The Swan Maiden

by Susan King

  “Some of the older cygnets are missing,” she said. “Three with feathers that are mostly white, with a little of the infant gray left. One is a female with no mate—a maiden swan,” she said, glancing at him. “I called her Etain, after—”

  “After the princess who was wooed and lost by the king of the faeries, and transformed by magic into many creatures, including a butterfly,” Gawain said. “Yet her lover found her, finally, and took her home.” The story had bubbled up in his memory without effort.

  Her shading hand hid her expression. “You know that one, too,” she said softly. “Who are you, Gawain Avenel?”

  “Later,” he murmured. “Four or five swans have been taken?”

  “More,” she said. “Where are Guinevere and her babies?”

  He frowned, scanning the loch, unable to find the elegant pen and her small cygnets. At the sound of voices, Gawain turned to see the Highlanders from Elladoune—mostly MacDuffs—hurrying toward them. Laurie and Eonan were in their midst.

  Uilleam was shouting and pointing, and Teig lumbered past him, waving his arms anxiously. Juliana ran to meet them, listened, then returned to Gawain.

  “Guinevere!” she said. “They saw her from the wallwalk—she is in the cove! Something is wrong!” She ran with the others.

  Passing them all with a long running stride, Gawain was soon joined by Laurie and Juliana. They crossed through the trees to emerge on the narrow shore of the cove.

  Guinevere swam in anxious circles, wings busked, neck stiffened. Cùchulainn joined her, rushing back and forth in the water as if pacing. When Gawain and the others appeared on the shore, the birds swam toward them, hissing in clear distress.

  “Where are her babies?” Juliana asked. She stepped into the water, her gown floating around her as she surged toward the swan. Breast-high in the water, she turned.

  “There!” she called, pointing toward the end of the cove. “One of them is caught—there!” She swam with fast strokes, the swan floating alongside of her.

  Gawain ran on land, followed by Laurie and the rest, to the end of the cove’s arm. Inside a bed of tall reeds, green tipped in gold, he saw some debris and recognized it as netting.

  Caught in the tangle of rope, a small gray-brown cygnet splashed, flapping its wings, opening its beak. The infant’s gurgle of distress seized him in the region of his stomach.

  The cygnet strained, rising and sinking, water sloshing deeper over its back, struggles that could drown it. Nearby, Guinevere circled in obvious distress. At the edge of the reeds, her other cygnets swam safely.

  Juliana pushed through the reeds, gown swirling, until she stood breast-high beside the little bird. Gawain saw her reach out to examine the agitated cygnet.

  She drew a breath and sank under the water, then rose up, water streaming from her hair. “His legs are caught!” she called. “There is a trap here—a net!”

  While she pulled frantically at the net, Gawain paced on the shore. After a few moments he could stand it no longer. He kicked off his boots and dropped his belt, then stepped into the loch himself, surging through cool water to reach the reed bed.

  She stood shoulder-deep in the water. “Gawain!” she gasped. “ ’Tis such a tangle—help me!”

  He stood with her, feet in the mucky bottom, and began to work at the knots. The rope was wadded around the cygnet’s legs and webbed feet. He and Juliana struggled together with the tangle. Once he drew breath and went under to budge a stubborn snarl. Surging up again, he stood beside her.

  The water seemed to be getting deeper. The level had at first been at his waist, and now was at his chest. He realized that he was sinking in the soft silt at the bottom of the reed bed. Juliana’s shoulders were submerged. She looked at him, her eyes wide with alarm.

  “We will get the little one free,” Gawain reassured her. “And we will get out of here—quickly.” She held the cygnet securely while he pulled at the wet, interlaced rope until finally a loop slipped free and the knot loosened considerably.

  Juliana released the little bird, and it scrambled away, swimming toward its mother. Guinevere swept her long, elegant neck down and pushed at him with her beak. Then she sank her tail until he clambered onto her back along with his three siblings. She glided out of the reeds toward Cùchulainn.

  Juliana smiled up at Gawain. He laughed and pulled her into a wet, mucky embrace, recalling another time when he had hidden among the reeds with her, on the night Elladoune had burned.

