Prince of Hazel and Oak. John Lenahan

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СКАЧАТЬ kept the gun pointed at Nieve but flicked a glance in my direction. He was real edgy.

      ‘Brendan,’ I said in my calmest voice, ‘this is my Aunt Nieve, my father’s sister. She’s from Tir na Nog, that’s why she is riding a horse. Remember, I told you about that?’

      The muscle in Fallon’s jaw twitched. I wasn’t sure if I was getting through to him.

      ‘I’m going to go with her. Put your gun down and no one will get hurt.’

      ‘What, I’m just supposed to let you walk out of here?’ His gun shook as he spoke. ‘She killed all of my officers.’

      ‘Conor, why are we talking? What is he saying that is so important?’

      ‘He is upset ’cause you killed his men.’

      ‘They will live,’ Nieve said. I could hear the impatience in her voice. ‘Conor, we do not have time for this.’

      She was right. The longer we stood here the more likely it was that more cops would show up and I was desperate to see my mother. I decided to take Fallon out of the equation.

      Unfortunately I was holding my banta stick upside-down so I had to flick the gun out of his hand with the heavy end and then use the light end on his neck. Dahy wouldn’t have been very impressed with the blow but it did the job and the detective went down. I grabbed Nieve’s hand and she lifted me onto the back of the saddle as if I weighed nothing.

      ‘I never got your Christmas card,’ she said as she manoeuvred the horse into the opposite direction.

      ‘Christmas isn’t for two months.’

      ‘Well, that explains it.’ I wasn’t sure if that was a joke or not.

      We rode back through what used to be a police station. No one stopped us. The only sounds were a few moans. Daylight poured through what used to be the front door. I shaded my eyes and was rewarded with the sight of my mother. My heart leapt and I involuntarily kicked the back of the horse, the mount lurched and I almost fell off.

      ‘Be careful, Conor!’ Nieve said. ‘I would prefer not to fall.’

      ‘Of course, sorry.’

      Nieve walked her horse next to Mom’s. I hugged Mom and she returned it. ‘Conor, are you all right?’

      ‘I am now,’ I said.

      ‘Deirdre,’ Nieve said, ‘I do not like this place.’

      ‘How’s Dad?’ I asked, still holding my mother. I never wanted to let go.

      Mom pushed me back. ‘Nieve is right. We must get out of here – we can talk when we get home.’

      Mom took some sap and a gold disc out of her saddlebag and began to chant as she rubbed them both between her hands. Amber light shot from her fingertips and created a spider web that eventually filled in to produce a large glowing disc.

      ‘Are you ready?’ Mom asked.

      ‘Born ready.’

      ‘Everybody stay right where you are!’ It was Fallon – with one hand he held his neck, in the other he held a gun.

      Nieve and Mom stepped their horses sideways for a look. ‘Who is this?’ Mom demanded.

      ‘Mom, this is Detective Fallon – Detective Fallon, this is my mother.’

      Fallon pointed the gun menacingly. ‘Everybody get down, we’re all going back inside.’

      Mom and Nieve started to reach inside their cloaks. I raised my hand and stopped them. ‘No we’re not, Brendan, we don’t belong here – I don’t belong here.’

      ‘I said get down!’

      ‘They can’t, Brendan, it would kill them. You see that glowing disc over there, that’s a door into another world – The Land. We are going to enter it and we will be gone. If we are not, then you can shoot me.’

      ‘I’m warning you, O’Neil.’

      ‘Brendan, I didn’t kill my father, he is right on the other side of that door, you have the wrong man. You said it yourself – I’m not a bad guy. Please – you have to trust me.’

      I could almost hear his brain cells working; he lowered his gun and we walked towards the disc. I didn’t look back.

      We arrived in the Hall of Spells. I expected the journey to be painful (most of this Shadowmagic stuff is) but other than a few spots in front of my vision and an annoying ringing in my ears, I was fine.

      I jumped down and gave Mom a proper hug. She returned it quickly but then said, ‘I have to go, I will talk to you later.’ I didn’t like the way she looked; she was still undisputedly the most beautiful woman in the world, but in her eyes I saw a haggard look. She dashed out of the room.

      I was a bit taken aback. I turned to Nieve and said, ‘Is she all right?’

      ‘She is fine, Conor.’

      I let out a sigh of relief and then took in a lungful of air and it hit me, I could feel the vitality seep into every cell. A smile took over my face and I said to myself, ‘I’m back.’ Then I threw my hands out to my sides and shouted to the roof, ‘I’m back!’ I startled a stable boy who quickly led the horses away – that’s when I saw him. Detective Fallon with dishevelled clothes and hair shooting out in all directions was crouched in the corner and he had a wild glint in his eyes. He looked like one of those girls in a slasher movie that had just witnessed her entire sorority get killed.

      ‘Oh my gods,’ I said.

      Our eyes locked, it scared me, I had seen that look before. He was wearing the same face that Fergal wore when he went mad and tried to kill Cialtie.

      ‘Brendan?’

      At the sound of his name he pulled the gun from between his knees and levelled it at me.

      I dropped my banta stick and said, ‘Hey, calm down, Brendan, no one is going to hurt you.’ I walked slowly towards him, palms up. He aimed the gun at my face, his arm shaking. I wondered if he even knew who he was. ‘It’s OK, you’re safe. Your name is Brendan Fallon, you have a wife and a daughter, it’s OK we’ll sort this out.’

      At the mention of his family a spark of sanity fluttered in his eyes. He dipped the gun a bit, but then both of us were startled by a voice to the left shouting my name.

      ‘Conor – catch!’

      A banta came sailing through the air. As I caught it, time slowed like it always does when I’m in mortal peril. I saw the lights go out in Fallon’s eyes and I could actually see the muscles in his fingers as they tightened on the trigger, I could almost hear them. I suspected that guns didn’t work in The Land but I didn’t want to take that chance. I performed the same manoeuvre as before, except this time I hit the gun with the light end of the stick and rounded on Fallon’s head with СКАЧАТЬ