Hello readers,
This is a short version of a Scottish adventure chapter book I've been working on for a few years. I tried to publish the "long" version and then shortened it for a competition in a magazine. I thought it would be fun to post the short version as a blog since it's not terribly long to read. If I get a good response, I will post the long version, chapter by chapter. I hope you enjoy it.
Engloria
by Chella Rivers
Nicola lived in a cold,
smoky cottage near the gate of Sorn Castle.
The fog was always thickest there and seemed to purposely hide the
villagers’ view of the castle courtyard.
Her stonewalled cottage made the bitter chill of winter a painful
enemy. The floors stuck to her cold,
bare feet early in the morning when she stepped out of bed, which was only made
of straw covered with dirty sheets with holes.
Having food in the cupboard was rare and there was barely enough coal to
build a fire. The butt and ben had one
big room that consisted of the living room, a wash area for cooking, a water
closet and a curtained area for Nicola’s bed.
With auburn curls, bright green eyes and fair skin,
Nicola was a perfect picture of Scottish blood. She had one living relative,
Duncan McIntosh, and even though he provided for her, he was evil to the
core. Duncan was the grounds keeper for
Sorn Castle, yet he forced Nicola to maintain most of the chores. The loft was where dreadful Duncan slept off
his whiskey and of course Nicola was subjected to the stench of his filthiness
each time she had to clean up after him.
Late one spring evening, after Duncan had fallen into
a drunken stupor, Nicola decided to spend some time at the River Ayr. At the river there was a stone crossing that was
supposedly bewitched. The legend was told that if
you go under the bridge, you will end up in a land called Engloria and you may
never return. Even so, she continued to
walk toward the legendary stone bridge.
The sky above her was covered in its common grey canopy yet was clothed
in lush green landscape. The water
passed by her as she walked and it didn't look back at her. Everything around her stood still, and the
grass lay flat across the hillside as if it were waiting for the arrival of
someone very important. The canopy above
her appeared to get closer and darker and the air seemed to be getting thicker
the closer she got to the stone archway.
Her vision blurred as she tried to focus on the mystifying bridge
ahead. All the thoughts that went
through her head felt useless and the eerie feeling that took over the glen
suddenly gripped her with terror. There
were sounds in her head that she knew for certain weren’t echoing in her
ears. Black thoughts consumed her
emotions and if it continued much longer she would surely go mad. The fear of it all made her take off into a
full sprint back to where her home was in Sorn.
She jumped over rocks and puddles, dodged thistle bushes and leapt over
fallen fir trees. Nothing could make her
feet move fast enough. She could feel
the baby hair on her neck stand up as she darted in and out of gullies and
divots in the road. She could feel the
force of something evil tugging at her clothing and hair. Underneath the ground was a lurking darkness
that didn’t want Nicola claiming the joy that was just beyond the bridge. Somehow, it knew Nicola and sensed her
abilities. Nicola couldn’t have known
the seriousness of her travels. She felt
as if the ground had started to swallow her feet as she pulled her legs like
taffy from the dirt road. As the forest
passed by her in a swift blurry mess, she could hear the whistle of the air as
it stung her ears. She made an attempt to
go under the bridge and was too scared now to
continue so she returned home flustered and scared. By then,
the fog had swept in quickly from the coast and swallowed the night. As she continued, she looked in the distance
to see the outline of her cottage and feared that Duncan was awake. Being as quiet as possible, she crept through
the dense fir trees near her bedroom window. She took a deep breath and held it in while
she pushed it open. She could feel her
heart beat in her chest. One leg at a
time, she managed to get back in her room without making a sound. Still afraid to breathe, she slipped off her
shoes and scrambled in bed fully clothed.
The lamp from the front room glowed under her
door. She could smell the tobacco
burning in Duncan's pipe. He was up, but
most likely heaped over his whiskey and not aware that she was even gone, which
was just as well. He was a tall thick
brute with a scraggly red beard and moustache.
