The Sea of Love

by Sorcha MacMurrough

  As the ship neared the small island of Cairnryan, Aidanna spotted a Burke ship sailing in their direction.

  Conn ran over to her at the tiller.

  "Damnation, is that who I think—"

  "Aye, it is, it's Donal's flagship, on the way to Galway by the looks of things," she observed.

  "You don't think we should steer clear just in case he tries to take the cargo?"

  "I know that ship of old, Conn. It's very slow, even unladen, and his sailors are no match for ours. I doubt they're looking for me here. Even if they were, he won't give us chase, and there's no point in stirring things up by boarding them. I don't want to show my hand against him too soon, and I doubt he's carrying anything of value," she remarked.

  But just then her voice trailed off, for they disappeared behind the small island for a moment in the shadowy twilight, and she became convinced Donal and his men hadn't seen their sail in the growing dusk.

  But a bright ray of sunlight illuminated the deck of the Burke ship, and Aidanna caught a glimpse of a tall man in a magnificent black tunic, with slashed red sleeves. She stared open-mouthed, and then pushed the tiller into Conn's hands as she shouted, "Prepare to come about! Make ready the anchor!"

  Tomas came running up to ask her what was wrong, but she was already stripping off her tunic and leather boots. She retied her sash around her waist, and stuck her dagger securely into it, while the sails rustled, and all the time she kept staring off at a distant speck of the horizon.

  "What's going on?" Tomas demanded.

  "It's Declan Burke! Donal or his men have just thrown him overboard!"

  "Surely he can swim. And he's close enough to make it to land," Tomas protested.

  "Not tied in a sack he can't! "

  Aidanna called for the oarsmen to row triple time, and then ran to the hole where the top of the anchor and its coil of rope were kept.

  "Get them to row faster!" she yelled impatiently.

  "It's too deep! You'll never find him!" Tomas argued, catching hold of her arm.

  "Maybe he isn't weighted down very heavily! I must try!"

  "He's a Burke, Aidanna. Let him die!"

  "No, he saved my life, and let me go even when he thought Donal's surprise dead body was Diarmuid's and that I was responsible. I owe him my life. I must try to save him," Aidanna insisted as she shook her arm free of Tomas's firm grip.

  "What are you doing?" Tomas gasped, as she began to scramble over the side.

  "We're almost there. Get me a rope, now!"

  Aidanna tied one end of the rope loosely around her waist, and threw the other end to Tomas to tie around the anchor line.

  "Nearly there! Right, on three, let the anchor down!"

  Aidanna took several deep breaths, and clung to the anchor tightly. "One, two, three!" she gasped, as she gulped in one final breath, and the anchor plunged into the sea.

  The icy water nearly caused her to let out all of the air in a huge gasp, but she hung on to the anchor tightly to steady herself. After the first shock, she began to look around as she made her descent to see if Declan had somehow managed to float.

  But there was no sign of the burlap sack he had been tied into, and Aidanna began to fear she was too late. But suddenly, as the anchor continued to descend ever deeper, she saw him, and swam over frantically. His body was resting on a sandbar which had miraculously risen up from the still depths, and she struggled to cut him out of the sack. She grabbed him from behind, and then made the ascent with her heavy burden slowly and painfully, struggling desperately against the urge to breathe in.

  Finally, lungs bursting, she saw light at the surface, and kicked strongly, pushing the prone man up ahead of her so that his head surfaced first, and then at last she was gulping in air, as well as water, and trying to keep the unconscious man afloat.

  A shout nearby told her she had been spotted in the near-darkness, and she tread water and tried to rub Declan's back. Amid the buffeting of the waves, she wasn't sure if he was even breathing. Her hand near his head came away red with blood, and she acknowledged with a sinking heart that Donal might still have succeeded in killing him in spite of her rescue attempt.

  "Aidanna! Grab the rope and climb up," Tomas called.

  She shook her head, and tied it around Declan's broad chest.

  "Pull him up first. Conn, help him! He's wounded as well as half-drowned."

  Eventually Aidanna was able to scramble on board, and she turned her attention to the man lying completely still in a puddle on the deck.

  "I've tried, pet, but no luck. He's dead," Conn said quietly.

  Anger welled up inside Aidanna as never before. Her frustration over her powerlessness in the face of Donal Burke brought her to breaking point.

  "He's alive! I know it!" she insisted. She pumped Declan's chest with her hands, willing him to breath. Then she turned him over onto his front, and said, "Remember when Cathal nearly drowned that summer, and Ruairi turned him and sat on him? Then what did he do?" Aidanna asked desperately.

  Conn looked into Aidanna's grey eyes, now nearly black with fury and anguish, and his face lit up.

  "He made me pull on the arms," he said. He lifted Declan's elbows, while Aidanna put her full weight onto the massive back just below the broad shoulders.

  After about another ten pumps, Tomas said, "He can't be alive after all that! Aidanna. It's no use."

  "Once more, Conn, please try!"

  All of a sudden there was a sick retching sound, and the man began to shudder underneath her like the swell of the ocean waves.

