The Hillkeeper

Great. Absolutely great, Luna thought to herself. That sense of restlessness always propelled her to travel and explore, but sometimes it did her no favors. It was the main reason she now found herself in a small Irish village laying on her stomach in the damp dirt. Having recently finished an undergraduate degree in archeology she had found work as a field assistant at an archaeological dig.

The advertisement for this job looked cool. She reminded herself. I didn’t know I was going to spend all my time with dirt in my teeth and trying to uncover a gravesite with a glorified shishkabob stick and a cotton swab.

Luna swiped at a lose red curl as it tried to escape the messy braid, and reminded herself that this hadn’t been a completely stupid thing to sign up for. Having Irish heritage made it interesting to see where some long forgotten relatives had lived. The green hills and dry stacked stone walls that gridded that countryside made her feel a sense of calm and belonging that she couldn’t quite explain. It’s beautiful here, even if I am always cold, filthy, and desperately missing coffee. For some reason the Irish insisted on drinking tea. The only coffee she could find in the little village was some instant garbage that made her feel sick.

Getting up carefully, Luna stood and surveyed the work she had just done. It was an 800 year old grave, now opened, that was set into a little hill. The grave was to be studied, then relocated because this spot was going to be a public park someday. It did seem strange to dig them up at first, but if you never moved a grave in Europe you would never be able to build anything new. They had gravesites all over the place. Luna felt guilty even though these remains would be carefully cleaned, studied, and then re-entombed. It’s not like I’m grave robbing. She told herself. I’m contracted to a university. It’s okay.

Over the sound of the constantly blowing wind Luna heard the site leader calling for everyone to pack up for the night and go home.

“Perfect.” Luna muttered out loud. She was looking forward to having something to eat at the local pub. It was Friday and that meant fish and chips.

Not as good as coffee, but still pretty good. She thought to herself. She looked down at the uncovered skeleton and considered how to cover the grave for the night. It looked like rain and she didn’t want anything to be damaged. Grabbing a plastic cover Luna dropped to her knees to carefully cover her site when something caught her eye. From a small crack in the packed dirt just below the back of the skull there was a bright green light shining through. “What on earth was that?” She whispered to herself.

She peered around the bone and burial goods that were not yet fully uncovered. There was nothing that should have been able to make that bright flash of green light. There wasn’t even anything shiny enough to have reflected it. Luna reached out .“Luna? I said it’s time to go. Do you need help with the cover?” Luna jumped guiltily and looked up at the black-haired site lead who was frowning at her.

“No, no thanks Lara. I don’t need help. I’ve got it.”

“Well hurry it up then.” Lara said. “It’s lookin’ to rain and I don’t want that to start before everything’s covered."

Luna didn’t answer, she was still thinking about the green light.

#

An hour later Luna found herself sitting in the warm pub with a cold pint and clean hands. When her food came Luna polished off the hot and crispy fish along with her fries. Soon there was nothing left in her glass other than a few bubbles and she seriously considered licking the news print the fish had been wrapped in, but that was a little gross even for her. Without bothering to socialize, Luna got to her feet, paid for her food, and started the walk back.

Soon she was rounding the corner of the area she had been digging and Luna felt her feet stopping. She stared at the short and unsubstantial fence that separated the worksite from where she stood now. There was a cheap little padlock on the gate but that was irrelevant. Just about anyone could climb over that fence if they had a mind too.

Luna couldn’t explain it to herself, but she needed to take another look. It was a stupid risk, she should just wait and check it tomorrow but she didn’t want to wait. She just had to see if it would light up again.

Walking to the gate, she dug the toe of her sneaker into a crack and pulled herself up and over with a grunt. Landing lightly on the other side of the gate, she pulled her battered cell phone out of her pocket and tapped the screen until the flashlight function was on. With the light, she could clearly see the grave site that she had been working on.

Luna walked forward, keeping an eye out for rocks and other archaeologists’ sites. Last thing she wanted was to trip and fall through the plastic cover and into an 800 year old occupied grave. Within moments, she was squatting on the side of her sight. Placing the phone between her teeth so she could still aim her light, she pulled the cover off just as she felt a fat drop of rain smack her forehead and roll down her cheek.

“Great.” She mumbled around the phone.

Whipping the rain away, Luna took the phone from between her teeth and bent her head, inspecting the remains in front of her. The rain began to fall in earnest, but she barely noticed. She felt almost a physical pull towards the skull she had seen illuminated with that strange crack of green light. With one hand, she carefully reached out and touched the packed dirt near the skull. She felt a strangeness from where her fingers brushed the cracked soil.

After a moment Luna decided it was time to put the cover back on, get out of the rain, and back over the fence before she was caught. She tried to lift her hand to grab the cover but felt her finders press harder into the soil, as if they were being pulled down into the dirt. Panicking, she tried to yank her hand back. Luna hated to admit it, but she was scared. The feeling of panic doubled when she realized that she couldn’t move her hand away. As soon as she realized she couldn’t control her hand the green light blazed brighter than ever, and she heard a voice like thunder roar through her mind.

“How dare you disturb the Hillkeeper?” The voice was awful, it instantly caused her head to throb.

There was the start of real panic as she saw the cracks of green light growing from where her hand was sinking into the soil. Luna felt herself falling forward.

In an instant she was no longer falling and opened her eyes. She was in a small earthen room. The dirt below her was packed and above her she saw a ceiling of soil with dangling white roots. The ceiling was illuminated with the same glow of green light. Shut your eyes and just breathe. Count to five and then it's time to get it together. When she reached the number five, she exhaled and opened her eyes. A new wave or shock crashed over her, and she saw she was no longer alone in the earthen room. There was a man leaning against the wall, and he was smiling at her. She started to take in the leaf green eyes, the soft brown clothing, and the hilt of a sword protruding from over one shoulder. She was still staring when he crouched down so he could look her in the eyes.

He had inhumanly sharp teeth and pointed ears. The strange man said in a low, soft voice, “I would say welcome to the Land of Fairy, but being as you broke in I don’t think I have to.” One of his eyebrows lifted and the corner of his mouth followed. “Do you make a habit of waking the Hillkeepers?”