Chapter 9 #3
"Is that so?" Fiona demanded. "You think it that simple, then? Cast us upon someone else's charity, and forget us entirely? It is not so easy as that, Niall. Our mother may have been waiting for your return, but I was not! This is my home. Mother's home. We stay here."
"Fiona—"
"You want to ease your guilty conscience, brother? Fine. This is what you can do. Help me here, now, so that when you leave, Castle Daire is alive again. Caitlin has already begun inside. If you had only seen Mother's face when first she saw how lovely..."
Fiona looked away, and Niall could see her fighting to keep her sharp little features in their accustomed rebellious lines.
"Surely, such a great, bold warrior as you can manage to aid us.
There are a few wild cattle in the highlands.
The two of us might be able to catch them.
Tame them. Bring them here. And there is a spiteful man a half day's ride from here who has boasted that he has a cow that drops twin calves whenever she is bred. "
"And why would any sane man sell such a miraculous beast?"
Fiona chuckled, and Niall was stunned to realize he had already learned to dread the glint in his younger sister's eyes.
"It seems he has offended the fairies, and he fears that the cow is cursed.
There have been several accidents—strange happenings—that have alarmed him and anyone else who might be anxious to barter for the beast. However, I would be willing to risk the curse.
How much worse can things grow here at Daire? "
"You mean that you would risk the curse because there is no curse. You have been tormenting the man in secret, have you not, Fiona?"
She fluttered lashes absurdly long and curly. "I could hardly expect him to sell it to me otherwise. The only difficulty came when I could not find anything he was willing to trade for it."
"You could not care for the beast even if this man did agree to the trade! How would you protect it? Tend it? You know nothing about cattle. The miserable animal would burst an udder, or someone would steal it from beneath your nose, and there would be nothing you could do to stop it!"
"I would like to see them try!" Her gaze hardened, her mouth a white line.
"If I can start raising cattle, I will be able to lure a few crofters back onto the land.
If I can do that, we should be able to survive.
Mother and I have simple needs. We do not want riches.
We only wish to be left in peace on land we love. "
She swallowed hard. "Niall, in all the years since our father died, I have made no effort to find you, ask you for anything. You, who should be guardian of all Daire, and me upon it. I am asking you this. Help me find a way to get that cow."
Why did her words send chills down his spine? All he could see was the ruin of that hut—the blackened cradle, white bones bleaching in the sun. "Do you really think whoever attacked Daire before would stand by and let you rebuild it?"
"They have not returned for three years, Niall!"
"Because there is nothing left to steal! I am not going to leave you here undefended, Fiona, whether you have managed to scare a dozen farmers out of their cows!"
"Niall, I beg you. Listen to reason," she pleaded, and for an instant, memory echoed through his mind, a sweet little lisp, a stubborn, scraped chin.
Never had he been able to resist that pleading.
He could almost feel the melting sensation in his heart, the crumbling of his resolve not to let her trail along.
In that long-ago time, love and frustration had mingled, fierce inside his narrow chest. In the end, he had growled that she was a pest worse than any swarm of hornets, and if she fell behind, he would leave her to the fairies.
And Fiona had clung to his hand and begged him to find her a handful of the wee folk to keep beneath her bed box at home.
Pain jolted through Niall at the vividness of that memory, surprising him. Even so, this defiant girl before him was a stranger he did not know. The toddling sister of his childhood was gone. Yet damned if he would stand back and let her cast herself deeper into disaster.
"Even if I wanted to help, I have nothing to trade," he growled. "I never took my portion of plunder. All I wanted to earn was a name. But it would scarce matter if I were richer than Conn himself. All I owned would be back at the fortress. I could never claim it now."
"Niall, there must be some way!" Desperation edged her voice. "If we can only try—"
"Nay, Fiona," Niall snapped. "I will not be part of your madness. You would be wise to forget the whole matter."
"The way you forgot Daire? Mother? Me? Nay, Niall! I do not cast aside things I love as easily as you do. I will get that cow with your help or without it. And I will live and die on this land and no other."
"You will do as I tell you!"
"I will do as I please! And unless you are willing to bind me to your wrist or lock me in the highest chamber in Ireland, there is nothing you can do to stop me!" She spun away, storming off in high dudgeon.