by Sam Taw
He leaned away from me puzzled. “Have you lost your mind too? You suggested him in place of a slave.”
“I did, that’s true, but these past moons I have taken a shine to him, and him to me. I firmly believe that he is the vessel of Cernonnus himself, and killing him might anger the gods.” My thoughts blanked. I had no other argument to make.
Tallack narrowed his eyes at me. “So, the rumours are true, Aunt?”
“What rumours?”
“That you hear the gods speak when you feed the deer my best grain?”
I flushed with heat. I had no idea that he was aware that I fed much of my grain allocation to the creature. The shrieks and bellows from the poor man-handled beast grated on my temper. What harm could it do to play up to the stories?
“It’s true. I hear him warn me about important matters and have his protection when I make him offerings.”
“You’ll need all the protection you can get if Blydh has his way.” He rested his fists on his hips and released a noisy sigh. “I’m sorry, Aunt Mel. Blydh has made up his mind, and while his attention is on the stag and the feast, he might not notice the absence of Paega.”
It was a valid point, but it didn’t help me or the white hart. Overcome with emotion, I failed to make my argument stick. The warriors near to the rear of the Long Hut, over-powered the deer and tied its legs together with bindings that made me wince. The thought of the animal’s pain filled me with horror. What if ill-treatment of this beast really did turn the gods against us? I was starting to believe my own story.
“When will you do it?” My voice was thin and tremulous.
“You know how this works, Aunt Mel. The sacrifice will be at high moon tonight, we’ll have the rites and blessing thereafter and he’ll be butchered for the pyre and feast tomorrow.”
My guts sank inside me. Two of Tallack’s men came out of the hut to take up their watch at the gates. As the door skins were thrown back, I could see Blydh smearing resin into his mouth straight from my little pot. He must have grown used to the dosage; it was enough to fell a bull. Tallack looked in the same direction and sensed my intentions.
“There’s no use talking to him when he’s like this. Let him wallow in his glory for a day or two, and then we’ll have to see about getting that demon out of him.”
Ren spoke up. “They were lucky to have only lost three men, considering the size of the Duro tribe.”
Tallack pulled a face. “Luck, perhaps. From the tales I’ve heard from the men, I rather think that Blydh picked a hunting party on the outer limits of the borderlands to attack.”
Ren and I looked at one another.
“Do you think the demon controlling Blydh is deliberately leading our men into danger?” Ren said.
Tallack shrugged. “Isn’t that what evil spirits do?”
“All the more reason to keep the gods onside. Speak with Blydh on my behalf, nephew. Convince him not to kill the deer.”
Before he could answer, Senara spotted us and came to the doorway, interrupting the Chief’s answer. “Fur Benyn, have you heard anything about Kewri yet?” I knew her anxiety was for the giant’s wellbeing, mine was for his speedy return with Paega.
I shook my head. “No child, there’s no news on that front.”
She pulled back her shoulders and planted her feet wide apart. “Shouldn’t we have heard by now? I mean, there aren’t many places or trails that Paega could have taken. Kewri should be back by now.”
I thought for a moment, pondering the speed of the massive carthorse against the fleet and nimble pony bearing a skinny boy. We all glanced at Ren for guidance. He shook his head and held his palms aloft. “Don’t look at me. I have no answers for you.”
Senara would not be pacified. I tapped her arm with affection, softening my tone. “He’s a big lad, Senara. More than capable of looking out for himself.”
“Then why isn’t he back with Paega yet?” She almost screamed it at me. Her words carried into the Long Hut and along to Blydh who stood scowling at us from the hearth at the centre.
“What’s this?” He bellowed. “You let our treacherous half-brother escape his cage, or was he set loose?” I could tell from his one good eye that he was directing this accusation at me alone. His right eye twitched with anger, his nostrils flared, and his chest heaved with a seething fury.”
“I can explain, nephew…” It was virtually a whisper seeping from my mouth, as I watched him bearing down on me between the tables.
