could that tiny gaggle of stumpy people do, other than disturb my sleep? And then I realised it must be a diversion. Oh well, I’m glad they are here. I’ll enjoy seeing them all dead.’
As if I hadn’t had enough shocks for a day, Cialtie reached into his pocket and removed a crystal vial that was filled with gold. It wasn’t the vial that shocked me, it was what was attached to the top of it-a red button. It was the only Real World-looking thing that I had ever seen in The Land, other than my clothes. I almost craned my neck to get a better look, but I managed to remain perfectly still.
‘Ah, nephew, I see you recognise this. I wondered if you would. I had a dream a little while back, it was a good one. You had it too, didn’t you? I thought you must have, because in it was the strangest little device that was completely foreign to me. I liked it so much, I had my goldsmiths whip one up. Now all I have to do is push this little red thing and that pesky army will pester me no more.’
‘Cialtie,’ Nieve said, ‘don’t do it, you will destroy everything.’
‘Oh, sister, I’m disappointed in you. I thought you clever in the ways of magic. I won’t destroy everything- we will be fine. All of the rest of The Land will be wiped clean, but I never really liked them anyway. Everyone and everything I need is right here inside my Golden Circle. Trust me, The Land will be a better place when I rebuild it in my own image.’
He had his thumb on the button. I didn’t know what to do. Even if I surprised him, by being able to move, he was still too far away. I wouldn’t be able to stop him from pressing it.
‘I’m waiting,’ Cialtie said. ‘Is this not someone’s cue to tell me I’m mad?’ He looked around. ‘Disappointing.’
That’s when Araf burst into the room and all hell broke loose.
Chapter Thirty
Araf didn’t know what was going on. He instinctively went for one of the armed guards first, not my uncle. Cialtie had time to press the button-and he did. The entire chamber lurched to the sound of a huge explosion. Burning candles toppled all over the place and everyone lost their footing.
It worked! Not from Cialtie’s point of view, but from ours. The explosion meant that the Leprechaun goldsmiths had done their jobs. Mom had explained to me, that if the Golden Circle went off the way Cialtie wanted it to, we wouldn’t hear anything in the castle-but if the Leprechaun goldsmiths succeeded in crafting spikes in a section of the Golden Circle, the explosion would blow out the whole east wall of the castle. It did, and that’s what Lorcan’s army was waiting for.
All of the guards let loose their crossbow bolts. Two of them were way off the mark, one from a soldier that fell down from the explosion, the other from the guy that Araf had just clocked with his banta stick. Two bolts unfortunately were right on the mark. One came directly at Essa’s chest. With skill that must have made Araf and Dahy proud, she actually deflected the bolt with her banta stick-then she performed one of her head-over-heel manoeuvres. That was the last thing her attacker saw.
The other bolt flew straight at my chin. I think The Land has given me two special gifts: one is dreams and the other is the way time seems to slow down in a crisis. I actually saw the bolt spring off the bowstring. I had time to remember what Mother Oak had said to me, ‘ You are oak and hazel, you will know when to be strong and when to bend.! ’ It was time to bend. With flexibility that a Russian gymnast couldn’t duplicate, I arched my back and watched the bolt sail past my face. Nieve wasn’t so lucky. It got her in the shoulder, but not before she could flick my knife at the archer. Her throw was wide of the mark but due to the extraordinary properties of Dahy’s golden tip, it honed back on its target like a guided missile. The heartbeat it took for all this to happen was the guard’s last. I didn’t stop bending, I went right over like an upside-down U. How I stayed on my feet, I will never know. I kept going until I planted my hand on the stone tabletop-right next to the Sword of Duir. In that upside-down world I grabbed the Lawnmower and reversed the process.
When I straightened up, I saw a scene that has haunted my thoughts ever since. Fergal was on his feet. His face was contorted with rage and he was charging Cialtie. As he stepped forward, he cocked his wrist in the gesture that I recognised as the sequence that released his Banshee blade, but the sword wasn’t in his sleeve-it was on his belt. He never did get to replace the gold wire.
Cialtie recognised the gesture, too-because he had a Banshee blade of his own. He mirrored Fergal’s wrist movements, with the difference that when he did it, a shiny silver sword appeared in his hand.
I screamed, ‘No!’ and flew at the sword in hopes of deflecting it. I was too late. My slow-motion gift became a curse. I saw the tip of the blade touch Fergal’s chest, I saw the threads on the fabric of his shirt part and break, I saw every single millimetre of that cursed weapon enter my cousin’s chest and not stop until it reached his heart. My swing was late, Cialtie was too fast. My blade came down a foot behind where I needed it to be. I sliced into Cialtie’s right wrist and took his hand clean off. He screamed in pain as blood shot around the room.
Fergal looked down in shock. What he saw was Cialtie’s sword sticking out of his chest with his father’s hand still wrapped around the pommel. Then he did that most Fergalish thing-he laughed. He pointed to the handle of the sword and said, ‘Will you look at that.’ He wore a typical Fergal, ear-to-ear grin on his face, as he fell over backwards. Just then Dad burst through the First Muirbhrucht.
With a force of will that was unprecedented, Dad had pushed back through the three barriers in record time. He came out roaring and, as if he had never missed it, he drew his sword with his right hand and flew at his brother. Dad didn’t even see what happened next, but I did. Cialtie saw him coming. With his remaining hand, he quickly reached to his neck, grabbed an amulet and shouted, ‘ Rothlu!’ Dad connected with nothing but air. He would have smashed into the far wall, if Araf hadn’t caught him.
Fergal was still conscious. I dropped down next to him, just as Mom popped through the Muirbhrucht. She quickly joined me. I pried Cialtie’s hand off the pommel and threw it across the room. When I started to remove the sword Mom stopped me. She placed her hands on both sides of Fergal’s head and closed her eyes. When she opened them they were filled with tears. She shook her head no. It felt like my heart was the one that had a sword in it.
‘Hey, cousin,’ Fergal said, ‘why the long face? We’ve laughed through worse times than this.’ The tears came so hard I had to squeeze my eyelids to clear my vision. When I opened them, he was gone. He still had a little smile in the corners of his mouth.
It wasn’t me. It was Fergal. Fergal was the one. He was the son of the one-handed prince. Fergal was the one who had to be sacrificed in order to save The Land. Oh, Fergal. At that moment I couldn’t imagine anything that was worth that price.
Chapter Thirty-One
The ensuing battle didn’t amount to much. At the moment Cialtie’s ring misfired, most of his crack troops were standing on the ramparts of the eastern wall watching Lorcan’s army approach. They were killed in the blast. The battalion that had been sent to meet Lorcan legged it back to the castle when they saw the explosion. The Imps and Leprechauns charged after them. During a fierce battle in the courtyard, Dahy killed their captain with a knife throw reportedly from fifty yards away. Without any commanders Cialtie’s army surrendered. Maybe their Banshee sixth sense informed them that they had lost.
At sunset most of the mopping up was done. Lorcan ordered all of his troops to muster in the courtyard. Aein gathered the servants there too. Many of them she had saved by telling them to evacuate the east wing. Dad and I climbed to the upper walkway.
At the top of the stairs, he said, ‘I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask for the Lawnmower back.’
I handed it to him and together we walked to the edge of the railing. In his right hand he held aloft the Major
