Hero's Song (11 page)

They gingerly made their way through the twisted and blackened skeletons of burnt trees, their feet squelching through the soggy layers of ash and charred wood. Puffs of smoke wafted about their ankles.

They came again to the thorn tree that had been struck by lightning. All that remained was a jagged black stump. But not thirty paces beyond the stump the forest was miraculously intact, and were it not for the smell of smoke, they would not have known there had been a fire at all.

The kesil continued to walk. Collun focused all his remaining strength on keeping the green figure in sight. As before, the trees began to thin out. And it was not long before they were out of the Forest of Eld altogether.

Dawn was just breaking, and Collun could feel a faint warmth on his face from the autumn sun.

The old man had stopped at the edge of a large meadow and was waiting for them to catch up.

"Well met, Collun," said the kesil. He crossed to the
dazed boy, put his two hands on Collun's shoulders, and peered down at him. He said nothing for a moment, holding his eyes steady on Collun's. Collun could not read the old man's expression, but it had welcome in it, as well as concern.

The kesil spoke. "I see you took my advice and stayed clear of the high road." The corners of his mouth twitched slightly. "Only I might not have strayed into the deepest reaches of the Forest of Eld, were I you."

"A morg and some Scathians were pursuing us. Then there was a boar ... and we lost the path. And the fire..."

"It does not matter. I found you yet. And perhaps some good will come of it."

"That's about as likely as a cuckoo song in January." Talisen stepped forward. "You are the kesil, aren't you? I must say, sir, you are not as I remember you."

The old man smiled and then spoke again to Collun. "You have chosen companions for your journey." He gazed around, lingering longest on the Ellyl and the faol. Then he gave a small nod as though satisfied.

Collun managed a faint smile. "In truth, they chose me."

The old man smiled back. "Even better."

"Who are you?" Talisen interrupted.

The kesil turned his blue eyes on Talisen. "I have had many names. Of late I am called Sen Crannach, but I answer to Crann."

"Crann?" Collun exclaimed. This was the name Emer had spoken. He opened his mouth to say something, but he was overcome by a wave of dizziness. He swayed.

Crann stepped forward, putting out a hand to steady
the boy. A trail of blood flowed down Collun's calf. The wound had reopened during the fire. The old man kneeled down and ran his long fingers over the silvery stitches in Collun's leg. "Ellyl stitchery..." he murmured to himself. He glanced up at Silien. "You do good work, though I can see you are young yet, Ellyl."

Collun thought Silien looked somewhat nettled by Crann's words, but the Ellyl said nothing.

"It looks ill. The boar did this?" the old man asked as he took a clean cloth and a small packet from inside his cloak. He rubbed salve on the cloth and held it against the wound. Talisen described the attack by Moccus's sow.

As Talisen spoke, Crann's face seemed almost to visibly age. Collun felt a cold stab of fear. When the old man spoke, his voice was weary beyond measure. "An eyeless boar ... It is what I have feared. She has found a way to unseal the Cave of Cruachan."

He stared at the ground for several moments and then, recalling himself, he set about making a bandage of the cloth, affixing it to Collun's leg with two thin leather thongs. Then he rose to his feet and walked away from them. He supported himself with a long staff made of oak.

Crann stood motionless, looking up at the branches overhead. No one dared to speak.

Finally he turned back toward them and said with a deep sigh, "If it is done, it is done. We will make camp here."

They gathered wood for a fire, and Crann sparked the blaze with such ease Collun thought he must have used magic. He had not seen him use a teine stone.

The old man then passed around small dark blocks.
"Here, eat these." Crann smiled. "It is not mysterious, Talisen," he said as he caught the boy eyeing the block with curiosity. "Just honey, grain, and berries."

When they bit into their blocks, the taste was delicious. The sweet flavor of blueberries mingled with honey and cracked wheat. They ate quickly, thinking it would take many such blocks to make even a dent in their deep hunger; but, surprisingly, they felt full when they had finished just one. The buzzing in Collun's ears lessened, and his skin did not feel as hot.

"Your cloak," said Brie, "it is the same color as the light we followed. Did you send it?"