  “Come, my love,” he murmured. “Out of the water.” He drew her along with him.

  But the silt sucked at his feet, drawing him deeper. Juliana gasped and grabbed his waist, sputtering, her shoulders well covered, the water lapping at her throat.

  “Gawain!” someone called. He looked toward the shore. Laurie stepped into the water, followed by Eonan, and came toward him, reaching out. Moments later, Uilleam, Beithag, Teig, and the MacDuffs, who had watched the rescue from the shore, lined up behind them.

  Laurie stretched out his big hands to grasp Gawain’s arm. Behind him, Eonan grabbed Laurie’s belt, and Beithag took Eonan’s, and Uilleam took his wife by the waist. Each grasped another until the last person—Teig, with his solid strength and great heart—pulled on Uilleam’s belt and stepped backward.

  Embracing Juliana, Gawain felt himself move slowly out of the muck and toward the shore. He looked back in wonder at the living chain that connected them to the shore of Elladoune.

  Wet and joyful, Juliana wrapped her arm around Gawain as they walked with the others toward Elladoune. She laughed at some remark Laurie made, delighting in the feel of her husband’s arm around her shoulders. Although her wet tunic slapped cold against her legs, the grass beneath her bare feet felt warm and smelled fresh in the sunlight. She felt healed and renewed.

  Whatever Gawain’s secrets, and hers, she hoped now that peace would prevail. He had come for her, and they had worked together to save the cygnet. Surely he would stay with her and they would resolve their differences.

  She smiled up at him, but he slowed beside her, looking up, and stopped. His arm tensed and dropped away. She glanced toward the castle.

  De Soulis and some of his knights waited on horseback at the top of the hill outside the gate. Dressed in his black armor, the sheriff watched them. He beckoned to Gawain. With a wave of his hand, he sent one of his guards riding toward them.

  Gawain looked down at her. “Go to the abbey,” he growled low. “Take the others and go.”

  Heart pounding, she turned her back so that De Soulis would not see her speaking to Gawain. “What does he want? Are we to be expelled from the castle now?”

  “I will wager he is displeased to see me consorting with the locals, and means to speak to me about it,” he said. “Let me deal with this alone. The … closing of the castle is to be done later. I have been instructed to send you all away. ’Tis part of what I wanted to explain to you—”

  “Gawain, how can you allow this to happen—”

  “Go to the abbey. Now. Let me speak with him. Hurry.”

  “Why?” she hissed, furious. “So you can give him more of our secrets? Another piece of our life to take away?”

  “Go,” he said sternly, “before he decides to take you again. I will come for you at the abbey.”

  “If you mean to follow your king’s orders,” she said angrily, “dinna ever come for me!” Sobbing out, she whirled and ran across the meadow, past the people who already walked toward the abbey.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Feet planted firmly, Juliana raised the bow and drew the string taut. Balancing the arrow shaft, she grew still, intent on the upright wand over a hundred paces away. She ignored the noise of the crowd behind her. Wisecracking and impatient, they urged her—or rather, the hooded, cloaked youth she pretended to be—to take the shot, since others waited their turn.

  After a moment, she released the bowstring. Her arrow chipped the wand and sank into the straw target behind it.


  She ignored the applause and turned to face a merchant and a contest judge, who offered her the prize: a tiny silver bell, identical to the four she had already won that day. With a nod, she accepted it and walked away. Bow fisted in her hand, she shouldered her way through the crowd in the market square.

  Brother Eonan and Teig, instructed by the abbot to act as bodyguards, hustled beside her. A crowd of children and youths followed; some were part of the rebel forest band—Mairead’s oldest children, Lucas’s sons, a few others—and the rest were from the surroundings of the town, located in the triangle of territory between Dalbrae, Inchfillan, and the loch.

  The market area, dominated by an ancient stone cross, was dusty and busy, jammed with people and bright with cloth-draped booths. A variety of goods were offered there—leather, silk, spices, tin, iron, savory foods, cool ale. She looked at none of it as she walked past. The day was ending and the booths would be closing soon; almost everyone would travel to Inchfillan Abbey to watch the final archery competition.

