by Phil Parker
He sighed and shook his head in wonderment.
‘I must be one of the first human beings to travel through one of these.’
I knelt at the foot of the archway and nudged one of the crystals out of position, the curtain of fizzing energy ended abruptly. I looked up at him.
‘To have gone through it voluntarily. The Fae have been abducting humans for centuries, especially babies.’
I stood up, aware I’d need to explain myself, the more he understood my people the better equipped he’d be to blend in.
‘Are those stories true? I thought they were propaganda for the war.’
‘Not propaganda. Nor legend either. My race is an infertile bunch. To sustain our bloodlines we’ve abducted babies that have a certain ethnic similarity, sometimes adults too. I could get a good price for a strapping young man like you.’
For a second, while I kept a straight face, concern washed over his good looks, until I grinned. I decided to take the joke one step further, just to watch his reaction.
‘Though being with me will make everyone think you prefer men.’
His caramel-brown eyes twinkled with mischief. ‘Like your friend Amelie. I’ve certainly got the impression you have quite a reputation.’ Then, perfectly seriously. ‘Well, so long as you know, I’m the kind of boy who expects flowers and chocolates.’
We both burst out laughing.
We made our way, still giggling, towards a corner of the cavern, up a slight incline where a wide crevice allowed us a glimpse of daylight. At least there was no pathway etched into the wall to traverse this time.
My heart raced but it wasn’t nerves, it was excitement. My recovery was far from complete when I’d last visited this realm, they’d had to hold me upright during my trial. My return might be risky but it didn’t stop my excitement at being back where I belonged.
When I look back over my life so much of it is full of events I could never have anticipated, some good, most bad. I suppose it’s why I’ve never been one for planning in great detail, you can’t control events, no matter how hard you try. Only a few hours earlier I wouldn’t have imagined I’d be standing in Tir na nÓg, I’d set out to find a secret portal, not travel through it. Fate had chosen to bring me home. It might lead me to Oisin too.
I could hope. I didn’t do that very often, life tended to crap on me from a great height when I did that, yet a while ago it had delivered me the man I loved, perhaps it could deliver me to him now.
The mouth of the cavern was like the entrance at the foot of the Tor, hidden by brambles and weeds we had to push aside, not a place everyone used, apart from secret assassins. Ash trees hung over the cave entrance and sheltered us from sun that beat down on us from a cobalt blue sky devoid of any clouds. A warm breeze kept the temperature balmy and pleasant, the unmistakeable tang of sea air tingled the nostrils. Birds wheeled above us, calling to each other, bees buzzed amidst the mauve flowers that would turn into blackberries in a couple of months’ time. I exhaled a little too loudly, it made Luke turn to look at me as he fought his way out of the bramble bush.
‘Glad to be home?’
I was. The air smelled different, it wasn’t filled with petrol fumes and other kinds of pollution, it was fresh air.
I pushed through hazel bushes to join a narrow and badly overgrown pathway that gave a better view of my surroundings. Luke joined me and immediately pointed up the steep hill that looked like the Tor. It was broader, steeper and dominating its summit a huge stone monolith with battlements and towers I knew all too well. I heard him whistle softly.
‘I didn’t think it would look like the children’s books, but it does. Right down to the castle. It’s like I’ve stepped back in time, rather than travelled to another dimension. I half expect to see a beautiful princess on the battlements.’
His final comment made him look self-consciously at me, to see if I was going to laugh at him. I just shrugged.
‘She’d probably be screaming for help in that place.’
He looked at me, expecting an explanation. I decided if he wasn’t going to act like a tourist he needed a military style appraisal.
‘Tir na nÓg doesn’t change. That castle, and others like it, are reminders of times when the two Courts battled for supremacy. Humans designed their own fortifications along the same lines because they were impregnable. Without war, these places have turned into status symbols instead, badly maintained ones. The perimeter wall is high enough to keep out the scum that want to share its amenities, the only way inside is through the drawbridge that stretches over a moat that dried up long ago. Inside there’s a large fortified house that’s big enough for a huge array of servants, along with stables, a dairy, vegetable gardens so its owner can be self-sufficient, should the need arise. Below the house are the dungeons for the scum who like to cause trouble.’
I realised Luke continued watching me, he narrowed his eyes and spoke in a whisper.
‘What’s wrong?’
To be fair to the guy, he needed all the information, except I didn’t possess it. I’d been away too long to be certain of anything. All the same, he needed to be warned.
‘I didn’t know where the portal would bring us out. This isn’t the best place to go unnoticed, I have history here.’
He frowned but didn’t say any more, instead he waited for instructions. The true soldier.
I pointed to the shanty town of tents and wooden shacks surrounding the castle walls, the homes of those who longed for employment inside the castle. People who would soon wish they’d stayed outside.
‘We go up there,’ I said.
A narrow cleft in the hillside, lined with trees and bushes offered some cover and reinforced how long it had been since this castle had known any attack. It made me realise how long I’d been away. We kept to the sides of tall hedgerows and found cover in small copses of beech and ash, there were no signs of any patrols either. A small stream tumbled down the crevice to form a pool at its base, my travelling companion knelt to scoop up water until I stopped him.
