Chapter Nine – Becca Tries Magic (Lost Rainbows – Serial)

By Connie Cockrell

Shamus O’Malley is on a quest to recover the Leprechaun Kingdom’s magic rainbows and gold before the rainbows are lost forever. To do so he must travel to the new world where he finds the evil wizard, David Bannon, intent on using the magic from the rainbows and the gold to conquer the Leprechaun Kingdom. He also finds an ally, Becca Bannon, the wizard’s niece. Can Becca and Shamus recover the rainbows and gold and defeat her wizard uncle?

This entry is part 9 of 16 in the series Lost Rainbows

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Becca Tries Magic

In a blink Shamus found himself back in the castle ruin. Becca looked around. There wasn’t much she could see though; night had fallen here. Shamus drew his sword, which gave off a soft green glow. Becca stared.

“We need to get the gold to my king. But I cannot carry it alone. I wonder…” He pointed the sword at the cart and lifted the sword. The cart shook, but didn’t rise. He sighed. “Well, it was an idea.”

“Where are we?” Becca asked.

“A castle ruin, not far from the leprechaun road.” Shamus raised the sword higher to allow Becca to look around. “The problem is I need to tell the King I have recovered the gold but I can’t move it myself.” He scratched at his beard. “How much do you understand of what your uncle said?”

“He called me a goddess, I understand that. But the Tuatha De Danann, I don’t know about.” She sat down on a nearby block of stone. “I don’t understand Uncle David and the conquering of your land. It doesn’t make sense to me. Why would he want to do that?”

Over the hours Shamus had come to like the girl and trusted her. She hadn’t made an unfriendly move the whole time. He sat on a nearby block. “Legend has it that many generations ago, Eire, Ireland as you call it, was founded by people who came on clouds and had great magical power. They used that power to keep the land safe against invaders. We leprechauns worked with them and life was good until the Milesians came and drove the Tuatha De Danann underground. We thought they perished. But some must have gone into hiding and then to your land. Intermarriage must have occurred with humans. Somehow the lineages came together and your uncle found out. You are the result of many inter-marriages, each one bringing the Tuatha De Danann bloodline closer back to the original.”

Becca shook her head. “But why would Uncle want me to invade your land?”

“I suspect he wants the power and majesty that the Tuatha De Danann commanded.” Shamus sighed. The legends were still strong and the leprechauns still grieved the loss of their partners. “He was greedy.”

Becca nodded. “We already have so much. But it doesn’t matter. I’m here now and know about his plot. He cannot hurt you or your people.”

Shamus doubted that but didn’t answer her. “I have a suggestion. Would you be willing to try magic? If you are Tuatha De Danann, you might be able to move the gold.”

Her eyes grew round.  “I guess so.”

“Stand up,” he told her. “Hold your hands out in front of you.” Becca did as she was told. “Now think about the gold rising and going where you direct it. Get a good picture of it in your mind.”

He watched her close her eyes. Soon a soft green glow emanated from her hands. A few of the coins began to rise. She opened her eyes. “Oh,” she whispered. Her hands began to shake. The glow flashed in a final effort, then stopped. The coins dropped back into the pots with a clink. “I’m sorry, Shamus.” She dropped down on the rock and wiped her forehead. “I could see it but I couldn’t make it happen.”

“That’s alright. I’ll hide the gold. My magic is strong enough for that.” He waved his sword over the pots of gold. They shimmered, then vanished.

“Oh,” Becca cried out. “That’s amazing!”

“We need to get to the King. Can you walk? It’s going to take us about six hours.”

She shook her head. “I’m so tired. I would have said yes earlier but trying the magic has made me sleepy.”

“Ah, I should have known. Yes, we’ll camp here. I’ll make a small fire. I have some travel food in my bag we can share. I’m tired myself. We’ll get a good night’s rest and leave at dawn.” They fell asleep to the sound of crickets singing in the night.

The next morning they broke camp. Shamus examined the site from every angle. The gold could not be seen. Becca skipped along beside him in the morning light. Song birds sang from every bush. The land was lush and green and the sun shone down on them. Shamus felt good. He needed the rest. Even the poor meal of travel rations helped restore his good mood.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the leprechaun road. Becca was surprised when he opened it. She couldn’t tell it was there at all. “How do you know where they are?”

“It’s the magic. When you look closely, you can see the green glow of it. There’s a rune there on the hillside. He held his sword next to it so it glowed brighter.

“I see it,” she exclaimed. “That’s so cool!”

Shamus laughed. “I assume that’s a good thing.”

She nodded. “How long will it take to get where we’re going?”

“About six hours. The road goes were we need it to, but there are fixed end points so we always know where we’ll come out or go in.”

Becca peeked into the tunnel. “It’s green.”
“We can see,” Shamus explained, “but there’s nothing really to see. It’s boring but fast. If we had to walk in the real world, it would take us days to get to the sidhe.”

They entered the tunnel, Shamus in the lead.

“You’ve mentioned Shee before,” Becca said. “What is a Shee?”

“It’s our village, the castle, where we live. We spell it S-I-D-H-E.”

Becca giggled. “I would pronounce that ‘side’ not ‘shee’.”

Shamus shrugged as he walked beside her. “That’s Gaelic for you. It’s a very old language. That must be the reason.”

They walked for three hours, then sat down on the floor of the tunnel to have a drink of water and another bite of travel food. “I didn’t ask this morning,” Becca said. “What is this? It’s kind of hard to chew.” She gnawed off a corner of the bar Shamus handed her.

“It’s a mixture of dried fruit, fat, and meat. It’s a little salty but that helps preserve it.” He chewed on his piece. “It travels well.”

Becca nodded, concentrating on chewing. She ate half of her bar and tucked the rest in a pocket. Shamus handed her the water bag and she drank, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. “I haven’t seen any markers on the wall. How will you know when to leave the road?”

“It’s magic. I know where I want to get off and the road opens the door.”

“Hmm.” Becca scratched her head. “I’d love a shower. My hair is all itchy.”

“We’ll get a good welcome when we return. Come, let’s get moving.”

She continued to ask questions about Eire as they walked. Shamus was hard-pressed to explain why the leprechauns lived the way they did and had the customs they had. It had never occurred to him to ask why about anything in his life. The girl was providing an interesting lesson for him.

Nearly three hours later Shamus spotted the door ahead on the right side of the tunnel. “We’re here,” he told Becca. She perked up.

 

~~~~~

 

Lost Rainbows

To be continued…

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© 2015 Connie Cockrell