Chapter 1: The Vision

         The Tanet Mountains had always seemed impenetrable. The only creatures that ever seemed to effortlessly climb these green mountains were the sheep. These animals had the determination and the hunger to gain footing on this mountain to eat the green grass others rarely trampled over.

         Today, however, they were not alone. Liadan was finally making the climb to the top.

         Pushing her dark brown hair out of her face, Liadan hiked her linen red skirt up around her knees as she carefully continued to climb up. The higher she went, the steeper the climb became. Her bright green eyes grew in excitement the closer she was to reaching the peak of the mountain. Legends had said that when you climbed this high, you would be able to see Keeva smiling down on the isles she had blessed so long ago. It had always been Liadan’s dream to climb to the top and to simply see what was on the other side. In all of her sixteen years on this island, she had never seen the other side of her island and to finally do so was the single most exciting thing that had ever happened to her. Despite this, she did wish that she could have done this during the day. Due to the protective natures of her father and brothers though, taking this adventurous climb at night was her only option.

         Time passed slowly. Liadan for awhile had tried to keep track of the time with how the sky lightened or darkened but this became too hard the higher she climbed. She knew she was close when the peak of the mountain began to become dusted with snow. Liadan thought the cold would bother her, but instead her skin felt warmer than ever. Her heart began to pound as she began to reach the peak. Getting to the edge, she gritted her teeth as she gripped it and pulled herself up the rest of the way.

         Without even waiting to see if she would catch her breath, Liadan hurried over to the other side and gasped at the sight. The morning sun was starting to rise out of the ocean, which was reflecting the colors of blue, purple, orange, and red from the sky. Though the beauty of it took her breath away, a passing thought came over her. “Red skies in the morning, that’s a sailor’s warning,” she murmured.

         As if something heard her, a wind blew at her and Liadan’s breath caught for another reason. The wind was the most intensely cold breeze she had ever felt. Wrapping her arms around herself, she shivered for the first time during her climb up this mountain. Thinking she should leave, Liadan remained standing and staring out at the water, wondering if she would perhaps chance a glimpse of Keeva as the legends said some do after they had climbed atop of Tanet.

         Instead, Liadan was a witness to something else all together. On the horizon, she saw two clouds slowly swallowing up the fiery red sun. One was a white cloud that one might see on a bright and clear day. The pale cloud seemed to slowly drift towards her and the breeze that it brought was warm, comforting. The other cloud, a cloud as black as soot, soon grabbed her attention though. In fact this dark cloud made Liadan take a few steps back as the feeling of intense fear stabbed her chest. The dark cloud overtook the white and seemed to swallow it whole. In that moment the sun had disappeared and snow began to pour down on the mountain, the black cloud advancing faster and more quickly as it came towards her. Without thinking, Liadan’s foot slipped over the edge and flailed in an effort to regain her balance, panic coursing through her. She glanced back as she regained her footing, but soon discovered it was to no avail. As she looked forward once more, a gust so strong hit her that she fell back and she was falling. The last thing she seen was what appeared to be a man reaching out as though to grab her before everything became black.

***

         Liadan gasped and bolted up from the floor she was laying on, grasping her heart and looking around in fear. For a moment she felt she could not see and black dots were dancing in front of her arms. Her head ached slightly and it was only then she remembered what had happened. She had gotten up out of bed. She had managed to get dressed and have her face washed. She had just been in the process of cleaning her teeth with a wash cloth when it felt like a fire was building around her heart. Liadan had then promptly collapsed to the floor and had what she knew was a vision. A vision she had been having over and over for the past few weeks that, despite her best attempts, always caused her to collapse wherever she stood.

         Liadan sighed and stood up, running her hand through her hair. She went to where her brush was and began to brush the tangles out, trying to figure out why this was happening. She had been having visions since she was twelve. The visions were always fuzzy and vague to everyone. Not even the head priestess in Keevana could decipher what these visions could possibly mean. Despite this though, Liadan had never passed out from having one. The vision of her climbing the mountain outside of her home was the clearest she had ever had and the only vision she could clearly remember. A vision that she still could not understand but now annoying caused her to lose consciousness.

Exhaling softly, Liadan braided her hair and shook her head. She was thankful she and her brothers Monro and Finn were going to the Yanta Isle this very evening. She would see the head priestess and the old woman could perhaps tell her more of what it meant.

         Simply thinking of going to Yanta’s capital city of Keevana made Liadan smile happily. She was going to be allowed to join the temple this year. It had been speculated she would always join considering her great grandmother had been the last head priestess for forty years after her children were raised and her husband had died. It was even more obvious that Liadan would join when she began to have visions as her great grandmother did. All said those who had such gifts had been blessed by Keeva and should dedicate their lives to the goddess when they felt it was their time. Though some might say that it was a bit unfair to be cornered into such a fate, Liadan was happy about it. It was comfortable and made her feel safe.          The fact that joining the temple made Liadan feel this way caused her to push back the whispering thoughts in the back of her mind that she was settling for a boring life. The part that whispered this was the part of her that wanted to climb the Tanet Mountains, jump over and start exploring the world.

It was true, that a few years ago Liadan was unsure of whether she should join the temple or not. It was even truer, that she had had a feeling of wander lust and a need to escape the islands to see the world and what else was out there. All she had known was her little island of Oronín and a few trips to the other two isles of Calaya and  Yanta. Liadan had always thought that there had to be more out there and she wanted to see what was there.

         Then Liadan’s father began to become sick. He was growing feebler and had a sickness no healer could explain. These healers would say that he needed to take it easy and enjoy his time, all pointing to signs that he would not live very long. With one brother living in Calaya, another in Yanta, and two more preparing to leave for there as well, Liadan realized she had to stay for her father. She did not begrudge this in the least. Instead she simply pushed away all thoughts of adventure and told herself she could be happy as a priestess. The head priestess had even said she would immediately allow Liadan to train as a priestess in the temple on Liadan’s small home isle of Oronín instead of remaining in Yanta for a year to train so she could keep close to her father Niall. Everything was going to be as it needed to be, so said this head priestess.

         Thus Liadan took heart that perhaps she would never have such an adventure as she did in her vision or dreams, she could take being comfortable and feeling safe over that. With those thoughts on Liadan’s mind, she put on her white, loose linen skirt with a light, dark blue long sleeve top that would protect her from the harsh summer sun while still keeping her cool. Checking to make sure her hair was in a braid that would not come out, Liadan grabbed her walking stick before creeping out of the quiet and sleeping house to tend to the animals and take the sheep out to graze.