Prince of Hazel and Oak (Shadowmagic Book 2)

by John Lenahan

  The closer we got to the summit the bolder the wolves got. They moved in closer and no longer attempted to conceal themselves among the few remaining trees. These guys were big – Great-Dane sized – but they looked thin and just a little bit mangy. If you caught their eye it gave you a feeling that they were unpredictable – capable of anything.

  Our mounts definitely didn’t like them. Horses, I have learned, are travelling machines. They focus on the minutiae of the terrain ahead and because of that almost never put a foot wrong. What they don’t do well is worry about what is behind them. It pulls their focus. Acorn periodically tried to look behind and every time he did I looked as well. A couple of times I almost fell off.

  An explosion of gold light erupted behind me that nearly made me jump out of my skin. The wolves yelped and I saw one dart into the forest with his fur shooting straight out in all directions. Brendan notched an arrow.

  ‘Put away your bow, archer. They are Pookas.’

  ‘What did you do?’ I asked my aunt.

  ‘I didn’t harm anyone but they were getting a bit too close for my horse’s liking. Now they have a better idea of who they are dealing with.’

  The wolves gave us a wider berth but it didn’t last. They slipped in closer, zigzagging behind us, sometimes so close that our horses tried to kick them. Not the kind of thing you want your mount to do unexpectedly.

  Essa pointed to a rock formation not too far off to the left. ‘That is where I was greeted by Queen Rhiannon the last time I was here.’

  Nieve blasted the Pineland wolves again. Any sane creatures would have scampered away with their tails between their legs but I wasn’t too sure that these creatures were sane.

  Now that we were closer to the rock wall I still couldn’t decide if it was Pooka-made or natural. The wall looked like it could have been a long fault line that had collapsed in an earthquake. In the middle was an archway. Our plan of riding through the opening and fending off the wolves there was dashed when we saw that thick pine branches blocked the entrance from the other side.

  ‘Nieve,’ Essa shouted from horseback, ‘can you move those trees?’

  ‘That depends on the trees,’ Nieve shouted back. ‘I may need your help.’

  ‘Everyone,’ Essa shouted, trying to sound like a seasoned commander but there was a slight quiver in her voice that betrayed a fear that I think we all shared. ‘Dismount quickly and protect the horses while Nieve and I clear the gateway.’

  Turlow moved first, he performed a very impressive dismount while in full canter. In midair, even before his feet hit the ground, his Banshee blade rocketed out of his sleeve. It surprised the lead pack wolf to the point that he stumbled as he slowed. Acorn was barely walking when I dismounted, still I almost fell over. We fanned out and put our nervous snorting horses behind us. The wolves fanned too and paced sideways snarling – looking for a weakness in our defences. I couldn’t help thinking that they were looking at me more than the others.

  ‘Tell me again why I can’t shoot one of them?’ Brendan shouted.

  ‘Because they are Hawathiee,’ Araf said.

  Now there was a word I hadn’t heard before. ‘Hawa what?’ I asked, never taking my eyes off my junkyard dog.

  ‘We are all Hawathiee: Faeries, Imps, Leprechauns, Fili, Elves, Brownies and Pooka. We are children of the trees. We do not kill each other.’

  ‘You know I’ve read some of your history,’ I said, ‘and that’s not exactly true.’

  ‘Well,’ Araf replied a bit sheepishly, ‘we are not supposed to kill each other.’

  ‘Notice he didn’t mention Banshees in his little list,’ Turlow said.

  One of the wolves made a faint attack at Araf which it instantly abandoned. The rest of the pack quickly ran sideways and swopped positions.

  ‘I do not think that now is the time to debate that, Turlow,’ Araf said.

  Turlow’s reply was almost too soft to hear. ‘That’s what they always say.’

  I really didn’t like the look of the slobber that was drooling off the lips of one of the wolves in front of me. He had a look of desperation about him and his patience was growing thin.

  ‘How’s the tree pruning going back there, girls?’ I shouted without turning around.

  ‘The trees are alive but they will not speak to us,’ Nieve called back. ‘I do not wish to hurt them.’

  ‘Well, something or someone is going to get hurt real soon,’ Brendan said, ‘and I would prefer it not to be me.’

