They Mostly Come Out At Night (27 page)

"Nonsense," she commanded, waving a wrinkled hand at Lonan to stop him from removing himself from the building. "For too long have I prayed to my husband's god in solitude in this hall. It would be refreshing to have some company for once."

"But my lady," the head guardsman objected, "my orders-"

"Your orders are to keep me safe," the queen snapped back at him, "and to keep me within sight at all times. Unless you view these two men as a serious threat, I think your duties can be performed most admirably from the shrine doorway. Or should I have a word with my husband about the capabilities of my personal guard?"

The guard shifted uneasily. "No, my lady. Apologies, my lady." The guardsmen set up post at the doorway, and Andromeda beckoned for Lonan to bring Adahy and join her kneeling at the foot of the totem.

"What a curious stare your father has," she remarked in humour as they knelt staring at the butchered wooden birds. Sure enough, Adahy's eyes had not left the shadow of the queen's face since she had entered the room, even as they knelt now side by side together.

"Yes, he's been doing a good bit of that lately," Lonan muttered under his breath.

This is exactly where I wanted to be, to have the ear of the queen.

"Actually, your majesty, I’ve a confession to make."

"Well, young man, I am afraid there are no priests here to take your confession. Ghosts and wooden pigeons are all the ears you will find here now."

Lonan smiled. "Yes. And yours, your majesty."

The queen turned to look at him and for the first time, Lonan caught a glimpse of her face. When he had seen her in his dream a few nights ago she had been young, beautiful and with a life full of possibility. What Lonan saw now was an old woman, drained of vitality and spirit, and a face in which happiness no longer lived.

"Now, young man, what on earth would you have to confess to my ears?"

Lonan took a deep breath. "Well, for a start, your majesty, this man is not my father."

The queen's face was rigid, tensed for danger.

"In fact, your majesty, you’ve met him before. A long time ago."

The queen's eyes darted to Adahy's face, widened, and then her head turned back to a praying pose, regarding the totem pole before her.

Lonan decided to continue his confession. "He served you wine at a feast, but I think that even then you knew he wasn’t a normal servant."

In a different voice now, one that choked out from her withered throat, she stated, "You are the dreamer."

"Actually, m'lady, I suspect he is. I was just along for the ride, it seems. This is no ordinary man. This is Adahy, the true Magpie King. The man who should have been your husband."

The queen remained praying, but her hands were shaking. "And what do you have to say to me, Adahy? Why have you abandoned me for all of this time?"

"He cannot respond, my lady. He was… well, he was as good as murdered on the night that you met. He hasn’t spoken a word since, or even really had any kind of interaction with the outside world until he heard your name yesterday. These tears, even, are new to me though I've known him my entire life."

Andromeda turned to look at Adahy again, and both of them shared tears on their cheeks. She looked away. "I do not need to ask you who has been sharing my marriage bed for the past forty years. I have learnt much in recent nights. I have a gift, you see. It runs in my bloodline, much like the gift of the Magpie King runs through the Corvae. I can walk in dreams, and have been walking through yours." Still staring forward, she slipped a thin silver dagger from her wrist.

At the sight of the weapon, Lonan flinched backwards.

"This was for me. Tonight. I imagine I would have used it already if you had not appeared." Lonan did not know how to reply to this so allowed her to continue. "After all that has been revealed to me, I see no further reason to remain in this life."

"We need your help," Lonan stated bluntly.

She laughed at this. "And I should care about two insignificant lives? When so many have suffered already, none more so than me?"

"The Andromeda that the Magpie King met all those years ago would have cared."

"Ah, well, that is your problem, then. She died years ago, at the hands of another Magpie King. The one your friend Adahy allowed to have me."

"He hardly allowed it. The man was his friend. He had no clue until it was too late."

The queen sighed. "This too, I know. Forgive my abruptness. I had come here tonight in search of a simple end, which you have stolen away from me. When you told me that the serving boy had returned, I had hoped it was in some way to save me. If he had truly felt that he was falling in love with me, would he not have come back from the dead all those years ago?"

"Look at him," Lonan suggested firmly.

The queen turned again to look into the old man's eyes.

"This man has come back from the dead. As much as his body was able to live, he kept it going after all the damage it had sustained. It was your name that brought him to life again, that caused him to make sounds and move again. He has come back for you, as much as he is able to."

Tears fell and Queen Andromeda moved her hand to touch that of the man who would have loved her. Adahy let out a low moan at the feel of her skin against his.

"But," Lonan continued, "all of this may be coming to an end anyway. He knows who I am now, Maedoc. I don’t think it will be long before he discovers Adahy. I was attacked by a… monster last night, and was lucky to escape with only this." Lonan held up the stumps on his hand to show his wound.

The queen grew pale. "What did that to you?"

"A monster. Like a person, but with jet black skin and sharp teeth. He was there, the Magpie King, commanding it. It was dressed like him."

Andromeda began to shake. "What became of your attacker?"

"Dead, thank Artemis. I was saved by another who set it on fire."

The queen's face disappeared back into her hood. Then, to his surprise, Lonan heard her give out a sharp sob.

"My lady?"

She held out a hand to command him to stop his questioning, but his curiosity was too strong.

"What attacked me on that night?"

It was the queen's turn to inhale deeply. "My son. Or daughter, possibly. I do not know which have survived."

She looked to Lonan again. He could only kneel there with his mouth open, aghast.

