The Storyteller -Chapter 5

The Storyteller

 

 A Novel 

By Paul McCann

 

Chapter  5

 

The Time Keeper

 

Sean Mc Kay was not the kind of man you would meet every day.  Some say he had been lifted above and gifted with visions from the future and past . The life that he lived came at a cost . The storyteller had no home of his own and no family of his own . He spent a lot of time with strangers and walked through dangers untouched without a scratch . He had the protection of unseen hands and kept out of harm’s way where ever he went . He seemed to know the places he had to go as if he had

instructions with a set destinations and knowledge of the people who lived there  .

It was late in the day and he was on the road to Galway not too far from the coast  and as he made his way on a road covered with snow , the twilight fell all around him in a half-light .

Behind him on the road came a donkey pulling a cart with no one at the reins  .

When the storyteller heard the sound of the cart he turned around and raised his hands in the air and called out with a soft harsh voice .

“Hello there little donkey and tell me where are you going with that cart ?”

The donkey came to a stop and the Storyteller smiled and whispered ,

“ Would you mind if I got on board . I ‘d appreciate a ride .”

The donkey nodded its head and the storyteller said ,

“Thank you my four legged friend ”’

He climbed up into the front seat and took the reins and with a jovial tone to his voice ne said to the donkey ,.  .

“Ok what are you waiting for , lets go with a haw haw he he haw “:

The little donkey made irts way down the road with a sense of purpose as if he knew where he had to go .

After a few miles the donkey stopped near a tall oak tree and opposite the oak tree was a gate that the donkey pushed open .  The gate had a mechanism with a magnet and spring that allowed the gate to open and after a few moments it would close automatically . On the gate there was a clock with a round smiling face and as the gate opened it played a musical chime . On the other side of the gate there was

a large field scattered with haystacks with blackbirds sitting in the top . They looked like guardians of the field . Suddenly one of the blackbirds flew across and landed on the cart  and with no words spoken the blackbird whispered thoughts into the subconscious mind of the storyteller .

 “Welcome , to the Roisin’s field where time stands still . Its good to see you again storyteller , so if you’re here to see the timekeeper , you’ll have to wait because she’s late in her return . There’s an empty cottage for you there in the next  field with food and a fireplace and all the comforts of home . Wait there for her until she’s back . “

 

The blackbird flew away and sat upon the one of the haystacks .

The little donkey pushing through the bottom gate into another that closed by itself and finally came to a stop at an unoccupied cottage . He got down of the seat and patted the donkeys head then spoke with a deep whisper  .

“Thank you for bringing me here to the house where nobody lives . Would be kindly wait here a while until its time to go  “

The donkey nodded its head and the storyteller unhitched the donkey from the cart and went inside the cottage that was full of the sound of clocks ticking .

As he went into each room of the little house there were all kinds of clocks there on shelves and table and mounted on the walls . There was chimes and bells ringing , everywhere from all the clocks . He wandered from room to room looking at the assortment of clocks . There were tabletop clocks , maritime clocks , alarm clocks , desk clocks , grandfather and grandmother clocks , mantel piece clocks , cuckoo  clocks ,outdoor clocks , musical clocks , chiming clocks . round clocks ,  novelty clocks  , pendulum clocks .. He had never before seen as many clocks in one place .

One of the rooms was full of watches and hour glasses and other instruments that displayed weather conditions .   

Strangely enough as he went through one of the doors he found another section of the cottage that was quiet and very comfortable to be in . Almost like it was a separate cottage . He felt as if he had been there once before but he couldn’t remember when . He was standing a parlour where there was a fireplace with kindling in a wooden box and some turf piled into a basket .

He quickly made ready a fire and then looked around the kitchen cupboards and  found some food . It seemed as if someone had expected him and had left him enough food for a few days .  There was some bread , milk and cheese , a fruit cake , tea , sugar , potatoes and rolled oats , carrots and other vegetables .

After he ate he went outside with carrots and bread for the donkey .

On his return to the cottage he made his way through the sound of clocks ticking and chiming and ringing in his ears until he came to the door where time stood still ,

He lay down on a bed that was there and fell asleep until the morning light came streaming in through the windows of the little cottage .

A lady came into the room and spoke softly to him where he lay ,

“Hello storyteller I’m Roisin, the time keeper . Its good to see you again .There’s nothing to fear here from me . So tell me how have you been ?”

