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Chapter Three
Macha

Ruby stood in the centre of the Hall of Spells. She tilted her head and spun, dragging her stick on the tiles that represented all of the major runes. ‘We’re not in Scranton any more.’

‘How can you tell that?’ I asked.

‘I’m blind, not stupid.’

‘Ruby!’ her father and grandmother shouted simultaneously.

The young girl shrugged, turned to me and said sorry, but it didn’t seem like her heart was in it. I laughed.

‘Don’t encourage her,’ Brendan said. ‘We are working on Ruby’s rudeness.’

‘Well,’ I said, ‘it sounds like frankness to me. If I need an honest opinion I will know who to ask.’

‘See?’ Ruby said to her father.

‘Ruby’s opinions tend to be too honest.’

I looked up to see Mom and Dad standing waiting for our discussion to end. I cleared my throat and pointed to Brendan’s mother and daughter.

‘Nora and Ruby, may I present to you Lord Oisin of Duir and Princess Deirdre of Cull – my mom and dad.’

Nora bowed then whispered to Ruby who bowed too. As she did, Ruby’s huge sunglasses dropped from her face. Her eyes were dark blue and seemingly unharmed but scars were still visible high on her cheeks where the shards of glass had entered her face and ruined her optic nerve.

Mom stepped up and took Brendan’s mother by the shoulders. ‘It is I who should be bowing to you,’ she said with a nod of the head. ‘You risked your lives today in aid of my son.’

‘I would hardly say our lives were at risk, Your Highness,’ Nora said.

‘You went toe to toe with the FBI and the Scranton cops,’ Dad piped in, ‘I’d say you were risking something. Welcome to Castle Duir. This is our home and for as long as we live here, it is your home as well.’

I leaned in to Nora and whispered, ‘And people live a long time around here.’

‘Daddy promised me a huge bedroom,’ Ruby announced. ‘I’d like to see it now.’

‘Ruby,’ Nora and Brendan again admonished in unison, but Mom, Dad and Nieve just laughed.

‘Of course,’ Mom said. ‘You must be tired. Let me show you to your rooms.’

As Mom and Nieve escorted the Fallons to the west wing, I looked about for Essa and Tuan but they had left.

‘I think she is off with Tuan getting a dragon blood youth tonic,’ Dad said.

‘Who?’ I said nonchalantly.

‘Who?’ Dad scoffed. ‘Essa, the princess that you are looking for.’

‘Who said I was looking for Essa?’

‘Oh, my mistake,’ Dad said sarcastically, ‘maybe you were looking for Graysea? By the way, how are the princess and the mermaid getting along?’

‘You’re enjoying this, aren’t you Dad?’

‘Oh yes,’ Dad said over his shoulder as he ran to catch up with Mom.

Dad came into my room as I was practising my knife throwing. He gingerly pulled the dagger from the wall and inspected the woodwork. ‘Don’t do that.’

‘Mom and Aein told me that you used to do it.’

‘Yes and I got in trouble with my father for it too. I’ll get you a dart board or something. Just go easy on the walls. It probably took an elf fifty years to carve this little section.’

‘OK,’ I said, ‘sorry.’

Dad laid the knife across his palm, feeling its balance. ‘You’re not using one of Dahy’s gold-tipped specials?’

‘No, it’s too easy. Also I don’t like seeing the way the knife swerves in the air. It … it reminds me of how Spideog died.’

‘Oh, of course,’ he said, handing me back the knife, ‘I was sorry to hear about that. You really liked him, didn’t you?’

‘Yeah, I did. You didn’t though, did you?’

‘Oh, I wouldn’t say I didn’t like Spideog, it was just … well, now that I think about it, I really didn’t know him very well. You have to realise that I was Dahy’s student from a young age so I just took my master’s side. I never really knew what those two guys were feuding over until you told me. It makes sense now. Dad never talked about my mother much. Most of the things I know about her are from what Dahy told me.’

‘Don’t you remember Macha at all?’

‘Oh, I have a memory of smiling eyes, but maybe it’s just a false memory that my child mind conjured up while looking at her portrait.’

‘Is there a picture of her in the castle?’

