saw Quinn
leap into the air and then crash into the surface of the water.  I
watched, waiting for the serpent to appear.  Quinn leaped out once again
and this time, right behind him, the serpent lifted its head.  It yelled
out in pain and when it turned its head, I saw why.  Two of the eyes on
its left side were gone.  Hollow spaces oozing blood were all that
remained.

Yessss,
I thought,
Way to go Quinn!
Excitement
raced through my veins at the thought of Quinn defeating the monster. 

I rushed back to the shore and watched as Quinn
resurfaced yet again and plunged into the depths.  It was as though he was
trying to get the serpent to follow him
.  He must have something
planned,
I realized as he led the creature further out into the
water.  The surprising thing was that the monster kept following him.

Quinn soared up into the air again and this time
did a series of flips before he crashed into the waves.  The serpent was
hot on his trail and lifted itself high into the sky.  It threw its
hideous head back and bellowed with such force it created an onslaught of waves
that came crashing at my feet.  It lunged its head back into the water and
pulled up again, this time with Quinn firmly planted in its mouth.

I panicked and let out an involuntary howl. 
I heard a tortured sound coming from Quinn and felt the most helpless I’d ever
had in my entire life.  I jumped into the lake and began to swim towards
the serpent.

“Willow! Stop!”  Bram screamed, directly
above my head. 

I hesitated and felt myself begin to sink. 
“Get back to shore!” he wailed. “Now!”

I began paddling again and rose to the surface,
then headed back to shore.  I stepped on land and shook myself furiously,
releasing the lake water from my coat. 

Bram had shifted and was his human self, standing
in front of me.  “Come over here,” he ordered.  

I followed him to the base of the ridge, then
shifted human and stood there fighting back the tears.  I was so afraid to
look towards the lake.

“Willow, he’s ok,” Bram said as he put his arm
around me. “Look, he’s still fighting.  Don’t write him off so soon. 
He’s a tough kid!”  He pointed towards the lake; there, jumping from wave
to wave, was Quinn.

“Besides, we’ve got bigger worries, right here,”
he motioned his head to the ridge directly behind us.  “They’re coming,
hundreds of them.  The goat things you told me about as well as more birds
and lizard creatures.  They’re popping out of the sidhe like it’s some
kind of a monster maker.”

He stepped up to the ridge and reached his hand
out to me.  I took hold and held my breath.  The glow had more than
doubled now and I was able to make out the hideous shapes in the
distance.  They were whispering; they were the ones making the sounds I
had heard.

“I flew over the sidhe and they are literally
rising from the mouth of it.  I think they’re gaining strength from that
thing.”  Bram nodded his head towards the serpent as it closed in on
Quinn.

We watched Quinn leap into the air and pummel the
monster in its midsection with his head.  The serpent lowered and once
again Quinn shot out of the water, spun in circles, and plunged into the
depths.  Huge geyser-like splashes kept dancing on the surface.  A
tremendous battle was being waged under water but we were unable to make out
what, exactly, was happening.

 Bram tried to search the area visually but
couldn’t focus on anything other than the turbulent waves. Our eyes were fixed
on the middle of the lake in worried anticipation of what might be next. 
As we stared we suddenly became aware of a stillness taking over the surface of
the water.

Bram focused his vision in the sidhe and reported
that, for some reason, the creatures had stopped moving, as though they’d been
frozen.  When I looked to the area I noticed the glow had diminished
significantly.  I channeled my hearing and could no longer make out the
whispering sounds that had just been there.  I nodded at Bram.

“Something has happened, something good, right?”

“Let’s hope so.  Weird how they’re just
standing there.”  Bram narrowed his eyes as he scoped out the sidhe. 
“I don’t see any more coming out the opening either.”

I looked back over to the lake.  The water
remained calm for the most part, but there in the middle I could make out a few
air bubbles rising to the surface.  I tugged on Bram’s arm and pointed to
the lake.  As we watched, more bubbles began to appear until the area
resembled some kind of a spa, complete with jets. 

We made our way back to the lake shore when a huge
spray of water shot out of the middle of the bubbles, in the center of which
was the gruesome head of the serpent.  Its eyes were dislocated from their
sockets and dangling like some kind of bizarre costume jewelry.  It
crashed back to the surface of the water and raced towards us like a
speedboat.  We both turned and sprinted up towards the ridge in an effort
to avoid attack from the monstrous creature. 

When we turned back around we could see the dark
gray dorsal fin of the pilot whale dancing just above the surface of the water.
Directly in front of the fin was the dreadful head of the serpent being
propelled to shore.  The head slammed up on the beach and embedded itself
into the sand.   The rest of the monstrous body was unattached and
nowhere to be found.

The dorsal fin lifted high into the air carrying
with it the brave pilot whale.  Quinn flipped multiple times and made a
laughing sound before descending back into the water.  

Bram and I moved closer to the head and gagged at
the stench emitted by its body, much like rotting fish.  We covered our
noses and mouth.  Bram stepped right up to its eyes and kicked at
it.  The head began growing transparent, lifted, and morphed, just like
all the other creatures had done before they disappeared.  In a flash, it
was gone.  Just as it vanished, Quinn treaded water, then made his way
next to Bram.  He was back to his human self and, aside from a few surface
cuts and scratches, looked surprisingly well.

Bram grabbed hold of his friend and hugged him
fiercely.  The two held onto each other’s shoulders, then Bram patted
Quinn vigorously on the back and nodded. “Amazing job, mate,” he praised, “just
amazing.”

I grabbed Quinn and held him tight, fighting back
the tears that were welling up.  I was beyond relieved to have him
back.  I looked into his emerald green eyes and kissed his cheek.

“Ah, c’mon, Willow, don’t go getting all mushy on
me now, eh?” He chuckled as he leaned his forehead into mine.  His skin
was cool and damp and smelled of the sea.

While we stood there welcoming back our friend I
could feel the weather changing again.   Our celebration was going to
be short lived.  I looked to the skies and saw the clouds swirling and
changing from the white color to a dark gray.  The glow from the moon
highlighted that same area in the middle of the lake.

Bram raced to the ridge to check the sidhe. 
I explained to Quinn what Bram had seen in it.  He joined Bram on the
ridge as I watched the changing weather from the shore. 

“It’s still the same, they’re not moving,” Bram
yelled down. 

I was beginning to fear the worst.  The
clouds were lowering.  From where I stood it looked as though they were
sitting on the surface of the lake.  The moon reappeared, reflecting its
yellowish glow off the water.  Peals of distant thunder echoed throughout
the area until multiple claps made it hard to discern one from the other. 
More and more booms sounded, and with them, flashes of lightning illuminated
the swirling clouds. I raced up to Quinn and Bram.