John Lenahan - The Shadowmagic Trilogy

‘Where is the Banshee?’

‘He is quite dead,’ Dahy stated. ‘I hated to interfere – but I lost my temper when he used sand. I threw a knife into his neck.’

‘Thanks,’ I said. My knees started to buckle as relief washed over me. I sat down hard. ‘How are the others?’

‘They are all fine, don’t worry. Let us take a look at those eyes.’

He left me and came back with a water skin to rinse out my peepers. They stung like crazy but I was relieved to find that I could see again. I was afraid the Banshee had blinded me for life.

By the time I could use my sore eyes properly, all of the fighting was finished. The ground was littered with dead Banshees. Mom and Nieve were tending Sorley, and no one else seemed to be harmed. I was relieved to see Acorn on his feet. Essa was examining his front legs.

‘Is Acorn OK?’

‘I don’t think anything is broken,’ she said. ‘He was tripped by some sort of rock and rope weapon. You should not ride him for a while.’

‘You’ve got the rest of the week off, old friend,’ I said as I stroked his nose.

He snorted a reply, as if to say, ‘ Don’t worry about me. ’ What a great horse.

A shout came from Dahy. ‘Deirdre, I think you should look at this!’

Something in his voice made us all gather around. In his hand he held a leather cord with a small gold amulet hanging from it.

‘I found this around the neck of that Banshee with all the hair. It looks like the one that your father used to wear.’

He held it up and showed it to my mother. She gasped and placed her hand over her mouth. Her eyes instantly watered up. ‘I made that for him when I was a little girl,’ Mom said.

A voice behind me spoke with so much venom that I didn’t recognise it. ‘Now we know who destroyed the Hall of Knowledge.’

I turned – it was Essa. You could almost feel the heat from the fire in her eyes.

I always wondered what it would be like to be a celebrity walking into a movie première and having hundreds of people pushing, just to get a glimpse of me. Now I know – it’s quite nice. Gerard and Dahy had arrived the night before and had told Lorcan all about us. The news that the one-handed prince, Oisin of the Red Hand, was about to arrive at the camp apparently sent the whole place buzzing. Imps and Leprechauns lined our route and saluted as we passed – even me. Luckily Imps and Leprechauns don’t believe in prophecies much.

Lorcan and Gerard were waiting for us outside of Lorcan’s headquarters in the ruins of the Hall of Knowledge. Lorcan obviously wanted to greet the returning prince of Duir with pomp and ceremony, but Gerard spoiled that idea. As soon as we came into view, Gerard started laughing that infectious laugh of his. Essa broke ranks and ran into her father’s arms. Lorcan was about to salute my father when Gerard stepped forward and took Dad by the shoulders.

‘My gods, Oisin, what has the Real World done to you?’ Gerard’s voice was without his usual mirth.

‘It has made me older, Lord Gerard,’ Dad said.

Gerard smiled. ‘Has it made you wiser?’

‘That is what we are here to find out.’

Gerard nodded in agreement, then gave Dad a big hug. ‘Welcome home, Oisin.’

Lorcan tried once more to introduce himself but Gerard thwarted him again. He grabbed Fergal and me by the neck and then gave us a hug that almost banged our heads together. ‘Well, well, Deirdre, these two young things found you after all.’

‘They did indeed,’ Mom answered, ‘and I am very glad that they found you too. Thank you for looking after them – Lord Gerard.’

Gerard laughed. ‘Ah, they are good boys,’ he said as he tightened his uncomfortable hug. ‘Give them a hundred years and they will make good men.’

We rubbed our sore necks as he approached Mom. ‘Deirdre, you have been too long away. Why did you never contact me?’

‘I did not want to get you into trouble,’ Mom answered.

‘From now on, let me be the judge of the trouble I get into,’ Gerard said. He took Mom’s face in his huge hands and kissed her on the forehead.

‘Speaking of trouble, I think we should get a drink and make some plans.’ Gerard grabbed Mom and Dad by the arms and whisked them into the Hall. Everyone followed except Lorcan, who was still standing to attention. I seemed to be the only person who noticed how uncomfortable he was.

‘Would you like me to introduce you to my dad?’ I asked him after everyone else had gone.

‘Yes I would, Prince Conor,’ he replied very stiffly.

Well , well , I thought, it’s Prince Conor now .

‘Should I tell him that you knocked me out and tied me up?’

‘I would appreciate it if you did not,’ he replied.

I let him stew for a bit and then smiled. ‘Come on, Lorcan, we have a war to plan.’

Inside the headquarters it was pandemonium. Gerard was laughing and dishing out drinks and generally being the life of the party that he is famous for.

‘Excuse me,’ I said, but Gerard took no notice. I looked over to Essa, who gave me a He’s always like this look. She tapped him on the shoulder and I whispered in his ear. He settled down after that.

‘Lord Oisin, Lady Deirdre,’ I said in my most regal of voices, ‘I present to you Lorcan the Leprechaun’ – Lorcan obviously didn’t like the title but I couldn’t resist it – ‘Commander of the Army of the Red Hand.’

‘I remember your father, Lorcan,’ Dad said. ‘Where is he?’

‘Dead, my lord. Soon after you left, most of the senior engineers died in a mining accident. Now many of us are suspicious about the cause.’

‘I am sorry for the trouble my family has caused you,’ Dad said, bowing his head.

‘Your family had caused me no harm, my lord, the source of my – our – trouble is Cialtie,’ Lorcan went on. ‘I am sorry to interrupt your reunions and I know you must be weary after your travels, but we have little time.’

Lorcan walked up to a large round table in the middle of the room. Everyone circled around it. From a satchel around his waist Lorcan produced a medallion and threw it on the table. It was about the size of a beer mat, made of silver and crafted into the shape of a tree. The branches of the tree flowed into the roots, making a continuous circle. It was beautiful and very stylised. ‘This is a template for an amulet,’ Lorcan said.

‘What?’ came the instant response from almost everyone around the table. This seemingly innocuous statement made Mom and Nieve snap their heads around and drop their mouths wide open. It was as if Lorcan had just said, ‘ I eat babies for breakfast .’

‘Cialtie is making this out of gold ?’ Mom asked.

‘He has done it already.’

‘How do you know?’ Dad asked.

‘We have spies in the castle,’ Lorcan said. ‘Cialtie has set up a secret gold smithy in the east wing.’

‘We must stop him before he uses it,’ Nieve said.

‘I am afraid it is too late. He already has.’

‘Where?’ Dad demanded. ‘When?’

Lorcan turned to a soldier and said, ‘Ask Master Brone to join us.’

The soldier nodded and left.

‘Excuse me,’ I interrupted, ‘sorry for being a little thick, but I’m new around here. What’s so bad about making this thing out of gold?’

Nieve answered me. ‘Most of the magic in The Land is fuelled by gold. Most gold is used to make amulets, like the rothlú amulet you once wore around your neck. The most important rule when designing an amulet is to make sure the power has a place to go. An amulet must always have a point for the spell to exit from.’

‘What if it doesn’t? What if it’s a circle like this one?’