Shadowmagic - Sons of Macha

by John Lenahan

  My answers were unintelligible with my mouth full. Dad, instead of trying to fight me, walked to the door and ordered me a meal.

  ‘Now could we talk a bit before dinner arrives?’

  I slowed down on the fruit and said, ‘Yeah, sorry. I’m fine and yes we have six big bags of broken marble.’

  ‘Good. The first thing we have to do is make sure it works. You’ll need to find a volunteer willing to insta-age who won’t turn to dust.’

  ‘Forget Essa, people in the Real World thought she was my grandmother.’

  ‘I imagine she didn’t like that.’

  ‘It doesn’t take much imagination.’

  ‘I’m putting you in charge of charting and laying the marble,’ Dad said.

  ‘Charting?’

  ‘Of course.’ Dad walked over to a table that had a map of the castle and its grounds. There were grids on all of the approaching slopes. ‘Record and number every piece of marble and log its placement.’

  ‘Why? Why don’t we just sprinkle the stuff around? It’ll take ten minutes.’

  ‘Conor, these aren’t just rocks, they’re land mines. When this war is over we have to find every one and lock them away. In three hundred years, when you are Lord of Duir, you don’t want to step on one of these things while you’re walking the dog.’

  ‘When I’m Lord of Duir I’m gonna get somebody else to walk my dog.’

  Dad gave me his ‘this is serious time, not joke time’ look.

  ‘OK, OK, I see your point. I’ll start in the morning, unless it is morning. What time is it anyway?’

  My dinner arrived and Dad sat with me while I filled him in on my adventures in Ireland.

  ‘It’s a lovely place, isn’t it?’ he said.

  ‘Yeah, I wish I could have relaxed more,’ I said. ‘As usual I was too busy trying to stay out of jail. You know what else? I missed trees.’

  ‘The older guys in The Land talk about going to Ireland in their youth and it being nothing but trees.’

  ‘What happened to them all?’

  ‘Modern man and their houses and their war ships. What is one tree when you have so many? When everyone thinks like that – well, then in time the land becomes as bald as an old admiral’s head.’ Dad thought for a while. Finally he said, ‘It is the fate of Tir na Nog if Maeve is allowed to succeed.’

  I finished my meal and could hardly keep my eyes open.

  ‘Three more things, son.’

  I did my best impression of a bored adolescent.

  ‘There’s a council meeting an hour after dawn tomorrow – be there.’

  ‘OK,’ I said with a moan.

  ‘Secondly, you must take your Choosing.’

  ‘Fine.’

  ‘Seriously, there is a war coming. If something happens to me …’

  ‘I said fine. Dad, I hate it when you talk like this.’

  ‘I don’t care what you hate. I’m a king and you are a prince. If I die without you holding a Duir Rune then Cialtie has a “legitimate” claim to the Oak Throne.’

  ‘OK, after I get a couple of hours’ sleep, I’ll go to your crack-of-dawn meeting, then I’ll mine the castle – and then I’ll take my Choosing.’

  ‘It’s not that easy – you must prepare.’

  ‘All right, all right,’ I said stumbling to my feet. ‘I’ll do anything you want. Just let me go to bed.’

  Dad smiled and kissed me on the forehead. ‘Goodnight, my son.’

  As I got to the door I made the mistake of saying, ‘You said “three things”?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Dad sighed. ‘You gotta tell your mermaid girlfriend that she can’t just barge into my office any time she wants.’

  ‘Firstly, she’s not my girlfriend.’

  Dad gave me a ‘you’re kidding me right?’ look.

  ‘OK, well she’s … OK, I don’t know what she is. But what do you mean “barge” into your office?’

  ‘Every day, sometimes twice a day, she barges in and asks if there is any news about you. It’s exasperating.’

  I started laughing. ‘Didn’t you point out that you are, like – the king?’

  ‘I did – several times. She doesn’t take a hint. Even when the hint is “Don’t come in here again.” She says, “Even a king must be worried about his son.”’

  ‘Don’t you have guards?’

  ‘Yes! She gets past them too. She’s amazing and annoying. Maybe I should stick her on my brother. She’d probably drive him so crazy he’d hang himself. Please tell her to stop.’

  ‘I’ll try.’