Crann nodded. "Until I could get to you myself. Although the fire very nearly outpaced me."

"'Twas a narrow squeak, all right," said Talisen. "Are you a wizard?" he asked bluntly, licking the last crumbs from his fingers.

"I have been called so."

"Why do you disguise yourself as a kesil?"

"There are many reasons for disguise." His eyes rested lightly on Brie, and Collun realized that Crann knew her for who she was, too.

"There was a time when it was very nearly true," Crann continued, "when I was lost in madness, like a kesil. But that was long ago. And now, you need rest," said the wizard with a glance at Silien, whose eyes had already closed.

The exhausted travelers needed no further urging and all were soon quickly asleep.

Collun slept deeply for a time, but then his rest became fitful. Finally he rose and limped over to join Crann at the fire. The wizard was preparing a pan of hot chicory, sweetened with honey and apple.

"My mother spoke your name to me," said Collun slowly, as Crann poured him a cup of the steaming beverage.

"I know," the old man replied.

"She said you would explain."

Crann did not speak.

"Why did you come to me in the garden? What do you know of my mother and of Nessa? Why do the scald-crows follow us? And the morg?" Collun's words tumbled over one another.

Crann returned Collun's gaze, unblinking, but again Collun could not read what lay there. "Of your sister I know little except that she is in great danger."

"But she is alive?"

"I cannot be sure, but yes, I believe she is." He paused. "Your mother is very ill."

"More so than when I left?"

The wizard nodded, then spoke again, softly, and it was as if he could read Collun's thoughts. "It would avail you little to return home. Your sister is the one who needs you now."

Collun cried out, his voice shrill. "What is it? What is happening to me, to my family?"

Crann shook his head. "I made an oath to your mother and can say no more of her. Not now. But there are other things I can tell you, and, indeed, it has become vital that you know them. But first, I want to hear more of your journey since leaving Inkberrow. You spoke of scald-crows and of a morg?"

Collun related all that had befallen them during the past weeks as Crann listened closely.

"Urlacan. I have heard the name before." He shook his head, a grim expression on his face. "There is deep
trouble in the land, Collun. Not just for you, but for all of Eirren."

"What's all this about trouble?" A yawning Talisen joined them at the fire. Crann poured him some of the sweetened chicory. Brie and Silien were awake as well, and after passing around more of the wheat-and-blueberry bars, Crann began to speak.

"Medb, the queen of Scath, grows restless with the peace forged fifteen years ago between Eirren and Scath. It is my belief she never planned to abide by the treaty. She agreed to it merely to give herself time. There is a hunger that drives the Queen of Ghosts. Like her ancestor Cruachan, she craves power—power over men and over nature herself."

Crann paused and rubbed his eyelids wearily. "As I said before, it seems that Medb has found a way to unseal the Cave of Cruachan. She waits now for the right moment, but with the power of the cave and its creatures behind her, she will surely destroy Eirren." The old wizard's voice was heavy with dread. "And Tir a Ceol as well," Crann added, his eyes on Silien. They all felt a chill and instinctively drew closer together.

"Surely there is something we can do?" demanded Talisen. "What of our champions? Our army?"

Crann shook his head. "For some time now Medb has been acting to remove that threat. I do not know if the news has reached Inkberrow, but in the past year many of Eirren's heroes have been murdered by faceless attackers. Or they have simply disappeared."

Collun felt Brie's body stiffen.

"We have heard of the disappearance of Cuillean," offered Talisen.

"Yes." The wizard's face was troubled. "Cuillean has not been seen in over a year. At first it was thought he had merely grown restless during peacetime and had taken to wandering, looking for adventure. But the time has grown long. It may be that he is dead. As are Laery and Conall and many others. I believe Medb and those that serve her are responsible for their murders."

Collun grew impatient. "But what has this to do with Nessa?"

"The scald-crows that follow you are from the Cave of Cruachan and, if I am right, they serve Medb. As does the morg."

"Of what interest is my journey to the queen of Scath?"

"You wear a blade on your belt. May I see it?" The wizard's voice was soft.

Collun silently handed him the dagger that had been a trine. The old man examined it, running his fingers lightly over the lucky stone. He handed it back, saying, "The blacksmith did good work."

