Book 3. Sacred Hills. Priestesses of the God of War. Journey to the Mountain Castle.

By Olga Kryuchkova

Ancient Ireland. Dark Ages.
Druid Morran, exiled from Dundalk many years ago, lives near the dilapidated ancient sanctuary of the god Toutatis. Morran sincerely worships the god Toutatis. Druids, offended by Ollam Cathbad, joined him. One day, Ruada, the former concubine of Laird Fergus, came to him. It was Ruada and Morran who wanted to destroy Deichtine and their newborn son Setanta.
Ruada became a priestess of the God Toutatis and spent many years in one of his distant temples. Ruada came to the Druid Morran, accompanied by a young priestess. Ruada had a vision that this young priestess was to conceive a child on Samhain. And this child will be the living embodiment of Toutatis.
Ruada plans to travel to Connacht and serve Warrior Queen Medb. It is in Connacht that the new god Toutatis is to be born. Morran decided to accompany Ruada.
Meanwhile, Setanta decided to improve his martial arts. To do this, he went to the famous Warrior Queen Scathach. The Queen rules the kingdom of Donegal and lives in a castle in the mountains. And only the most courageous and dexterous warrior could reach the Mountain Castle and learn the military craft from the Scathach.
Setanta hit the road with his faithful friends. Together they go through many adventures and meet various mythical creatures, including dangerous creatures. On the way, young warriors get to know the bard and take him with them on a journey. Setanta and his friends reach their goal: Scathach agrees to teach them the highest combat skills. At the Mountain Castle, Setanta meets the young warrior Ferdiad.
Aife, the younger sister of Scathach could not calm down, that her older sister became queen. Aife challenged her to fight one on one. Scathach accepted her sister's challenge. However, Setanta intervened and convinced Scathach to entrust him with the fight. Setanta wanted to use the spear that the god Lug had given her. Setanta wounded Aife in the shoulder with a spear and won the fight.
The holiday of Samhain begins, when the gates of the Otherworld are opened. On the night of Samhain, Aife conceives a child from Setanta. This child is the living embodiment of the Warrior Goddess Morrigan. Morrigan knew that Toutatis intended to be reborn in the human world and drown this world in bloody strife. To be continued.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Olga Kryuchkova
• Release date: Mar 28, 2024
• ISBN: 9798215929049

Olga Kryuchkova

Olga Kryuchkova began her creative career in 2006. During this time, the author had more than 100 publications and reprints (historical novels, historical adventures, esotericism, art therapy, fantasy). A number of novels were co-written with Elena Kryuchkova.

Book preview

Olga Kryuchkova

The series Magic of the Druids. Heir to the Sacred Tara

Continuation of the series Magic of the Druids

Book 3. Sacred Hills. Priestesses of the God of War. Journey to the Mountain Castle

The cover of the book is based on an illustration from Pixabay.

Ancient Ireland. Dark Ages.

Druid Morran, exiled from Dundalk many years ago, lives near the dilapidated ancient sanctuary of the god Toutatis. Morran sincerely worships the god Toutatis. Druids, offended by Ollam Cathbad, joined him. One day, Ruada, the former concubine of Laird Fergus, came to him. It was Ruada and Morran who wanted to destroy Deichtine and their newborn son Setanta.

Ruada became a priestess of the God Toutatis and spent many years in one of his distant temples. Ruada came to the Druid Morran, accompanied by a young priestess. Ruada had a vision that this young priestess was to conceive a child on Samhain. And this child will be the living embodiment of Toutatis.

Ruada plans to travel to Connacht and serve Warrior Queen Medb. It is in Connacht that the new god Toutatis is to be born. Morran decided to accompany Ruada.

Meanwhile, Setanta decided to improve his martial arts. To do this, he went to the famous Warrior Queen Scathach. The Queen rules the kingdom of Donegal and lives in a castle in the mountains. And only the most courageous and dexterous warrior could reach the Mountain Castle and learn the military craft from the Scathach.

Setanta hit the road with his faithful friends. Together they go through many adventures and meet various mythical creatures, including dangerous creatures. On the way, young warriors get to know the bard and take him with them on a journey. Setanta and his friends reach their goal: Scathach agrees to teach them the highest combat skills. At the Mountain Castle, Setanta meets the young warrior Ferdiad.

Aife, the younger sister of Scathach could not calm down, that her older sister became queen. Aife challenged her to fight one on one. Scathach accepted her sister's challenge. However, Setanta intervened and convinced Scathach to entrust him with the fight. Setanta wanted to use the spear that the god Lug had given her. Setanta wounded Aife in the shoulder with a spear and won the fight.

The holiday of Samhain begins, when the gates of the Otherworld are opened. On the night of Samhain, Aife conceives a child from Setanta. This child is the living embodiment of the Warrior Goddess Morrigan. Morrigan knew that Toutatis intended to be reborn in the human world and drown this world in bloody strife. To be continued.

Chapter 5

The druid Morran lived near the ruined sanctuary on Lough Ern for nearly fifteen years. Over the past time, he built a hut and acquired a household.

All these years, Morran worshiped Toutatis, the bloody god of war. (He was different from the goddess Morrigan, who patronized battles and was not distinguished by such cruelty and bloodthirstiness as Toutatis.) Only hatred gave him strength and allowed him to survive in exile. He regularly offered sacrifices to Toutatis, but, alas, not human, as it should be, but only animals...

After a few years of his life at Lough Ern, other druids began to join him, offended by Mangor, in the past, the first assistant of high Ollam Cathbad. He willingly accepted them, and a few years later a village of disgraced druids appeared on the lake.

... The day when the fateful event was destined to happen began as always: the sun rose lazily in the sky, illuminating the water surface of the lake and the village nearby with its rays. The druids would wake up and begin their daily chores. Someone drove out cattle for grazing, others went to cultivate the land. The village existed at the expense of subsistence farming. Although, of course, being people who know herbs, the druids made various kinds of infusions and potions. And they sold them in the villages closest to Lough Ern, or exchanged them for the necessary items.

Morran woke early, as dawn broke on the horizon. For the first time of his life in exile, he mentally complained about his fate, cursing Cathbad, who exiled him here. But gradually, a certain humility came, and the man cursed the Ollam less and less, trying not to remember him once again.

After waking up, Morran cleaned himself up, then began to attend to daily duties. At first he managed on his own, but over the years it became difficult for the druid. Particularly difficult housework was done by his distant relative, also a druid who fell into disgrace, named Fingot.

Fingot possessed extraordinary magical abilities, but he did not use them for the good of the Kingdom, but to satisfy his own whims. He was an ardent opponent of the current Ollam, therefore he had to leave Armagh, the capital of ancient magic, and go in search of a place where he could be safe.

... Fingot appeared on the lake five years ago, and settled with Morran. He, in turn, was delighted at the appearance of the intelligent assistant. In addition, assessing his magical abilities, the elderly druid considered Fingot a worthy candidate in order to pass on his knowledge to him...

Having completed all the necessary household chores, Morran and Fingot began to prepare the next infusions for sale. They finely, to a powder, ground dried herbs, mixed them thoroughly and poured them into small earthenware vessels. Then they were filled with water, tightly closed and left to infuse.

They were distracted by two figures tightly wrapped in dark cloaks. The mysterious persons were clearly heading towards them...

I wonder who it is? Fingot