CHAPTER NINE
Blydh was almost at my throat when Tallack, Ren and Senara all blocked his path. I hid behind them quaking with fear.
Tallack stood toe to toe with his brother. “It was not Aunt Mel’s doing. Paega the Wily lived up to the name our father gave him and took advantage of another in his bid for freedom.”
Blydh growled, unconvinced. “Who? Tell me who and I’ll slice him from gizzard to groin for his treason.” Had he not heard Senara mention Kewri’s quest to bring the prisoner back?
Tallack paused, his stare shifting towards the ground. For a moment, I thought he might give the blame to poor dead Sorcha, who could no longer feel the wrath of mortals, but he didn’t. “It was Kewri, brother. An honest mistake. He’s determined to make restitution and is out searching for him as we speak.”
Blydh blew out his cheeks and then laughed, although it was infused with disbelief rather than mirth. “You seriously believe that? Can’t you see the snake at work here?” He pointed to me over Tallack’s shoulder. “She’s the viper in this tribe. Kewri is her man, under her orders. She’s in league with Brea.” Blydh rammed his shoulder into Tallack, attempting to push past, but Ren and Senara closed the gaps between them. There was no use in trying to reason with him. Either the demon was in control, or he was seeing visions from too much resin.
Wild with fury, Blydh lashed out his fist. It connected with Tallack’s jaw, making a cracking noise. Tallack was momentarily stunned, but he regained his composure and stood tall once again. This seemed to anger Blydh all the more. He rained blows down on Tallack, punching him in the gut and then to the face and finally lifting his elbow to swipe his brother with a devastating smack to the nose.
It poured with blood, but Tallack would not fight back. He raised his arms across his face for protection and let Blydh thump and kick until his spite was sated. Ren and Senara looked on powerless to intervene without Tallack’s approval. At length, Blydh tired of his onslaught and stepped back. “You’ll regret this brother. You mark my words.” He spat on the ground and returned to the heart of the Long Hut to retrieve his ale.
The moment the door coverings fell and he was out of sight, Tallack bent over and pinched his nostrils, stemming the flow of humours. His eye was swelling fast and there was a rip at the bridge of his nose. I was overcome with remorse. My dear nephew took a beating on my behalf, from an evil spirit of the Underworld that was loose thanks to my poor decisions.
“I am so sorry that this has happened.” I gushed, but Tallack just waved me away. I couldn’t help but fuss about him. “Let me clean you up in my hut. It’s the least I can do.”
He didn’t argue with me. The three of them wandered across the grass to my place behind me, all the while shushing my repetitive apologies and need for forgiveness. Senara lit some torches, Ren soaked a few lengths of dried cattle gut, and I bathed Tallack’s wounds with water mixed with a little of my soured apple juice.
While I nudged the gristle of his nose back into position, I noticed Senara pacing around the fire. “Can’t you sit still, girl? You’re making it hard for me to concentrate.”
She looked up at me and snorted, her brow furrowed with concern. “It’s just… never mind.”
“Out with it.” I cried, dabbing at Tallack’s jawbone with a cloth soaked in icy water from the spring.
“Something’s wrong. I can feel it deep in my bones.”
Ren lifted a flaming torch level with my hands to help me see better. “You mean other than one of ou
r Chiefs being addled?” He said.
“You’re right. There’s enough trouble in camp without adding to it.” Senara muttered, beginning her pacing once again. I knew to what she was referring. She’d done nothing but worry about Kewri since the moment he left camp, but I kept quiet.
It was Tallack who picked up on her thoughts. He had a peculiar respect for this young shield maiden that I’d never seen before; not an attraction as such, just admiration for her advanced skills as a scout and warrior. “Go on, Senara. Say what you have to say.”
“I know he’s big and strong and capable, but he doesn’t have a lot of guile. Kewri’s easily out witted and I fear that to chase down someone as cunning as Paega, he shouldn’t have gone alone.”
“You want to go after him?” Tallack looked up at her, keeping his head still while I sewed him back together.
