front of the flames and napped in blankets for the short time left before dawn. I had one of those sleeps that, although it was probably a couple of hours, seemed like a blink.
The sun was well up at breakfast and nobody was what you could call chirpy. I had been trying to ask Araf about his hurt foot fib ever since we had come back from the throne room but any time I brought it up he would look over his shoulder and soundlessly say, ‘Not now.’ It wasn’t until we were underway for about a half an hour and in a clearing large enough so we couldn’t be overheard by the alders, that Araf called a stop.
‘I had to be sure we were not being spied on,’ the big guy said in a loud whisper. ‘While you had an audience with the King, I snuck outside in daylight and saw what the Brownies did not want us to see.’
‘And what was that?’ The Turlow asked.
‘An army,’ the Imp replied. ‘A large army and they looked to be preparing for war…’
‘But who would the Brownies be at war with?’ Essa asked.
‘Me,’ I said. ‘Geez, I can be so stupid sometimes – now Jesse’s conversation makes sense. Jesse, you know Codna, Brownie King’s youngest son, thought I had come to make peace. The Brownies are going to attack Duir.’
‘Or Cull,’ Essa said, jumping off of her horse. ‘Someone destroyed the Tree of Knowledge once before, maybe they are about to attack the Hazellands? We must warn Dahy.’ She opened one saddlebag and looked inside. Then she opened the other and started frantically throwing things on the ground. Finally she unstrapped the bags and dumped the entire contents onto the frozen dirt.
‘Damn it, damn it, damn them. They stole it. They stole it. Those little Brownie-’
‘Stole what?’ Araf said, getting down so he could help her.
‘My emain slate.’
‘You have an emain slate?’ Tuan said incredulously.
‘Not any more!’ Essa shouted. ‘Those little stinking-’
The rest of us st stood as still as possible while Essa kicked and used language that would have been inappropriate even in a Wild West saloon.
Essa really did need calming down but I had seen the Princess like this before and I wasn’t going to go near her. It took someone that didn’t know Essa very well to attempt such a foolhardy thing. Tuan walked towards her and pulled down the back of his trousers. I thought he was going to moon her. Then the hair on the back of his head grew in, then went coarse, curly and pepper grey in colour. His hands changed to paws as his back went horizontal and straight. His shoes, on what now were his back paws, fell off. Then I saw the reason for the mooning – a long tail, full flowing with long hair, sprouted out of the top of his trousers. Tuan had changed into a fully clothed Tuan- sized dog. An Irish wolfhound or something close to it and it was the funniest thing I had seen in a very long time.
Essa was shocked into silence, then smiled, then laughed, then dropped to one knee and gave doggie-Tuan a big hug around the neck. I would pay lots of money to find out how to do that. Tuan reformed back to his Pooka self during the hug and the two of them fell laughing on the ground.
‘I used to do that for my mother when she was upset,’ Tuan said, pulling up the back of his trousers.
‘Did it always work?’ Essa asked, still laughing.
‘Never failed,’ Tuan said, helping her up.
‘Right,’ Essa said, straightening her clothes, ‘I’m going back to Fearn Keep.’
‘Hold on, Princess.’ Now that she was calm and it was safe, I dismounted. ‘You can’t go back there. We only just got out and I’m pretty sure accusing them of stealing and demanding your slate back isn’t going to make them say, “Oops sorry, here you go.”’
‘I must get that slate back,’ she said, her voice once again betraying her anxiety. ‘Dahy must be warned about the army.’
‘Which is probably why they took it,’ Brendan said. ‘I’m a cop, Essa, trust me, you won’t get it back.’
‘But I must. I send a message to my father every other day. He will be worried sick about me. And do you know how expensive those things are?’
‘Princess, the others are right,’ Tuan said. ‘I agree that Master Dahy must be informed of what Araf has seen but we cannot go back. We are at the beginning of the Fearn Peninsula. Less than a mile back there is a trail that, if I remember correctly from my last journey in these woods, leads us to the beach. I propose we take it to the sea. From there we can send Yarrow to warn the Hazellands and then the rest of us can follow the coast to Alder Point.’
Everyone looked at Yogi, who said, ‘I do not know the way.’
‘I will guide you back to the Hall of Knowledge,’ Essa said.
‘You can’t do that, Princess.’ Turlow said ‘Princess’ in that lovey-dovey tone that was enough to make me vomit.
‘And why not?’ Essa shot back.
Turlow was foolishly about to start an argument with Essa when Araf piped up. And when Araf chooses to speak it’s such a surprise that people tend to listen.
‘This discussion is not for here. Tuan, will we make the coast before nightfall?’
‘Easily, I should think.’
‘Let us think on this as we travel and decide at the next camp. Until then, do not speak of this among the alders.’
Turlow looked like he had something to say, but none of us waited to hear it. We turned our horses and remounted.
The rest of the day was in silence not only because the trees were listening but also because the trail was narrow and forced us to ride in single file. By late afternoon the alders thinned out. In the distance the horizon widened and the slight sting of salt could be detected on the breeze. The trees disappeared altogether about a quarter mile from the coast. We trekked over rolling sand dunes covered with long grass until we reached a black sand beach. The warmth of the ocean changed the crisp dry air in to a cold misty one, but the relief from being out from under the spying eyes of the alders meant that no one complained.
‘What happened to the trees?’ I asked Tuan.
‘The alders hate brackish water. They never live near the coast. That is why I proposed we come here. If Yarro – I mean Yogi and Princess Essa hug the coast, there is a chance that they can get out of the Alderlands without the alders knowing.’
‘You think she should go with him then?’
‘Yarrow is my friend and in a fight I would have no other at my side.’ Then Tuan looked over his shoulder and leaned in. ‘But he is not the smartest in the clan. Essa, I have learned, is a woman of substance and she is a natural guide. I think together they have a better chance of success.’
We set up camp while Yogi stripped off, bear-ed up and then had a dip in the freezing water. He came out holding a flat ray-like fish the size of a bicycle. I pitched tents while Tuan and Araf fried it up. Araf produced a bottle of Brownie-shine that he had stolen from the stores at Fearn Keep. Everybody knew it was a goodbye party for Essa and Yogi, but no one said it.
I tried to have a little alone time with Essa before I went to bed, but she was deep in conversation with her fiance. I waved at her, mouthed, ‘Good luck,’ and promised myself that I would wake up early so as to have a chat with her before she left.
As it turned out she woke me. Long before the dawn she shook me awake to say goodbye.
‘What kind of time do you call this?’ I asked, rubbing sleep from my eyes.
‘Yogi and I thought it might be a good idea to leave before it was light in case any alders could sense this far.’
I got out of bed and walked with her to what was left of the fire. I looked around expecting to see the Banshee.
‘Where is Turd-low?’ I said, and then mentally kicked myself for starting a fight. But Essa was calm.
‘We have said our goodbyes.’
‘Goodbyes? I thought he would insist on coming with y.’
‘No,’ she said dispassionately. I couldn’t tell if she was trying to hide emotions or if she didn’t really care. ‘He tried to persuade me not to go, but when he realised I was not for turning he didn’t volunteer to come.’
‘If I could, I would go with you.’
