The Ark of Dun Ruah, Book 1 (17 page)

CHAPTER 26

Return of the Ark

In the morning, spirits were low in the town of Coracle. The rain continued to fall in torrents. Even Simon couldn't think of a way to defeat Red Beak. His team of technicians were already working to create new batches of ammunition. But he knew that it would be hard to beat Red Beak's ingenuity and to defeat his loyal troops. Once again small flocks of eagle scouts were flying high over Coracle, scanning the streets for weak points to attack.

‘Where is the famous Messenger now that we need him?' complained Simon.

‘I know Malachy won't let us down,' said Cian.

‘He'll be here when we need him most,' said Dot. ‘I'm going to the seafront to look out for him.'

Dot flew out and perched on the sea wall before a gale-force wind. The waves rose higher and the skies grew darker than before. The storm raged and the heavens burst open, sending down such a flood that Red Beak's roaming scouts had to flee back to the chapel.

The storm raged all day, keeping Red Beak's hordes confined indoors. The Tawny Owl brought news that Kiki and her army were camping in Cooley House ready to support the White Army when the rains died down.

‘Niamh has found an underground passage in Cooley House that leads back to the town hall,' he said. ‘She and Kerry are on their way back here.'

‘What underground passage?' Browdan demanded.

‘The only passage I know of that runs from Cooley House to Coracle joins up with the Pilgrim's Way. They could be heading straight for Red Beak's base in the old chapel.'

‘We've got to stop them!' cried Simon.

‘I'll go back to Cooley House,' said Grinwick. ‘The wind is blowing that way and with any luck I'll get there in time to stop them.'

Grinwick immediately left them and flew towards Cooley House accompanied by a small flock of freebirds.

‘I don't think he'll make it,' said Browdan looking out at the storm. ‘Malachy is our only hope.'

‘But now is the time we need him the most,' said Simon. ‘And where is he? I know you all think the man is some kind of great hero. But he's been missing for all our battles. If he really was a prophet wouldn't he know how badly we need him now?'

‘Malachy's ways are mysterious. But he won't let us down. That much I'm sure of,' said Browdan.

‘Look out,' shouted Cian. ‘Red Beak's eagles are roaming the streets again. They seem to be congregating on the roof above us.'

It was clear from the numbers of eagles assembling on the town hall roof that Red Beak was focusing his next attack on the White Army's base. Within minutes the eagle army launched a full-force blitz on the building. They hacked at the walls by pecking at its weak points. Simon opened some windows and fired rounds of missiles in defence but the eagles flew straight into the mortars, sacrificing their lives for their King. Soon the mortars were jammed. Simon was forced to baton down the windows and retreat inside to repair the damage. The old brickwork on the town hall walls started to crumble as flocks of eagle soldiers started penetrating the top floor.

Legion after legion of eagle forces flung themselves upon the town hall. Browdan's key volunteers were trapped inside. They barricaded the doors and windows with every stick of furniture they could find but the eagles zoned in on the roof and started taking it apart. Bit by bit the roof tiles were uplifted and flung to the ground. Soon the damage was irreparable and the eagles forced their way into the building. They swept through corridors and rooms shattering everything in their path. Browdan and his volunteers raced to the ground floor and tried to escape through a side door. But the eagles had the building fully surrounded.

Trapped in an alley and armed with hand grenades, the volunteers made their last stand against the enemy. Eagles poured into the alley from all sides. There was no escape. Hundreds of troops pounced on the White Army leaders, seized them and hauled them up into the sky.

Simon and Browdan and Cian were carried in the eagles' clutches, through the stormy gales, through the streets of Coracle and up to the chapel on the cliff. It stood precariously balanced at the edge of the seafront. The waves lashed against the sea wall as if they were trying to devour it, but the chapel still clung to its foundations. As the rebels approached, a flock of eagles flew out to meet them and escorted them through the main doors of the chapel.

Red Beak stood on the pulpit looking down on his huge audience of loyal supporters. Simon could see Pod tied up and shivering in a cage beside Red Beak. The White Army leaders were marched up the centre aisle with hundreds of eagle eyes fixed on their every move from the pews, the balconies and the rafters of the old church. The winds continued to rage outside and lightning flashed across the tall gothic windows.

Red Beak roared, his scream echoing throughout the vaults of the high ceiling. ‘Search them!'

Simon was dragged before the Eagle King and stripped of his matches and weapons. Browdan and Cian's armour and weapons were confiscated.

Outside Dot and Timmy waited at the shore for some sign of Malachy. Dot spotted something on the horizon and waved towards it.

‘It's a ship,' she cried trying to shout over the noise of the wailing wind and water.

Within moments the Ark of Dun Ruah came into view, travelling at great speed towards the shore. Many of the villagers ran out of their homes, battling against the driving rain to see the great ship return to Coracle.

