by John Lenahan
In Cialtie’s camp there could be heard orders being barked and bugle-sounding things being played as the army of Banshees and Brownies readied for their main offensive. Essa dropped in next to me.
‘Dahy thinks that the attack will be soon,’ she said. ‘Are you ready?’
‘Born ready,’ I said automatically. As I scanned the horizon I felt Essa reach down and entwine her fingers in mine. I looked at her, she was fierce and scared and oh so achingly beautiful – all at the same time. She leaned in and kissed me. I placed my hands gently on her shoulders and pushed her back.
‘We are not going to die,’ I said.
She turned away, looking out over the field and then I felt her tense up like the strings of a tennis racket. She pointed to the edge of the rise. I followed the line of her finger and saw hundreds of screaming soldiers charge into view.
‘Tell that to them,’ she said as she drew her sword.
Chapter Forty
Th
e Isles
What must have been a thousand Brownies and Banshees swarmed onto the stone plain. They looked like those red army ants that you see in old Tarzan movies. I was half expecting the fallen to end up as stone-white skeletons.
As soon as they got into range, our arrows flew. The fallen were not even considered by their comrades – if the arrows didn’t kill them then the trampling surely must have. The same fate awaited those that tripped on the stone field. Just behind the first wave were a line of siege ladders carried by teams of three. The ladders had shields strapped to the front so as to protect the carriers from all but the sharpest archers who aimed for their heads and legs. Spideog assigned his best bowmen for that task and they had a reasonably high measure of success. Still, any ladder bearer that was hit was instantly replaced by another. The ladders clambered closer.
All the while volleys of arrows came at us from the back of the enemy’s advance. Dahy’s ramparts were designed well, giving cover as well as enough gaps for the archers to continue shooting even while arrows were flying in. One gleem arrived during the first part of the attack but was swiftly taken care of by the special gleem-team that Nieve had equipped with gold earplugs.
The enemy soldiers that reached the ramparts huddled together under their shields in an arrow-proof phalanx. The ones that did this too close to the walls had boulders thrown at them by teams of very brawny Leprechaun miners. The huge rocks smashed into the shields then the archers finished them off.
I’d like to be able to say that I was appalled by all of this bloodshed but as those ladders drew closer and with the realisation that this screaming horde was hell bent on killing me, it caused a bloodlust to explode in my brain. Some men never get over this experience and sell themselves as mercenaries for the rest of their lives in order to feel that savage passion again. As for me I have no want to repeat the experience but I would be lying if I said it was unpleasant. In fact it was damn exciting. Never have I felt so alive. It was kill or be killed and every fallen enemy soldier was one that I knew I wouldn’t have to face with my sword and I cheered with the rest of my comrades as each went down.
When the ladders reached the ramparts I finally got to use my sword. It was a good blade but heavier and nowhere near as finely balanced as the Sword of Duir. I missed the Lawnmower. I had a fleeting image of the last time I saw it, sticking out of the underbelly of Dragon Red. A ladder hit below my gap in the wall. I tried to reach down and push it but it was just out of reach. Leprechaun boulder tossers were engaged elsewhere so I waited for the first of the Brownies to climb the ladder. He reached the top in no time and we engaged in a pointless just out-of-reach sword-fight where we clinked sword tips but were too far away from each other to make serious contact. My father’s sword-fighting instructions sprang into my head. ‘When an attack ceases to make sense,’ he once said to me, right before he tripped me over a low wire he had earlier set up in the garden, ‘look around – something else might be happening.’ I continued to swing but looked under the ladder and saw another Brownie with a crossbow taking aim at my nose. I ducked back just in time to avoid a bolt in the brain.
A gleem came over the wall far to my right. The gleem-team got to it quickly but not in time to prevent a couple of Banshees from clearing the ramparts. They fought and another five were allowed to reach the top before they were thrown back over. Ladders had now reached almost every part of the rampart wall. All of the ladders seemed to me to be too low. It made them difficult for us to repel by pushing them over but it also made it extremely difficult for the enemy to breach the top of the walls. It didn’t make sense. I used my father’s advice again and scanned the length of the battlements. That’s when I noticed that under every ladder was a team of two soldiers crouched down fiddling with something at the base of the wall.
