Rundimahair: A new hero for a new adventure Larry Forkner (best ereader for pc TXT) 📖

their lives. They should be out having fun and enjoying life at their age.”

“I agree, Sean,” Ashling said. “If it wasn’t for that psycho-woman, Grainne, we’d all be enjoying a more peaceful life back in Ireland.”

Sean sighed heavily and said, “Yeah, reality is a bummer.”

Ashling smiled as she stepped in close and put her arms around Sean. “Just the bad parts of reality are a bummer. Having the man I love at my side every day is actually a pretty great part of reality.”

“That’s a fair point,” Sean agreed, as he put his arms around her and pulled her close. He kissed her long and tenderly.

A fireball landed ten feet from Sean and Ashling, as David flashed by. “Get a room!” he shouted, as he arched back into the sky.

The children laughed at David’s remark, while pointing at Sean and Ashling. Sean reluctantly stepped back out of their embrace and said, “Have you noticed it’s a bit of a challenge to find any privacy around here?”

“What did you expect when you signed on to teach a bunch of young’uns?” Ashling said with a patient smile.

Sean nodded and said, “I guess they’re not so bad. I’d just like to find a moment or two of privacy to be with my girl.”

“So that’s how it is, is it? I’m your girl now?” Ashling asked innocently.

“For now and always,” Sean replied.

His reply touched her heart deeply. Ignoring the children a moment longer, she leaned in and kissed him again. “I’ll see what I can do to find a moment or two of privacy after dinner tonight,” she said.

“Now there’s a promise than can put the fire in a man’s blood, so it will,” Sean said, imitating her Irish accent, as he smiled brightly.

“So it should, Sean,” Ashling replied with a teasing smile.

* * *

In the early hours before sunrise, Sean’s sleep was troubled by dark dreams. In truth, this felt more like a vision than a dream as he stood on beautiful, green, rolling hills overlooking ancient ruins.

He recognized the old castle ruins immediately. Hidden inside the crumbling walls was Grainne’s sanctuary. Sean was unsure what sort of dark magic kept her people hidden from the eyes of the world. He assumed it was the dark magic version of what had kept Rundimahair hidden from Grainne for hundreds of years.

Just as he was about to walk down the hill, Sean felt his dragon begin to stir inside. Unbidden, he quickly burst into his dragon-self and arched up into the night sky. Other than the first time, he’d never turned into his dragon without any conscious effort on his part.

He flew over the old castle ruins, which he could see clearly, even though it was still dark. Not only could he see in the dark, but Sean could also see Grainne’s hidden castle and grounds, which she’d created inside the ruins. He wondered if all dragons could see the normally invisible structures, or if it was it just him?

Sean landed softly on the castle tower, which was at least sixty-feet high, and sat just inside the tall, gated entrance. The main building, which he’d explored on his first visit, was in the center of the huge compound. Dozens of other large buildings sat along the back of the compound, spread out evenly.

In between the impressively designed buildings were spacious, open grounds, with beautiful gardens and large areas of luscious green lawn. It may have been created by dark magic, but it was a remarkably lovely sanctuary.

What puzzled Sean was the relatively small size of the compound. It was less than a third of the size of Rundimahair. Of course, Rundimahair was spread out with lots of land for farming, while Grainne’s hidden lair looked more like a military compound. He wondered if she had more followers hidden elsewhere.

He silently soared over the compound, trying to commit it all to memory. Here and there Sean saw groups of guards on patrol. They didn’t look up and seemed completely unaware as he flew over their heads. When two gray dragons flew past him, they didn’t show any awareness of his presence.

Sean finally landed behind one of the buildings set against the rear wall of the compound. He wanted to change back into his human form, but for some reason he couldn’t trigger the change.

While he struggled to complete the change, he heard the now familiar voice in his head saying, “They can’t see you in your dragon self. Some of her followers will see other dragons, but none will see you. Grainne may sense your presence in human form, but she will not sense your dragon. There is much to do, for you will attack her home base at the end of the ninth month.”

Once the voice had finished speaking, Sean’s eyes opened and he realized he was still lying in bed. It had all been a vision. Sean locked in his mind the memory of everything he’d seen. It was obviously information they would desperately need.

Suddenly the door to his bedroom swung open and Ashling burst into his room. She rushed to the corner of his bed and sat down. Sean noticed she had a look of excited expectation on her face, but also a touch of irritation.

“First, tell me every detail of your vision. Second, tell me why you’re having the visions now instead of me,” Ashling said.

“Isn’t there a rule about knocking before you enter a gentleman’s bedroom? And I feel compelled to point out that your hair is a bit unruly at the moment,” Sean said, smiling.

“My hair looks fine and quit being a baby. I’ve been in your bedroom before,” Ashling said, as she ran her fingers through her hair.

“I could have been standing around in my underwear,” Sean said in pretended outrage.

“Nothing I haven’t seen before while you change back and forth from your dragon self,” Ashling said, with a low chuckle.

“All right then, I’ll get up”, he said, as he sat up quickly.

When she saw bare skin