John Lenahan - Prince of Hazel and Oak

We could have made it out of the Pinelands in one day but Tuan and Yogi decided to call an early halt. ‘The less time sleeping under an alder tree the better,’ Tuan said. I remembered the last time I slept under an alder – everything I owned, including my shoes, was stolen. I wasn’t looking forward to spending time in a forest full of them.

‘We are going to have to pay tribute to the King of the Brownies,’ Tuan said that night around the campfire.

‘Can’t we avoid Brownie Castle and just get to the island?’ I said. ‘I hate all that royal bowing and scraping stuff. And I’ve met the King of the Brownies – I’m not a big fan.’

‘As soon as we enter the Alderlands,’ Tuan said, ‘the trees will inform all of the Brownies that we are there. We cannot avoid Fearn Keep. Do you have anything to give the King for a tribute?’

‘Yeah, Mom gave me some gold, mined by Leprechauns from Castle Duir.’ I reached into my saddlebag and produced four slim pieces of gold imprinted with the Oak Rune. They were about the size of a candy bar. ‘How many of them should I give him?’

Everyone’s eyes nearly popped out of their heads. ‘One will be more than ample,’ Araf said. ‘Put them away and don’t let any of the alders see that gold or you won’t have any to give.’

Admittedly I had never had a good experience with the Brownies but it kind of bothered me how people talked them. ‘You know, guys,’ I said, ‘I refuse to condemn an entire race just because the first one I met robbed me blind, but it seems to me that everyone hides their wallets when they come up against Brownies. What is it with those guys?’

‘Brownies believe that the Faeries of Duir are pretenders to the Oak Throne,’ Tuan said.

‘Pretenders?’

‘Yes, they believe that they are descendants of Banbha and therefore should be the custodians of the gold mines of Duir.’

‘Banbha, she is one of the Three Sisters, right? Isn’t she the one that sailed away and brought the Banshees to The Land?’

‘That is the legend,’ Tuan said. ‘The Brownies believe that while she was away the other two sisters, Fodla and Eriu, forced a Brownie named Doran to take a Choosing against his will. He chose the Fearn Rune. Alder Island was created and the Brownies were banished to it. The Brownies believe that the reason the Alderlands are so swampy is because Doran’s heart was not committed to the Choosing.’

‘The Alderlands is an island?’

‘It was,’ Tuan answered. ‘When the Pinelands were formed it was joined with the rest of The Land.’

‘I still don’t see why they have such a reputation as thieves?’

‘Brownies do not like living by the rules of Duir,’ Tuan said.

‘What rules of Duir?’

‘There really is no such thing,’ Tuan said quickly as if I might take offence, ‘but Duir was the first Land. It has an army and it has all of the gold. There are no official rules but if a throne displeases Duir then life for them could be difficult.’

I looked to Araf for confirmation. He shrugged and nodded yes. ‘So Duir doesn’t give the Brownies any gold?’

‘Your grandfather Finn was very tolerant of the Brownies. After he disappeared Cialtie was very generous to them and since then they have grown bolder.’

‘So let me see if I’ve got this right,’ I said. ‘They believe they should have all the gold, so they think it’s OK to steal it whenever they feel like it.’

Tuan and Yogi looked at each other and nodded. ‘That would be an appropriate summation,’ Tuan said. ‘Even a Brownie wouldn’t mind being called a thief. They are taught thievery and stealth as part of their formal education.’

‘Well, that would have spiced up high school.’

I had a quick face wash in a bowl of freezing cold water and stumbled in the dark back to my tent. Brendan was already in there. Now that Nieve was gone it seemed I had a roommate again.

‘Don’t you have a tent of your own?’ I asked as I got into my sleeping roll.

‘Why should I bother pitching my own tent when yours is so comfy?’

‘I’m like a big import of theprince, you know?’

‘Are you really?’ Brendan said in the dark. ‘I thought that was just a line you used to meet girls.’

‘No, it’s real. I got a castle, family sword, servants – the whole nine yards.’

‘Gosh,’ Brendan said, ‘you would think with all that stuff that you wouldn’t have to share a tent.’

‘Yeah,’ I said in resignation. ‘Speaking of girls, that was quite a show you put on up there in the Pinelands.’

‘What show would that be?’

‘The thirty-second movie-star goodbye kiss you had with my aunt.’

‘Oh, you saw that did you?’

‘They saw it from the space shuttle. You realise, Brendan, that my aunt is probably like a thousand years old.’

‘She doesn’t look a thousand years old.’

‘Well, I’m just saying, are you sure you want to get involved with a woman that you might have studied about in ancient history class?’

‘Conor?’

‘Yes?’

‘Shut up.’

‘I’m just saying…’

‘Good night, Mr O’Neil.’

‘Yeah, good night, Detective Fallon.’

I had almost fallen to sleep when Brendan just had to get the last word in.

‘Conor, no offence, but if I was going to ask for relationship advice – I wouldn’t ask you.’

I didn’t answer him. I just silently nodded in agreement.

The flaps of the tent cracked with the morning frost. Tuan and Yogi weren’t happy with the dusting of snow. It made it difficult to choose the right path into the Alderlands. And being on the right path in the Alderlands is important, ’cause if you’re not on the path – you’re in a swamp.

After about an hour, the Pookas found what seemed to be a solid trail. The only swamps I had ever seen in Tir na Nog were the ones in Cialtie’s Reedlands. I was not looking forward to going into another but once inside I was relieved to see that these swamps were much healthier than the foul and unnatural ones in my uncle’s patch. Still, it was spooky. Leafless alder trees draped with long catkins lined our path or lived alone on bogie islands. Even though the ground was white with a light snow and the sky was cloudless, the place still seemed to be darker than it should, as if the light was mysteriously being sucked from the place. Small black birds darted through the trees but moved so fast I could never actually see one. Around the edges, the swamps were frozen but in the dark deeper water near the middle, unseen creatures submerged as we passed – their presence only given away by a tiny splash or an ominous plop.

The Pookas decided that someone should talk to a tree and let them know we were here. raf was chosen, since nobody has any real beefs with the Imps. He placed his hands on a burly alder for a few moments, said, ‘Thank you,’ and walked back to us.

‘She pretended to be surprised,’ Araf said, ‘but I got the impression that they already knew we were here. I told her we were coming to see the King and she wished us good luck.’

‘Was that like an actual “good luck”,’ I asked, ‘or a you’re gonna need it “good luck”?’

As usual I didn’t get an answer from Araf.

Essa pulled back and dropped in next to me later that day. I stifled the sarcastic comment about Turd-low. Call me genius but I was starting to realise that maybe one of the reasons Essa was so feisty was because I wound her up all the time.

‘I have to say, Conor, this is not my favourite place.’

‘First trip to the Alderlands then?’

She nodded yes. ‘I’m not very happy about being here and neither is my father.’

‘Your father? How does Gerard know you are here?’