Chapter 2
Dragon's Heart
Story of the Brethren
by
LaVerne Thompson
Dragon's Heart
Story of the Brethren
by
LaVerne Thompson
“What was that? Did you see that?”
“See what?” his wife asked, craning her neck so she could look past her husband who sat at the window. “A bunch of clouds?”
“I’m not sure. It looked like something…something big, just blocked out the sun.”
“Well I don’t see anything. It was probably just a bird.”
“Not this high up and it was bigger than any bird I’d ever seen.”
The passenger in the window seat in section 14A on flight forty-seven bound for the United States from Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom hit the call button for a flight attendant. When she got there he didn’t know quite what to say to her. ‘I think I just saw a UFO,’ didn’t sound right. So instead he just asked for a straight gin and pulled the window shade down over his window. It was going to be a long flight.
Maya didn’t know why she pulled up her itinerary on her laptop and changed her flight arrangements, yet again. Instead of leaving today as she had originally planned, she would leave tomorrow night. What possessed her to make those changes and to spend the day hiking the Sperrin Mountains again, she hadn’t a clue. She just knew she had to get a look at those stones one last time. She felt as if she were on the verge of discovering something, what she didn’t know.
She followed the same trail she had taken less than a week ago. There was no map, but she had spoken to the guide again and he had given her specific instructions, she was sure she remembered the way. The hike the last time took about five hours for the entire trip, and that was because they went at the pace of the slowest person. Maya was in great shape and should make better time. Even though, she left late morning, she still had plenty of time to make it to the stones and back well before the sun set. But somehow she had gotten turned around. No one had warned her that a fog was going to roll in this afternoon or that it would hinder her sight of the almost non-existent trail.
“Come on Maya. Does that tree look familiar? Or is it familiar because you’ve walked past it three times already.” She was talking to herself again. But out here in the middle of nowhere there was no one who’d care. Maya stopped to take a drink of water from the hose attached to her backpack. When she looked up again she couldn’t believe what was in front of her. The fog was still thick but she could make out the outline of part of the perimeter of the circle of stones.
“Yipee!” she cried exhilarated. “I’ve found it again! The stones!”
No sooner had the words left Maya’s mouth when the fog cleared enough for her to notice an odd shape lay in the center of the stones.
Maya cautiously entered the circle and walked toward the shape on the ground. Whatever it was it wasn’t moving. As she got closer the shape took on the form of a person, curled into a fetal position, whose back was to her. She couldn’t tell if it was a male or a female. She could barely make out jean clad legs. The fog was still too thick for her to see the figure clearly. She moved closer until she could kneel over the person. As soon as she touched what she identified as an arm, she knew it was a male. There was muscle in the bicep. She rolled him over unto his back until she could see his face. She found herself gazing into the face of a sleeping golden angel just before the fog rolled back and swirled around his face, temporarily obscuring her view.
My God he’s just a boy, a teenager. She shook him gently. “Are you alright? Can you hear me? Are you hurt?”
She stopped speaking when she heard a soft moan.
“Oh my head,” a disembodied voice whimpered. “What…what happened?” The young man tried to sit up and slumped back down.
“Here take it easy,” Maya said. “Don’t try to get up yet. Don’t you know what happened?”
Maya sat back on her hunches, she still couldn’t see his face clearly anymore, but she could tell his head turned at the sound of her voice. “I…I don’t know, I…I’m not sure,” he said.
“Just relax. Give it a minute.”
“Oh…my head hurts.” The young man groaned again and held his hands to his head.
Before Maya could ask anymore questions he fell sideways and passed out, Maya couldn’t get him to wake up again. She put her backpack down and took out her cell phone. The glow from the phone showed her she had no service, she frowned in frustration. “Just great,” she said. “I spend all this money for a state-of-the-art cell phone, that’s supposed to provide satellite service so that you can be connected from anywhere in the world. Anywhere that is, but wherever you are, and need it most. This sucks!”
Maya looked down and realized the young man’s features were clearer. The fog was starting to lift but it was getting darker and the temperature was dropping in the mountains. She didn’t want to leave him; it was at least a two hour walk to the nearest house and help. But maybe she wouldn’t have to go that far. Maybe if she just walked around a little she’d be able to pick up a signal so she could call for help.
