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236 lines
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236 lines
12 KiB
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<head>
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<title>Mythlands - Chapter 20</title>
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
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<h1>20</h1>
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<p>
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At first, the words were difficult to understand, but the Leprechaun reached his hand and touched each one of them, and after that, the words became clear.
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Jack knew he was hearing them in his head, or in his heart. He couldn't tell which.
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</p>
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<p>
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The others crowded round, appearing from the crevices and hollows, listening to the king as he sat with Jack and Corriwen and Kerry.
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</p>
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<p>
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"In the beginning, in the very beginning, the night lady dropped a star from her crown that became a seed. And the whole world became Tree."
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</p>
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<p>
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He paused. "The Leprechaun have been in this place since forever. Before the Scree-ogres; before men. Even before the Morrigan.
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</p>
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<p>
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"And we were content even to share with man those lands <em>She </em>had touched and no heartwood could root."
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack heard heartwood, but his mind showed him other words. The old Leprechaun's creaky voice conveyed family. It conveyed kin. Jack knew what he meant. The
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trees themselves.
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</p>
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<p>
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"We tended our sisters and nurtured them always, as we still do, content with our glades and peace with the men of Temair under the Redthorn chiefs. No
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sister ever fell by man's hand. They understood our need and we understood theirs and no harm befell us or the sisters until now.
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</p>
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<p>
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"To the south was ever the marshland, with its Rushen folk and the Kelpie, to the north were men and their farms and beyond that, the barren crags of the
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exiles, the Fomorian Scree."
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</p>
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<p>
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He bent forward and offered them another drink from something that might have been an acorn cup, if acorns ever grew to the size of coconuts. The nectar it
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contained was sweet and every sip seeped hot in their blood and made them feel stronger.
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</p>
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<p>
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The polished eyes clicked shut, and for a moment they thought he had fallen asleep, but they opened again and he continued.
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</p>
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<p>
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"In olden times, when this Leprechaun was a whip-sapling, there was sorcery and there was evil. Long-gone warlocks fought, and kingdoms fell and settled to
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dust. In these evil times, they summoned the she-demon from the dark place beyond Tir-Nan-Og, the land of the dead.
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</p>
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<p>
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"She is hunger and hate. She may have been summoned by them, but the warlocks also fell, for she knows no friendship or treaty; she ravaged the land. Evil
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times. Sisters shrivelled and died. There was fire and blight, and the Leprechaun were obliged to fight."
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack got the impression of vast eons, a history that dwarfed all the histories he had ever learned in school.
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</p>
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<p>
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"Came a man on the road, bearing a sword, which is anathema to the Leprechaun, as is the axe and the saw and wildfire. But this man braved the glades to
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sit with us and made a promise to he would free Temair of this bane, or die in the quest.
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</p>
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<p>
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"He put his hand in the flame and held it there, to show he would rather burn than see fire and harm come to the glades. Thus we knew his truth. When we
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eased his hurt, his right hand stayed red as blood, a mark for all to see."
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</p>
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<p>
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The king reached again and touched Jack on his forehead.
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</p>
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<p>
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"I recognise this Cullian's sap-line. You are ever welcome in our glades."
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack felt hot emotions rush through him. His mind sparked in all directions.
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</p>
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<p>
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<em>Cullian's sap line.</em>
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</p>
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<p>
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'Your father has been here before,' Finbar the Bard had told him. Jack had stepped between worlds, and his father had already been in this one. The heart
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stone was his inheritance, and already Jack had felt some of its power. Somehow he knew there was even more power in it, and his father had used it.
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</p>
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<p>
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He recalled Finbar's exact words: <em>If your father had the book and the heart stone, then he was a traveller. A journeyman.</em>
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</p>
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<p>
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Whatever a journeyman was, Jack was somehow following in the footsteps of a man he had never known.
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</p>
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<p>
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And the heart stone that forged the link between them, that was the key to everything. His past; his future. His <em>life.</em>
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</p>
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<p>
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The leprechaun king pinned him with those eyes and something mysterious passed between them, an understanding; a connection that spanned ages.
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</p>
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<p>
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"We helped Cullian, the travelling man," the King continued, "because he was the only hope, and the bards who travel freely with our blessing within our
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glades, came to tell us this was foreseen in their runes.
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</p>
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<p>
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"We fed Cullain's armies against the Scree when the land was devastated, we gave them shelter and hid them from sight."
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</p>
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<p>
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"And now you. You and you and you," he said, nodding once to each of them.
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</p>
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<p>
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"You, willow seedling, a Redthorn, whom we trust, and a long time has passed since our paths have crossed. No need. Word was given and taken. You are
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welcome in our glade Corriwen Redthorn.
