The Feral Child by Che Golden

Author:Che Golden [Golden, Che]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV037000 Juvenile Fiction / Fantasy & Magic
ISBN: 9781623651213
Publisher: Quercus
Published: 2014-05-12T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Before she would answer any questions, the dryad urged them to leave the path. “Stay hidden,” she urged, with a finger to her lips. “Like little, little mice in the forest. No one must see.”

She led them to a hollow beneath the roots of an ancient oak. “But first, I need heat. Snow everywhere; my tree is tired,” she said. “I get too cold, I fall asleep, and you will be all alone.”

Maddy and Roisin curled around the dryad, who sighed and snuffled with pleasure as their body heat warmed her, sending a faint green blush through her skin. Danny refused to snuggle down with them, and he squatted between the iron-hard roots that arched above his head. “No offense, but I don’t want any body contact with my sister and my cousin. That’s just too gross.”

“Sorry Danny got a bit rough with you, but why are you helping us?” Maddy said to the dryad.

The silvery faerie hid her face in her hair. “It means talking about bad things,” she said. “Bad, bad things. I doesn’t like it.”

“I’m sorry, but we don’t know what’s happening here—you have to tell us,” said Maddy.

The creature sighed and her breath sounded like leaves rustling in the wind. She was so still and quiet Maddy wondered if she had gone to sleep. She was about to lift the thick locks of hair that covered the dryad’s face to see if she was awake when the faerie started speaking in a small voice.

“Cernunnos and the Morrighan were the first of the Tuatha de Dannan to come to Ireland,” she began. “He took the forests and the mountains to rule; she took the skies and the water. Their tribe followed them, and the Tuatha lived in your world when it was young, and mortals and faerie people worshipped them. They were so powerful, so strong. They could make the rain fall, the sun shine, the winds howl. But the Tuatha do not have many children, while men do. The tribes of men grew bigger and bigger, and when the cross came and other men told them it was wrong to worship the Tuatha, they turned against them and drove the Tuatha into the mounds and under the earth. They were gods no more to mortals. The Tuatha wept to be shut away from the mortal world, so the Morrighan slept and created a world of dreams for them, safe from the touch of mortals, where they would be forever young.” The dryad sobbed and fell silent.

“Tír na nÓg,” breathed Roisin. “It means ‘Land of Eternal Youth.’”

Maddy waited a little while as the dryad shook with misery. “What happened then?” she prompted.

The little dryad sniffed and smiled sadly. “Without humans to rule, the Tuatha fought. Each thought they should rule. The other faerie peoples tried to live on in your world, hidden from mortal sight, but with the coming of the cross, the brownies, the trolls, the glaistigs, and all their kind fled to the Land of Eternal Youth and pledged allegiance again to the Tuatha de Dannan.

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