Live on Kindle; Amazon in a day or two!

Introduction

About 12,800 years ago from our time, the technologically advanced Phi culture gets wiped from the face of Earth except for a few survivors who, once they get over being shell-shocked, make up their minds to share their Knowledge and give the remnants of humankind a kick-start in the rebuilding process. Carefully. Very carefully, as there are some who do not want their Knowledge and Wisdom preserved. You see, they won’t have it used for any purpose other than the good it was intended for.

Our own Alianora of Dunnottar in 500 CE is Keeper of the Faith. She and her husband Drustann intend to pass only the purest Faith to the next Keeper. To make sure, they enlist the aid of the Sidhe of the Ages in their quest to find the most ancient source. They want to go to that time and that place.

Looking forward to meeting the Son Himself in person, they are somewhat surprised to find themselves in a far more ancient world. Today it would have been 12,800 years ago (or so). For them, it would have been ‘only’ about 11,300 years in the past (or so). Either way, it’s a long time ago – for all of us.

The pair are totally unprepared for what they find when they get there. Earth is hit by one of the most devastating blows she has had to endure. If Alianora and Drustann have thought that the Keeping of the Faith has been difficult in their own time, they are in for an education about what the word ‘difficult’ really means.

The people of that ancient time must survive conditions which Earth has but rarely seen.

Centered in what is now the continent of North America, the culture of Phi has been let alone by the rest of Earth’s cultures for many millennia. Relatively isolated by geography, Phi has also isolated herself by choice. Her folk have, over the millennia, come from all over Earth. With none to either help them or hinder them, the Phi folk have had all those millennia in which to let their imaginations, skills, and Knowledge grow, flower, and fruit. The city of Phi, built only a few generations in their past, is the result. Phi is the heart, mind, and soul of the small but powerful culture which built it.

As Alianora and Drustann seek the foundation on which their Faith is built, the other side of Earth is in a world of trouble. And it’s coming their way.

Ancestors Mamm and Danann of Phi, together with a small band of other survivors, are making their way to the School at the Ring of Brodgar in Drustann’s childhood home of Orkney, which is where Alianora and Drustann have found themselves.

While the world around them is consumed by fire and flood, our ancient travelers must survive. Not only must they survive, they must see to the survival of their Faith, and salvage what they can of their culture.

Once Alianora and Drustann realize how very far back in time they have actually gone, they do not expect to find much that has anything to do with their Faith. Yet there they are, and the world is falling to pieces around them.

A Bit of Background

For those unfamiliar with They Are My Song, the books are a fictional account of one family’s struggle to do what they have to do when they have to do it. This family has been blessed by the Holy Trinity and given a sacred duty. By the grace of the Mother, they have been given also certain traits which aid them in their duty. They are of the race of Sidhe – human, but with an affinity to the Mother Herself which grants them gifts as needed.

Our family’s members tend to be long-lived unless killed in battle or by treachery. They have naturally phenomenal memories, enhanced by the ability to share them.

Backing them up are the Sidhe of the Ages. I suppose we might describe them as the Guardians of the Ages. Leashed by the Mother, they do Her Will, the Will of the Holy Trinity, in whatever way She sees fit. They do have individual freedom, but cannot – and would not if they could – oppose the Will of the Holies. They can and do come and go among the Ages of Humankind, pushing people into action and occasionally taking direct action themselves at the behest of the Mother.

The Stories of SONG have begun to skip about in time and place. The Mamm Books cover the centuries right around the fall of the Roman Empire. Danann takes us ahead in time to the year 3487 CE. Some of the Short Stories roam around in the rest of the Ages … this book will take us back further than we ever expected to go.

Alianora is the eldest of the Daughters of Dunnottar. Her sisters are Sass, Caileen, and Aine. Their children and the Kin Cousins, collectively the Younglings of Dunnottar, at the time of the beginning of this book, range in age from 12 to 24. They are coming into their adulthood. With the passing of Mamm of Dunnottar a few years back, the Sisters of Dunnottar and their husbands have accepted the mantles of leadership. They are at the height of their adult lives as Sidhe; leadership comes naturally to them as their birthright. The Sisters of Dunnottar are the daughters of Danann and Sidhelagh of Dunnottar, killed in battle and now among the Sidhe of the Ages, in Atonement for their defiance of the Mother’s Will. Their Voices remain to their family but not to each other; their words are spoken aloud by the Younglings Brann and Dothann so that Danann and Sidhelagh of Dunnottar can hear what the other has said.