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</p>
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<p>
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He looked at Kerry. "Just a sapling yourself, but a stout one. Oak-heart. You will bend when you need when the wind is strongest, but you will not break.
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You have your roots solid in the earth, Kerrigan Malone, and holding strong, but your heart, your heart is rootless, hither and yon, light as the breeze.
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Ever welcome in our glades boy-with-a-sling."
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</p>
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<p>
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He turned to Jack.
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</p>
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<p>
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"And you, Crown-bearer. I know you of old. You bear the Red Hand, the mark of Cullian, and his sap rises in you. It is to you the whole of Temair looks
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now, the Kelpie, the Undine, the Leprechaun and Man.
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</p>
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<p>
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"Me?"
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</p>
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<p>
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"You bear the same fireglass stone that he carried when the forest was young. I hear it beat within you, like the heartwood, our sisters. But it is a sore
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burden on young shoulders. Too young to face this, say I. Yet face it you must."
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</p>
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<p>
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"I don't understand," Jack said. He turned to Kerry who shrugged, equally baffled. "I'm still at school. What am I supposed to do?"
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</p>
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<p>
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"You must do what your heart tells you. No-one can do more. Who can foretell in these troubled times? Let your heart lead you."
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack wasn't quite sure which heart the old King was referring to.
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</p>
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<p>
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"We're supposed to go north," was all he said.
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</p>
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<p>
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"The road is no road now."
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</p>
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<p>
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"That creature of hers, the Mandrake-with-no-root, he sent the Scree to our glades. They killed heartwood with axe and saw, and that we would not suffer.
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Such pain they cause, but now no more. We grew the road away. There is no way through."
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</p>
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<p>
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"Then how will we get there?" Corriwen asked. "Time is pressing."
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</p>
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<p>
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The King's features quivered. It was almost a smile.
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</p>
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<p>
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"The heartwood have ways."
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</p>
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<p>
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"Speaking of Ways," Kerry broke in. "Show him the book, Jack."
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack fetched it from the backpack and passed it across to the Leprechaun. He passed a hand over it, trailing twiggy fingers over the cover and for an
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instant Jack thought he saw it covered, not in old leather, but rough bark. The pages flicked open and immediately they saw script appearing on each page.
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</p>
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<p>
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"Come a hard way," the Leprechaun said. "But how to travel is still unclear. And who knows what lies at that journey's end?"
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</p>
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<p>
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"Do you know how we can get there?"
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</p>
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<p>
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"The Scree guard the road mouth, what there is of it. So you must go a different way, but we will ease your stepping. Now rest, for there shall be little
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time for rest on the road ahead."
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</p>
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<p>
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He held up an acorn cup and passed it to Corriwen. "Drink now and sleep well for the journey."
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</p>
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<p>
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To Jack, he handed a small bark box which rattled as he took it. He opened it and they found a cache of smooth, hard seeds.
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</p>
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<p>
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"Should we eat these too?" Kerry asked.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack shook his head. "I don't think that's what they're for."
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</p>
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<p>
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"Maybe it's beanstalks," Kerry chipped in. "Nothing would surprise me here."
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</p>
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<p>
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The King merely smiled. He hauled, creaking to his feet. "I will consult my dear heart. I see the past, but she may sense some future."
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</p>
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<p>
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All the leprechaun watched him move towards the matriarch tree at the edge of the glade, the one whose roots now encased Kerry like the arms of a chair.
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</p>
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<p>
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The Leprechaun approached the tree and held his hands out towards it. His fingers touched the bark and the tree's mighty branches eased gently towards the
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little creature. Without a word, he pressed himself up against the bark and then, amazingly, sank into it.
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</p>
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<p>
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"The mother says sleep now, and feel no fear. You will scatter her seeds."
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</p>
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<p>
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With that, he was gone.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack looked at Kerry and Corriwen, unable to comprehend what he had seen, then he whirled with a start.
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</p>
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<p>
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The glade was empty. Totally empty. All the leprechaun had melted into the night, into the forest, into the bosoms of their own trees.
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</p>
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<p>
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All that was left was the three of them in the soft, dying light as a cloak of night drew itself across the wonderful forest and left them to sleep.
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</p>
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<p>
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At night he thought of Cullian of the Red Hand. He clutched the heart stone, the black obsidian around his neck that he now knew was the key, not only to
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this world, but to himself.
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</p>
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<p>
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Today he had thought he was going to die, he and his two only friends in this world.
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</p>
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<p>
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Now they would live to fight another day, and he had the strange certainty that the battles would become even more desperate in the days to come.
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</p>
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<p>
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He had faced death today, faced it like a man. And for a while, he was not afraid.
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</p>
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<p>
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But by the morning he was a prisoner again.
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</p>
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