Born of Oak and Silver (The Caradoc Chronicles) (12 page)

There were
men, boys, women, and young children. All of Drumcliff Castle’s inhabitants were presently found hurrying to finish various tasks before it grew too dark to complete them. A multitude of torches were scattered about, lending light where it was needed.              

Cian and Gair
both gave a whoop of excitement. Gair leaned across the space where our feet and legs were to give me a solid thump in the arm. “Welcome to Drumcliff Castle!” Their excitement was contagious, and I found that I could hardly wait to explore what was to be my home.

All of us exited the coach
and began to stretch. Finally our journey was over.

I breathed deeply of the night air. Cool, with a slight presence of the sea mingled with the earthy wetness of agricultural prosperity. It filled
me with peace. I was happy to be here, and my inner, more knowledgeable Druid agreed with the sentiment entirely.

Men approached Bram from all sides
to extend warm greetings at his return. Soon he was completely lost in a mass of well-wishers. Cian leaned close to me and mentioned something about a kitchen. Immediately, the three of us were off with one purpose in mind.

Having eaten well in the bustling kitchen, Cian and Gair took me
up several flights of stone stairs to what was their room. It was a large, four-room apartment. A bed, dresser, desk and chair, and washbasin had been added into once vacant bedroom specifically for me.

I washed quickly,
happy to remove my dusty clothes and free myself from all the grime of travel. I was absolutely exhausted from our month of traveling. I fell into my bed and was soon immersed by an instantaneous and deep sleep.

Life in Drumcliff
was busy, but also very fulfilling. Every moment of everyday was in one way or another geared to educate and strengthen the Druidic body living there. I remained at the castle year-round, with only a few stints made to visit the Macardles in Killiney. During this time, Brigid and I stayed in communication as frequently as could be managed between our sporadic visits. I was eight years in Ireland, but it did not take me that long to discover that I loved her. I had every intention of marrying her as soon as was possible.

However, life always has a way of altering our plans.

At age twenty-five, I was the youngest Druid Master we had on record. Once the High Council had voted to award me the status of Master, I had been given an intricate, iron torque to wear around my neck as a symbol of my status. But the significance of that moment was surpassed by my excitement at having nothing stand in my way of taking Brigid as my wife.

I had to leave Drumcliff, a
nd soon.

Bram,
who like his son and grandsons, knew of my unabashed attachment and fondness for his granddaughter, quickly intervened to thwart my immediate departure. He found me in the castle’s stables, hastily saddling the horse I had chosen to take me to Killiney.

“Daine, before you take your leave, there is something
of importance that I must discuss with you,” he said conversationally as he walked toward me and the horse. In the quarter of a century that I had known him, he had failed to age even a single day. The reasoning for this was something I had yet to figure out.

I continued to ready my horse, setting my roughly unshaven jaw in resignation as I knew what
ever he had come to say would indefinitely delay me.

He stopped a few feet from me, stroking the horse’s shiny
and tawny head as he muttered ancient words of affection to the animal. He patted its jaw for good measure. “Are you planning on going to Killiney?” he asked me, though I was sure he already knew as much.

“Yes, just as soon as I am able to get this horse ready
I will be off.” My father’s felt hat rested once again on top my head, and my wool coat was already worn comfortably on this brisk, late-fall afternoon.

Bram nodded. H
e knew that I was leaving, and moreover, the where of it before he’d ever asked me. I just couldn’t understand why he was making an effort to exchange small talk. I paused in what I was doing and regarded him expectantly.

S
eeing this, he looked at me with eyes that seemed to momentarily glow with compassion before he pointedly stated, “Daine, you can not marry Brigid.”

I closed my eyes feeling my heart constrict. So this was what it was all about, the family did not approve of the match or my intent. I turned back to the saddle I was working on
, and was about to resume where I had left off when I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder slowly turn me so I was once again facing him.

“At least not right now,” Bram added softly, seeing plainly
both my reaction and aching.

“Why is that?” I asked him gently, though
I was unable to mask the stab of pain from my voice. Did I really want him to tell me that I wasn’t enough?

Bram spoke brusquely. He had my attention; there was no longer a need to draw me in.
“The Ben Bulben Silver has torn. I need you to accompany Cian, myself, and a few others to that gateway so that we may permanently seal it,” Bram informed me. His tone masked something else.

This was not the explanation I had been expecting. Frankly, I was a bit chaffed that he had not told
me earlier when there had been several opportunities to do so. If he wanted dramatic impact in finding me just before I ran off and married his granddaughter, he’d found it.

“Why did you not tell me this before?” I asked him
with annoyance.

“
I only just learned of it myself. A member of the Bulben watchmen arrived only a few moments ago to inform us of the rift. He has reported that many Sidhe, of all castes, have managed to slip through. Apparently it happened sometime during last night, and the members of the Ben Bulben Guard have since been busy attempting to contain the situation. It has been disastrous. Ennis was only able to slip away a few hours ago in order to ride here and seek our aid. I am reluctant to admit that it does not bode well for any of us. I need you to lend your strength to us. We must shatter the Silver before it again becomes active at nightfall.” He scarcely whispered, “A moment later, and I believe it will be too late.”

I could sense the strain and potential fear in
his voice. What I had not known until I had arrived in Drumcliff was that Bram was the highest-ranking Druid among any of the known orders throughout the world. This made him the presiding officer, or even chairman, of the entire Druidic Order. If Bram was showing any evidence for a need of concern, there was no doubt in my mind that things were more serious than he was willing to say.

“
Bram, of course I am willing to offer whatever aid I may contribute—albeit I doubt I’ll be of any help at all. I have barely been recognized as a Master. Shouldn’t only members of the High Council be accompanying you?” 