  ‘There is no try, only do or not do,’ Dad said joining his laughter with mine. ‘Do … please.’

  I was so tired I don’t even remember walking back to my room. I think I actually started dreaming as I walked. When I first came to The Land, my dreams were so clear. I had never dreamt in the Real World, so when I awoke I actually had premonitions of what was to come but now as I got used to dreaming my dreams were getting like everyone else’s. Just the crazy jumbled up fast-forward video of recent events. I dreamt of Ireland and The Grove of Druid. I dreamt of stealing hats from rich Americans, of dining with Maeve and tasering FBI men, but my favourite image was the one right before I woke up. Graysea talking so much that Cialtie was holding his head and screaming.

  Graysea was waiting outside my door when I got up. She did the usual smother-with-kisses greeting and then came with me to breakfast. I filled her in on all of my exploits in the Real World. I left out any mention of Maeve; I still didn’t have enough strength for that.

  I excused myself but Graysea continued to follow me.

  ‘I’m going to a high council meeting, Graysea, I don’t think you can come.’

  ‘Don’t be silly. Your father loves me.’

  ‘Well … be that as it may. This is a war council and I don’t think you should be there.’

  ‘If this is about a war then I’m more needed than ever.’

  I reminded myself to apologise for laughing at Dad. This mermaid was not for turning.

  I was late as usual. Dahy was talking about wall fortifications. I had obviously missed something as everybody gave me that look again. Everyone was there. Mom, Dad, Dahy, Nieve, Brendan, Gerard, Araf, Tuan, Fand, and even Lorcan the Leprechaun had been dragged out of his mine and made to don a general’s cap again.

  Essa was back to her beautiful young-looking self. I mouthed, ‘You look great’, but she only dagger-stared at Graysea. Dad took one look at Graysea and then at me. I shrugged, which said, I couldn’t stop her. He nodded, which said, I told you so.

  The big shock was the thin guy sitting next to Dad. His hair and face looked newly cut and shaved and he wore clothes a bit too big for him. He caught me looking at him and wiggled a few fingers at me for a wave.

  ‘Hermy?’ I said. ‘I mean Eth?’

  Dahy, who hates being interrupted, said, ‘If you had been here at the beginning of this meeting, Prince Conor, then you would have been party to introductions.’

  Dad came to my rescue. ‘I had the prince up late last night; his tardiness is partly my fault. Yes, Conor, while you were away Tuan graciously offered me a lift to Thunder Bay. I reunited with my old friend Eth and he agreed to return with me.’

  Eth looked as though he was going to speak. We waited and when he didn’t Dahy continued with his assessment of arrow resupply on the parapets. Dahy was mid-sentence when Eth finally spoke. ‘This is an exciting time for me.’

  Eth sounded anything but excited. He spoke without emotion – or much volume. I’m pretty sure most people in the room didn’t even hear what he said.

  ‘It is good to be among people again. Overwhelming … but good … I think.’

  Everyone leaned in and strained to hear what the hermit had to say.

  ‘For the first time since the Race of the Twins of Macha, I have no idea what is in store for all of us.’

  We all waited, not knowing if this was just another pregnant pause or if he was done.

 
Finally I asked, ‘Your mother said nothing about this upcoming war?’

  ‘There are only two prophecies left.’

  We all waited. I was just about to say, ‘And they are?’ when Fand piped up.

  ‘Eth is correct. I have studied the book of Ona’s prophecies that Macha stole when she kidnapped Ruby. Every event has come to pass except two. One we know. It reads: “The elder son will die at the hand of the Lord of Duir.” Cialtie has told Conor that this is the reason he wants the Oak Throne. If he is the king then there will be no king to kill him.’

  Everyone looked to Dad, who betrayed no emotion.

  ‘The other foresight seems to be about the upcoming war. It says: “Trees are the salvation of the Faeries.” Fand looked to Eth. ‘Are they the two prophecies of which you speak?’

  ‘Essentially, yes.’

  ‘Do you know what the latter means? Which trees and how can they help us?’

  Eth opened his mouth but it took ages for anything to come out. ‘As I am sure you are aware, my mother’s pronouncements are all too often only transparent after the event. I do not know what that means. But when these two events come to pass then the era of my mother’s visions will be at an end. Then maybe all of our lives will be our own again.’

