Finnah’s Realm

Shellah was startled by a rustling noise behind her. She drew her blade but was immediately relieved to see it was just Lloel exiting the tent. “Whew!” she sharply exhaled.

“Any sign of our hogboon?” he asked as he settled on a rock to sit. Shellah resheathed her sword and did a quick circuit of their camp in the tiny patch of beach grass to double check.

“Nothing. It’s been quiet.” Shellah joined Lloel on the rock. “You should go back to bed, tomorrow’s going to be a long day.” She pointed up at the night sky. “And it’s getting overcast. Let’s hope that the weather stays well offshore.”

“Something’s been bothering me about the hogboon and whatever this burial might be, and I need to talk it through with a fellow Shieling,” said Lloel. “We’re on Auchundy now, yes?” Shellah nodded. “Most of the mounds on Mundy Head are, per legend, of the Auchundy people. The riddle cites ‘Where Coln doth dwell’. But Auchundy always kept the traditions of our oldest people. They’re settled on the north side of the island, past some significant barren hills. As with the Outer Shielings, the Old Larin empire never extended to them. Auchundy never worshiped Coln. To them, that cave has always been associated with Finnah.”

“Huh. Weird?”

“But there’s possibly an association with Craddoch, which was part of ancient Larin,” Lloel continued. “We just passed through Truah’s Chasm, named for Truah Craddoch. Truah and her children were murdered by her husband, Miall Craddoch, who bound them all together into a cart and pushed them into the chasm to die as part of a sorcerous rite to build his own power. After he sacrificed his family to Coln, he and his followers were chased from the island, possibly to Mundy, and were never seen again. I think the approximate age of that tale and that of the riddles are analogous. And what’s the tribal symbol of the Craddochs?”

“The ram!” exclaimed Shellah. “It’s a stretch, though. That thing could just make itself from whatever’s laying around?”

“Auchundy’s is the aurochs. I imagine their hogbowen might have different horns?” Lloel shrugged. “Anyway, something to look for when we get atop the Head. This might also explain why we got a visitation on Craddoch Beach, and not here thus far, if the hogboon is not an Auchundy and has no ties to this island?”

Shellah chuckled. “Or maybe it figured after the first warning, why would anyone be so stupid to still come?”

Lloel laughed, too. He rose to return to the tent. “More fun tomorrow!” He lifted the flap to the tent, then suddenly turned. “Oh! Another thing I just thought of. If it was wearing a plaid,” he said as he tapped the base of his throat, “It might have a clan badge?”

“Lloel, how does it even know about us?” Shellah asked. “We’re not there on the Head actively messing with its grave. How does it know?”

Lloel looked into the tent for a moment, then back at Shellah. “That’s been worrying me, too,” he whispered. “Keep an eye on Nessah.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

They woke to a gray and misty dawn. Everything was covered with dew. Shellah shook out her plaid cloak, which did little to dry it.

“Do we need to pack everything?” asked Nessah, clearly eager to get out to Mundy Head. “Aren’t we coming back here tonight?”

“Yes we do,” Shellah answered. “I don’t like the look of that sky. If we’re trapped on the island or blown out to sea, we’re going to want our food and gear. Also, the weight on the bottom makes our little boat more stable, and we’ve got some open seas to paddle. Bigger swells.”

“What about the sail?” ask Jonas. “Might make that crossing quicker?”

“We can’t put the sail up, we’ll need to keep a low profile to stay out of sight of the Reavers.”

Everyone grew silent at the mention of the Reavers and quickly loaded the canoe. Soon they were off, paddling through the little inlet, through the sea cave tunnel and back out towards the sea stacks. Shellah carefully skippered them north between the Auchundy cliff wall and the lofty pillars of the sea stacks. Under the overcast skies the sea was eerie, glassy calm, only broken by free-floating rafts of kelp. They paddled in silence with the occasional cry of a seabird or bark of a seal to accompany them.

From the bow, Lloel pointed to a black lump in the distance. “There’s Mundy Head!”

“May this weather hold,” said Shellah. The clouds grew darker on the horizon behind the Head.

Across slow rolling swells they made their way through the open channel to the island, which only grew taller and more forbidding the closer they approached. Mundy Head was a flat-topped spike against the silver sky. Towering shining ribs of slick black basalt formed the exterior walls of the volcanic plug. Shellah steered them towards the eastern side.

“Be careful, everyone- we need to enter the cave going in completely straight. If I remember correctly, the water is pretty shallow in the entry, and if we stove ourselves on a rock, we’re stuck here until the Reavers find us, that is, if the hogbowen don’t get us first,” Shellah warned as they came around towards the island’s far side. “Welcome to Finnah’s Realm.”

As they turned, the opening of an enormous sea cavern yawned in the dark rock. Jonas and Nessah both gasped. A pointed archway in the stone soared hundreds of feet above them. Hexagonal blocks of broken basalt lined the sides of the cavern and bolts of it hung down from the ceiling like a giant’s black glass chandelier. Shellah and Lloel paddled the canoe into the cavern while Jonas and Nessah craned their heads upwards, dumbstruck.

“Let’s find a good place to tie up before we get too deep in here,” said Lloel from the bow as they eased their way further into the chasm. “Shellah, I forget, is the entrance to the mounds inside the cave?”

Shellah thought for a moment. “No, it’s actually outside. We’ll need to tie ourselves to somewhere on the right- there should be a ledge that looks like a natural high dock, then we follow these blocks up and then outside the cave. They make sort of a steep natural staircase along the cliffside. Not that I went all the way up.”

They sidled up carefully to a likely looking flat surface. As Lloel and Jonas held the boat steady against the ledge, Shellah jumped up atop it. “Toss me that rope, please!” Jonas reached behind to pass her the end of the rope at the stern. She looked to see if there was a good place relatively high up to tie it and found a sturdy broken column. After she secured the vessel, she returned to assist the others. “Be careful everyone, it’s very slippery here. And depending on when we return, this might be under water, due to the tide.” Shellah looked out towards the slick stepping stones which were the path out of the cave. “But, one problem at a time.”