Without warning, a fourth troll sprang from behind Oisin, knocking his bow from his hand and grabbing onto his quiver to swing him all about, trying to pull him off his feet. Oisin managed to draw his claymore just as his quiver strap broke, flinging him sprawling onto the ground. As the troll tried to jump on him, he cut the brute in the thigh and the belly before breaking away and getting to his feet to return with a furious whistling swing which took off the troll's head. Just as he frantically turned this way and that to see what was next, the last of the other three troll-brutes, bristling with arrows, dropped to his knees and toppled onto his face.
"There's no way it's safe to spend the night," said Oisin, struggling to catch his breath.
They found torches and buried Isbal, Reina and Darragh in the royal plot by the palace. They cut six long poles and lashed them to their unicorns to drag behind, carrying as many tools as they could manage. By the time they reached the west end of Vorona's Gap, it was growing light.
"I don't ever want to go back there," said Kieran as they cleared away a good spot to sleep, "and in the name of the Fates, let's not set foot in the Strah until it's good and dark."
Chapter 11
A hot wind from the south chased through the waving grass above Doona's head, but it was not enough to dry the sweat gathering in drops along her eyebrows and nose, down where she stooped cutting bunches of big bluestem. A dickcissel called nearby. She stood and threw back her new bluestem straw hat as she ran her stone back and forth along her reap-hook. "You reckon this wind will blow up a rain?" she said, looking up at Donachan with his bow astride his unicorn.
"Nay," he said as he took a spit. "There were buckets of dew in the grass when I woke up. I'd really be surprised. It'd sure be nice if Oisin and them perchance would bring back a couple of scythes." He waited a moment for her to resume cutting before sauntering upwind a bit to peer over the grass, watching for strike falcons.
"I see Roseen 'way yonder, a-coming back with the rack," said Lilee as she stood up to give her reap-hook a good stoning. "We'd better get to bunching and binding. You think Oisin and Kieran...and Olloo... You think they'll be back by morning?"
"If I start thinking about that, I'll start worrying that they're safe. My word, the trolls might go back to Baile Gairdin just every once in a while. I mean we fled the beach camp. They might think that we're trying to go back there. And what would three handsome Elves do if they suddenly met up with trolls, anyway? I mean if they're surprised..."
"Oh go on, Doona! Here I was, trying to cheer you up with the thought of their return, and you go out of your way to think terrible thoughts."
"I'm sorry, Lilee. I don't ever talk about it, but every once in a while I have horrible dreams. And trolls. What made everyone flee Baile Gairdin in the first place?" She fell silent, twisting and tucking her strands of grass as she tied a sheaf and grabbed up another handful to bind. She gave a rattling sniffle and sat back on her heels as Lilee squeezed her by the hand with a firm little shake. "I know you're right," she said as she daubed at an eye with her apron. "Of course they'll be fine. After all, Oisin, Kieran and Olloo saved us from the trolls and got us all the way here. They will be back in a day or two, and it makes my heart dance, all except for what I have to do to Kieran, that is. Poor Kieran."
"Doona, Doona. It's the kindest thing. If I were Kieran, I'd not want to go on and on, making a fool of myself."
Roseen stepped into the far end of the mowed clearing, leading her nodding unicorn with the rack bouncing and pounding along behind, as Doona and Lilee hurriedly grabbed up fresh sheaves to bind.
After spending the night just beyond Vorona's Gap, Oisin, Olloo and Kieran decided to avoid a dogleg from going all the way back to Mount Sliabh and make straight for Carraig Faire instead. However, the choice surprised them by forcing them to spend the entire day hiking down a much gentler slope in thick woods. When they saw that they were at last nearing the Strah, they decided to rest. They dangled their legs off the side of a mossy rock facing a large glade and made a somber meal of the last of Isbal and Reina's blackberry tarts as they listened to the evening calls of pewees and watched Baase scamper about through the maidenhair ferns, snapping up beetles and salamanders. Suddenly Baase dashed out into the glade, chasing a vole. "Damnu air, Baase!" cried Olloo, hopping off the rock to give chase. "Come back here, you little cac." Well out into the clearing, he darted this way and that, at last grabbing him up. "Oisin! Kieran!" he cried. "Come see this Fairy ring!"