His nose and cheeks were puffy and splotched with redness since he drank
heavily and carried his anger around with him wherever he went. After a wee bit she undressed and put on her
nightgown and opened her bedroom door to glance out to see Duncan. With one eye peeking through the cracked
door, she looked side to side and suddenly her stare was met with a pair of
bloodshot eyes.
"Where have you
been all night?" he bellowed as he pulled the door open forcefully and
dragged her into the room and on to the floor.
"I haven't had my
supper you worthless little rat! How
many times have I told you that you aren't allowed to leave this house until I
have had my supper?"
As Duncan screamed, a
boiling pot flew across the room aimed directly at her head and she ducked out
of its path. Inside she wanted to scream,
but she sat silently and gazed at the ground as his rampage continued. Lucky for her, he was also drunk and was in
and out of consciousness and he began to wobble back and forth on his
feet. Her ears became numb during his
ranting and her eyes became heavy. Her
mind wandered off to the day's events.
She still wasn't sure what spooked her at the burn. She wondered if it was her imagination. Either way, she needed to try again but this
time she wouldn’t go alone. The one
person that came to mind was Liam McPherson, a lad she had known her whole life
but also kept at a distance. She was
afraid to get close to anyone but maybe he could help her face the bridge. In fact, as she lay there, she recalled that
he told her that he had been to Engloria, yet she never believed him. Tomorrow she would find out if it were true.
Finally Duncan fell back in his chair and passed
out. She got up off the floor, climbed
into bed and closed her eyes. Nicola
knew that tomorrow would be here soon and she needed to rest for another day at
the burn.
The next morning, after
eating a stale bit of toast she found hidden in the storeroom, she dressed herself with
whatever was clean in her bureau. Then
she brushed her tangled hair, wrapped a hair-bob around her locks and left the
cottage. She quickly made her way
through the busy town to find Liam. Maybe
with him as her escort, she could brave the bridge once again. As she came to the edge of a grassy knoll,
she could see Mr. McCombs’s horse and cart in front of the church. Taking a better look, she noticed that there
was a lad seated in the back. She
couldn’t mistake that it was indeed Liam.
His hair and face were messy and unkempt and he wore a red and black
kilt with tall black boots that laced and buckled all the way up his
calves. Across his chest was a sash, the
same print as the kilt and underneath that she could see a long-sleeved white
tunic. On his left shoulder, he wore a
pin that had something written across it and a picture that she couldn't quite
make out.
“Good day sir,” Nicola said
as she curtsied, “Would you like to join me on a grand adventure today? I understand you are familiar with Engloria?”
she added.
Excited at the prospect,
Liam exclaimed with a bow, “Of course, my dear lady! I would be honored.” Nicola let her fantasy
and imagination take over and they set off, giggling as they walked. They paced
themselves shoulder-to-shoulder as they approached the auld brig. Nicola was curious why the evil presence that
followed her the previous day was no longer there, and she wondered if having
Liam with her was possibly the answer. It
was lovely to have him there and it was even better that she wasn’t
frightened. The morning sun reflected
off the water on the other side of the bridge and it sparkled like a sea of
jewels in liquid gold. Their feet sunk
into the ice-cold water and they struggled to balance on the rocky bottom. Each step resulted in sliding and grasping onto
something sturdy. Every time Nicola’s
feet submerged she could feel the water swish between her toes and it made a
gooey feeling run all over her body. The
wet marshy water really was quite gross.
As they reached the last few feet of the covering, Nicola could see a
new world unfolding in front of her. To
her amazement, the landscape looked just like Sorn although there were no
houses or people. The Munroe rose up to
the top of the world and the peaks were covered in fluffy white snow. The meadow they stood in was covered in blue
bells and thick, white flowers called snowdrops that resembled tiny tear
drops. On the outside edge of the
eastern glen there were groves of tall, white fir trees standing neck to
neck. The grass was cheerfully calming
and each time the wind blew the teardrops burst into song. The peaceful scenery seemed to be composed by
a master artist and Nicola knew that there was something special about this
place. Liam pointed out various areas of
land and explained the names of the territories.