  "We did it! We did it!" Conn said in stunned surprise.

  Aidanna moved to turn him over onto his side as Declan heaved up all the seawater. Finally he lay still again, and Aidanna checked his head, and tried to stanch the flow of blood. She cradled his head in her lap, and held a cloth pressed tightly to the back of his skull.

  "How do you feel? Do you know me, Declan?" she asked softly, her wet auburn tresses hanging over them both like a curtain.

  "Aidanna," he gasped hoarsely. "God, I must be in heaven." He took her hand and kissed it, then stroked her cheek, shoulder and breast in a sweeping caress, before he fainted away, leaving her staring in embarrassed confusion at the two young men who knelt by her side.

  "Get him below, take those wet things off him, will you, Conn?" Aidanna asked, for Tomas had turned away, and was avoiding looking at her.

  "I'm sorry, Tomas, I didn't ask him to kiss or touch me," she apologised, but she knew in her heart she was lying. For the shocking truth was, she had wanted to be touched, loved by Declan ever since she had first laid eyes on him in the dim torchlight in her bedroom.

  "No, I know you didn't, Aidanna, but he's a Burke. It's an insult."

  "That isn't the only thing that's bothering you, is it?" Aidanna asked softly.

  "Now is not the time to talk about it, when you're soaking wet," he said, trying to lead her to the cabin where some spare clothes were kept, but Aidanna pulled her arm away.

  "Tell me now. What is it that troubles you?"

  "Luck, Fate, it brought you here just in time to save him, just as he saved you. Almost like you were meant to be together...."

  "Tomas, it's not like you to be so superstitious." Aidanna frowned. "It was a remarkable occurrence, true, but you surely don't blame me for rescuing him, not after all he did for me in spite of Donal's opposition."

  "No, of course not, but if you will forgive my saying this, the last thing I want is you being given away in another dynastic marriage for the sake of your father and the clan."

  "What makes you think that will happen?" Aidanna gasped. "For Heavens sake, Tomas, I only just met the man!"

  She tried to laugh it off lightheartedly, but Tomas grabbed her by the shoulders, and stroked the damp tendrils of hair from her face.

  "I'm not talking about you marrying Declan Burke! I'm talking about you marrying me."

  Aidanna stood there stunned, as Tomas stooped to kiss her, but then he
pulled back hastily, and released her with a sigh.

  "Aidanna, I've dreamt for years that you would be mine, but I know now, if I took you as my wife, it would just be a dynastic marriage to cement the O'Flaherty alliance with the O'Donnells. After all this latest trouble, it would be all too easy to pressure you into marrying me, for you need my protection. I could take advantage of your defenseless position to get into your bed, but I love you so much, I have to let you go."

  His voice cracked for a moment, but he took a deep breath, and his green eyes bored into her grey ones as he declared, "You are under no obligation to me any longer. I would only ask one favour, and that is to consider me as you brother. I can never replace Cathal, I know, and I can never be the man who makes you happy night and day, but I do love you with all my heart."

  Aidanna hugged Tomas close. "I'm sorry, Tomas, I've tried to tell you that my feelings just don't run that way toward you. I can't be the tame wife you want. You love me because I'm wild. If you tried to make me docile and tractable, we would both end up miserable. We're good partners on the high seas, but you would always want me to stay at home safe, while you traveled and took on all the risks yourself."

  Tomas nodded. "The sea is a dangerous place, Aidanna. My wife would have to stay at home with our children, though I can see now how little that would appeal to you. I love you enough to love you as you are, and would not try to change you."

  "Well, we're agreed, then, and I am sorry if you've been hurt."

  "It isn't your fault, but I tell you now, Aidanna, so you will be certain, Declan is the one."

  Aidanna laughed uncomfortably, and shrugged. "I know your mother was the O'Donnell wise woman, but this is all nonsense, a fortuitous coincidence, nothing more. I shall go below now to put on some dry things, and while I do, can you head for Kilgeever to drop off my share of the cargo, and then go on to Inishmuc?"

  "Aye, it's dark already. We must stay the night, and I would not remain on the mainland with so much stolen cargo."

  A coracle hastily rowed to Kilgeever Bay, and then they turned the boat and rowed out to Inishmuc. The wind had died down, and as Aidanna stood in the prow, Conn read her thoughts and said, "Declan is in great danger, isn't he?"

  Aidanna nodded. "Even if he survives his experience, what then? He could accuse Donal, but with what support? What proof? I've rescued him! It will look like a conspiracy that he protected me, and I helped him in exchange."

  "We could just send him back to England," Conn offered.

  "But he isn't well enough to travel yet."

  "Well, Ruairi will take him in, and we can go to Scotland with the cargo."

  "Or, I can look after him, find out what he knows. Maybe I can clear my name."

  "But Aidanna, he was convinced that you were responsible for the death of Diarmuid! He'll hate you!"

  "Not if he meets Diarmuid, finds out the whole truth," Aidanna argued.

  Conn protested, "How can we be sure he is worthy of trust? Perhaps this was all part of a scheme to get at Diarmuid, kill him?"

