The Legends of Camber of Culdi Trilogy

by Katherine Kurtz

  “What’s that?” he asked, the grey eyes wide and trusting, though he winced as his arm shifted from having his head raised.

  “Something for the pain,” she lied, unnerved by his eyes. “Drink. You will feel nothing, after this.”

  Obediently, he laid his good hand on hers which held the cup, pale lashes veiling the fog-gray eyes. The cup was almost to his lips when he froze, the eyes darting to hers in sudden, shocked comprehension.

  “It’s poison!” he gasped, pushing the cup aside and staring in disbelief. “You want to kill me!”

  She could feel the tentacles of his thought brushing at the edges of her mind and she drew back in fear, letting his head fall to the grass. He moaned, his face going white as he clasped his injured arm to his body and rolled on his side away from her, trying to sit up. She touched his shoulder and murmured one of the old charms to drain him of his strength, knowing he could not concentrate to resist it, with the pain—could only just stay conscious now, even if his training were sufficient to resist her spelling, though she doubted that. As she twined her fingers in his hair and yanked his head up-turned, the pain-bright eyes tried to focus on her other hand, as if his gaze might stave off the cup she brought toward him again.

  “But, why?” he whispered, tears runnelling narrow tracks from the corners of his eyes. “I never harmed you. I never wished you ill. It can’t be for the sheep!” She steeled herself against his pleas, shifting her hand to pinch at the hinges of his jaws and force the mouth to open.

  Darrell, my only Love, I do it to avenge you! she thought, as the boy groaned and tried to turn his head aside.

  But as she set her teeth and moved the cup closer, ignoring his groans and weakening struggles, the sunlight caught the wedding band on her hand, flashing bright gold in her eyes. She blinked and froze.

  Darrell—oh, my gods, what am I doing?

  All at once she realized how very young the boy was: no more than eight or nine, for all his earlier posturings of manhood. He was Deryni, but was that his fault, any more than it had been the fault of those other children, or Darrell, or even the self-sacrificing Barrett? Was this what Darrell had tried to teach her? Was she mad, even to consider killing a Deryni, like him?

  With a muted little cry, she flung the cup aside and let him go, burying her face in her hands.

  “I’m sorry, Darrell,” she sobbed, crushing her lover’s ring against her lips. “I’m sorry. Oh, forgive me, my love. Please forgive me, my love, my life …”

  When she finally looked up, drying her tears on a tattered edge of her skirt, the boy was on his back again, the gray eyes studying her quite analytically. The fair face was still pinched with pain, the injured arm still cradled in his good one but he made no move to escape.

  “You know what I am, don’t you?” he asked, his voice hardly more than a whisper.

  At her nod, the gray eyes shuttered for an instant, then turned back on her again.

  “This Darrell—was he killed by a Deryni?”

  She shook her head, stifling a sob. “No,” she whispered. “He was Deryni, and died to save another of his kind.”

  “I think I understand,” the boy replied, with a preternaturally wise nod. He drew a deep, steadying breath, then continued. “Listen, you don’t have to help me if you don’t want to. Kevin will bring the battle-surgeon, even though you said not to. I’ll be all right.”

  “Without a sword arm, young Deryni?” She drew herself up with returning dignity. “Nay, I can’t let you chance that. Darrell would never approve. How can you carry on his work without a proper sword arm?” As his brows knit in question, she replaced the lethal pouch in her satchel and began withdrawing rolls of yellowish bandages.

  “I won’t offer you another painkiller,” she said with a wry smile. “I wouldn’t trust either of our judgments in light of what has already passed between us. I will set the arm, though. And I give you my word that it will heal as straight as ever, if you follow my instructions.”

  “Your word? Yes,” the boy repeated, glancing aside as Duncan and Bronwyn returned with an assortment of straight pieces of wood.

  As she sorted through them, picking four which suited her, she remembered that other Deryni’s reply to such a question—My word is my bond!—and she knew that she, too, had meant what she said. When she had put the other boy to work whittling knots and twigs from the splints she had chosen, showing him how to carve them flat along one side, she glanced at the injured one with rough affection.

  Something in her face must have reassured him—or perhaps he read it in the way Darrell once had known her innermost feelings. Whatever the cause, he relaxed visibly after that, letting his sister cradle his head in her lap and even appearing to doze a little as Bethane made a final inspection of the splints and bandages and prepared to do what must be done.

