Free The Secret of Kells by Eithne Massey Page A

you know!’ Brendan explained. ‘And more than one home!’
    ‘What? What do you mean? You entered the Dark One’s cave? You took the Eye from Crom Cruach’s head? How did you …?’
    Brendan laughed. ‘You can’t find everything in books, you know!’
    Aidan smiled back. ‘I think I read that somewhere once,’ he said.
    Then Brendan told Aidan the story of his adventures in the cave of the Dark One. He also told him about Aisling’s part in the story and her disappearance.

    ‘Who is she, Aidan?’ he asked. ‘She seems to be able to take all sorts of shapes. And she hated having to come inside the walls of the monastery. Why was that? I know she is not evil, but she is not one of us, either.’
    ‘You are right. She is not like us. But she is not human. She’s one of the Old Ones too, like Crom Cruach. But she is one of the bright ones, Brendan, the ones that walk in the light and do good rather than evil. I do not know very much about the Old Ones, but I do know that they do not go away entirely; they only change their form. So she will come back, and she left the flowers as a sign for you. I am sure you will see her again some day. Maybe when you are least expecting it, maybe in some shape – an animal or a bird – that you will not recognise at first. But never let anyone make you think she is anything other than good.
    She is part of the goodness of the trees and the wind, and of the creatures of the wood. Colmcille knew that, when he talked to the wild things. And the other saints too. Do you know that Kevin had a wolf as a friend? And when a bird laid an egg inhis hand he didn’t move until the little thing was hatched out and able to fly away on its own. And St Ciaran saved a fox from hunters, and in gratitude, the fox used to carry his prayer book for him when he went to mass. And St Mochua, now, he had mouse to wake him for his prayers, and a fly to walk along under the line of his prayer book and help him in his reading … But here I am blathering on, and you must be exhausted by your great adventures. You are after turning out to be as great a hero, as great a warrior, as Colmcille himself!’
    ‘Ah, I’m no hero. And honestly, I’m not a bit tired,’ said Brendan. ‘I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I went to bed.’
    ‘In that case, lad, do you feel up to getting to work?’
    Brendan nodded eagerly.
    Aidan picked up the crystal. ‘Aye,’ he said, ‘it has the same power. But as I thought,’ he squinted through it, ‘it may be even better and clearer than the Eye of Colmcille. This one will be the Eye of Brendan. Look through it now, and tell me what you see.’
    Brendan took the Eye and looked at one of the pages in the Book. With it, he could see details he had not been able to see before. It seemed to bring the tiny pictures alive.
    ‘It’s wonderful! If I use it for the smallest of small details I will be able to make the pictures even more beautiful,’ he exclaimed.
    Aidan nodded. ‘That’s right. Are you ready?’ he asked.
    ‘I think so. I hope so,’ said Brendan.
    ‘Then let us begin,’ said Aidan.
    He took up a quill and held it out to Brendan, who took it from him. Quietly and confidently, he began to draw.

    Through the rest of the autumn, Brendan worked on the Chi Ro page. Using the crystal, he could see things that were invisible to the human eye. Sometimes he felt he really had a third eye, for with the crystal he could see the detail of an insect’s wing or a spider’s web, of a blade of grass, of a brown oak leaf, or the heart of a flower. It was slow, painstaking work, and although Brendan spent hours in the Scriptorium, even after weeks ofwork he had only a small corner of the page finished.
    All this time his uncle thought that he was still locked in the cell at the bottom of the tower. Abbot Cellach asked Brother Tang to make sure the boy was warm and well fed. He was allowed out of the cell a few times a day to help in the gardens. Tang, or one of the