by John Lenahan
I ran outside and around the Lodge until I found where that shaft let out. There was a half-ruined stone outbuilding that probably had been some sort of cooking place or maybe a laundry. In the dirt I found the imprint of a very Worldly sneaker print. She had definitely been there. I rubbed out her footprint and looked into the holly forest beyond.
A Banshee saw me climbing from the outbuilding. ‘Found anything?’
‘No,’ I replied. ‘Have you searched the holly forest yet?’
‘Twice,’ he said. ‘She’s not out there.’
‘Maybe she climbed a tree.’
‘Not those trees, mate. Anytime you get near them they scratch the hell out of you.’
To prove his words he held out his arm. It was covered with deep scratches. He continued around the castle searching in a way a person does when he knows there’s no point but has to keep going because his superior officer ordered him to.
I looked at the holly forest before me. You gotta be out there somewhere, my little gem. The hollies here weren’t like trees, they were more like gigantic bushes. Most were about two storeys high; palm-sized leaves covered them from top to bottom and those leaves were hard and spiked on all sides. There was no way to get to the trunk of these trees without some serious hacking, or permission. I walked up to the nearest plant. I had never spoken to a holly before. I tentatively reached towards it. My last experience with talking to a strange oak made me think twice before bounding up and hugging a tree. I pinched a leaf between my index finger and thumb and gave it a dainty shake like the kind you’d get from a germ-phobic posh lady.
‘Hello there, Mr Holly,’ I said as politely as I could. I braced myself for an attack but could only hear, no not hear, feel – I could feel a tiny voice, but it was just out of reach like I was trying to listen to a conversation through a hotel wall. I got the impression that if I were able to reach through the leaves and touch some wood that I might be able to converse with this plant. I remembered the welted-up scratches on the soldier’s arm but if these trees could help me find Ruby that would be a small price. I scrunched up my eyes and pushed my hand past the wall of leaves and felt around for a branch. The moment I touched it the leaves closed around my arm and spiked leaves penetrated my skin. The pain was excruciating but I was prepared for it and didn’t try to pull away. It was the pulling away that had scratched that soldier up so much. Mr Holly’s voice was strong in my mind now and the first thing I realised was that it was Ms Holly.
‘Who be you?’ she asked as I grimaced in pain.
The question led me to surmise that hollies couldn’t just reach into my head and take out any information like some of the other trees in The Land. I didn’t answer. I wanted to keep my identity a secret. I had no idea if Hollies gossiped or not.
She was in my brain enough to ask, ‘You are Faerie?’
‘Yes ma’am.’
‘I want you to tell me,’ she demanded.
‘I am Faerie,’ I said. ‘I’m looking for a young girl.’
‘What do you want with this child?’
‘I want to help her, she’s lost.’
‘Others today have said this to us but in their blood they harboured malice.’
I looked down at my wrist, beads of blood oozed out of a ring of tiny pinpricks caused by the sharp leaves.
‘You can read blood?’
‘Your blood (actually it felt more like she said sap) reveals to us the truth in what you say.’
‘Then know this, ma’am,’ I said. ‘This young girl is lost and alone. She has been mistreated by these people. I’m here to take her home to her family. Do you know where she is?’
The tree didn’t speak for a while. I got a faint impression that she was talking to someone else.
‘The girl is with us. She is very afraid and says she can no longer see.’
‘Will you lead me to her?’
She released my wrist but I remained in contact with the branch. ‘Walk north touching my sisters. We will lead you to her.’
At did as I was told. While trying to look casual, I touched the leaves of every holly I passed. In my head I received instant messages that subtly changed my direction until I found a large tree that somehow I knew she was under. I looked around; I could hear distant shouting but no one was about.
I pinched a leaf between my fingers and asked, ‘Is the girl here?’
The tree replied by saying, ‘Give me your blood.’
I tried to reach through the wall of leaves like I did before but the tree instructed me just to prick my thumb on one of the leaf’s spines.
As soon as I did the tree asked, ‘Do you mean to harm this child?’
My heart began to race in my chest. I had found her. ‘No ma’am,’ I said. ‘I’ve come to rescue her.’
‘How do you propose to do that? The child cannot travel: she is hurt and exhausted.’
‘I have an amulet that will return us home to her father and grandmother.’
I felt the tree believe me and then heard the creaking sound of living wood moving. A gap opened in the dome of leaves that covered the holly from top to bottom and I entered. I thought she wasn’t there at first. I looked all around the base of the trunk and didn’t find her. Then I looked up. She was about six feet above me, asleep, cradled in a basket of branches provided by the holly.
I felt tears come to my eyes. I placed my hand on the trunk and said, ‘Thank you.’
It was tight in there but the holly pushed apart branches as I climbed. She was still asleep when I reached her. She was pale, dirty and her hair was a tangled mess but still I thought she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I gently pushed her hair away from her face. She opened her eyes and – screamed. She screamed one of those world famous Ruby migraine-inducing screams. I placed my hand across her mouth; I don’t know how but the sound was still amazingly loud.
‘Shhhhh, Ruby, it’s me,’ I shout-whispered.
