10-31-08 8 AM

Reggie was a bit surprised at the amount of books and information that his university had on Ireland and Celtic mythology. After scouring over more analytical histories, he focused solely on the location of Tara as it was mentioned frequently of late. In a book simply titled “Celtic Mythology” he found more answers than he had hoped for.

First thing he was able to learn is that the creatures he had been fighting actually had names. The giants were called Fomorians and were supposed to have been the original inhabitants of Ireland (although he found this claim made by a few other peoples as well) who were defeated by a group of people called the Tuatha De Danann. He thought the smaller creatures were called Slaugh Sidhe, which according to what he was seeing, were the cursed spirits of the Tuatha De Danann that were forced to live underground with fairies after being defeated by at the last battle of the Ulster Cycle. Reggie thought that would explain the individual nature of each one, as though their exposure to the magics of the fey had been different for each person. The large white dogs seemed to fit the description of a creature called the Cu Sith.

As interesting as this was, it didn’t explain why they were here. He didn’t understand why creatures of the past, supposedly myths and legends of simpler, ancient people who tried to make sense of their world, were suddenly very real and very pissed off about something.

As he was finishing with that book, he checked its bibliography for an idea of where to look next. What he found shocked him, but also seemed to fit like a missing puzzle piece. One of the sources that the book credited was the private manuscripts of the John H. Lamb history archives. That would explain why the university had such a large collection of books on this subject.

It didn’t take him long to find the archive room and make his way to another room within that was devoted strictly to historical documents. As he searched through diaries and transcripts and old photos, he came across an interesting volume that looked like a report called “Prophesies and Legends of Tara and the Sidhe by Connacht Ailill.”

According to Connacht’s paper, he claims to have infiltrated a secret organization that is carrying on the traditions and lore of the Celts after the Julius Caesar ordered all records destroyed and forced the introduction of Roman beliefs and religious practices on the area.

Connacht states that during the second battle of Magh Tuiredh, a part of the Ulster Cycle as it is more commonly known, the Fomorians were led by the evil Balor and the disposed king of the Tuatha De Danann Bres, who was half Tuatha and half Fomorian. Although Balor was killed by the future king Lugh, Bres escaped and remained in hiding until the final stage of the Ulster Cycle when he tried to rally the last remaining people against the armies of the Milesians. Bres was captured and imprisoned in the Mound of Hostages, sentenced to an eternity of solitude away from his people.

As Bres was being sealed into his tomb, he swore vengeance on the Milesians and swore he would one day reclaim the land and the Stone of Destiny would destroy them when he reclaimed the throne on Tara. Connacht claims that if Mound of Hostages is disturbed, it would allow Bres to escape and begin his revenge. In order to make his threat good, he would need to claim the four legendary treasures of the Tuatha De Danann.

The treasure are Dagda’s Cauldron, The Spear of Lugh, the Sword of Light, and The Stone of Fal.

Three of the treasures are said to be buried at Tara, directly beneath the fourth treasure, The Stone of Fal, otherwise known as the Stone of Destiny.

According to Connacht’s writing, he was discovered this information in the private diary of an old man named Curoi Mac Daire, the last of an old Irish family that held title to a large amount of land in County Meath.

Reggie stopped reading as he tried to remember where he had heard that name before. As he was going over the events of the last few hours in his head, he placed the name as the leader of the terrorist attacks on the M3 highway in Ireland.

As Reggie attempted to fit this new piece into the puzzle that was beginning to become very clear, the shattering of glass and sounds of fighting from the library took his attention away.