Larkspur (25 page)

“
We’ll need a couple
edgers too,” Sam said to Gilfand. “Jake likes a round-point shovel.
I like a drain shovel — you know the long, narrow
blade.”

“
There is powerful magic
here,” Delphie said.

“
Not evil,” Jacob said.
“But very strong, dangerous magic.”

“
Angry,” Delphie said. She
was almost at the end of the ship when she stopped. “Here. She is
here.”

Sam brought Jacob a shovel and edger. He
gave an edger to James.

“
What’s your plan?” Jacob
asked Sam. After years of working together, Jacob knew that Sam had
laid out the most efficient way to do the job.

“
We cut the grass,” Sam
said. “Peel it back so we can replace it. In this moist
environment, no one will know we were here.”

“
Then dig?” James
asked.

“
No,” Sam said. “We don’t
have time for digging. We need to get this done before anyone sees
us. I was thinking that Jake . . .”

Jacob turned to look at his father. Their
eyes held for a moment.

“
You’re sure?” Jacob
asked.

“
Yes, son,” Sam
said.

“
What?” James
asked.

“
Show me where?” Valerie
came past him with an edger.

Delphie pointed to where she thought the
female skeleton was buried.

“
Dad?” Valerie
asked.

“
We cut here.” Sam moved a
couple feet from where Delphie thought the remains lay.

Valerie stuck the flat, half-moon blade of
the edger into the grass. Jacob took an edge near her. Sam pointed
to where James was standing. James watched Valerie and Jacob work
before sticking his edger in the turf. Sam looked around for
Gilfand, only to find him working away next to Jacob. Sam went
behind them with his drain shovel and started loosening the sod
from the soil.

“
I’ve been able to connect
with the male,” Delphie said. “The Viking.”

“
And?” The word came out
in a huff as Valerie was breathing hard from her work.

“
He says there was another
woman buried here,” Delphie said. “A female slave, a child, buried
just below his hands. He was the leader of a battalion of war ships
that raided throughout Britain. They had an encampment on this
hill.”

Delphie gestured around her.

“
Jake? Val?” Sam gestured
for Jacob and Valerie to use their edgers to help peel the sod off
the soil. Jacob dropped his edger for his round-pointed shovel.
Together, Jacob, Sam, and Valerie dropped to their hands and knees
to roll back the grass. Gilfand worked the edge of the turf to help
separate the grass from the dirt. James leaned on his edger to
catch his breath.

“
They could live here and
raid the islands around.” James’s words came out in spurts with his
breath.

“
Hidden here by the fairy
fog,” Gilfand said. James started using his edger to help
Gilfand.

“
That’s right.” Delphie
smiled. “He says that the Celts disturbed his slumber. They took
his slave’s skeleton and replaced her with another one. He’s not
sure why they did this, but he’s very upset about it.”

“‘
How will I move to the
next life?’ he asks,” Delphie said. “‘I have no one to take my life
force to my ancestors.’ I think he means his soul. ‘I am stuck
here, away from my parents, my family, my brothers-in-arms.’ He’s
kind of hysterical.”

“
Why didn’t he transition
when he was buried?” Valerie asked.

“
I asked the same thing,”
Delphie said. “He says he did, but the slave girl is the vessel for
his . . .soul. When she was removed, he was forced
to wander. Gosh, that’s sad.”

Delphie fell silent as they worked. James
took Valerie’s place, and she went to stand next to Delphie.

“
This would be a great
place to keep bees.” Delphie smiled. “Provided the chauvinist below
moved on.”

“
Anything I can do?” Jacob
asked.

“
We should find the slave
girl for him,” Delphie said. “He’s really stuck here until we
do.”

“
But most people
transition without slave girls,” Valerie said.

“
The mind is a powerful
tool,” Delphie said. “For the very inflexible, their afterlife
echoes their beliefs. As powerful as this man was, he’s stuck here
because he believes he should be. Pretty sad, I think.”