She walked around a couple of feet away from the young man but still no signal. She kept walking until she went beyond the standing stones; as soon as she did she got a signal and the call went through.
She put her phone in her pants pocket. The emergency people would be there as soon as they could. They would send a chopper in but the low laying fog might be a problem, they would have to walk their way into them. But Maya was a little taken aback when the operator said she’d never heard of the standing stones. She had to describe the area for her. Shouldn’t they have maps of the various hiking areas on the mountain? She was certain she dialed the emergency number for Sperrin County. She had programmed the number into her phone while on the first hike out here.
Maya gave the operator the name of the inn where she was staying and the name of her hiking guide. She tried to describe how to get there, the way her guide had done but that didn’t seem to be very helpful. Hopefully, they’d get a hold of her guide who can bring them to the right spot or they could call her cell and try to track her signal location that way.
Maya returned to the young man only to find that nothing had changed. She tried to wake him up again but he wouldn’t budge. She checked the pulse at the side of his neck and thought it beat strongly against her finger, at least confirming he’s alive. Next she checked his pockets for a wallet or any type of identification but they were all empty. She searched around the area for signs of a backpack or anything that could give her a clue as to who he was or what happened, but she could find nothing. The fog still rolling around the stones didn’t help visibility either.
She got up and walked around the circle of stones to see if she could find anything. She touched one of the stones. “Ouch! What the….” Maya couldn’t believe her eyes again. The stone was glowing and that was definitely an electric shock that she felt. This time she knew it wasn’t just dirt that she was looking at. The glow allowed her to clearly see the pattern of a dragon etched into the stone. “My God! What…what is that? A dragon? So I had seen a dragon before. But…but this is impossible. First it’s there then it’s not.”
A moan coming from behind her caused her to turn around in time to see the young man trying to sit up. She ran over to him. “Stay still. Don’t try to move. Help is on the way.”
He ignored her. He sat up and drew his legs up. “Oh my head...” He lowered his head until it almost touched his knees and brought his hands up to cradle his temples. It was then Maya noticed his hair. It was so long that when he leaned forward it cascaded past his shoulders until it completely covered his elbows. “What…what happened?” he stammered.
Momentarily lost for words, Maya kneeled down beside the young man. “I don’t know.” She almost lifted her hand to touch that waterfall of hair. “I found you unconscious here in the middle of the stones.”
“S…stones?” The young man lowered his arms and raised his head to look around him. The fog had rolled off a little more and Maya could see him clearly again. And oh wow! He was handsome, breathtakingly so. He must drive the young girls crazy. She could see that he did look like an angel, a sixteen or seventeen year old golden angel with all that long blond hair. And those eyes. They were eerily familiar. They were a lot like the eyes from her dream. They looked like emeralds and they were glowing. Wait a minute. They were glowing, like the stone. Maya’s head whipped around to look at the stone she had touched and sure enough it was still glowing. The eyes of the dragon appeared to be glowing emeralds, just like the eyes of the young man. Like the eyes of the dragon in her dream.
“Wh…what the hell is going on?” Maya looked back and forth between the teenager and the stone. She stood up abruptly and moved away from both the boy and the glowing stone.
The young man looked at her then looked at the stone. “I…I don’t know. I don’t know. Is it supposed to do that?”
“Hell no! Stones don’t just start glowing.” At least she didn’t think these kinds of stones did. “Who are you? What happened here?”
“I told you. I don’t know.” The young man became agitated. “I…I don’t remember.” He looked at her pleading with his eyes for her to help him, to help him understand.
Maya took a deep breath. Some instinct told her he would not harm her and he did appear to be genuinely confused. “Okay, okay calm down.” She said that for them both. “What’s your name?”
“I…I don’t know. Why don’t I know? I don’t remember anything.” He dropped his head down and placed his hands over his head. “What’s wrong with me?” He raised his head quickly and looked up at her. “Do you know what happened to me? Do you know who I am?”
Maya could read the turmoil in his weird gaze and felt sorry for him. She slowly returned to his side and kneeled down beside him. She was still a little wary of those glowing eyes of his. Maybe it was some kind of weird colored contacts.
