‘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?’
‘Then it explodes.’
‘Did you notice,’ my father said, ‘that you hardly ever see gold finger rings in The Land?’
I hadn’t, but when I looked around the room I saw that everyone there was wearing at least one ring but all were made of silver.
‘There are very few goldsmiths that can make a ring that won’t blow your hand off,’ Dad said.
Nieve nodded in agreement. ‘An amulet in a circle will explode – an amulet like that one, where all of the power is channelled back to the centre, is …’ she searched for a word.
‘A bomb,’ Dad said.
‘Not just a bomb,’ Mom said, ‘there is no way of knowing how much energy it will build up before it explodes.’
‘You mean it’s like a magic nuke?’
Nobody knew what that meant except Dad. ‘That’s about right.’
How bad?’ I asked. ‘Could it take out a village?’
‘It can,’ came a weak voice at the door, ‘and it has.’
I have seen people who were depressed and down on their luck, but I had never seen a truly broken man before. The man who entered the room was in bad shape.
‘This is Brone from the village of More,’ Lorcan said.
‘I know Brone,’ my father said. ‘You run the Riverside Inn – I have fished there.’
Brone perked up a bit when he saw Oisin but then the weight of his news pushed back on his shoulders and he looked down. ‘It’s gone, Lord Oisin, all gone.’
‘What is gone, Brone?’ Dad asked gently. ‘The inn?’
‘Everything, my lord.’ I didn’t think he was going to say anything more, but then he gathered what little strength he had and went on. ‘A week ago I was upriver fishing when I heard an awful sound, and then a wave came that threw me out of my boat. A wave came upriver! I never heard of such a thing. My boat was damaged, so I had to walk back to the village, but when I did – it was gone. At first I thought I was lost but I was not – I was home. Not one stone was left on top of another. Everything – everyone, gone.’ Brone could speak no more. A soldier caught him before he could fall and led him out of the room.
Dad looked to Lorcan for confirmation. Lorcan nodded yes.
‘Why would he do this? Why destroy a village as peaceful as More?’ Dad said as he sat heavily into a chair.
‘I think it was a simply a test,’ Lorcan said.
‘A test for what?’ Dad said, smashing his hand on the table. He looked at Lorcan with daggers in his eyes and then composed himself.
‘For this.’ Lorcan unrolled a sheet of paper on the table. It was obviously printed plans of Castle Duir, as seen from above. Around the castle was a thick circle in red ink with thinner lines circling under the castle and then back into the outside circle. It was obvious even to me what it was.
‘You are saying that Cialtie is going to circle the whole castle with a circular amulet?’ Dad asked.
‘We think he is almost finished,’ Lorcan said.
‘That is why he was hoarding all of the gold,’ Gerard said, understanding. ‘Can you imagine how much gold it must have taken?’
‘I saw this in a Shadowcasting, but I didn’t know what it was,’ Mom said in a faraway voice. ‘How could I know? How could I imagine anyone would do such a thing?’
‘Let me get this straight,’ I said. ‘If Cialtie sets this off, he kills any army attacking the castle – right?’
‘If Cialtie sets this off,’ Nieve replied, ‘it could destroy all of The Land and everything in it.’
THE EVIL EYE
‘Is there any chance of getting another boarburger?’ I asked the Imp that was serving food. He replied with the customary blank look I seemed to get from everyone around here when I tossed in a Real World reference.
I was delighted to sink my teeth into some meat. The Fili food was amazing but I was tired of nuts and berries. The Imps had barbecued a couple of dozen boars. They were so good it made me think that McDonald’s should have McBoar on the menu. Araf, Fergal and I were chowing down, while most of the others were having high-powered meetings: Essa was off with Nieve, and Mom and Dad were with Gerard. After my second burger I spotted Essa walking among the ruins and excused myself.
I found her standing alone, staring at the stained-glass window of the woman sitting in the hazel tree. She saw me and quickly turned away, wiping her eyes.
‘Hey, are you OK?’ I said.
‘Yes,’ she said, putting on a brave face, ‘it’s just this place. How would you say it? – It freaks me out.’
I