Oisin and Kieran nodded to each other and sprinted out into the glade to find Olloo standing in the midst of a strange mossy patch, ringed with huge mushrooms.
"That vole came right out in the middle here and vanished," said Olloo. "And have you ever seen a Fairy ring this big? I'd say it's at least five rod across, wouldn't you?"
"That's some Fairy ring, all right," said Kieran, "but real Fairies have been gone from this land for nearly five thousand years. That is, if they weren't just legend in the first place."
"Did I say this is actual Fairy work?" said Olloo.
"Not in so many words."
"Not in any words, Kieran, but since you bring it up, we do have records. That old book we carry might even have records in it. And there used to be thousands of them until they vanished overnight. But we still see their rings, and it's known that they were once the entrances into their kingdom."
"Righty-o. So why are we standing here inside this ring instead of somewhere down in the Fairy kingdom?"
"They're long gone for one thing," said Olloo, "And we're not Fairies either, but there's still a bit of enchantment about the rings..."
"I think you'll have to point it out."
"All right," said Olloo. "Why’s there a solid carpet of moss inside the ring, and not a bit of moss outside of it?" Not waiting for a reply, he set out for where they had left their unicorns tied to the trees.
Kieran stared at Olloo's back as he went. "That's quite a pile of lean air, isn't it, aye Oisin?" he said.
"What ever you say," said Oisin, as he studied the carpet of moss. Presently he was down on his knees looking at something. "See this?"
"So?"
Oisin straightened up. "Hey Olloo!" he hollered. "Here's your proof!"
Olloo came jogging back.
"Look 'ee here," said Oisin.
"We need to go," said Kieran.
"My word," said Olloo. "That looks like a maidenhair seedling turned to pure silver."
"Yeap," said Oisin, "so do you reckon it's what I think it is?"
"How would I know? I mean, what do you think it is?"
"A mother tree," said Oisin. "It's a silver maidenhair tree. The Fairies called it the 'mother tree,' and they all disappeared when the Fairies vanished."
"Well can't we keep it alive until we get back to Carraig Faire?"
"Oh, believe you me, I'd dearly love to, but you can't take a mother tree away from its fairy ring, or it'll die. It's tied to the Fairies' magic."
"So just where are the Fairies?" said Kieran.
"Maybe gone forever, maybe right under our feet," said Oisin, "but these trees are powerful medicine. The leaves are said to be what gave the Fairies their immortality, just as the leaves of our red, blue and great maidenhair trees extend our own lives. Even the seeds and bark have amazing healing properties. Different teas, poultices and tinctures made from the tree can heal any sort of wound, even dangerously festered ones within mere hours. The Fairies even made a preparation from the dried leaves which could be applied directly to heal a mortal wound if it was used right away. I don't know how complete the records of their recipes are, actually. Since I thought the trees were gone forever with the passing of the Fairies, I never went to any effort to search for them and study them."
"So this preparation heals a mortal wound if it's applied soon enough, aye?" said Kieran.
Oisin nodded.
"How soon is 'soon enough?' Will it only work until the moment of death, or can it bring a person back from
the dead after they've been dead for a while?"
"Oh, I have no idea at all Kieran, though when they say 'soon enough,' I'd guess that it needs a spark of life to remain for it to work."
"Well this is quite a discovery then, isn't it?" said Olloo. "But if we have to leave it here in the Fairy ring so it will live, it's not much use to us, is it? Besides, it'll be a while before it puts out seed, won't it?"
"If seed is what you're after, but I think it might have to set seed before the leaves are any use. If that's true, it may be a hundred years before it does. But when it does, just imagine."
"Could we imagine as we ride?" said Kieran as he started for the unicorns. "I think it would be stupid to have to outrun shawkyn spooghey."
"Righty-o, Kieran." said Oisin.
"I'll catch up," said Oisin as he carefully snapped off a silver leaf and put it between the pages of his leather bound field journal.