“No. I’m sorry. I just found you laying here. My name’s Maya Trent. I’m just a tourist. Maybe you were in some sort of accident and you have temporary memory loss or something.” That seemed to be the most likely scenario. This was a small community. Surely, someone would know who the young man was, she hoped, even if he was a tourist. Which he could be, he had an American accent for sure. “Help should be here soon. Why don’t you just try to relax?” The young man reached out and grabbed her arm. When Maya tried to pull away he immediately released her arm. He didn’t hurt her, he had just startled her.
“I’m sorry. I meant no harm.”
“It’s okay.”
“Please, I’m just trying to understand. I don’t know why I can’t remember anything. I don’t know who I am. I don’t even know where I am.” He looked around at the stones and his gaze stopped and focused on the glowing dragon. “What’s that? It looks like some sort of dragon…dragon. That seems familiar to me. Aarrg!” The young man slumped forward again and grabbed his head. “The pain….”
Maya reached out and wrapped her arms around him. “Shhh, it’ll be alright. It’ll be alright. We’ll find out who you are.” At least Maya prayed they would, this was getting way beyond strange.
“Will you stay with me please, Maya? Will you stay with me until I remember?”
Maya looked into those eyes, eyes so like the dragon in her dream and knew she would stay with this young man until he was returned to where he belonged. For some reason she knew he didn’t belong here.
Maya found herself looking at the glowing stone again. Then she heard a sound in the distance.
She turned away from the stones and tried to see beyond the trees but the fog was thick there. “I think help has arrived. I think I hear a chopper but they may not be able to land near us. The fog’s still thick around the stones. They’ll have to find a clearing to land and walk in, but hopefully they’ll be here soon. I’m going to walk beyond the standing stones and see if I can reach them on my cell. I’ll be right back.”
“Al…alright.”
“I won’t go far. You’ll still be able to see me.” Maya got up and walked towards the stones, it was then that she noticed the stone was no longer glowing. As she got nearer, she couldn’t even make out the etching of the dragon that had been on it moments ago. “What the…!” she exclaimed.
“What? What’s wrong?” the boy asked. “Is something wrong?”
“Th…the stone, the stone is no longer glowing.” Maya stepped back so he could see for himself.
As she looked over at him it was then she made another discovery. His eyes weren’t glowing anymore either. “Your eyes…they…they aren’t glowing either.”
“What?”
“Your eyes. Your eyes were glowing like the stone. Who are you?” she finished on a whisper.
“I don’t understand. I….”
Maya shook her head. “It’s okay. We’ll get to the bottom of this. There must be some sort of explanation.” Either that or she was losing her mind.
“Why would my eyes glow? Why don’t I remember anything? Arrgh.” The boy shook his head sending hair flying in every direction. “This makes no sense. Why can’t I remember? I should be able to remember? What’s happening to me?” He tried to stand up and got as far as all fours. Maya rushed over to help him.
“Hey, hey, hey, take it easy,” she said helping him to stand. “Do you think you should be standing up?” Maya placed an arm around his waist and he looped his arm around her shoulder.
He turned to look at her and had to look down. At five eight Maya was no slouch, but this boy, young man was at least six feet and probably still growing. “I think I can stand. It’s only when I try to remember anything that my head hurts.”
“Well just take it easy. But I still think you should sit back down.”
“No, please. I want to see that stone. Can you help me over there?”
“I….”
“Please. I feel like I need to see the stone.”
“Okay, but if you feel dizzy we stop.”
“Agreed.”
Maya helped him walk over to the stone. She was aware that he was trying not to put any weight on her, she just guided him. They stopped once they faced the stone that had been glowing and was now as dark and as ordinary looking as any piece of marble.
The boy raised the arm at his side and laid his palm against the stone. As soon as he did, all of the stones began to glow. Maya and the boy found themselves surrounded by light in a rainbow of colors. Maya could have sworn she heard a low hum coming from all directions then the boy’s body began to tremble. He threw his head back and roared. That’s the only way Maya could describe it, it wasn’t a scream but a guttural primal roar. The vibration of which burrowed into her soul. It was the sound of a wounded animal.
Scared, Maya dropped her arm from around his waist and stepped away from the boy, releasing his hold on her. As soon as she did, he fell to the ground, unconscious again and the light coming from the stones winked out as though they had never been.
