John Lenahan - Sons of Macha

‘Seriously?’

I nodded and she laughed but stopped right away and held her chest in pain.

‘I think you need another session. I’ll see if she’s up for it.’

I found Graysea and asked her if she could gill-up for Mom again. She said she was on her way to do just that now that she had seen that everyone else was OK. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Gerard’s big fist hand me a glass.

‘Is that wine?’

‘It’s something a bit stronger,’ the big man replied.

‘Good,’ I said, knocking whatever it was back in one. The whole world wobbled like I was about to do a flashback on a bad sitcom.

When I could risk moving again without falling over, Gerard said, ‘More?’

‘Yes please,’ I replied holding out my glass.

‘You wouldn’t have any of your wine with you, Gerard?’ Macha asked, coming over to the fire. Behind her stood all of the horses, like groupies awaiting the beckon of a prima donna rock star.

‘You know I do.’ Gerard poured her a glass and she took a sip with her eyes closed like it was a chalice filled with the elixir of youth.

‘Oh, it has been so long,’ she sighed.

‘It has indeed,’ Gerard said. ‘You look good for a dead woman.’

Macha smiled at him but he didn’t return it. ‘I’m surprised to find you here, winemaker. Thank you for coming to save me.’

‘Spend no thanks on me, my Queen, I came because of Dahy. I would follow that man to the gates of hell if he wished it and I will defend him from all harm.’

‘Well then let us both make sure no harm befalls him,’ Macha said, still smiling but not as much.

‘Let’s,’ Gerard said. ‘More wine?’

‘No,’ she said, placing her hand over the top of her glass. ‘I have been long away from your wine for too long. Like your company, too much of it would be overly intoxicating, but thank you.’ She handed me her empty glass and walked away.

‘So you two have met?’ I asked Gerard.

‘Oh yes,’ he replied. ‘We have met.’

Tuan offered to fly Mom home. She must have still felt pretty banged up ’cause she accepted. Oracle guy was given something that put him into a coma, and then stuffed in the barrel that just yesterday had held Graysea’s saltwater bath. For good measure he also had a paralysing pin stuck in his neck. I wanted to feel sorry for him but I once had travelled on a wagon in a barrel and I’m sure that it was much more comfortable to do it unconscious. Still I made sure he had a few pillows in there with him.

As Gerard hammered the barrel lid closed I said, ‘Well, Lugh is lugh-ed up tight.’

‘What did you say?’ Dad asked, and I also noticed that everyone else had stopped in their tracks.

‘It was a joke. You know, locked up tight?’

‘But what did you call him?’

‘Lugh, the Brownies said Oracle guy’s name is Lugh.’

Gerard stepped back like the barrel was about to bite him. All eyes shot to Macha.

‘Is this true?’ Dad asked.

She looked surprised. ‘I thought you knew.’

Nieve stepped up to Macha. She had a look on her face I’m pretty sure I had never seen before. She looked – frightened. ‘Are you saying that the one who had kept you prisoner for all of these years is Lugh of the Samildanack?’

‘Yes,’ Macha replied.

Gerard actually stumbled into me when he heard this. I steadied him and said, ‘What does this mean?’

‘It means,’ he said, looking at the mallet in his hand, ‘that in that barrel, I have just sealed – a god.’

Macha rode in front on the way home. Not because she was a queen, but because we quickly figured out that if she wasn’t in front then all of the horses would keep trying to look around to see where she was. Dahy rode with her and the two of them chatted the entire time like teenagers on the telephone. Dad and Nieve rode wordlessly behind. If Macha had any guilt in leaving them motherless for so long, she showed no sign of now trying to make up for it. I couldn’t see their faces but their body language in the saddle made them look like unhappy children forced to ride a pony at a birthday party.

I was behind them with Araf – tantamount to riding alone – and behind me rode my girls, Essa and Graysea. I didn’t hear them share even one syllable and I wasn’t about to turn around to see if they were OK. The tension permeated the entire group to the point where Gerard, riding in the cart at the rear, was singing dirges as opposed to his usual ditties.

It wasn’t just the imminent outbreak of a cat fight that was upsetting the group, it was like the whole party was spooked. And the thing that was spooking everybody was the guy locked in the barrel on Gerard’s cart. I needed more details on this ‘Lugh being a god’ thing but Mom and Nieve were not in a talkative mood and Gerard didn’t like talking to me when Essa was around, in case she thought he was taking sides. (Even a father can be afraid of a child like Essa.) And I could never get Dahy away from Macha.

At night I tried to entice Grandma into talking about Lugh and her imprisonment but she said that it was far too horrid to speak of. She went to bed early every night with a horse standing guard outside her tent.

I was reduced to spending my days staring at the scenery – not a bad thing. Spring had fully sprung and summer was once again upon The Land. The vibrancy, the … aliveness permeated everything, and – if they were like me – everyone. The feeling – no, not the feeling – the knowledge that you can live for ever came from days like these.

News of Queen Macha’s return preceded us. An hour before our arrival at Castle Duir a rumble and a cloud of dust could be seen in the distance. Dahy and Dad sped to the front and were about to throw us all into battle stations when Macha said, ‘There is no need for concern. It is just my children.’

Sensing the Horse Enchantress’s approach, the horses in Castle Duir’s stables had become anxious. The master of the stables, having heard that Macha was soon to arrive, left open all the stable doors and let the horses run to meet their mistress.

Macha dismounted and walked ahead of us as the sound of thundering hooves intensified. What a scary and magnificent sight: Macha standing alone in an open field, her hands held out as a stampede of galloping horses came directly at her. As they got nearer they squeezed together so as to be close to the Horse Enchantress as they passed. I thought for sure they were going to trample her but at the last second they parted. They swarmed past her like a flock of birds – her hands brushing the charging beasts. They swung around for another pass. They did this three times and I’m sure they would have done it all day if Macha hadn’t put a stop to it. She raised her yew wand and the horses swung in front of her and then stopped as if at attention. From the middle of the herd came a huge silver stallion. I recognised him. The stable master had told me that his name was Echo because he was the spitting image of the horse that sired him – King Finn’s horse. When I once asked if I could ride him I was told that he was wild – unrideable. Yet here he was, head down, offering himself to the Horse Enchantress. Macha patted him on the snout and Echo quivered. Then, fast as a tree monkey, she mounted him and galloped towards Castle Duir. The herd whinnied and followed – leaving us behind.

We didn’t even have to kick our horses to catch up; Acorn leapt to join the herd whether I liked it or not. I galloped up next to Dad and Nieve. ‘I’ll say this about Grandma,’ I shouted into the dust-filled air, ‘she knows how to make an entrance.’