Then his eyes shifted and he gazed abstractedly for several moments into the fire. Finally he spoke.

"Your mother gave you the stone in the handle." Though it had not been framed as a question, Collun nodded.

"Medb wants that stone."

Silien drew in his breath. The Ellyl's eyes were on Collun's dagger, and they glittered slightly.

"The Cailceadon Lir," he said softly. "Moccus's sow ... I should have guessed."

Bewildered, Collun looked between wizard and Ellyl.

"The stone that lies in the handle of your dagger,
Collun," said Crann, "is the third shard of the Cailceadon Lir. Do you know of the Cailceadon Lir?"

Collun nodded slowly. "It is an ancient talisman. A chalcedony. Talisen knows a song about it."

"Yes. Amergin used it to save Eirren from Cruachan and his creatures," Talisen spoke up. "But that is all we know of it."

"The earliest history of the chalcedony, or cailceadon in the old tongue, is not known," began Crann, "but it begins for us when an Ellyl named Lir found it lying on the shore of the great Lake Erris. The stone was large then, as large as his palm. When Lir found the stone and lifted it, he felt a tingling in his hand and arms.

"I am not sure if I can explain this part so you will understand, but there is something that happens in nature that is rare and unpredictable. It has to do with convergence, with several things coming together in a certain place over a period of time, and the effect is that of concentration. The thing affected becomes more than it was, denser and more powerful. This stone was such a thing. I do not know where the chalcedony originally lay—perhaps at the confluence of four rivers, or at the center of the overlapping root systems of four trees. But there was power in the stone. Wizards recognize and seek such objects. We use them to focus and deepen the power we already possess. My staff is such an object.

"Lir was not a wizard; not all Ellylon have the gift of draoicht, or magic, as you call it. But Lir sensed something in the stone and believed it would bring him luck. It did, and the cailceadon became a family treasure, to be passed down to his firstborn, and every firstborn after that.

"In the time of Amergin's rule it came into the hands of Lir's great-grandson, a man named Aed. And Aed had a close friend who was called Cruachan. Like Aed, Cruachan was Ellyl, and yet he had eyes that were not Ellyl. Instead of being all silver, there was a ring of brown around the iris.

"Cruachan was not at that time known to be a wizard, though he knew it himself. He was handsome and possessed great charm, but his charm masked an evil heart within. Aed showed his friend the cailceadon handed down by his ancestor Lir. Cruachan immediately sensed the great power in the smoky blue stone. He said nothing and did nothing, but he waited for his moment.

"Aed eventually wed an Eirrenian woman, which was not uncommon during that time. She bore him two sons. Cruachan was a frequent visitor and trusted friend and was even named athair, second father, to their firstborn son.

"But on the eve of the day on which Aed had planned to pass on the Cailceadon Lir to his eldest son, Cruachan came in the night and murdered Aed. He stole the stone and fled to a fortress he had secretly built for himself, high up in the Mountains of Mourne in North Eirren.

"There Cruachan was able to tap into the power of the Cailceadon Lir. He twisted the stone to his own evil ends. You already know the rest—how Cruachan used his power to forge the kingdom of Scath and to create his creatures. But Amergin was able to steal back the cailceadon.

"He and Mannan and Dil used the stone's power to call the creatures back to their cave and to seal them inside—forever, they thought.

"But the power unleashed in the sealing was so intense that the stone shattered. Into three shards.

"One shard was lost when it fell into the river that ran below Cruachan's cave. The two remaining shards were taken back to Eirren. One remains in a well-guarded spot known only to the king and queen of Eirren. It is one of the country's greatest treasures, though most Eirrenians do not even know of its existence.

"As to the second shard, Amergin took it with him on one of his voyages, where he foolishly lost it to a lady with more beauty than goodness. I believe that is the stone lying in the handle of your dagger, Collun."

Collun looked down at it in wonder. "But that all happened hundreds of years ago. How did my mother come to have the stone?"

Crann was silent.

"You cannot tell me."

"I must honor my vow to your mother."

"But how has Medb unsealed Cruachan's cave?" Talisen broke in.