Sean Cullen: The Prince of Two Tribes

“Pah! Peace? Slavery! The People of the Moon were born to rule. You have doomed them with your cowardice. You are all cowards!”

Ariel lunged forward, too quick to be restrained, and struck the prisoner across the face with the back of his mailed hand. The crack of the contact echoed on the hillside. Tain staggered and fell onto his face.

“Keep your idle taunts to yourself, dog! Merddyn fears no one, least of all you!”

Tain forced himself up onto his knees. He grinned, bright blood drooling from his split lip. “All slights will be remembered, Brother Ariel! Lapdog Ariel! Your treachery will be remembered and avenged,” the Dark Faerie hissed. He lunged against his chains but succeeded only in pitching himself forward onto his knees.

A Faerie in exquisite armour inlaid with pearls reached out and restrained Ariel. “We all have reason to be bitter,” the Faerie said, his grey eyes full of pain. “We must learn to forgive.”

“Never.” Ariel’s voice broke. “He killed my sister. Let me go, Greenleaf.” Ariel was weeping now. “Let me go.”

“Enough!” cried Merddyn. “The time has come for judgment.” Merddyn raised his hands above his head. Silence reigned on the hilltop. Even the wind seemed to pause. “Tain Mab Dubh, you have broken our Law. Now that Law will judge you. You shall be bound and imprisoned by our strongest Ward. The term of your confinement shall be the term of this world’s existence. Your prison shall be within the Bone of the Earth itself.” Merddyn drew back his arm to indicate the standing stone that occupied the centre of the circle. A ring of Faeries stood around the stone. As Merddyn nodded, they began to chant an eerie melody that made the hackles on the necks of the Humans rise.

Slowly more Faeries joined in. The chant grew stronger, filling the very air with a shiver of power like the resounding of an invisible bell. The stones in the outer circle shimmered, steaming gently as the water on their surfaces evaporated, boiled off by a mystical inner heat.

“What is this? What Ward is this?” A tremor in Tain’s voice betrayed his growing fear.

“A Ward devised especially to contain you and your fellows,” Merddyn replied. He raised his arms with a shout. The voices of the Faeries rose to an ear-shattering shriek.

The stone at the centre of the circle erupted into white hot flames blazing with tightly leashed energy. The Faeries, too, radiated power, their hair standing out, crackling with blue sparks.

“No! NO!” Tain struggled against his chains. His enemies watched with horror as their leader was dragged by unseen forces toward the glowing stone. Tain clawed the turf, desperate to stop his progress.

“You cannot hold me!” the Dark Faerie Lord shrieked. He was almost at the foot of the stone. “You have not defeated me!”

Tain was drawn into the blazing stone, sinking into the shining surface like a rock into a pool of glowing oil. A clap of thunder rolled out across the battlefield. The light died, leaving the rock standing still, cold and black.

Merddyn turned to the other prisoners. “You have seen what will happen to those who continue to rebel. If you agree to accept the Pact with the People of Metal and live by its articles, you shall be freed. But… ” Merddyn’s eyes hardened. “Should you break the Pact, you will face the same dire punishment. What say you?”

The Dark Faeries were silent. The lesser among them turned to those who’d been the lieutenants of Lord Tain. There were three of them: a brother and sister, Orcadia and Briach Mac Morn. They were pale of skin, beautiful to behold even in defeat. They sneered defiance. The third was tall, with dark brown skin. His long chestnut hair hung in curls around his face. His mouth curled in a crooked smile, his honey-brown eyes crinkling with humour.

“Well, now! Very generous terms, I should think.” He chuckled. “One would be a fool not to accept.”

“I’m glad you see it that way, Pukh,” Merddyn replied. “I would not wish to continue this conflict. We have all suffered enough.”

“I agree.” Pukh grinned, showing bright, even teeth. “Besides, there is plenty of world for all of us to share.

I don’t expect I’ll ever be completely at ease around Humans, not the way you are, but I will find a little patch for myself and those who wish to come with me.”

Merddyn didn’t respond. He turned to the Human King. “Strike off their chains.”

“And then?” the King growled.

“Then we have a Pact to strike.”

“There are still fugitives,” the King said. “Not all surrendered and not all lie dead below.”

“They shall be hunted down and given the same option,” Merddyn said.

“And if they refuse?”

“There are many more stones like those in this circle,” the Ancient Faerie said with great weariness. “Come, there is much to discuss.”

Greenleaf went to a Faerie who knelt in the mud, her armour spattered with blood and grime. Her golden hair hung in muddy tangles. As he approached she looked up and smiled.

“Brother,” she said. “I have missed you.”

“And I you, Deirdre,” Greenleaf replied with a sad smile. He reached out an elegant hand and helped her to her feet. “Let us go home.”

Later, in the darkness, Merddyn made his way back to the circle of stones. The talks had gone late into the night, but the Pact was in place. After long negotiations, the Humans and Faeries had agreed on three basic rules. First, Faeries could continue to live among Humans as long as they submitted to Human rule. Second, Faeries were forbidden to interfere in Human affairs. Third, any of the Fair Folk who refused to accept the Pact were to be exiled to the Other Side.^13 Or, they could choose to live in one of a few Sanctuaries established by the more powerful Fair Folk. These Sanctuaries were forbidden to Humans and would be hidden from the world by powerful glamours. Pukh was already gathering supporters to join him in a kingdom he planned to call “Tir na nOg,” or “the Everlasting Lands.”

Merddyn simply wanted peace. The Pact was difficult to accept, even for him. Essentially, it made Fair Folk dependent on the goodwill of Humans for their continued survival. He imagined a future in which Faeries would fade from Human memory, existing only in legend, as tales to frighten children around hearth fires.

Merddyn had one more task before he could rest. He wearily entered the circle of stones, lit up by the moon’s silver light. The stones now contained imprisoned Faeries, those who’d refused to accept the terms of the Pact. With the Faerie glamours, no one would recognize the rocks as the prisons they were.

Merddyn closed his eyes and let the energy gather in him. He reached out with his mind, raising his arms, palms upward. Beads of sweat instantly popped out on his forehead.

With a grinding sound, the stones rose from the ground, trailing clods of black earth. The massive rocks hovered for a moment, then began to circle Merddyn. Faster and faster they sped. The roar as they passed through the air was like the scream of a hurricane.

Suddenly Merddyn dropped his arms. The stones shot off in all directions, catapulting high into the atmosphere. The speed of their passage ignited the air. Like shooting stars in reverse, they flew higher and higher. The central stone lanced upwards like a rocket and disappeared into the dark sky.

Merddyn fell to his knees, exhausted. His limbs quivered as he gasped for breath.

“That was a pretty piece of work, Merddyn.”

He looked up to see Pukh standing across from him on the now-empty hilltop. Behind him stood two Faeries, a tall man with silver hair and a dour face, and a tiny woman with wide grey eyes and a vague, dreamy smile.