Edith Pattou - Fire Arrow

Monodnock had disappeared, and Brie sent a small search party to look for him. The Ellyl was found in the forest, apparently hiding in a tree. He came down only because he overheard two of the searchers speaking of the enemy's defeat.

He appeared before Brie disheveled and exhausted, twigs sprouting from his orange hair. At first he could not meet her eyes.

"Most gracious and generous maiden," he said, gazing at her left shoulder, "allow me to offer my most heartfelt laudation and homage to your stunning rout of a most fearsome and multitudinous foe." Monodnock's eyes shifted to Brie's forehead. "It was a vast and irreparable disappointment to me that I could not stand shoulder to shoulder with you as you swept aside the evil tide."

"Monodnock...," Brie began, stone-faced.

"And alas, as it turned out, I could not, uh, I was not able to, uh, obey your mandate, wise as it was, or rather, uh, appeared to be..." The Ellyl suddenly brightened. "However, as Sago did mount his steed, I, uh, had a flash, a vision if you will"—Monodnock warmed to his theme, newly confident—"that this ancient man of power had within him one last burst of magnificence and that to hold him back from his heroic errand would be an incalculably grave error."

"I see. And did this 'vision' also tell you not to accompany Sago on his 'heroic errand,'" Brie asked, "in spite of the fact that I had ordered you not to leave his side?"

Monodnock reddened, but blustered on. "Of course, I intended to do as you directed, and was in the process of attempting to procure a steed of my own, when I suddenly sensed that my presence would almost certainly interfere with the, uh, spheres of power encircling the sorcerer. You can see, then, that I did not dare cause any obstruction between him and his desired goat, uh, goal..." Monodnock trailed off. His hair was a spiky jungle and his lanky form trembled with exhaustion from his lengthy vigil in the treetop.

Brie found herself veering between the urge to laugh out loud and the desire to give Monodnock a severe scolding. However, compassion won out, and she sent the Ellyl, sagging with relief, to find a bite to eat.

The Dungalan survivors gathered the slain gabha into large heaps and, as was the Dungalan custom with the remains of an enemy, set the mounds aflame, although as the smell wafted over their camp, Brie rather wished they hadn't. She had had enough burning goat flesh to last a lifetime.

The frayed remnants of Sago's net lay everywhere. Lom saved the largest intact piece he could find to take back to Ardara. The new arrivals listened in amazement to the tale of the Sea Dyak sorcerer's miraculous net.

Prince Durwydd's adviser Ralfe approached Brie as she helped with the digging of a grave, asking for a private moment of her time. As they walked in the direction of the mountains, Ralfe confided in Brie that just prior to the newly mustered army's departure for the north, he had received a message from Prince Durwydd in Tir a Ceol.

"Our prince, in so many words, stated that he was abdicating the throne; that he had chosen to make a life for himself in Tir a Ceol and would not be returning." Brie could see that Ralfe was in the grip of some powerful emotions, and she realized that the strongest was a deep shame for the actions of his prince. "I took it upon myself to delay imparting this distressing news to anyone until this moment. It was an egregious act of deceit; still, I have no regrets," he said stoutly. "Furthermore, I now consider myself under arrest for high treason, and do place myself in your custody."

Brie gaped at the grizzled man. "That's nonsense," she said bluntly. "You acted in the best interests of your army and your country."

"Notwithstanding, I did not have the authority to mount an army..."

Brie waved his words aside. "Tell me, Ralfe, is it not unusual for Ellylon to allow a human to live with them?"

"Prince Durwydd has royal blood, and the Dungalan royal family is known to have some amount of draoicht within them. Perhaps this is why."

"I see."

Between them, Brie and Ralfe agreed that now would perhaps not be the best time to tell the Dungalans of their prince's decision.

"What will happen?" Brie asked. "Who will rule in Durwydd's absence?"

"There is a young cousin, a boy who lives in the village Pennog. He is young yet to rule," said Ralfe.

"But he will not lack for loyal and farsighted advisers, of that I am certain," Brie replied with a smile.

***

Throughout the day, as Brie helped dig graves, kindle pyres, and—when she got the chance—care for a still unconscious Collun, she often found herself casting uneasy glances at Sedd Wydyr, which stood glittering against the blue sky. She knew, as they all knew, that although the gabha had been defeated, Balor still lived. Even if he did not show himself, he lived.

Lorn suggested that Balor must have fled once he saw the battle was lost. Brie said nothing, but she knew that was not true. On the other hand, she could feel no trace of Balor, even when she held the fire arrow and boldly sought him with her mind. All she got was a bad case of blurred vision for her efforts.

"He must have returned to Scath, taking the man Bricriu with him," Hanna suggested, sitting with Brie while she waited for her eyesight to return to normal. Collun lay nearby, his condition unchanged, and Fara was seated beside Brie, trying to dislodge the bandage Hanna had fashioned for the gash on her neck.

Brie shook her head, dissatisfied. "We will have to search Sedd Wydyr," she said.

Leaving Aelwyn to watch over Collun, Brie led the search of the crystal fortress. Using makeshift ladders to scale the outer wall, several Dungalans opened the gate from the inside for the rest of the search party. The inside of the castle was as opulent and shining as the outside, yet it was cold, devoid of any humanity. They searched the entire structure, every room, every twisting corridor, even out through the underground tunnel that exited through the door in the side of the bluff, but they found no trace of life. They did find another tunnel, a long one that led them to an entrance hidden deep in the foothills, and most were satisfied that Balor must have escaped through this route.

But Brie was not. She alone had felt Balor's power and could not conceive of him fleeing in such a way.

They buried Sago where he had fallen on the battle plain. First, as Hanna and Brie had done for Yldir, they crafted a small boat-shaped casket. They laid the fallen sorcerer in the boat, along with his empty amhantar, a makeshift fishing pole Brie had made, a small piece of the fishing net, and a skin bag of wine. The small piece of wood from the boat Gor-gwynt they placed in his open palm. Someone had gone out on the white stone beach, in spite of the white moths, and found a large smooth rock to use as a memory stone for Sago. As Hanna etched words onto the stone, Brie noticed a number of seabirds clustered overhead, some just hanging there, others gliding in tight circles. When they lowered the boat-casket into the earth, a fisherman from Ardara brought out a small pipe and played a short melody that Brie recognized as one of Sago's favorite nonsense songs, about a whitebelly and a plover. The seabirds above had grown in number, a large hovering cloud of whites and blacks and browns.

As the music ended, the seabirds cried out and then, almost as a solid mass, they flew away.

As the birds disappeared over the sea, Brie heard someone say with a sigh, "With Yldir and Sago gone, I'm thinking that's the last of the Sea Dyak sorcerers."

"Actually, no," Brie found herself saying, "I don't think so."

Several faces turned to her, questioning.

And Brie told them what Sago had said to her about the boy Thom who lived in the town of Mira, and about his thumbnails.