‘Why isn't she dropping her anchor?' the people cried. ‘She'll wreck herself against the sea wall.'

The ship continued to surge towards them, carried in full flight by the gale force winds.

‘Is there no one on board?' cried Dot.

‘Look, there is someone standing at the mast,' said Timmy. ‘It's Malachy. He must be out of his mind.'

Malachy stood at the centre of the ship's deck. His whole body was gleaming with streaming rain, which had drenched him through to the skin. His arms were raised high over his head reaching up to the heavens. The ship was heading on a certain voyage of doom, straight towards the cliff. The onlookers held their breaths waiting for the final impact.

Suddenly, the heavens burst open and a huge flash of forked lightning struck down into Malachy's two arms. The Messenger's body lit up like the sun sending rays of flashing light out through his arms into the dark sky, turning night into day. The Ark of Dun Ruah ploughed forward on her course of destruction.

‘You thought you could bring me to my knees', Red Beak raged as he stood before his prisoners, ‘but you underestim ated my strength. I have outwitted you and counteracted every one of your onslaughts. And now look at you here grovelling at my feet.'

‘We are not grovelling. This isn't over yet,' said Browdan. ‘You have only captured three of us. But the White Army and its allies won't let us down.'

‘Allies,' laughed Red Beak. ‘Do you mean those two girls we found in the tunnel? Bring them before me, guards.'

The guards dragged Niamh and Kerry into the chapel and flung them on the floor.

‘So these are your allies,' laughed Red Beak. ‘They're not much use to you now!'

‘Leave them alone,' yelled Simon.

‘I have no pity for them,' continued the Eagle King. ‘I have no pity for any of you. You thought that you could take what is rightly mine away from me. Well, you have lost the war, Browdan. You and your friends will suffer terrible deaths. I will tear every hair from your heads and every limb from your bodies. You will suffer such torture that you will cry on your bended knees for mercy.'

‘Let the girls go,' cried Browdan. ‘What harm have they done?'

‘Scheming busybodies!' screamed Red Beak. ‘Kerry Macken thought she could outsmart me and take the Blue Owl from my Queen Kiki. If it weren't for her, Kiki would have her royal cloak of blue feathers by now. She would be here by my side where she belongs. I'll have no mercy on that girl or on any of you. Guards, seize them,' he roared, ‘and throw them at my feet.'

The prisoners were dragged to the foot of the pulpit. Red Beak's guards tied them to pillars. Simon struggled to find some way to defend his friends but the strongest guards overpowered him and threw him to the ground. Ten powerful eagles stood before them. Kerry saw that they had extremely long, sharp talons.

‘Use your claws,' screeched Red Beak, ‘and make them suffer.'

Kerry remembered Malachy's last words to her before he left the island. She knew that the moment to call him had arrived. He had made a promise to be there when she called his name.

‘Malachy,' she cried. ‘Malachy, where are you. We need you!'

Lightning tore through the windows, shattering the glass and breaking the metal bars into fragments. The sea wall tore open as the enormous Ark of Dun Ruah ripped straight through the church, tearing it apart. The ship front plunged towards Red Beak, who was standing high up on his pulpit. It hit him between his two red eyes and knocked him to the floor. A blood-curdling howl pierced their ears. A deep reverberating tremor shook the foundations of the chapel. The sea wall crumbled in a cloud of debris and collapsed into the violent waters below. In a frenzy of terror, the eagles flew through the gap and vanished into the night sky.

CHAPTER 27

The Sword of Truth

Malachy stood at the mast of the Ark of Dun Ruah as the great ship crashed through the walls of the old chapel. Pod's cage flew off the pulpit and hurtled towards the floor. Pillars and walls collapsed and crumbled into mounds of broken wood and stone. Shards of shattered glass splintered as they whizzed through the air. Inside the chapel a thick mist of dust and debris rose and billowed into a cloud. It covered the floor in a thick white layer. The eagles' cries rose into the heavens as they fled in terror.

Malachy jumped from the ship's bow.

He ran towards Kerry, Niamh, Simon and Browdan and quickly freed them from their tethers.

Then he started searching for Pod's cage. It lay buried somewhere beneath the rubble strewn over the chapel floor. A thick veil of dust was settling over the pews. Malachy was already wading through the debris, pulling up toppled statues and pillars. The others joined in the search but it was Malachy who found the ruined cage.

They all ran to his side as he dug the mangled shards of Pod's cage out from under some fallen beams. Pod was lying unconscious at the bottom of his metal prison, his feathers all covered in grey dust.

‘Stop, the owl is mine!' screamed a voice from above them.

They looked up at Red Beak.

He stood high up on the remaining rafters of the chapel with his mighty wings outstretched. His red eyes gleamed with hatred.