  All three of the children were Deryni, she realized now; and as she bade the other boy kneel down to hold young Alaric’s good arm, she sensed that he knew she was aware—though how she knew, he would understand no better than Darrell had. She had tried to tell Darrell that it was the ancient wisdom …

  “Girl, you try to ease him now,” she said gruffly, probing above the break and sliding one hand down to his wrist. “A pretty girl can take a man’s mind from the pain. My Darrell taught me that.”

  He had stiffened at her first words, perhaps fearing that she would betray her knowledge to the others; but now he closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, tension draining away as he let it out. Bethane waited several heartbeats, sensing a rudimentary form of one of Darrell’s old spells being brought into play, then gave his wrist a squeeze of warning and began pulling the arm straight, at the same time rotating it slightly and guiding with her other hand as the ends of bone eased into place. The boy’s breath hissed in between clenched teeth, and his back arched off the ground with the pain; but he did not cry out, and the injured arm did not tense or move except as she manipulated it. When she had adjusted all to her satisfaction, she bound the arm to the splints Duncan held, immobilizing it straight from bicep to fingertips. As the final bandages were tied in place and the bound arm eased to his side, Alaric finally passed out.

  Across the meadow, horsemen were approaching at a gallop. Bethane stood as they drew rein, her work completed. A man with a satchel much like her own dismounted immediately and knelt at the boy’s side. Two more got down and began unrolling a litter. The fourth man, Lord Kevin mounted pillion behind him, gave the young earl a hand down and then himself dismounted. He was young and fair, in appearance much like her Darrell when first they met.

  “I’m Deveril, Duke Jared’s seneschal,” the man said, watching as the first man inspected her handiwork. “His Grace and the boy’s father are away. What happened here?”

  She inclined her head slightly, supporting herself on her shepherd’s staff. “Boys will be boys, sir,” she answered cautiously. “The young lord fell out of the tree.” She gestured with her staff and watched all eyes lift to the broken branch. “I but lent my poor skills to right the lad’s hurt. He will mend well enough.”

  “Macon?” the seneschal asked.

  The battle-surgeon nodded approvingly as his patient moaned and regained consciousness. “An expert job, m’lord. If nothing shifts, he should heal as good as new.” He glanced at Bethane. “You didn’t give him any of your hill remedies, did you, Mother?”

  Containing a wry smile, Bethane shook her head. “No, sir. He is a brave lad and would have nothing for his pain. A fine soldier, that one. He will fight many a battle in his manhood.”

  “Aye, he likely will, at that,” Deveril replied, looking at her so strangely that she wondered for a moment whether he had caught her double meaning.

  The boy had, though. For when they had laid him on the litter and were preparing to move out, he raised his good hand and beckoned her closer. The battle­surgeon had given him one of his remedies for pain, and the gray eyes were almost all pupil, the pale lashes drooping as he fough
t the compulsion to sleep. Still his grip was strong as he pulled her closer to whisper in her ear.

  “Thank you, grand-dame—for several things. I will try to carry on his work.”

  Bethane allowed herself an indulgent nod, for by the look of his eyes, he would remember nothing when he woke from the battle-surgeon’s potion. But just as the litter started to move, he drew her hand closer and touched his lips to her ring—Darrell’s ring!—in the same way he had always done, so many years ago.

  Then the fingers went slack as sleep claimed him, and all the noble party were mounting to leave, the litter bearers gently carrying him out into the golden sunlight. The girl Bronwyn dropped her a grave curtsey—could she know what had happened?—and then all of them were heading off across the meadow, toward the castle.

  Wondering, she brought her hand to her face and rubbed the smooth gold of the ring against her cheek, her eyes not leaving the departing riders and especially the bobbing litter. But by the time they had disappeared into the afternoon haze, the day’s events were hardly more than dimly harkened memories, as her mind flew back across the years.

  “Well, Darrell, at least we saved one of them, didn’t we?” she whispered, kissing the ring and smiling at it.

  Then she picked up her satchel and started up the hill, humming a little tune under her breath.

  APPENDIX I

  INDEX OF CHARACTERS

  AIDAN, Prince—only child of King Ifor Haldane to survive the coup of 822; royal name of Daniel Draper, grandfather of Prince Cinhil.

  AIDAN Alroy Camber Haldane, Prince—infant son of Prince Cinhil and Princess Megan; killed by poisoned salt at his baptism, aged one month.

  ALROY, Prince—royal name of Royston Draper, father of Prince Cinhil; son of Prince Aidan (Daniel Draper).

  ANDREW, son of James—the second “Benedict”; at Saint Piran’s Priory.

