FREE SCOTCHBROOM OCTOBER 19TH-21ST

Book3 of the Witches of Galdorheim Series

HALLOWEEN IS FOR LEGENDS – HARTAND HOUND

Researching Celtic mythology, I knew Iwanted to use some of the lesser know magical creatures. I alsodecided that they needed to be “like” animals, but not quite. Thereason for this is obvious to readers who’ve been following Kat’sstory from the beginning. Kat’s magical ability is to talk withanimals. She has greater or lesser success depending on the innatebrain-power of a natural animal. For example, she chats along nicelywith Salmon the Orca since a killer whale is the largest of thedolphins and are at the top of the IQ charts. I believe the abilityto communicate to others shows greater intelligence. Sorry. Don’twant to offend any fish out there, but you guys just aren’t thatbright.

I found two mythic creatures who met mycriteria. Sianach, a huge stag (possibly a Red Deer) and Cusith, agiant-sized green dog with a braided tail.

From my favorite source, EncyclopediaMythica https://pantheon.org/articles/c/cu_si...).

Cusith

The cù sìth was usually kept tiedas a watch dog in the brugh, the fairy dwelling, but at timesaccompanied the women on their expeditions. It also wandered aboutalone, making its lair in clefts of the rocks. The dog movedsilently, although some said that it made a noise like a horsegalloping. Its bark was described as a rude clamor, or like that ofanother dog, only louder. There was a considerable interval betweeneach bark, and at the third (it only barks thrice) the hearer wasovertaken and killed, unless he had found a place of safety.

"Monster." In ScottishGaelic oral tradition, a large, malevolent, predatory deer.

That’s to thepoint. Other research indicated that the basis for Sianach might bethe Irish Elk, which is now extinct.

Now that I’didentified a couple of mythical critters, then all I had to do is getthem together with Kat. Since she was tricked into entering theOtherworld (land of fey), she has been searching for the hall of theTrow King. She meets Sianach first and he agrees to guide her to KingConnor’s hall. What Kat find strange is that she can’t look intoSianach’s mind; he can close off his thoughts from her. This makesKat a bit nervous since Sianach, while seeming to be amenable tohelping Kat, is also very vague as to his reasons for doing so.

The two begin theirsearch for the Trow Hall, although Sianach claims, reasonably, thatin the Otherworld, there is no such thing as a map to anyplace.They’ll have to seek the Hall in other ways. Apparently, Sianach’smethod is to simply wander around through the swamps.

They camp for the night, and the nextmorning, Kat meets another denizen of the Otherworld, the giant greenhound, Cusith.

Excerpt:

Sianach grazed near the edge of thesmall clearing. When the lean-to disappeared, he raised his head.“Good morning. I thought you were going to sleep all day.”

“You sound justlike my mom.” Kat let out an exasperated snort. “Besides, itcan’t be past eight o’clock.”

“I do not carrya timepiece.”

“Of course, youdon’t.” Kat opened her pack and rummaged through it. “Cool.I’ve still got the granola bar.” Her head snapped up when sheheard something large crashing through the underbrush. Sianach stoodstock still, staring toward the ruckus.

“HHHHRRRRROOOOOWWW!”

“Omigosh,what’s that?” Kat’s voice trembled as she looked to Sianach foran answer. The hairs on her neck and arms stood at attention.

Sianach turnedtoward a nearby tree and struck his antlers against it. The clash ofantler against bark rang like a warning bell. Kat didn’t expect theloud clang coming from horn against wood.

“HHHHRRRRROOOOOWWW!”

“Hide,”Sianach said in a breathy whisper. His head raised now and pointedtoward the howl that sounded closer than before.

Kat did as hetold her but had to ask, “What is it?” just before she crouchedbehind a bush.

“The Hound fromHell,” Sianach replied. He dashed into the woods with antlersthrust forward to meet the howling canine. Kat heard a sharp yip fromthe dog. Sianach must have scored the first strike. Sianach bugled,and the hound yowled. Thuds punctuated the vocalizing, when one orthe other creature struck a blow.

“I have tohelp,” Kat muttered. She jogged across the clearing and pushed herway through the saplings and undergrowth blocking the way. Shefollowed the battle sounds—bugling stag, baying hound, splinteringof small trees being knocked aside. She darted around another largetree and saw the combatants squared off in an area beaten down bytheir fighting. She stopped still, her eyes widened. A huge green dogfaced Sianach, its fangs exposed from under snarling lips. Kat gulpedand stood frozen with fear.

Sianach’s headlowered, and he charged the hound with out-thrust antlers. The dogjumped aside at the last second and leapt on Sianach’s back. Themonstrous creature bit down hard on the stag’s neck. Kat heard thesickening crunch of breaking bones. Blood gushed high, and Kat gaspedat the sheer volume. Kat screamed. “Sianach!”