  Dad placed his hand on his old friend’s shoulder. Eth looked close to tears. Cialtie’s life wasn’t the only one that had been ruined by Ona. I wonder if in her visions she saw what a curse her gift was to be for her son.

  Dahy went back to droning on about armoury supplies. I was just wondering how I could position my head so as to nod off without anybody noticing when Graysea interrupted: ‘There is going to be a war?’

  Everyone silently moaned but only Essa had the courage to say what we all thought, ‘That is what we have been speaking about for the last hour.’ She uncharacteristically didn’t add, ‘You stupid trout.’

  We all waited for Graysea to slink down in her seat, but the Mertain girl was not the slinking kind. ‘If we are going to be at war, then why are we talking about weapons when the first thing we should be doing is preparing the infirmary. This castle is woefully unprepared for a rash of casualties. Many more Fili- and Imp-healers must be recruited now, and as for supplies … I don’t even know where to begin.’

  Dad looked at Mom and then to Fand, they both nodded. I smiled at Dad.

  ‘Thank you, Graysea,’ Dad said, ‘for pointing out our inadequacies. Would you care to assume supervision of the infirmary?’

  ‘Yes, my lord. I will draw up an inventory and report to you as soon as it’s done.’

  ‘I’m sure there is someone else you can report to.’

  ‘No,’ she chirped, ‘I like reporting to you.’

  Dahy stood to resume his droning on but Dad mercifully stopped him. ‘Master Dahy, I’m sure we can do the rest without everyone here. You all have a thousand things to do. Dismissed.’

  Outside the room I was about to tell Graysea that I had to get to work when she said, ‘I’d love to chat, Conor, but I’m too busy to just hang about.’

  Looks like Dad found the answer to the Graysea problem. Just keep her busy.

  I called Dahy’s platoon together and asked all the soldiers younger than twenty-five to help me. We took over the Hall of Spells and laid out all of the pieces of marble. One soldier, who had been overeager to help, had lied about his age. He touched a piece of marble and instantly became a wrinkled old man. It was a stupid thing for him to do but at least no one got hurt and it saved me from having to find a volunteer to see if the marble worked. I sent him to Graysea’s infirmary where I had heard she already had a supply of dragon blood on ice. I’m sure Tuan appreciated not being stuck with a needle every time somebody needed a face lift.

  I got a bunch of paper from Nieve. Paper, being made from trees, is a rare commodity in The Land. We laid out all of the pieces of marble on the paper and then drew outlines of them with charcoal. Then we numbered the pieces and their outlines. When this was over I wanted every one of those rocks back. I got Ruby to help. She was great at outlining – she said it was like being back in school. I met Dad later that evening and showed him what I had done. He said I should write down instructions on the last piece of paper.

  When I asked why, he said, ‘In case we’re not around later to tell anybody what this is.’ That was sobering.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Master Eirnin

  There wasn’t enough marble to lay land mines around the perimeter of the entire castle so we decided to lay most of the marble in the North Glen. This was the same place that Maeve had assembled her army during the last Fili war. It was there she cast the Shadowmagic spell that went wrong and vanquished her and her army. Mom and her sorceress pals had a feeling Maeve would try to repeat the same spell – this time getting it right. Dad didn’t want to give her a chance to do it from the same place.

  What was left of the marble we decided to use to mine both sides of the road up to the main gate and the stable entrance. They were the weakest parts of the outer wall. This would force an aggressor to attack the main gate almost in single file. As far as the south and west battlements – well, they were up to us.

  The next morning Dad called a general assembly in the courtyard to warn everyone to stay out of the glen and not stray from the main road up to the castle. My team and I spent the entire day pushing marble pieces into the ground and lightly covering them with grass cuttings. It would have only taken a couple of hours but we had to carefully log where every piece was placed for later mine removal. Finally, Dahy posted soldiers to warn anyone that this was a bad place to take a stroll with your grandmother.

