John Lenahan - Sons of Macha

I reached to the walls of the well. No. I forced myself to think. Not a well – the walls of my mind. I placed my back against a corner of my brain and I climbed. I climbed. I climbed to the sound of that scream. I still couldn’t see anything but the further I went, the closer the sound became. It got so loud it hurt.

I opened my eyes to see Ruby taking another big breath in preparation for another scream. I reached up to stop her but my arm was blocked by a white bed sheet. As she screamed again I freed my hand and caught her by the arm.

‘Ruby,’ I said.

She stopped, smiled and then started hopping around. ‘You see,’ she almost sang, ‘it worked. It worked. I told you it would work.’

I was very confused. I was indoors and in a clean bed. All around me people were rushing into the room. Presumably to see what all the screaming was about. I looked to my left and saw Dad chuckling.

‘Dad? What happened?’

‘I’ve been waiting three days to ask you that,’ he answered.

‘Why was Ruby screaming?’

‘I have no idea,’ he said. ‘She has been waiting by your side for most of the three days that you’ve been in this coma. Just a minute ago she said to me, “Can I try something?” I said yes and she started screaming.’

‘And it worked!’ Ruby said returning to my bed and bouncing her arms off the mattress. ‘Daddy always said my scream could wake the dead and it can. It can, it can. It can. I’m going to tell Daddy.’ And she was off.

‘Where am I?’

‘You’re in one of Fand’s healing rooms.’

‘How did I get here?’

Dad pulled up a chair. ‘That’s an interesting story. Three days ago, the sergeant at arms was shocked to find a seven-year-old blind girl screaming at the Great Gates of Duir. She told him that you were in trouble and he sent a detail out to investigate. They found you curled up on the ground at the edge of the oak perimeter. Ruby says you went out there to talk to a tree – but you’re not that stupid – are you?’

‘Well,’ I said, ‘Ruby wanted to talk to a tree. I, of course, would have liked to have introduced her to Mother Oak but she was too far away …’

‘So you just went out and wrapped your arms around any old oak?’ Dad was almost shouting. ‘What is wrong with you?’

‘What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with that tree? It was like it grew roots into my head.’

‘Didn’t anybody ever tell you about the Oaks of Duir?’

‘No. No one did and whose fault is that – do you think?’

That stopped Dad’s anger, ‘Oh, well, I guess I should have told you.’

‘You think?’

‘Yeah, sorry. ’

‘So what did that tree do to me?’

‘Oaks are dangerous trees, son. If you even brush past one it can snare you. We seem to have no defence against them. They can access our memories and then manipulate our emotions. That’s one of the things that makes Mother Oak so wonderful. She searches out the best in people and reminds you that you are a good person but not all oaks are so affirmative. In fact, almost none are. For the most part, oaks are nasty pieces of wood. I liked to think of them as the junkyard dogs of Castle Duir.’

‘Gosh, and I thought yews were the dangerous ones.’

‘Yews can snare you without touching them but yews aren’t nasty. Yews are the judges of The Land – oaks are the criminals.’

‘But yews can kill you, right?’ I asked.

‘True,’ said Dad, ‘but oaks can drive you mad. Speaking of which – are you OK?’

‘I think so, the worst part was …’

‘You don’t have to tell me. I assure you that whatever the oak stirred up in your mind is nowhere near as bad as he made it seem.’

‘Yeah, it was awful, all of the stuff that filled my head but the oak was right about one thing. I did let Fergal down.’

‘We all dropped the ball on that one, son. We should have seen it coming but never forget – the one who stuck the sword in Fergal was Cialtie.’

Fand entered and told us that there was a host of people wanting to visit with me. Dad picked up a vial from the bedside table.

‘Your mother told me to give you this as soon as you awoke and seemed OK.’

‘I’m fine Dad, I don’t need any medicine.’

‘So you want me to go back to your mother and say that you are defying her?’

I looked at him and frowned. ‘You wouldn’t do that – would you?’

‘Hey, this is your mother we’re talking about. You’re on your own here, pal.’

I took the vial of liquid. ‘OK, I’ll take it,’ I said, ‘but I would really like to …’ That’s the thing about medicines in Tir na Nog – you don’t have to wonder if they are working. There was no possible way I could have even finished that sentence and whatever I thought I wanted to do was instantly of no concern to me. I was back down in my well but this time it was only about six inches deep and lined with satin. Dad said I passed out with a huge smile on my face.

I woke to a question. ‘Are you nuts?’

‘No, I’m OK; the oak tree didn’t drive me mad,’ I said before I opened my eyes.

‘Oh, that’s a huge relief,’ the voice said with an uncaring tone that I didn’t like. I opened my eyes to see a very angry Brendan looming over me. I instantly sat up and backed into the headboard – he looked like he was going to hit me. ‘What were you thinking?’

‘I … I …’

‘Nora and I didn’t know where Ruby was and then you plop her on a horse and take her out to the most dangerous forest in The Land – where you abandon her – on a horse.’

Second most dangerous forest, and it was a pony, I said – to myself, because I knew if I said that to Brendan, there would have been some police brutality.

‘You’re right, I’m sorry,’ I said, ‘I wasn’t thinking.’

‘You’re damn right you weren’t thinking. She could have been killed, or driven insane. What possessed you to do it?’

‘Ruby showed up in my room and said that you promised her a pony but were being slow about it.’

‘So you just went and got her a pony?’

‘Well,’ I shrugged, ‘she’s kinda hard to say no to.’

Brendan relaxed and sat down. ‘Yeah, I can’t argue with that, but you’ve got to remember that even though she acts like she’s forty-two she’s only twelve.’

‘I know, and I’m really sorry. I promise it won’t happen again and I won’t take her anywhere without you knowing about it.’

He patted me on the head like I was a schoolboy. ‘You are forgiven, Mr O’Neil. So,’ he said, changing the subject, ‘how are you?’

‘I’m fine. Dad said I was out of it for three days.’

‘The oak roughed you up a bit, eh?’

‘The specifics of what happened are fading now. All I remember is that he made me remember every bad thing I had ever done and I couldn’t stop it. It was horrible.’

‘As bad as being arrested for your dad’s murder?’

‘I don’t want to bruise your ego, Detective Fallon, but compared to the oak – you’re a pushover.’

A commotion outside the door made us both turn. A woman was screaming and guards were shouting.

‘O gods,’ Brendan said, ‘I might be a pushover but my mother is not. If she gets in here she’s going to tear your head off.’

The door opened and a very fierce looking Nora stomped towards me in a way that reminded me of an attacking Banshee. I looked to my left and saw there was a vial of that medicine on my bedside table. I grabbed it and downed it in one. Nora started screaming. I heard it but really didn’t care as I snuggled blissfully down into the satin bed of my unconsciousness.