by G L Roberts
“There were carefree days of youth for me as well,” Bryn said. “Though, our quest to find your true love turned out to be something altogether different and strange. Any regrets?”
“Not unless you insist you live somewhere other than my realm.”
“Lynder, you know I cannot reside at the Keep. In time, without either one of us wishing it, my crown would usurp yours. I will not allow that to happen.”
“And the only way to keep that from happening would be for you to live in the far north of Alban.”
“I believe that to be true.” Bryn led Thalynder to An-Yun and stopped at the dragon’s tail. “With Jend as your captain, would you not be able to spend generous amounts of time with me in the North?”
“I would. You know I would try.”
“Then why such a long face?”
“I have grown accustomed to sleeping with you at my back,” Thalynder said. “And what of children? Will we have children?”
“Of course,” Bryn said. “We will raise them together.”
“In both the North and the South?”
“Thalynder, when we have children, we will raise them all over Alban. Our children must be aware of all the clanns and kingdoms. Our children are the hope and future of this island. Would not the best thing for our country, be children who consider the entire nation their home?”
Thalynder chuckled. “You are the diplomat and a leader, whether you realize it or not. I have said so in the past. You have this all planned out.”
“I have ideas only. I will share them in time with the council. My wish is to have all our children; yours, Malcolm’s, Rythale’s, all the council’s children, know this entire island as their home.”
“Until then?”
“Until then, we bind this council to each other.”
“How do you plan to accomplish this?”
Bryn took Thalynder’s hand. “Another idea,” she said. “Kiss me now. We fly to Skerrabrae where I will sleep at your back.”
The council mounted their dragons and lifted off toward Skerrabrae. Bryn looked over at the others and felt the sting of tears in her eyes.
This will not be easy. Bryn said to Meydra’s heart.
Not all will see the need, Meydra replied.
Then we must convince them.
The village of Skerrabrae was dark when the council arrived. The dragons stepped down at the edge of the deserted shelters and waited for their riders to dismount. One by one the dragons lifted again and flew to the hills surrounding three sides of the village. Meydra was the last to leave.
“I will be at the cairn of the ancients,” she said.
“Tell the others I will be out later to see them,” Bryn said. She placed her hands on Meydra’s cheeks, and they touched foreheads. Meydra lifted, flying to the hill behind the village where many dragons sat in watch over the cairn and its precious contents.
Bryn led the others into the main house. Bryn lit several candles, and Arryn lit the peat fuel in the central floor hearth. The room glowed with the amber light of the candles and burning peat. Kenna removed her cloak and took out a large bowl from an alcove in the far wall of the room. She looked over the contents and smiled.
“We will need more than these few berries if we are to make a meal tonight.”
“Ah,” Malcolm said. He unslung his pack from his shoulder and poured the contents on the floor. “Will this do?”
Chunks of dried fish and seaweed spilled out of the pack.
Kenna laughed. “Yes, I will get water, and we will make a warm stew.”
“I have bread from the meal this morning,” Arryn said. “Lady Arlendyl insisted I take a few loaves.”
“We have our meal,” Leus said.
Bryn patted Leus on the shoulder. “Indeed, and you will find mead in the alcove where Kenna found the bowl. I suggest the rest of us make this room comfortable. We will spend a few hours talking before sleep.”
While the others started in on making the stew and stoking the fire, the remaining members gathered the fur pelts for the stone benches. The cold room began to warm from the central hearth and the candles. Soon the cloaks joined the fur pelts on the seats. By the time the stew was ready, the room was warm and the occupants comfortable.
“We are best when we can let down our guard,” Arryn said. “This is the council of friends I cherish.”
“Remember when we first met?” Kenna said. “You were accompanying two young women through the woods to the North country.”
“Oh, I remember very well,” Arryn said. “The princess was on a quest to find true love. That was the beginning of our adventure.”
“We met at Loch Nis,” Malcolm said. “Our dragons had taken us there, but we were not sure why. Kenna, Lothan, and I had met only hours before you arrived. It was not until Bryn explained that a high dragon had died, did we understand why we were at the loch.”
“There was so much sadness in the air,” Lothan said. “We could tell our dragons were weighed down with the sadness.”
“And were you on the backs of dragons?” Cinnia asked.
“No, we were on horseback,” Thalynder said. “Meydra was our lookout. She spotted the raiders, and we took to the loch.”
“What led you to confront the Norse at that time?” Cinnia asked.
“Information at first,” Arryn said. “We wanted to know why they were in our country, so long into the year.”
“It was summer. The Norse rarely stayed on Alban after the winter because of the spring storms,” Bryn said. She sat down on one of the benches. “This was something new, and it felt important to understand why.”
“I for one am grateful you felt it important,” Rythale said. “Your desire for information, saved my brother, Rylan.”
“Your brother?”
“Yes, Cinnia, my brother was taken in a spring raid and was on his way to Götaland as a slave. This group banded together and saved my brother.”
“And killed the heir to the tribe of Götaland,” Arryn said. “Heardred’s wrath would not diminish until he had the heads of those who killed his son Helstun.”
