Larkspur (22 page)

“
Do you believe in
destiny, my son?” Queen Fand asked.

“
Sort of,” Jacob
replied.

“
Yes, for fairy-kind, it’s
hard to imagine that anyone besides us can create our destiny,”
Queen Fand smiled at Jacob. “Early in the morning, on the edge of
dawn itself, I used to walk our shores. Those journeys allowed me
to feel the needs of our kind, and any shift in the world’s
winds.

“
I was out one morning,
near the south end of the island, when I saw Manannán for the first
time. We . . .” Queen Fand gestured to Gilfand and
the Cleopatra fairy, “ . . . were laughing, flying,
walking . . . It was a gorgeous morning.”

Queen Fand gave a soft smile.

“
There he was,” Queen Fand
said.

“
He was waiting for us,”
the Cleopatra fairy said. “Of course, we called our battalions
of . . . what is it that they call you?”

“
Gargoyles,” Gilfand said.
“We are male fairies, warriors.”

“
His children were ill,”
Queen Fand said. “He had seen our light, heard our laughter, for
years. He came to ask for our help.”

“
They were stricken by a
stomach ailment,” the Cleopatra fairy said. “They would surely die
without our help.”

“
We told them that we
don’t interfere in the affairs of other beings,” Gilfand
said.

“
He was desperate,” Queen
Fand said. “We conferred and agreed to look.”

“
In the end, our queen
sent our symphony to play fairy songs for the children,” Gilfand
said. “The music restored balance and cured their
illness.”

“
The courtship of Queen
Fand and Manannán began.” The Cleopatra fairy smiled.

“
Not at first,” Queen Fand
said. “Love snuck up on me.”

“
And on him,” Gilfand
said. “He had wives and many children. He knew nothing of
love.”

“
Our queen chose to take
human form,” the Cleopatra fairy said. “As her second, I took her
place on the throne to give her a chance to live in human form.
They had four boys.”

“
We lived together
for . . . a few hundred of your human years,” Queen
Fand said. “We saw our children grow and flourish. Fairy-kind and
humankind joined together, and we were very happy.”

“
Manannán’s human body
died of old age,” the Cleopatra fairy said.

“
I left my human body with
his,” Queen Fand said.

“
We rejoiced, because once
out of human form, our queen could live with her lover forever,”
the Cleopatra fairy said.

“
They were buried together
here,” Gilfand said.

“
Here. In Castletown?”
James asked. “Under this castle?”

“
That’s correct,” Gilfand
said. “Why?”

“
Fits the story of the
black lady ghost of Castle Rushen,” James shrugged.

Gilfand gave him a thoughtful nod.

“
Bound by love, Manannán’s
spirit joined us in the fairy world,” Queen Fand said. “Together,
we were the queen and king of all fairy kind. Our tribes
flourished. Manannán’s human tribe set out to Ireland and Scotland.
Within the next thousand human years, fairy-humankind populated
Ireland, Scotland, parts of Britain, and the isles
between.”

“
We lived here, on our
island, for time uncounted,” Queen Fand said. “The fairy fog kept
prying eyes from our shores. The Celts came and they left. They
came again, but our magic made them uncomfortable; they left to
conquer other lands.”

“
We did not hate them
then,” the Cleopatra fairy said. “They were pests who came with the
tides. They didn’t break our happy queendom.
Until . . .”

The Cleopatra fairy turned to look at Queen
Fand. The fairies looked at each other.

“
We don’t know what
happened,” Gilfand said.

“
We were cursed,” Queen
Fand said. “I was trapped, unable to move from my location, and
Manannán disappeared.”

Queen Fand swallowed hard.

“
He was here with us one
moment,” the Cleopatra fairy said. “And gone the next.”

The fairies let out a sorrowful sigh in
unison.

“
We
looked . . .” the Cleopatra fairy said. “We looked
for him for . . . years. We never found
him.”

“
The Celts killed all
fairy-humankind they could find,” Gilfand said. “Something called
‘Patrick’ tortured and killed fairy-humankind throughout the
British Isles. The Celts took over this land.”

“
Fairies scattered to a
few pockets of safety in the human world,” the Cleopatra fairy
said.

“
The Aran Islands are
still home to fairy-humankind,” Queen Fand said. “Many escaped to
the new world.”

“
And, of course, Faroe
Island,” Gilfand said.

“
We’ve been able to
survive, but . . .” Queen Fand said.

“
The curse has bound most
of our power,” Gilfand said. “And immobilized our
queen.”

Queen Fand looked down at the floor.

“
Do you mind if I ask a
few questions?” James stood up.

Queen Fand scowled at him.

“
Maybe it takes a Celt to
figure out what the Celts did,” Jacob said. “Let him
try.”

Queen Fand gave Jacob a long look before
giving an acquiescing nod.

“
How was your human body
buried?” James asked.

“
What do you mean?” Queen
Fand asked.

James smiled.

“
Of course, it makes
perfect sense,” James said. “You don’t know anything about human
burials, do you?”

“
No,” Queen Fand said. She
looked out across her fairies, and asked, “Do any of
you?”

A general murmur of “no” went through the
fairies.

“
Fair enough,” James said.
“Were you cremated? Uh, burned?”

“
I don’t think so,” Queen
Fand said. “I lay down next to my Manannán.”

The queen shrugged as if the rest was
self-explanatory.

“
And your Manannán,” James
said. “He had a lot of human children? Wives?”

“
By that time, his wives
had preceded him in death,” Queen Fand said. “I was able to extend
his human life for many centuries.”

“
You must have had
villages full of grandchildren, great-grandchildren,” James said.
“Human and what you’re calling fairy-humankind.”

“
That’s right,” Queen Fand
said.

