The Unicorn Hunter (26 page)

‘Hello?' she called. ‘Is there anyone home?'

Silence. She took a tentative step on to a grubby and moth-eaten welcome mat.

‘Don't, Maddy,' whispered Roisin. ‘We can't just walk into a complete stranger's house!'

‘We have to,' Maddy whispered back. ‘We're running out of time. We have to sort this out now! Hello?' she called again, as she stepped further into the house.
‘We're in trouble here and we really need some help. Is there anyone home?'

She walked down the hallway and froze as she heard a snuffling noise behind the door to her left. There was faint red light leaking under the door. Someone was here. Maddy drew the sword very, very quietly, splayed her fingers against the cracked and yellowing gloss of the door and gently pushed it open with the tips of her fingers.

The room was a mess and it stank of rotting food and unwashed flesh. By the dim light of an electric fire she could see mounds of rubbish, old clothes, blankets, newspapers and empty food cans lying in heaps, piled on top of a ripped sofa and scattered haphazardly around the floor. There was a hunched and scruffy figure sitting on a wooden chair and he looked up at her as she stepped into the room.

‘Bang bang,' he said softly. ‘You're dead.'

Maddy stared at Bang Bang while Una fussed around them all, wrapping them in filthy blankets and trying to drive the chill out of their bones. Fenris and Nero threw themselves down in a corner and stared in silence, their eyes gleaming in the dim light. They stank to high heaven of wet wolf but the smell of the room was already so bad that the wolf smell could only make it budge up a bit. George had parked himself so close to the electric fire he was in danger of singeing his whiskers. Bran sat bent over double, her long grey hair curtaining her off from the rest of the room. Whether she was bowed from grief or exhaustion or both, Maddy couldn't tell. Roisin and Danny looked at Bang Bang nervously but said nothing.

Phrases kept running around Maddy's head, little things that people had said that really should have warned her that it was Bang Bang, that should have let
her know he was the one, that he needed protecting, before she had made those stupid demands, sworn those oaths.

‘He was a lovely lad when he was younger – bright and cheerful and always a smile on him. But he turned funny around the age of twelve and he's never been right since.'

‘I'm doing the queen's business, clearing up all this mess.'

Bang Bang had been taken at some stage and made it back but it was too late – he had already been driven out of his mind, perhaps by a dark faerie seeking the nourishment of his pain and distress. Maybe by a queen looking to escape Tír na nÓg or cultivate a willing slave who would do whatever she asked in the mortal world. Bang Bang was so faerie-touched he shared their abhorrence of Christianity. When he said he was working for a queen he had been telling the truth; he was tidying up litter for a faerie queen.

But which faerie queen is it that you think you serve, Bang Bang?
she wondered.
Which one put the darts in your hand and told you to kill a unicorn?

‘Danny, do me a favour,' she said quietly, while Bang Bang chattered nonsense to Una, who listened to him with a kind, interested smile. Danny looked over at her and raised his eyebrows. ‘Have a look around and try
to find something that will tell us who set Bang Bang up.'

‘Maddy, that could take hours,' protested Danny. ‘We haven't got time.'

‘We have to try,' she insisted.

Danny nodded, stood up quietly and slunk out of the room. Bang Bang didn't even notice him leaving.

‘You can't hand him over – you know that, don't you?' whispered Roisin.

‘I know,' said Maddy.

‘What are you going to do then?'

‘Haven't the foggiest. I was hoping you could come up with a plan.'

Roisin sighed and rubbed her temples. ‘We'll have to split up. One of us has to get Bran back to the mound – I don't think she's going to last much longer as she is. And one of us has to get Bang Bang to the city. He needs to be surrounded by iron.'

‘How are we going to get him to go though? He gets upset very easily,' said Maddy.

Danny came back into the room. Maddy looked at him hopefully but he shook his head. ‘The rest of the house is empty. It looks as if he lives in this room,' he said.

‘We have to find something,' warned Roisin. ‘They are going to catch up with us sooner or later.'