Looking down on the boy who lay at her feet, Maya felt as if she was indeed losing her mind.
“See what?” his wife asked, craning her neck so she could look past her husband who sat at the window. “A bunch of clouds?”
“I’m not sure. It looked like something…something big, just blocked out the sun.”
“Well I don’t see anything. It was probably just a bird.”
“Not this high up and it was bigger than any bird I’d ever seen.”
The passenger in the window seat in section 14A on flight forty-seven bound for the United States from Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom hit the call button for a flight attendant. When she got there he didn’t know quite what to say to her. ‘I think I just saw a UFO,’ didn’t sound right. So instead he just asked for a straight gin and pulled the window shade down over his window. It was going to be a long flight.
Maya didn’t know why she pulled up her itinerary on her laptop and changed her flight arrangements, yet again. Instead of leaving today as she had originally planned, she would leave tomorrow night. What possessed her to make those changes and to spend the day hiking the Sperrin Mountains again, she hadn’t a clue. She just knew she had to get a look at those stones one last time. She felt as if she were on the verge of discovering something, what she didn’t know.
She followed the same trail she had taken less than a week ago. There was no map, but she had spoken to the guide again and he had given her specific instructions, she was sure she remembered the way. The hike the last time took about five hours for the entire trip, and that was because they went at the pace of the slowest person. Maya was in great shape and should make better time. Even though, she left late morning, she still had plenty of time to make it to the stones and back well before the sun set. But somehow she had gotten turned around. No one had warned her that a fog was going to roll in this afternoon or that it would hinder her sight of the almost non-existent trail.
“Come on Maya. Does that tree look familiar? Or is it familiar because you’ve walked past it three times already.” She was talking to herself again. But out here in the middle of nowhere there was no one who’d care. Maya stopped to take a drink of water from the hose attached to her backpack. When she looked up again she couldn’t believe what was in front of her. The fog was still thick but she could make out the outline of part of the perimeter of the circle of stones.
“Yipee!” she cried exhilarated. “I’ve found it again! The stones!”
No sooner had the words left Maya’s mouth when the fog cleared enough for her to notice an odd shape lay in the center of the stones.
Maya cautiously entered the circle and walked toward the shape on the ground. Whatever it was it wasn’t moving. As she got closer the shape took on the form of a person, curled into a fetal position, whose back was to her. She couldn’t tell if it was a male or a female. She could barely make out jean clad legs. The fog was still too thick for her to see the figure clearly. She moved closer until she could kneel over the person. As soon as she touched what she identified as an arm, she knew it was a male. There was muscle in the bicep. She rolled him over unto his back until she could see his face. She found herself gazing into the face of a sleeping golden angel just before the fog rolled back and swirled around his face, temporarily obscuring her view.
My God he’s just a boy, a teenager. She shook him gently. “Are you alright? Can you hear me? Are you hurt?”
She stopped speaking when she heard a soft moan.
“Oh my head,” a disembodied voice whimpered. “What…what happened?” The young man tried to sit up and slumped back down.
“Here take it easy,” Maya said. “Don’t try to get up yet. Don’t you know what happened?”
Maya sat back on her hunches, she still couldn’t see his face clearly anymore, but she could tell his head turned at the sound of her voice. “I…I don’t know, I…I’m not sure,” he said.
“Just relax. Give it a minute.”
“Oh…my head hurts.” The young man groaned again and held his hands to his head.
Before Maya could ask anymore questions he fell sideways and passed out, Maya couldn’t get him to wake up again. She put her backpack down and took out her cell phone. The glow from the phone showed her she had no service, she frowned in frustration. “Just great,” she said. “I spend all this money for a state-of-the-art cell phone, that’s supposed to provide satellite service so that you can be connected from anywhere in the world. Anywhere that is, but wherever you are, and need it most. This sucks!”
Maya looked down and realized the young man’s features were clearer. The fog was starting to lift but it was getting darker and the temperature was dropping in the mountains. She didn’t want to leave him; it was at least a two hour walk to the nearest house and help. But maybe she wouldn’t have to go that far. Maybe if she just walked around a little she’d be able to pick up a signal so she could call for help.
She walked around a couple of feet away from the young man but still no signal. She kept walking until she went beyond the standing stones; as soon as she did she got a signal and the call went through.
