The Promise of the Trees - Sword, Ring, and Crown Book 3 (Complete - Editing)

Chapter Nine - Madeline

Noman's face twisted into a bitter smile. Then, he began to sing. 

"Heigh ho! sing heigh ho! unto the green holly:

Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:

Then, heigh ho, the holly!
This life is most jolly."

He waited for me to recognize the song, but when I stared at him blankly, he sighed impatiently. "As You Like It. It's quite a famous play, you know?"

"I didn't read a lot of Shakespeare."

"Then, what about the story of the Holly King and the Oak King?"

 "Chuillen, stop all these idiotic charades." Duir spat. 

Because Duir was obviously unhappy about the tale, I became interested.  "Mother didn't tell me the tale of the Holly King." I nodded for him to continue.

Noman's grin turned triumphant and he began to pace back and forth energetically. As he spoke, he waved his hands about, and I was reminded of his spastic behavior at the lake once more.

"The Holly and Oak were once friends, brothers even, but they both loved a woman. Even though the woman belonged to neither of them, each was sure he could win her. Then, because of a mistake the Oak tree made, the woman died."

"It wasn't my mistake, crazy fool. It was yours." Duir cut in, and I stared at her.

"He?" I asked. Duir glanced at me then shrugged. 

 So, at one point she'd decided to take on a male form? I couldn't wrap my head around Aisa as a male any more than I could get over this young, beautiful female form she was currently wearing. She looked down on and wished to control men. It didn't fit.

Noman laughed at her. "As sure as my name is Chuillen, it was your fault. Who was the one that decided we needed a king and lost our faith in the Creator? And who is the numbskull that made a fake Goddess when you made the Brigid? You missed Our Lady so much that you had to have a pale imitation of her. Your pride and obsession cursed us. You thought you could win a path straight back to glory, and through your arrogance, you helped Bramble tangle us all."

I looked at Duir whose mouth was pursed into a straight line. She'd grown quite pale and I realized that Noman, no, Chuillen was telling the truth. Despite that, I needed Duir to believe our hatchet was well buried. He was going to cause an unnecessary rift. 

"Chuillen, if you're not here to join us, then I'll have to ask you to leave." I gave him a tired look.

His eyes became a solid red, and he seemed to grow both in girth and height when I said that. "You'll side with that Oak Tree?"

"I'm not siding with anyone. All I'm here to do is finish these trials and try to fix this world."

He scoffed, then pointed at Duir, "Her acolytes were responsible for your mother's death. Have you forgotten that? Your grandfather is a fanatic for Duir, and he spearheaded the attack on your mother."

I swallowed back the lump forming in my throat and willed the tears blurring my vision to dry up.  I stared at Duir as I said, "Duir and I are not friends. We made a deal, that is all. When everything is finished, she'll go her way, and I'll go mine."

Duir's face twisted in pain, then she glared at Chuillen as though my feelings were his fault. 

Chuillen chortled. It was tinged with madness and desperation. "Oh, poor, poor Madeline. Now that Duir knows who you are, she'll fight to keep you even more. Trusting her is like trusting a snake to babysit your tiny chicks."