  ANSCOM of Trevas, Archbishop—Deryni Primate of Gwynedd; Archbishop of Valoret.

  ANSEL MacRorie, Lord—younger son of Cathan MacRorie; age three.

  ARIELLA of Festil, Princess—elder sister of Imre; age twenty-eight.

  ARMAGH, Master—arms master to Imre.

  BEARAND, King and Saint—great-great grandfather of Cinhil.

  BLAINE, King—fourth Festillic king of Gwynedd, reigned 885–900; father of Imre.

  BORS—soldier under command of Coel Howell; followed Joram to Saint John’s Church.

  CAMBER MacRorie, Lord—Earl of Culdi; canonized as Saint Camber in 906; patron of Deryni magic.

  CAMERON—family name of Princess Megan.

  CARLE—one of Earl Maldred’s men.

  CATHAN MacRorie, Lord—Camber’s elder son and heir; member of Imre’s council; killed by Imre for suspected treason.

  CIERAN, Brother—lay brother at Saint Piran’s Priory.

  CINHIL Donal Ifor Haldane, Prince—royal name of Nicholas Draper, alias Brother Benedict; first post-Interregnum king of Gwynedd; reigned 904–917.

  COEL Howell, Lord—brother to Elinor, Cathan’s wife; member of Imre’s council.

  CRINAN—Cathan’s squire; doubled for Rhys under a shape-changing spell.

  CULLEN, Father Alister—Vicar General of the Order of Saint Michael, and Joram’s superior.

  DANIEL Draper—as Prince Aidan Haldane, only surviving son of King Ifor; grandfather of Cinhil.

  DAVIN MacRorie, Lord—elder son of Cathan; age five.

  DERYNI—(Der-ín-ee)—racial group gifted with supernatural powers and abilities.

  DOMINIC, Father—priest at Saint Liam’s Abbey; former teacher of Joram and Rhys.

  DRAPER—surname used by the Haldanes during the Interregnum; see Daniel, Royston, and Nicholas.

  DRUMMOND—see James.

  EDULF—ostler to Camber; one of fifty peasants executed at Imre’s command, for the death of Lord Rannulf.

  EDWARD, Father—priest who baptized Nicholas Draper.

  EGBERT, Brother—monk at Saint Jarlath’s Monastery.

  ELINOR Howell MacRorie, Lady—wife to Cathan; mother of Davin and Ansel.

  EVAINE MacRorie, Lady—daughter of Camber; later, wife to Rhys Thuryn.

  FARNHAM, Lord and Lady—parents of Megan de Cameron.

  FESTIL I, King—first Festillic king of Gwynedd, reigned 822–839; engineer of the coup of 822.

  FESTIL II, King—second Festillic king of Gwynedd, reigned 839–851.

  FESTIL III, King—third Festillic king of Gwynedd, reigned 851–885.

  FULK—soldier under command of Coel Howell; followed Rhys to the royal archives.

  GABRILITES—priests of the Order of Saint Gabriel, an all-Deryni esoteric order based at Saint Neot’s, in the south Lendour Mountains.

  GIFFORD—manservant to Rhys.

  GREGORY of Arden, Father—Abbot of Saint Jarlath’s Monastery.

  GUAIRE of Arliss, Lord—young officer at Imre’s court; friend of Cathan; attached to Earl Maldred’s command.

  HALDANE—surname of the ancient royal family of Gwynedd.

  HOWELL—see Coel.

  HOWICCAN, Pargan—classic Deryni lyric poet.

  HUMPHREY of Gallareaux, Father—Michaeline priest captured by Imre’s men and interrogated; later, attached to Archbishop Anscom’s staff; responsible for the death of the infant Prince Aidan.

  IFOR, King—last pre-Interregnum king of Gwynedd, reigned 794–822; father of Prince Aidan (Daniel Draper).

  IMRE, King—fifth Festillic king of Gwynedd, reigned 900–904.

  JAMES Drummond, Lord—grand-nephew of Camber.

  JARLATH, Saint—sixth-century Bishop of Meara and abbot; founder of the Ordo Verbi Dei.

  JASON Brown—apprentice to Daniel Draper; inherited business.

  JASPER Miller, Father—noncombatant Michaeline priest.

  JEBEDIAH of Alcara, Lord—Michaeline knight; Grand Master of military arm of Order of Saint Michael, after the Vicar General.

  JOHN, son of Daniel—the first “Benedict”; at Saint Piran’s Priory.

  JONAS, Father—old parish priest at Caerrorie.