“And in his rush to take our lives, his step-sons lost their own lives. Heardred’s blind fury forced his hand and ours,” Malcolm said.
“There is one other thing Heardred lost when he became blinded by hate,” Bryn said. “He lost the respect of his daughter. She turned from Heardred’s god. She turned from Heardred’s ill sought revenge. That is what saved Hansa’s life.”
“And perhaps the lives of the druids who have remained in Götaland,” Cinnia said. “My father believes that even if Heardred succeeded in finding you and taking your life, he would have returned to his tribe and slain all the druids. He hated you so much.”
“He hated what we represent,” Bryn said. “Loyalty without fear and love without regret. Heardred never understood the druids, and he was filled with hate for anything which did not fit his mould, even with your mother's help.”
“Do you believe we will have lasting peace between us?” Thalynder asked.
Bryn stared into the fire. “I do believe there will be peace. I can even see a time when the Norse will live with us, marry Albans, raise families, and call this island home. There is another threat from Götaland, of that I am certain. But it comes at a time when, with Hansa’s help, the threat will have little substance.” Bryn ran her hands over her tunic and held the hem with her fingers. “Our biggest threat now lies to the South. Hansa told me of a rumor of troops of Romans heading toward Götaland. If they are on the move, we will also be a destination.”
Arryn poked the fire with a stick. “I have heard that Romans, though more civilized than tribes of the Norse, are determined soldiers, similar to the Gauls. Dying on their swords rather than be taken as prisoners. Falling before their Tribunes to provide substance in the mud for their horses.”
Malcolm rolled his eyes and sighed. “And druids eat babies and sacrifice virgins. We are certain to be on the minds of the Romans.
If they have heard the same stories as the Gauls and the Norse, then we will be as much a subject of worry to them, as they are to us. There will always be others out there who would challenge our defenses.”
“Our island is small in comparison to most of the countries on the other continent. This we know to be true,” Lothan said.
“True about the size,” Thalynder said. “But our armies are strong. Our people brave.”
“And for now, we are a united people,” Rythale said. She reached out and ruffled the top of Leus’ hair.
Leus, sitting on the ground next to where Rythale sat on a bench, looked up at her and smiled.
“I would like to make a journey to the sea between us and the continent to the south of us,” Leus said. “We could see for ourselves what these Romans are made of. Smoke and mist, or flesh and blood.”
“That is an excellent idea,” Arryn said. “A glimpse of what to expect in numbers. The chance to see how they are armed. What do you think, Bryn?”
“I think it would be to our advantage to know what we face,” Bryn said. “As a council, we will consider it. Before we do so, I have another journey for us to make.”
Thalynder had been watching Bryn. The way she held onto the hem of her tunic worried Thalynder. “Where to?”
“The frozen north,” Bryn said, “and the cavern of the high dragon.”
The weather had turned wet and windy shortly after sunset and the council decided to make the most of the large room and the central hearth. Thalynder had tossed some of the pelts into the corner and pointed at them.
“Will you find sleep tonight?” she whispered.
Bryn softly chuckled. “So much has happened that this respite seems unwarranted, odd even.”
“We find a moment of peace and quiet, and you find it odd. That, my love, is the biggest gulf between our thinking. I find the chance to sleep with you behind me, a gift. You, on the other hand, feel you do not deserve the opportunity to rest.”
“I never find sleeping next to you undeserved, my Lynder. Here, lay down and I will tell you a bedtime story, one about odd things.”
“Speak not of odd things tonight. Let us lay here and listen to the crackle of the fire and the wail of the wind.” Thalynder lay down on the pelts. Bryn sat down next to her and took her hand.
“Oh, but these odd things have become the things I now hold dear,” Bryn said.
Arryn turned to face the women and saw Bryn sitting in the glow of the fire. She held Thalynder’s hand in her lap.
Bryn touched the gem on the top of Thalynder’s hand. “We spoke earlier about how we all met. It was the coincidence of a chance meeting with the death of a dragon. Add the off chance the Norse raiders stayed overlong through the spring only to be returning home as we started our own summer journey. To this, add the idea of druids in Götaland steering Heardred’s tribe to a belief in a fantastic story about a lost jewel. These things may seem odd on the surface to the countryfolk and outlying clanns. They were odd even to the gentry and the royals.”
Leus sat up and listened. His hand rested on Rythale’s arm.
“But no one questioned the fact we were going north to the Stones of Staenis. Those whom you, Arryn and I met along the way, willingly followed. Why do you think this was?”
Kenna turned toward Bryn and leaned on an elbow.
“They trusted us, even back then when we first met,” Thalynder said.
“Yes, they trusted us—three travelers from another realm. Perhaps, it was that they had met each other and had gotten over the strangeness of meeting others on the same path. Perhaps, it was the idea of an adventure in the lazy days of summer persuaded them to join us. I believe it was something else.”
“What do you believe?”
Arryn watched Bryn’s face in the amber light of the fire. The jewel on his wrist held the same firelight. As Bryn continued, the light at his wrist changed as she spoke.
