The Light-Bearer's Daughter (35 page)

In between the fun and games, like a silver thread woven through the soft dark night, were all the times her mother sought her out. Together, they would go for a walk along the great cirque beneath the stars. Or meander through the winding paths of the maze illumined by white candles. Or sit together on an ivy-covered swing surrounded by the night perfume of the flowers. And each time they met, stories were told, of the few years they had been together and the many years they had been apart. Sometimes there were tears and sometimes there was sorrow, but love and laughter were always near. Though Dana didn’t tell her mother half the things she had intended to say, she knew their true tale was only beginning; and they had all the time in the world to get to know each other
.

tarlight shone over the Glen of the Downs as night deepened. The public protest had ended. The day was won. As the national news reported the events, the developers withdrew their equipment and retreated from the site. The surprise attack had failed; a long battle in the courts loomed ahead.

At the central campsite, a small group of eco-warriors approached Big Bob, bringing Murta with them. Two of the young men gripped his arms so that he couldn’t escape. He looked as if he had been badly beaten. His body was not only bruised and cut, but burned as well.

“Which of you did this to him?” Big Bob thundered.

The young men were so shocked by the accusation they couldn’t speak at first.

“Well,
we
didn’t!” Billie spoke up, indignant. “Though we might’ve wanted to, after we saw him with the others. He showed up like this earlier, when he told us about the dump. You weren’t here. He said the private guards had roughed him up when they found him snooping.”

“That’s why we believed him,” one of the others pointed out.

Their leader calmed down and signed to them to let Murta go.

“I trusted you,” Big Bob said to him. “You were my right hand. Why did you betray us?”

Murta tried to glare defiantly but couldn’t hold the other man’s gaze. The past week had been a blur. He assumed he had been infected with some kind of virus, no doubt from living outdoors. He was more than glad that his part in this nightmare was over.

“Just doing my job,” he said hoarsely. “I was never one of you. Big companies pay me to infiltrate groups like yours—unions, radicals, troublemakers. It’s a living.”

“While your soul is dying.” Big Bob looked sad. “If you win, you lose, Murta. It’s your birthright, too, we’re fighting to protect.”

Murta spat on the ground. He turned to leave, hunching defensively in case someone tried to stop him. But they all moved away, as if he were leprous.

Big Bob watched him go, then sat down at the fire with a heavy sigh. Billie joined him and two of the men. The other eco-warriors returned to the forest, some to repair their tree houses and others to take up their posts.

Gabriel drove through the Glen of the Downs on his way into the mountains for yet another night’s search. With him was Aradhana, who had stayed by his side since his daughter’s disappearance. He slowed the car as he approached the campsite, intending to check in with Big Bob. The eco-warriors had been taking turns to help look for Dana. The people who had joined in the protest had already gone home, pleased with the part they had played that day. A lone police car remained.

As he turned in to the parking lot, Gabriel happened to glance in his rearview mirror. He caught his breath. Halfway up the slope on the other side of the road, a light glinted in the trees. He jumped out of the car to look again. There it was! A silvery glow. His heart pounded. He told himself it was probably a flashlight, one of the tree people patrolling the far ridge. But the coincidence compelled him to investigate. It was precisely the spot he had blocked from his sight for many years now.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” he said quickly to Aradhana. “Wait for me here.”

Aradhana didn’t respond, but she followed after him as he raced across the road and into the trees.

It was a steep climb up the slope and the ground was sodden from the storms, but Gabriel knew the way. Knew exactly where he was going. As he neared the clearing, his heart beat so fast his chest ached. He hardly dared to hope.

Please
, he prayed.

And then he saw her.

There in the little glade, where the ancient oak withdrew to form a fairy circle, where the bramble curled in berry-laden tangles, there by a fallen tree trunk stood his daughter.

Dana waved shyly.

Still in the shadows, Gabriel stood stunned. There was something wrong. It was weird and disturbing. A strange light shone all around her, making her a ghostly figure. By some trick of perspective, she seemed as tall as the trees. And she wore a golden cloak.

“Can you see her?” Gabriel whispered to Aradhana.

He was beginning to fear he was going mad. Half-crazed with the need to find her, was he hallucinating this vision? He felt seized with a paralysis of mind and body. He was
fairy-struck
.

“I see her,” Aradhana said firmly. “Go to your daughter. Bring her home.”

