'It's a water spout,' Bradan said. 'The sea is forced into a cave and erupts through a blow-hole. There is neither god nor demon at work here.'
Nodding, Melcorka pushed Defender back into her scabbard.
'At least there are no seals here,' Bradan said. 'Not even the fittest could climb up that cliff.'
'Is that the temple?' Melcorka pointed and shouted against the force of the wind.
The building was the size of a cottage, with walls no more than three feet high, although when they got closer they could see that the doorway had steps leading downward.
'It must be; there is nothing else in this forlorn place,' Bradan said. He started when a voice came from within the low building.
'God save you pilgrim. You are heartily welcome here for we have had repeated apparitions of your arrival here and we congratulate your arrival in our remote country.'
'What?' Melcorka had not expected to meet somebody in this rocky scrap of an island. Now she saw a family had emerged from the temple; a man, woman and two children.
The family bowed in unison and made the sun sign, before walking sunwise around Melcorka and Bradan. They were small made, with faces oak-brown from exposure to wind and weather, yet they advanced with smiling mouths and held out trays of crisp bread and ripe apples, with a stoneware jug that brimmed with what looked like mead.
'God save you pilgrim. You are heartily welcome here for we have had repeated apparitions of your arrival here and we congratulate your arrival in our remote country'
They repeated the same phrase, adding, 'pray accept this gift of food and refreshment for you must be hungry and thirsty after your long journey across the sea.'
'Who are you?' Melcorka asked.
'We are the people of this land.' The man said. 'We have heard of other people in other lands across the sea but we have never met any.'
'I am Melcorka of Alba,' Melcorka said, 'and this is Bradan the Wanderer.' She smiled to the man. 'Are we really the first people you have ever met apart from yourselves?' Glancing at Bradan, she accepted the tray.
'We have never left this land,' the man said. 'And nobody ever comes here.' He bowed again. 'Eat and drink, pilgrims, for we wish to welcome you.'
'Is this the temple, man who has never left this land yet who speaks our language perfectly?' Bradan tapped his staff on the rocky ground.
'This has always been our language,' the man said.
'And have these always been your clothes?' Reaching out, Bradan rubbed the man's long robes between his finger and thumb. 'Fine wool, yet I cannot see a single sheep on this island.'
'Bradan…' Melcorka frowned at his lack of manners.
'And this food and drink,' Bradan took the tray from Melcorka's hands. 'You have beautiful oaten bread here, grown in a land with no crops, and mead from an island with no flowers or heather to encourage bees.'
'We offer you all we have,' the man said.
'You are a liar.' Bradan thrust the end of his staff against the man's chest, sending him backward. 'Who are you?'
'I am of this land,' the man said.
'Begone, creature,' Bradan said, 'and take your foul friends with you.' He stepped back. 'I do not know what these are, Melcorka, but they are not people who live here.'
As he spoke, the man opened his mouth wide, revealing a row of sharp teeth. He made a lunge at Bradan that only ended when Melcorka swung Defender around and hacked him in two. Both halves fell on the ground, changing into sections of seal that wriggled for a few seconds and then were still.
The other three ran across the rocky surface, to jump into the cave of the water-spout and vanish.
'Selkies,' Bradan said. 'What was that they were trying to make us eat?'
Melcorka looked at the tray, 'raw fish,' she said.
'Very tasty.' Bradan tapped his staff on the ground. 'At least we know that some of what Egil said is true. There are selkies about.'
'I thought they worked by deception,' Melcorka said.
'Perhaps their new king has made them more aggressive,' Bradan said. 'Shall we go?'
'Not yet,' Melcorka said. 'I want to see what's inside the building.'
They stepped inside the temple. Set as much beneath ground as above it, the floor was of rock and the walls of huge boulders fitted together by some skilled hand.
'This is a simple place, yet well built,' Melcorka said.
'There is nothing of Abaris here,' Bradan said, 'pray quickly and leave before more of the selkies come.'
'I am not good at praying,' Melcorka said.