“May I, Chief?” She looked animated, the first time in two days.
“I think it’s a good idea. Aunt Mel, it’d be sensible if you stayed away from camp for a while too, just until Blydh simmers down.”
I stopped stitching. For a moment, I thought he was banishing me for all my blunders in camp. He saw my look of consternation and took hold of my wrist. Peering up at me, he said, “We can do nothing with Blydh while he’s in this mood. Come back when you’ve found Kewri and Paega, and I’ll do my best to persuade him to travel to the sacred springs.”
“As you command, Chief.” I said despondently. What I really wanted to say, was that I would only slow Senara down and be a further burden, but the idea of upsetting my nephews further didn’t bear thinking about.
Ren disrupted my preponderances. “I’ll go too.” He smiled at me, making my heart beat a little faster.
“No, Ren.” Tallack said. “I’ll need you here. I must have someone to keep a weather eye on Blydh’s comings and goings about camp without drawing attention to our suspicions.” He glared at Ren until he nodded his agreement. “Only Endelyn and we few know about Blydh’s condition and I want to keep it that way for as long as possible.”
We were under no illusions as to the huge tasks ahead of us all. Persuading Blydh to do anything was tricky enough before his skull was smashed. On reflection, leaving for a couple of days was my best option, but I was not looking forward to the trip.
Tallack asked me if I had enough tin nuggets and food to take with us, before he and Ren left us to our packing. We had initially intended to leave at daybreak, but the noises on the island sickened me. They were preparing to sacrifice my white hart when the moon reached its highest point in the sky.
We let my fire burn low and filled water bladders from the stream ready to load up on our ponies. When the drumming began at the pyre site near to the northern gate, my heart pounded in my chest like it was ready to jump from my body.
Senara noticed my agitated state. “You really care for that white deer, don’t you?”
I couldn’t stop the feelings from erupting into my eyelids. There was no need to answer her question. She understood me perfectly. “Come on, Fur Benyn. Let’s go now. We can walk the horses along the trail until sun up and rest when we need to.”
She didn’t have to ask me twice. I grabbed my healing kit, food bundle, and my bedding, and followed her along the board walks to the horse enclosure.
There were tribe’s folk wielding torches in just about every corner of the island. Some knelt in front of the new wooden idols outside Endelyn’s hut making their offerings, others carried children from their shelters to watch the sacrifice. All those on their feet were moving in the opposite direction to us. The drumming grew louder when Blydh and Tallack appeared from the lit entrance of the Long Hut, leading their warriors towards the sacred circle that Endelyn had marked out on the ground. I picked up my pace, unlatching the enclosure gate and hurrying towards my old horse.
“You know, we can leave through the western gate so that you don’t have to see it happen.” Senara’s kindness almost had me undone. I know I’m a silly old woman at times, and I should be a master at holding in my feelings by now, but the stag was more than a fine haunch of meat, he was my link to Cernonnus and the Summerlands. He soothed my temper and listened to my fears. Without his fully formed antlers, he was so vulnerable. It hardly seemed fair to attack such a defenceless animal this way.
Tying our bundles on to the ponies, we led them back out of the pen and headed towards the west gate.
“Ho there!” I yelled up at the watchtower, but no one was on guard. They must have left their post to watch the ceremony. Senara looked at me in the moonlight. Without discussion, we both altered direction and made for the southern gate. It was the same story there too. No one had stayed at their posts. We couldn’t open the gates without the warrior’s help.
The shield maiden waited for me to voice our only other option. “Looks like I can’t avoid it no matter what we try.” I said, the regret manifesting as a low grumble. With a loud sigh, I stood on the boardwalk and pushed myself up onto my horse. Senara followed suit, clicking her tongue to speed the ponies along our muddy route.
“If we hurry, we should be clear of the gates before it begins.” Bless her. Senara is such a thoughtful person, for all her gruffness, but I knew that we’d never make it in time. The noise from the drummers was deafening, but not so loud enough to mask the sound of my stag’s cries.
