The Light-Bearer's Daughter (33 page)

The first iron blade cut through the bole of a tree. Dana’s fairy blood quivered. Sharp teeth sawed through the wood. A slender birch toppled. Sap seeped from the bloodied stump. More trees were set upon. More crashed to the earth. A dimness settled over the woods as life and light were extinguished.

Big Bob came running as soon as he heard the chain-saws. He knew he had been betrayed. Sickened and defeated, he made his last stand by an ancient oak, as the trees fell around him like soldiers on the battlefield.

On the height above, the King had fallen. Shrieking its triumph, the demon lifted him high in the air, ready to hurl him down the ridge. Lugh would die with the trees. His eyes were dark with anguish. He could not save his people. He could not save his Queen.

It was the slaughter of the trees that woke Dana’s fairy self. As the silver lightning shot through her veins, she let out a cry of rage for the Mother Earth.

MAMA!

She looked down at her hands. Ever since that fateful day, she had refused to let it happen. She had denied her gift. In that one searing moment, she had learned to hate it, banishing it forever to the dark of her psyche.

Now the monster rose up from the lake of her mind and Dana saw that it was beautiful and shining with light. She smiled with love at the gift of her birthright. She bowed her head to acknowledge its beauty.

By making peace with your own monster you diminish evil’s power, over yourself and in the world
.

She cupped her hands together. As the golden light welled up in her palms, she raised them to the sky in offering.

Now the light shone out like a beacon to reach the one who was lost in darkness; the one who had heard her cry in the shadowlands; the one whose eyes were beginning to open as she ran toward the light.

A giantess came running out of the west and over the mountains. Her fiery hair streamed behind her like a comet. Her hands gleamed with the brightness she bore.

On the eastern ridge, Dana’s palms spilled over to suffuse the sky with a radiant arc. When the giantess stopped on the opposite ridge, her light poured forth to join with Dana’s.

Under the glow of the golden bridge, the Glen of the Downs was lit up like day.

Evil works best undercover in darkness, in secret and silence, through furtive action, covert operations and clandestine relations, when no one is certain, where no one can see. Who can fight shadows? What is being fought? But in the glare of the light, the motorists driving through the glen couldn’t help but see. The images were too stark to be denied. Ancient trees falling. Chainsaws cutting. Bulldozers ploughing great ruts in the earth. And one man alone, arms around an old oak, face wet with tears.

Everyone knew about the protest. Many did not support it. They wanted the road widened so they could drive faster. They didn’t care about trees or nature or the life of the valley.

But there were others who agreed with the tree people, who had made contributions and signed endless petitions. They saw Big Bob standing alone and they knew in their hearts it was time to act. Whether big or small, each had a part to play.

A silver Mercedes screeched to a stop at the side of the road. A middle-aged businessman jumped out. He ran to the nearest tree marked for felling and put his arms round it, placing his body between the bark and the blade.

A secretary on her way home, after working late, pulled up in her little Ford Fiesta. She ignored the mud on her high heels as she picked her tree and ran to protect it.

Now a local builder, out with his children for an evening drive, saw the others guarding their trees. He stopped his van—“
FOR OUTDOOR WORK, I’M YOUR MAN”
—and he and his three girls tumbled out. Holding the youngest in his arms, he blocked the path of a bulldozer, while the older two stood on either side of him.

As more and more drivers pulled into the shoulder, a human chain of defense quickly formed around the trees.

As below, so above
. Even as the light had filled the valley, calling up the resolve of every trueheart and braveheart, so, too, it brought strength to the King high on the ridge. Now the demon screeched and cowered in the brightness. Now Lugh rose up to fight again. Taking hold of the monster, he flung it into the Irish Sea, where it sank beneath the waves and dissolved in the brine.

Following the light that shone over the glen, the eco-warriors came rushing back to camp. In an instant they were shinnying up trunks and swinging on ropes, as cheers and war cries resounded through the valley.

Shortly after came the wail of sirens as police cars converged on the scene. And then the media. All efforts to work halted.

The battle was won.

Dana waited as the shining figure came toward her. Too impossibly young to be a mother, Edane was no longer a giantess but a shy slender woman. She looked at Dana as one who had hungered and thirsted for such a sight.

“Mama?” Dana whispered.

Dana knew her, but didn’t know her. She was the mother her child-mind dimly remembered, appearing still to be in her teens. Dana was trembling. She barely heard her mother murmur.
Child of my heart, blood of my blood
.

And though Dana longed to go to her, to be touched and held by her, she was unable to move. She felt cold and stiff.

“Why did you leave me?” The words had been frozen so long inside, they were like jagged icicles as sharp as knives. “Why did you go?”

Pain marred Edane’s beautiful features. Tears welled in the blue fairy eyes.