“So I guess you know why I’m here then Roisin ?”

He replied .

“Of course I do , You know how it is with travellers like us . I keep time and preserve it for future generations but are different storyteller . You walk through the mists of time to places unknown and you never know where that could be  . I have something for you . Call it a gift ?”

From her pocket the time keeper took a gold medallion with a chain and placed it around his neck  .

 So what’s this you have given me . A watch to tell me the time  “

She sat down on the bed and nodded her head and said 

“ No its much more than a watch , It is an instrument that dictates time and place .You could say it’s a  bit like a time compass . Where you are in control of where you are going and when you will get there . “

The storyteller had a good look at the medallion and replied 

“Okay so how does it work  then ?”

Roisin spoke with an unearthly eloquence that had a melody to its tone .

“Well now see the thing is you see , it all depends upon the mission you’re on and the time you have been given to do it but as you see here in this world around you time is of the material kind with a beginning and an end to the stories you have to tell

In this three-dimensional world but listen to me now for I will tell you of another place and so different to the world I am from ,.”

 

The storyteller started to remember something in his mind and his thoughts were being  heard by the time keeper who smiled back into his eyes .

“Now I remember that place , I was taken there  before by my guides from the other side where there is no beginning or end to time . Everything there is timeless in that  place that exists in parallel to the material world I am in. “

“Yes, that’s exactly how it works storyteller . This time compass I have given you will at times shine and glow that be a sign for you that a time portal is opening .

When that occurs there will be a pillar of light that descends before you and that is the time for you to walk into the light for transportation to another time and another place .        

 

The storyteller sat up and placed the medallion around his neck and spoke softly

“So, then I will become like a time traveller ?
 “ You will become like us a traveller in time but not to change anything as you visit only to tell your stories to the places shown on your time compass .”

“Will the mists of time still fall down around me ?”

“The mists of time are now a thing of the past , from this day on you will become the first storyteller of the realm that can travel between dimensions ”.  

:So, I will be able to access the fourth dimension ?”

“Yes . let me show you a sample of the fourth dimensional world around us “

Roisin pressed her hands over the storytellers’ head and an energy from her hands was transferred through a white light . Suddenly the appearance all around changed and instead of being in the cottage in rural Ireland they were both on board a ship on the ocean but in the 4^th dimension .

“So, as you see storyteller the three dimensional world and this world in the 4^th dimension occupy the same place but in a different dimension . Both are invisible to each other but they are ever present in that one spot in the unknown universe .”

The storyteller nodded his head .

“Yes, I know because I have been here once before with my guides .Just now I am now able to remember things about this world ”

Roisin smiled and then she said ,

“Sean, do you remember this one ?”

 

She sang an ancient song that transcended generations in one moment  .]

 

He listened and immediately recalled the song that he had heard from the mists of time that was sung by a High King before the battle for the holy grounds had begun . 

 

“That song is called a return to grace “

 

As he said that the ocean disappeared and once was sitting back in a cottage near Galway in rural Ireland . The time keeper was no longer there and he was alone .

 

The time compass around his neck began to glow and as he took it off his neck the cover from the face opened to reveal lens that projected a three dimensional movie on the wall before him . The movie was of a ship on the ocean and on board was himself standing with the timekeeper . She was dancing and then as she waved goodbye the lend closed . The short movie was over and the storyteller sat down on the bed and though deeply for a moment .

The projection he had just seen was from the fourth dimension on the short visit he had just been on . He then remembered that he was on that ship but couldn’t say for how long he was there but he recalled seeing a crack in the horizon where the ship was going and suddenly he was taken through a window of time from that place that co-exists between the 3^rd and 4^th dimension .

He stayed in the cottage for a few days and during that time he had some visits from travellers who mentioned to him that the cottage was one of a many time portals in the world where time travellers could exit and return . The cottage was a place between worlds like an island on the ocean of an unknown universe .

 

The storyteller was given knowledge of a time and place when the time compass

would begin to establish the connection between the two worlds .

New journeys would soon begin and the storyteller would soon become a stellar force in bringing and receiving stories between the dimensions material time sand and infinite time . In the process of that happening he would have new stories given to him by his guides from the spiritual realms who rule over all the known time continuum’s 

 

 End Chapter 5

 

The Storyteller

 

Link to Chapter 6

https://www.abctales.com/story/mcscraic/storyteller-chapter-6

 

by Paul McCann