The Silver Stag of Bunratty by Eithne Massey Read Free Book Online Page B

original castle, down nearer the village, Sir Robert De Muscegros, he’s quite fat and jolly most of the time. Some of the ghosts don’t talk at all – Sir Thomas, Sir Richard’s father, the first of the De Clares to come here, just floats around and looks disapproving. Lady Maude, Sir Richard’s mother, is nice, though very sad. A lot of them are sad. Brian Rua, the Irish chief Sir Thomas killed, is probably the most unhappy of all. He does a lot of chain-clanking and lamenting.’
    ‘I think I might have heard him one night,’ said Matthieu excitedly. ‘But is everyone who lived in Bunratty here?’
    Cliar shook her head. ‘Not everyone. I think only the ones who have something bothering them. The unfinished business keeps them here. They do no harm, though. Lots of them are my friends.’
    ‘Is there a boy as well, a small boy with red hair?’ Matthieu was remembering a particular face that would sometimes come at dusk, in the shadows of his room – though mostly, as he was falling into sleep, he thought he saw his father, and would talk to him about all the things that worried him. But sometimes he saw other faces; children in strange clothes, who smiled at him shyly.
    Cliar nodded and began to speak, but Maude interrupted. She was impatient to get back to planning the stag’s rescue.
    ‘Matthieu, you know all that stuff you see is probably your imagination, or something you have eaten,’ she scoffed.
    Cliar said, ‘Anyway, I’d better go back to the kitchens. The White Ferret is on the warpath today.’
    Maude giggled. ‘Is that what you call Lady Johanna?’
    Cliar laughed. ‘That’s what everyone in the kitchens calls her.’
    ‘What is going on here?’ A voice came from the doorway. Lady Johanna was there, looking none too pleased to see any of them.
    She really did look like a white ferret, thought Tuan. He had only seen a ferret once; the Normans had introduced them to hunt rabbits. Lady Johanna, with her nose twitching and her small, pale eyes, slightly red-rimmed, and her white-blond hair, looked as if she would snap a rabbit in two as soon as look at it.
    ‘Get back to the kitchens, girl,’ she said to Cliar. ‘And take the hostage back to his room. There is much to be done, for we need to prepare for the visitors that will be coming here for the hunt.’

    Two days later the castle was full to the brim and Lady Johanna was delighted to see the visitors; she loved to show off her English clothes and English ways. Unfortunately, her delight did not make her easier to live with, as she wanted everything to be even more perfect than usual. Margaret grumbled that she was sick and tired of running up and down to the solar for a new set of orders.
    ‘How can I get anything done with me spending my time listening to her complain about everything? And mark my words,’ she shook her finger at Cliar, ‘no good will come ofthis hunt. Feasting on May Eve when the fairies are out and about and then going off to hunt a magical creature on Mayday morning. It’s crazy. Sir Richard should be making sure the charms are put in place to protect his horses and cattle from harm, not making merry and going into the Good People’s own territory on their special day.’

    But make merry they did, in the Great Hall the night before Mayday. Because of the visitors, Maude and Matthieu were sent down the table to sit beside Tuan, and a group of musicians played (very badly in Matthieu’s estimation) some tunes on recorder and harp. Cliar came and stood behind the other children as they began to eat. ‘Remember what I told you about the bread,’ she whispered. ‘Be careful not to eat any.’
    Tuan started guiltily. He had been so transfixed by the strange music that he had already nibbled a piece of his trencher. Within a few minutes, he began to feel very strange. Either there was no air coming into the hall or he was going to faint. But he had never fainted in his life. He looked around him. The hall was