“I believe we were each born to be here at this very spot at this very moment,” Bryn said. “I believe we can alter our perception of our future, but only our perception. Things are moving about us, driving us forward on a path. The weather might cause us to take refuge in a tree hollow instead of continuing to the next village. When we do arrive at the village, there we meet a stranger who holds an answer to a question we thought unanswerable. We were given the gift of the stranger’s knowledge. We could spend the rest of our life looking for the answer, but there it was, in the words of a stranger. That stranger became a friend. That friend became an ally. We were all the better for having first sought refuge in the tree hollow.”
“Then we each hold something which speaks to the stranger, something the stranger then recognizes as an answer?” Thalynder asked.
“Yes, we each hold a little spark that ignites something in others.”
Thalynder reached up and touched the embroidered Tree of Life on Bryn’s tunic. “You were the spark, Bryn. I would not have held the attention of the others as you did.”
“When we first met the others, I was certain they were meant to be in our lives. I felt drawn to each one of them.”
“You spoke of the cavern earlier,” Thalynder said. “Why do you take us there now?”
Bryn softly sighed. “I wanted to find a way to bind this council together. I want each of them, and you, to see we are meant to be together. It was not an accident we were drawn to each other.”
“And you think we will find it at the cavern?”
“I know we will.”
The rain let up just as the thought of sunrise kissed the horizon. The clouds were still very dark, and the wind was just as strong as the night before. Bryn stood in the doorway of the room and looked out toward the sea. The others were only just beginning to stir. Bryn had placed another peat log into the fire and had been to the well to fetch water. Her cloak lay over a bench near the fire.
Arryn stood up and stretched. He walked up to the doorway and touched Bryn’s arm. Quietly he said, “The dawn is muted.”
“Winter comes quickly now,” Bryn whispered. “Soon there will be more of gray to the sky than anything else here in Skerrabrae.”
“How long is the journey to the cavern?”
“It will take nearly two days on the backs of dragons. Have you ever slept on the back of FireSong?”
Arryn chuckled. “I have dozed now and then and came quickly awake for fear of falling.”
Bryn smiled. “It seems unnatural at first, but I have found I sleep deepest on the back of a dragon.”
“And for those of us who are as untested as you on a dragon’s back?” Leus asked. He stood next to Arryn and stared out at the movements of the sea.
“Trust your dragon,” Bryn said. “We will only stop for short periods to take a meal or stretch our legs.”
Kenna walked over to the others. She placed her hand on Leus’ shoulder. “What will we need in the way of provisions for the trip?”
Bryn looked at Kenna and saw the rest of the company was awake and moving about the lodge. “Since you are all awake, let us break our fast and talk about the journey north.” She led the others back into the room.
The morning meal finished up the leftovers from the supper of the night before. No more peat was added to the fire, and it began to die out. Bryn walked over to the alcove and the stair leading down to the cairn below.
“There are items in the cairn we should take with us to the cavern,” she said. “Some dried food and heavy cloaks. There are one or two other items I would like each of you to carry. Come with me.”
Arryn and Kenna pushed the door in the floor to the side. Rythale held a torch in front of her and led the way down into the cairn. She lit the other torches in the wall as she entered the room below.
“Here is where we saw the banner come to life,” Thalynder said.
“And the ancient book,” Kenna said.
“Here too, we pledged ourselves to Alban,” Arryn said.
“It is a strange room, yet it feels so
mehow familiar,” Cinnia said.
“Your mother and father would have had a room like this when you were little,” Bryn said. “It is the storeroom of the druids. It is where we archive our lives and hope to leave a legacy for our children.”
“The royals have such rooms,” Malcolm said. “Only we keep them above ground to share with the masses.”
Bryn touched Malcolm on the shoulder. “True. And the elves have their record halls. The Picts paint their bodies and their walls with their history. For the druids, it was this design. A room buried below, not to keep others out, but to preserve the history. If the village above were destroyed, the cairn below would be untouched. It may remain undisturbed for generations, but the knowledge it contained would remain until found.”
“In harsh places, like the winters here in Skerrabrae, I could see why underground would be the best location,” Lothan said. “Queen Betony kept all her writings in a stone broch.”
“What should we take?” Thalynder asked.
Bryn pointed to a large chest against one wall. “There, in the chest, are the cloaks you will need for the journey. In the alcoves, you will find small bags of dried berries and dried fish. You should each take a cloak and food. When you have those things, I have something else for each of you to carry with you.” Bryn turned to look down an unlit hall. “We will find those other things in a separate room through here.”
The company did as they were told and each grabbed a heavy wool cloak from the chest. They each took a bag of dried berries and dried fish.
“Good,” Bryn said. She took a torch from the wall. “Follow me.”
Bryn led the way into the darkened hall. The walls, like those in the other room, were lined with stone tightly fit together. There were other torches in the walls, but Bryn did not light them. The hall had several alcoves that in the dark you could not tell what they held. The others caught a glimpse of small personal items in the nooks as Bryn’s torch touched them momentarily with light. A hairbrush and faded ribbons in one niche caught Thalynder’s eye.