Cathelin's Mystical Forest

CHAPTER 1

Exploring

Cathelin was 13 years old when she found a way to escape the castle she lived in with her family. She felt trapped in the old building that had been in the family for centuries. The castle was set deep in the forest and only a few knew the way in and out. In her early years she never worried too much about why she was being kept inside most of the time. She was only allowed out when her sisters took her on to the grassed area, which you looked down upon, from their mother’s sitting room.

Her sisters kept a close eye on her and if she started wandering off they always called her back. But as she got older her mother and sisters decided that she should stay inside more as she was getting to be too inquisitive about outside. Her father the Laird fully agreed and it seemed like they had decided to keep her prisoner inside her home.

Cathelin had been told some of the servant’s children had never been out of the castle's grounds, but they were free to wander around without being watched all the time. She had never met them but knew they existed because she had heard their voices and laughter.

The castle had secrets of it's own and on certain occasions a lot of men would meet there to discuss things that the woman knew nothing about. She would hear the whinnying of the horses through her half closed shutters. Always wondering, she tried to ask questions but she was always told that it had nothing to do with her, she need not to worry about anything. Neither did they understand her way of talking but could have if they had taken the time out to listen.

It was terribly frustrating for Cathelin not to be able to express herself like everyone else, but she knew somewhere in the back of her mind that one day she would find a way of communicating and making people listen to her. Cathelin had been born differently from her two brothers and two sisters, and they didn't really have much to do with her. She knew she was different but she wanted to be accepted and couldn't understand why she wasn't.

Her father was a rich and powerful Laird, who mostly ignored her, and sometimes he preferred her not to be around at all. His wife Clair, her mother was a sickly person, she was always having children but many didn't survive. Cathelin was one of the latter children who survived and in surviving she had this difference about her that no one knew anything about. Children born like her were kept away from everyone else in those days.

The castle workers didn’t have much to do with her, they thought she is freak, so she spends most of her time in her own world, away from the others. What they didn’t realize was she is very smart and listened and understood what people were saying. Her family hardly ever talked to her because they thought if she looks funny and talks funny then she’s not capable of comprehending conversations.

What no one knew including Cathelin was that she would discover a new confidence in herself, which would change her life forever.

CHAPTER 2

Secret Door

One day when her father and brothers were away from the castle, her mother was lying on her chaise in her bedroom, and her sisters were comforting her, Cathelin decided to go off on her own outside.

She had been exploring sometimes when she was alone in her mother’s sitting room and fell upon a door that no one seemed to use. When she turned the handle and pulled it open she saw a small passage then a flight of stairs. On one occasion she had walked to the top of the stairs and noticed they had started winding downwards. Being to scared too go any further she turned back to the sitting room and quickly pushed the door shut, so no one would notice anything different. Cathelin didn’t tell anyone what she had found as she wanted it to be her own secret.

This particular day when her sisters were with their mother, who happened to be sick again, Cathelin quickly went into the sitting room, moved behind the screen that was there hiding the door in the wooden paneling and pushed it open. She quickly went through and pulled it to, careful not to shut it completely and glad it didn’t squeak or someone may have heard her.

There were secrets in that back staircase which she wasn’t aware of this at the time. Her father’s friends used it, to come up into the sitting room at night to have their secret meetings.

Once inside the darkened landing she made her way to the top of the stairs, feeling along the wall, she knew by instinct when she had reached the stairs, and very quietly and carefully stepped down them. It was dark and she had no candlelight to show her the way, it hadn’t entered her mind to bring one. She knew she would have to be careful because if she tripped and fell no one would know where she was till her father or his friends used the stairs again.

Finally she reached the bottom of the stairs putting her hands out she felt the heavy door, she fumbled around for the door handle and turned it one way and it didn’t open, then she turned it the other way and it started to move, she pulled the door open a fraction and as daylight hit her sight she knew she had reached a forbidden outside world. She pulled the door harder till it opened wide enough for her to walk through. Cathelin didn’t feel scared; all she could feel was excitement that seemed to be pushing her along.

She quickly stepped outside pulling the door nearly closed behind her, not wanting to shut it completely incase she couldn’t get back in, she looked around smiling when she saw all the trees and bushes; Cathelin knew her adventure was about to begin.

After taking in all the sights around her, she saw a path leading away from the castle walls and decided to follow it. Overgrown brambles covered most of it so she was careful not to catch her clothes on them. Her father always made sure she did have nice clothes although rather dowdy in case visitors came to the castle and fall upon her sight. Cathelin felt her sister’s clothes were much nicer than her own, but she didn’t let it worry her too much.

CHAPTER 3

Wooded Forest

As she walked along she noticed butterflies fluttering around, she had never seen them before, and thought they were very pretty. There were all kinds of flowers growing as well; little flowers called blue bells caught her attention. She loved the smell coming from the flowers that were rising up along the path she walked along. She stopped a moment and bent down and picked a couple of flowers, wanting to smell the fragrance closer to her nose.

She continued to follow the path that wound around the bottom of the castle; it seemed to her that she was in a forest. As the path moved away from the castle leading further away she could hear a soft gentle noise. Cathelin followed the noise through the trees until she saw a brook, she climbed over tree branches that had fallen on the forest floor, till she reached a rock near the brook and sat on it.

Cathelin felt she had reached into a different world, she had never seen a brook before and sat there looking around taking it all in, the pretty sight making her feel happy. She wondered if her sisters had ever seen this sight before, but knew she couldn’t ask them, it was to be her secret. If she said anything they would stop her going out again and she wanted to keep coming to this special place.