It was all the urging he needed. As Gabriel ran toward Dana, the fairy spell broke. She looked solid and of normal size.

As her father came toward her, Dana saw the toll the week’s ordeal had taken. His clothes were rumpled, stubble covered his head and chin; his eyes were swollen from lack of sleep and constant weeping. Fear and despair had nearly destroyed him; her dear beloved dad who had raised her on his own and always done his best to make her happy.

She was suddenly a little girl who had endured a great deal.

“
DADDY!
” she cried. “
MY DADDY!
”

And she ran like the wind into his arms.

Gabriel gathered his daughter up, weeping and kissing her and crushing her against him.

“This is the place, isn’t it, Dad?” she whispered to him.

He looked around. Everything blurred through his tears, but he knew what she meant. He had known it the minute he saw the light in the trees.

“Yes,” he said softly. “This is where I met your mother.”

And as he looked toward the spot from where she had stepped thirteen years ago, Edane entered the clearing. She, too, appeared tall and shining at first; but though she diminished to human size as she approached him, she still shone like a star that had fallen to earth. Forever young, forever beautiful, she had not changed one iota since the day he had first set eyes on her.

As he gazed upon his lost wife, Gabriel finally accepted what he had always known but couldn’t admit. She did not belong to his world. She was one of the other race who dwelled in Ireland.

The blue fairy eyes regarded him solemnly, as if from a great distance.

“I regret the pain I have caused thee, Gabriel Faolan. It was not my wish and I have suffered also.”

Her voice was musical, like his flute. He was already thinking of her as a beautiful tune that belonged to his past.

“I want to thank thee for the great gift of our child,” she finished.

“The great gift you gave me also,” he said.

And the last strains of their song came to an end.

Still clinging to her father, Dana reached out to clasp her mother. For that one moment, suspended between the two pillars of her creation, Dana’s life was a complete circle, as perfect as a pearl. Though they would not live happily ever after together, they would all live happily.

In the shadow of the trees, cloaked in green leaves, a fairy king waited.

“I cannot stay,” Edane said, kissing her daughter good-bye. “We shall meet again soon, my dearest one.”

Now Aradhana stepped into the clearing. She had stayed where she was as she witnessed the family reunion; but when she saw the shining woman depart, she went to Gabriel and Dana and took their hands.

Together, the three left the woods and made their way to the road.

The last police car was about to leave, when the driver recognized Gabriel and Dana.

“Isn’t that the missing kid?” he said to his partner.

They were out of the car in an instant.

“Did the eco-warriors—?” the first officer began.

Gabriel hurried to explain. “It had nothing to do with them. It was …” He racked his brain, trying to think of an explanation, then realized the truth was best. “She was with her mother’s people.”

The policemen exchanged looks. It was often a family matter, these child disappearances.

“Do you want to press charges?”

“No,” said Gabriel, with a wry smile. “We’ll just have to work out some arrangements between us.”

Dana and Gabriel grinned at each other as they walked with Aradhana to the Triumph Herald.

“You okay, kiddo?”

“Couldn’t be better, Gabe. You?”

“I’ll live.”

h, the thrill of flying! The rush of wind and wings, blue depth of sky, white crest of cloud, and the sun rising! Upward, ever upward, as the world falls away!

It was even more magical than she had imagined.

“Da, this is brilliant!”

Dana pressed her face to the airplane window and gazed down, entranced. Ireland lay below her, like a great green cloth shaken out over the wavering sea. As a deep love for her mother country surged through her veins, she looked upon the land with fairy eyes. There was Saint Kevin by the Glen of the Two Lakes, the boggles chasing sheep through the Sally Gap, King Lugh and Queen Edane in their crystal palace on Lugnaquillia. And there, at the very heart of the tale, enthroned on the royal Hill of Tara were the High King and High Queen of Faerie.

Follow the greenway
.

Dana caught her breath. Was that a flash of gray in the trees? Her heart skipped a beat. The pang of hope.

Not all that is gone is gone forever
.

She turned to grin at her father. He, too, was brimming over with happiness. Like daybreak after the darkest hour, so many good things had happened since her return. One of the biggest surprises was her wholehearted acceptance of the move to Canada.

“But … what about … your mother?”

“It’s okay. She’ll be there too.”

He had asked few questions and she had offered fewer details. It wasn’t going to be easy, but they had already reached an understanding. He would not interfere with her connection to Faerie and she would not go away without telling him first.