after the first antechambers; after that stopping means death. The rune becomes hot in your hand after each muirbhrucht. The gold melts into the oak. When, or if, you pass through the final barrier, you may turn over the piece of oak in your hand. Upon it, engraved in gold, will be a rune. Some runes are major runes-these are for Runelords. Others are minor runes-these are for heirs. Only after a Runelord has left or died may the holders of the minor runes retake their Choosing to see who is to be the Runelord.’
‘What rune do you hold?’
Dad held up his stump. ‘One cannot choose a rune without a runehand. I have never attempted the Choosing.’
‘Cialtie has, hasn’t he?’
‘Yes. Everyone expected him to choose one of the Duir Runes but he chose a Virgin Rune.’
‘A Virgin Rune?’
‘Yes, a Virgin Rune is one that has never been chosen before. It had been so long since a new rune appeared that most of us thought it was myth, but then it happened. Cialtie chose Getal-the Reed Rune. A week later, word arrived that the Reedlands had appeared east of the Hazellands. Then we knew that the legends of the Origins were true.’
‘Hold on,’ I said, ‘let me get this straight. Cialtie chose a new rune and poof, some land appeared out of nowhere?’
‘Out of the sea,’ Dad corrected. ‘The Land is an island.’
‘Right, so the Reedlands appeared out of the sea-and this never happened before?’
‘Not since the beginnings.’
‘And when was that?’
Dad smiled at me like I was a kid again. ‘That-was before time. Sit down, son, and I’ll tell you of our ancestors.’
We had walked to the edge of the forest-before us was Ona’s blackthorn wall. Beyond that was the blackened Hazellands. Dad placed his hand on a fallen rowan tree and asked its permission to use it. He sat on the tree and I sat cross-legged at his feet.
‘Eriu was the first, she is the mother of The Land and is considered a god among many-especially the Leprechauns. My father believed that she was his great-great-great-grandmother. When she came, The Land was a tiny island. Some think she found the oak trees here-others say she brought an acorn with her. Either way, she was the first lord of Duir. Together with the Leprechauns, she built the first House of Duir and excavated the mines.’
‘Where did the Leprechauns come from?’
‘Who knows? They believe that Eriu made them. That is why they are so loyal to the House of Duir. Anyway, Eriu was a great sorceress. Your mother believes she may have possessed Shadowmagic, but most of her skills were with Truemagic, powered by the gold in the mines.
‘She sent for her sisters: Banbha and Fodla. Together they created the Chamber of Runes. Banbha chose the Iodhadh Rune and created the Yewlands. Fodla chose the Quert Rune, and her Choosing created the Orchardlands.’
‘Where did the Imps and the Banshees come from?’
‘When a Virgin Land is created by a Choosing, it is said that often it appears with full-grown trees, but sometimes it appears with people. The Imps supposedly appeared with the Orchardlands. Later, an Imp attempted the Choosing and chose the Ur Rune for the first time, creating the Heatherlands (or the Implands as we call them). That would be one of your friend Araf’s ancestors.
‘The Banshees are different. They believe they were sent for from the Otherworld by Banbha, to protect our shores.’
‘Is this all true?’
‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘When I was young, I thought all this was just myth and legend. When the Reedlands appeared, I started to think again.’
As I sat at his feet and listened to him, I realised that I had not only missed a mother in my life, but also a father who could tell the truth. The years of holding back were lifting off his shoulders. He looked younger as he told me things that he had been aching to tell before. I was just about to hear the story of how he got his hand chopped off (and it was easy to guess who did it), when we heard the pathetic yelp of a wounded animal.
Dad and I ran to the blackthorns. It was a wolf-a big wolf. It was manically trying to dig under the blackthorn wall, but the blackthorns were having none of it. The thorns had wrapped themselves around the wolf’s head. There was fresh blood where a thorn had pierced the side of its ear but that wasn’t its only wound. A black arrow stuck out of the wolf’s hindquarters. The whole of its back end was caked with dried blood. The beast made a sickening yelp as the thorns pressed harder. Dad spoke to the blackthorns and they reluctantly loosened their grip.
Dad called to the wolf and said, ‘It is alright, I’ll help you.’ I was shocked when the wolf looked him straight in the eye like he understood. Then the animal collapsed on the ground and if I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t have believed it-he changed into a man.
‘Get your mother.’
Mom was already on her way when she met me on the road. The blackthorns had told her.
When we arrived back with Dad, she used her wand to part the thorns and we carried him in.
‘What was that?’ I asked, still a bit stunned.
‘He’s a Pooka,’ Dad said. ‘They can change into animals.’
‘Oh, right,’ I said.
Fand and another Fili woman arrived and tended his wounds. They gave him water (which woke him up) and a tonic (that put him to sleep) and carried him back to the village.
The story of how Dad became a lefty had to wait.
Later, back at the village when things had calmed down a bit, Araf, Fergal, Essa, Mom, Aunt Nieve, Dad and I had a late lunch. The food was a vegetarian’s dream. It made me think I would buy a pair of sandals, listen to folk music and forgo hamburger joints forever. The others had been collecting tree sap all morning in preparation for a Shadowcasting after nightfall, and they were almost ready. Fand popped in and informed us that her Pooka patient hadn’t regained consciousness.
Fergal interrupted the chomping. ‘So, Conor, what did you think of the story of how Prince Oisin lost his hand?’
‘I didn’t hear it,’ I said. ‘We were interrupted by a rabid Pooka.’
‘Oisin,’ Mother said, ‘it is time you told your son the tale.’
‘Now?’ Dad said.
Deirdre nodded.
Chapter Eighteen
Dad planted his elbows on the table and wearily rubbed his eyes. It made me realise that these were probably not the most pleasant memories to retell. He pushed away his lunch plate, slapped his palm on the table and began.
‘Ona made many predictions,’ my father said. ‘We all know about the son of the…’ He lifted his handless arm and pointed to it. ‘But there was another prediction that only my father knew. Ona predicted that, The first of Finn’s sons to perform the Runechoosing would attain the throne.
‘Now, at a very young age, I realised that my brother was a horrid child that would grow up to be an evil man. Finn, like any parent, was slow to see this but by the time my brother reached Rune-age, even my father knew that he did not want Cialtie to hold the throne.
‘Cialtie attained Rune-age a year before me, but Father forbade him to take his Choosing until I was of age as well. Finn told him that he would hold a huge pageant to celebrate The Land’s first double Choosing. This infuriated my brother. He left the castle and did not return for almost a year.