'Then I will pray for you,' Bradan said, smiling. 'I'll make it quick!'
They left within five minutes, to see a mass of people moving toward them from the direction of the spouting cave.
'Careful now, Melcorka,' Bradan said. 'These are not what they seem.'
A young woman nearly ran to them, her hair long and sleek, her mouth stretched in a smile.
'God save you pilgrim. You are heartily welcome here for we have had repeated apparitions of your arrival here and we congratulate your arrival in our remote country.'
'Selkies,' Bradan pushed Melcorka toward the cliff. 'Time to go.'
While Bradan pushed the anchoring rocks away from Catriona, Melcorka stood guard, flashing Defender back and forward as the selkies gathered in a great semi-circle around her. They were smaller than people, and slower moving, yet when they bared their teeth they looked savagely dangerous.
'Is the boat clear yet Bradan?'
'Clear, Melcorka; I will need your help in launching her.'
Backing away from the growing numbers of selkies, Melcorka put her back to Catriona. 'We should lower her slowly,' she said, and gasped as two of the selkies dashed forward, teeth snapping and hands clawing at her.
'It's a long drop to the beach,' Bradan said. 'If we time it right we will land her in the sea, but if not…'
'If not she will smash herself into pieces on the beach and we will be stranded here in this place, to be eaten by the selkies.'
With Catriona poised above that strip of beach, and the waves alternatively crashing and receding, they waited until one large wave exploded in a frenzy of surf and spindrift, glanced at each other and pushed Catriona over the side. They jumped a second later.
To Melcorka, that fall from the ledge took an eternity. She heard the hideous screaming from the selkies above and the surge of the sea beneath and then she landed with a hollow thump in the body of the boat. Her feet gave way beneath her and she sprawled over the thwarts. She lay there for a moment, gathering her senses together.
'Bradan!'
'Bradan!' He was not in the boat. Catriona bobbed on the surface of the receding wave, with the prow pointing at an alarming angle to the sky and the stern part buried in the sea.
'Here!'
Bradan waved an anxious hand. He was twenty yards away and with the current carrying him further with every second. A succession of splashes at the base of the cliff showed where the selkies were launching themselves from the island into the sea. They had an instant transmogrification from clumsy land creatures into graceful, speedy seals that swam toward Bradan like hunting sharks.
Single handed, Melcorka found Catriona was hard to handle but she knew she would do little good if she tried to swim. However powerful she was in the water, the seals were many times faster; she could not match them in their own element.
She saw Bradan's head bobbing between two waves, saw him raise a hand to her, noticed that he still clutched his staff, and rowed toward him as hard as she could. In the massive backlash from the island, Catriona swayed alarmingly, nearly capsizing and only righting herself by a seeming miracle. Melcorka blessed the cunning, skilful hands that had built her so well, and strained at the oars.
'Melcorka!'
The round black heads were closing on him. Seals or selkies, she knew not which; she only knew their mouths were open to display rows of vicious teeth as they swam directly at Bradan.
'Hold on!' Melcorka
put Catriona hard about. Rather than jump into the sea and try to fight creatures that were far more adapted to the conditions than she was, Melcorka aimed Catriona straight for them.
The first seal immediately dived away; the second was slower and Catriona caught it a glancing blow on the back; the impact knocked the boat off her course, diverting it straight into the third seal, crashing into its head with the wooden prow.
'Bradan!' Melcorka saw Bradan a few yards away, too far even for a long stretch, with another seal diving at his side. She saw Bradan wave his staff, and then he yelled and vanished beneath the waves.
'No!' Melcorka shouted and, abandoning her resolution not to compete with the selkies, she jumped into the sea, drawing Defender at the same time.
The water closed over her head, cold, dark and strangely clear. She struck out in the direction of Bradan. She saw shapes around her, knew instinctively they were seals and thrust with Defender. The shock of contact felt good; she ripped the blade sideways and withdrew. Thick blood clouded the water. Wounding or killing a single seal would make no difference, yet the satisfaction empowered her to continue onward.