“I was lost, my little one. I fell between the worlds. Between those I loved in one and he whom I loved in the other. I have wandered blind in the dark, unable to find my way out.”

“In the dark?” Distrust etched Dana’s voice. The old anger flared. The unappeasable rage against a mother who had abandoned her child. “How? You carry your own light!”

Edane held out her hands as if to plead. Gold streamed from her palms.

Without thinking, Dana lifted her hands in response. It was the same movement she had made years ago.

“Don’t you see, my daughter?” Edane said softly. “It has returned to me only this day. I lost the light when I lost you. For I am the Light-Bearer and you are the Light that I bore.”

And Dana suddenly understood. Holding back no longer, she ran into her mother’s arms.

ana could have stayed there forever, happy and at peace in her mother’s arms. She remembered the softness and the scent of apple blossom. All the things she had ever wanted to tell Edane crowded into her mind and onto her tongue; stories from school, tales of her football gang, the boy she secretly liked but had mentioned to no one, the trophy she had won in the Irish language competition …

“Mum,” she began.

Edane
, a stór!
Edane, my love!

The King’s cries rang out across the glen.

Mother and daughter broke apart. It was an awkward moment. Dana could see that Edane was torn, reluctant to leave her child but yearning, also, to go to her husband. Dana herself felt confused. She cared for Lugh, but didn’t want him there. A surge of anger shot through her. She reached out for her mother and held on tightly.

Gently, Edane separated from her daughter.

“I will return to you
soon
,” she said softly.

And like a flame in the wind, she was gone.

Dana watched as the two shining figures met on the ridge opposite her. They stood apart for some time. She wondered if too much had happened between them. If they wouldn’t be able to bridge the past. Then they moved toward each other and embraced beneath the stars, and it looked as if they would remain that way forever.

In that moment, Dana felt truly alone.

It was time to go home.

Slowly she made her way down the wooded slope. She would go to the eco-camp and find Big Bob. Get him to ring her dad. As she pushed her way through the bracken and briars, she struggled against the pall of disillusionment. It all seemed such a letdown. She had succeeded in her quest and achieved her dream, yet she didn’t feel happy or even glad. Nothing had turned out as she had hoped or dreamed. Though she was overjoyed to have found her mother, she still suffered the same feelings of absence and loss. Edane looked too young to be the mom of a twelve-year-old. And it was already clear that she wouldn’t stay with Dana, but would return to live with her husband, the King.

Lost in sad thoughts, Dana didn’t see Yallery Brown until she bumped into him.

His brown paper clothes rustled like autumn leaves. His eyes blinked through the straggles of hair.

“Bejapers, there’s a face as long as yer arm,” he said. “And where on earth do ye think yer off to, missyella?”

“Home,” she said, too miserable to elaborate.

“Is yer story finished, then?” He looked surprised.

Dana nodded.

Yallery shook his head, and the long hair danced around him like a bird’s nest caught in an eddy of wind.

“What? Did the oul fat lady sing? Are ye tellin’ me I missed her?”

Despite herself, Dana started to giggle.

“Asha, it isn’t over yet,
a leanbh
,” he chided. “Ye look divil a bit like a happy-ever-after.”

He was already rummaging in his pockets. Before Dana could say anything, he had taken out a dandelion, and huffed and puffed her away.

When Dana landed on the summit of Lugnaquillia, she found the mountain lit up like a millennium cake. A thousand tall candles and flaming torches illumined the night. The castle itself was ablaze with chandeliers sparkling through the crystal walls. Music wafted out the open casements to be echoed by minstrels wandering in the gardens. Banners and flags fluttered on the parapets. Silken pavilions were pitched on the dim lawns. The air resounded with the revelry of the crowds who danced and sang and played. All creatures great and small, all beings bright and beautiful, had obviously come to celebrate the return of the Queen
.

Dana hovered at the edges of the throng. She was hoping to spot Ivy or Honor or anyone else she knew. Still dressed in her traveling clothes, she felt out of place, as if she had stumbled onto some stranger’s party. She wished Yallery hadn’t sent her there
.

Wandering aimlessly, she arrived at the crater that contained the white saucer in which she and Ivy had made their escape from the demon. A shudder ran through her at the thought of Murta. But everything looked different. The hollow was garlanded in sweet-scented roses of white and yellow. There were little ladders and stiles to invite people in. Squeals of terror and delight echoed through the air. Dana climbed up to see
.

The crater was packed with odd sods and bods waiting for the saucer, like people lined up for a Disney attraction. With a great
whoosh
it arrived, carrying a gaggle of screeching boggles. Dana looked among them eagerly, but no sign of Ivy. She spotted Bird at the same moment he saw her. His eyes widened and filled with tears. She could tell he was about to run away
.

Before he could bolt, she jumped into the crater and raced to grab him
.