  Earlier in the day, she had won the other contests easily, gaining top placement in each successive round. This last win, with its prize of a little bell, entered her in the final contest. That one would award the Golden Arrow of Elladoune.

  Several archers had advanced with her, most of them English bowmen from the garrison at Dalbrae. Only Juliana, so far, had won silver bells for all her shots, awarded for special skill. That had singled her out, although few knew her identity.

  She had bells enough—she had come here for another prize altogether—and she handed this one to Teig. He slid it onto a ribbon around his neck, along with the other silver bells she had collected. He laughed, delighted with their tinkling sound. She smiled at him.

  “Now we can go to Inchfillan,” she said to Eonan.

  He extended his arm protectively as several horsemen thundered down the street toward the road that led to Inchfillan Abbey. She saw De Soulis in the lead, with several knights. In their midst, on a creamy palfrey, rode a woman in a red gown. On either side of her were two more guards, each with a boy mounted pillion behind him.

  Alec and Iain. Juliana gasped and stared at the first sight of her brothers in weeks. Disguised and hiding in the crowd, she could say and do nothing to catch their attention.

  The last two riders passed by her: a tall, sandy-haired man on a brown horse, and a lean, dark-haired knight in deep brown surcoat and chain mail. He sat his dark bay horse with agile grace, staring ahead of him.

  As Gawain passed, riding Gringolet, her heart leaped again. She pulled the hood of her dark cloak to shield her face more completely, but he did not seem to glance at her.

  “Come,” she told Eonan and Teig. “It is over a league to the abbey. We had best get some ale before we set out on the walk. Do you think they will take one of these little bells in payment for ale?” she asked. Teig protested, and she sighed.

  “I will ask for ale in the name of holy charity,” Eonan said, “and we will share whatever they give us. And for love of heaven, let us hurry—you cannot be late. We have much to accomplish today!”

  * * *

  Throughout the day, he thought he saw her in the crowd: a sunlit sheen of hair, a laugh like a trickle of water, a face like an angel. Each time, when he looked, it was not her.

  No reason, he told himself, to expect to see her at the market. He felt her presence nonetheless; she tugged upon his heart, upon his thoughts. He constantly looked for her.

  As he rode through the town, he saw Eonan and Teig standing with a youth in a short dark brown cloak and hood that obscured his face. Odd clothing to wear on such a warm day, he thought. Then he realized that the lad was likely one of the forest rebels whose existence Juliana continually denied.

  The knights arrived to find the meadow outside the abbey church filled with spectators. The crowd kept back from the church to form a wide clearing. Tables for the sale of pies and ale extended along one side of the field, and a platform had been erected for the sheriff and his party. The abbot waited on the church steps for De Soulis, who came toward him.

  Gawain dismounted and assisted De Soulis’s wife and the boys to the ground. Alec and Iain chatted with him, protesting when Lady Matilda whisked them away, but she soon seated them on the dais. De Soulis and the abbot joined them there, along with the merchants who were to judge the shooting competition.

  Laurie came toward him, carrying two wooden cups. “This is excellent Scots ale!” he crowed, handing Gawain a cup, then slurping and sighing.

  Gawain sipped. “The archery contestants are here,” he said as the knights entered the field. He recognized the archers as knights from Dalbrae. They walked into the clearing, set down their quivers, strung their bows, and chatted with one another. “I hear this is not the usual competition,” he remarked.

  “And I hear that Sir Soul-less is intent upon his men taking the prize again,” Laurie said. “ ’Tis a gold arrow. Garrison knights from either Elladoune or Dalbrae have won this contest for years, and he is determined to keep it among his own.”

  “The shot, they say, is toward the bell tower,” Gawain said.

  “But the tower is collapsed, and still being rebuilt. The scaffold would be in the way.”

  “ ’Tisna toward the bell tower itself,” an old man standing nearby said. “To that bell up there.” He pointed toward the high entrance tower of the church. A sturdy pole had been fixed at the top. From its outwardly projecting end swung a small bronze hand bell.