"I always thought it was me," she explained. "When they came out wrong, twisted, he claimed it was my fault. I was a bad mother, poor breeding ground. Then he took them away from me, to raise as his offspring. And put a new monster in my belly as quickly as he could.”

Adahy's hand, still in hers, trembled.

"Since stealing into your dreams, I now know the truth, however. It was him, his blood, poisoned by the black flower of the Magpie King. Blood that he passed on to our children." She looked Lonan deep into his eyes. "That thing you killed was mine, but it would not know me if it saw me. I did tell you I have suffered."

Lonan left the silence to breed for a while, and then continued, "He wants to find me."

"Yes. Yes, he does. He wants the information you have in your head."

"I don't understand?"

"The Lonely House. The black flower. He wants it, for our children."

"But, he was there. Why does he need me to tell him?"

"You underestimate the effects the drug has had on his mind. It is riddled with holes and inaccuracies now. He does not mount the night in any strategic pattern. He could not travel to a specific village in the forest if he wanted to. I doubt he even knows all of their names. He roams at wild, taking what he wants. But he wants that flower again, and will take the knowledge from you if he can. That is why he has been sending his agents to your village, both at day and night, to find the person who had been dreaming about his past. The attacks on your village have been much worse recently, have they not? Did you not wonder why this had happened?"

No, because I thought it was happening in my dreams. Because I thought what was happening to young Adahy was affecting my village.
"What about you? You know too, do you not? Where the flower is?"

She laughed. "Oh, I dare not tell him that I know. He would torture the information from me and then kill me for fear it fell into other hands. It was dangerous enough when I let slip that I had started to see these dreams in the first place - that is not a mistake I shall repeat twice."

“Could I not just tell him? Would he let me live if I showed him the way?”

Lonan’s voice faded at the stare that he earned from the Owl Queen.
Yes, that had been a foolish thing to say. If the queen’s life was at stake, then a lowly villager with no Knack had no chance.

“What would happen if he got the flower? What difference would it make for him?”

“For the Magpie King?” The queen shrugged. “Nothing, I expect. For his children? They possess power already, yes, but nothing like him. My husband is old now, his body ruined by neglect. I daresay it shall not be long before the forest is rid of him. In a generation or two, it could be that the villagers will have nothing unnatural to fear in the dark anymore. But if my children all possessed the power of the Magpie King, and if they learnt how to pass it down to any offspring that may come… He is mad, completely mad. There are days when he roams the halls of the Eyrie, screaming at Wolves that are not there, but some part of him, some primal instinct, cares for those abominations, his Children. The only time I see him show any affection is towards those creatures. He wants to provide for them before his end. He wants them all to have his power.”

Lonan understood what Andromeda was saying to him, but he could not allow his mind to move past one particular thought.
You’re talking about me as if I’m already dead. We aren’t talking about how to save me, we are talking about how to save the future of the forest. But my life is just beginning. This isn’t fair.

In Lonan’s desperation, the accusing face of Branwen came into his thoughts.
I can still make a difference for her, though. And for Aileen, our mother, and little Clare. And for the Tumulty boys and their children, for Mother Ogma and the rest of Smithsdown. My life’s as good as over, but maybe with the end of it I can make some kind of difference for everyone else.

"So… so, we have to go to the Lonely House then. That’s where the flower is. We could get rid of it, get it away from him for good."
Or maybe use it to beat him?
“That’s where this will all end.”

"Perhaps. I cannot see the future. Or the past, most of the time. You will find what you seek there, but it would do to you as it did to him. If you use it then you will only replace one mad king with another."

Lonan's mind was whirring. "Still, that’s the only course of action we have."

"You know who will be waiting there for you?"

"Yes. I saw her in the dream."

"You know it will be different this time?"

Lonan looked to the queen for clarification.

"Adahy and Maedoc visited when the moon was waxing full, when she was almost at her most content. The new moon is three days from now. She will be feeling empty and cruel."

Lonan's skin crawled. "So, the Magpie King and the Pale Lady will have to fight over who gets first shot at me. Such a conflict could work in my favour."

"You should leave. It will be dark soon, and I have a deed to perform before he arrives with the night."

"You’re still going through with it?"

"What would you have me do? Suffer him again, knowing what I know?"

Lonan had no words to answer with.

The queen took Adahy's hands in hers, and spoke softly to him. "Avenge me, king that would have been my husband. Avenge the life we should have had together."

Lonan bowed to the totem pole, then stood to leave. "My lady, Gallowglass. Which direction is it in?"

"Head west. The paths that lead that way from the temple should take you there. Beyond the village, you will need to find your own route."

"Thank you my lady. And... one more question?"

Andromeda nodded for him to continue.

"How many children do you have?"

Her face grew grim, and she turned away from him, forever shading her features in blackness. "You must understand, madness can be infectious. I... I'm ashamed to say I struggle to answer that question. I do not know which survived childbirth or their father. Memories of the infants blend into one. Suffice to say he bred with me until my body could gift him no more abominations. A dozen, perhaps? I truly cannot tell. Now leave an old woman with her last thoughts."

Lonan and Adahy left the temple, the last people to ever speak to the queen.

Back outside, they moved quickly. Lonan did not doubt the queen would hold off her suicide for as long as possible to give them time to clear, but when it did happen, it would be expected that the two villagers who prayed with her might have information about why she took her life. Lonan did his best to encourage Adahy to jog with him, but the old man remained as stubborn as ever with his movements. The only difference were the tears that now streamed from Adahy's face as he mourned the woman he loved.