Olloo found his stirrup and mounted. "So Kieran," he said as he watched Oisin coming through the brush in the fading light, "did your sudden interest in the mother tree have anything to do with Isbal, Reina, and Darragh?"
"I knew there wasn't any hope," he said with a sigh. "I just couldn't help asking."
Presently, Oisin went all around his unicorn checking the straps which held the poles bearing his load of tools. "So," he said, settling into his saddle as the first katydids of the evening began to sing, "are we ready?"
"I'm ready to never come back," said Kieran. "We've been gone too long to suit me."
Oisin cut off a good sized chaw from his plug of red maidenhair and gave a tug on each glove. "Well now, speaking of being gone too long," he said, gathering up his reins, "the pies nearly got cold when you went out to fetch Darragh. Did you and he manage to talk about something, or did he just spend the whole time knocking the snot out of you?"
"He quit after he gave me this knot. It hurts wearing this hat. Yea, for someone who refused to talk about his life with the trolls, he had quite a bit to say..."
"Such as?"
"I think we could've learnt something if things had turned out different. He said he missed his fmoo..."
"What?"
"He called his mother, 'Fmoo...'"
Olloo coughed out a laugh.
"Well he did, and he said he really missed her and hoped that the trolls hadn't eaten her yet, and he really wished that she could come live with him and be an Elf like he was..."
Olloo laughed again.
"He wouldn't have it that he was anything but an Elf. Well, you heard him when you said he was one troll not afraid of strike falcons. He just plain hated the Marfora Siofra, and no mistake about it. Yea. And he even told me some troll speech. He said those curses call themselves the Dyrney, which means 'one true people...'"
"I reckon that leaves us out," said Oisin.
"Yea,” said Kieran, "and him. And I get the idea that he spent his time with them, day in and day out, with them always a-threatening to eat him."
"Well that would certainly give him the right to feel like an Elf," said Oisin. "Say. You didn't ask him how the Marfora Siofra manage to fend off our magic, did you?"
"That's about the only other thing we talked about. How'd you guess?"
Oisin shrugged. "You're always talking about how you wish we had the magic to stop the curses..."
"I never got anywhere. I tried to bring up magic on our way back from the barn, but he refused to get what I was talking about. I swear he acted like I was trying to play him for a fool. The trolls must not even be aware of it."
"Well, this is the end of the trees," said Olloo as the three of them halted for a moment in the vast chorus of pulsing katydid calls. "I can just make out grass, right yonder beyond the brush. You still think we can find our way from here, Oisin, or should we have gone back the way we came?"
"You think it will cloud over?"
"I doubt it."
"Then we'll have no problem."
Doona and Lilee took a seat on a long low shelf of sandstone which formed a prominence on the north-east end of Carraig Faire, overlooking the Strah, well away from everyone as the women tended the kettle, fixing supper. They sat quietly, listening to a vesper sparrow below them as they studied the grass far away into the distance. It had been a long day. Onora quietly appeared behind them with two steaming bowls of stew.
"Oh," said Lilee, looking up with a smile, "thank you for supper, Onora."
"As if I actually made it..."
"Well we could've got our own," said Doona. "It's still that same strike falcon, isn't it?"
Onora nodded. "You both must be exhausted after spending the whole day cutting thatch. It didn't hurt me one bit to bring it to you."
"Sheet lightning," said Lilee at the sight of a winking of light in the haze behind the scant gathering of clouds at the horizon. "Did you see?"
"I wonder if it means rain," said Doona. "There hasn't been any since we all got here. Can you imagine? We're not at all ready for something like that. We'll all get soaked."
"It's pretty far off," said Onora. "It may never get here. There's not a bit of wind, though that could change. Well. I'm going to take Brenden some stew."
"I'll stay with you again tonight, if you like, Doona," said Lilee. "Mom and Dad won't mind, as long as we tell them. You don't mind, do you Onora?"
"Why would I ever?" she said, pausing to turn back.
"Thanks," called Lilee.
They turned to their stew to study the horizon beyond their spoons.
"You must've read my thoughts," said Doona. "I was just about to ask you. I'm not sure I can sleep knowing that Oisin and them might be back before daylight."
