For some reason, I felt inclined not to involve Cate and Tom. “Deri boasted of the connection the night before she stole my friend. Since then, I’ve learned that Carmen is either a goddess of black magic or a powerful sorceress from Athens who came to Ireland. Do you know her actual ancestry?”
“Hardly a soul alive even knows her name. And from what little I’ve managed to gather, there’s no certainty what she be—goddess or some other unworldly creature.” Deidre’s expression turned grave. “Except for a witch, that is, and wicked to the core. Me Roddy was a gentle spirit. It’s a pity Deri didn’t take more after her da.”
Despite my knowing Ailish, gentle and Cailleach didn’t align in my mind. “Is it from the mother then that Deri got the power to spread the pox?” As Carmen had raised three sons named Darkness, Evil and Violence, the witch could well have passed the gift of disease to her daughter, along with a good dose of sadism and insanity.
Deidre laughed softly. “Oh, no, Roddy had a fine hand at sickness. One o’ the best in all Ireland.”
A curt breath burst from my throat. “But you said he was a gentle soul.”
“And that he was, culling the weak so they needn’t worry about struggling through this life, and being a burden to those that love them.” She clucked her tongue again. “He could also sense restless spirits, which is how he found Carmen all those years ago.”
Angry words pinged against my teeth at the notion of a merciful culling. I bit them back as only one thing mattered at this point—finding Nora while she was still alive. “Can you tell us where she’s buried?”
“Not too far from here, that’s for certain.”
My heart skipped a beat. Grabbing the arms of the chair, I scooted forward in anticipation. “Will you show us?”
Deidre’s mouth puckered over my question. “Not exactly.”
I gaped at her in surprise. “Why not? I thought you wanted us to kill Deri.”
“Oh, your killing that little she devil has nothing to do with it.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Deidre didn’t answer right away, but took a moment to inspect the woolen square, which had grown noticeably bigger. “You need more o’ the story to understand.” She loosened another length of yarn from the skein, and the needles resumed their patter. “Ever since Roddy was a lad, he liked to walk alone at night. It was a part o’ his gift, you see, to sense those spirits who were trapped between this world and the next. If the connection be strong, he could sometimes help them to cross over. Other times, he’d keep them company for a short while afore returning home in the morning. It was on one of these walks that he felt Carmen’s spirit agonizing beneath the oak grove.”
“Was she really buried, like the legend says?”
“Depends on how you look at it. Once the witch was defeated, King Bres imprisoned her in an old earthen mound that connected the two worlds. On the human side, he stacked large stones to form a dolmen that he enchanted to keep her out of Ireland. He put an enchantment on the other side as well so she couldn’t escape into the Otherworld.”
“She’s trapped in one of the pathways,” I breathed.
The corners of Deidre’s mouth turned down. “That she be, though not without some o’ her own dark charms. Night after night, the witch cried out from the earth for help. To most people, her wailing would have been mistaken for the wind howling. But to someone who can hear restless spirits, she had the voice o’ a siren. Me Roddy heard it once and was drawn to the dolmen like a man possessed.”
“How did he get past the enchantment?”
A dark laugh mixed with the clink of needles. “Me guess is that King Bres only thought to keep Carmen in as no one in their right mind would ever seek her out after all she did to Ireland. Problem be that after so many years, folks forgot all about her. Roddy had no notion who was waiting inside, not until he got there anyway, and she wound a web around his heart. From how he told it, she could spin lies faster than a spider and had a fine hand at illusions.”
My brows drew together over this last bit. “But if the dolmen only went one way, then how did Roddy get out?” And Deri, too, for that matter.
“Because the enchantment be specific to Carmen. Anyone else can come and go as they please, so long as they carry a spot o’ blood from the Tuatha Dé or one of the other ancient races that ever used the passageways.” There was a short pause while Deidre unwound a long length of yarn. I chewed my lip and waited for her to continue.
“Deri visited her mam ever so often once she was old enough to understand the truth, with nary a problem passing back and forth through the mound. Roddy didn’t like it, mind you, but he was too kindhearted to stop her, and she never stayed longer than a day or two. It wasn’t until the past year that the visits became longer and more frequent.”