Shadowmagic - Sons of Macha (19 page)

The origins of Ivy Lodge lived in that timeline between history and legend. Apparently Mom and Dad weren't the first to take a Choosing simultaneously. It had been done before, a long time ago. Supposedly these two lovers from an ancient time had a love so strong they couldn't be apart from each other – even for an instant. Against all advice they performed the Rite of Choosing hand-in-hand. For their daring and effort they each received a major rune. The woman was given Gort – the man Tinne. They became the King and Queen of Holly and Ivy. Together they built Ivy Lodge in the new Hollylands far to the north. When the castle was completed they held a midwinter celebration that was ill-attended due to distance and bad weather. After that they never held another party, they never left the castle grounds or each other's side. They received visitors with courtesy but never warmth. They had no children. Then one day, reports came back that the castle was deserted. The holly trees and the ivy, no longer tied to runes, spread across The Land and King Holly and Queen Ivy were never seen again.

The Hollylands we had just passed through were as wild as the inside of the Lodge. It felt cold up here, even though it was approaching high summer. The cool air still didn't stop a trickle of sweat from sliding down my back, but that had less to do with the temperature than the anticipation of waltzing into a lion's den.

Inside the Lodge was crawling with Banshees, which removed all doubt, if there was any, that this was Cialtie's party. I drew some pretty serious stares with my hoodie, bandana-ed face and gauze-covered eyes but I must have been intimidating enough to stop anyone from saying, ‘Who are you supposed to be?'

We were ushered into a small room that contained a couple of chairs and a table with a pitcher of water and a bowl of apples. Cialtie obviously wasn't maxing out his hospitality budget. Saying that, as soon as Jesse and I were alone I lifted my bandana and wolfed down an apple. Considering where I was, I wondered if this was to be my last meal. I laughed at that thought and then thought some more and realised it wasn't funny.

‘Are you all right?' I whispered to Jesse.

Without looking at me he replied, ‘I'm pretending to be fine.'

I smiled under my mask and tried to do the same.

After half an hour we were instructed by our Banshee party-planner that the meeting was about to begin. We were escorted through corridors where periodic cracks in the walls allowed vein-like ivy to push in and attach pale green leaves to the stonework. At the entrance to the main hall, a Banshee honour guard informed us that I could only enter if I unmasked and disarmed.

‘I am Prince Codna, Emissary and son of King Bwika of the Alderlands, this is my Shadowguard. We both enter unmolested or I return to my father now.'

Wow, Jesse really had this faking brave stuff down.

The guard didn't protest. When we got inside it was obvious from all of the bodyguards present that he had gotten a similar response from everybody. Bad guys, it seems, like their henchmen.

I was very glad of my mask and eye gauze. Even though I was expecting to see my uncle, I'm pretty sure my heart-pounding terror combined with my overwhelming desire to attack him would have shown on my face. He was flanked by two Banshees: one a male archer and the other a sorceress wearing a thin leather belt that held her wand against her hip.

To his left were Grandma and her boyfriend Lugh. In a normal family, a grandson would be delighted to see his grandmother but normal my family was not. I hadn't expected to see her but I was hoping Ruby would be with them. She had to be nearby – the question was how to find her.

To Cialtie's right was a group of three Banshees, all dressed up in Banshee finery.

There were no chairs. We took our place standing in an empty space between two pillars.

‘Mother, Father,' Cialtie said addressing Macha and Lugh, ‘may I introduce Prince Codna of the Brownielands.'

Jesse bowed formally. ‘Lord Lugh, it is an honour to finally see you. I am, as are all of the Brownie clan, at your service.' He straightened up and then bowed again to my grandmother. ‘Lady Macha, The Land rejoices at the news of your reappearance. I am your humble servant.'

As Jesse instructed me, I only slightly bowed my head. I was supposed to act like I wasn't there.

Then Cialtie gestured to his right. ‘And may I introduce you to the newly ascended Turlow.'

The new Banshee chief looked small and uncomfortable between his two beefy bodyguards. He bowed and mumbled, ‘My lord and lady.'

‘Our generals have already had several meetings about our upcoming siege of Castle Duir,' Cialtie said.

Had they? I wanted to turn to Jesse and ask him but remembered I wasn't supposed to be there.

