They Mostly Come Out At Night (22 page)

"Of course it is. The man was a monster. He killed your mother, Branwen. Almost killed Clare. And let's not forget he tried his damned best to kill me after almost ruining my life for the last eight years. I don't get the impression your life with him has been a piece of cake either."

Her face turned red in anger, and she barked back, "No, but he was a man, Lonan. He had a place in this village. He put food on our plates. That's my job now. Clare and I have to look out for ourselves, and that's going to be bloody hard."

Lonan's cockiness dissipated. "But... that's my job now, isn't it? I thought that we..."

The look of shock on Branwen's face clearly told Lonan that he had read the situation all wrong. He had just assumed that their relationship would pick up from where they had left off eight years ago.
What an idiot.
Her face told him that the notion had never even occurred to her.

"Ah, sorry, I've been a complete fool, haven't I? You'd better lock up." Lonan turned to walk away.

"Wait." Branwen was still at the door, face white. "Lonan, you don't want me. Not now. I'm another man's wife. A murderer and a liar. I've had his child." She laughed, indicating her face. "By Artemis, just look at me. You should aim higher."

Lonan did not join in her humour. "You know, I hated walking past this house. This forge. The fact that he had taken my father's job and home from me stung. I felt ill coming close to this place. I would go into the forest to scream at the world in frustration at how nobody else would believe I was innocent of your mother's death. But Branwen, nothing hurt me more than the looks you gave me each day. That what we had as children so quickly turned to hate. And when he married you..."

At this, Lonan spat to the ground. "His biggest crime against me was taking you."

Branwen paused, looking at the man before her with new eyes. Casting a glance to the horizon, she ran out of her home, threw her arms around Lonan's neck and kissed him. Her lips were rough, the cheek of her ruined face felt alien and ragged against his own, but at that point, Lonan knew he was the happiest man in the forest.

“I love you,” he whispered finally, into her ear. “I always have.”

She pulled away from him, smiling through her tears, and opened her mouth to speak.

The evening bell rang.

Branwen pulled reluctantly away. "You should head back now. We can talk about this in the morning." The smile she gave him made his heart sing.

Lonan chuckled. "You know, there's no reason to wall ourselves up anymore. Don't you fancy spending a few hours looking at the stars in the night sky?"

Branwen drew back in fear at the very suggestion. "You can't be serious?"

"I told you about my dreams, didn't I? The Magpie King has won, Branwen. The Wolves have gone. Night is safe for us now."

Her uncertainty was plain to read. "Lonan, promise me you won't do anything silly tonight. You haven't been well..."

Annoyed, he responded, "They’re real, Branwen. I've been having the dreams for a while now, before the accident."

"Promise me, Lonan."

He threw up his arms in mock frustration. "Fine. You win this one, our first argument. But I'll get you out in the night soon enough," he added with an evil glint in his eye.

"Goodnight, Lonan." She smiled and then was gone.

He could not stop himself from grinning. Everything was coming together now. With Jarleth out of the way, Branwen's affections were returning to him. His own status in the village was already well repaired. Lonan was convinced the forge would default to him soon. He knew Knacks did not normally come after the age of eighteen, but if he pushed himself hard enough...

A selection of thuds signalled the closing of cellar doors. One ahead of him alerted Lonan to the fact that Mother Ogma had closed her door without him.

That cheeky little minx.
She had assumed he would be staying the night with Branwen. What secrets did that suggest about the old healer? He always thought Old Tumulty gave her strange looks when her back was turned. Ogma’s door was shut, but it would not be too much of a bother for her to open it for him again.

Except, why should she have to?

He knew he had promised Branwen he would not stay outside in the night, but it had been a foolish promise to make. Lonan knew fine well the danger of the Wolves had disappeared from the forest. In his dreams, Adahy leapt from village to village, desperately seeking physical combat to distract him from the rigours of diplomacy, but there was nothing to be found any more. No movement had been reported by anyone in Smithsdown since Lonan's dream showed the den mother's fall.

And Lonan wanted to see the stars again.

They had never been completely foreign to him, of course. In a cloudless sky in the late evening, the brightest stars were often visible. Lonan had also spent a lot of the past few weeks looking through the eyes of the Magpie King, who walked beneath the stars regularly. However, it was another thing entirely to lie on your back on the village green and stare into a wealth of sparks on a dark canvas. Lonan began by counting them, but quickly realised he had not the numbers in his head to complete the task.
By Artemis, I did not expect there to be so many - where do they all hide when the brightest pop out in the evenings? Another mystery I’ll gladly investigate in the future.

The young man shivered.
Hadn’t expected it to be so cold, but I guess winter isn’t far from the forest now. Perhaps, for that reason only, it might be best to find shelter indoors tonight.

Lonan picked himself up off the ground and froze. There was movement, over by the forge. Something shifting in the shadows.

Lonan could feel his heart rate ramping up, his mind whirring through the possibilities. A Wolf? But Adahy had been so sure they were gone now. What about Adahy himself? That made no sense either. Why would the Magpie King feel the need to hide himself from a villager?

The shadow by the wall shifted slightly, tilting itself in Lonan’s direction. It was clear that whoever or whatever was sheltering over there had seen him now.

