The Secret of Kells Read Online Free PDF Page B

monastery was only a small break in the greenness that surrounded him on all sides.
    ‘Have you ever been over there?’ Brendan pointed over towards the monastery. ‘That’s Kells. That’s where I live.’
    Aisling shook her head. ‘Never. I never leave my forest. I stay in the trees, and I never go inside walls. This is my place. And you had better be getting back to yours … Look, the sun is already going down.’
    She jumped down to a slightly lower branch and Brendan followed, much more slowly and cautiously. He suddenly noticed that there was a nest of wasps on the branch and pulled back, afraid he would be stung.
    ‘They won’t sting you!’ said Aisling. ‘I asked them not to!’
    The wasps flew away and there, in a cluster,were the little brown berries that Aidan had shown him. It was hard to believe, thought Brendan, as he started to gather them and fill his satchel, that they could make the lovely green ink he had seen on the pages of the Book.
    Aisling picked one and grimaced. ‘They look like wild boar droppings!’ she said.
    ‘And they are really stinky!’ added Brendan.
    When he had finished gathering the berries, they scrambled down the tree, Brendan falling the last bit and feeling embarrassed by his clumsiness in front of the girl. But she just laughed.
    To his surprise, Brendan discovered that he did not really mind her laughing at him any more.
    ‘Now, I will lead you back,’ Aisling said. ‘We had better go the short way. But be sure to stick with me; there are dangerous things along the way …’
    She led the way along a different route back through the forest. This path was more difficult to follow. The trees grew more closely together and let in less light. Brendan and Pangur stayed close to the girl, who found her way as if it was the easiest thing in the world to make a track throughthe trees.
    After a while, they came to a clearing. It was a strange place. Although there were no trees, there seemed to be even less light here than there had been among the thickets. On one side of the clearing, there was a wall of black rocks. Brendan stopped, fascinated by the sight of two great stone figures on either side of a dark opening in the rock. Pangur mewed loudly. Aisling, who had run ahead, looked back.
    ‘Come away, Brendan,’ she said, in a voice that suddenly sounded full of fear.
    ‘Come away from this place. This is a place of suffering.’
    ‘Suffering?’ said Brendan ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘Just come away!’ Aisling whispered. ‘It’s too dangerous!’
    Brendan laughed. Now he felt that he was the brave one. ‘Surely it can’t be more dangerous than climbing an oak tree!’
    Aisling grabbed him and tried to pull him back. ‘It is the cave of the Dark One! Of Crom Cruach!’
    ‘The Dark One?’ said Brendan. ‘Crom Cruach? But my uncle told me about the Cromworshippers. Crom Cruach is only pagan nonsense, a story, an imaginary thing. My uncle says that you shouldn’t be afraid of imaginary things.’
    Aisling gave a deep sigh. ‘Brendan,’ she said, ‘you mustn’t say its name too loud. It might hear you. It’s waiting in the darkness, waiting for someone to wake it. Brendan, listen to me, you must come away now …’

5 The creature in the darkness
    B ut Brendan had moved closer to the entrance to the dark place. The two stone guardians stared at him out of blind eyes. They were roughly carved, but he could see that they were human figures. Their faces, crude as they were, still managed to look cruel. Brendan began to feel that their lips were moving, whispering something, calling him in.
    Brendan could sense something pulling him towards the blackness. Nearer and nearer he went, fascinated by the draw of the dark.
    Then he heard it. There was a sound, coming from the entrance. It was like something large and heavy shifting in the darkness. An animal, perhaps? If so, it would have to be a creature even bigger than the elephants Brother Assoua had told him