  I wasn’t the only busy one around. Daily groups of Imps, Faeries and Pookas arrived at the castle to swell the ranks of the army, help build fortifications, smith swords and axes, make arrows and bows, cook food in makeshift kitchens, and prepare the infirmary. Essa and Dahy were drilling the soldiers and when they weren’t, they were neck deep in the logistics of preparing for a siege. Nieve, Mom and Fand were like the three witches in Macbeth; they spent most of their time working on magical defences in their Shadowmagic laboratory, a lab that really did have a bubbling cauldron in the corner.

  Everybody was pulling double duty. Lorcan was preparing the new recruits by night and spending the days inspecting the outer walls. He was worried that the mortar in the east wall, the one that had been rebuilt after the Battle of the Twins of Macha, hadn’t had long enough to set. The three witches made up some sort of Shadowmagic goo that Lorcan’s workmen and women were using to repoint the stonework.

  Brendan took archery practice. Without any formal announcement Detective Fallon took Spideog’s place and became the Duir Master-at-Arms. When he wasn’t eating, sleeping or quality-timing with Ruby, he was in the armoury.

  Araf tutored the soldiers in hand-to-hand combat. We all hoped it wouldn’t come to that. At night he skirted around the castle and uprooted all the flowers that he had planted and repotted them safe in a greenhouse inside the east wall.

  Graysea was really in her element. I don’t think anyone had ever thought her smart enough to put her in a position of authority – what a mistake that was. She shouldered her new responsibility with the tenacity of a shark. She enlisted healers, knocked down walls and had a team of weavers working day and night making bandages. She turned the little room of healing into a full-blown hospital that included a salt-water swimming pool in the corner. Any time I stopped by to have a quick word she always told me she was too busy to talk. She looked awfully flustered but happy.

  Pooka hawks came back with twice daily reports of Brownie and Banshee armies mustering for a march. No one other than me had seen Maeve and her Fili army. At one meeting Lorcan asked if I was sure I saw her but Mom had only to show her blood-blackened rune and all doubts were put to rest.

  Dad wanted me to start preparing for The Choosing but since I was the only person who could walk among the yew without being judged or forced to eat poison berries, I
was drafted to enter the Yewlands to ask the oldest of the trees if they knew what Ona meant when she said, ‘Trees are the salvation of the Faeries.’ Nora volunteered herself to join me.

  ‘You wanna get judged again?’ I joked.

  ‘Oh, I have no intention of chatting with a yew ever again,’ Nora said. ‘It’s just I have been cooped up in this castle worrying about my granddaughter … I’ve got this young body – I need to ride. I need to stretch my legs.’

  Since we didn’t need to get to the yews at any specific time we decided that we would try to get there in a day. We left before dawn. (That was my idea, would you believe?) I don’t know if it was Nora’s new body or that she was unburdened from the worry of her granddaughter’s safety, but Nora was lightning in the saddle. I remembered thinking last time that she was a pretty good equestrian – this trip she was on fire. Her horse Blackberry seemed to obey her every whim and kept Acorn galloping a lot faster and longer than he or I liked. The sun was still pretty high in the sky when we got to the River Lugar boathouse.

  I had left the royal barge in the Yewlands. I thought we were going to have to row but then found a small boat with a gold rudder. This time I had bothered to learn the incantation and we sailed towards the Yewlands oar-free.

  Nora took a seat in the back of the skiff and laid her head back, closed her eyes and held her face to the sun.

  ‘Is this the tonic you were looking for?’

  She didn’t open her eyes but smiled as a breeze took her hair. ‘It’s nice to be out of that castle.’

  ‘Aw come on, it’s a nice castle.’

  ‘That it is, Prince Conor. No offence to your little house, it’s me that needed out. I now see why you young people are moving all the time. Your bodies (and now mine) just don’t know how to sit still.’

  ‘So you’re not a fan of your new young frame?’

  Nora laughed – a good laugh, not like the stilted things she uttered when her granddaughter was in peril. ‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that, Conor. I wouldn’t say that.’

  We travelled in silence. As Nora sunned herself, I worked on my new yew staff. I carefully carved a notch all around the diameter about three quarters of the way up and then around that tied a leather loop. My thinking was that if I ever needed to lighten the staff so much as to lift me in the air, I could secure my grip with the strap. I had visions of me being thirty feet in the air and then accidentally letting go of the stick. I knew that would hurt without ever needing to experience it. I was tempted to give my new adaptation a try but decided I’d probably just end up in the water.