She put her phone in her pants pocket. The emergency people would be there as soon as they could. They would send a chopper in but the low laying fog might be a problem, they would have to walk their way into them. But Maya was a little taken aback when the operator said she’d never heard of the standing stones. She had to describe the area for her. Shouldn’t they have maps of the various hiking areas on the mountain? She was certain she dialed the emergency number for Sperrin County. She had programmed the number into her phone while on the first hike out here.
Maya gave the operator the name of the inn where she was staying and the name of her hiking guide. She tried to describe how to get there, the way her guide had done but that didn’t seem to be very helpful. Hopefully, they’d get a hold of her guide who can bring them to the right spot or they could call her cell and try to track her signal location that way.
Maya returned to the young man only to find that nothing had changed. She tried to wake him up again but he wouldn’t budge. She checked the pulse at the side of his neck and thought it beat strongly against her finger, at least confirming he’s alive. Next she checked his pockets for a wallet or any type of identification but they were all empty. She searched around the area for signs of a backpack or anything that could give her a clue as to who he was or what happened, but she could find nothing. The fog still rolling around the stones didn’t help visibility either.
She got up and walked around the circle of stones to see if she could find anything. She touched one of the stones. “Ouch! What the….” Maya couldn’t believe her eyes again. The stone was glowing and that was definitely an electric shock that she felt. This time she knew it wasn’t just dirt that she was looking at. The glow allowed her to clearly see the pattern of a dragon etched into the stone. “My God! What…what is that? A dragon? So I had seen a dragon before. But…but this is impossible. First it’s there then it’s not.”
A moan coming from behind her caused her to turn around in time to see the young man trying to sit up. She ran over to him. “Stay still. Don’t try to move. Help is on the way.”
He ignored her. He sat up and drew his legs up. “Oh my head...” He lowered his head until it almost touched his knees and brought his hands up to cradle his temples. It was then Maya noticed his hair. It was so long that when he leaned forward it cascaded past his shoulders until it completely covered his elbows. “What…what happened?” he stammered.
Momentarily lost for words, Maya kneeled down beside the young man. “I don’t know.” She almost lifted her hand to touch that waterfall of hair. “I found you unconscious here in the middle of the stones.”
“S…stones?” The young man lowered his arms and raised his head to look around him. The fog had rolled off a little more and Maya could see him clearly again. And oh wow! He was handsome, breathtakingly so. He must drive the young girls crazy. She could see that he did look like an angel, a sixteen or seventeen year old golden angel with all that long blond hair. And those eyes. They were eerily familiar. They were a lot like the eyes from her dream. They looked like emeralds and they were glowing. Wait a minute. They were glowing, like the stone. Maya’s head whipped around to look at the stone she had touched and sure enough it was still glowing. The eyes of the dragon appeared to be glowing emeralds, just like the eyes of the young man. Like the eyes of the dragon in her dream.
“Wh…what the hell is going on?” Maya looked back and forth between the teenager and the stone. She stood up abruptly and moved away from both the boy and the glowing stone.
The young man looked at her then looked at the stone. “I…I don’t know. I don’t know. Is it supposed to do that?”
“Hell no! Stones don’t just start glowing.” At least she didn’t think these kinds of stones did. “Who are you? What happened here?”
“I told you. I don’t know.” The young man became agitated. “I…I don’t remember.” He looked at her pleading with his eyes for her to help him, to help him understand.
Maya took a deep breath. Some instinct told her he would not harm her and he did appear to be genuinely confused. “Okay, okay calm down.” She said that for them both. “What’s your name?”
“I…I don’t know. Why don’t I know? I don’t remember anything.” He dropped his head down and placed his hands over his head. “What’s wrong with me?” He raised his head quickly and looked up at her. “Do you know what happened to me? Do you know who I am?”
Maya could read the turmoil in his weird gaze and felt sorry for him. She slowly returned to his side and kneeled down beside him. She was still a little wary of those glowing eyes of his. Maybe it was some kind of weird colored contacts.