She saw Bradan struggling between two seals that were dragging him downward to whatever lay in the depths. Desperate now, Melcorka thrust Defender like a lance before her and paddled hard with her feet. She judged her distance through the water and lunged at the nearest seal, allowing Defender do the work. The blade penetrated the skin so the seal writhed and broke away. Bradan's mouth was open as he stared at her, gripping his staff and sinking slowly, inexorably, to the bottom of the ocean.
With her lungs now burning through lack of oxygen, Melcorka pushed Bradan away and gestured to the surface, forcing him upward. She had enjoyed the advantage of surprise during her initial assault; now that had ended and the seals had everything in their favour.
Turning around, Melcorka kicked for the surface, slashing sideways to keep any seals away. She felt a great weight on her left foot, kicked out, thrust downward with Defender and broke the surface of the sea.
'Melcorka!' Bradan was five yards away, looking around desperately for her. 'That way!' He pointed to the right, where Catriona danced to the tune of the waves, her prow and stern rising and falling with terrifying speed.
Melcorka struck out for the boat, feeling the drag of Defender slow her. There were seals all around, calling to each other, their mouths open, and teeth white and sharp. She swam one-handed, slashed at them and grabbed for the gunwale of Catriona. The feel of the smooth wood was a relief and, clattering Defender inside, she hauled herself up, gasped for breath and reached out for Bradan.
He held out his staff; she took hold and pulled him in, with a seal snapping its jaws only a few inches away from his feet.
Gasping and retching, they lay on the bottom of the boat, side by side with the water streaming off them and the seals barging and banging into the hull a few inches away from their faces.
'Thank you, Melcorka,' Bradan said, and vomited sea water.
Melcorka smiled, once, and joined him so they were sick together.
'That was a new experience,' Melcorka said when she had recovered a little. The boat leaped around, and for a moment she was scared Catriona would be hammered against the rocks of Sula Sgeir. She glanced up to see they were far from the island, drifting on some unseen current.
'I think we have this selkie king scared,' Bradan said, coughing up the last of the sea-water he had swallowed. 'He sent these things to attack us.'
'Let's hope there are not many more of them,' Melcorka stood up, found her legs were shaking and sat down again. 'I am not good at fighting in the sea.'
'You did well,' Bradan wiped a hand over his mouth. 'You always do well.'
'Let's get going,' Melcorka could not say more.
Chapter Twenty-Three
'We are headed to the island of Rona,' Bradan said. 'Do you know what that name means?'
Melcorka shook her head. 'It is just a name to me.'
'It means Seal Island,' he took his seat at the oars and took a tentative pull that sent Catriona surging eastward.
'That sounds promising,' Melcorka sat back at the tiller and gestured to the sea around them, where scores of seals surrounded them. 'We have an escort.'
'We won't get lost then,' Bradan glanced upward. 'The sooner we get there the better, I think; hoist the sail, Mel; there is plenty of wind.'
'Mel?' Melcorka smiled to him.
With the sail bellying before a westerly breeze and Bradan pulling at the oars, Catriona made good time across the miles of surging ocean. Rona was larger than Sula Sgeir; a humped green island with a decent landing place and an aura of isolation rather than desolation.
'This is not where Abaris will be,' Bradan said at once. 'I cannot feel his goodness.'
Melcorka nodded. 'I fear you are right, Bradan. We'll visit your temple here so you are certain, and kill any seal that gets too close.'
As they pulled up, there was no noise except the sea. The seals remained around them, heads appearing and disappearing without any attempt to interfere and without emitting their barking cry. Even the wind was muted as they pulled Catriona beyond the high-tide mark, unshipped the mast, turned her upside down and secured her against the weather.
'So this is Rona,' Melcorka fastened Defender across her back and adjusted the strap so the sword was comfortable. 'It is a bleak place.'
'But better than the last.'
The island was composed of two large smooth humps of coarse grass, with a number of ruined buildings that proved humans had once lived here. Now there was only the encircling sea and the soft sough of the wind.
'So far,' Melcorka said, 'so good. Now we will find the Temple na Greine – the Temple of the Sun.'
