Edith Pattou - Fire Arrow

"What happened, Brie?" Collun asked.

"I don't know. Come in if you like," said Brie, still irritable. She abruptly turned and made her way back down the passageway. Collun followed, while Hanna remained outside with the horses.

The rowan tree column stood in a center chamber, with another chamber on either side of it. The middle chamber was piled high with glimmering ornaments: jeweled boxes from which cascaded gold bracelets, gorgets, arm rings, finger rings, pendants, bead necklaces, and torques. The room to the left was devoted mainly to swords and scabbards, as well as shields, with a few chests holding silver and gold coins, and some with tapestries folded inside; the third chamber consisted mainly of burial urns and pots, as well as more weaponry.

As Collun gazed about in awe, Brie took the torch and began to prowl the chambers, illuminating every dark and cobwebbed corner. Her palms felt as though they were on fire. Finally she found what she sought—her quiver and bow. They were haphazardly propped up against the wall, in the shadow of a large sarcophagus.

Barely able to breathe, Brie pulled the arrows out of the quiver, holding them in her burning hand. She stared down at them, bringing the torch close. They were all arrows she had made: plain, unadorned arrows. A sob caught in her throat. But then one of the arrows blurred. It began to change, metamorphosing with flashes of gold and purple and brown and shimmers of pure light. And, amazingly, there among the other arrows in her hand lay the fire arrow, complete with story bands and goldenhawk fletching. Relief coursed through Brie and her knees almost gave way.

As she straightened, she felt a surge of irrational triumph. The fire arrow had concealed itself from Balor; it had been stronger. If the arrow had been a person, she would have hugged it to her fiercely. As it was, she just gazed down at it, a stupid smile on her face.

"You found what you were seeking?"

She looked up at Collun. "Yes, yes, I did." She saw that Collun was staring at the arrow. "It's, um, a magic arrow. It's sort of done things to me, like, uh, leading me in here, I guess," she said. "And that night by the campfire, when you thought you saw me? Well, I think the arrow did that, even though it was here and I was in the tower..." She trailed off.

"I see, I think." He was eyeing her a little warily.

"Don't look at me like that," she said, sounding cross. "Let us return to Hanna." Brie put the fire arrow back in the quiver and slung it across her back. She noticed that the fiery feeling in her hands had gone.

"Wait," Collun said, looking around the chamber. "I wonder..."

"What?"

"Well, I was just thinking. Perhaps I ought to arm myself," he said offhandedly.

Brie stared at him. The Collun she knew before had disliked weapons of any kind.

"Kled came with me to Temair. He gave me some lessons in swordplay. It helped to pass the winter."

"I see," Brie said.

Collun took the torch from Brie and, lifting it up, scanned the array of swords.

Brie watched him as he moved slowly through the chambers. He lifted an elegant sword with a golden hilt, encased in a golden scabbard. He unsheathed it with a flourish, and the gleaming blade seemed to pulse; rays of gold lit the chamber. Uneasy, he resheathed it.

None of the swords seemed to suit him. Then he crossed to a blade lying on the ground, half obscured by a gilded trunk. He picked it up. It was a plain sword with no carving or precious metal. There was a little nick in the blade near the grip, and faint markings on the blade, but they were too worn down to make out, except for a very dim eight-pointed star. The scabbard was plain dark leather.

"This one looks about right for me," he said. Brie watched as he found a baldric and strapped the sword to his waist. It did look right somehow.

"I'm ready," Collun announced, his voice impersonal again. Brie picked up a small sword for herself, as well as an extra dagger.

When they left Balor's treasure chambers, Brie turned to look at the white marble structure. As she did the marble almost seemed to wrinkle and fold, and spiral shapes began curling across its surface. Then the building evaporated, leaving nothing behind but the single rowan tree in the center of the glade.

***

The first night of their journey to Sedd Brennhin, as Hanna slumbered and Brie restrung her bow, Collun asked, "So how did you do that, I mean, find the rowan tree and make the passage grave appear?"

Brie shook her head. "The fire arrow must have been working through me somehow. All I knew was that my hands were driving me crazy."

"That's some arrow," Collun said.

"Yes."

A silence grew between them. Then Collun abruptly spoke. "You have never answered the question I asked. Did you find your revenge?"

Brie stared sightlessly down at the bow across her lap. A sudden bright image of the bog and the dying men and the blood on her skin came before her eyes, and she began to tremble. She felt the old shame, as if her skin was fouled with blood that could never be washed off. "I cannot...," she breathed.

He was beside her at once. "Tell me, Brie." She could feel his breath warm on her cheek, and his fingers encircled her wrist.

And she did; she told Collun all of it, as she had told Lom on the deck of the Storm Petrel, only this time she let the tears come and Collun's arms went around her as she wept. Brie thought she had never felt so much of pain and of joy all at the same time.

When Hanna woke in the morning she saw Brie and Collun side by side, sharing a laugh at Fara, who greedily was eating oatcakes as fast as Collun could flip them out of the pan. The older woman smiled to herself, but said nothing of it.

That day as they rode ahead of Collun, Hanna asked Brie, "Who is Balor, this black sheep of your family?"

"He is, uh, was consort to Medb." She cast an uneasy glance back at Collun.

"Does he do her bidding?"

"I do not know, but I believe he plays a lone hand."

"To betray the Queen of Ghosts is perhaps imprudent?"

"Fearless, at any rate. Hanna, Balor killed my father."

Hanna reached forward for Brie's hand, holding it hard.

"You told Collun?"

"Yes." But the one thing she had not told him was what Balor had said of Collun's father, Cuillean, and his new abode in Scath.

***

Not being fond of the sea, and perhaps leery of the potential for flood, Prince Durwydd had moved the royal seat of Dungal from its original spot on the coast to a verdant but isolated valley that lay a day's journey from the fishing village of Mira. The old Sedd Brennhin, which Fionna had saved from the great flood and from where she ruled the kingdom of Dungal for many peaceful and prosperous years, lay deserted.

As they journeyed, Hanna told them something of Prince Durwydd. "He has little will for ruling, as I have already told Biri. Indeed it was ill-omened that he should have been the only heir to the throne. His main preoccupations are the stars, their movements and meaning, and Ellylon; he is fascinated by the mysterious kingdom of Tir a Ceol. He has even managed to befriend several Ellylon and, on several occasions, visited the northern reaches of Tir a Ceol with them. To his credit, he keeps several sound advisers around him, but they are not rulers."

It took five days of hard travel to reach Durwydd's fortress. As they entered the valley, Brie spotted a flutter of movement to the north. She was not sure, but thought that just as they entered the valley from the east, a company of men on horseback had left it, heading north. She was too far away to have seen what manner of men they were.

As they came to the dun's entrance, they saw that the portcullis was raised and the large door ajar.

"This bodes ill," said Hanna, peering uneasily about for watchmen or guards. Brie's nose twitched. She smelled goat.