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you?’
    â€˜Well,’ I said, ‘Ruby wanted to talk to a tree. I, of course, would have liked to have introduced her to Mother Oak but she was too far away …’
    â€˜So you just went out and wrapped your arms around any old oak?’ Dad was almost shouting. ‘What is wrong with you?’
    â€˜What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with that tree? It was like it grew roots into my head.’
    â€˜Didn’t anybody ever tell you about the Oaks of Duir?’
    â€˜No. No one did and whose fault is that – do you think?’
    That stopped Dad’s anger, ‘Oh, well, I guess I should have told you.’
    â€˜You think?’
    â€˜Yeah, sorry. ’
    â€˜So what did that tree do to me?’
    â€˜Oaks are dangerous trees, son. If you even brush past one it can snare you. We seem to have no defence against them. They can access our memories and then manipulate our emotions. That’s one of the things that makes Mother Oak so wonderful. She searches out the best in people and reminds you that you are a good person but not all oaks are so affirmative. In fact, almost none are. For the most part, oaks are nasty pieces of wood. I liked to think of them as the junkyard dogs of Castle Duir.’
    â€˜Gosh, and I thought yews were the dangerous ones.’
    â€˜Yews can snare you without touching them but yews aren’t nasty. Yews are the judges of The Land – oaks are the criminals.’
    â€˜But yews can kill you, right?’ I asked.
    â€˜True,’ said Dad, ‘but oaks can drive you mad. Speaking of which – are you OK?’
    â€˜I think so, the worst part was …’
    â€˜You don’t have to tell me. I assure you that whatever the oak stirred up in your mind is nowhere near as bad as he made it seem.’
    â€˜Yeah, it was awful, all of the stuff that filled my head but the oak was right about one thing. I did let Fergal down.’
    â€˜We all dropped the ball on that one, son. We should have seen it coming but never forget – the one who stuck the sword in Fergal was Cialtie.’
    Fand entered and told us that there was a host of people wanting to visit with me. Dad picked up a vial from the bedside table.
    â€˜Your mother told me to give you this as soon as you awoke and seemed OK.’
    â€˜I’m fine Dad, I don’t need any medicine.’
    â€˜So you want me to go back to your mother and say that you are defying her?’
    I looked at him and frowned. ‘You wouldn’t do that – would you?’
    â€˜Hey, this is your mother we’re talking about. You’re on your own here, pal.’
    I took the vial of liquid. ‘OK, I’ll take it,’ I said, ‘but I would really like to …’ That’s the thing about medicines in Tir na Nog – you don’t have to wonder if they are working. There was no possible way I could have even finished that sentence and whatever I thought I wanted to do was instantly of no concern to me. I was back down in my well but this time it was only about six inches deep and lined with satin. Dad said I passed out with a huge smile on my face.

    I woke to a question. ‘Are you nuts?’
    â€˜No, I’m OK; the oak tree didn’t drive me mad,’ I said before I opened my eyes.
    â€˜Oh, that’s a huge relief,’ the voice said with an uncaring tone that I didn’t like. I opened my eyes to see a very angry Brendan looming over me. I instantly sat up and backed into the headboard – he looked like he was going to hit me. ‘What were you thinking?’
    â€˜I … I …’
    â€˜Nora and I didn’t know where Ruby was and then you plop her on a horse and take her out to the most dangerous forest in The Land – where you abandon her – on a horse.’
    Second most dangerous forest, and it was a pony, I said – to myself, because I knew if I said that to Brendan, there would