Endelyn was standing in a massive salt circle, the centre of which contained a flat altar stone raised on two rough-hewn lengths of wood. Despite the distraction of my stomach churning, I thought at the time that she would never get my stag to cooperate and stand on the stone, even with the help of many warriors. The white hart’s legs were bound together with strong rope, his mournful cries relentless and agonising.
Great plumes of steam billowed from his mouth as he bellowed his threats at the men surrounding him. Poor beast wriggled and writhed on his side, exhausting what little energy he had left to him. I closed my eyes and let my horse follow Senara’s towards the gate. A huge mass of people blocked our path, until Senara snatched up a flaming torch from a young lad and used it to illuminate our way.
The moment people saw that it was me, they moved aside to let us pass. We were just a few cart lengths away from the northern watchtowers, when the drumming halted. It was a natural reaction to turn and look over my shoulder, and one that I was powerless to stop. Sitting high above the crowd, I could clearly see the priestess waving her lithe arms about her head, holding a ceremonial knife and chanting her mystical words at the top of her voice.
Blydh and Tallack stood close by, waiting for her to complete the incantations. The bleating and groaning from the stag grew more pitiful the closer Endelyn drew to him with the knife. I knew precisely what she would do. For a so-called High Priestess, she had but a few different stages to her rituals, most ending in the collection and drinking of warm blood. It takes a brave woman to diverge from the things that please the crowds and try something new.
With every muscle in my body tensed, I yelled up at the watchtower, hoping that they would respond, open the gate and lower the bridge. I should have guessed that they were too busy watching the ceremony from their lofty position to take notice of me. Senara and I were stuck. We could neither move forward nor return through the crowds, who now had their backs to us.
All this swagger just prolonged the animal’s suffering. Endelyn pranced and chanted, gestured up to the sky and then beckoned the Chiefs to move closer to the beast. For a moment, I thought that she would hand the knife to one of them, but she did not. Instead, Endelyn encouraged them to pick up the small bronze bowls from the altar stone and stand either side of her to catch the blood.
She addressed the tribe one last time, yelling her potent words over the heads of the closest elders and warriors, but I could not catch them. As much as I wanted to look away, I found myself transfixed. Endelyn crouched at the side of the struggling creature. Tallack did the same, clutching the small nubs of the growing antlers, while Blydh clamped the
beast’s head, keeping it still.
Even at my distance, I could see the panic in Cernonnus’s eyes. His tongue protruded with one final deep squeal as Endelyn stabbed the blade into his neck and yanked it through his flesh. His beautiful white fur was thick with the red spray of humours; his cries silenced; his life poured into two small bowls.
I hung my head to my chest, gutted. Tears fell without shame. The whole tribe roared with delight as Tallack and Blydh raised their bowls and took a great gulp of steaming blood each. For that moment, I glanced up and saw the shared look in their eyes. I saw no demon in Blydh, but the fondness of twin brothers, forged over their many summers together.
Perhaps, just perhaps, this terrible loss was just what was needed to strengthen their bond and drive out any evil spirit from inside Blydh. Maybe there would be no need to take the trip to the sacred springs after all. I held that thought in my head, as the watchmen came to their senses and set about opening the gate and lowering the bridge over the Exe. As we trotted over the wooden structure, I said the same thing over and over quietly to myself, hoping that the gods would hear me. “Please take the offering my nephews made in good faith. Spare them from your wrath, Cernonnus, and release Blydh from the evil he possesses.” I knew that my hope was a vain one, and unlikely to come about.
Senara held the torch for as long as she could, lighting our way through the woods to the north of the island, and tossed it into the undergrowth when it sputtered out. We got to the far end of the trail through the forest, before reducing our speed and walking the horses over the rough ground by moonlight alone.
For the majority of the time, Senara left me to my thoughts alone. She understood what losing the white hart meant to me, and concentrated on our route through frosty valleys and misty dells. She knew these lands like the back of her hand, and her senses were so finely attuned to oncoming danger, I had few worries that we’d come to any harm.