Chương 73: The Fall of Cianán’s Walk

King Cianán clapped happily.

"And that's the game, folks! I hope you all had fun. It's been a hoot for me!" He slapped the fireball away into the water with the back of his hand. Seeing Cian about to lunge for him he held up one hand and the huge wolf froze. Not in time, like the lantern circle had done - just unable to move, the flames still licking against his fur, but his body motionless.

"Oh, and you've dealt with Maitiú! What a surprise! I'm afraid I got a little too enthusiastic with him. Overfilled the barrel, you could say." The King walked over to Miriam.

"I've decided I want to keep the game going! Your lucky day, if I do say so myself. I want to see how far you can go. I told you I'm not from the Tír, didn't I? Well, you're from somewhere else entirely! That's so interesting. It's been a long time since something like that happened. I think it would be a shame to cut it short here.

"So, I'm going to send you on your way. I'll be very disappointed if you don't make it all the way to my throne. I can see Sailleach from my seat there, did you know that? We're going to have so much to talk about!" The King began to turn away, but having had a thought, turned back.

"You shouldn't expect that to mean I'm going to make it easy on you. I'll have my eye out for ripples of you, and if I see an opportunity to have fun, I'm going to take it. Just fair warning for someone who didn't grow up with stories of me. It's just how I am!"

"What do you -" Miriam began, but her voice died in her throat with a gesture from him.

"No, I'm done with you now." The King moved on to Cormac.

"You're a rare one! A Luck Nature and a Saint to boot! Been millennia since I saw that combination in the upper rings. Hmm. Play your cards right and you could end up a Fate Ascendant! That could even have me quaking in my boots!" He laughed drily, showing how very not afraid of that possibility he was.

"And Róise!" He turned to the pixie.

"Lovely little Róise. I should tell you there are no rebels in the upper rings. Probably not hard to tell why. Oh, people are after my throne all the time! We play little games like this and they lose. But that's what I want. A rebel in the upper rings would be someone who doesn't want to play. And that never happens." The King turned to Sol.

"I find you almost as fascinating as Miriam!" He grabbed Sol's chin and moved it around, studying all the angles of his face with a squint that was painfully like Cianán's.

"Oh! I know this work. Some of it. You know, there's a lady in the Fifth Ring who would be very interested in meeting you. And… oh, you've got a whole pack in there don't you? Just zipped up tight. Doesn't really seem fair, does it? Fair competition, that's what I believe in!" White light enveloped Sol's head and he dropped to the sand soundlessly. Miriam started to rush forward, but Sol held up a hand.

"It's ok. I think… I think I'm fine? What did you do? Uh… your majesty?" King Cianán shook his head.

"I like to play a fair game, Sol. Everyone gets a chance. And let's see, who else.." The one-eyed rabbit stood there unmoving.

"Ah, well. You're just weird, man. But you keep on doing… whatever it is you rabbit guys do." King Cianán grimaced as he turned around.

"Well, I guess that's all. I should be on my way!"

"Wait!" Róise said.

"Róise!" Cormac warned.

"No, no it's all right. What do you want to ask me?" The King bowed slightly.

"Can you fix Maitiú?"

"Yes," the King said without missing a beat.

"But I won't. I don't give gifts lightly and I certainly don't take them back once I've given them."

"What will happen to the island? To Cian?" Miriam asked, her voice finally free again. The King furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Huh. You all really care about these lads, don't you? Also unexpected. Hmm. What would be a fun way to handle this? Ahh! Watch this!" The King closed his eyes and held out both hands. The island began to rumble.

"Wait for it," the King said out of the corner of his mouth, eyes still closed.

"Oh Bodac," Cormac said.

"He's folding the island!" Every leaf, tree, bush, rock or speck of dust had begun to fold in on itself. In turn it folded again. And again, and again. Water from the real world rushed in as the earth beneath their feet began to fold away.

"Over to the sandbar!" Miriam called. No invisible barrier stopped them anymore and they were soon standing just outside Ciana's Walk, watching the island disappear. Róise turned to the rabbit.