‘Sure – in the north wing.’

‘Can we go see it?’

‘Now?’

‘Why not?’

We walked through the castle together. Jeez, I thought the bowing and scraping was bad with me but for Dad it was just short of grovelling. He didn’t try to discourage it. It was the way I was dealing with it too. You just can’t spend all day saying ‘Stop that.’

Even though Dad looked like my fraternal twin he was starting to regain the grown-up manner that I remembered. When he first regained his youth by drinking Tuan’s dragon blood he acted exactly as he looked – like a teenager. He still drags Mom giggling into private corners of the castle but he doesn’t do it all the time and he has stopped challenging me to wrestling matches.

‘So how’s the kinging going?’ I asked as we walked.

‘To be honest, it’s a lot of paperwork,’ he said. ‘All of the kingdoms are kicking up a fuss about the volatility in Duir and especially how unreliable the gold stipends have been. Mom’s been a huge help. She has been holding them off while I was … resting – but now everybody is looking for stability. I’d like a little stability myself but I think pretty soon my brother is going to do some serious destabilising.’

‘He told me he wants the throne.’

‘Not surprising. Once a guy like Cialtie gets a taste of power – it’s hard to let it go.’

‘I don’t think it’s that,’ I said. ‘I mean it’s not just that. He told me that if he became king he would be safe.’

‘I wonder where he got that idea.’

‘Ona’s book.’

That stopped Dad in his tracks. ‘What book?’

‘Cialtie showed me a book that he found in Ona’s bedroom the day he killed her.’

‘He told you that?’

‘Yeah, but he wasn’t bragging. He really believes that he can do nothing except what she wrote in that book.’

Dad started walking again. ‘And she wrote that he would be safe if he was king?’ When he spoke it was more like it was to himself than me. ‘If he had just told me that, maybe I would have renounced the throne … but I did renounce the throne. He had the throne. Why did he insist on trying to blow things up?’

‘He told me that he wanted to free The Land of Ona’s prophetic chains.’

Dad snorted with derision. ‘Freeing The Land by destroying it – typical Cialtie.’

We rounded a corner and entered the north wing’s portrait gallery. Pictures lined the walls stretching into what seemed like infinity. That’s the funky thing about living in a huge castle. You think you have explored every nook and cranny and then you come across an amazing place you have never seen before.

‘Wow,’ I said, ‘Who are all these people?’

‘These are portraits of all of the major and minor rune holders in The Land, and all holders of a yew wand.’ Dad pointed far into the distance. ‘Your grandmother is over here with the House of Nuin.’

As we walked I asked, ‘Can I get one of these?’

‘I’d love to have a picture of you if you would ever hold still long enough to sit for one, but I can’t hang it in the north hall until you have taken your choosing. I don’t have a portrait yet either. Tell you what, after your choosing we should get our pictures painted together.’

‘OK,’ I said, but didn’t relish the idea of having to have to sit still for hours while Dad bestowed his pearls of wisdom.

I spotted the portrait of Macha before Dad pointed it out to me. She had amber hair like Nieve and Dad’s long face but her eyes weren’t dark like her children’s. Her eyes were clear blue – like mine. She was portrayed sitting astride a black horse holding the reins with one hand and her yew wand in the other. Behind her was a hawthorn in full bloom.

‘She’s definitely your mother,’ I said.

‘Yes,’ he said dreamily like he was lost in the picture.

‘You once told me she went on a sorceress’s quest and never returned.’

‘That is what my father told me but I had a talk with Dahy recently and he says one day – she just vanished.’

‘You talked to Dahy about her?’

‘How could I not? That’s all he wants to speak about since you came back from Mount Cas with that knife.’

I smiled at the memory of the helpful message that had been hidden inside the gold-tipped knife and thrown at us on that mountain pass. ‘He thinks Macha is up there with the Oracle?’

‘He does,’ Dad said.

‘But you don’t?’

‘Actually I’m starting to think that Dahy and Spideog are right. Well, maybe not right but that knife of yours and the message you found with it raises enough doubts in my head to make me think we should find out for sure.’

‘Wait,’ I said, ‘we’re gonna storm the Oracle’s Yew House?’