  Turlow broke the calm. With a well and proper Banshee scream, he lashed out at the two beasts that were facing him. They initially stood the charge with bared fangs but as he grew closer and louder they scampered away like poodles being reprimanded by a maid with a broom.

  When I looked back to the wolves that were dogging me, I was surprised to see that they had crept in to almost a lunge-length away. I swung the Lawnmower and let loose a scream that sounded weedy compared to Turlow’s. The wolves backed off and then, as one, they all turned and ran away.

  I smiled at Araf. ‘Well, I guess I showed them who’s boss.’

  Araf didn’t look at me. He seemed to look above me. ‘I can only guess at what boss means,’ he said, ‘but I am guessing that the boss is not you.’

  I turned. That’s when I saw the bears.

  Chapter Twenty

  Tuan

  There were two of them. Kodiak-looking fellows about twenty feet high – or so it seemed at the time. To call them bears would be doing them an injustice, like calling a couple of sabre-toothed tigers kitty-cats. They were actually hairy mountains with teeth and claws. They loped towards us on all fours but as soon as they made eye contact, they stopped and reared up on their hind legs. I mentioned before that the sight of wolves in the forest made my heart skip a beat – well, the sight of these guys at full height produced a code-red cardiac arrest.

  They dropped back to all fours and slowly came towards us. They didn’t look menacing exactly – I think I could have coped with that – their expression was far more terrifying. They looked hungry.

  I heard the creak of Brendan’s bow as he pulled his weapon back to full tension. ‘These guys I can shoot, right?’

  ‘NO,’ came a shout from Essa and Araf.

  Brendan turned to Araf. ‘Why not?’

  ‘It will only make them mad,’ the Imp replied.

  ‘Girls,’ I shouted behind me, ‘you better hack through those trees.’

  ‘No, Conor,’ Essa hissed back.

  ‘You either hack the trees or I have to hack a super bear and I have a suspicion that the bear is going to hack back.’

  ‘We did not come here to kill trees and Pookas,’ Essa said.

  ‘Well, I didn’t come here to get a good look at my lower intestines either. Make a decision or these bears are going to make one for us.’

  A screech tore my wide and terrified eyes away from the approaching colossi. I looked up and saw what at first looked like a falcon, but as I watched the feathers on his wings began to be absorbed into what began to look like arms. The sharp beak disappeared into his widening face; talons extended and became long lean legs. He was fully human when he hit the ground. I’d like to say it was a stunning and graceful manoeuvre but that would be a lie. What I saw was a bird that, in midair, turned into a very naked man that then awkwardly slammed face down into the earth. I’m pretty sure even the bears thought it looked painful.

  As he lay there moaning, one of us really should have asked him if he was all right, but, like the bears, we were frozen in shock. By the time he got up, the bears had seen enough and were moving again. He stood and shouted, ‘BE GONE.’

  Now, I don’t know about you but if a naked man fell from the sky and then, in all of his dingly-dangly naked glory, stood in front of me and shouted, ‘BE GONE,’ then I would probably go. But these Pookas/bears, like the wolves, were not in their right minds – they kept coming. I didn’t know what to do. Part of me wanted to step in front of this obviou
sly deranged Pooka and save him from almost certain disembowelment. Of course the other part of me was delighted to have anything between me and the two mountains of slobber, fangs and claws that were heading my way.

  ‘Hey,’ I called to him. When he ignorelment. Of tried again. ‘Excuse me, naked Pooka guy. Can we help in any way?’

  He turned to look at me; one side of his face was covered with dirt and grass stains. ‘Stand back,’ he commanded. Then he reached his hand to his neck, dropped his head to his chest and went down onto one knee. It looked like he was praying and I hoped it was a short prayer because the bears were almost on him. I heard Brendan’s bow creak. I couldn’t stand to watch. Just as I was about to turn away, he stood up – then he kept standing up. His feet thinned at the bottom, then his backside grew a tail and widened to the size of a downtown bus. His head grew a rack of flat antlers that must have been as wide as the bears were tall. He grew dark brown short hair all over his body. When the transformation was done, we all stood open-mouthed. It was one of the most impressive things I had seen to date. Standing between us and certain death was what I now know was a prehistoric Celtic deer. Imagine a moose the size of a large elephant and you’ve got the idea. He dropped his antler-adorned head, scratched in the earth with his hind legs and charged.

