The Hawk Eternal (20 page)

Two officials lifted the sphere into his arms. Even before they were clear Orsa shifted the weight to his right hand, dipped his shoulder and hurled the sphere into the air. It sailed over the other marks by some three paces; as it landed it shattered into a score of pieces.

'Must have hit a buried rock,' muttered Ongist.

Orsa ambled across to them. 'Easy,' he said, pointing at the ruined marble.

Drada nodded. 'You are still the strongest, brother.'

'No need for proof,' said Orsa. "Waste of time.'

True,' Drada agreed.

'I'm hungry,' said Orsa, wandering away without another word. Drada watched him go, marvelling anew at the sheer size of the man. His upper arms were as large as most men's thighs.

'By Vatan, he's a monster,' said Ongist.

Drada looked away. In a family of monsters it seemed ironic that Ongist should so describe the only one among them who hated no one.

High on the hillside the three clansmen stood to depart. They had seen enough. 'I think Maeg is right,' said Caswallon. Tell me, Gaelen, do you think you could beat that white-haired runner?'

'I fear we will find out next month,' said Gaelen. 'I think I can. But he wasn't stretched today; he set his own pace. Still, if they do bring a team I hope that giant comes with them. I'd love to see him against Lennox.'

DEVA AWOKE IN the first moments of dawn, as the sun lanced its light through the slats of her window. She yawned and stretched, rolling to her side to watch the dust-motes dance in the sunbeams. Kicking aside the down-filled quilt, she opened the shutters and leaned on the stone sill, breathing deeply.

The cool early-morning breeze held the promise of autumn, and already the leaves on the distant trees were dappled with rusty gold. Mountain ash and copper beech glistened and their leaves looked like coins, rich and freshly minted.

Deva was always first to rise. She could hear her brother Agwaine snoring in the next room. Stripping her woollen nightdress from her slender body, she poured water into a clay bowl and washed her face. She was a tall girl, willowy and narrow-hipped. Her features were clean-cut, not beautiful, but her large, grey eyes with traces of tawny gold gave her magnificence. Most of the young men of the Farlain had paid court to her and she rejected them all. The mother of kings! That's what the old tinker-woman had predicted at her birth. And Deva was determined to fulfil her destiny. She would not do that by marrying a Highland boy! Over the door hung a silvered mirror. Wiping the water from her face and neck she walked over to it, looking deep into her own eyes. Grey they were, but not the colour of arctic clouds, nor winter seas. They were the soft grey of a rabbit's pelt, and the glints of gold made them warm and welcoming. She smiled at herself, tilting her head.

She knew she was attractive. She combed her fingers through her corn-gold hair, shaking her head to untangle the knots. Then she remembered the visitors her father Cambil had welcomed the night before.

Asbidag, Lord of the Aenirl She shivered, crossing her arms. The Aenir was a large man with powerful shoulders and a spreading gut.

His face was broad, his mouth cruel and his eyes evil. Deva didn't like him.

No more did she like the woman he brought with him - Morgase, he called her. Her skin was white as any Ateris statue and she seemed just as cold.

Deva had heard much talk during the last few months about the dangers of the Aenir, and had dismissed it from her mind, believing as she did in the wisdom of her father. Last night she had thought afresh.

Asbidag brought two of his sons to the house. Both were handsome, and had they been Farlain Deva might have considered allowing them to join her at the Whorl Dance. The dark-haired Ongist had smiled at her, but his eyes betrayed his lust and she had lost interest in him. The other, Drada, had merely bowed and kissed her hand. Him she had seen before. His voice was deep, yet soft, and in his eyes she saw only a hint of mockery.

Now he was interesting ...

Deva had been looking forward to the Games all summer. As the Games Maiden, elected by the Council, she would preside over the Whorl Dance and be the only woman to choose her dancing companions. No man could refuse the Games Maiden.

In her mind's eye she could see herself walking the lines of waiting men, stopping momentarily, lifting a hand. She would halt by Gaelen and smile. As he stepped forward, she would walk on and choose Layne.

She giggled. Perhaps she would choose Gaelen ...

The thoughts were delicious.

She dressed quickly in a flowing skirt of leaf-green and a russet shirt with billowing sleeves. Then she walked downstairs.

The woman Morgase was in the kitchen, talking to Drada. Their conversation ceased as she entered. 'Good morning,' she said as they turned.

They nodded at her and she felt uncomfortable, as if she had blundered in on a secret assignation. Moving past them, she opened the kitchen door and walked into the yard beyond.