‘Both Banshees and Brownies have expressed doubts about the success of such an attack, especially after your defeat at the Hall of Knowledge.'

I noticed Cialtie said ‘Your defeat' like he had nothing to do with it. If I was the new Turlow or Jesse I would have pointed out that attacking the Hazellands was Cialtie's idea, but these guys were too green to stand up to my uncle.

‘Your hesitations are not without merit, my friends, but worry no longer. As I have promised, we will soon have a new ally, one that will ensure our victory as foretold by Ona.'

Once again I was glad for the mask that covered my face. A new ally? I was expecting a new weapon, maybe, but an ally? Who's left? I thought for a second that maybe it was the Mertain. They were plenty angry at me and Graysea for stealing the dragon blood but Red was furious with Cialtie and the Banshees, he wouldn't allow his brother to fall in with this bunch. That only left the Elves. Dad told me it was hopeless trying to enlist the Elves. He said that when a conflict comes, they disappear into the forest. But if Cialtie could coopt them, then potentially that would mean the trees would be on my uncle's side. At that moment I couldn't imagine what the trees could do to help but I had been surprised by enough plants in The Land to know that making enemies of a tree is a bad idea.

‘Following the predictions of Ona has proved a folly for you before, Lord Cialtie,' Jesse said. ‘What makes this time different?'

Wow, that snapped me out of my reverie. I take back what I said about Jesse being too green. Cialtie gave the Brownie prince a look that almost made me duck. If my uncle could shoot daggers from his eyes, then Jesse would have been a pegboard. Bringing up Cialtie's unsuccessful tenure as Lord of Duir was either stupid or brave. I previously would have said that Jesse was being stupid but his recent behaviour was changing my opinion of the shoe thief.

After an interminable length of time Cialtie bowed his head as if to say, ‘Fair enough,' and composed himself enough to answer. ‘It is true that Ona's predictions are often obtuse but tonight you will see for yourself the fruit of our research.' He turned to the Banshee sorceress and said, ‘Taline, is all prepared?'

‘Yes my lord,' the witch answered.

‘Then begin.'

Taline let loose a modulating scream that made all of the non-Banshees in the room wince. From the corners of the chamber servants appeared carrying bowls. Five bowls in all were placed on the floor in a cross pattern. After the servants left, Taline walked to the centre of the receptacles. For a split second I thought I saw a woman walking with her but decided it was a trick of the gauze mask I was wearing. She began to speak in a Banshee dialect I did not understand. Periodically I almost caught a word that sounded like something my father had tried to make me learn as a child. She reached into the bowl in front of her and took out a small glob of sap. Then I heard her use the Ogham word, ‘Iodhadh.' My heart pounded in my chest. She was using Shadowmagic and the sap she was using was yew.

I remembered overhearing my mother and Fand speculating about the kind of raw Shadowmagic power that might be attained using yew sap. They had both smiled at the thought of it then stopped themselves as if talking like that was too frightening a prospect.

The Banshee sorceress fanned her hands over the bowls to her right and left – pale Shadowflames sparked to life. Like Mom's Shadowflames, these gave off neither heat nor light but unlike Mom's Shadowmagic, these seemed to suck the light from the room. All around there were candelabras and chandeliers. None of the candles had gone out but it was noticeably darker in there – and colder. Maybe it just seemed colder because of the shiver that was running down my spine as I started to realise what I was witnessing.

When Taline closed her hand around the sap and placed her fist into the Shadowfire and incanted, ‘Duir' – I was then sure she was doing something I thought only my mother and Fand could do. This was a Shadowcasting.

The Banshee sorceress rolled her head and warbled as if in a trance then opened her hand and dropped a translucent rune onto the floor. Emblazoned on its surface was the major rune of Duir. While continuing to moan and writhe she picked more sap from the bowl and began the long process of creating a shadow of all the major runes in Tir na Nog. ‘Fearn, Saille, Nuin, Tinne, Quert, Muhn, Ur, Nion, Gort, Getal, Straif, Ruis, Ailm, Onn, Eadth, Iodhadh, Beith, Luis', and finally my mother's rune – ‘Cull.'

