Scarlet Vamporium: Vamporium #2 (23 page)
And stood against him
Proud Edward's army
And sent him homeward
Tae think again
The hills are bare now
And autumn leaves lie thick and still
O'er land that is lost now
Which those so dearly held
And stood against him
Proud Edward's army
And sent him homeward
Tae think again
Those days are passed now
And in the past they must remain
But we can still rise now
And be the nation again
And stood against him
Proud Edward's army
And sent him homeward
Tae think again
Scotland deserves its independence
Author's Plea
The haven that still exists in Scotland, one of the last outposts of wildlife for this flora and fauna, exists and is conserved by charity.
Without your donations the rangers and conservation personnel don't have the funds to keep the hiking trails safe, to provide health care to the wounded, or to feed the animals in shelters.
Please help them with your donations because without them our planet is going to lose something more precious than any book or dollar.
Money won't save us when they're gone. I am beseeching you to look into your heart to help those without a voice who have been hunted to near extinction, who have nowhere left on earth to run to, and no one else fighting for their rights.
Your contribution can make an enormous difference, no matter how large or small your donation, every cent makes a difference to the reforestation projects, to repopulating the forests with endangered animals.
Save this landscape and its treasures for your children, and their children. Mankind's greed has stripped our beautiful planet of almost every natural resource and creature, now let mankind's generosity put back what mankind's greed stole.
Heartless men have plundered this earth and it is up to us to now come together and take a stand, protecting what's left and to reverse the damage to the best of our ability.
Thank you, if you care as much as I do about this land you read about in Scarlet Vamporium, I thank you if you help them. Below are a list of donation funded conservation projects set out to protect the endangered species of Glencoe and other parts of the UK.
Writing this novel I was helped immensely by Scott McCombie from the National Trust for Scotland Glencoe and Dalness. He's a ranger who educated me a little about the fantastic heritage sites and conservation the NTS is doing in Scotland.
They need your donations to stop poaching and to preserve the delicate mountain trails which require endless maintenance.
The only way to preserve and conserve the natural world which is so rich and diverse in Scotland is with your help. Please consider donating this winter to
www.glencoe-nts.org.uk
www.nts.org.uk
www.oneweestep.org
If you would like to get involved with saving the red squirrels of Glencoe, please consider helping this conservation project.
www.red-squirrels.org.uk
Wildwood Trust is an incredible link to preserving some very rare animals, including the white squirrel! They are charity based and every donation counts. Please help keep the wildlife safe and fed with a contribution.
www.wildwoodtrust.org
I feel really strongly about the conservation conducted by these organizations, and the more we can help, the more our future generations will be able to experience a world rich in wildlife in the few wild places left.
Every person can make a difference, no matter how great or small their donation.
Again here are those links for you.
www.glencoe-nts.org.uk
www.nts.org.uk
www.oneweestep.org.
www.red-squirrels.org.uk
www.wildwoodtrust.org
www.treesforlife.org.uk
www.treesforlife.org.uk/dundreggan/become_friend
Acknowledgements
This book would not have been possible without the help of one of Glencoe's own rangers, the fabulous and warm Scott McCombie.
Thank you Scott for all your help and for your friendship.
Also thank you to Chic McSherry for being my conscience, for keeping my work the best it can be, and for sharing his love of his homeland with me.
Thank you also to my ancestors who suffered the brutality of the British on Scottish soil and who brought me up believing in monsters called Morag.
And last but by no means least, thank you, my precious reader. I write for you, and your support and encouragement makes me honored to be a lady whose work you read.
Thank you angels, without you my world would not be so bright.