The Games fields in the valley below were ablaze with colour. Tents of every shade and hue had sprouted overnight like immense flowers. Ropes had been staked, creating tracks and lanes, and enormous trestle tables were ready for the barter of goods. Several

cooking-pits had been dug in preparation for the barbecue and the barrels of mead were set in the centre of the field where the Whorl Stone had been placed on a bulging hill.

Already the clans were gathering. Her eyes scanned the surrounding hillsides. Everywhere was movement. They came from the Pallides, the Haesten, the Loda, the Irelas, the Dunilds, the Clouds -from every clan, large and small.

Today they would muster and pitch their tents. Tomorrow Cambil, the Games Lord, would announce the order of events. And then Deva would start the first race.

Movement to her left caught her eye. She turned and watched as the Druid Lord approached her. 'Good morning, Taliesen,' she said, smiling to hide her apprehension. She didn't like the old man; he made her skin crawl and she had often heard her father speak of his eldritch magic.

'Good morning, Deva. How is the Games Maiden?'

'I am well, my Lord. And you?"

'I am as you see me."

'You never seem to change.'

'All men change. You cannot fight the years. I wondered if you might do me a small service?'

'Of course.'

'Thank you. Will you walk with me a way?'

'Where?' she asked, fear taking the place of apprehension.

'Do not worry. I shall not harm you. Come.'

The old man moved away towards the western woods and Deva followed some paces behind. Once in the trees Taliesen stopped and retrieved a long bundle lying behind a fallen trunk. Unwrapping it, he removed the sword found by Agwaine.

'What are you doing?' asked Deva, stepping back.

This must be returned to its owner,' he told her.

'I thought the old woman was dead.'

'She is - and she is not.'

Deva felt the colour ooze from her face. 'You're not going to conjure her ghost?'

'No, not her ghost.' He smiled gently. Trust me, little one. Take the sword in your hands.' He offered it to her, hilt forward. She took it; it was heavy but she was strong and held it firmly.

Taliesen closed his eyes and started to whisper sibilandy in a language Deva had never heard. The air about her began to crackle and a strange odour pervaded the wood. She wanted to run, but was frozen in fear.

The druid's eyes opened and he leaned towards Deva. 'Walk into the mist,' he said. Deva blinked and stepping back she saw a thick grey mist seeping up from the ground, billowing like smoke some ten paces before her. 'There is no danger, girl,' snapped Taliesen.

Deva hesitated. "What is waiting there?'

'You will see. Trust me." Still she did not move and Taliesen's patience snapped. 'By God, are you a Farlain woman or some lowland wench afraid of her own shadow?'

Deva steeled herself and walked forward, holding the sword two-handed, the blade pointing the way. The mist closed around her. Ahead she saw flickering lights. Her feet were cold now. She glanced down and saw, to her amazement, that she was walking in water. No, not in. Upon! Momentarily she stopped as a large silver fish swam beneath her. 'Go on!' came the voice of Taliesen in her mind.

To her right she heard the sound of a waterfall but it was strangely muted, muffled. Looking straight ahead she walked across the lake pool, and saw a crowd of armed men at the poolside carrying torches. At their centre stood a young woman. She was beautiful, though her hair was bright silver, and she wore dark armour.

'Stop now!' came Taliesen's voice. Deva waited, the sword heavy in her hands. The warrior woman waded out into the pool. The water was thigh-deep as she approached where Deva stood.

'Who are you?' the armoured woman asked.

'Say nothing!' ordered Taliesen. 'Give her the sword.'

Obediently Deva reversed the blade, offering it to the woman.

For a moment their eyes met, and Deva felt chilled by the power in the other's gaze. 'Can you read the future, spirit?' asked the Queen. Taliesen whispered another order and Deva turned away, walking slowly back across the surface of the pool and re-entering the mist.

The old druid waited for her in the sunshine. He was sitting on the grass, his cloak of feathers wrapped around his scrawny shoulders, his face grey with exhaustion.

Deva knelt beside him. *Who was she?' she asked.

'A Queen in another time,' he answered. Tell no one of what passed here today.'

The following day almost four thousand clansmen, women and children thronged the fields, gathering round the Whorl Hill on which was set the legendary stone of Earis, by which he had pledged to lead the Farlain to safety beyond the Gate. The stone itself was black, but studded with clusters of pearl-white deposits which caught the sunlight and sparkled like tiny gems. Although a man could encompass it with his arms, it weighed more than two hundred pounds.