When the formation of the Shadowrunes was complete, the sorceress then placed them in a grid on the floor in front of her and ignited them with Shadowflame. Then began the process of sorting the runes into the proper order for casting. This took longer than when Mom did it. The Banshee didn't really know what she was doing. She looked like some old biddy wondering where to put the next piece in her jigsaw puzzle. That scared me most of all. It felt like I was watching a monkey spinning dials in a nuclear power plant.

All the while she moaned and rocked. The Shadowfire travelled up her hands and then engulfed both of her arms to the shoulder. She tore off her cloak and threw it into the corner where it continued to burn with a pale blue Shadowfire. I was tempted to go over and stamp it out. I wondered if that would even work.

This was taking a long time. I looked around the room. The Turlow and his guards, who had never seen anything like this before, looked on with a mixture of repulsion and anticipation. Jesse was successfully standing expressionless but I knew he was terrified. Lugh and Grandma held maniacal expressions but maybe that was just the way I will always see them now. Cialtie seemed to be getting impatient and then proved it by shouting, ‘When will you be ready?'

The sorceress held up a finger as if to say, ‘Wait a minute,' but then her loss of concentration allowed the Shadowfire to rocket up her arms and engulf her whole body. She screamed for just a second as if she was being burned. Shadowfire doesn't burn but I imagine if I instantly became covered with that stuff that I'd freak out a lot worse than her. She composed herself and using the palms of her hands she pushed the Shadowfire away from her face and let the rest of her body burn. She may not have been a competent Shadowwitch but no one could accuse her of being undramatic.

At the edges of the Shadowflame that surrounded her I began to see bits of a form: a leg, a hand. Just as I had decided that it must be a trick of the light, I saw the translucent face of a woman whisper into the sorceress's ear. She obviously heard it because she stopped, listened and then changed the pattern of her Shadowcasting runes. The runes were now forming the shape of a star. It was very different from the periodic-table-like pattern my mother used. The ghostlike face continued to appear and instruct the sorceress until finally she rocked her head back and breathed deeply. Then from the bowl of yew sap she took a glob and prepared to make another rune. As she held it over the Shadowfire and incanted, the face that had only appeared at the edges of the fire began to take form. No longer a reflection of the fire, the face grew more substantial. She still was not real, still translucent, but she was no longer a trick of the Shadowlight. A whole woman appeared before us. I had seen visions in Shadowfire before but this wasn't like that. This was a real rooting-tooting, I'm-about-to-pee-myself ghost.

The ghost, although insubstantial, had some power. She ran her hands over the sorceress and extinguished the Shadowfire on her head and shoulders, until only her hands once again were afire. Then she spoke into the witch's ear. This time I almost heard something. The Banshee turned to Cialtie and said, ‘Now.'

Lugh and Macha smiled and left. As we waited, the ghost continued to instruct the sorceress. I shot a quick glance to Jesse and then regretted it. His eyes mirrored the wrongness that we were both feeling about whatever was happening in this place but he, unlike me, had no mask to hide it from Cialtie. But the wrongness had just begun.

I heard her before I saw Lugh roughly drag her in to the room. Little Ruby, not the obstreperous and defiant self-confident woman-child I had known but a scared and frightened blind girl who was alone and mistreated far from home. It took all of my will not to run to her. I remembered the last time I had to stand by and watch someone I love being mistreated by Cialtie. That time I had waited too long and Fergal died. This time I swore to myself I would not let that happen again. But what could I do?

My hand reached slowly up to my neck. If I had to I could rush Ruby and activate the twin
rothlú
amulet that the hermit had placed around my neck. I might make it, but if I did that would leave Jesse with questions he couldn't answer. Questions that would get him killed. I had to wait and watch.

Lugh pushed Ruby to the centre of the flaming Shadowfire bowls. She had lost her sunglasses. Her hair covered half her face and was knotted and wild. Her visionless eyes darted frantically around the room. I so desperately wanted to shout to her to let her know that I was here and she was not alone.

Lugh drew a dagger from his belt and placed it at Ruby's throat. I grabbed the
rothlú
amulet and yanked it. The silver chain broke and clattered loudly to the floor in the pin-dropping quiet chamber. I wondered if I could get to Ruby before Lugh cut. Just when I decided that I had to risk it, Jesse spoke.