He didn’t answer at first. He just kept looking at the picture of his mother and then, as if he was making the decision right there on the spot, he said, ‘Yes.’

‘How? That guy is seriously bad ass. He took out Spideog with a flick of the wrist. And I have no doubt he could drop half of that mountain on your head if he wanted to.’

‘Dahy thinks it can be done. There is planning to do. I’ll keep you posted.’

Dad ruffled my hair in a way that he knew really annoyed me and rushed off for a meeting with some runelord who I’m sure had a good reason why he needed more gold in his stipend. I was left alone under the dark stare of yet another grandparent I never knew. As much as I didn’t want to face the Oracle guy on Mount Cas again – I sure wanted to meet my grandmother. Well, if anybody could come up with a working plan of attack, it was Dahy.

I arrived back in my chamber to find Ruby waiting for me. She sat almost swallowed by an overstuffed chair, her feet sticking straight out, her stick folded across her lap. I don’t know if it’s the huge sunglasses or just her general demeanour but every time I saw this kid I got the distinct feeling that I was in trouble.

‘Where have you been?’

I was a bit shocked by the abruptness of the question and when I didn’t answer right away, Ruby said, ‘You were probably smooching with your mermaid girlfriend.’

‘I was not,’ I said and sounded to myself like I was ten years old. ‘I was in a meeting with the king.’ I thought that sounded better than ‘I was with my daddy.’

She seemed to find that acceptable.

‘How do you know about Graysea?’

‘My father brought her to me to have a look at my eyes. She cooed and ooed and cried and kissed me. She’s not very clever, is she?’

‘Graysea has other talents,’ I said.

‘Yeah right. Well, she said she couldn’t fix my eyes. That I had waited too long.’

‘Oh, I’m … I’m sorry.’

‘It’s nothing I haven’t heard before,’ Ruby said dismissively as she stood. ‘Now, I would like my pony.’

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘My pony. Father said I would have a pony when I came to Tir na Nog. When I asked him about it he said he had to talk to you. Since he hasn’t yet, I am. I’d like my pony please.’

‘I … I don’t know where I’d get a pony at this time of day.’

‘I would assume,’ Ruby said as she opened the door for me, ‘that we will find one in the stables.’ She motioned me out of my room like it was hers. I started to protest but then just decided that getting her a pony was probably the path of least resistance.

‘I feel sorry for your future husband,’ I said.

‘Funny, that’s what Father says.’

Ruby grabbed my arm and then swung her stick back and forth as she walked so fast I thought we were going to break into a jog.

‘You know, Ruby,’ I said, ‘I’m not sure if I can get you a pony.’

‘Why not?’ she asked without slowing down in the slightest.

‘I don’t think they’re just going to give me one.’

‘Your father is the king – right?

‘Yes but …’

‘And you are a prince?’

‘Well, yeah.’

‘So just ask for a pony. What is your problem?’

The stable master saw us coming and greeted me at the entrance. He was an old one. It had gotten to the point where I could spot one from a mile away. ‘I am Pilib,’ he said without bowing or even offering to shake my hand.

‘Hi, I’m Conor.’

‘I know,’ he said. ‘You have your grandmother’s eyes.’

‘Oh, did you know Macha?’

‘Of course, she held the Capall yew wand. She had the supremacy over horses. When she lived in Duir she was only ever truly happy when she was here.’

As he spoke Pilib’s eyes glossed over lost in the memory. I remembered Spideog telling me that my grandmother loved him and Dahy at the same time. I wondered if I should add the stable master to that list.

Ruby hit me in the shin with her stick. ‘Ask him.’

‘Ah … Master Pilib, I was wondering if I could have a pony.’

‘Certainly. Am I safe to assume that it is for this little lady?’

‘I’m not a lady, I’m a young girl.’

I looked down at Ruby, astonished. ‘You speak Ancient Gaelic?’

‘Grandma taught me some words.’

‘OK,’ I said turning back to Pilib. ‘Can we get this young girl a young-girl-sized pony?’

‘Right this way, Prince Conor.’

The stables were quite an operation here at Castle Duir. He led us past what must have been a hundred stalls and then outside to a paddock that contained four ponies.