‘Get out of here,' Malachy ordered the friends. ‘I'll deal with Red Beak. Quick, run!'

‘I'm not leaving without Pod,' cried Simon.

He lunged at the cage, grabbed it from Malachy and made to escape.

With a shrill scream Red Beak flew from the rafters and descended on Simon with his claws outstretched. He plunged his sharp talons into Simon's shoulders, piercing him till blood ran down his chest. In his agony Simon dropped the cage and Red Beak grabbed it. He flew up high into the rafters carrying the cage with him.

‘You'll never get the owl,' Red Beak snarled, ‘and this island will always be mine. You'll never break my power.'

A blinding bolt of lightning flashed across the chapel.

Malachy stood with his arms outstretched. The lightning coursed through his body illuminating him like a dazzling star in the darkness. Light emanated from his presence with a shining radiance. He raised his arms high and stretched them towards the Eagle King. Bolts of lightning radiated from his limbs and shot up into the rafters. Electric charges vibrated across the floor. The rafters burst into flames and Red Beak flew screaming into the air.

Pod's cage tumbled towards the ground.

In a flash Malachy was beneath it. He caught the falling cage in his arms.

‘Simon,' he called, ‘take the owl, and this time hold on to him!'

‘Never,' Red Beak's voice called from above them.

The Giant Eagle King flew at Simon with talons outstretched. But Malachy got there before him. ‘You'll have to take me first,' he challenged Red Beak.

Red Beak hovered. ‘If you think you have the power to defeat the great Red Beak, King of the Eagles then you are more foolish than I thought.'

‘What power do you have, Red Beak?' cried the prophet. ‘Show me. I'm waiting.'

Red Beak flew at Malachy but he raised his cloak as a shield. It swirled up in a rushing wind and flung the huge eagle across the chapel floor.

Red Beak rose again from the floor, his mighty wings outstretched and his claws ready to pounce. Malachy stepped towards him and appeared to rise to twice his former height. His green eyes flashed as he pulled a silver sword from a sheath hidden in his clothing. He raised the sword in the air.

Red Beak laughed. ‘Never has a man's sword drawn blood from the great Red Beak,' he cried, lunging at Malachy.

‘This is the Double-Edged Sword of Truth and its power can separate bone from marrow,' cried Malachy as he aimed it at the eagle.

With a mighty flash, the ancient sword shot through the chapel and pierced the eagle in mid-flight, wounding him in the underbelly. Red Beak fell to the ground as he let out a great cry of anguish. The rafters shook and with a roar of thunder the roof caved in all around him. Lightning ripped across the floor. His body lay shattered in the smouldering silence.

Red Beak was at last defeated and broken.

Malachy rushed to Simon's side. The boy lifted Pod gently from the cage and held him tenderly in his arms. Kerry, Niamh, Cian and Browdan appeared out of the ruins where they had watched the great battle and Red Beak's fall.

‘Pod's got a broken wing,' said Simon, ‘and he's bleeding. But he's still alive. I can feel a faint pulse.'

‘Take him back to the town hall,' said Malachy. ‘The chapel is dangerous. These walls are ready to crash into the sea at any minute. Hurry now before it's too late.'

‘Malachy, please come with us?' pleaded Kerry.

‘Not now. I will follow you, Kerry. Quickly, hurry before more of you get injured.'

Outside the chapel doors the villagers arrived accompanied by Queen Kiki and her flocks. The villagers followed Pod and his friends back to the town hall. A silent Queen Kiki entered the ruined chapel to search for her husband.

Pod was still unconscious when they arrived in the town hall. The building was in ruins but the villagers worked together to clear up the destruction caused by Red Beak's army and make some rooms comfortable for the night. Despite their weariness, the little group was unable to rest. They were worried about Pod's condition. Simon stayed up all night nursing Pod in his arms. Kerry and Niamh helped him to bathe the owl's feathers and clean the injured wing. Timmy and Dot perched by his side chirping softly, trying to breathe some life back into their old friend's battered body. By morning Pod still hadn't regained consciousness. His breathing was more laboured. Browdan called to see how he was faring and asked if there was anything he could do.

‘Please go and fetch Malachy,' Kerry asked. ‘There must be something he can do for Pod.'

‘Malachy has been out all night helping the monks salvage their ship from the cliff face. He is also assisting the villagers in reclaiming their homes. Maybe we should leave him alone. He knows where Pod is. If he thought he could help, I know he'd be here.'

‘But look at Pod,' said Kerry. ‘I'm so worried about him. I'm afraid he's going to die.'

‘Pod is an old bird,' said Dot. ‘He's always been nervous and excitable. He has had a weak heart for years. His pulse is very faint. The owl has been through an awful lot. I think Red Beak injected him with more feather-growing formula since we last saw him. His body is very bloated and even thicker with feathers. The extra weight and strain might have been too much for Pod's heart. We'll be lucky if he pulls through.'

