Читать книгу The Shadowmagic Trilogy - John Lenahan - Страница 19

This was an attack I was not going to survive. I had seen Araf’s banta stick prowess and I had seen his strength and agility with the boar – plus I was unarmed. I dropped to my knees and covered my head. I felt the swish of his lead-filled stick as it travelled close to my head, and then I heard a crack and a squeal of a boar behind me. I opened my eyes, without taking my hands off my head, looked around and saw an unconscious boar.

‘Good one, Araf!’ Fergal yelled. ‘I didn’t even see him coming.’

‘This is a bad sign,’ Essa said. ‘The Pookas need to be informed of this.’

‘Pookas?’

‘Pookas are the animal tenders in The Land. They are having a hard time at the moment. Cialtie has stopped their gold allowance completely. They must have abandoned the Eastlands. We should get back to the fire.’

‘So, none of you is going to kill me?’ I called after them, still on my knees with my arms covering my head.

‘Not me,’ Fergal said.

‘Maybe later,’ Essa said.

‘How about you, Araf?’ I asked, standing.

‘I’m just a farmer,’ he said. ‘I don’t kill people.’

After the animal attack Essa decided we should keep a guard. My trouser-less sleep, the boar fight and a near-death experience had left me wide awake. I volunteered to take first watch.

My three companions went out like cheap light bulbs. I was relieved to see that that I wasn’t the only one who was tired after a long day of riding. I threw a piece of wood on the fire and softly said, ‘Thank you,’ to whichever tree gave it to us. It was the first time in The Land that I had been outside at night and not been unconscious. I studied the stars. It unnerved me to see a night sky so unfamiliar. The air above me was packed with stars that seemed close enough to throw a rock at. There was no moon but the night didn’t need one – the starlight cast a shadowless glow on everything that made the forest seem incandescent. Other than Fergal’s flopping in his sleep, all was perfectly still.

It was nice to be out of the closet – so to speak. I’m not a very good liar and it felt right to be honest – I liked these people. OK, it would be nice if Fergal talked less and Araf talked more – but those were not big problems. I really liked Fergal. Underneath the laddish exterior I knew he had heart. Araf, on the other hand, was a tough nut to crack. I was beginning to realise that although he was the most taciturn man I had ever met, when he did say something, it was important. I had no problem placing my life in their hands.

Essa was my real dilemma. She was just the most wonderful girl I had ever met, but she was so hostile. If she had been like this when I first met her, I don’t think it would have bothered me so much. A beautiful woman who turns out to be a jerk, loses her beauty in my eyes, but Essa and I got along great at first. These days I flinched every time she scratched her nose. I watched the firelight dance on her face. No matter how cold she had been to me lately, I couldn’t help thinking how lovely she was. I don’t think I fell asleep looking at her but I kind of got hypnotised. I let the fire get low and didn’t snap out of it until Essa shot open her eyes.

‘What are you looking at?’

‘I was just thinking how nice you are – when you’re asleep.’

‘You have almost let the fire out. Did you close your eyes?’

‘No. But I will now. It’s your watch.’ I put my head down. It stung where the boar hoof had clipped my forehead, and I winced.

Essa picked up a twig, set fire to the end and brought it towards my face for light. ‘Let me clean that wound for you, it looks nasty.’

‘No thanks,’ I said, ‘I prefer not to be nursed by people who want me dead.’

I rolled over but sleep wouldn’t come. She was trying to be nice and I was mad at myself for being stubborn. I stewed over how I could have dealt with that better. Soon the stillness of the night and the crackle of the fire lulled me. Then I heard it. It might have been a dream but I don’t think so – just before I fell asleep I could have sworn I hear Essa whisper, ‘Thank you, Conor, for saving me from the boar.’

I awoke to the smell of bacon. Ah, it was all a dream, I thought to myself, I’m back home in my bedroom and Dad is cooking me breakfast, but instead of a face full of cotton I opened my eyes to a face full of grass. Araf had butchered the boar I had killed and was cooking ham steaks over the fire. Essa was not to be seen and Fergal was still asleep.

‘Good morning,’ I said, not expecting an answer and not getting one. I stood up and went over to Fergal and shook him on the shoulder to wake him. His Banshee blade popped out of his sleeve and stabbed the air in the exact place where my nose had been seconds before. I jumped back and grabbed my banta stick.

