Edith Pattou - Fire Arrow

"She was unerring, insistent, but I confess I came to feel the whole thing a fool's errand. Then, not long ago, something happened. I was sitting by the campfire when suddenly I heard you calling me. Your voice, clear as a bell, if you will pardon the expression." Brie smiled, but Collun did not smile back.

"It was so real that I actually stood up and looked around the campfire. And then I saw you. Only it wasn't you; that is, your edges were blurry and there was gold around you. And then you were gone, just like that. But for a moment I could see a large tower in the middle of a lake. Then everything faded. I looked at the map of Dungal I had brought with me from Temair. And there was a lake, very near to where we were. It did not take us long to reach the lake and the tower.

"It was Ciaran who led us over that confounded path in the water and Ciaran who broke the door down."

"How?"

"When that big crack appeared, she just flew out with her hooves, right in the center of it. The door split open and there you were.

"What happened to you in the bell tower, Brie?" he asked, and for just a moment she heard an echo of the old gentle voice she remembered so vividly. Strangely her eyes pricked with tears. Running her hand through her wet hair, she answered, making her voice brisk.

"I was a prisoner, a sorcerer's prisoner. Balor is his name. He turns out to be a cousin of mine."

Collun stared at her. "Cousin?"

"It is a long tale; I have not the heart for it now. But Balor is planning to invàde and overthrow Dungal, with Eirren not far behind. The people of Dungal must be warned. There may still be time to raise an army." There was color in her cheeks and her hands were clenched.

"I see," said Collun.

"Is Hanna strong enough to travel?"

"I am," the older woman said, coming up behind. "And if what you say is true, we must leave at once." She was pale, but her eyes held strength. "Where is this sorcerer now?" she asked.

"I do not know. North, he said, to marshal his forces."

"He must have a stronghold of some kind. Did he say anything else?"

Brie shook her head. "Wait, yes ... He said something about going to meet a sea serpent."

Hanna's eyes darkened with a puzzled expression. "Serpent," she said, musing. "Where is that wizard's map of yours?" she asked abruptly.

Brie handed her Crann's map, with a sidelong glance at Collun.

"I seem to recall hearing of a rock formation, far north, lying off the coast, that bears a resemblance to a wurme or serpent." The older woman ran her finger along the line of Dungal's coast on the map.

"Ah," she breathed. "Carreg-sarff. Here, as I thought." She pointed to a cluster of dots on the map. "Perhaps the villain Balor has chosen Sedd Wydyr as his stronghold."

"Sedd Wydyr?"

"It is an ancient fortress, built by one of Dungal's first queens. She used the native white stone as well as crystal-bearing rocks of far-off Gledna to build her castle. The royal family had considerable draoicht in those days, but it was still a magnificent feat of workmanship. It was said that when the sunlight shone on Sedd Wydyr it glittered so brightly as to bring blindness on those who beheld it. It also went, by the name Crystal Castle."

"It sounds like a dwelling that would suit Balor," Brie said dryly.

"I have not traveled that far north so I have not seen Sedd Wydyr, but even if it still stands, it would be in ruins."

"Like your ancient queen, Balor has considerable draoicht," Brie replied. "I am sure he has restored the crystal castle and that it glitters even brighter than before."

***

Both Hanna's mare and the bay horse Araf had bolted when the bell began to toll, so Hanna rode with Brie on Ciaran. They decided to go directly to Sedd Brennhin, the royal seat of Dungal, to tell Prince Durwydd himself of the threat to Dungal. Hanna had met the prince on several occasions and felt sure of an audience.

But as they began moving up the bluff, away from the lake, Brie felt uneasy, torn. A curious tingling had begun on her hands, not unlike the humming of the fire arrow.

"Bother," Brie muttered. "The arrow is gone," she told herself sternly.

"What?" asked Hanna from behind.

"Nothing," Brie replied. The Ellyl horse hesitated, giving a low whinny.

Suddenly Brie laid her hand on Ciaran's neck. "The lake," she whispered. And the horse wheeled and headed back to the lake.

"Brie?" Collun called after her. But Brie did not hear.

When they reached the lakeshore, Brie dismounted and began walking along the water's edge. Clouds had come up, blanketing the sun. The water was very still. Brie strained to see into it, to see the broken tower and, somewhere among the mountain of jagged stone, the fire arrow. But all she saw was her own face reflected back at her, drawn and desolate. Collun's face appeared beside hers.

"What do you seek, Brie?"

"An arrow."

"Can you not make more arrows?"

"No," Brie said impatiently, eyes focused on the water.

"Son of Cuillean," called Hanna, still astride Ciaran. Collun moved back to Hanna, who spoke to him in a low voice.

Brie paid no attention to them and continued to walk beside the lake, rubbing her tingling hands against the sides of her legs. What did she think she was going to do? Dive in and scavenge among the rubble for an arrow that had no doubt been splintered into a hundred pieces? Or did she think the arrow might miraculously rise to the surface and float across to her? She felt the tingling again and kept walking. She walked until she was more than halfway around the lake. The tingling had grown stronger.

"Uffern," she muttered. The tingling was turning into an unpleasant itching. Suddenly she noticed she was moving away from the lake into the sedges and shrubs. She wasn't quite sure why; there was no path, though perhaps a very faint trace of someone at some time having moved this way before.

She entered a small copse of trees. Inside the grove she discovered a large circular patch where the trees had been cleared away, except for a tall, slender rowan, which stood in the very center. Brie walked up to the tree and stood in front of it, half-expectant. Nothing happened.

Staring at the bark of the tree, looking for something, though she did not know what, she rubbed her stinging hands against her tunic.

"Brie?" Collun called. He had followed and was moving through the trees toward her. Brie silently motioned for him to stop before entering the exposed circle, then she went back to gazing at the tree.

She felt keyed up, irritable. The itching on her hands was now a burning, painful sensation. She kept wanting to rub them against her tunic, but when she did, it hurt. What does this tree have to do with anything? she asked herself crossly.

Then, inconsequently, she; had the memory of Aelwyn laying her hands against Monodnock's porth, and she had the sudden urge to do the same to the rowan in front of her. At least it might make the prickling feel better, she thought.

She laid her burning hands on the tree's surface and the next moment she was standing in darkness, her palms resting on something cool and smooth to the touch.

"Uffern," she muttered again. "Now where am I?" Fortunately her pack was on her back, and after fishing out several lasan sticks, she lit one on the rock floor of wherever it was she was standing.

In the dim light she could see she was in some kind of tomb, a passage grave it looked to be, and she was in the vaulted inner room. Her hands had been resting on a marble column carved to resemble a rowan tree. Then she heard a pounding sound and someone faintly calling her name.

She lit another lasan stick and, spotting a torch stuck in a wall sconce, took it down. Quickly she set the torch alight and hurried down the passage that ended in a bolted door. With some effort she lifted the bolt and pushed open the door. Collun stood there, looking startled. Brie could see Hanna behind him, with the two horses.