Gavin Smith - The Age of Scorpio

‘Rhi Rin, I must protest. We have—’

‘Enough,’ Rin said quietly. ‘There is no denying that you have power and we thank you for coming to our aid last ni—’

‘The fort would have surely fallen—’ Eurawg began.

‘It is not for you to judge military mat—’ Morfudd began.

‘Don’t talk over your king,’ Britha said quietly. Both of them fell silent.

‘Will you stay and fight with us?’ Rin asked.

‘What news from the south?’ Britha responded. Morfudd and Rin exchanged looks.

‘I—’ Rin started.

‘Do not poison your words; speak truthfully,’ Britha told him, but it was Eurawg who spoke.

‘To the south-east there is a stretch of water between three islands. That stretch of water is sacred to your mother, Andraste. We take those of the Atrebates who have been touched by the moon to the two islands closest to the shore. The Regni to the east do the same.’

‘ Did the same,’ Morfudd corrected him. ‘They have been attacked from the sea, perhaps destroyed.’

‘The black ships?’ Britha asked.

‘What do you know of the—’ Morfudd started suspiciously.

‘Let the boy finish,’ Rin said gently. ‘I mean the dryw .’

Eurawg looked less than happy as he continued with his story. ‘There is a special order of the dryw who care for those afflicted by the moon. One morning, not more than ten days hence, we found one of them, a young man, a foundling, a child of the mad who had been raised by the dryw on the island. He was bloody, exhausted, near dead and nearer madness. He told of the black ships. He said that they came from the Otherworld and that they were planning something.’

‘What?’ Britha asked.

‘The waters are sacred. The border between this world and the other is weak there. They would pervert what is sacred to your mother and they intend a summoning.’

‘A summoning of what?’

‘He did not know, but he said they intended a great sacrifice.’

She had known – at some level she had known – but it still rocked her. During the worst times, the times when mere survival meant a payment of blood to the land, the black-robed dryw were capable of sacrificing many, but this beggared belief. They must have hundreds on both boats by now.

‘The Llwglyd Diddymder,’ Teardrop said. Britha translated the words into her own tongue: the Hungry Nothingness. She wanted to ask him what it meant but didn’t dare show ignorance in front of Rin and his people.

‘What is this?’ Rin asked.

‘An ancient evil from the darkness beyond the stars,’ Teardrop pronounced in tones that made Britha want to laugh.

‘Can it be fought?’ the crippled rhi asked.

‘Not by us, not here. You need to stop it before it is summoned,’ Teardrop explained.

‘Well, she is the daughter of Andraste,’ Morfudd said, gesturing dismissively at Britha. ‘It should not be difficult for her to lay waste to the Corpse People and the demons on these black ships.’

‘I am not the only servant of the gods abroad right now,’ Britha said. She cared little for the deception but she was not willing to break it either. ‘Where is this shepherd of the moonstruck? May we speak with him?’

Eurawg answered: ‘Whatever he had seen had driven him mad. He spoke of demons in the flesh, dead gods in his head, hearing singing from the night sky and that the sea wanted him. It was too much for him, and he died trying to cut his own face off.’

‘Tell them the rest,’ Rin said quietly.

‘Essyllt, my predecessor, she went to the Isles of the Moon—’

‘With ten of the Teulu as escort, ten we sorely need right now,’ Morfudd interjected.

‘And you have not seen them since?’ Britha asked, almost knowing the answer. It explained why a dryw so obviously young and inexperienced was here to treat with them.

‘Oh, we’ve seen their faces,’ Morfudd answered, her voice bitter and angry.

‘When the Corpse People attacked, they used the moonstruck from the island like the living use hunting dogs. The mad wore the flayed faces of Essyllt and her escort.’ It was Rin who spoke. Britha could hear the sadness in his voice. This was no tyrant. This was a king who cared for his people. He must be frustrated by his affliction, she thought. It would make what they had to try and convince him to do all the harder. ‘So what would you have of us?’

‘Your fight is not here, it is in the south,’ Teardrop told him.

‘They would corrupt the sacred waters of Andraste. This must be stopped!’ Eurawg said. Britha found herself wishing he’d put the mask back on and just stand there looking sinister, but doing so quietly.

‘And yet I have a fort full of people that I must protect,’ Rin said. Morfudd was nodding.

‘Which will not matter if this summoning succeeds,’ Teardrop argued.

‘The people here cannot come with us – they are not warriors. I take the warriors away, they will be massacred. The Corpse People do not care for captives or pillage. All they care about is destruction. Some say they even eat the dead. They are cannibal spirits, the restless dead of Annwn sent by Rhi Arawn to plague us,’ Rin said bitterly.

‘They are men – we proved that to you last night,’ Britha told the king.

‘You have not seen them pluck arrow and spear from their dead flesh; you have not seen their wounds heal in front of your eyes,’ Morfudd said angrily.

‘Which served them naught last night,’ Britha said.

‘We are not all the children of the gods!’ Morfudd roared. Eurawg glared at her.

‘Yes, you are,’ Teardrop said with the sort of quiet authority Britha connected to the dryw . It was how you made warriors and kings listen. ‘The magic is weak in your blood, but you have been touched by the gods.’

Rin looked at the strange man with the swollen head and the silver eyes, trying to decide what to admit to.

‘It was true in my youth I could do things that others couldn’t before…’

‘In battle?’ Britha asked.

‘A cart, would you believe. I may be favoured of Andraste in battle, but not when I’m helping bring the harvest in.’ Britha was impressed despite herself. Few mormaer would lower themselves to help with the harvest. ‘But this does not matter. If we leave the fort the people here will be massacred. In fact, if we leave the protection of the walls then we will all be massacred. If you have the means to fight the Corpse People then share them, and once we have defeated them we will go south with all haste.’

‘There is not the time,’ Teardrop said.

‘And you know this?’ Rin asked.

‘If both ships are there—’ Britha started.

‘Both?’ Rin looked to Eurawg.

‘The dryw from the Isles of the Moon said that there were more than two ships. Many more.’

‘How many do they plan to sacrifice?’ Britha asked Teardrop.

‘As many of the people of Ynys Prydein as they can find. They will make it Ynys Annwn,’ Eurawg said.

‘You must sneak out of here, no horses, no metal armour—’ Teardrop began.

‘If you are simply moonstruck, then you have our leave to go to the isles!’ Morfudd shouted.

‘There will be nothing left!’ Britha shouted, silencing them all.

‘I cannot and will not leave my people. It is pointless even talking about this any more.’

‘If you stay here the Corpse People will overrun you. They nearly wiped you out last night.’

‘Not if you share with us your ability to harm them,’ Rin said.

‘Which we won’t,’ Teardrop said with finality.

‘We cannot defy the will of the gods,’ Eurawg said. ‘We should do what they ask.’