‘For crying out loud!’ I screamed. ‘You almost killed me with that thing.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Fergal said as he got up. Then he saw his blade was out. He cocked his wrist quickly and it disappeared up his sleeve. ‘I did it again, didn’t I?’

Araf nodded.

‘That’s it!’ I said. ‘From now on I wake you with a stick too.’

Essa returned. ‘What is all the noise?’

‘You have heard of sleepwalking? Well, Fergal was sleep-stabbing.’

‘What?’

‘Never mind. Just be careful if you have to wake him up.’

We broke camp. I washed the dried blood off my head wound. It hurt like hell. I should have let Essa do it last night. I climbed into Acorn’s saddle unaided. I was quite proud of myself, even if no one seemed to notice. The inside of my legs howled in protest at the prospect of another day on horseback but it didn’t hurt as much as I expected.

The landscape was green and rolling, sprinkled with the odd tree here and there. The day was warm and pleasant. The Land was in the height of summer. It made me wonder how spectacular the autumn must be.

Since it seemed we weren’t being followed, we rode in pairs and talked freely. Essa had lightened up – a bit. She told me we were not taking the most direct route to the Reedlands, so as to avoid castles and villages. We would be travelling all day in the Eastlands – the so-called No-rune Lands – and tonight we would camp on the edge of the Hazellands.

‘The Hazellands?’ I said. ‘You mean my mother’s home?’

‘Yes. The shortest path is through Castle Cull.’

‘Castle Cull? You mean the Hall of Knowledge?’

‘Yes.’

‘Wasn’t it destroyed?’

‘It was, my father told me to avoid it, but I want to see …’

‘Where your brother died.’

Her head snapped around and she had a fierce look in her eyes. ‘How do you know that?’

‘Your father told me. I’m sorry – it must be awful to lose a brother.’

Her face softened. ‘He left to study at Cull when I was very young. He sent me a letter every week telling me all the gossip from the Hall of Knowledge. I so desperately wanted to study there when I grew up. He used to write quite a bit about your mother, he was very fond of her.’

‘Does anyone know what happened?’

‘No. Your grandfather Finn called a meeting of the Runelords. Ona was going to try to find out who (or what) destroyed Cull, but the night before the runecasting she died in her sleep.’

‘My father accused Cialtie of killing Ona.’

‘What did Cialtie say?’

‘He didn’t deny it.’

‘The more I hear about this uncle of yours – the less I like him.’

‘Well, I certainly took an instant dislike to him.’

‘I’ll leave it up to you, Conor, should we go to the Hall of Knowledge and see for ourselves?’

‘I think we should.’

She smiled. A weak smile, but a smile nonetheless, the first one I had seen on her face since the party.

Fergal yelled, ‘Cherries!’ and broke into a gallop.

Araf and Essa kicked into a gallop and Acorn followed suit, and I almost fell off his back. Once I got used to the terrifying speed I found that galloping was the smoothest ride of all. Acorn seemed to almost float in the air as I pumped my arms in rhythm to his bouncing head. Ahead, the others had stopped in front of an orchard of cherry trees. Acorn stopped next to them and I nearly went over his head again. (The riding part, I was getting good at – it was the stopping, turning and starting I was having trouble with.) Fergal reached up, picked a fruit and popped it in his mouth.

‘You didn’t ask permission,’ I said.

‘You don’t have to with cherries,’ Fergal mumbled, and then spat out a pip. ‘Cherries are the friendliest trees in The Land. They love getting picked. It’s like you are doing them a favour.’

As we walked our horses through the grove, the trees lowered their branches to us, and we picked and ate to our hearts’ content. Some trees even dropped cherries on me. They were delicious. Araf filled his hat and I stuffed as many in my saddlebag as I could fit. The feeling of welcome among these trees was overwhelming, and when we left I could sense that they wanted us to take even more.

That night around the campfire Fergal told me why he wanted to see Deirdre. ‘I want to find out who I am,’ he said. ‘I was raised by a woman called Breithe – she was Araf’s nanny. As you can see I am not an Imp. Breithe knew who my real parents were, she promised to tell me all when I reached Rune-age. She died before she could tell me.’