  JORAM MacRorie, Lord—younger son of Camber; priest of the Order of Saint Michael.

  JOSEPH—one of Maldred’s men.

  JUBAL, Brother—monk at Saint Foillan’s Abbey.

  LEVITICUS, Brother—vestiarian at Saint Foillan’s Abbey.

  MACRORIE—surname of Camber’s family.

  MALDRED, Earl—one of Imre’s warlords; assassinated by Coel Howell’s hireling.

  MARIS—maidservant to Princess Ariella.

  MEGAN de Cameron, Lady—Camber’s ward; later, wife to Cinhil and Queen of Gwynedd.

  MELISSA Howell, Lady—sister of Coel Howell; brought to Court to tempt Imre.

  MICHAELINES—priests and knights of the Order of Saint Michael, a militant teaching and fighting order, predominantly Deryni, headquartered at the Commanderie in Cheltham, in the central Lendour highlands.

  NATHAN, Father—Michaeline priest; provisioner for the exiles in the haven.

  NICHOLAS Gabriel Draper—the third “Benedict”; grandson of Daniel; see Cinhil.

  PATRICK, Brother—Prior of Saint Foillan’s Abbey; subordinate to Abbot Zephram of Lorda.

  PAUL, Brother—monk at Saint Foillan’s Abbey.

  PHINEAS, Brother—gate warder at Saint Foillan’s Abbey.

  RANNULF, Lord—Deryni lord drawn and quartered by Willimite terrorists.

  REVAN—carpenter’s apprentice saved by Cathan.

  REYNALD, Brother—infirmarian at Saint Foillan’s Abbey.

  RHYS Thuryn, Lord—Deryni physician and Healer; discoverer of the Thuryn technique of concentration; later, son-in-law to Camber, by marriage to his daughter, Evaine.

  ROBERT Oriss, Father—Vicar General of the Order of Saint Jarlath, Ordo Verbi Dei.

  ROLAND, Bishop—auxiliary Bishop of Valoret, and Anscom’s subordinate.

  ROYSTON John Draper—see Alroy.

  SAM’L—loyal retainer of Camber at Caerrorie.

  SANTARE, Earl of Grand-T
ellie—one of Imre’s warlords.

  SELKIRK, Master—arms master to Imre.

  SELLAR, Wat and Tim—among the fifty peasants executed at Imre’s command for the murder of Lord Rannulf.

  STEPHEN, Father—Prior of Saint Piran’s Priory.

  TERMOD of Rhorau, Lord—Deryni princeling, cousin of Imre; executed by Willimite terrorists.

  THURYN—surname of Rhys.

  UMPHRED—bailiff to Camber at Caerrorie.

  WAT—servant to Rhys.

  WEAVER, Mary, and brother Will, and cousin Tom—among the fifty peasants executed at Imre’s command for the murder of Lord Rannulf.

  WILLIM, Saint—child martyr to Deryni ill-use; patron saint of the Willimite movement.

  WILLIMITES—terrorist group sworn to punish Deryni who escape justice through normal channels.

  WULPHER, Master—Cathan’s steward at Tal Traeth; doubled for Joram under a shape-changing spell.

  ZEPHRAM of Lorda, Father—Abbot of Saint Foillan’s Abbey.

  APPENDIX II

  INDEX TO PLACE NAMES

  ALL SAINTS’ CATHEDRAL—Valoret’s cathedral; seat of the Primate of Gwynedd.

  BARWICKE—site of Saint Jarlath’s Monastery, a few hours’ ride north of Saint Liam’s Abbey.

  CAERRORIE, Tor—Camber’s principal residence, a few hours’ ride east of Valoret.

  CARBURY—coastal town north of Valoret, where Elinor MacRorie’s parents live.

  CHELTHAM—site of the Michaeline Commanderie (military headquarters).

  COR CULDI—hereditary ancestral seat and fortress of the Culdi earls, near the city of Culdi, on the Gwynedd-Meara border.

  CULDI—central city of the Honor of Culdi, on the Gwynedd-Meara border.

  DHASSA—free holy city in the Lendour Mountains; seat of the Bishop of Dhassa.

  FARNHAM—Honor of the family of Megan de Cameron; a Crown holding after the accession of King Cinhil.

  FIANNA—area across the Southern Sea, famous for its wines.

  GRECOTHA—university city on the north Gwynedd border, where Camber and Archbishop Anscom attended school.

  GWYNEDD—central of the Eleven Kingdoms; seat of the Festillic Dynasty since 822.