That night around the campfire Fergal told me why he wanted to see Deirdre. ‘I want to find out who I am,’ he said. ‘I was raised by a woman called Breithe – she was Araf’s nanny. As you can see I am not an Imp. Breithe knew who my real parents were, she promised to tell me all when I reached Rune-age. She died before she could tell me.’
‘How did she die?’
‘She went out foraging for mushrooms and ate a poisonous one. A lifetime of mushroom picking – I can’t imagine how she could have made such a mistake. She was a good woman.’
‘I’m sorry for you both,’ I said.
Araf nodded.
‘So that is why I want to see Deirdre,’ Fergal concluded. ‘I hope she can use her magic to tell me who I am and where I came from.’
‘I hope so too,’ I said.
Essa took the first watch. I was asleep the moment my head hit the ground.
I dreamt I was in a rainstorm but it wasn’t raining water, it was raining cherries. I put my arms out to my side and leant my head back and caught cherry after cherry in my mouth. I looked and saw Fergal doing the same. Scores of cherries were pouring into his mouth, and as he tried to chew them the dark red juice poured out of his mouth. I awoke with that image in my eyes.
Essa woke me – it was my watch. She had just closed her eyes when I saw a light approach. It was erratic, like someone running with a candle. As it got closer I saw that no one was holding it; an incredibly bright light just floated in the air and it was coming directly for us. I shook Essa and pointed.
She sat up alert and then laughed. ‘Conor, haven’t you ever seen a firefly before?’
‘Not like that. That’s a flying sixty-watt light bulb.’
‘I don’t know what you are talking about but it’s just a firefly. Look.’
She closed her eyes and whispered, ‘Lampróg.’ It flew straight to her and lit her face.
‘I used to do this when I was a little girl.’ The firefly flew into her cupped hands, she whispered to it and it fluttered into her hair and sat there like a magic jewel.
‘Good night, Conor.’ She put her head down and closed her eyes. The firefly stayed in place and illuminated the side of her face.
‘You must have been a lovely little girl,’ I said.
She didn’t open her eyes but she smiled and said, ‘I was.’
The firefly stayed there until her breathing became regular and then flew off, I imagined, to find a proper little girl.
The next morning, we had travelled for less than an hour when we reached the border of the Hazellands. You could actually see it on the ground. One step was green and alive, the next was brown and dead. Acorn was hesitant to cross the line. We travelled in silence and saw nothing alive. I had seen drought-stricken land before, but this was worse – it was as if the life force of the place was gone and nothing had the will to survive.
Araf was in front. He crested a hill, stopped and dismounted. Actually to say he dismounted is being generous, he almost fell out of his saddle. He stared at the landscape ahead of him and dropped to his knees. I crested the hill and saw what he had seen. A huge field as far as the eye could see was blackened with ash and burnt crops.
‘Oh my gods,’ I heard from behind me. It was Fergal. ‘Is that the Field?’
Araf nodded without looking up.
‘What is so special about this field?’ I asked.
‘They studied everything at the Hall,’ Fergal explained, ‘even farming. This was a special garden where the Imp students would try new things. It was supposed to be beautiful. Araf lost a cousin here.’
I dismounted and put my hand on Araf’s shoulder. ‘Sorry,’ I said. It didn’t seem enough but he placed his hand on mine in thanks.
This was the true beginning of the desecration of the Hazellands. Before, everything was just dead; here as I got closer to the Hall, I could see the deliberate destruction. Hazel bushes were torched, and worst of all, we saw an apple tree cut down and left to rot. It made me feel ill. As the top of the Hall started to come into view, Acorn got very jittery. He sidestepped, whinnied and stopped unexpectedly. I got the impression that Acorn had memories of this place and they were not pleasant ones. I toyed with the idea of getting down and walking. I wish I had. Just as I crested a rise and received my first full view of the ruins of the Hall of Knowledge, we startled a flock of ravens. For hours the Hazellands had been completely lifeless, and this explosion of squawking and beating wings was too much for Acorn – he bolted.
I didn’t think anything could be scarier than standing in front of a charging boar – I was wrong. Acorn was breaking all known horsey speed limits and I was powerless to stop or even influence the beast.
I was flying past some outbuildings of the Castle when I heard Fergal come up on my left yelling. Boy, we were moving fast. He reached over to grab my reins, but he didn’t make it. He never saw what happened – I did. As we galloped between two burnt-out buildings, I saw a thick rope pop up and stretch across our path. It was too low to duck. I only had time to think, This is going to hurt. It did.
LORCAN
I awoke tied to a pillar inside a roofless ruin of a room. This waking up in bondage and pain was getting old real fast. Fergal was tied to the next pillar over. His chin was on his chest and his eyes were closed.
‘Fergal,’ I said in a loud whisper. He popped his head up.
‘Conor! You’re awake. Are you OK? What the hell happened?’
‘I’m alright, at least as alright as I can be in this godforsaken place. The last thing I remember, we got clotheslined.’
‘That explains why I hurt so much.’
‘Hey, do you have your Banshee blade?’
‘No, they must have taken it.’
‘Where are the others?’ I asked.
‘I haven’t seen them.’
‘Have you seen anybody?’
‘When I came to, some short guy was tying you up. He was a Leprechaun, I think.’
‘A Leprechaun? You mean a little guy with a beard and a green suit?’ I chuckled to myself and then started laughing.
‘I don’t think he was wearing green,’ Fergal said. That only made me laugh louder. ‘Conor, are you OK?’
I thought about this question for a moment, and all of the humour left me. ‘No, I am not OK!’ I spat. ‘I had a perfectly good life. It may not have been exciting or important, but it was a good life. No one hit me, or made me ride horses, or knocked me off horses, or wanted me dead, or made me sleep outside at night or … or … ANYTHING! The only thing I had to do was homework – which I will never complain about again for as long as I live. Which is probably about five more minutes, because everybody wants me DEAD!’ I was babbling now. ‘HEY, WHY DON’T YOU JUST GET IN HERE AND FINISH ME OFF!’ I screamed.
‘Quiet, Conor.’
‘Why? What difference does it make? It’s not like they don’t know we are in here – they tied us up, for God’s sake. And who are they anyway? WHO ARE YOU? GET YOUR BUTTS IN HERE AND UNTIE ME!’
Well, whoever