‘I know,' said Maddy. She leaned forward and interrupted Bang Bang's childish flow of chatter. ‘Bang Bang, I need to ask you something.'

He stopped talking and turned to look at her but he didn't say a word.

‘Did anyone ask you to do something recently?' she asked. ‘Did they give you something special to look after or any presents?'

Bang Bang stayed silent but a sly gleam came into his eyes.

‘Because if they did, Bang Bang, we really, really need to know,' said Maddy. ‘If you've hidden it, you need to tell us where. We can help you if we have what they gave you.'

Bang Bang pouted at her like a grumpy child. ‘You're trying to get me into trouble.'

‘No, I'm not,' said Maddy. ‘I'm trying to help you.'

He shook his head. ‘She said this would happen. She said people would come and try to make me tell on her. But I won't, I won't tell on her. She's my beautiful queen and I love her.'

Maddy's heart practically stopped in her chest and she made an effort to keep her voice light. ‘Your beautiful queen? That sounds very exciting, Bang Bang? Was her hair black or gold or red?'

‘I'm not telling, I'm not telling,' sang Bang Bang.
Maddy gritted her teeth and resisted the urge to slap him.

‘Bang Bang, you
have
to,' said Roisin. ‘You can trust us!'

‘My queen will protect me,' said Bang Bang.

‘She won't, you idiot!' yelled Maddy. ‘She's got you into a huge mess and I don't see her riding to the rescue, do you? Now tell us who she is!'

Bang Bang glared at her resentfully. He dropped his head and refused to say another word. Una looked at Maddy and shook her head.

‘This is pointless,' Maddy sighed in exasperation. ‘Danny, call Granda and get him over here. It's time we explained what's been going on and we need to get Bang Bang into the city.'

Danny pulled his mobile phone out and frowned at the screen. ‘It says I've got no signal,' he said, just as Maddy felt a familiar prickle on the back of her neck.

‘They're here!' she said, jumping to her feet and grabbing her sword as Roisin screamed at a bright eye that peered in at them through a gap in the torn curtains at the window.

The front door banged open and booted feet marched down the hallway and then stopped outside the door. Fenris and Nero ran to protect Bran as the
door swung open and Fachtna, her jaw dark with bruising, stepped into the room, the Pooka at her side.

The faerie had managed to get hold of some more lime and her hair was stiffened into a Mohican again. Maddy didn't like to think what that said about her mood.

‘Playtime is over, Feral Child,' she rasped. ‘It's time to go.'

Fachtna didn't make them walk far. The glow from the monarchs illuminated them where they were sitting enthroned in a field behind Bang Bang's little house, their courts arrayed behind them. The regents of Summer had thrones made of living oak, thick with soft green leaves. The monarchs of Spring had their thrones of cherry-blossom branches. Liadan and Meabh sat alone, the Winter Queen on her throne of carved crystal while Meabh perched elegantly in a twisted, tortured throne of dead branches. Her chin was cupped in one hand while she drummed the long fingers of the other on the arm of her throne. Cernunnos and the unicorns waited in front of them all. The mare was weak and her head hung low as she stood next to her mate, but Maddy was relieved to see she was at
least beginning to make a recovery. Cernunnos was still wearing his coat of many skins with his face in shadow.

Fear dried Maddy's mouth when she saw how hard and cold the faces were of the Tuatha. They didn't look as if forgiving was in their nature.

‘Welcome, Bran,' said Cernunnos. ‘You have done well. How can we reward you?'

The woman ducked her head in thanks as she clutched her rags around her. ‘Let me return to the shape I was,' she pleaded, her voice hoarse from weeping. ‘Let me forget the cruelty and pain. I wish only to live in the blissful ignorance of an animal.'

‘This is your last word?' asked Cernunnos.

‘It is,' said Bran.

‘Then come to me, daughter,' said Cernunnos as he stretched out his arms.