  The bears didn’t give it a second thought. They scrabbled out of there fast. Mr Moose gave a short chase then changed back into a naked man before collapsing onto the frozen earth.

  Brendan and I ran up to him. ‘Are you all right?’ I asked.

  He replied with moans that then became words. ‘Aahh … leave … this … mountain.’

  Araf ran up with a blanket and placed it over him. Without looking up he angrily pushed it off. ‘Leave this mountain.’

  I placed the blanket back over him. ‘Really, you’re going to freeze out here. Can we—’

  He scrambled to his feet with a speed that surprised me. Apart from a gold disc that hung on a wire around his neck, and the mud and dirt, he was still very naked. He spotted Essa and Nieve still working on the trees that blocked the gateway. ‘Get away from there!’ he tried to scream but his voice was tired and thin. They looked but continued. He threw his head back, almost falling over. ‘LEAVE THIS MOUNTAIN!’ he shouted. He staggered as he brought his head down, his eyes still closed. I took a step forward to catch him if he fell. He opened his eyes. I think he expected us to be gone, instead of standing around staring at him. A look of mad anger took over his face. He dropped to his knees and grabbed the medallion around his neck. Brendan, Turlow, Araf and I all took an involuntary step back.

  Black fur sprouted from every pore, his nose blackened and broadened. The teeth changed just before the snout formed, giving us a good look at the fangs. We took another step back. As his height increased he tried to stand. That’s when the transformation stalled then stopped altogether. His eyes blinked rapidly and he shrank quickly into naked Pooka guy again as he fell face first unconscious into Araf’s waiting arms.

  Araf carried him over to the gate where Essa and Nieve had started a small fire and were brewing tea. Essa wrapped him in more blankets while Nieve placed her hands on his temples.

  When she released his head she said, ‘He is exhausted and starving.’

  ‘Was he changing into a bear?’ Essa asked.

  ‘I think so,’ Araf said.

  ‘Very strange,’ Essa said. Everyone, except Brendan and me, nodded in agreement.

  ‘Look, everyone, changing into mooses,’ Brendan said, ‘is mighty strange for me but you people are talking like that’s not strange enough.’

  Essa answered him. ‘Pookas spend decades, centuries, studying how to change into their chosen animal. I have never heard of a Pooka that could change into more than one. This must be some sort of master Pooka.’

  ‘Have you had any joy with the trees?’ Turlow asked.

  ‘No, we cannot pass without hurting the trees,’ Nieve said.

  ‘Then we must hurt the trees,’ Turlow said. ‘I will do it.’

  ‘Slow down, honey,’ Essa said. ‘We have a local here. When he wakes he may help us through.’

  ‘Or he might turn into a wolverine and rip our throats out,’ I said. ‘And did I just hear you call him “honey”?’ I said that last bit loudly. I shouldn’t have but I was a bit stunned. The only thing I could ever imagine Essa calling honey is that yellow stuff that bees make.

  ‘What is wrong with calling my fiancé “honey”?’ Essa said with that customary fire in her eyes but also with, maybe, just a touch of embarrassment.

  ‘Yes, Faerie, what is wrong with that?’ her Banshee added.

  I was racking my brains for a suitable quip that would stop me from getting clocked by Essa or stabbed by the Turd-low when I was saved by a moan from the Pooka. We all looked at him.

  His head was resting on Nieve’s lap. He had a mop of sandy blond hair sitting on top of an almost boyish face. As we watched, he opened his eyes; they were piercing blue. Usually it’s the eyes here in The Land that give away how old a person is, but this Pooka’s eyes confused me. I instantly thought he was very young but then I got a fleeting impression of very old age. After that his peepers were just unreadable. Nieve brushed a piece of grass off of his cheek and smiled at him. It was nice to see such tenderness from my aunt – I certainly hadn’t seen that before.

