Chapter 7
THEY HEADED AROUND the valley before the great Newgrange mound at Tara and as they rode, Kylin found himself wondering at the strange vision he’d had, one that agreed once again with something that Deidre had seen in a dream.
They were inland. Aye, the rivers brought many boats inland. But a great assault should take place on the shoreline.
“What is it?” Deidre asked him.
“I’m trying to figure out a reason that a great battle—of this kind—would take place here,” he told her.
“I know. I’ve wondered about that myself,” she admitted. “But we believe that one of our powerful lairds might well be involved, so it is a place to meet.
“I think that it must be more than that. I mean, by and large, our nobles, while scattered about the island, tend to be aware that attacks come along the coast. They’re familiar with the swift, brutal strategies that those who come in from the sea tend to use.
The traitorous laird would know where to join the enemy through the use of scouts—and we know that they’ve been using many scouts.
Men out to cut us down before we can carry out any mission to warn others. ”
“And, maybe, we are warning the very person we all need to be warned against,” Deidre said with a sigh. “All these dreams, the images we see in dreams or in our minds . . . if only they showed us who we needed to fear!”
“All right, um . . . it’s said that years ago, the Tuatha Dé Danann joined the fairy world, the underworld.
But say that now they are the angels of our great Father Patrick.
Perhaps they sense the dangers that are coming, enough to grant us their gifts, but not even they know just who the traitor from within might be? ” he asked.
“Wait!”
She suddenly reined in, looking at him. “Kylin, what if—as you say—they can’t quite foretell everything.
But they’ve shown us both warriors coming over the great mounds of sacred earth at Tara.
Kylin, maybe it means that it’s up to us to get them here!
Somehow lure them all far inland where we know the terrain and where we may be prepared, ready to flank and surround their warriors, trap them! ”
“What?” he said, frowning. He exhaled with a deep sigh. “Sorry, wait. How would we lure them in?”
“All right. A main body will come ashore on the coast, we don’t know where, but everyone now has lookouts and word will travel when they are sighted. We see to it that all our walled areas of protection are ready to host children, the elderly . . . those who cannot fight. Then . . .”
“They may attempt siege warfare—”
“But we harass them until they must turn and follow us. We lead them here, where the greatest army of our most able warriors are waiting. Kylin, maybe that’s what the visions mean!
That it’s up to us to bring the fullness of our peoples—other than those of the traitor—to the best battlefield where we’re seeking advantages,” she said.
He nodded slowly. Perhaps they were being given ideas rather than guaranteed images of the future.
But the gifts, the visions, were still so very strange . . .
“And what of our homeland?” he murmured. “How do we leave them to the protection of others?”
“How do we trust in our fathers and my brother?” she asked him. “Think of the fullness of your life. We already trust them,” she said quietly.
He smiled after a moment.
“We will find Rí Cillian and then make our way home. Because if anyone is to understand what we are trying to undertake, it will be my father and your father. And . . .” He hesitated and looked at her.
“We’re going to need to hope to hell that whoever the traitor might be, it’s not Rí Cillian.
The man who commands those closest to the ard-rí. ”
“Let’s talk a bit before we tell him what we’re thinking,” Deidre suggested.
“Good plan. How well do you know him?”
“You might know him better than I do. Haven’t you been out here with the other warriors? There were games, I believe, last year. My father came. I chose to stay home, to help my brother should there be trouble,” Deidre said.
“Aye,” Kylin said, nodding. “I was out here. I did not have any deep and meaningful discussions with Rí Cillian, though he was pleasant to me—I won during our battle games.”
“Well, of course you won in a battle game,” Deidre said dryly.
“My father said it was fun taking you to games, especially when he didn’t dare take his own son because there can always be danger from the water.
Sorry. I realize your father and you . .
. Never mind! I mean, he doesn’t know when Aidan might be called upon to rule—”
“Deidre, you don’t need to explain. Aidan is your father’s son—he will be rí one day.
I am glad that I can be a poor substitute and hopefully bring honor to our families and our villages.
Anyway, from all that I’ve heard, Cillian is a just and fair man.