‘Spirited or docile?’ Pilib asked.

I toyed with the idea of answering, ‘Super spirited.’ That would teach her a lesson for putting me through this but I had to remember that no matter how bossy she was – the kid was blind. ‘Docile please.’

Pilib placed his fingers in his mouth and emitted a series of whistles. The ponies looked up and then at each other as if saying, ‘Who, me?’ The smallest of the ponies slowly walked over to us. She was glossy black, just like Ruby’s sunglasses. I picked Ruby up and placed her feet on the bottom wooden rail of the corral so she could reach over. The stable master whistled again, this time quietly without the fingers in the mouth and then pointed to the young girl. The pony walked slowly up to Ruby as I guided her hand to the animal’s snout.

‘This is Feochadán,’ Pilib said.

I remembered a story my father used to tell me when I was young about a sheep that got covered with feochadán. As Ruby tentatively stroked her pony’s nose I said, ‘It means thistle.’

A huge smile crossed Ruby’s face. It was the first smile I had ever seen on that face and it changed her from a bossy tyrant to the young girl that she was. ‘Thistle, that’s a lovely name for a pony. Hello Thistle.’

That pony looked up and I could have sworn it recognised its new name. A stable hand showed up with a saddle.

‘Oh no, I’m not teaching her to ride.’

‘On the day a young girl receives her first pony,’ Pilib said, ‘surely she must ride it. I wouldn’t worry, Feochadán is very easy to ride. Shall I get Acorn for you, Your Highness?’

Acorn, I thought, I did so want to see Acorn and it was a beautiful spring day. Well, I could see no harm in having a quick wander around Castle Duir.

Ruby allowed herself to be hoisted onto Thistle without any of her usual I can do it myself fuss. Acorn was brought to me and even though he tried to hide it, I could tell he was pleased to see me. I mounted up and we left through the stable exit. True to Pilib’s word, Thistle was the calmest mount I had ever seen. Ruby showed no signs of being scared. She sat on her pony like she had been doing it all of her life.

Outside the castle walls the sun from a cloudless sky stopped the cool spring breeze from being too cold.

‘I would like to talk to a tree,’ Ruby said.

‘You want to talk to a tree?’

‘Yes, now. Father said I would have a big bedroom, a pony and I would get to talk to a tree. I’d like to talk to a tree now.’

‘Wouldn’t you like to just ride for a bit and save some of the other stuff for later?’

‘No.’

The best tree to have a conversation with is, of course, Mother Oak but Glen Duir is almost a day away at a hard ride. With Thistle it would probably take a month. Well, Duir doesn’t mean oak for nothing. Castle Duir was certainly surrounded by oaks – so I just started for the nearest treeline.

When I got to the edge of the oak forest I had some misgivings. These trees didn’t have the same welcoming feel that Mother Oak has – but then what tree does? I dismounted and walked up to a huge snarly barked oak and wrapped my arms around it. Instantly I knew I was in big trouble.

Chapter Four
The Oak

This was different from any tree I had ever communicated with. When I touched it I knew instantly that I wouldn’t be able to let go until it released me. The world disappeared. All of my senses were lost except for the touch of where I was held to the bark. This tree didn’t talk, it probed my mind. What it found it brought to the fore and what it found was stuff that I had buried for a reason.

I was in grade school and all of the kids were bullying Jimmy Murphy. Jimmy was overweight and crap at sports. I just stood there. I should have done something but I just stood there. I liked Jimmy but I just couldn’t be seen being his friend. Then the memory I had long tried to forget. He came to me for help and I pushed him over. Aw Jimmy, I’m so sorry.

Then my mind conjured up the image of a Banshee growing up with his family. I saw his entire life, right up to the moment when I stabbed him at the edge of the Reedlands. He was the first man I had ever killed. As my sword pierced his chest I could see everyone he had ever known and loved watching me with eyes filled with hate. I tried to protest, I tried to say that I didn’t mean to kill him. That he was trying to kill me. But the words wouldn’t come. My mind was not my own. I felt a pain rise in my chest.