“I’ve trained you personally, and I know your methods, just as you know mine. We can have no room for mistake if we are going to shatter the Ben Bulben Silver.”

He regarded me confidently, extending his arm to rest his strong hand on my shoulder as he added, “We will be leaving within the next twenty minutes. You are ready for this, never doubt that my boy. Finish saddling your horse and then meet me in the courtyard.”

There was no need for him to say anything more, and having much to attend to in a few short minutes, he strode lithely out of the
stables. Soon I was leading my horse into the courtyard, where Cian and many others were already assembled and waiting for Bram.

Bram reappeared shortly, h
is white beard and age-wizened skin completely at odds with his wildly flashing green eyes. He climbed effortlessly onto the back of his horse and motioned for us to move out of the already opening castle gates. As one, the group of ten men that he had gathered began to move forward. However, Bram and his horse remained where they were, watching as the group he’d personally selected left the protection of the castle wards.

When I approached, b
ringing up the rear, he moved his horse to a trot alongside my own. His face was full of humor, though he spoke to me without looking at my face. “Furthermore, Daine, if you think that I would permit you to marry my granddaughter without a proper wedding, you are sorely mistaken.” His eyes twinkled briefly as he allowed a momentary glance my way. “Aileen would skin us all and then force us to lie upon hot coals if that were to happen.”

I cringed inwardly as the visual of his words bloomed in my brain.

“Though, not that you need it,” he added, “as patriarch of the Macardle clan, when the time is right, I give you my full blessing and permission, and wish you and Brigid a long and happy life together.” He urged his horse forward and took the lead of our group.

Simultaneously, we
all spoke the well-known incantations that invoked the earth and wind to move. Our horses began to run faster than what would have ordinarily ever been possible as the wind carried them, and the earth moved to lift them.

Sligo
and Ben Bulben were not far from Drumcliff Castle. It was not long before the massively out-of-place plateau could be seen growing ever bigger against the darkening horizon. We continued forward despite an unspeakable sense of wrongness that grew stronger with every gallop toward the Bulben watchmen’s stronghold. The already gloomy October’s sky took on a deeper and slightly unearthly shade of violet as we came to a stop just at the base of Ben Bulben. A cluster of weary and bedraggled men were circled around a roaring fire, seeking both the blaze’s warmth, and the reassuring company of their trusted companions. This was all that was left of the Ben Bulben Guard.

We dismounted our horses and allowed
them to wander freely toward a gently running stream. I found myself alongside Cian at the back of Bram’s group as we made our way toward the blaze. In total, including what was left of the Bulben watchgroup, we were fewer than twenty men. I was disheartened by so little a number. If what we were about to attempt had Bram feeling unsettled, the more of us we could manage, the better.

I kept my fears har
nessed deeply inside, and joined the ranks surrounding the fire. I glanced over the circle of Druids, scanning faces to locate Bram in their midst. He was crouched, and speaking with another man whose face was turned toward him. The men were quiet, listening intently as Bram and a man I would later learn was the Ben Bulben Guard’s captain spoke.

“It was so sudden, and there was no preamble to it
s opening,” the surly Scotsman named Liam told Bram. “I’ve never seen anything like it; the Silver was
gaping,
Bramwyll. I don’t know how it happened, neither I nor any living member of my guard was present to witness it,” Liam said in exasperation before he continued, “It was a typical night, nothing was out of the ordinary when, without cause, there was this massive, rolling wave of something . . . I don’t really know what to call it, but you could feel it building as it approached.”

“
I didn’t know what to think, and I called all of the watchmen together as we rushed for the Silver in arms. After we’d broken through the fennel, this energy surged forward from the direction of the Silver and passed through us—like a wave. No one was harmed, but by the time we’d checked everyone, we noticed that the Silver no longer resembled a mirror. Gone too was the boulder we’ve always associated with the door. In its place was nothing but a massive, yawning hole showing us a plain view into Faery.”

Bram was made entirely speechless. He remained motionless except for his right thumb
, which rubbed at the band of his sapphire ring. His brow furrowed.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes
. I know I’ve already told you that it was like nothing I’ve ever seen, but I just don’t know what else I can say about it. We were nothing more than a bunch of staring statues gazing into the wonder that was revealed before us—it was impossible to do anything else. The colors and the beauty of the place are just . . . indescribable.” Liam’s eyes lit up dreamily, his voice coming from somewhere far away. “It is like looking at, the very least, a waking dream.” Liam’s eyes regained their focus and regarded Bram fully. “I’d say it was nothing less than looking into heaven.”

Liam
paused for a moment, lost once again in his remembrance. He swallowed heavily before being able to haltingly add, “We all know what effect the Sidhe have on mortals, and so there is no need for me to detail it. Looking into Faery has very much the same effect: one loses his will and mind entirely. He can think of nothing more than stepping through to leave the cold harshness of mortality behind him forever.

“Thank the gods
that the Druid was frantically roaring inside of me to shake me from my rapture. I’d almost lost any ability to think at all . . . but blessed be the Druid! Without its constant ruckus, I would have never had the sense about me to mind what happened next.

“There the
Guard all stood, in various states of unconsciousness, when much to our horror a massive outpouring of Fae came forth—some of which I’ve never seen or heard of before. There were hundreds of them. Caught unawares as we were, most of us couldn’t rouse ourselves quick enough to react. Hideous, monstrous, troll creatures came forth and grabbed fourteen of my men before turning and running with them back through the Silver. As soon as the last of the trolls had entered, the Silver closed behind them.