Edith Pattou - Fire Arrow

"Hanna!" Brie cried.

The older woman's eyelids wrinkled, then opened. Brie sat up, taking her friend's cold hand in hers and chafing it gently.

"Thank Amergin," Brie breathed.

Hanna gazed quietly up at her.

Brie could tell Hanna lacked the strength to speak and gave her hand a squeeze. "Rest now," she said.

Night had fallen, and silently Collun set about lighting a fire. He took herbs from the wallet he wore across his chest and made a posset of hyssop and lavender for Hanna. When it was done the older woman obediently drank it, then slept. Brie fell asleep as well, sitting beside Hanna, holding on to her hand.

***

Brie woke in darkness. For a moment she did not know where she was, thinking herself back in the bell tower. She was very cold and began to shiver uncontrollably. She carefully sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees, trying to stop the shivering.

"Brie?" It was Hanna, and Brie could just make out her figure, lying propped up an arm's length away. She was drinking more of Collun's concoction, holding the cup herself. Collun was leaning forward, poking the fire with a stick. Flames leaped up, illuminating his face.

"I have met Wurme-killer," Hanna said in Eirrenian.

Collun frowned. "Collun," he said. "Are you hungry, Brie?"

"Starving," Brie replied in a hoarse voice.

And though it was the middle of the night, Collun reheated the water and began mixing up a batch of oatcakes. Brie moved closer to Hanna and to the fire.

"What happened to you, Biri, in the tower?" asked the older woman, gazing critically at Brie.

Brie shook her head, unready to talk of it. "First you," she said.

"There is little enough to tell," responded Hanna. "When I woke and found you gone, the dogs and Fara picked up your scent and followed it down the bluff to the lake. There was a thick mist over it, obscuring the tower, but I guessed this to be the lake we sought.

"Fara was all for swimming right out into that mist, but I didn't like the look of it. So, more fool I, I decided to try to lift the cursed thing. Now fogs, either lifting or causing them, make me dizzy, but this one had my head swirling like the Corryvrecken whirlpool. The harder I tried, the worse the spinning got, until I hardly knew ground from sky. And I realized, just a little too late, that this was no ordinary fog, but a lien dewin, a sorcerer's veil. And an almighty powerful sorcerer's at that. I felt myself beings pulled into the vortex, and I could not stop it. That's the last thing I knew. Except for the dogs howling and Fara licking my hand raw with that tongue of hers."

"It was Fara who led me to the lake and to Hanna," interjected Collun, handing Brie an oatcake. He offered her honey, which she refused, and then he sat down to eat an oatcake himself. In the light of the fire, Brie covertly watched Collun. He looked different to her. Taller and leaner. Of course he had gotten older since she had left him at Cuillean's dun. But his gestures were the same. Brie's heart squeezed with some indefinable emotion.

Collun looked up and Brie quickly averted her eyes. Abruptly Collun rose and left the fire, carrying the pan he'd used for cooking.

"I like your friend," came Hanna's voice, drowsy. Soon Brie could hear Hanna's even breathing.

When he returned to the fire, Brie asked Collun if Hanna would be all right now.

"I believe so, though I know little of weather magic. At any rate, sleep will do her good," Collun responded. "It looks as though you could use more rest yourself," he added, gazing down at Brie's haggard face. Suddenly self-conscious, she raised her hand to her matted hair, bits of insect and candle wax still tangled in it.

"Collun, I..."

"Go to sleep, Brie." She could not read his face in the darkness above the fire, but the chill in his voice puzzled her. It was almost enough to keep her from sleep, but not quite. Again she drifted off, to the sounds of Hanna breathing and the firewood settling.

***

Brie woke early. The sun had dawned bright and it promised to be a warm spring day. Both Collun and Hanna still slept. Brie stood, dug out the remaining sliver of Monodnock's white lilac soap from her pack, and walked to the lake. Fara appeared silently at her side as she gazed out over the smooth mirrored surface. It was as if the bell tower, with its strange rooms and great evil bell, had never even existed. Like the fire arrow, it was gone without so much as a ripple to show for it.

Fara rubbed against Brie's leg, purring. "I know," Brie said, rubbing her thumbs over the tips of her fingers, remembering the tingling feeling of the arrow. "I'll get over it." But she was not sure she ever would.

Quickly Brie washed in the cold water. When she returned to camp she found that Hanna still slept, but Collun had kindled the fire. He was brewing chicory and the familiar smell warmed her. She had not had chicory since leaving Eirren. Collun poured her a cup and she took it gratefully.

"If you had not come, I would have died. Thank you," she said humbly.

"In truth, I did little." Again she heard the chill in his voice.

"Collun...," she began.

"More oatcakes?" He interrupted her.

"Please," for she was still very hungry, though this new tone in Collun's voice distracted her from her rumbling stomach.

Suddenly Brie remembered the dream she had had of Cuillean's dun and the soldier Renin dead. "Did something happen, Collun? At Cuillean's dun?"

Collun's face shifted, his eyes went opaque like teine stones. "Several months after you left, there was an attack, by Scathians and morgs."

"The soldier Renin?"

"Dead." His voice was flat. "You knew?"

"It was a dream I had, but tell me."

"There is not much to tell. They came by sea. We were taken by surprise. Fortunately it was a small band and we managed to fight them off." His jaw had gone rigid. "We buried Renin on that headland overlooking the sea. And over his cairn I pledged that would be the end of it; I would no longer be the bearer of the cailceadon. It has cost too much." Brie knew that Collun was thinking of Crann, the wizard of the trees.

"I journeyed to Temair and gave the trine and stone to Queen Aine and King Gwynn."

Brie knew how much it must have cost Collun to give up his beloved trine.

"They agreed to take it?"

"It was not a choice."

Anger, that was what Brie heard in Collun's voice. A silence grew up between them.

"So, Brie, did you find your revenge?" Collun's eyes were still hard, opaque; and though they were said almost casually, the words were like a knife thrust.

SEVENTEEN

Return to Ardara

Brie looked down at her hands; they looked dirty and she rubbed at them, though she had just washed them in the lake with Monodnock's soap, two, three times.

"Why did you come here?" she whispered.

Collun turned away. "When I was at the royal dun in Temair, there were visitors, neighbors of your aunt and uncle. They told of your stay at Dun Slieve and of your subsequent departure for the north and the mountains. Then word came of creatures called gabha who had attacked a farmhold along the way into the Blue Stacks. I was concerned and thought to journey there, but was told the mountains were impassable. I spent the winter in Temair with my sister."

"How is Nessa?" asked Brie quickly.

"Well, thank you," he replied politely. The cadence of his voice was stilted, formal, as if she were a stranger with whom he was exchanging pleasantries.

"Near winter's end the Ellyl horse Ciaran came to Temair. Through Fiain she conveyed the message that she believed you to be in danger. Ciaran, Fiain, and I made our way through the Blue Stacks, fending off several goat-men as we went. I had thought to journey to the village of Ardara, where your trail led, but Ciaran pushed us straight north.