That Banshee was replaced by another. This one I knew. This one I loved. I was lying on my sleeping roll the night before we snuck into Castle Duir. Don’t make me watch this, I tried to scream. I tried to pull away but my hands, like they were latched onto a high-voltage wire, wouldn’t let go. I remember that night. He came to talk to me but I was too tired and I sent him away, but as this memory progressed, instead of sending him away, I sat up and said, ‘What’s on your mind, cuz?’

He told me about his plans to kill Cialtie. I told him he was nuts and talked him out of it. After Cialtie was kicked out of Castle Duir – Fergal lived. We talked and drank. He met a lovely girl and I was his best man at the wedding. At the wedding reception he stood and tapped his wineglass with a spoon. He turned to me and said, ‘I’d like to propose a toast to the man who saved my life …’ The memories abruptly ran in reverse and then the scene in the camp played as it really happened. I fobbed Fergal off and then I watched as the next day Cialtie humiliated and killed him. Then I saw it again … and again … and again. The pain in my chest intensified. My head felt like it was going to explode. I watched again as the sword pierced his chest. I watched but this time the man who was wielding the sword – was me.

I screamed.

I was lost. Down so dark a well that I couldn’t see the top. The walls of the well weren’t made of stone or dirt, they were made of … me. I was lost deep in my own mind. Deeper even than after the shock of killing the Banshee at the edge of the Fililands. But it was safe down there. Up there was The Tree. The Tree that grew its roots into my memories and plucked out of them everything I had ever regretted and feared. I was safe down here. I had to shut down; I couldn’t let him into the brain cells that contained the faces of the scores of Banshees and Brownies I had killed during the battle of the Hall of Knowledge. I wouldn’t survive that. Protests, like I had no choice and We were at war, cut no mustard with the oak. I couldn’t let him in there – I was safe in my well. I wasn’t ever coming up. I was safe in my well I was never coming up. I was …

The walls of my well, the walls of my self, my refuge, started to shake. A far-off voice called my name but they would never find me. I was deep, deep in my …

The voice became louder but still it was tiny, tinny, miles away. I could never be harmed … would never let him …

The walls of my sub-subconscious shook more. The voice … I heard the voice. It was … it was … Ruby. I laughed. You’ll never find me down here, Ruby. I’m safe. Safe from the forest of trees … I’m safe. But then I heard her scream. It was that high-pitched piercing scream that she does. The one her father calls The Migraine Scream. I forced myself to think. Where are you, Ruby? It doesn’t matter I am here and I … I am safe. But where are you Ruby? You were with me. I took you riding. You are alone and blind in the Forest of Duir. But I’m safe here. But little Ruby you are not. I must … safe. Safe here. Safe. No. Save. Save her. I must save her.

I reached to the walls of the well. No. I forced myself to think. Not a well – the walls of my mind. I placed my back against a corner of my brain and I climbed. I climbed. I climbed to the sound of that scream. I still couldn’t see anything but the further I went, the closer the sound became. It got so loud it hurt.

I opened my eyes to see Ruby taking another big breath in preparation for another scream. I reached up to stop her but my arm was blocked by a white bed sheet. As she screamed again I freed my hand and caught her by the arm.

‘Ruby,’ I said.

She stopped, smiled and then started hopping around. ‘You see,’ she almost sang, ‘it worked. It worked. I told you it would work.’

I was very confused. I was indoors and in a clean bed. All around me people were rushing into the room. Presumably to see what all the screaming was about. I looked to my left and saw Dad chuckling.

‘Dad? What happened?’

‘I’ve been waiting three days to ask you that,’ he answered.

‘Why was Ruby screaming?’

‘I have no idea,’ he said. ‘She has been waiting by your side for most of the three days that you’ve been in this coma. Just a minute ago she said to me, “Can I try something?” I said yes and she started screaming.’

‘And it worked!’ Ruby said returning to my bed and bouncing her arms off the mattress. ‘Daddy always said my scream could wake the dead and it can. It can, it can. It can. I’m going to tell Daddy.’ And she was off.

‘Where am I?’

‘You’re in one of Fand’s healing rooms.’

‘How did I get here?’