"Come on, you…" The rabbit was folding away too. As it did, the vaguely rabbit-shaped cloud of folded dots seemed to look at her and quietly nod. Then all the tiny dots that used to be the island hung over an enormous hole that was draining the water all around them into it, spraying dust, mud and debris into the air like a volcano. Not a speck landed on any of them. The King's doing, Miriam realized. In a matter of minutes the island - Cian, the rabbit creature, Maitiú - were all gone.

Nothing but empty sea remained.

"Whew!" The King said, shaking his limbs out.

"Must be getting rusty!" He was standing exactly where he had been before the island went away and he walked back over to them, moving up and down little hills and valleys on the beach that were not there any more. He held two fists out to Miriam.

"Pick a hand!" A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Horrified at the destruction, Miriam picked the left hand. If she'd ever had any thought of defiance in the face of this monster, it was long gone after that.

"Ah, good old lefty!" He opened his hand to reveal a small black sphere of material fórsa.

"Know what this is, dear? This is a Drop of Maitiú. Just add water! Ha! No, though, it would take more than that. I'm going to give him to you for safekeeping. If you feel like the time is right to bring him back out, you can probably figure out how to do that." The King turned to Cormac.

"And guess you don't get to pick. Boo, no fun, but here." He opened his hand to reveal the largest material fórsa sphere any of them had ever seen, a rainbow of iridescent shades.

"A Drop of Cian. Or, a drop of Cianán's Walk, if you want to be technical about it."

"Why did you do this?" Cormac said, taking the sphere from him.

"This seems… well, excuse my saying so, your Majesty, but a very roundabout solution to what we were asking for."

"Roundabout solution! Ha! What a fancy way of saying 'bullshit!' I'm just granting their wish. My little Cian here had grown all he could here in the First Ring. He proved that when he broke my control. So I'm giving him his fondest dream - to travel! Gods, I am a great dad, aren't I?" The King guffawed loudly, theatrically slapping his knee.

"And Maitiú… well. I'm not going to fix him - but had he killed Róise and Cormac I definitely would have, you know. Deal's a deal. Still… he looked pretty miserable, so I don't know. He's your problem now." He tossed the Maitiú sphere to Miriam.

"Ok, I think we're all done here. Best of luck on your travels - oh, I don't have to tell you that, do I Cormac? Ha! See you all sooner or later!" The King was gone.

"Holy shit," Róise said, crumpling to the sandbar.

"What in the hell just happened?"

"I'll tell you what happened," Cormac said with bravado.

"We made it out of Cianán's Walk. We're all a lot stronger than we were, and we… sort of… have our friends with us. More or less. I'm going to take this as an unmitigated victory! Right, Miriam?" Miriam looked out into the empty expanse of water that used to be Cianán's Walk, her mind working heavily on what she had just experienced.

"I… don't know how to feel right now. I'm mixed between relief that I'm still alive… that we're all still alive. The villagers… well, not the Wisps, I suppose. So I'm rapidly moving between relief at that and an uncomfortable realization." She turned to her friends.

"I think if I ever want to get to the center of the Tír, I'm going to have to kill that man." ✧✧✧ Later that night, in one of the makeshift shelters the villagers had set up on the rocky landmass to which the sandbars led, Sol shivered. He didn't really get cold, so this was a new experience for him. Maybe it had something to do with being in reality, instead of Cian's fake version of it. Come to think of it, he'd never really lived in the real world as a person before this.

The villagers were in decent spirits - a mix of dread from those who had wanted to stay and elation from those who had been eager to go. Luíseach had spent a good hour that afternoon just picking up various rocks and studying them excitedly. Any villager who had been a visitor in their previous life was sadly missing. Their problems had not ended. The villagers had food, but not as much as they had planned to bring. No one had any idea where in the First Ring they were.