“No. I’m sorry. I just found you laying here. My name’s Maya Trent. I’m just a tourist. Maybe you were in some sort of accident and you have temporary memory loss or something.” That seemed to be the most likely scenario. This was a small community. Surely, someone would know who the young man was, she hoped, even if he was a tourist. Which he could be, he had an American accent for sure. “Help should be here soon. Why don’t you just try to relax?” The young man reached out and grabbed her arm. When Maya tried to pull away he immediately released her arm. He didn’t hurt her, he had just startled her.
“I’m sorry. I meant no harm.”
“It’s okay.”
“Please, I’m just trying to understand. I don’t know why I can’t remember anything. I don’t know who I am. I don’t even know where I am.” He looked around at the stones and his gaze stopped and focused on the glowing dragon. “What’s that? It looks like some sort of dragon…dragon. That seems familiar to me. Aarrg!” The young man slumped forward again and grabbed his head. “The pain….”
Maya reached out and wrapped her arms around him. “Shhh, it’ll be alright. It’ll be alright. We’ll find out who you are.” At least Maya prayed they would, this was getting way beyond strange.
“Will you stay with me please, Maya? Will you stay with me until I remember?”
Maya looked into those eyes, eyes so like the dragon in her dream and knew she would stay with this young man until he was returned to where he belonged. For some reason she knew he didn’t belong here.
Maya found herself looking at the glowing stone again. Then she heard a sound in the distance.
She turned away from the stones and tried to see beyond the trees but the fog was thick there. “I think help has arrived. I think I hear a chopper but they may not be able to land near us. The fog’s still thick around the stones. They’ll have to find a clearing to land and walk in, but hopefully they’ll be here soon. I’m going to walk beyond the standing stones and see if I can reach them on my cell. I’ll be right back.”
“Al…alright.”
“I won’t go far. You’ll still be able to see me.” Maya got up and walked towards the stones, it was then that she noticed the stone was no longer glowing. As she got nearer, she couldn’t even make out the etching of the dragon that had been on it moments ago. “What the…!” she exclaimed.
“What? What’s wrong?” the boy asked. “Is something wrong?”
“Th…the stone, the stone is no longer glowing.” Maya stepped back so he could see for himself.
As she looked over at him it was then she made another discovery. His eyes weren’t glowing anymore either. “Your eyes…they…they aren’t glowing either.”
“What?”
“Your eyes. Your eyes were glowing like the stone. Who are you?” she finished on a whisper.
“I don’t understand. I….”
Maya shook her head. “It’s okay. We’ll get to the bottom of this. There must be some sort of explanation.” Either that or she was losing her mind.
“Why would my eyes glow? Why don’t I remember anything? Arrgh.” The boy shook his head sending hair flying in every direction. “This makes no sense. Why can’t I remember? I should be able to remember? What’s happening to me?” He tried to stand up and got as far as all fours. Maya rushed over to help him.
“Hey, hey, hey, take it easy,” she said helping him to stand. “Do you think you should be standing up?” Maya placed an arm around his waist and he looped his arm around her shoulder.
He turned to look at her and had to look down. At five eight Maya was no slouch, but this boy, young man was at least six feet and probably still growing. “I think I can stand. It’s only when I try to remember anything that my head hurts.”
“Well just take it easy. But I still think you should sit back down.”
“No, please. I want to see that stone. Can you help me over there?”
“I….”
“Please. I feel like I need to see the stone.”
“Okay, but if you feel dizzy we stop.”
“Agreed.”
Maya helped him walk over to the stone. She was aware that he was trying not to put any weight on her, she just guided him. They stopped once they faced the stone that had been glowing and was now as dark and as ordinary looking as any piece of marble.
The boy raised the arm at his side and laid his palm against the stone. As soon as he did, all of the stones began to glow. Maya and the boy found themselves surrounded by light in a rainbow of colors. Maya could have sworn she heard a low hum coming from all directions then the boy’s body began to tremble. He threw his head back and roared. That’s the only way Maya could describe it, it wasn’t a scream but a guttural primal roar. The vibration of which burrowed into her soul. It was the sound of a wounded animal.
Scared, Maya dropped her arm from around his waist and stepped away from the boy, releasing his hold on her. As soon as she did, he fell to the ground, unconscious again and the light coming from the stones winked out as though they had never been.
Looking down on the boy who lay at her feet, Maya felt as if she was indeed losing her mind.
