Chapter 8 #2
The three women watched as the reeds moved ever closer to shore until the first one arrived at the shallows and the student warrior stood, shaking off water like a big dog.
“Cuchulainn!” Tabiti nodded appreciatively. “I am not surprised that he leads the group. He trains diligently and is a quick study.”
“And has twice the strength and stamina of a purely mortal student,” Uathach added.
As Cuchulainn surged from the sea, Scáthach asked her daughter, “Do you not like him?”
Uathach shrugged. “I like him fine. And I’ll easily admit he has surprised me with his eagerness to learn and his lack of arrogance.”
Tabiti nodded. “I agree with Uathach. I was not prepared to enjoy training him or to find him likeable. Both are true.”
Scáthach met her daughter’s gaze. “But?”
“But the truth is he has an advantage over all the other students. He’s the son of a god. We should expect him to outperform the others,” said Uathach.
“What we didn’t expect was that.” Tabiti jerked her chin at the beach.
Scáthach turned from her daughter to look at the slate-colored water.
The reeds were far more numerous and moving toward the rocky shore.
Fergal and Unnr had sloughed from the water just a few yards behind Cuchulainn.
Unnr ran like a doe, picking her way lithely around the rocks as she sprinted toward the road and the chariots waiting for the next leg of the test. Fergal wasn’t nearly as surefooted or swift as Unnr or Cuchulainn.
He made a misstep and fell hard to his knees.
When he tried to stand, his ankle buckled and he fell again.
Cuchulainn didn’t hesitate. He raced back to Fergal, pulled him to his feet, and then put his arm around the smaller man’s waist and helped him continue up the bank until Fergal had walked off the slight sprain and was able to continue by himself.
Cuchulainn sprinted away then, but fleet Unnr had already raced past him and was the first to reach the chariots.
She leaped into a cart and nodded at the guard who held her horse.
The guard released the horse and Unnr snapped the reins on his back.
Her chariot shot up the road to the castle.
Without looking away from Cuchulainn, Scáthach said, “Perhaps his behavior isn’t what we expected from the son of Lugh, but it should be.” She smiled at her daughter. “It is how every daughter or son with divine blood should behave.”
Cuchulainn bounded into a chariot, nodded at the guard to release the horse, and then cracked the reins and shouted. From their spot on the parapet, Scáthach had a perfect view of her students as they emerged from the sea, ran to the waiting chariots, and raced up the hard-packed dirt road.
Cuchulainn didn’t try to outrun Unnr’s chariot. Instead he held his horse to a smooth canter about a chariot length behind Unnr. Scáthach noted that Unnr made no attempt to perform the chariot feat, but instead kept glancing over her shoulder to check on Cuchulainn’s progress.
Cuchulainn’s attention was focused on his horse.
He stepped into the leather loop attached to the inside front of the cart and made the leap, landing with otherworldly grace on the back of his cantering horse.
It took him little time to unsheathe the dagger at his waist and slice through the traces and leather straps holding the cart pole to the horse’s harness.
With that done, Cuchulainn then focused on the race, leaning forward and urging the horse from a canter to an all-out run. He thundered past Unnr easily.
“To the sentry platform that looks out over the Bridge of Leaps!” Tabiti called as she sprinted along the parapet toward the entrance to Dunscáith.
Scáthach and Uathach followed on her heels.
Barking enthusiastically, Leannan joined them on the sentry platform.
Many members of the Shadow Guard spread out along the parapet, cheering on the students as they raced to the castle.
Cuchulainn arrived first. He jumped from his horse before he’d come to a halt and jogged to the pile of vaulting poles left in the shadow of the stone sentinel where, just months before, he had built a fire and contemplated how to conquer the Bridge of Leaps.
From somewhere on the parapet, Scáthach clearly heard the bard shout, “Mighty Cuchulainn wins again!”
As she scowled, Uathach grinned at her and whispered, “Be nice. Remember, he’s not a bad man.”
“Just a weak, foolish one,” Tabiti muttered.
Then they said no more as everyone’s attention was on Cuchulainn and the vault feat he attempted.
He chose his pole and Scáthach nodded, recognizing that he’d chosen the same pole he’d already vaulted with successfully during their many drills.
He backed past the stone markers, placed his hands purposefully, and bent to sprint.
Just before he began his run at the bridge, Cuchulainn glanced up and met Scáthach’s gaze.
His face was alight with joy and his smile was a fierce bearing of teeth.
Scáthach’s blazing grin mirrored his joy. She leaned forward over the platform and shouted, “You can do it, Sentanta!”
As Unnr’s horse raced up the raised wooden road to the castle behind him, Cuchulainn ran at the bridge.
He placed the spiked end of the pole just before the stone began and with a great shout, he vaulted high over the arched bridge.
His landing wasn’t as graceful as it typically was during drills.
He lost his balance and with an audible oof fell back on his ass, though he sprang to his feet as the guard waved the finish flag to declare him the winner.
Cuchulainn shot his fist in the air with a victory shout that was echoed by everyone who watched.
* * *
The students gathered in the training field after the race. Scáthach did not make them wait. With Uathach and Tabiti at her side she addressed them.
“I have been training warriors for more than two decades and this is the first time that every student successfully performed the three feats and finished the race.” Her students’ faces seemed to glow as she continued. “I am so proud of you.”
“As am I,” said Uathach.
“And I,” added Tabiti.
“Which means all of you will move on to the second phase of your training!” Scáthach announced.
The students cheered and Leannan barked and leaped around them.
The Queen of Shadow raised her hand and they quieted.
“Cuchulainn, you are the winner of today’s contest, which means you may ask a boon of me.
” The students cheered even louder and clapped Cuchulainn on the back.
Scáthach smiled, appreciating how the Hero of Ulster had not just been accepted by the other students, but was truly liked by them.
One of the students shouted, “Cu, use the boon to ask for a break from drills!”