Miriam desperately needed to get to the Second Ring soon, but no one had any idea how far that would be - not to mention their promise to take care of the villagers. Moving seven hundred souls through the wilderness was going to be hell. But they would figure it out, he thought confidently. So far what this group had accomplished was nothing short of miraculous. Simple logistics would not defeat them! A travesty! Travesty, that we are led by such a soggy fop! Sol sat up. He saw no one nearby.

He had taken this shelter out of the assumption that he did not need the heat of a campfire, so it was further away from everyone else's. I agree. I'm not going to sit here and let the monster that ate me reminisce about the value of friendship. Sol froze. He recognized that voice. Why surprised? The good King, mighty King, knows value when he sees it. I have a special helmet he gave me once, did you know? As messed up as it is, the King gave us a chance. All of us.

"You both should be gone," Sol said, terror creeping into his voice. No escaping Solas! Miriam did me such a favor it seems! On my way to the inner rings after all, though maybe not as handsome as once I was! I should tell you… the sniveling ship and the weaselly Wisp both. My name is Ultán. I'm the greatest bounty hunter in the first four Rings. I'm an earned Fifth, and I will take my body back. No matter what horrible things you've done to it. Then as the good King intended! The game begins!

Sol sank down to the ground, hugging his knees.

"The game begins," he whispered. ✧✧✧ Book 1 Epilogue Eoin Daithi sat at a table in the finest bar in Shirren, sipping the most expensive vintage they'd had in the back. He was finely dressed once again, in dapper whites and blues. His hat, a magnificent work of haberdashery, sat on the chair to his left. He felt better than he had in years. He was a Selkie, true, but there was just too much being in the water sometimes! How many years was it? No, he truly felt himself again. His mind clear. His body strong.

His fórsa restored. He wondered what Miriam and the others had found in Cianán's Walk. His strain of curiosity was fortunately not terminal, or he might have followed them in. Still, the not knowing itched at the back of his mind. A man slid into the chair to his right.

"Private table, sir," Eoin said with irritation.

"You haven't forgotten your old friends, have you Eoin?" Eoin nearly dropped his drink.

"You. What do you want?"

"Is that any way to talk to your employer?" The Selkie scoffed.

"Employer? I think my contract with you ended when you left me twisting in the wind for crimes you paid me to commit." The man shook his head with a smile.

"Employment with me ends when I say it does. And it looks to me like you're ready for a new assignment." Eoin frowned, putting his drink down so fast it sloshed out.

"Am I never to be free of you?"

"Maybe in time. We can negotiate it."

"Really? This assignment must be juicy then." Eoin sighed.

"You know I won't be able to resist asking, so just tell me." The man snagged the drink and gulped it down. Eoin scowled as the liquid pattered down the chair legs.

"What was the point of that?"

"Showmanship! You know I love it. At any rate, this assignment should hit close to home for you. I just spent a fair amount of time in the First Ring and I encountered some of your handiwork."

"You did?" Eoin leaned forward.

"What was it?"

"A sailing ship, in the shape of a man. Quite an interesting set of abilities!" Eoin clapped, startling the other patrons.

"Fantastic! I thought there would be something interesting there. I'd thought the experiment lost. Am I to study him? Oh, this is an assignment I would do gladly."

"In time for sure. I want him to finish a little game I set out for him first, though. The real assignment is your other handiwork. A young dryad now making her way to the Second Ring."

"Miriam!" Eoin's jaw dropped.

"She survived Cianán's Walk?"

"Survived it?" The man laughed.

"The truth is that Cianán's Walk did not survive her. Lots of maps are going to have to be changed."

"That's incredible," Eoin said, grabbing his hat.

"Point me in the right direction, your Majesty. As surely you guessed, these are mysteries I must see solved!" King Cianán patted Eoin's shoulder with one buzzing hand.

"You are a predictable man, Eoin. That's what I like about you. It's never hard to figure out what you're going to do. So here's your main assignment. Help your Miriam get to the Third Ring. Help a young Róise with her rebellion against Shorinu."

"That's all?"

"Not at all. Once you have done that, you have but one more directive. After all that you will kill Miriam Callihan. If you can."