This family is the Song of the Mother and their Voices Sing as follows:

Mamm is the Song of Choice; her Voice is passed to Merri, the eldest of the Younglings

Danann is the Song of the Spiral: Creation, Life, Death, Eternity

Sidhelagh is the Song of Peace

Alianora is the Song of Faith

Sass is the Song of Healing

Caileen is the Song of Hope and Future

Aine is the Song of Love

The Song of Unity is the Song of the Son and is Sung by the Voice of Ullin of Iona, usually together with the Queen Harp

As there are eight Voices of the SONG, so too are there eight basic notes in our musical octave. While the SONG has no words, the twining melody of rounds is the Music of PHI – what we know as the Golden Mean, the Golden Ratio, Fibonacci, Perfect Balance – 1.618…to infinity… – the basis of the Spiral of triangles which generates, defines, and perpetuates the world as we know it, from the tiniest sub-particles we can identify through the universes of infinity.

PHI is therefore the Realm of the Holy Trinity, and it is this Realm of which the Sidhe of the Ages and Ullin are Guardians. The Spiral Energy of PHI is the route by which our Alianora and Drustann make their way to where they are going.

Bound to Earth via the Spiral are several Dimensions. These are the homes of some of our Mythological Realms; for example Valhalla, Olympus, Atlantis, and others. Characters from these Dimensions pop into our Story Line now and then.

At any rate, the SONG of the Holy Trinity, together with the Circles of Dunnottar, is the Legacy this family lives, fights, and dies to protect and preserve.

The five interlocked Circles of Dunnottar represent Family, Friends, Freedom, and Future – these four are bound immutably by the center circle of Faith.

Ullin of Iona is a Character familiar to all in the family of these books, regardless of their time or place. He is friend, mentor, guide, and protector. His Power is unassailable; he wields the Staff of Authority. Nobody actually knows for sure who (or maybe what) Ullin is, but he is loved by our family and feared by any who would threaten them. It is also Ullin’s Destiny, and that of the Queen Harp his companion, to protect and preserve the Knowledge and Wisdom of the Ages as recorded in the books, scrolls, clay and stone tablets of the Libraries of Old.

The Gentle Ones, whose Realm lies inaccessible within Earth herself, aid Ullin and the Queen Harp. They also come in right handy to various family members now and again. Yet they are a Mystery and choose to remain so. Those who know of them will likely fear them; those who know them do not.

Aduan, on the other hand, is one feared by nobody – until it is too late. Seemingly as ageless and timeless as Ullin of Iona, one suspects an ancient enmity, although it is more likely that Aduan’s hatred is toward the Trinity than toward Ullin in particular. Which is puzzling because it is always by the Will of the Holies that Aduan is let go when caught. So we’re not sure what’s up with that and will probably never find out.

This part of SONG begins in the year 500 CE with a birthing: that of a daughter of the family holdings at Lairdubh in the vicinty of Perth of Albann (Albann is known by us today as Scotland). Lairdubh is early on known simply as the Perth holdings. The name Lairdubh means ‘dark mare’ and springs from both the black horses bred there and the Power of her dark-haired women, who will produce more than one ‘dark horse’ of History as the Ages unfold, though not all of them will have dark hair and eyes.

As the family spreads, their holdings multiply as well. Dunnottar is some twenty miles south of Aberdeen, a couple of miles from Stonehaven (then, and now). To the northwest lies our fictional Chattan of Fortriu, near to what is now Inverness. On the Continent are Tarnos in Gaul, Aquitaine, and Andorra which seems to have had a remarkable significance for this family from the get-go.

Iona, while not exactly a family holding, is nevertheless an important training centre. Tara of Eire likewise although to a lesser degree. There are such places scattered around Earth.

Over time, the family will follow where their Destinies lead them, all over Earth – and beyond, as the stars have always exerted a powerful influence.