Dad pulled up a chair. ‘That’s an interesting story. Three days ago, the sergeant at arms was shocked to find a seven-year-old blind girl screaming at the Great Gates of Duir. She told him that you were in trouble and he sent a detail out to investigate. They found you curled up on the ground at the edge of the oak perimeter. Ruby says you went out there to talk to a tree – but you’re not that stupid – are you?’

‘Well,’ I said, ‘Ruby wanted to talk to a tree. I, of course, would have liked to have introduced her to Mother Oak but she was too far away …’

‘So you just went out and wrapped your arms around any old oak?’ Dad was almost shouting. ‘What is wrong with you?’

‘What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with that tree? It was like it grew roots into my head.’

‘Didn’t anybody ever tell you about the Oaks of Duir?’

‘No. No one did and whose fault is that – do you think?’

That stopped Dad’s anger, ‘Oh, well, I guess I should have told you.’

‘You think?’

‘Yeah, sorry. ’

‘So what did that tree do to me?’

‘Oaks are dangerous trees, son. If you even brush past one it can snare you. We seem to have no defence against them. They can access our memories and then manipulate our emotions. That’s one of the things that makes Mother Oak so wonderful. She searches out the best in people and reminds you that you are a good person but not all oaks are so affirmative. In fact, almost none are. For the most part, oaks are nasty pieces of wood. I liked to think of them as the junkyard dogs of Castle Duir.’

‘Gosh, and I thought yews were the dangerous ones.’

‘Yews can snare you without touching them but yews aren’t nasty. Yews are the judges of The Land – oaks are the criminals.’

‘But yews can kill you, right?’ I asked.

‘True,’ said Dad, ‘but oaks can drive you mad. Speaking of which – are you OK?’

‘I think so, the worst part was …’

‘You don’t have to tell me. I assure you that whatever the oak stirred up in your mind is nowhere near as bad as he made it seem.’

‘Yeah, it was awful, all of the stuff that filled my head but the oak was right about one thing. I did let Fergal down.’

‘We all dropped the ball on that one, son. We should have seen it coming but never forget – the one who stuck the sword in Fergal was Cialtie.’

Fand entered and told us that there was a host of people wanting to visit with me. Dad picked up a vial from the bedside table.

‘Your mother told me to give you this as soon as you awoke and seemed OK.’

‘I’m fine Dad, I don’t need any medicine.’

‘So you want me to go back to your mother and say that you are defying her?’

I looked at him and frowned. ‘You wouldn’t do that – would you?’

‘Hey, this is your mother we’re talking about. You’re on your own here, pal.’

I took the vial of liquid. ‘OK, I’ll take it,’ I said, ‘but I would really like to …’ That’s the thing about medicines in Tir na Nog – you don’t have to wonder if they are working. There was no possible way I could have even finished that sentence and whatever I thought I wanted to do was instantly of no concern to me. I was back down in my well but this time it was only about six inches deep and lined with satin. Dad said I passed out with a huge smile on my face.

I woke to a question. ‘Are you nuts?’

‘No, I’m OK; the oak tree didn’t drive me mad,’ I said before I opened my eyes.

‘Oh, that’s a huge relief,’ the voice said with an uncaring tone that I didn’t like. I opened my eyes to see a very angry Brendan looming over me. I instantly sat up and backed into the headboard – he looked like he was going to hit me. ‘What were you thinking?’

‘I … I …’

‘Nora and I didn’t know where Ruby was and then you plop her on a horse and take her out to the most dangerous forest in The Land – where you abandon her – on a horse.’

Second most dangerous forest, and it was a pony, I said – to myself, because I knew if I said that to Brendan, there would have been some police brutality.

‘You’re right, I’m sorry,’ I said, ‘I wasn’t thinking.’

‘You’re damn right you weren’t thinking. She could have been killed, or driven insane. What possessed you to do it?’

‘Ruby showed up in my room and said that you promised her a pony but were being slow about it.’

‘So you just went and got her a pony?’

‘Well,’ I shrugged, ‘she’s kinda hard to say no to.’

Brendan relaxed and sat down. ‘Yeah, I can’t argue with that, but you’ve got to remember that even though she acts like she’s forty-two she’s only twelve.’