"Right there, where the
mountains start to climb is the Lankin Forest, where days and nights slow down
and small mysteries take flight. And to
the right, just south of the burn is, Glen Lomond. To the North is the White Forest and the base
of Whisper Falls,” Liam proclaimed whimsically, while he starred off into the
distance.
Unbeknownst to them, when
they entered Engloria, they cracked the seal and now the darkness and its
leader were already transcending into the meadow that led into the Lankin Forest. Slowly, dark clouds formed above the forest
as the wind picked up speed. They
fearfully watched as the darkness started to close in on them suddenly. Clouds hovered overhead and the air grew
thick and so cold that the puddles that had formed that day became tiny ice
rinks and droplets of water froze in mid air. The White Forest stood still as
the black engulfed the trees and attempted to strangle the leaves of the
branches. Black and grey images, like
wolves that could fly, jumped from tree limb to tree limb, taking out every
thing in their path.
Liam grabbed Nicolas and
hand and said, “Quick, I know a place where we can take cover as the storm
passes by!”
They ran as fast as possible
toward a large rock formation. They felt
cold against their backs and when Nicola glanced over her shoulder she became
very frightened by the storm as it appeared to be chasing them. Hand-in-hand
they went into the cracked mountainside.
The black cloud that followed them had frozen everything in its path,
including the bridge and the Lankin Forest.
They were now engulfed in a marble and stone walkway that towered over
the great valley. The clouds had darkened the path, which offered no comfort,
and in the distance they could hear loud shrieks of a howling animal that
seemed to be in a battle. The sides of
the crevice were vast and the sky was filled with black smoke. However, when they had gone through the
passageway and approached the top of the brae they peered over the glen below
to a brilliant scene. The ghostly clouds
hadn’t made it to this side of Engloria.
The peace was astounding as eagles soared across the heavens
gracefully. Nicola could see a family of
ducks playing in a nearby puddle, and they watched her closely in case they
needed to escape. She wondered why they
weren't in the giant magnificent lake just steps away from them. Nicola got chills all over her and tiny goose
bumps on her arms rose up making her cold suddenly.
Liam and Nicola looked down
into the glen near a grove of trees and then they heard what sounded like a
rush of wind and water coming from somewhere in the meadow below. Clouds were combining together to form some
sort of an object that Nicola had a hard time distinguishing. In between the clouds were speckles of
shimmery water that were transparent and suspended in the sky. The water droplets started to line up in the
form of something. They slowly came
closer together in such a way it seemed they could communicate. As she focused and the formation started to
become clearer she could see that the water droplets had created an enormous
hand in the sky. Nicola was startled and
started to run for shelter as she watched the water spectacle. The last three fingers on the hand were now
tucked into the palm, as was the thumb, which left the index finger pointing
outward. As Nicola hid under a willow tree, she watched in amazement as the
extended finger, which she could barely see amidst the backdrop of the same
color sky, showered a spout of clear, fresh
water onto the valley below. It moved
with precision and functioned as a regular water spigot. It was terrifying yet astonishing all at the
same time. The hand had no body attached
to it as it drifted from shrub to tree and from grassy field to rose bush. It was obviously watering the meadow.
Liam and Nicola stood and
faced the valley. She reached for his
hand as they each took a deep breath of excitement and they walked deeper into
the world of Engloria.
Legends are mysteries that
are passed down from generation to generation.
The people in the legends are those that carry details of the
truth. They are ingrained in the minds
of those who live the story and then live to tell it to others. Nobody who walks the earth wants to become
part of a legend, for then they will step into the unknown depths of a strange
and eerie existence. And yet here they
were, in a world that would turn her belief system upside down. This was the moment they were born for and
they somehow knew this adventure would lead them to the greatest fulfillment in
the history of Engloria.