‘When we get to the top you’ll see why you shouldn’t drink that water.’
He nodded and bit his lip, I was thirsty as well but he’d almost fallen for the kind of rookie mistake all soldiers make in their training. I could tell he was embarrassed by it. The steep walls of the crevice made for difficult climbing and on such a hot day, where the breeze couldn’t reach, it felt like an oven. Half way up we were both sweating as much as during our dragon-dodging race, the splashing of the water only made the torment almost unbearable. The second half of the climb was even worse, rocks jutted out to block our route, causing us to lift, pull and support each other, it slowed progress to a snail’s pace. We sat on a flat ledge looking down on the route we’d taken as we got our breath back.
‘I hope there isn’t an easy path up this hill because I’m starting to think you’ve taken me this way to test my fitness.’
I grinned. The thing I’d missed most from my days as a Trooping Fairy was the camaraderie. In any unit you needed the guy who could make light of any situation, no matter how bad it was, the guy who made you laugh because that brought everyone together. I’d once had a sergeant who said such guys were almost as valuable as a weapon. It was like old times, having another soldier at my side.
‘Oh there’s an easier path all right,’ I whispered, standing up and holding out a hand to help him up. He brushed it aside with a smirk. ‘But this way gives me a chance to get my hands on that pert arse of yours.’
He spluttered as he restrained his laughter and looked around nervously before looking at me to flash a mischievous grin.
‘Must be why I’m so tired, lifting that fat arse of yours.’
I swung a punch at his arm and missed, he chuckled. ‘Not fast enough, old man.’
Our climb brought us into the darkest reaches of the shantytown, shaded by huge swallowflower trees with their wide, leathery leaves the size of dinner plates. It was foliage used for a dozen or mor
e purposes by the poverty-stricken citizens of this pathetic community, even though its slightly poisonous sap, made the weak and the very young, ill. The sun had dipped below the horizon already, here, beneath these trees, darkness was almost tangible. I heard Luke quietly moan, the stench of excrement was so strong you could almost feel it against your skin.
‘Now do you see why it wasn’t wise to drink the water?’ I joked.
Staying close to the edge of the hill, where the sides fell away into a tangle of thorn bushes, we kept low and made our way around the edge of a rickety collection of tents. They were little more than blankets and sewn-together bits of fabric strung over heavy ropes tied to occasional trees, other tents or a tottering pole. Within them we heard subdued voices, the sounds and smells of cooking and, all too often, weeping. Luke soon learned to watch where he placed his feet when he noticed narrow latrine channels dug into the ground that carried effluent to the stream. The smell wasn’t much better but the breeze provided some respite.
As we scurried between two tents a small girl, undernourished and filthy appeared in front of us, bucket in hand. She stared at us, wide-eyed with fear, looked back from where she’d come, trying to decide whether to shout for help. Luke made a pantomime of waving to her, placed a finger over his mouth, smiled broadly before tiptoeing in an over exaggerated way past her. She stared bewildered but with half a smile on her face at his antics. I followed, self-consciously copying him. I turned back to see the girl emptying her bucket into one of the channels as she kept watching us.
Safely hidden by a large bush covered in blue flowers we paused.
‘Was that part of your training?’ I asked.
I expected some amusement but only got a sad shake of the head.
‘A tour of Afghanistan. You quickly learned to get the kids on your side. They didn’t trust you when you handed out sweets.’
I couldn’t make out much of his face, night was falling fast, but his eyes held a sadness I hadn’t seen before. I could guess the reason, it was one every soldier understood.
Tent city gave way to wooden shacks and eventually, near a road which led towards an entrance to the castle, cabins appeared.
‘Are we going somewhere specific are you just showing me the tourist sights?’
I jerked my thumb at a line of cabins where the squalor wasn’t quite so apparent. His quip had set me thinking.
‘Listen, you’re going to see strange sights in this place, it’s going to be easy to look like a tourist. So don’t.’
‘Strange sights?’
‘The Fae were like the British at the height of their empire, they brought home different cultures and races to ease their own lives, such as the spriggans who do the fighting for them. They’ll look and act alien to you. Don’t stare and try to avoid them.’
‘Brought them from where?’
I peeked out from behind the blue bush, I could hear a stomping noise some distance away.
‘Other realms. The portals don’t only go to your home.’
He nodded his understanding.
The cause of the rhythmic thumping became apparent. A dozen creatures in red and silver uniforms marched out of the castle, holding spears aloft as they forced their way past individuals on the drawbridge. They strutted with the self-importance that weapons and shiny livery can bring to the simple-minded.
‘Strange sights like that?’
‘They’re boggarts,’ I whispered. ‘Vicious bastards.’
‘They’re half pig, half man.’ A gasp of disbelief.
‘Boggarts. You’re thinking like a human. They might have snouts and tusks but that doesn’t make them pigs. Just fucking vicious when they use them on you. Come on.’
The brigade of boggarts turned into one of the cabin-strewn streets and we sprinted behind a cabin on the opposite side of the road, inside it we could hear quiet conversations and the smell of more cooking. We carefully edged our way along more lines of identical looking wooden cabins until I paused at another intersection. Luke eyed me nervously.