Quietly she started singing a tune she made up in her head.

Oh pretty flowers it must be spring, making me feel like I want to sing, you smell so pretty, you look so pretty, blowing gently in the wind. I see pretty lights flying around, butterflies they are, they don’t make a sound.

Out the corner of her eye she saw some lights dancing around, she wondered what was happening, but didn't get scared. They were pretty coloured lights, all flickering around. Sometimes they jumped across in front of her, it was like a ball of colours rolling along, she was feeling quite comforted by the lights.

Oh pretty lights I see you dancing, Oh pretty lights I see you dancing, Colours of the rainbow, All dancing for me, she sang.

As she stopped singing and tried to focus on the lights they disappeared, leaving her wondering if she had imagined it all. She hoped not, as she had become very excited about this strange thing. She couldn't ask anyone as they would all say she was more stupid than before. So she started singing again hoping this would attract the lights back.

As she sang Cathelin heard a small rustling sound and looked around seeing nothing even though she felt someone or something near her. Looking around further she spotted a squirrel running around on the ground, and then it run up a tree. She was amazed watching this squirrel noticing how free it was. The squirrel watching her came back down the tree and ran towards her.

Squirrel oh Squirrel, you are so free, Squirrel oh Squirrel you are so free, You run up trees then you come play with me, she sang to the Squirrel.

Cathelin decided to call the squirrel Hermy. Why she called him that she didn’t know, but it was a name that came to her head. She didn’t feel afraid of Hermy and kept on singing to him in a quiet voice.

Frightened she wasn’t, as any animal that had ever crossed her path in her short life never hurt her, particularly her father’s dog. They sensed she was a kind person and loved her touching them. While Cathelin was deciding that next time she came she would try and bring Hermy food he ran off leaving her alone.

As Cathelin started singing again with the noise of the water in the background, she could see the lights again. Cathelin stopped and heard a very soft pretty sounding voice, We are your friends and every time you need to us, just start singing and you will see us, we are near you all the time.

The voice was quite clear and yet as she looked around there was no one there; but she knew she wasn’t imagining the voice.

It seemed like time was moving on and she thought she had better go back into the castle. She hoped that she could get in the door and back upstairs without anyone noticing. So back along the path she went saying good-bye to Hermy and the pretty lights. She felt like she wanted to skip, but had to be careful of her dress so she didn’t, and she decided that next time she could get out she would make sure she wasn’t so prettily dressed. This was going to be her secret and she wouldn’t tell a soul.

Cathelin didn’t know there had been more than the squirrel there with her that day. There was a special feeling that had crept into her heart during her short time by the brook, she was feeling very happy but she didn’t know why.

CHAPTER 4

New Friends

The days moved along, her father went away with her brothers to fight another clan war; she had heard this word war but didn’t understand what it really meant. She did notice when he came back from these trips away sometimes, he looked very tired, other times he looked happy. It was when he was happy he seemed to be able to tolerate her presence in the room with him.

When Liam came home the castle seemed to change, people were less relaxed, her sisters and mother even appeared to change, like they were too scared to do something that might upset him. Cathelin being the way she was didn’t appear to worry about this, as it wasn’t in her nature to know or understand these feelings. She just carried on as she always did except she didn’t go out to her special place. Cathelin realized that if she were found out about her little trips into the outside world she would be stopped, so each time her father went away, she always looked for ways to escape into her newfound world of flowers and butterflies, Hermy and the brook.

Cathelin started to realize that by sitting by the brook allowing her mind to wander she was able to hear voices telling her all sorts of things. She was still seeing the lights flashing around her when the sun shone brightly down upon her and the trickling brook. The soft voices she heard told her they were fairies, and they were there to help her. At the time she didn’t know what this all meant. Her friend Hermy the squirrel came and played with her often. Cathelin continued to sing songs to Hermy and to the butterflies, while the brook flowed tranquilly by her.

She was growing very fond of her visits to her favorite place and because she had been able to do this a few times and not get noticed she was becoming more confidant on these trips. She had also been able to find a way to get some crumbs from the bread that had been baked to take to Hermy. Getting down to the kitchen without anyone noticing was very hard to do, but one day she happened to notice that the food scraps were being thrown out into the yard for the pigs and other animals being kept there. She took herself down the back steps and around into another area that was secluded from the castle and picked up the breadcrumbs. Hermy would love the food she thought.

A few times she picked a flower and took it back to her bedroom so she could look at it. If she thought people would be around she put it under the carpet on the floor because she didn’t think anyone would look there. She didn’t know why she did this, but felt it was the right thing. At night when she slept she had the flower with her under her pillow. It didn’t matter that it had squashed, she didn’t care, she still had her flower.

CHAPTER 5

The Ball

Through the winter months, her trips down the back stairs had to be stopped because the snow on the ground made it to hard to walk on and she couldn’t take her cloak with her downstairs for fear of being seen with it. The winters seemed to drag by, she felt quite alone, then spring came, she could see the flowers coming to life on the lawn outside her mother’s sitting room, and knew she would be able to go outside again.

One year, towards the end of winter her father decided to have a spring ball. She heard everyone talking about it and how he was trying to find wives for his sons, as well as husbands for his daughters. She thought this wouldn’t happen for her as her sisters had told her she would never marry.

While the flowers were in full bloom the weekend of the ball arrived, people came from