The hound jumped off Sianach and stoodaside, panting and watching the deer fall to the ground on his side.Sianach’s head dropped, held up only by his antlers, then themighty rack shrank, and his head hit the ground with a thud.

“No!” Katscreamed and raced toward the two. The dog looked away from the dyingstag toward Kat. His lips peeled back in a slathering snarl. Hismuscles tensed to leap on her, and she cast her eyes around trying tofind a defensive weapon. “Of course!” She cast a defense spellaround herself. The hound lunged toward her and smashed into thefragile shield. It shattered and pale yellow splinters like glassscattered through the air. However, it protected Kat for a moment.The hound rolled aside yelping in pain.

Gathering herstrength, she blasted the dog with a clear message: “Sit!Stay!” The hound rose to his feetthen plopped his rear end on the forest floor. His tongue lolled fromthe side of his opened mouth, and his tail thumped on the ground.

Kat’s jawdropped. “Oh! Um, that’s better.” Kat was amazed her commandworked at all. “You stay. That’s a good dog.” She steppedslowly toward Sianach but kept her attention on the dog, watching forany change in his now friendly demeanor.

“Oh, no!Sianach?” She dropped to one knee by the deer and placed her handon his brow. Eyelids fluttered and then opened. Sianach looked up ather. In a weak voice, he said, “That was fun.” He then jerkedhimself upright and stood. Kat jumped back, astounded as she watchedthe wound close, the blood slow, and then stop.

Kat glanced atthe dog and saw that he stayed put. She didn’t know whether to keepwatch on the mutt or try to do something to help Sianach. However,the stag was rapidly healing and soon seemed unharmed, except for thedrying blood on his neck.

“What? How?”Kat stammered. But Sianach was not your average, everyday red deer;he was a creature of magic. It shouldn’t surprise her he couldn’tbe killed.

Turning herattention back to the dog, she looked him over with interest. Hisshoulder was as tall as her own. The dog’s shaggy fur coat was astartling, and quite attractive, forest green, and he sported a long,braided tail. By the shape of his blocky head and the size of hisjowls, Kat thought he must be a mastiff.

“Just what isgoing on here?” she asked, planting her fists on her hips andglaring at both creatures.

Sianach steppedtoward Kat and pointed his rack toward the dog. “Our apologies,Kat. We did not mean to frighten you.”

Kat looked back and forth at the twolegendary beings. She closed her mouth when she realized she’d beengaping. “You scared the stuffing out of me!”

“I would notwant to do that. I imagine you need your stuffing. Meet my goodfriend, Cusith. Cusith, this is Kat, a witch from a far off land.”

The dog raisedhis right paw. Kat hesitated, her adrenaline still pumping.

“I would nothave harmed you,” Cusith said. Kat took his paw and shook it.

Kat shrugged offthe scare and nodded to the big dog. “I’m pleased to meet you,Cusith?”

“Pleased tomeet you, young witch.”

Sianach said,“We’ve been good friends for years. Since neither of us have anyof our own kind to match ourselves against, we fight with each otherfor practice. All in good fun, naturally.”

“Yeah, right.Good fun. You nearly gave me a heart attack. I thought Cusith killedyou, Sianach.”

Both hound andstag broke out in laughter. Cusith with woofs coming up from deep inhis chest. Sianach with a weird combination between a snort and abugle.

“I am trulysorry. I assumed you’d know the creatures of the magic realm cannotslay each other; only an outsider can kill us.”

“Well, I didn’tknow,” Kat replied grumpily. But then she tried to laugh with them.Why not? Everybody was fine, and she learned something new about howthe Otherworld worked. She briefly considered asking whether anOtherworld creature could kill an outsider. Sianach began to tellCusith of their quest, and the thought disappeared as she filled indetails. The giant dog nodded. “Aye, Icould help. After all, my nose is much better than either of yours. Ican probably pick up the scent of the Trow Hall from several milesaway.”

“I’d love tohave you come along, Cusith. I’d never realized there was so muchmore to the Highlands than beautiful scenery.” Kat loosened hertense muscles, relieved the dog was friendly and could be a big helpin the search.

* * * *

A magical trip to Stonehenge lands awitch in the Otherworld where an ancient goddess is up to no good.

Kat expects to have a great time on hergraduation trip to Stonehenge. However, from the moment she leavesthe witches’ arctic island, Galdorheim, she gets in nothing buttrouble. Her younger half-brother tries to horn in on her trip, shegets lost in the magical Otherworld realm, is led astray by asupposed friend, then she has to confront a Scottish goddess who’sfallen on hard times.

While dodging the goddess’ minionsand trying to find her way out of the Otherworld, Kat soon learns sheshouldn’t underestimate the old has-been for one second; the cronestill has a few tricks that can drain a witch’s magic in a flash.To make matters worse, Kat's brother secretly followed her into theOtherworld. Now he’s in danger too. Kat has to go one on one withthe goddess to save herself and her brother.