Poppet
Glossary
Argyll - old area of Scotland where you now can locate Glencoe
Aye - yes
Bairn - baby
Bannock - flat bread
Barnie - brawl
Baw bag - scrotum
Biscuit - cookie
Black Donald - the devil (again) with cloven feet
Black pudding - blood sausage
Blaeberry - blueberry
Blootered - inebriated (and disorderly)
Buailidh mi thi anns á cheann - I will break your head
Cairn - pile of stacked stones
Caledonia - original name for Scotland
Caille - veil (usually of snow)
Cailleach - crone goddess - considered old and wise
Cannae - cannot
Ceilidh (kaylee) - party
Clootie - the devil
Crivens - goodness! (exclamation of shock / surprise)
Dae - do
Didnae - did not
Dinnae - do not
Dirk - small sharp concealed dagger
Disnae - does not
Dun - castle
Efter - after
Fer - for
Gonnae - going to
Haggis - cooked sheep's stomach - usually stuffed with offal
Hae - have
Heid - head
Hen - affectionate term for your lady
Hogmanay - New Years
Isnae - is not
Kelpie - Scottish water spirit
Ken - know / understand
King Duncan (the king of Alba (Scotland) from 1034 - 1040) - the grandson of King Malcolm
Laffin - laughing
Lass - girl / lady
Loch - lake
Ma - my
Mabon - Autumnal equinox
Maw - mom
Mebbe - maybe
Morag - monster in loch Moray
Nae -no / not
Naw - no
Ned - uneducated lowlife
Neep - turnip
Nine of diamonds - the curse of scotland (the order for the Culloden massacre was scribbled on this card by the Duke of Cumberland)
Black watch - the first Scottish highland regiment working for England
Nowt - nothing
Nawt - nothing
Numpty - idiot
Och - Oh
Pet - sweetheart
Pish - nonsense - expression of disgust
Red shoelaces - comes from punk culture where the color of your laces determines how violent you are (red, green, or black)
Regimental - going commando
Sabbat - holy sabbath (there are 8 sabbats a year)
Saltire - National flag of Scotland
Samhain - Halloween
Sassenach - saxon
Scunnered - hopelessly disappointed
Seelie - good fairies
Sgathach (Skyaah) - the warrior goddess from the Isle of Skye
Shite - shit
Shortbread - butter sugar cookies
Sidhe (shee) - faeries
Sìol Tormoid - Seed of Tormod
Skyclad - naked
Sorrae - sorry
Spliff - joint
Stooshie -disruption / conflict / fight
Tae - to
Tattie - potato
Teuchter - common term for a highlander
Tha gaol agam ort - I love you
Tinnie - can of beer
Tosser - asshole
Unseelie - evil fairies
Verra - very
Wannae - want to
Wee - small / short / young
Whisky - without an e - only then is it true Scottish whisky
Whit - what
Wiman - woman
Woad - plant used to make blue dye (think of Rob Roy and you get the picture)
Ye - you
Yer - Your
Yin - big one
~Teaser from Indigo Vamporium~
Book 1 of the Vamporium Series
Staring into the monochrome gloom, the harsh clang of a metal door slamming closed shatters my fragile sanity, pulling a terrified sob from me.
Rattling with uncontrollable shakes, I snivel, holding a careful hand around the wound, squeezing to subdue the throb, cringing away from the damp wall which looks like black mold has scribbled Arabic script between the cracks in the bricks..
Metal on metal clashes, scraping and sliding like jousting jesters playing the xylophone with the locks on the door, severing my precarious hold on courage, forcing a sob into the sudden silence.
Quietly crying, sniveling in self-pity, I peer into the dark prison, making out shapes in shades of charcoal. A pillow and blanket are next to me, with a big black shape perched on the pillow like a tarantula ready to jump.
My inhalation freezes as I watch it wide eyed, afraid to blink.
It stays motionless, and we have an interminable Mexican standoff, until unable to bear it a second longer I inch off my shoe, lifting it up to thwack the life out of the predator. It doesn't run, move, flinch.
Paused an inch above it, I carefully lean forward, wondering if it's a macabre gift, like a body part, or something gross.
Tentatively poking it with my finger, soft velvet kinks, depressing under the scrutiny as delicately as tissue paper.
Now curious, my breath still gusting out of me in stress, I touch it again, screwing up my eyes to examine it. It's a flower!
A big black flower.
That's disturbingly romantic.
What kind of weirdo slaps you, sticks a pin into you like a living voodoo doll, but leaves a flower on your pillow?
Lifting it, trying to see it, it's unlike anything I've ever seen. It's big enough to fill my hand. Left behind, a note stains the cushion. Gulping, I pick it up, the light too dim to read a word, and after a quick check, my phone is no longer in my pocket.
Softly ambiance filters into the hovel and I twist instinctively to watch the source with wary caution. A lone flame hangs in an old glass lamp, the pressured rush of gas easy to discern in the absolute silence of my tomb.
He's watching me somehow.
Blinking nervously, my one nasty habit, I look around with the eerie light, noting a fluid filled goblet, a makeshift toilet, and a red teddy bear with the eyes missing.
Reading the note, all it says is;
Rare. Like you.
Bonus Material
Because of the Celtic nature of this novel, I am adding as bonus material the book of mine titled The Celtic Tree Zodiac.
Welcome to the eternal majesty of the Celtic world.
The Celtic Tree Zodiac
by
Poppet
Copyright © 2006 Author Poppet
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed by a newspaper, magazine or journal.
Foreword
I spent a lot of time creating this book. It is based on the research I did using the first record found of the Druid's calendar (lunar) - and the tree characteristics from the Caledonian tree society - working on reforesting Caledonia ...