I shouted to Dahy, ‘SOMETHING IS HAPPENING UNDER THE LADDERS.’
As he looked, a horn was blown and all the attackers dropped from their ladders and ran away from the wall.
‘RETREAT!’ Dahy shouted. ‘EVERYONE OFF THE BATTLEMENTS!’
Having been a student of the Master I didn’t have to hear a Dahy order twice. I flew off my post and into the midst of the Hall of Knowledge. A few of my comrades were not so lucky. The explosions blew a dozen holes in our defences. The Leprechauns and Imps who were on the wall were thrown twenty feet in the air.
‘BACK TO THE AISLES,’ Dahy ordered. ‘BACK TO THE AISLES.’
Our secondary defence was what Dahy had called ‘The Aisles’. We had knocked down some of what was left of the Hall’s walls and reinforced others. The idea was to force any advancing army into narrow channels – aisles, allowing us to battle one or two abreast as opposed to a huge wave of marauders. Archers were positioned so as to shoot anyone that tried to come over the top.
The air hadn’t even cleared when the Banshees, covered with the white dust of the explosions, came screaming out of the smoke. Dahy had said that there would be blood; well, this was the time he was talking about. I don’t know how many I killed. All I know is that they weren’t very well trained. They had strength and the energy that adrenalin brings but they all swung madly and allowed me to parry their wild swings to the outside and stab them in the chest, or the shoulder if they were wearing a breast protector. May the gods forgive me but what else could I do?
Even though I was killing many, I gave ground with almost every clash and I was getting tired. An Imp finally grabbed me from behind, pulled me back into the Hall and took my place at the front of the aisle.
I found Dahy barking orders outside of the library. On my left a bunch of Banshees broke through and Yogi, as a bear, roared into them, throwing two into the air and shing the others into a retreat, while Dahy ordered swordsmen back into that aisle. This battle was not going well and it was just about to get a whole lot worse.
A troop of Banshees had snuck around to the site of the first attack. They guessed that if they each carried a bough of a tree that the gold strips might not register the branches as weapons and would let them through. They guessed right. Because of our small numbers we had only defended the hill with a handful of soldiers. The Banshees attacked with the branches and at the same time catapulted a bag of swords over a wall from the side. The Banshees quickly overpowered the guards on the hill and armed themselves. Our defences were dangerously thinned as soldiers were ordered to defend the Tree of Knowledge on two fronts.
I think at this point Dahy would have surrendered but no one was offering. This was it – it was a fight to the death and the realisation hit me that the death would be ours.
That’s when time began to slow for me, not a good sign. My gift is only a help when I am personally in a fight. Here, watching this failing battle, my gift was a curse, just as it was when I watched Fergal die. I saw my comrades fall in slow motion. I saw every wound, every spurt of blood as if I was watching some bad war movie. It also gave me time to assess the entire battlefield and what I saw told me it was all over. We were moments away from
being overrun.
The aisle on the left broke. Banshees and Brownies poured out. Dahy called forward the soldiers that had been guarding the Tree of Knowledge. A mêlée of hand-to-hand combat opened in the yard.
I looked for Essa. If this was to be the end I wanted to be at her side. In the confusion I couldn’t see her but I heard her when she yelled, ‘THE SKY!’
I looked up as the entire firmament turned into flame. A huge fireball rolled over and through the holes in the shattered battlements. Fire leapt in and set alight the attackers at the entrances of the aisles. Flames rolled over the top of the defences forcing us to hit the ground as hairs curled on the top of our heads. Then, swooping through the smoke flew a huge green dragon. It circled and came in to land almost exactly where I was standing. As I dived for cover I saw that the dragon had a rider. I got to my feet just in time to see him jump off as the dragon skidded into a stone wall. The dragon rider hit the ground in a graceful roll and popped up on his feet, banta stick in hand. It was – Araf!
