‘It’s a puzzle box. Some Elf lord gave it to Cialtie when we were kids. You have to perform about thirty of these little moves, in the right order, to unlock it.’
‘Can you do it?’
‘I did it a couple of times, but that was a long time ago. This is going to take hours.’
I picked up my banta stick and came down hard on the lid of the box. It shattered into about twenty pieces. ‘My way is quicker.’
‘I wish you hadn’t done that,’ Dad said.
‘Why?’
‘What happens if Cialtie comes back here and finds his favourite box has turned to kindling?’
‘Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.’
Dad gave me that Dad look. ‘Obviously.’
With his lone hand he gently pushed aside the splintered wood-he was shaking a bit. Underneath was a packet wrapped in a red velvet cloth. He unwrapped it and-there it was. Something I never thought I would see- Dad’s right hand. It almost glowed from the yellow Shadowmagic that encased it, like those dragonflies trapped in amber. He picked it up and stared at it. It was a very strange moment. I tried to imagine what I would be thinking, the first time I saw the back of my own hand in twenty years, and I couldn’t.
‘Is this going to work?’ I asked.
‘Deirdre thinks so,’ Dad said, dreamily.
‘Well, that’s good enough for me. Come on, let’s get out of here.’
We reassembled Cialtie’s box as best we could. It looked OK, as long as you didn’t touch it-or sneeze.
We had to get all the way to the other side of the castle in order to get down to the Chamber of Runes. Aein offered to scout ahead for us. Dad told her it was too dangerous, but she insisted. Who says you can’t get good help these days? Whenever we came to a corner we couldn’t see around, Aein got down on her hands and knees with a scrubbing brush and crawled around the corner pretending she was cleaning. Once we had to wait a couple of minutes for a guard to pass. Another time, the way was too well guarded, so we ended up on the walkway that overlooked the courtyard. It was more exposed than we liked but it was our only choice. It actually wasn’t a bad route. There was a lot of activity above us, with the soldiers fortifying the ramparts, but this level was empty.
It also allowed us to get a look at how Essa, Araf and Fergal were doing. They looked OK. Araf had his back to the well. He was hiding it, but if you looked close you could see he was holding a length of rope that was hanging into the well. Fergal was standing guard, so we assumed that Essa was down the well cutting the gold cables. The strange thing was, even though Araf was wearing that ridiculous wig, Fergal was the one that looked out of place. As a Banshee his appearance was perfect, but his body language was so rigid I could feel the tension all the way to where we were.
We came to the south wing and entered a corridor. This part of the castle was old, real old. You could sense it. The end of the corridor sloped around to the left. Aein got down on her hands and knees again and did her cleaning routine. She was gone for what seemed to be an eternity, then appeared back, still on her hands and knees.
‘There is a guard in front of the door to the Chamber,’ she whispered.
‘What did he look like?’ Dad asked.
‘He is standing at attention.’
‘Go up to him and ask him if he wants a glass of water.’
This obviously scared her, but she did it. She came back looking a bit confused. ‘He completely ignored me.’
Dad smiled, walked around the corner and right up to the guard. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. What was he doing? I followed. I mean, what else was I going to do? Dad strolled up to the guard and snapped his fingers in front of his face. The guard didn’t even blink. He just stared straight ahead, like he was in a trance-which he was.
‘One of Nieve’s specials,’ Dad said. ‘She practised it on me once when I was younger; it’s not very pleasant.’
Aein wouldn’t go down to the Chamber of Runes. It wasn’t that her bravery was faltering, it was just that it was not her place. She offered to guard the door and warn us if anyone approached but Dad said that wouldn’t help. ‘Can you do one more thing?’
‘Anything, Prince Oisin.’
‘Make sure there are no Leprechauns in the east wing. It might get dangerous today.’
‘Leprechauns don’t go there if they can help it but there might be some servants. I will only warn the ones I can trust.’
‘Don’t stay there too long yourself.’
‘May the gods protect you, Prince Oisin.’ Aein hugged Dad quickly and left.
Dad opened the door.
The Chamber of Runes was a long way down. The spiral staircase was lit by huge candles every couple of steps. I remembered what Araf said about them being able to burn for years. I was glad they were there, otherwise we would have broken our necks. There were no windows, but I suspected after a little while that we were well underground.
Halfway down was a landing and an unconscious guard-so far, so good. I knew we were getting close to the Chamber by the glow. It got so bright I half expected to walk into a television studio. Mom and Nieve had heard our approach-they were standing at the bottom landing, posed, each holding some magical weapon: Nieve’s made of gold and Mom’s of amber sap. They lowered them when they saw us.
‘Hi, girls, did you miss us?’ I said.
Mom flew into Dad’s arms. Nieve asked, ‘Did you get it?’
‘No problem,’ I said. ‘Dad’s got one hand on his wrist, and another hand in his pocket.’
Nieve gave me a dirty look. It’s amazing how quickly the women I meet learn that expression.
The Chamber wasn’t as big as I expected, but it was sure well lit. Araf said there were a hundred candles down here-it was more like a thousand. The walls looked as if they had been there forever, seen it all. It made me want to ask them questions. It gave a new meaning to talking to a wall. The chamber had no furnishings except for a stone table. At the opposite end of the room was an archway made of oak, like a proscenium in an old theatre. Beyond that were two more just like it, and at the far end was another stone table exactly like the one in this part of the room. I walked towards the archway.
‘Don’t go near that!’ Nieve warned.
‘Why not?’
‘That’s the First Muirbhrucht. Trust me, you do not want to cross that by accident.’
I couldn’t see anything but I stepped back. I could tell by her voice that she was not kidding.
Dad unwrapped the hand and held it in place. Mom produced a wide golden bangle and opened the clasp. The gold bracelet was a clamp and she used it to secure Dad’s hand to his wrist. Dad held his amber hand up to his face. He turned it, staring at the front and back. He had that faraway look in his eyes, like he had in Cialtie’s bedroom. It took my breath away. I had always known this man as a one-handed wonder-now I was looking at him whole-the way I had seen him in my dreams.
Mom placed a piece of gold on his amber palm and then a square of oak, a blank rune. He turned to the archways-he was finally going to take his Choosing, something that he had been preparing for all of his life but had thought was denied to him forever.
He took a deep breath and said, ‘I’m ready’
‘I’m going with you,’ Mom said.
Dad, who was out of practice with his right hand, was so shocked he dropped the gold and the rune. ‘You most certainly are not!’
It was Mom’s turn to be shocked and she shot back with the same indignation, ‘Yes I am!’
Oh my, I thought, I’m witnessing my first parental argument. I wondered if I should go upstairs and hide in my bedroom.
‘Deirdre,’ Dad said, softening his tone a bit, ‘you can’t take a Choosing, it will disrupt your sorcery.’
‘I’m not taking a standard Choosing, I’m going to choose a Shadowrune.’ She placed a glob of tree sap in her palm and placed a disc of dark amber over it.
