Far From Home

Conall started in shock, hauling back on the reins. His stallion snorted and tossed his head, while Conall stared in disbelief at his surroundings. The sun shone bright overhead; tall buildings of wood and stone rose around them, and the path beneath Gethin’s hooves was firm and grey like stone, with yellow lines painted on it. This was not Alba, nor was it anywhere he knew.

He turned in the saddle to look over his shoulder, but the woods they’d been in were no longer behind them. They must have stepped through a rift, perhaps wandered through Faerie unwittingly. Thank the gods Lùthais and his chestnut stallion were still beside him. <Where are we?> There were signs here and there, but none he could make much sense of. Distant voices reached his ears, their language unintelligible.

Lùthais shook his head in bewilderment, unable to answer – both because he didn’t know, and because the shock had robbed him of speech. He looked around himself, then carefully dismounted and held onto Donnchad’s reins. The horse was nervous, and he didn’t want to risk being thrown.

Conall followed Lùthais’ example, and stroked Gethin’s nose to soothe him. A cold wind gusted by him, swirling dead leaves around his ankles; he shivered and pulled his cloak tighter around himself. It had to be past Samhain here, wherever "here" was.

Something like a horn-call blared behind him, and Gethin reared and whinnied. Conall clutched onto the reins, speaking in Welsh to calm him down. Just behind the horse, something huge and gleaming crouched on the road; a voice from within shouted in a strange tongue.

Was that a dragon? It had to be! Conall reached for his sword, thought better of it, and he and Lùthais hurried out of its way. But more dragons roamed the streets ahead, some with shining eyes, all with foul smoke streaming from their tails.

<I think we've found where dragons breed!> he said, looking at Lùthais.

Conall blinked as someone spoke in their own Gaelic, and eyed the stranger who had spoken warily. He was only a bit taller than Lùthais, and looked even younger than Caradoc, but clearly every bit as Fae as he and Lùthais were human. Conall kept a tight hold on the reins as he gave the Fae a polite bow, not wanting to let Gethin spook again.

<Hello. You are right, we are lost. Please, will you tell us where we are?> He couldn't keep the nervousness from his voice. The sooner he knew where they were, the sooner they could try to find a way out of this place and back to Alba.

Conall nodded slowly. <Pleased to meet you, Korlian. I understand you well enough, and that is most important. I am Conall, and this is Lùthais.>

Lùthais bowed to Korlian as well. <Pleased to meet you as well, Korlian. Can you tell us... when we are?> How far out of time were they?

Lùthais shared a mystified look with Conall. <I... do not understand that at all. We came here from the seventeenth year of the reign of King Cináed the Second of Alba. Who is the king now?>

Conall's heart sank as Korlian spoke. <Do you know of a way we might return to our own time? We have families to return to, duties to perform... I cannot leave my wife and sons without their husband and father! And I am the king's chief advisor as well!>

Conall nodded slowly. That did seem like their best option at the moment. <Then please take us there.> He hoped it was not far.

Conall caught the meaning of the emphasis on the word 'favor', and nodded as he led Gethin after Korlian. What else could he have expected? Now he just wondered how he and Lùthais could repay this debt.

He did his best not to pay attention to the strangeness around him, despite the nagging pull of curiosity. Instead he kept his eyes mostly on Korlian, and focused on keeping himself and Gethin calm. Lùthais seemed to be thinking along the same lines.