‘Don’t Conor me. I’m not surprised that my dear old aunt would pull something like this. She has been trying to kill me ever since we met-but you! I thought we…Aw, never mind.’
‘Nieve,’ I said, trying to turn around, which of course failed, ‘if this doesn’t work, I want her to be the one that sticks the knife into my neck. I don’t want someone who loves me doing it!’
Oh boy, I may have been paralysed but I sure got her in the solar plexus with that one. Essa instantly placed her hand over her mouth and then turned her back on me. Right away, I regretted saying it-but I was mad. And what was I supposed to do? Apologise to a girl who was trying to kill me? She finally looked at me again-her face was wet with tears. I don’t think I have ever seen a more miserable countenance. Then her eyes widened in sudden alarm. She looked around the chamber and said, ‘Where is Fergal?’
‘What do you mean, “ Where is Fergal ”?’ I said. ‘I thought he was with you!’
‘Araf sent him down here to tell you that I had found the gold lines and would be done soon.’
‘You let Fergal wander around the castle alone! How long ago was that?’
‘Ages ago,’ she said. Panic took over her face. ‘It took longer than I thought to cut the gold lines, and then I wasted time before I discovered that the guard upstairs was petrified.’
‘Oh my God,’ I said, as the realisation dawned on me, ‘I know where he is. He’s going to kill Cialtie.’
‘Oh my gods,’ Essa said, ‘oh my gods.’
I was about to tell her to get out there and look for him, when the whole chamber started to rumble. Nieve spun me back around.
‘They have entered the Final Muirbhrucht,’ she said.
The overall colour of the third barrier wasn’t as bright as the second’s, but Mom and Dad’s right hands looked like they were spouting out the entire contents of a fireworks factory. The rumble got louder and the floor vibrated beneath our feet. That’s why we didn’t hear him approach.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
‘You lied to me!’ Fergal shouted as he appeared in the Chamber in a rage. He flew at me with murder in his eyes-it shocked the hell out of me. I instinctively wanted to run, except that I couldn’t. For a split second I had a moment of hope in thinking that Nieve would be startled enough to take that damn needle out of my neck, but she was her usual cool self. She didn’t even take the knife from my throat. Essa stopped Fergal before he throttled me. She had to use all of her strength.
His arms were flailing and spit was flying out of his mouth. ‘You lied to me. You and that witch mother of yours!’
‘Fergal, what are you talking about?’ I said.
‘You’re not from the Real World,’ he shouted, with so much vehemence that I could feel the force of his breath. ‘You killed my mother. You and that lying family of yours!’
The rumble in the Chamber increased, as if in sympathy with his mood. To say I was baffled doesn’t even come close. It was like having a cuddly cocker spaniel that all of a sudden turned into a killer.
‘Fergal, what are you talking about? Who told you that?’
‘I did,’ Cialtie said as he stepped into the chamber. He was flanked by four guards holding crossbows. ‘Son,’ he said in that dripping voice of his, ‘come over here.’
Fergal did as he was told and Cialtie actually put his arm around his shoulders. I wanted to throw up.
‘Oh, Fergal,’ I said as I put the pieces of this puzzle together, ‘you don’t believe him?’
‘Of course he believes me,’ Cialtie said as he smiled down at Fergal. ‘Sons should always trust their fathers.’
I tried to speak but nothing came out. The guards looked pretty edgy and their crossbows were aimed at our heads, but I hardly even noticed.
‘Sister Nieve, I must say I’m surprised to see you with a knife to my young nephew’s throat and it looks like you’ve paralysed him as well. If I didn’t know you any better I would think you were on my side.’
Nieve didn’t move a muscle.
‘Oh, and you must be Princess Essa of Muhn,’ Cialtie said, addressing Essa who had backed up next to us. ‘I have been longing to meet you. You are even more beautiful than I had heard.’
Essa didn’t say anything, she just pulled her banta stick out of her belt and assumed an en garde position.
‘Ooh, feisty. I like a girl with spirit.’
I wanted to kill him but judging from the sound that came out of Essa’s throat, it seemed like I would have to get in line.
The rumble in the chamber abruptly stopped. Cialtie looked past us.
‘Well, well, my son told me what Oisin was attempting. I could hardly believe it, but what do you know, it looks like he did it.’
Nieve spun herself around and me with her. Mom and Dad were at the far end of the archways. The pyrotechnics had stopped. I could see them clearly. They were standing on either side of the stone table. Both were looking at Dad’s right hand. The gold bangle that had been on Dad’s wrist was gone, presumably used up to fuel the magic that made possible the reattachment-because reattached it was! I followed the line of Dad’s right arm down and I’ll be damned, there was a hand on the end. I gasped as Dad opened his fingers. It worked! In his palm was a rune. He tilted his wrist down and it fell to the table. Mom did the same, and an amber-glowing rune dropped on the stone surface next to Dad’s. They were ecstatic, but their ecstasy was short-lived. They looked to us and their faces filled with horror. I felt so sorry for them. Dad ran towards us but the Third Muirbhrucht sparked to life and threw him back, like a tennis ball off a racket. I heard Cialtie laugh at that.
Then I felt the needle leave my neck. Nieve whispered in my ear, ‘Don’t move.’ I felt the sensation returning to my body. It took all of my will not to stretch at the relief but I pretended to stay frozen. Nieve turned back around and I spun with her, Dahy’s knife still at my throat.
‘They will take ages getting out of there,’ Cialtie sighed. ‘Oh, what a shame, all of that effort and I’m just going to have to cut it off again. I wonder if I can convince Deirdre to preserve it a second time before I kill her.’
‘You said you weren’t going to kill anybody,’ Fergal said.
‘Oh my, my,’ Cialtie said. ‘Fergal, was it? You are as gullible as your mother. She actually thought I was going to make her a queen. Can you imagine-a Banshee queen? You know, I was shocked when I learned that you survived after I lopped her head off, but now that I know you, I’m astonished you have had the wits to live this long.’
There it was-the truth. It was awful watching Fergal learn it the first time-this time it nearly killed me. The realisation of it hit him in waves, like a baby standing hip-deep in the ocean. I could almost read his mind: first came the pain of reliving his mother’s murder, next came the shame of being so easily duped, and then came the horror at the realisation that he had betrayed his friends. He wasn’t broken, it was more like he was shattered.
Cialtie pushed him and he crashed into me. ‘I think you should stand over there with your friends.’
Fergal crumpled to the floor. He hugged my legs and made a noise that I had never heard from a person before, and never wanted to hear again. Tears poured out of his clenched eyelids, and his mouth hung open, saliva spilling out of it. ‘I’m sorry,’ he whimpered. ‘I’m so sorry’
‘Pathetic,’ Cialtie said.
Never in my life had I wanted so badly to do two things at once. I wanted to put my arms around my poor cousin and tell him it was OK, and at the same time I wanted to tear Cialtie limb from limb-with my bare hands. I didn’t do either. I don’t know how I did it, but I stood perfectly still. Cialtie thought I couldn’t move. It was the only advantage that we had.
‘You know, I suspected you were here, even before my sprog showed up and spilled the beans,’ Cialtie said. ‘You know what gave you away? It was that rinky-dink army. I’ve seen bigger circuses. I thought to myself, What