'There is that sun reference again,' Bradan said. 'Tuath would appreciate that.'
'Tuath is not here,' Melcorka said. 'Tuath is at home with Igraine and little Alva.'
Bradan glanced at her. 'Alva is better off there than here.'
'That does not help,' Melcorka said. 'That does not help at all.'
Bradan nodded, understanding her mixed emotions. He led them inland with his long, loping stride.
The interior of Rona was bare, bleak and strangely beautiful. With the people gone, the wind had full scope to scour the land free of most traces of humanity, so only the temple stood in splendid isolation against the dull green of the rough grass and the dull blue of a sea that heaved under a sky of lifeless grey.
'There is no activity here,' Bradan said.
'Then this will be a quick visit,' Melcorka touched a hand to the hilt of Defender. 'And that is a great pity, for I hoped to meet this selkie king.'
'And I hoped to see Abaris,' Bradan did not sound as if there was much hope left within him.
The temple was old, of dressed but unpolished stone and an arched doorway. It was small, a beehive hut that had been used by St Ronan, according to legend, and it was holy, with layers of Christian worship laid on top of much older beliefs.
'There is a feeling of sanctuary in here at least,' Bradan said as he entered.
Melcorka touched the Celtic cross that some unknown hand had carved on a stone inside. 'This is not a temple to Bel.'
'It was once,' Bradan said. 'Until the true God replaced him.'
'There is peace here,' Melcorka agreed. She sat against the far wall. 'I can nearly feel the old saint at his devotions.'
Bradan joined her so they sat side by side in the ancient chapel, remote from the world and sheltered from the forces of nature outside.
'She will be safe,' Bradan said.
Melcorka nodded. 'How did you know I was thinking of Alva?'
'You have thought of little else,' Bradan told her. 'I know you.'
'Too well it seems,' Melcorka said. She did not say that she had also thought about him. Perhaps he knew that as well.
'We have journeyed long together,' Bradan touched the cross again. 'After this adventure, whether I find Abaris or not;
whether you find the selkie king or not, will we still journey together? Or do you seek to settle down and have children?'
Melcorka looked away. 'I am Melcorka the Swordswoman, not Melcorka the Mother. Alva is not my daughter and never was.'
'That is not what I asked,' Bradan said.
'I know very well what you asked!' Melcorka snapped and relapsed into a silence that lasted a long time. 'You did not say everything that is in your mind,' she said at last.
'I hardly said anything that is in my mind,' Bradan spoke quietly. 'I am only trying to clear yours.'
'My mind is not your concern,' Melcorka's eyes were as hot as any fire of Bel's.
'You have not been yourself these last few weeks,' Bradan said. 'If this selkie king is powerful enough to control Egil and the Osprey, then he is a very dangerous enemy to cross. You will have to be at your best. You will not be at your best if your mind is full of doubt.'
Melcorka looked away again. 'It was good to have a little one to look after,' she said slowly.
It was Bradan's turn to say nothing.
'And I miss her,' Melcorka said.
There was another long silence.
'Yet I know she is better, safer and happy where she is.' Melcorka gave a long sigh. 'Sometime I will have a child of my own. That time is not yet. So if you want my company, I will wander with you.' She looked at him with her eyes clearer than they had been for some time and repeated. 'If you want me.'
'I want nobody else,' Bradan said simply.
'Nor do I.'
The meaning had changed as they looked at each other, man and woman together yet seeing each other in that light for the first time.
'We are companions,' Melcorka said, and closed her mouth.
'I think we are much more than that,' Bradan told her.
'Bradan,' Melcorka said softly, and then realised that the time for talking had passed. She unbuckled Defender and leaned it against the wall. 'I will not need this.'
'Nor I this,' Bradan placed his staff beside Defender. 'They can keep each other company.'
There was uncertainty in Melcorka's smile. 'I hope this will not change things between us.'
'Only for the better,' Bradan held out his arms to her.
The Shining One (The Swordswoman Book 2) Page 23