‘What?’
I fought back an impatient reply. Navigating through a maze of squalor in the dark, after a lifetime’s absence, wasn’t easy. Suddenly, from the other side of the wooden wall where we hovered, a heated conversation made us both jump.
‘Do you know where we’re going?’ The tone of the accusation suggested I didn’t.
‘It’s been a long time. Shut up!’
I tried to get my bearings but the trouble with shantytowns, they’re not big on solid, immovable landmarks. In every direction more lines of cabins, the only feature to help was the castle, I summoned an image from a distant memory of looking out a window towards the castle, a memory I wasn’t going to pursue.
‘This way!’
I led us along an avenue of more cabins, searching in the darkness for one door that I hoped still had a distinctive feature. I was starting to think we’d need to find cover for the night and try again in the early morning when we arrived at the end of another avenue. I could hear Luke sigh, I knew he was thirsty and tired and getting irritated by my lousy navigation so I heaved a sigh of relief when I spotted an etched design of a yellow flower on the door of the final cabin. The flowing design looked out of place.
After a quick check to make sure no one watched us, I knocked gently on the door. It was still enough for a face to appear at a window two cabins down, I knocked again and when there was no reply I opened the door and hurried inside, Luke on my heels. The room was dark, curtains blocked much of the light.
‘What is this place?’ Luke whispered.
I heard a deep-throated grunt then something hit me. I stumbled backwards, arms windmilling, grabbed at Luke but only succeeded in dragging him onto the floor with me. Limbs flailed in a rush to get up but tripped over each other instead. A shaft of moonlight found its way through the curtains and highlighted a boot as it swung backwards ready to kick me in my head. I lunged at it, reaching out with my arms in the hope of catching the other leg, found it and yanked them together, dropping our attacker to the floor.
I felt Luke scramble over me to wrestle our assailant, elbowing me in the chin in the process. It caused me to relinquish my hold for a second, just enough for the shadowy figure to lash out with a punch that caught Luke on the side of the head, he cursed. I felt a knee draw back and could guess its destination so I rolled to one side keeping my legs together. The kick connected with my thigh, it hurt like hell but I grabbed legs and flipped them over, crawled on top of the struggling body and realised how small it was.
‘Islene? It’s me. Robin.’
The struggling stopped.
‘Robin?’ A voice filled with so much disbelief, it was little more than a gasp.
‘You didn’t answer the door.’
‘So you just walked in. Typical.’
Bony knees slammed into my buttocks and the body twisted sideways with immense force at the same time, thrusting me into Luke. We collided, head first. As we sat on the floor rubbing heads, a lantern’s flame appeared on a table near the door, it lit up the petite body and delicate facial features of a woman. Taut lips showed a barely restrained fury, flashing eyes said something else.
‘You bastard Robin Goodfellow. But it’s good to see you again.’
She reached out a hand to help me up, I took it and allowed her to pull me in to her body. She smelled of a garden after rain, I inhaled deeply and kissed the mouth as it formed into a smile. Hot lips pressed against mine and hips ground against my groin provocatively.
‘I suppose you still prefer a face with a beard, do you?’
I chuckled and slapped tight buttocks that were as trim as I remembered them. On the floor a low moan drew our attention, it was my turn to reach out a helping hand.
‘Call yourself a soldier. You let a woman beat you.’
The light from a lantern on the wall threw more light on the Luke’s disgruntled face. The woman adjusting the size of flame chuckled.
‘And half y
our size too.’
I got a frown. ‘I was trying to avoid your flailing arms and legs.’ He turned his attention to the small woman at my side who was still grinning. ‘I apologise for breaking into your house, miss.’
His conciliatory tone made her look at him more closely and then at me.
‘Why have you brought a human here Robin? And into my home more to the point?’
‘I know. I’m sorry. I couldn’t think where else to go.’
She didn’t move but kept her eyes trained on mine.
‘And the reason for having a human here?’
‘It’s a long story. I didn’t plan this chapter though.’
That got a snort of derision. ‘You do surprise me.’
She hurried to the window, peeked through the curtains. It gave me a chance to look around her home. It hadn’t changed, the same armchair faced the stone fireplace, empty now; a small table and a single chair at its side. Beyond the sink, a door to the bedroom. It was sparsely furnished, functional, tidy and small. Just like the woman who lived in it.
‘Where’s Mahon?’
The solitary chair at the table was enough of a clue, the way the woman’s face darkened only confirmed it.
‘They took him.’
There was no need to identify the guilty party. Any man who lived outside the castle dreamed of the day when he enlisted into the services of his lord and master. I understood that route well enough. I also understood the drawbacks that went with such loyalty.
I noticed Luke’s fascination with our diminutive hostess, how her short black hair emphasized, rather than hid, her pointed ears; her delicate features that belied the strength of character in the face but his attention was on her arse and it made me smile. She’d bent over to look out the window, a deliberately provocative position.
‘Luke, this is Islene.’
She didn’t move from her position, forcing Luke to walk towards her, his eyes struggling to move from the firm curves of her body as though he was hypnotised. This guy was undoubtedly straight.
