The voice became louder but still it was tiny, tinny, miles away. I could never be harmed … would never let him …
The walls of my sub-subconscious shook more. The voice … I heard the voice. It was … it was … Ruby. I laughed. You’ll never find me down here, Ruby. I’m safe. Safe from the forest of trees … I’m safe. But then I heard her scream. It was that high-pitched piercing scream that she does. The one her father calls The Migraine Scream. I forced myself to think. Where are you, Ruby? It doesn’t matter I am here and I … I am safe. But where are you Ruby? You were with me. I took you riding. You are alone and blind in the Forest of Duir. But I’m safe here. But little Ruby you are not. I must … safe. Safe here. Safe. No. Save. Save her. I must save her.
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