The New Druid

Cathal woke up in the woods, feeling better than he had in weeks. He shook his head, unsure if he had just woken from a dream. He turned to the tree and slammed his fist on the wood. Una was in there. But she couldn’t come out. He stood and made his way back to town, there was nothing more he could do here.

The town was busy with people, the sounds of arguments echoed off the buildings. But as they saw Cathal approach the sound died out. Everyone turned to him.

“Cathal, We’re sorry.” The baker said. “We had become fools.”

“Is the druid real? Is it really your daughter?” questions floated out of the crowd.

“It is true,” Cathal said.

“Is that so?” A finely dressed mainlander asked.

Cathal turned to him suspiciously, this man was the inspector. “Yes. The Grand Elm is a real god.”

The inspector shrugged and sighed. “I suppose it is. That would explain someone like Armund doing such heinous things.” He saw how tense Cathal was, and let out a laugh. “Fear not post guard. The situation has already been explained to me. The company cares more about profits then we do about the Earth mother and her zealots. Her reach doesn’t extend this far. I’ll see to it that the church stops its interference, something like this never will happen again.”

“Thank you inspector,” Cathal said with a bow.

“I will take Armund and his hunters with me. Now as for the sheep...” The conversation turned to economics with the shepherds and tradesman. Cathal made his exit, he really didn’t want to be in a crowd at the moment. The guard post stood before him and looked out to the sea. It was lonelier than before, and he stared at the empty bow rack on the wall with teary eyes.

“Cathal, you alright?” The baker asked from the bottom of the stairs.

“Yeah,” Cathal said.

“I’m sorry for how I...”

“I don’t need to hear it. You did more than enough to make it up to me last night.” Cathal said turning back to the man.

“Right. Well, the inspector said that they will trade us the normal amount to keep mum about Armund.”

“Hmph, who cares what a small village on a rock have to say.”

“We’ll make it through the winter for certain. That’s all I really care about.” The baker nodded

Cathal turned back to the sea, he had nothing left to say.

“Keep your head up Cathal, I’m sure you’ll see her again someday.” And the baker headed back to the town.

“No, I won’t,” Cathal said to himself. He felt a brush by his leg and heard the sound of purring. Down by his calf was a white cat looking up at him with a smile. He knelt down and hugged the cat.

THE END