Shadowmagic - Sons of Macha (47 page)

‘Oh gods no, Conor,' she said placing her head on my shoulder and wrapping her arm around mine. ‘I do not want this job for ever. I'm only doing this because Oisin would have wanted me to. If I had my choice I would lose myself in the Fililands. I would go someplace where I wasn't reminded of your father at every corner.'

‘Dad always said, “Things do get better.”'

‘He also said he would never leave me and now he has left me twice.' She tried to smile with that line but failed. ‘I hope someone chooses an Oak Rune soon – so I can maybe come and join you.'

‘Me?' I said. ‘Where am I going?'

She stood, placed her hands on her hips and put on her Queen Deirdre face. ‘You, young man, have a kingdom to rule.'

I slouched on my step. ‘Aw, Mom.'

Y
ou would think that since marriages around here have the potential to last centuries that the service would be longer than five minutes. Like some ceremony from America's old west, the Tir na Nogian wedding vows are practically, ‘Take him? Take her? You're hitched.'

Not that I'm complaining. The faster the ceremony then the sooner we could start with the reception party. And since the reception was being thrown by the father of the bride and The Land's best party thrower, Gerard, then all of that ‘Till death do us part,' stuff is something to get through quickly.

Yes, Essa and I got married. Hell, if attempted homicides, Banshee fiancés, Mermaids and even wars couldn't keep us apart then we figured – why fight it any more?

Gerard cracked open the wine that he had been saving since Essa was in the womb and we all had the most amazing vinous experience of our lives.

I wouldn't say it was a typical wedding. My best man, Araf, had a banta stick fight with my beautiful bride and beat her. Tuan got very drunk and started running and barking in his wolfhound mode. When he bit one of the guests, Graysea had to be called in to use her fish power to sober him up before he turned into a sloshed dragon and burned the place down. Jesse's Brownie entourage was caught stealing the Nikes that the Connemara Druids had bought me as a wedding present. I had the Brownies locked in a dungeon.

The only one missing was Dahy. He had escorted Macha to Thunder Bay a week earlier. I had hoped he would be back. When I mentioned it to Brendan he said something that sent a chill down my spine. He said he got the impression that Dahy was going to sail out to sea with her. Gods, I hoped not. I couldn't lose Dahy too.

Gerard caught me before the night ended and asked me if I wanted a beer.

‘No thanks,' I said, ‘I never thought I would say this but this wine is better than any beer.'

Gerard bowed a low bow and said, ‘That is high praise indeed, Lord of the Hazellands.' Then he wrapped his huge arms around me and applied one of his anaconda-like hugs that lifted me off the ground and threatened to permanently damage my respiratory system. He released me but still held me at arm's length. ‘I always wanted a son,' he said, his eyes getting misty, ‘and you have just lost a father. No man can ever replace Oisin. Your father was a great man, Conor. But know this – I will always be here for you.'

This time it was my turn to mist up and attack
him
with a bear hug.

We let it be known the first order of business in the recovering Hazellands was to start a new junior school. Nora and Nieve shared the major teaching duties and half a dozen families took us up on the offer. Ruby now had classmates to boss around and hopefully that would stop her from getting me into trouble.

I convinced Lorcan to come and supervise the rebuilding of the Hall of Knowledge. If I was going to be in charge of creating a Tir na Nog university then I needed the very best builder/architect for the job. His one condition – I never call him Lorcan the Leprechaun again. I'll keep to that – until he's finished.

Tuan agreed to make his home in the Hazellands too. He is teaching Pooka studies and advanced critter morphing. Brendan is on a monthly commute between running the armoury in Duir and coming to the Hazellands to teach archery and spend time with Ruby. ‘Even in Pixieland I can't avoid a long commute to work,' he complains.

Graysea teaches swimming and her first pupil was Araf. Every time I saw him walking back dripping from the pond I would hide so he wouldn't kill me.

Araf and Essa are really in their elements. Araf teaches agriculture and flower arranging as well as supervising The Field. Essa became professor of winemaking and banta-stick fighting.

Dahy had been gone for months when he showed up in the Hazellands. Weeks ago I had given him up as lost at sea.

‘I thought you had sailed off and become a Grey One and more,' I said when he showed up in my temporary office in the ruins of the Hall of Knowledge.