  The Pooka didn’t get up and when he spoke he was hoarse and hard to hear. ‘You must leave.’ He closed his eyes again and I wondered if he had passed out, but then he opened them and looked at each of us. ‘I can’t protect you,’ he said.

  Nieve sat him up and Essa got some willow tea into him.

  ‘I could have sworn I had some poteen with me,’ Essa said. Brendan gave me a furtive guilty glance.

  A little bit more of the spark of life returned to our shapeshifter with every sip of willow tea. Araf gave him some food and he gobbled it down. With a boyishly guilty look, Brendan produced the almost-finished bottle of poteen and handed it to Essa, who gave him such a dirty look I was sure glad I wasn’t him. A shot of Gerard’s special moonshine brought all the colour back to our patient’s cheeks and maybe a little extra. He sat with us around the fire wrapped in about four blankets.

  ‘We do not seek your protection,’ Essa said, breaking the silence. ‘We seek Queen Rhiannon.’

  Pooka guy made a snorting, laughing sound that I didn’t like and said, ‘Queen Rhiannon is indisposed.’

  ‘None the less, we must see her.’

  ‘You cannot.’

  ‘We have come a long way and will see the Queen with or without your help,’ Essa said.

  He threw off his blankets and stood up. Our friendly fireside guest once again became very angry naked Pooka guy – which was disconcerting, ’cause we were pretty close and seated. ‘You can’t see her. YOU MUST LEAVE.’ His face became repossessed – he reached for his neck.

  ‘Woah, woah, woah, Pooka guy,’ I said, as I grabbed his wrist before his hand made it to his medallion. ‘I don’t know you very well but I don’t think you are up for one of your quick changes. And anyway, there are six of us and we are all pretty handy. You’d have to turn into a T-Rex to stop us.’

  He stood there, unmoving. I wasn’t sure if I was getting through to him.

  ‘It’s OK, really,’ I said, ‘we’re like a royal honour guard here. Me and Araf are princes, those two are princesses and Turlow here is like a king.’ Brendan coughed. ‘Oh yeah, he’s a cop.’

  The Pooka placed his face in his hands. From behind his palms he said, ‘You cannot see her. No one can see her.’

  ‘I have even brought gifts, look.’ I took out the muslin parcel, untied it and displayed the six hazelnuts.

  The look on the Pooka’s face was like that of a man lost in the desert for a week being offered a glass of ice water. ‘Where did you get them?’ he almost whispered.

  ‘From the Tree of Knowledge.’

  ‘You lie, the Tree was destroyed.’

  �
��This is from the new tree. Essa and I planted it ourselves from my grandfather’s hazel wood.’

  The Pooka stared hard at my face. ‘You are Liam’s son?’

  ‘I’m his grandson, Conor.’

  ‘I will take them to her,’ the Pooka said.

  I pulled the hazelnuts out of his reach. ‘No, this is a royal gift from Queen Deirdre of Duir to Queen Rhiannon of Ailm. I was instructed to present it to Her Highness in person or not at all.’

  ‘Lady Deirdre has been found?’

  ‘Ages ago,’ I said.

  ‘I sent a runner to find her. He never returned.’

  ‘Was he a curly-haired guy who changed into a wolf?’

  The Pooka nodded yes.

  ‘He found her but I have bad news, he’s dead.’

  Sadness mixed with resignation crossed the Pooka’s face.

  ‘I’m sorry. Look, is there any way we can have this conversation while you wear clothes? You’re making me cold just looking at you.’

  He took the blanket I offered and wrapped it around himself. I filled him in on all the major news of The Land: Mom and Dad’s and my return, Cialtie getting booted out of Castle Duir and the rebuilding of the Hazellands.

  ‘So you are Deirdre’s son. My sister was your mother’s tutor – she was very fond of her.’ He didn’t have to say any more. The look on his face told me that she must have died when the Hall of Knowledge was attacked. ‘My name is Tuan. I will take you, Prince Conor, to see Queen Rhiannon.’

  He stood and placed his hands on the thick branches that blocked the stone portal, mumbled something in a language I didn’t recognise and the trees creaked up and away. ‘Quickly,’ Tuan said, ‘before the larger animals come back.’