‘How did she die?’

‘She went out foraging for mushrooms and ate a poisonous one. A lifetime of mushroom picking – I can’t imagine how she could have made such a mistake. She was a good woman.’

‘I’m sorry for you both,’ I said.

Araf nodded.

‘So that is why I want to see Deirdre,’ Fergal concluded. ‘I hope she can use her magic to tell me who I am and where I came from.’

‘I hope so too,’ I said.

Essa took the first watch. I was asleep the moment my head hit the ground.

I dreamt I was in a rainstorm but it wasn’t raining water, it was raining cherries. I put my arms out to my side and leant my head back and caught cherry after cherry in my mouth. I looked and saw Fergal doing the same. Scores of cherries were pouring into his mouth, and as he tried to chew them the dark red juice poured out of his mouth. I awoke with that image in my eyes.

Essa woke me – it was my watch. She had just closed her eyes when I saw a light approach. It was erratic, like someone running with a candle. As it got closer I saw that no one was holding it; an incredibly bright light just floated in the air and it was coming directly for us. I shook Essa and pointed.

She sat up alert and then laughed. ‘Conor, haven’t you ever seen a firefly before?’

‘Not like that. That’s a flying sixty-watt light bulb.’

‘I don’t know what you are talking about but it’s just a firefly. Look.’

She closed her eyes and whispered, ‘Lampróg.’ It flew straight to her and lit her face.

‘I used to do this when I was a little girl.’ The firefly flew into her cupped hands, she whispered to it and it fluttered into her hair and sat there like a magic jewel.

‘Good night, Conor.’ She put her head down and closed her eyes. The firefly stayed in place and illuminated the side of her face.

‘You must have been a lovely little girl,’ I said.

She didn’t open her eyes but she smiled and said, ‘I was.’

The firefly stayed there until her breathing became regular and then flew off, I imagined, to find a proper little girl.

The next morning, we had travelled for less than an hour when we reached the border of the Hazellands. You could actually see it on the ground. One step was green and alive, the next was brown and dead. Acorn was hesitant to cross the line. We travelled in silence and saw nothing alive. I had seen drought-stricken land before, but this was worse – it was as if the life force of the place was gone and nothing had the will to survive.

Araf was in front. He crested a hill, stopped and dismounted. Actually to say he dismounted is being generous, he almost fell out of his saddle. He stared at the landscape ahead of him and dropped to his knees. I crested the hill and saw what he had seen. A huge field as far as the eye could see was blackened with ash and burnt crops.

‘Oh my gods,’ I heard from behind me. It was Fergal. ‘Is that the Field?’

Araf nodded without looking up.

‘What is so special about this field?’ I asked.

‘They studied everything at the Hall,’ Fergal explained, ‘even farming. This was a special garden where the Imp students would try new things. It was supposed to be beautiful. Araf lost a cousin here.’

I dismounted and put my hand on Araf’s shoulder. ‘Sorry,’ I said. It didn’t seem enough but he placed his hand on mine in thanks.

This was the true beginning of the desecration of the Hazellands. Before, everything was just dead; here as I got closer to the Hall, I could see the deliberate destruction. Hazel bushes were torched, and worst of all, we saw an apple tree cut down and left to rot. It made me feel ill. As the top of the Hall started to come into view, Acorn got very jittery. He sidestepped, whinnied and stopped unexpectedly. I got the impression that Acorn had memories of this place and they were not pleasant ones. I toyed with the idea of getting down and walking. I wish I had. Just as I crested a rise and received my first full view of the ruins of the Hall of Knowledge, we startled a flock of ravens. For hours the Hazellands had been completely lifeless, and this explosion of squawking and beating wings was too much for Acorn – he bolted.

I didn’t think anything could be scarier than standing in front of a charging boar – I was wrong. Acorn was breaking all known horsey speed limits and I was powerless to stop or even influence the beast.

I was flying past some outbuildings of the Castle when I heard Fergal come up on my left yelling. Boy, we were moving fast. He reached over to grab my reins, but he didn’t make it. He never saw what happened – I did. As we galloped between two burnt-out buildings, I saw a thick rope pop up and stretch across our path. It was too low to duck. I only had time to think, This is going to hurt. It did.