  “Why is that wee bell hanging there?” Laurie asked.

  “Tradition,” the old man answered. “The archers must shoot straight up and ring the bell. Whoever does will win the prize—the Golden Arrow of Elladoune.”

  “A curious tradition,” Laurie said.

  “Long ago, they say, an evil man shot a faery bolt upward into the skies and raised a storm that brought down the first fortress of Elladoune,” the man said. “ ’Tis in remembrance of that old legend that archers try every year to shoot the bell.”

  Gawain stared upward. “My God,” he murmured half to himself. “The faery bolt.”

  “Aye, in honor of those who drowned and became swans,” the old man said. “Though suchlike magic doesna exist, eh?”

  Gawain frowned in silence. He noticed several men placing shields, brought in a cart from Dalbrae, at the inner edge of the crowd, like a bright border along the grass.

  “What are the shields for?” Laurie asked.

  “To protect those closest to the archers,” the man said. “The arrows go straight up—and then must come down again! They use blunted tips, but still, those can do damage. Och, look, the last shooter is here. The contest will soon begin.”

  The final archer walked across the field. Gawain recognized the youth he had seen with Eonan and Teig in the town.

  “ ’Tis the lad who won the silver bells today,” the old man said. “None ken who he is—some say he comes from Perth.”

  “I watched him earlier,” Laurie said. “I have never seen such a precise archer in all my life, and consistent with it.”

  Hearing that, Gawain narrowed his eyes.

  The youth loaded his short hunting bow, different from the longbows that the English archers all used. He adjusted his stance and stretched his arms wide in a practice shot. Then, like his fellow contestants, he bent back and tilted the bow toward the sky.

  “God save us,” Gawain muttered, recognizing the graceful curve of that slender back.

  The moment was nearly upon her. Purpose and vengeance should have kept her cool and deliberate, but her hands shook. Juliana stood to one side with the other competitors and watched another archer take his turn. Like those who had already shot, the man spread his legs wide, leaned back, and aimed upward.

  The arrow sailed cleanly past the bell and soared over the top of the abbey tower. The shields went up at the edge of the crowd, but the arrow clattered on the church roof. Applause rose for the archer, who shook his head and walked away.

>   A tall, blond Dalbrae knight, who had nearly bested her in every contest that day, and had taken time to compliment her politely on her skill, walked toward the church step next.

  “De Lisle,” the man beside her, another archer, murmured. “He’s taken the prize two years now. Ye’re talented, lad, but look to the best, just now.” He nodded toward the archer.

  De Lisle, a tall and powerful-looking man, assessed the shot, then loaded his longbow. He placed one knee on the porch step, angled his leg, and reared back with his bow. His blunted arrow went straight up and chinked against the bell’s rim.

  Loud gasps rippled out and the shields went up. The archer himself scuttled out of the way. His arrow came down to embed in the grass, just missing the edge of the crowd. He bowed and left the field, nodding again to Juliana, as if to wish her luck.

  “Close,” a man said beside Juliana. “A shame. The bell must ring clear, or the shot is no good. Your turn, lad.”

  She walked forward, holding her quiver and bow. Her knees shook and her hands trembled as she withdrew a blunted arrow from her quiver. In a moment of cold fear, she wanted to run, unsure she could do this after all.

  What she feared was not the shooting contest, but its aftermath. When she had seen her brothers, and De Soulis, she knew she had to take a stand, no matter the risks.

  Her friends were willing to snatch the boys, but the guards were thick here. The rebels would be caught and hung for their crimes. Something else had to be done.

  She could not appeal to Gawain, who was obviously following his orders. Soon he would close Elladoune, and leave—perhaps even leave Scotland. She would not go with him. Although she knew she must accept it, she felt empty inside.

  Steeling herself against the turmoil and heartache within, she looked up at the little bell suspended from the tower. For now, the bow shot was paramount.

  Her hood obscured her view, and she pushed it down, revealing the close-fitting leather cap with long earpieces that covered her hair. She hoped her face was plain enough to stir no interest. If anyone recognized her, no one mentioned it.