But then again, I want to be careful in all my judgments. ”
“Just because we aren’t so fond of someone, that doesn’t mean they are guilty. And though we are fond of someone, they might not be innocent,” Deidre said wearily.
“We need to keep moving to the north and west of the mound,” he said, gesturing in that direction.
“We’ll reach Cillian’s earthworks and home.
This field, before the great mounds, here where we are now, is where the games took place last year.
A great stretch of flat earth on what we all see as ancient and sacred ground.
We need to start taking grave care to watch not just for those who might choose to attack us, but those of Cillian’s men who surely guard and scout his outer perimeter. ”
He had barely spoken before they met up with a party of men he had met the summer before; they knew him and he explained their mission. One of them, a man named Daniel, escorted them deeper into the realm of land ruled by Rí Cillian.
The rí was a tall man in his fifties, with an exceptionally long white beard, broad shoulders and laughing blue eyes.
He welcomed them in and listened gravely to them as they told him what had happened, what they’d seen, and what they thought they must do in the future.
“Ah, then, it falls to me and my people to be the closest support for Declan.” He looked at Daniel, who was still with them. “Our men must be at the ready each day.”
“Sire,” Daniel assured him, “our men are at the ready each day now, but we will tread with evermore vigilance, I vow!”
Cillian shook his head, addressing his visitors once more, “Why is it that one man always seems to covet what another has? Ridiculous question. We will not let our land fall—we will not let Declan fall!”
“Thank you, Rí Cillian,” Kylin replied. “The night grows on us, but I believe—”
“No, lad!” Cillian said. “It is too dark. You will rest here—you will be close enough to reach your home by tomorrow night. But by day, you must visit the great burial passage of the ancients. There are twists and turns and, within . . . we are able to appreciate the beauty of the life we are given and yet wonder at the great ages gone past, seek what fairy folk might hide within the earth. Quite seriously, Kylin, Deidre, it is most fascinating. Ah, Deidre, you were but a child last time you came upon such a visit.”
“Aye, sire,” Deidre told him. “And thank you.”
She looked at Kylin and smiled. They needed that experience to plan their ambush! And yet . . .
Neither of them was ready to tell Cillian what they believed might be done if and when the great horde they prophesized came.
Cillian studied them and frowned, appearing confused. “Are you . . .”
“Both messengers, sire, not promised,” Kylin told him.
Cillian nodded. He grinned at Deidre.
“You’d not be the first, though among the few, of the young women who have managed to make their own choices and determinations in the great dynastic games of marriage,” he told her.
“My own sweet Melisse, gone now these many years, and I chose one another without thought of joining lands or creating alliances. You have my support, child, in the determinations you and your father have made.”
Deidre nodded and thanked him.
“I will have you escorted,” Cillian told them.
“Sire—”
“Aye, Daniel. Show them to the guest quarters, please.”
Their rooms were not quite what they had been the night before, rather they were led to a group of wooden dwellings with thatched roofs. Their rooms were small and offered nothing but pallets on the floor.
But they were next to each other, something that made Kylin glad. He trusted Cillian and his people, at least for now. But he was glad that he could hear Deidre were she to suffer the least distress.
And their little rooms were fine for a night and the pallets soft enough for a very decent sleep.
There wasn’t a banquet; Daniel brought them plates of food. Lamb, porridge and watercress—they hadn’t quite the abundance here as one might find with the ard-rí. And dairy was so important to the diet that beef was seldom served; only the oldest cows and bulls were sacrificed for their meat.
Kylin hadn’t realized just how late the night had grown.
He thanked Daniel and bid good-night to Deidre. He lay on his pallet, eyes open at first, staring into the darkness, wondering what dreams or visions might come to him.
In time, he slept.
But he awoke at the least noise and he heard Deidre enter his room the minute she reached the doorway.
“What is it?” he asked, bolting up.
“Nothing, nothing!” she assured him quickly. “Except . . .”
“Tonight, a dream came to you.”
She nodded. “Kylin, I am no coward. I face men three times my size in battle! But this . . .”
He indicated his pallet.
“Rest.”
“I don’t mean to rob you of sleep,” she told him.
He shook his head. “Lie down. I will lean against the door—”
“No, please. Lie down beside me. Just . . . listen.”