Bran approached him and bowed her head as Cernunnos touched her scalp with his palms. Then she sighed and crumpled to the ground, where her body twisted and shimmered. Grey-brown curly hair sprouted all over her and eventually it was a wolfhound that stood up and raced away, back to the mound, leaving warm rags on the grass. She was gone without even a backward glance of her haunted blue eyes. Maddy sighed to see her disappear.

‘And now, Feral Child, we grant your dearest wish,' said Cernunnos. ‘Justice for the unicorn hunter.'

‘The hunt isn't over yet,' said Maddy.

‘I think it is,' said Sorcha. ‘Is that not the hunter standing before us?'

Maddy cast a quick glance at Bang Bang, dirty, dishevelled and hunched. He was humming tunelessly and looking around himself with a vacant smile.
At least look at one of them!
thought Maddy.
Show us who it is, even if you can't tell us!
But Bang Bang looked at no one and just kept humming nonsense to himself.

‘Look at him,' said Maddy. ‘Do you really think he could have done this on his own?'

‘We have no reason to believe otherwise,' said Sorcha.

‘Have you tried looking for one?' asked Maddy, immediately regretting her quick mouth.

‘You just cannot bear to think that a human did this,' said Niamh, while every other monarch, bar Meabh, bristled. Meabh was examining her nails with a bored expression. ‘Your hatred for faerie kind has been noted, Feral Child,' Niamh continued, ‘but you cannot find any proof that any faerie had a hand in this crime.'

‘Even Sorcha suspected the Winter Queen,' said Maddy.

‘When did you hear me say Queen Liadan had
anything to do with the unicorn hunt?' asked Sorcha, her blue eyes flinty.

‘Well, you didn't say it as such–' began Maddy.

‘Then I did not say it,' snapped Sorcha. ‘Do you have any evidence that Winter aided and abetted this creature in any way to commit this crime?'

Maddy looked at Bang Bang. ‘Please, Bang Bang,' she begged. ‘You have to tell. Which of these queens told you to hurt the unicorn?'

But Bang Bang just gave her his sly look and shook his head.

‘This is serious!' hissed Maddy. ‘You are going to get hurt, Bang Bang, really badly hurt, if you don't tell us who put you up to this.'

He just stuck his tongue out at her and began to pout again.

In desperation, Maddy looked at Cernunnos. ‘Give me some time …'

‘There is no more time,' he said.

‘You can tell he's not well!' Danny burst out. ‘How can you blame him?'

‘He is the only one who stands before us,' said Meabh.

‘Ask the queens!' said Roisin. ‘They can't lie, so if they don't reply, well, that tells you it's not just him, doesn't it?'

The Tuatha stood and looked at her and kept their
silence. Meabh had a small smile playing about her lips and Maddy remembered something she had said.

‘There is a war coming, but it will come at a time of my choosing and when it benefits my court most.'

‘You're not going to ask them, are you?' said Roisin, her face crumpling with despair, a silent tear rolling down her cheek.

‘Fachtna, speak true,' said Cernunnos. ‘When you travelled with these mortal children, did you find any evidence that any of the Tír na nÓg queens were involved in this?'

Fachtna looked at Maddy for a moment and then back at Cernunnos. ‘None, my lord.'

‘Then I will not insult a queen regnant by asking her to answer a charge to a crime there is no reason to suspect she has committed,' said Cernunnos.

‘Please,' said Maddy, her voice breaking up with her tears. ‘I didn't know what I was asking for.'

‘I told you that, child,' said Cernunnos, ‘but you would not listen. Now someone else will have to pay the price for your pride and your hatred.'

‘This isn't right!' shouted Danny.

‘What is right and what is just are two completely different things,' said Cernunnos. ‘Hold them!'

Tuatha stepped forward from the ranks and walked over to Maddy, Danny and Roisin, pinning their arms
against their sides. Fenris and Nero growled and snapped, while George cowered in confusion. Una smiled sadly and stroked Bang Bang's face before walking over to stand beside Maddy.