I didn’t question how or why. I just got to my feet and shouted, ‘IMPS AND LEPRECHAUNS, TO ME. THE DRAGON IS ON OUR SIDE. EVERYONE, TO ME.’ Araf blew his whistle. To their credit our force spent no time in dazed wonder when they saw their prince arrive miraculously from the grave astride a dragon, they went right into battle mode and cheered as they went back on the offensive.
The attackers that were still standing retreated as fast as their legs would carry them. If that Banshee sixth sense is true then it pretty quickly told them to get the hell out of there.
Another explosion of fire lit up the southern end of the battlefield as a crimson-coloured dragon – one that I recognised as Red – swooped over our position. Its rider, with that unmistakable American accent, shouted, ‘YEE HA.’
Dragon Red landed on the top of the headquarters building just long enough for Brendan to slide off.
‘Hey, Or credit eil,’ the policeman/dragon-rider shouted over the sound of Red launching himself back in to the sky, ‘it’s good to see you’re not dead.’
‘Same to you, Copper,’ I shouted. I was just about to ask Araf what the heck was going on when we heard a sound of a battle horn coming from the courtyard.
Someone shouted, ‘THEY ARE ATTACKING THE TREE!’
By the time I got to the entranceway it was almost over. A dozen Brownies were lying dead on the ground with arrows sticking out of the centres of their chests. Spideog was still firing even though he had a crossbow bolt in his thigh and another in his shoulder. There were four remaining Brownies; two of them had axes and were trying to get to the Tree of Knowledge. Spideog went for the axe bearers when he should have gone for the one in the back. I saw that Brownie cock his arm and then I saw the dagger leave his hand. A split second later two arrows hit the knife thrower – one in the throat from Spideog and another in the chest from Brendan on the roof – but they weren’t in time to stop the throw. The knife was well off the mark but as I watched, it curved in midair and honed in on the ancient archer’s heart. It hit him square in the chest. He dropped his bow, then crumpled first onto his knees and then onto his back.
Brendan dispatched the other attackers from the roof and then out of habit shouted, ‘OFFICER DOWN.’ He slid down a buttress and arrived at Spideog’s side almost as quickly as I did. I lifted the archer’s head; he coughed and blood poured from his mouth.
‘Is the Tree safe?’ he asked.
‘Yes, Master.’
‘Good.’ He coughed again, closing his eyes in pain. ‘Conor, don’t let Essa go. If you don’t tell her how you feel, you will regret it for the rest of your life – trust me, I know.’ He coughed again and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. When he saw the blood on his fingers he said, ‘Oh dear, could you find Dahy for me?’
Brendan took the archer’s head. I turned, there were several soldiers watching dumbfounded. ‘Get Dahy,’ I ordered and they scattered in several directions.
Brendan was weeping openly. Spideog smiled and said to him, ‘If the yews allow it, I want you to have my bow.’
Brendan tried to speak but nothing came out.
Dahy crashed to his knees next to us. He took Spideog’s hand and said, ‘Hey, old man.’
‘Who are you calling old?’ Spideog smiled, his eyes still closed.
Dahy looked up and barked, ‘Someone get a healer.’
Dahy’s old comrade in arms shook his head. The meaning was obvious – a healer would do no good. Then he opened his eyes and said, ‘She lives, Dahy.’
‘Who lives, old friend?’ Dahy asked.
Pain and coughing racked Spideog’s body, blood poured freely from the side of his mouth. I didn’t think he would open his eyes again but then he reached up and grabbed Dahy on the side of the arm. ‘Macha … Macha lives.’ Then his hand dropped and he breathed his last.
The folds of his tunic had obscured the knife in Spideog’s chest. As Brendan laid him down the material fell away and the green knife handle came into view. Dahy pulled it from the torso and examined it closely. ‘Where did this come from?’
A sinking feeling like a punch in the stomach almost made me retch. I walked over to the dead Brownie that had thrown the knife. I knelt down and rolled his body over – it was Demne, the eldest son of the Brownie King. It was Frank.