“
Okay, that’s probably
enough,” Sam said.

There was a six-foot-wide oval around the
spot where Delphie thought Queen Fand was buried. Sam gestured for
James to move back. He stood next to Valerie.

“
Mom?” Jacob
asked.

“
She’s over here.” Celia
pointed to the lower edge of their oval.

Jacob closed his eyes. He quieted his mind,
slowed his breathing, and focused. In his mind’s eye, he tried to
see Queen Fand’s remains. He shook his head and scowled.

“
What is it?” Valerie
asked.

“
She’s not all here,”
Jacob said.

He raised his hands and pulled the female
skeleton from the grave. The partial remains floated for a moment
before Jacob gently settled them on the grass. Gilfand fell to his
knees in honor of his queen’s human remains.

“
Is that her?” Delphie
asked.

“
It’s my lady,” Gilfand
said. “But . . . where’s the rest of my
queen?”

“
Yes,” Delphie said.
“Where
is
the
rest of Queen Fand?”

Chapter Two
Hundred and Sixty-three
Pink and sparkly

Delphie closed her eyes and fell into a deep
trance. Frustrated at their lack of progress, Jacob’s shoulders
crumpled forward and his head fell into his hand.

“
How many more of
these . . 
. things
are there?” Valerie asked.

“
Things?” James
asked.

Valerie waved her hands over the site.

“
Viking burials?” James
asked. “Loads. This island is filled to the brim with ancient
artifacts. Historical sites and ancient burials are
everywhere.”

Sam raised his eyebrows and kneeled down to
roll the sod back into place. He tugged on Jacob’s jeans. Jacob
looked down before dropping to his knees to help.

“
Fairies?” Valerie asked.
“Are there places that are specific to fairies?”

“
You’ll be surprised to
learn that the entire island was supposed to have been inhabited
primarily by fairies,” James said. “That’s not to mention
the
giants
who
inhabited the place.”

“
No giants ever lived on
this island,” Gilfand sniffed. “I’ve lived here since long before
it was an island, and I never saw a giant. Not one.”

“
Good to know,” James
said. He crossed his arms and looked down at the ground.

“
Listen,” Celia said. “I
know we’re frustrated. We have to settle down and figure out where
to find the rest of Queen Fand. That’s not to mention where the
hell to find Manannán! I don’t need to remind you that my
grandchildren are in danger.”

Gilfand’s face screwed up and he sneezed,
spraying tiny particles of light. The particles of light hit the
earth and caused the grass to grow. When he sneezed again, the
grass around him grew up to his knees.

“
What happened?” Valerie
asked Gilfand.

“
Elder tree,” Gilfand
said. “They wrapped my queen’s body in leaves from the elder tree.
We fairies are deathly allergic to elder trees. Even their leaves
and berries are toxic to our kind. They must have used them to keep
us from finding my queen’s human body.”

Sam nudged Gilfand from where he was
standing before the grass grew to be shoulder height.

“
When I meditate on our
problem . . .” Delphie spoke a moment before she
opened her eyes. She looked from person to person, finally settling
on Gilfand. “I know . . .”

She fell silent. Her eyes flicked to
James.

“
But I don’t know how or
why.” Delphie nodded to James. “And
you . . .”

She pointed to Gilfand.

“
You lied about magic
affecting James,” Delphie said. “You can take us anywhere in an
instant. What I cannot determine is whether you lied because you
are working to undermine our task,
or . . .”

“
I don’t like him.”
Gilfand shrugged. “He reeks of Ronan.”

Gilfand said James’s father’s name as if it
were a curse. He spat to clear the taste of the word from his
mouth.

“
My father?” James asked.
“You don’t like me because my father was Ronan Kelly?”

Gilfand sniffed with disgust.

“
Is that why I have no
luck?” James asked. “You’ve cursed me?”