"You'd better sleep. They might not get back for another night or two or even longer..."
"Lilee. You don't think that something's happened, do you?"
"Of course not. You're getting jumpy, you silly goose. They could be lots longer and not a thing be wrong..."
"But..."
"Doona. They don't even know that anything's up with you. Why should they hurry?"
Doona gave a sigh and went back to her stew. There was now a definite line of clouds, and they were quite clearly lighting up, every once in a while.
At the sound of a scuff on the sandstone behind them, they both looked up at once to find Jamys.
"Hi Daddy..." said Lilee.
"I didn't mean to give you a start," he said without a smile. "Your mom acts like she's really in labor, this time. You reckon you could come with us, Doona?"
"Certainly. Where's Caly?"
"She's over there," he said, turning on his heel to go back. "She wants your help. The baby doesn't act like it's turned right."
Doona and Lilee shared a wide-eyed look and followed him at once as he hurried across the sandstone in the failing evening light.
"I'll bet I've watched above a dozen deliveries," said Doona in a hushed voice, "but I've scarcely done more than hand over rags and pans of water..."
"It's been two hundred and twenty six year since Momma bore me..." said Lilee, ending in a squeak.
Doona took her by the hands and stopped short. "Look 'ee here!" she said, giving them a firm shake. "It's going to be all right. I don't know what Caly wants me for, but I'm right sure it's for something she knows I can do. Now nothing's going to happen, Lilee, but if it does, you know I've got magicks in me and I swear I won't let go of your momma until she's safe." She grabbed her for a quick sound hug before dashing ahead to catch up with Jamys.
They found Eunys propped on a mountain of blankets under a thatched shade between two rocks, attended by Caly and a half dozen other women, patting and soothing and sponging her with cloths.
Caly saw them coming and rose to her feet to step aside with Doona. "It's not turned yet," she whispered. "She's already having a time. Did Oisin leave any of his medicines with you?"
"Two of his bags. He took the other one."
"Does he have any bugbane?"
"I don't know. If he doesn't, shoul
d I ask Edard?"
"I'd lay odds he won't have. If Oisin's got it, fetch all of it. It may take every bit of it to save her. Now go."
Doona ran to see. His bag held more than she had imagined. It took a very long time fumbling through things. Far across the Strah, she saw a tower of clouds light up and vanish under the stars. At last she found a good ounce of bugbane root in a leather pouch. She closed up the bags, snapped up a mortar and pestle and ran.
When she got back, the women already had a kettle heating on the fire. Every Elf was sitting nearby. Eunys was having a hard time. Maybe the bugbane would help her deliver. It was supposed to. "No, no," she said as different anxious women tried to help, "it needs to boil for a while and then nearly cool." When her fifth batch was cooling, Doona stood up to keep her legs from going to sleep. She walked away from the fire, staring up at the stars as she stretched her neck. There was a rumble of thunder from far away as new breezes chased through the grass in the moonlight.
Suddenly Lilee grabbed her, burying her face in her leine. "Momma's trying so hard," she whispered, shaking to keep from sobbing.
"If she needs me, Lilee, I promise she'll be all right. I'll die if I have to..."
Suddenly the great rock went pink with a deafening peal of thunder as great scattered splotches of rain pelted the sandstone before passing by. And at once the Elves gave a great chorus of cheers and clapping as the baby boy surged forth, breech first, in a river of blood. "Doona!" cried Caly. "Here! Press hard, right above her bone and hold it."
Doona did as she bid at once.
"That's got the torrent, girl, but I don't know how you're ever to let go. We'll just spell each other off, as long as we can last."
"I've got my magicks," said Doona. "I'll not move."
Oisin, Olloo and Kieran returned in the wee hours of the morning to find every single Elf curled up asleep about the dying embers of Eunys's fire. They were astonished to find her fast asleep beside Jamys with her new baby, with Doona squatted stiff armed beside her, still keeping her pressure point, deeply unconscious. Oisin saw no signs of further hemorrhage as he worked anxiously to revive Doona amidst the sudden stirring of the multitude of Elves and the fuming jealousy of Kieran's pacing.
Elf Killers Page 11