It would still not be impossible for Lonan to get to safety. Mother Ogma's cottage was within his reach, and he was convinced she would not have fallen asleep yet. However, Lonan's morbid curiosity was fighting that notion. Also, the dark shape was closest to Branwen's cottage...

Lonan shifted closer to the forge. Something moved in the darkness again. Definitely too large to be a woodland animal. Unless it was a bear, of course, but Lonan was not foolish enough to believe in such a beast. The way this shape was hiding, he was convinced it was just as scared of him as he was of it.

"Hello?" he whispered gently.

Then it leapt at him.

The blackness was swifter than anything Lonan had seen before. He did not have a chance to even make a move, and when it hit him it did so with the force of one of the Tumulty brothers driving a fence post into the dirt. Lonan hit the ground with a violent thump, sending needles into the fresh wounds of his head, arm and chest.

He screamed at this, and the shape screamed back at him. It was unnerving, inhuman. Lonan's bowels released, reminding him of Adahy all those weeks ago on the ridge over Smithsdown. The black shape screamed again, and he realised his initial assumption that it was inhuman was incorrect. The thing standing over him was clearly human, or at least was at one point. Its skin was a burnt black, like the end of a log left in a fire. Despite its strength the thing had no meat on its bones, its powerful arms were no more than ruined skin stretched over a thin frame.

Most distinctive, however, was its face. A metal mask covered its eyes and nose, drawing attention to its face's black chin and yellow teeth, which were filed to a point. Lonan should have been most horrified by its eyes. They were clearly human, but the whites had been turned a deep red as if they were constantly, deeply irritated. However, Lonan was transfixed by the nose of the mask. Or perhaps
beak
would be a better word, for the mask's nose stuck out and then bent downwards into a point. That and the black feathered cloak that the creature wore could not help but draw attention to its similarities to the Magpie King.

"What in the hell are you?" Lonan gasped.

In response the creature screamed at him again, took his right hand in its mouth and bit off his ring finger.

It took Lonan a moment to realise he was now screaming too. The figure continued to shout, yet now there was a sinister mirth in its bellows. It was making fun of him.

"No, no," Lonan struggled underneath his attacker, but it was no use. Its strength dwarfed anything that he could muster even if he had been uninjured. In all of his fear, in what he now assumed were his last moments alive, he marvelled at how unfair this was. Everything had just started to go right. After years of misfortune and being plotted against, this was supposed to be his time.

"Adahy! Adahy, help me!" It was a last ditch attempt before he said goodbye to his life.

He was almost as surprised as his attacker when it worked.

From the black sky, as if leaping straight down from the moon, the Magpie King fell. He was exactly as Lonan had seen him in his dreams. The black and white feathers poured over his body, concealing it in a mist-like embrace, but most significant was the helm. The black metal beak, dwarfing the tiny mask of Lonan's attacker, pointed accusingly at the duo grappling on the ground.

"Adahy, my king - get it off, get it off me!"

The Magpie King rose to his full height and the attacking figure sank back from him, but remained hunched over Lonan. The Magpie King stepped forward.

"What did you call me?" His deep voice contained a wounded rasp that Lonan had not expected. It also took him a long second to realise that the Magpie King was addressing him.

"Adahy? I know it’s you. I - I have these dreams. For Artemis' sake, get this thing off me."

The Magpie King reached out and grabbed Lonan roughly by the chin. The first creature did not shy away from the Magpie King's closeness.

Something was horribly wrong.

"You dream of the Magpie King?"

"Adahy? You are Adahy, aren't you? You’re here to help me?"

The Magpie King was silent for a moment, staring at Lonan with his blank mask.

"Do not leave any remains."

And with that, he was gone.

"Wait, Adahy, wait-"

Pain shot up Lonan’s arm again as he lost another digit. This time, the creature brought its pointed teeth close to Lonan's face as it chomped joyfully on his flesh, allowing his own blood to fall into his mouth as he screamed mindlessly.

He was going to die.

A rage-filled female voice pierced the pain. "Get off him."

A thick amber liquid sprayed over the creature and Lonan, blinding the young man's attacker.

"Lonan, roll."

Released by the attacking shape as it brought its hands to its face, Lonan squirmed out from under the creature and rolled off to the side, clutching his injured hand as he did so. This gave Mother Ogma all the space that she needed to throw her lantern at the oil-covered monster. Flames enveloped it, and black feathers, now alight, rose to the sky as it shrieked.

"Quick," she gasped, pulling Lonan across the green as the creature burned out to a dead husk, "Back to the cellar. Harlow is flailing around like a madman - I don't know what to do with him."

Lonan was going to be very little help, however. As he lost consciousness, his enduring question was:
why, Adahy, why?

Adahy eventually found Maedoc on the Eyrie's roof. As Magpie Kings were wont to do, he was perched on the roof edge, still in full ceremonial garb, peering out to the forest.

"There you are, my friend. Your task was performed well, and it bore tasteful fruit."

Maedoc did not turn to look at his king, but answered in a gravelly voice. "I take it you liked what you saw then?"

"Yes, I did. She is terrified, poor girl, and very alone. But she has a good wit about her, and a keen mind."

"Quite the looker too, I imagine."

Adahy could not help but give an embarrassed grin. "Well, it was hard to say with all that gear on her, but I did fancy the look of those lips."