“
There must have been much
ceremony around his passing, and yours,” James said.

“
I suppose so,” Queen Fand
shrugged.

“
What happened to your
body?” James asked.

“
You asked this before,”
Queen Fand said. “I don’t know.”

“
I think I know what he’s
getting at,” Jacob said. “What happened to Manannán’s
body?”

“
I washed it in clean
water and the purest oils,” Queen Fand said. “My son’s daughters,
Manannán’s granddaughters, and I wrapped him in layers of cotton.
They had a feast to celebrate his long life. When they were done, I
left my human body beside him.”

“
We can assume they buried
you together,” James said.

“
Buried?” Queen Fand shook
her head. “They dug an enormous hole, and placed tall stones to
support each side.”

“
They placed another large
rock over the top.” Gilfand nodded. “I was there. Manannán’s body
was laid at the bottom of the hole. After the celebration, when
everyone went home, Queen Fand climbed down and lay down with him.
She expired. Much to my distress, they closed her inside the next
morning.”

“
I returned to my
fairy-form again.” Queen Fand shrugged.

“
I couldn’t stand to see
you trapped down there,” Gilfand said.

Queen Fand gave him a loving look, and he
seemed to blush.

“
That’s a megalith
monument,” James said. “There was supposed to have been a large one
on the spot where Castle Rushen was created.”

James gave a broad grin. He nodded as if
everyone should know what he was talking about.

“
What are you saying?”
Jacob asked.

“
I know how they created
the curse,” James said.

~~~~~~~~

Friday night — 9:45 p.m. MST

Construction site near the airport

Rodney stood on top of a mound of mud.
According the gargoyles, the initial earthquake had opened a sink
hole in the construction trailer area. Wide concrete pillars from
the highway overpass had fallen over when the earth moved. The
pillars had effectively hidden at least one construction trailer
from initial search and rescue crews. Rodney watched as the Lipson
heavy equipment crew moved one of the pillars.

An underground river carried murky water
laced with methane from nearby fracking. The water caught fire near
the end of the field. While the warmth and light were welcome, the
heat would effectively cook anyone inside the construction
trailers. The Army Corps of Engineers was working on a plan. In the
meantime, Rodney’s team was working to shore up the area.

“
You’re sure there are
people under there?” the Army Corps chief had asked Rodney when
they had started working over the area.

Rodney nodded his head to where a police K-9
was barking his head off.

“
Shit,” the Army Corps
chief had said.

Shit was right, and they
were in it up to their eyebrows.
If
they could put out the fire, they still had to
stabilize the area to get people out.
If
they were able to stabilize the
area, they had to make sure they didn’t light the water on fire
again. That was
if
they found the trailers.

At least the National Guard had gotten a
walkie-talkie system to work out in the snow, water, and muck.
Rodney listened to the equipment operators work.

The young boy, Solomon, ran over and gave
him a Styrofoam cup of coffee and a sweet smile. Because the kid
was a suspect in the East High rapes, Solomon’s time had to be one
hundred percent accounted for. That meant he had to be at work,
even if work was death and destruction. Rodney smiled at the simple
boy.

“
I can make him whole,”
the gargoyle said.

“
Solomon!” Christy from
the sign team yelled and waved. “Solomon!”

“
But it would kill him,”
the gargoyle said. “Disease lingers inside. Fix the brain, it will
grow.”

Solomon brightened when he saw Christy. He
ran to where she was standing. She took his hand and led him back
across the site.

“
He loves her,” Rodney
said against the coffee mug at his lips.

“
Do you trust me?” the
gargoyle asked.

Rodney gave him a dark look, and the
gargoyle laughed.

“
He will live a full, good
life,” the gargoyle said.

“
She’s kinda old for him,”
Rodney said.

“
Twenty-two is only four
years older than eighteen,” the gargoyle said.

Rodney scowled.

“
Bitter old men like you
don’t realize that she loves him too,” the gargoyle said. “Consider
it done.”

Rodney grinned, and the gargoyle
disappeared.

“
Holy crap,” the excavator
operator yelled over the intercom. “Rodney, you got to see
this.”

Rodney threw his cup on the ground and ran
toward the excavator.

“
Aden, you on the line?”
another excavator operator asked.

“
On my way,” Aden
said.

“
Better get Blane, and
Bambi, and Honey, and  . . .” the first excavator
operator fumbled. “ . . . all the
bosses.”

Rodney reached the rim of the sink hole
about the time Blane arrived with Honey on his back. Aden and Jerry
Siegle were standing on the excavator talking to the operator.
Bambi was not far behind Blane. Pete, Jason, and DeShawn came up
behind him.

“
Wow,” Aden said what they
were all thinking.

The Lipson heavy equipment team had
uncovered three construction trailers. One trailer was on its side
and surrounded by fire. Another trailer appeared to have rolled.
They could only see that trailer’s underside. Only one end of the
third trailer poked out above the mud and water. The trailers had
slipped deep into the sinkhole.

“
We’ve got movement,” a
woman from the National Guard said over the feed. “There’s people
in there.”

“
Any ideas how we’re going
to get them out?” Rodney asked over the feed.

Only silence came back.

“
Jerry, your team is
experienced with the ropes, right?” Honey asked.

Jerry nodded.

“
Take some guys and get
set up. Use our equipment as anchors,” Honey said. “Whatever the
army puts together, we’ll be ready to lower people down on support
ropes. That work for you?”

“
Done,” Jerry said. He
called the men and women who had been working with him and they got
to work.

“
Rodney?” Honey asked.
“What do you think?”

“
I think we got to get
those army guys to shore up the water,” Rodney said. “Anybody down
there could drown or die of
hypothermia . . .”