She couldn’t hear me over the internal sound she was making with her scream so she bit me. I quickly pulled my palm back and fell backwards about five feet and got stuck upside-down in the branches. Ruby then started banging on my ankle with something really hard.
‘Ruby,’ I shouted, not caring who heard me; every living creature within a twenty-five-mile radius must have heard that scream. ‘Ruby, damn it, stop. It’s me, Conor.’
‘Conor, Conor O’Neil?’
‘Yes, now shut up.’
The holly tried to help me untangle myself but only succeeded in dropping me another five feet onto my head. Ruby climbed down. When I took her in my arms she broke down into uncontrollable quaking sobs.
‘Shhhh, it’s all right,’ I said, but it wasn’t.
Outside the tree I heard soldiers shouting, ‘In there. That one.’
‘There are men surrounding me,’ the holly pulsed into my brain.
I reached to my neck for the rothlú charm and then panicked when it wasn’t there. I then remembered I had taken it off inside the Lodge. I frantically searched for the pocket I knew was somewhere in this borrowed set of clothes.
Outside I heard a voice say. ‘Hack it down.’
The tree’s voice in my head barked, ‘Quickly, Faerie.’
I found the amulet at the same time as I saw a sword slice through the holly’s wall of leaves. At the same time I felt the tree’s pain and terror.
I didn’t have time to thank or apologise to the tree. I only had time to say, ‘This is gonna hurt, Ruby,’ and then I said, ‘Rothlú.’
I can’t tell you how disappointed I was when I felt wet grass pressing against the side of my face. I really thought I was going to wake up between clean sheets in my nice warm bed in Castle Duir. Instead, I was once again face down in a field somewhere. This had been my third rothlú spell (or was it four? I didn’t even know any more) in two days. Brains were not meant to be scrambled on a regular basis. I tried to think where I was and how I got there. It was definitely a rothlú so it must be important, but a
t that moment I couldn’t think and all I wanted to do was go back to sleep in the dirt or if that wasn’t possible, then die. At least I wouldn’t hurt any more.
Then a scream brought me back to the present. At the sound of Ruby’s screech my brain cells finally organised themselves enough so I remembered what I was doing. I was saving Ruby. The hairy hermit told me that the rothlú would get me home but it obviously hadn’t – I was face down in grass and Ruby was once again in trouble. Forcing myself to ignore the all-over body pain, I jumped to my feet. Ruby stopped screaming and began jumping. She wrapped her arms around my legs.
I pushed her back. ‘What’s wrong? Are you all right? Where are we?’
Ruby continued to jump. ‘You’re awake!’
I placed my hands on her shoulder, and tried to make her hold still. It didn’t work and it hurt. I felt like I had just been worked over in an alley by a loan shark.
‘Ruby, why are you screaming?’
She looked at me like I’d just asked a stupid question. ‘You wouldn’t wake up so I did one of my waking the dead screams. And it worked.’
‘So you’re OK?’
‘Yes, yes,’ she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me.
I took a few steps and then had to stop. I turned away and thought I was going to be sick. She grabbed my hand again.
‘Come on, come on, you have to meet someone. She is sooooooo nice.’
I quickly straightened up and finally had a look around. I let Ruby lead me to her new friend as a smile crossed my face. I reached out and placed my hands on that venerable old bark and said, ‘Hello, Mother Oak.’
Chapter Sixteen
The Worry Stone
The moment I touched her I received that blessed loving calm that comes every time I’m with Mother Oak, and through her I could also feel the joy and unconditional love coming from Ruby, who was touching the oak’s trunk as well. But the calm didn’t last. I was surprised and then scared by what I could only describe as panic rising up in Mother Oak. I tried to pull my hand away but was frozen to the spot just like when I was attacked by the oak outside of Castle Duir. I groaned and dropped to my knees as the tree’s will probed my mind for information.
‘Why are you being so mean to him?’ I heard Ruby yell and it stopped.
I fell backwards hard on my butt and caught my breath. Ruby continued to talk to her and I listened to that one side of the conversation.
‘Yes … I guess so … Promise … OK.’
Ruby walked over to me and said, ‘She said she was surprised and did a bad thing. She wants to talk to you and promises to be nice.’
I didn’t get up right away. I really had been sucker punched by the old woman. An attack from Mother Oak was the last thing I expected and after rothlú-ing around for a couple of days, I just wanted to curl up and drool for a while. But this was Mother Oak. I had to at least find out what made her act that way. I didn’t even stand, I just scooted backwards and sat against her trunk and tentatively placed my hands on her bark.
Back was the old Mother Oak. ‘Oh my, I am so sorry Conor. I try never to intrude on anyone’s private thoughts but I saw something at the fore of your mind and it scared me so I just had to learn more. I am afraid I forgot myself. Please forgive me.’
She really was terribly sorry. There was no hiding emotion when you are talking to the Grand Lady of Glen Duir. Of course she was forgiven and I stood, hugged her once and then climbed a little, allowing her to build a place for me to sit in her branches.
As I settled in, I also felt through Mother Oak the emotional presence of Ruby. ‘Is everything all right?’
‘Yes dear,’ the tree reassured.