‘But Malachy can save him,' cried Kerry.

‘You don't know that,' said Niamh. ‘If there was anything he could do, I'm sure he'd be here.'

‘Maybe he doesn't know how weak Pod is,' said Kerry.

‘Alright Kerry,' said Browdan, ‘I'll go to him on your behalf and tell him that you are asking for him.' Then he left them.

Later in the morning Malachy called to the town hall to enquire about Pod.

‘Oh, I knew you'd come,' said Kerry rushing to meet him. ‘I knew you wouldn't desert Pod.'

‘Kerry, you must understand there are things I can't interfere in. Pod needs you to be there for him. And the islanders need me. They have a great burden of work to do. They need my help even more than Pod does. Trust me.'

Kerry hung her head.

‘Where is Browdan?' said Malachy. ‘I've got something to give him.'

Browdan was already standing at Malachy's side.

‘While we were moving the Ark of Dun Ruah from the ruins of the old chapel', said Malachy, ‘I found something that I know you will treasure.'

He held out his closed fist and opened it. Browdan gasped to see his father's sapphire ring glittering in its radiant blue glory. It was the chieftain's ring that had been handed down through generations to his father. Coleman Cooley had always worn it until Red Beak had prised it from him at his death.

‘I found it on the chapel floor under the pulpit. I saw it fall from Red Beak's talon just before he fell.'

The dazzling deep blue stone lay sparkling in Malachy's hand.

‘Take it and treasure it,' Malachy said, giving the ring to Browdan.

‘Think of your father while you wear it. This stone has passed from chieftain to chieftain of this island from ancient times. It is your inheritance. And it is a symbol of a greater treasure, that of true wisdom. You have been blessed to inherit your father's wisdom and knowledge. This ring is a symbol of the treasures within you. Guard them and nurture their goodness. You will make a great chieftain, Browdan.'

Browdan took the ring from Malachy's hands and just as he slipped it onto his finger Pod stirred in Simon's arms. They all gathered around him.

Pod opened his amber eyes and rested them on his little group of friends. ‘So you all went off and left me alone in the woods with Red Beak's terrible army,' he said. ‘What kind of friends are you?'

‘I'm so sorry, Pod,' cried Kerry. ‘It's my fault. I shouldn't have let you out of my sight. And I should never have brought you on this trip in the first place.'

Pod's bright eyes smiled at Kerry.

‘Then I wouldn't have gotten the chance to be a hero. It wasn't your fault, Kerry. I'm just a tired old owl. My wings aren't what they used to be. They just gave up. But don't worry about me. It's time for me to go to the Ocean's End and rest.'

‘But, Pod, you can't leave us now,' cried Kerry. ‘And why are you talking about Ocean's End?'

‘Ocean's End is a great place for old owls. There are miles of open skies for me to glide through and peaceful forests where I can regain my strength. I'm hoping to get a fresh pair of wings. Don't worry about me. I've got lots of friends waiting for me there.'

‘Then we'll come with you,' said Kerry.

‘No. This is something I've got to do on my own. It's time for me to leave you at last. But I'm glad I got to spend so much time with someone as beautiful as you. I'll always be your friend, Kerry, remember that. Keep me in your heart.'

Then Pod looked at Simon.

‘Take me to the old chapel on the cliff Simon. That's a good place for me to fly to Ocean's End. It's time for me to go. We must hurry while I still have some strength.'

Simon lifted Pod onto his shoulder and although the owl's coat was thick with layers of rich, blue feathers, his body felt light. Simon carried him through the streets of Coracle followed by his group of friends and many of the villagers. Soon they reached the ruins of the old chapel which had been ripped apart by the Ark of Dun Ruah. Already the ship had been hauled over to Coracle harbour by the monks and villagers. From the clifftop they could see them busily working on her restoration. There they all stood, clustered around Pod at the edge of the cliff, facing out over the sea.

Browdan came forward and stood before Simon and Pod. ‘We will always remember you for what you did, Pod. Your courage and bravery have been a huge blessing to everyone on this island. If it wasn't for you we would be still living in the caves and hiding from the evil Red Beak. Thanks to the sacrifice you made for your friends, we have our beautiful island back. We'll never forget you, dear friend.'

‘I don't deserve this honour,' said Pod. ‘In the short time I've been here I've grown to love this island. It was a small price to pay. Now I must go before my wings entirely fail me. Goodbye to all my friends.'

Then he looked at Simon. ‘Take care of your sister and of those two little swiftails. And be careful with the matches. How many times have I told you they're dangerous?'

‘Oh, Pod, don't leave us,' cried Kerry. ‘Please, please stay. I can't bear to say goodbye.'