Gilfand looked embarrassed.

“
Fuck this,” James said.
“Cursed by the goddamned fairies because of the bastard who sired
me, killed my mum, and left me an orphan.”

He stalked off toward the car. Valerie ran
after him. She grabbed his arm and forced him to turn around. Jacob
watched them argue for a moment before scowling at Gilfand. He
shook his head at the fairy.

“
Brigid,” Jacob said in
his king of Marle voice. “We need you, Brigid.”

James mother appeared before him.

“
Hello, Jacob,” Brigid
said. “How can I help you to help my queen?”

James heard her voice and reluctantly walked
toward the specter of his mother.

“
We’ve run into a snag,”
Jacob said. “I wondered if you could tell us about you and
Gilfand.”

“
I met Gilfand when I
lived in Belfast. He protected me, cared for the babes, and helped
us live. He was my friend and confidant. He gave me all those books
that Jimmy has.”

“
Ronan Kelly took your
life,” Gilfand said.

“
And you gave it back to
me.” Brigid smiled at the fairy. “Johnny’s
father . . . He’s humankind. He was the love of my
human life. Gilfand is the love of my fairy life. Ronan was my
husband.”

Brigid nodded as if it should make
sense.

“
He’s saying he won’t help
James because of Ronan,” Jacob said.

Brigid scowled at Gilfand, and he looked
ashamed.

“
He . . .”
Gilfand sounded as if he were six years old, not an ageless fairy.
“He smells like him.”

Celia and Delphie laughed.

“
This isn’t funny,” James
said. “He cursed me.”

Realizing that he sounded like he was six
years old as well, he laughed.

“
Mum,” James
said.

“
Yes, love,” Brigid
replied in Belfast Gaelic.

“
Can you talk some sense
into this one?” James asked in Belfast Gaelic.

“
No more than I can you,”
Brigid laughed.

Gilfand sneezed, and the grass started to
grow around him. Brigid clapped her hands twice. The smell of the
elder leaves disappeared.

“
I will take my lady back
to the Castle,” Brigid said. “Will you help them?”

“
I’m sorry,” Gilfand
said.

“
Don’t apologize to me,”
Brigid said. “My son . . .”

Their eyes held for a moment before Brigid
disappeared with the queen’s remains.

“
I’m sorry, James,”
Gilfand said. “You should know that I never cursed you. In fact,
I’ve helped you when I can, and when you needed it most, I sent a
fairy for you. Have you ever asked her how she found
you?”

Gilfand gestured to the tattoo on James’s
right shoulder. James’s eyes welled up; he swallowed hard.

“
Where do we need to go?”
Gilfand looked at James, who shrugged. “Oracle?”

“
Valerie’s right,” Delphie
said. “There are more of these.”

“
More of what?” James
asked.

“
Monoliths,” Delphie said.
“Cairns or ancient graves.”

“
There’s at least a
million in the British Isles,” James said. “Probably more. There
are places on the island that were large ceremonial areas. There
are more than a few graves filled with many different
cremations.”

“
Let’s think this
through,” Sam said. “This site was obvious. James said it had
already been excavated.”

“
The Celts couldn’t have
known it would be,” Valerie said.

“
No, but they might have
assumed we would find it,” Sam said. “The rest won’t be so
easy.”

“
The rest? How many sites
are there?” James asked.

“
Four,” Jacob said.
Delphie nodded.

“
Can you
just . . ?” James held his hands out like Jacob had
when he lifted the queen from the Viking boat. Jacob shook his
head. “That would be too easy.”

“
How well do you know this
island?” Sam asked.

“
Me?” James asked. “When I
was . . . recovering from an . . .
injury, I spent all my time walking these sites. It helped me feel
like there was life before, and there could be life after. I’ve
walked every inch of this island.”

“
What do we do?” Valerie
asked Gilfand. “You knew these Celts, Gilfand. We know very little
about them. What would they do?”