‘I’m fine, Ruby,’ I said. ‘It was just a misunderstanding.’
‘I was wondering, my child, if I may have a chat with Conor on my own for a moment.’
‘Oh, like grown-up stuff.’
I felt Mother Oak smile. ‘Yes. One thing I certainly am is grown-up.’
‘OK,’ Ruby said and then she was out of my head.
‘Again I am sorry for my rudeness before, but I saw in your mind that Maeve is alive. Can this truly be so? The child spoke of horrible things that Banshees did to her and she spoke of ghosts.’
‘All true, I’m afraid. Cialtie has somehow brought Maeve and her Fili army back.’
‘Oh, my, my. I had hoped that the past would stay past. I do not know if I can sprout through another season if such turmoil again grows in The Land.’
The old oak creaked and I could almost feel the weight of her boughs pressing down on my shoulders.
‘Don’t worry ma’am. My mom and dad will figure out something,’ I said, hoping it was true. ‘I have to go now and warn everyone.’
‘Yes, yes of course, Conor,’ the tree said as if I roused her from deep thought. ‘And you must get that dear girl back to her father and grandmother. Ask her to come back to me.’
‘Hey Ruby,’ I shouted. ‘Mother Oak wants to speak to you and then we have to go.’
I climbed down and was going to leave them alone but the tree asked me to stay. Ruby wrapped her arms around the trunk. The two of them didn’t speak for a while – they just felt. Love flowed between them like a two-way street.
‘You have been through so much my little sprout. But you are with Conor now and he will take good care of you. Can I tell you a secret?’
Ruby nodded her head. ‘Yes.’
‘Conor is the finest young man I have ever met.’
‘Really?’ I said.
‘Shush, I was speaking to Ruby. Goodbye you two. Take care of each other. I’m afraid there are going to be dark times ahead. Just remember that I have been in this glen for oh so very a long time and the one thing I know is – after winter there has always been spring.’
I had never walked back to the castle from Glen Duir but I knew it was going to take more than a day. ‘You up for a long hike?’
Ruby took my hand and said, ‘Sure.’
Mother Oak had given her a stick that she had trimmed and she set off sweeping it before her.
‘Don’t you feel bad after that rothlú spell that brought us here?’
‘My tummy was a little funny when I first got here but I’m OK now.’
‘Well, I feel like crap.’
‘You said a dirty word.’
‘Sorry.’
‘I won’t tell.’
‘Thanks.’
We trudged along for the rest of the day. Ruby hummed some song, most of the time while I grunted along. The sun got lower and Ruby started to get tired. There was no point in stopping. We had no food and no way to make a fire so I gave her a piggyback. She quickly fell asleep. It’s amazing how rapidly the young girl on my back began to feel like a proverbial eight-hundred-pound gorilla. As the sun was setting I had to quit.
‘I’m cold.’
I gave her my Brownie cloak. ‘I’m afraid I don’t have a fire coin, Ruby.’
‘That’s OK,’ she said. ‘Go ask a tree for two sticks.’
‘Why?’
‘To rub together.’
‘Oh,’ I laughed. ‘I’m afraid rubbing sticks together will only get us splinters. I have to rest, Ruby. Just for an hour.’
I lay down and she snuggled up on my chest.
‘Will that Lugh man find us here?’
I don’t even remember if I stayed awake long enough to answer. The next thing I do remember, Ruby was prying open one of my eyelids and frantically whispering, ‘Wake up. Someone’s coming.’
The two of us ran out of the clearing and hid behind some oaks, making sure not to touch them. It was a small party of riders. In front, one of the riders hung over his saddle with his head down. In his hand he was dangling a vial that glowed with a yellow light. He was a scout and was obviously following our trail. I thought about climbing the tree in front of us but I was too afraid of getting comatised like the last time I talked to a strange oak. Running was no good either. The forest wasn’t thick enough to slow down a r
ider. I had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. I drew the Lawnmower and waited. I still could only make out their silhouettes. The scout spotted where we had bedded down, and then looked directly to the tree we were hiding behind.
I stepped out and said, ‘Who goes there?’
The scout dismounted and pushed back his hood. Hair cascaded over the scout’s shoulders like a cheesy shampoo commercial. It was only when she placed the light next to her face that everything instantly became all right again in The Land.
‘Conor,’ she yipped. She ran and crashed into me, giving me a bone-crunching hug.
‘Hi, Essa. Miss me?’
A fire was built and food was brought. Essa sent a message back to Castle Duir that we had been found and Tuan was flying in to pick us up air-ambulance style.
Ruby started jabbering on about her abduction like it was some sort of fun adventure. I’m sure that if I had experienced a similar trauma at her age I would have become a curled-up snivelling wreck, but Ruby was obviously made of sterner stuff.
As she was recounting her story I remembered something. A Banshee had said she had killed two guards.
‘Ruby, how did you escape? Weren’t you being guarded?’
Ruby crinkled up her nose at the thought of it. ‘The guards were mean. One of them saw me rubbing my worry stone and he told me to give it to him. I said no because Grandma had given it to me, so he grabbed it. Then I was alone. I just crawled along the wall until I found that way out.’