By the time I looked up Essa, Araf and Tuan were in the courtyard. My head was spinning. Overwhelmingly conflicting emotions mixed with confusion made me almost catatonic. I had just won a battle but had been partly responsible for the death of Master Spideog. But then – here were my friends brought back from the dead.
The sound of flapping and screaming in the sky snapped me back to full attention. High, high above us flew a dragon; below him hung a writhing, screaming man. When Red was directly above our heads he opened his talons and let the man go. The screaming ended when the freefalling body hit the side of the headquarters roof. The snapping of his neck was plain to hear. He bounced and landed on the ground face down, not far away from Essa. The Princess used her foot to flip him over. It was Turlow. Essa stared at him with a clenched jaw as her eyes watered up.
‘I wanted to do that,’ she said.
Chapter Forty-One
The Green Dragon
I looked back up and saw Dragon Red flying away and remembered. I remembered what the last months had all been about. I started shouting, ‘NO, RED, RED COME BACK.’
I looked to Brendan. ‘Where is he going?’
I didn’t wait for an answer, I was getting frantic. ‘RE-E-E-ED!’ Then I spun on Araf. ‘You were riding a green dragon – where is the green dragon? Where?’
Araf grabbed me by the shoulders, he was uncharacteristically smiling. I looked to Brendan and Tuan; despite the recent tragedies, they were smiling too.
‘I need dragon’s blood!’
‘Calm down, Conor,’ Araf said. ‘The green dragon is here.’
I spun around, searching the courtyard for any sign of a dragon. They were all still smiling like idiots. I was just about to slap them when Tuan placed his hands together into a two-handed fist, then crouched down like a man about to drop to his knees in prayer. When he began to straighten up he didn’t just stop at his own height. His clothes tore away as palm-sized green scales loudly clinked into place on his chest and back. He continued to grow as his face extended and spines grew out of his receding hair. As he reached full size he blocked the sun and extended his wings, sending a cloud of dust and leaves swirling around the courtyard, forcing us to shield our eyes.
‘>
,’ I said incredulously.
‘Oh yes,’ Brendan said, patting me on the back.
I stepped up to Dragon Tuan and he lowered his head. I looked into his eyes, thinking that I would recognise my old travelling companion but his eyes were green and yellow with slits for pupils.
‘Is that you in there, Councillor Tuan?’
He threw his head violently back and blew a massive plume of fire into the air. Brendan grabbed
me by the arm and pulled me back. ‘Don’t make him laugh, he’s having trouble controlling the fire-breathing stuff.’
Tuan folded back his wings and lowered his body to the ground. Brendan took a running start and hopped on his back like a cowboy in a movie. Then he held out his hand and said, ‘You comin’?’
‘Where?’
‘To Castle Duir. Tuan wants to donate some blood.’
I took a running start. I was so excited that I almost sailed straight over the back of Tuan.
Then Nieve ran into the courtyard and shouted, ‘Brendan, you are alive.’
‘I am indeed, gorgeous,’ the cop replied from dragonback. ‘I’m off to Castle Duir to save your brother. Come with us.’
Honest to the gods she hopped up and down like a schoolgirl at a boy-band concert and ran two steps towards us before she stopped and dropped her head.
‘I cannot. I must tend the wounded.’
Brendan turned to me and said, ‘Can you give me a minute?’
I nodded and he slid off Tuan’s back and gave my aunt a right proper, back-dipping, snog.
Dahy approached me holding the knife. He looked shell-shocked. ‘Where did you get this?’ he asked quietly. It was almost as if he was afraid to hear the answer.
‘It was thrown out of the window from the house of the Oracle, on Mount Cas. Araf was there, he can tell you all about it.’ He nodded thoughtfully and backed off as Brendan dramatically remounted.
Tuan extended his school-bus-sized wings and began to flap. The muscles in his back tightened and rocked me up and down as I searched for something to hold on to. I grabbed Brendan around the waist. He didn’t seem to mind.
Detective Fallon turned to me wearing a huge ear-to-ear grin. ‘Have you ever been on the rollercoaster at that amusement park in Elysburg, Pennsylvania?’