  Aidanna looked at her cousin sharply, and said, "Would you be willing to be beaten and drowned to help Donal? It seems a funny test of family loyalty to me!

  "Besides, they never saw our ship, for they made no sign, nor called a hail to us. No, Declan was being used in all of this, and Donal now thinks him dead. Even if he suddenly came back to life, there is nothing to stop Donal from harming him, even in England if need be.

  "Maybe that's why Donal wanted him, for all of Declan's English property and prestige in London under the patronage of the Duke of Norfolk as well?" she speculated boldly.

  "Possibly, but what can you do?"

  "First of all, take him to the hideaway, and find out what he really knows."

  "Aidanna, a thaisce, this game of yours could be dangerous," Conn warned.

  "Don't worry. Declan helped me, for no reason. I've saved his life. He'll help me again, of that I'm sure. Tomas has seen it in the stars," she said with a grin.

  Conn's eyes widened. "Well, in that case…" he trailed off, and walked away without another word.

  Aidanna was astonished at how seriously Conn had taken her last witty remark, and tried not to let her heart dance at the fact that by a wonderful twist of fate, Declan was now with her. She went back to her nursing duties with a sober but glad heart. He would get well, and if he was half the man she hoped he was, Donal would pay. And if he was all the man she hoped he was, she would be a most fortunate woman.

  Once they landed at Inishmuc, Conn and Tomas carried Declan's prone form over the causeway to the secret cave, while Aidanna got provisions and a lantern from her uncle. She also got several walnuts, which she brewed up in a pot, and demanded that her uncle cut her hair to her shoulders.

  "But Aidanna, this is ridiculous! What do you hope to achieve from this masquerade?" her uncle protested mildly, as he reluctantly made his first snip.

  "He thinks Aidanna O'Flaherty murdered Diarmuid Burke. I shall become Diarmuid, see what he wants, what he knows. It will be fine," she reassured Ruairi, as she smudged the walnut stain over her face and hands in order to conceal the last remnants of her ugly facial bruises. Then she poured the remaining dye in her hair, and tied it up in a cloth turban while she gathered up some of Conn's spare clothes and her own and bound them in a large bundle.

  Then she called, "I'll see you soon, Uncle Ruairi,"

  Then she padded down to the secret causeway, which was actually a stone bridge built two feet under that water, and made so contortedly that only the person who knew the right number of steps could get across without falling in.

  As she neared the cave, she saw a warm glow, and overheard Tomas and Conn discussing whether or not one of them should remain with her.

  "Don't be silly, I don't need any help with my patient, and in any case, you have got to get that cargo well away from here soon. No, go to Scotland, and come back as soon as you can."

  "Be careful, a thaisce," Conn warned, and kissed her goodbye.

  "I always am, Conn," she replied. "Love to Aine when you see her."

  "I'll bring her out for a visit when it's safe, I promise," Conn said, and strode up the beach.

  She stooped low to get through the cave entrance.

  "You'll be all right?" Tomas asked, but it seemed more of a statement than a question.

  Aidanna nodded.

  Tomas lifted a hand to her cheek. "Look after yourself, and be happy."

  His farewell seemed so final, she felt an odd pang. "I will see you again, won't I, Tomas?" Aidanna pleaded, suddenly fearful.

  "You will, I promise, though it may not be for some time," he predicted. With one last long look, he vanished from the cave.

  Aidanna paused pensively for a moment, then ran out after him. He was already too far away to speak with, and she knew in her heart that to call him back would be the worst folly for them both. She had to let him go, as he was so generously releasing her from any hope of their one day marrying.

  It would be a good match, polite, civilized, but she had had that already. No, she was eighteen now, a woman full grown, with only a few years left to her. Mayhap even a few days. Donal had nearly taken her life. He had tried to drown Declan. It was a sobering thought. Life was too short for regrets. However long she had left in the world, she wanted to be true to herself, and live with passion and conviction, not out of fear.

  She followed Tomas with her eyes as his dark form disappeared over the causeway and down to the inlet, and shivered with cold and dread. Really, it was too silly of her to be worried. But in all the years she had known Tomas, she had never seen him behave so oddly.

  Aidanna tried not to let Tomas' superstitious predictions disturb her, but all the same, she feared that it might indeed be the last time she ever saw her foster-brother and closest friend.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The next morning dawned sunny and bright, and though her patient gave no sign of wakening, neither did he give Aidanna any indicati
on that he had taken a turn for the worse in the night. They had shared a large feather bed which Aidanna had made herself years before, and Declan had been still and quiet, his breathing deep and steady.

  Reminiscing, Aidanna chuckled to herself at the skill and stealth which had gone into their secret cave far away from Uncle Ruairi's lessons. She and Cathal had started the tradition with Conn and Tomas, all fostered in the same house, and sent to school on the island to be spared the irascible temper of her father, Murtagh.

  Then a few years later, her half-sister Aine had been born, but her mother had died in childbirth as well, and she had grown up as motherless like the four "lion cubs," as Ruairi had dubbed his first set of wards.