‘I will not lie to you, Conor, I came very close to doing just that but then I remembered your grandfather Liam and how he so loved this place and I had to help you restore it.'

Dahy wasn't a huggy kind of guy but I hugged him anyway. He even kind of returned it with a little pat on the back. ‘Thanks Diddo, I need you.'

When I stepped back there was a scary look on the old master's face. ‘Just because you are a Runelord now,' he said, ‘doesn't mean you can call me Diddo.'

‘Sorry, Master Dahy,' I quickly replied as I backed out of striking distance.

On the morning of the first day of the very first autumn term at the Hall of Knowledge University, Essa met me at the door and said, ‘What the hell is that thing hanging around your neck?'

‘It's a tie. It's what professors wear when they go to work in the Real World.'

‘Well, I think it looks stupid,' she said.

‘I always thought so too but today I need all of the psychological support I can get.'

‘I have no idea what psychological means but I will always support you, my prince.' She kissed me and then hopped into the house and came back with a box tied with a bow.

‘What's this?'

‘I asked Nora what you are supposed to give as a gift to a first-day teacher.'

I undid the bow and smiled as I looked down at a beautiful shiny apple.

‘Oh, and you get this too.' She kissed me, bade me good luck and pushed me out the door.

I walked into the central courtyard and stood before the new Tree of Knowledge. It was still young but it was lush and well over two storeys high. I placed my hand on the trunk and asked, ‘Are you going to wish me luck too?'

Hazels are much too cool to actually converse with the Hawathiee but I could have sworn I felt an approving nod.

When I turned to leave I saw that Nieve had been watching me.

‘You're not going to throw a spear at me, are you?'

My aunt walked towards me, took my face in her hands and kissed my forehead. ‘No, I was going to do this.' She hooked her arm into mine and walked me to the new classrooms. It was fitting that Nieve was with me. The moment I first set eyes on her was the beginning of all the madness that I now just call life. ‘Your father would be very proud, Conor.'

‘My father, when he found out what I was teaching, would laugh his butt off.'

Nieve laughed with me. ‘He probably would, but he still would have been very proud. I'm actually a little surprised you are teaching a course. I would have thought you would have been too busy.'

‘Oh, I am too busy but I refuse to be relegated to ministerial paperwork and manuscript filing. I wanted to teach a course on joke-telling but no one would let me. Even when I pointed out I was the Lord of the Hazellands, they still wouldn't let me.'

We arrived at the classroom door. She brushed some lint off of my shoulder and then reached for my tie. ‘What is this around your neck?'

‘I'm not even going to explain it to you Auntie, 'cause I'm never going to wear one again. Do you want to come in and watch my first day as a professor?'

‘No, Brendan and I are soon leaving for Castle Duir.'

‘You know I would love to have you here, Nieve, but I'm glad you are helping Mom.'

She kissed me again, ‘Are you all prepared?'

‘Oh, if there is one thing Dad prepared me for – it's teaching this class.'

My students all stood and came to attention when I walked into the room. There was half a dozen: four Faeries, one female Imp and, I was glad to see, a nervous looking Banshee. They were all bright-eyed and young. They had taken this course in hopes of soon going on a Real World walk-about.

‘Sit, sit,' I said, ‘there is none of that bowing stuff in here. In here I am not Lord Anything.' I scratched my name on the blackboard behind me. ‘I am Mister Conor O'Neil. You can call me by my first name – Mister.'

I looked for a reaction and got nothin'. Maybe it was a good thing I wasn't teaching joke-telling.

‘Right, welcome to my class – Modern Real World Languages. I know you're not going to like it much but I'm going to teach you the way I learned. So,' I took a deep breath and when I spoke I surprised myself at just how much I sounded like my father. ‘The language of the day is – Greek.'

I
t's hard writing a novel but these people made it a lot easier.

Yvonne Light, the uber-hyphenator.

Evo, Chris & Tee at the fabulous Podiobooks.com.

Scott and all at The Friday Project.

The amusing and inspiring commenters on the Hazel & Oak bulletin board at podiobooks (especially those that spotted my mistakes).

And everyone that emailed me at [email protected] – thank you so much. The kind words I have received about
Shadowmagic
make it a lot easier to sit down and put my fingers on the keyboard every day.

and

and

are all available as free podcasts from