Around the stone stood the Hunt Lords of the clans, and in their midst Asbidag of the Aenir. The clan lords were clearly uncomfortable.

Maggrig of the Pallides was furious. The Games were a clan affair, yet last night Cambil had sprung upon them his invitation for the Aenir to enter a team. The argument had raged for over an hour.

'Are you mad?' Maggrig had stormed. 'Has the addled Farlain mind finally betrayed you?'

'I am the Games Lord this year. They are on Farlain land; it is my decision,' Cambil answered, fighting to control his anger.

'Be that as it may, Cambil,' put in the white haired Laric, Hunt Lord of the Haesten, 'but should any one man be allowed to set a precedent others will be forced to follow?' He was known to be a man rarely aroused to anger. Yet his thin face was flushed now, his fists clenched.

'It is my decision,' Cambil repeated stonily.

Laric bit back his anger. 'The Aenir have no friends - only vassals. They have tried to scout all our lands and been turned back. You realise that if they win outright we are obliged to allow them access? The Games Champions can travel and hunt where they will.'

'They will not win,' said Cambil. 'They are not clansmen.'

'Calling you a fool serves nothing,' said Laric, 'for you have proven that beyond my speculation. What breaks my heart is that one man's foolishness could bring about the ruin of the clans.' There was a gasp from the assembled Hunt Lords and Cambil sat very still, his face ashen.

Maggrig rose. 'I am tempted to take the Pallides home, away from this stupidity, yet I cannot,' he said, 'for without them the Aenir would have a greater chance of victory. I suspect it is the same for every lord here. But I tell you this, Cambil. Until now I have had scant respect from you. From today even that is a thing of the past. It matters not a whit to me if the Farlain are run by a fool; that hurts only the Farlain. But when you put the Pallides at risk I cannot forgive you.'

Colour drained from Cambil's face. 'How dare you! You think I care what some pot-bellied out-clan thinks of me? Take your ragbag carles home. With or without the Aenir your Pallides would win nothing, only humiliation.'

'Hark, the Aenir lapdog can still bark,' snapped Maggrig.

'Enough of this!' stormed Laric, as Maggrig and Cambil moved towards one another. 'Listen to me. I have no love for the Farlain, nor for the Pallides. But we are clansmen and no man will violate the spirit of the Games. There will be no violence among the Hunt Lords. The thing has been done and long will it be argued over. But it is done. Now let us consider the order of events, or we'll be here all night.'

Later, as Maggrig and Laric walked back to their tents in the moonlight, the taller Haesten lord was deep in thought. Maggrig also kept silent. Laric - the oldest Hunt Lord in Druin, approaching sixty years of age - was also by far the wisest. Maggrig liked him, though he'd swallow live coals rather than tell him so.

They reached Lane's tent first and the older man turned to Maggrig, resting a hand on his shoulder. 'Cambil is a fool. He cannot see that which should be clear to every clansman. The Aenir are tomorrow's enemy. My land borders yours, Maggrig, and we have had many disputes ere now, but if the Aenir cross Pallides land I shall bring my clansmen to your aid.'

Maggrig smiled. It was a nice ploy, but the fact remained that for the Aenir to cross Pallides borders they must march through either Farlain land or Haesten - and the Haesten were less powerful than the Farlain. Laric was asking for an ally.

'Between us we have perhaps two thousand fighting men,' said Maggrig. 'Do you think they could stop an Aenir army?'

'Perhaps.'

'Agreed, then. We will be allies. I would expect, of course, to be War Lord.'

'Of course,' said Laric. 'Good night.'

The following morning Maggrig stood alongside Asbidag, biting back his anger. The two men could have been brothers. Both had striking red beards flecked with silver, both were powerfully built. Deva watched them with anxiety. They were so similar - until you looked into their eyes. There was no evil in Maggrig. Deva looked away.

Cambil's opening speech of welcome was short, and he quickly outlined the order of the Games. The first event would be the mountain run, five miles on a twisting circuit through woods and valleys. Three hundred men were entered and the Hunt Lords had decided on six qualifying races. The first five in each race would contest two semi-finals, and fifteen of the fastest, strongest clansmen would run the final on the last day.

Other qualifying events were outlined and then it was left to Deva, in a flowing dress of white linen garlanded with flowers, to signal the start of the first race. The named atheletes, Gaelen and Agwaine among them, jostled for position as Deva's arm swept up, hovered momentarily, then flashed down and the race began.