With the porridge bubbling he took two large sticks and lifted the pot from the fire, setting it on a rock to cool. When I get back, he thought, I will write to Aunt Maev asking if Banny can join me. He would like it here. No-one need know of his mixed blood. Not that it would matter, he realized, since Banny was a southerner like himself, and would largely be ignored. Kaelin smiled. Banny had always wished to be treated like a clansman. Here he would be accepted as such - and treated the same anyway.
After a while he ate the oats, enjoying the deep warmth in his belly. Then he chewed on some salt beef, drank from the stream, and settled down beside his fire. Lying on his back he looked up at the stars and fell into a dreamless sleep.
A noise awoke him just after dawn. It was the sound of snuffling and tearing. Keeping very still he opened his eyes. A large brown bear was ripping at his food sack.
Kaelin stayed motionless. The bear pushed his head into the bag, then shook it. The oats spilled out, followed by the salt beef and the cheese. Kaelin considered discharging one of his pistols to frighten the beast away, but there was little point now. The sack was ruined, the food spread over the ground. It did not take the bear long to devour the supplies. It padded around the camp site, then ambled towards where he lay. Kaelin closed his eyes. He felt the bear's nose brush against his cheek, and smelled the musty odour of its fur. Then it swung away and padded off into the pines.
Kaelin waited until it was gone from sight, then rose. The sound of soft, contemptuous laughter came to him. Whipping his knife from its sheath he spun towards the sound - to see the red-headed girl who had been with Call Jace sitting on a broad branch ten feet above the edge of his camp site. She no longer wore the bonnet cap and her hair hung free, framing her face.
'What are you laughing at?' he asked, aware of the foolishness of the question even as he asked it.
'Do you learn nothing in the south?' she countered. 'What kind of a fool sets his camp alongside the tracks of a bear? Could you not see that this is where old Shabba comes to drink in the morning?'
'Obviously not,' he replied, reddening. Sheathing his knife he moved to the canvas sack, which was ruined, and retrieved the tinderbox, the cooking pot and the spoon.
'It will be a hungry day for you,' she said, reaching into a pouch hanging from her belt and pulling clear an oatcake, which she began to eat.
'I'm surprised you didn't slit my throat while I slept,' said Kaelin.
'Bael will do that,' she said. 'Wouldn't be fair to rob him of his fun.'
'I take it I'll get dinner first,' he said.
'Of course. We are not barbarians.' Rising, she walked lithely along the branch and began to climb down the trunk. Reaching the ground she strolled over to him. Kaelin looked into her green eyes and felt lost for words. 'Now you are gawping again,' she said. 'Did you not get into enough trouble for that last time?'
'Gawping?'
'You were staring at me. It made my father angry - which is why he spoke as he did. Do you learn no manners in the south?'
'Obviously there is much we do not learn in the south,' he said, anger rising.
'I didn't think you would come,' she said, moving away from him to the stream. Squatting down, she cupped her hands and drank. 'You are not a wise man, Kaelin Ring.' The sound of his name from her lips was like music. She came back to the centre of the camp and sat down. 'My father likes those pistols. Perhaps if you gave them to him he would forgive you.'
'What is your name?'
'Chara.'
His face registered his shock. She was surprised at his reaction. 'You do not like the name?' she asked.
'It is a good name.'
'Then what is wrong?'
'Nothing.' He pushed himself to his feet. 'Let us be on our way.'
Chara Jace had not been truthful with the young southerner. She had expected him to agree to her father's invitation. In fact she had pressed her father to offer it. Chara tried to convince herself it was so she could watch the arrogant boy being humiliated. It was not so.
As she walked alongside him she could not stop herself from occasionally glancing at him. He was handsome, his face strong, his movements graceful. His handling of the situation with the bear impressed her. Many men, upon waking, would have reacted with sudden shock. They might have shouted, or leapt up. He had lain still and calm, even as old Shabba had nuzzled his face. Yet this same calm young man had reacted with cold and terrifying violence when struck by Bael. He hadn't lashed back. He had walked into his house and emerged with two silver pistols. It was a miracle that Bael was still alive.
Bael had recovered his senses after an hour, and been able to walk unaided. He had talked in camp that night of returning and killing the southerner. Call Jace would have none of it. 'I allowed the matter to get out of hand,' he said. 'I should not have insulted him. He may be Varlish-tainted, but he is still Rigante. By heaven, he showed that!'
'The brat shot me!' said Bael. 'I cannot allow it to pass. And you had every right to insult him. Hell's teeth, Father, he all but stripped Chara with his eyes.'
'I know.' Call had turned to Chara then. 'What do you think we should do, lass?'
'I don't care, Father.'
'I didn't ask if you cared. How would you deal with this situation?'
'He did not pay the tribute, so he has broken the agreement made by his aunt. We should take all his cattle from the high pasture, drive them south and sell them.'
'Aye, that's a good thought. But what of the man himself? You think he should die?'
Chara had thought about this, recalling the dark-eyed young man, and how she had felt with those eyes upon her. ‘I’ll need to think on it further,' she said.
'Good. Decisions about life and death should never be made in a hurry,' he said.
The following day Finbarr Ustal had arrived with the tribute, and the message from Kaelin Ring. 'I am welcome at his house?' said Call Jace.
'That's what he said, lord,' replied Finbarr.
'And nothing else?'
'Not a word. I asked him if he wanted me to apologize on his behalf and he said no.'
Call swung to Chara. 'Any further thoughts, lass?'
'Aye, Father. Invite him to visit. If you are welcome at his house then he should be welcome at yours.'
'I like that plan,' said Bael. 'My head will ache the less when I've cut him a little.'
'You will stay the night, Finbarr, and enjoy our hospitality,' said Call Jace. 'Then tomorrow you will go home and pass on my invitation to the southerner.'
'Yes, lord.'
Towards noon Chara led Kaelin away from the road and down to the shores of a small lake. The sun was bright in a clear blue sky, the air fresh and cool. 'Do you swim, southerner?' she asked him.
'Not well.'
'This is Crystal Tears Lake. It was said to be blessed by the Seidh a thousand years ago. If you dive deep you can see into the past.'
'How can anyone see into the past?'
'Swim with me and I'll show you.'
'Why not?' said Kaelin Ring.
Chara pulled off her green woollen shirt and leggings and shoes and waded out naked into the cold water. Kaelin stood for a moment watching her. She looked round. 'Are you going to stand there gawping again, or are you going to swim?'
Sitting down, Kaelin tugged off his moccasins, undressed and followed her. She dived below the surface. Taking a deep breath he followed. The water was clear and Kaelin saw an old pike dart behind some rocks. Chara was just ahead. She paused in her swim and pointed at what, at first, seemed to be a pillar of rock. Kaelin swam closer. It was the head of a colossal statue, half buried in the earth, the head fully twenty feet high. It was of a man with a heavily curled beard. He was wearing a crown. Kaelin's lungs were straining and he kicked out for the surface.
Chara came up alongside him, and they trod water. 'Who is it? Connavar? Bane?' asked Kaelin.
'The Dweller says it is far older than Rigante history,' she told him. 'Further on there are drow
ned houses of white stone, and many more statues. I found a small square of gold there once. It had engravings on it. The Dweller told me it was a coin in ancient times, used by a race now vanished from the world.' She looked at him closely. 'Your lips are turning blue with cold. You need to get out of the water.'
Together they swam for the shore. Kaelin was shivering as he waded to the bank. Chara ran past him and sat down, draping her woollen shirt over her shoulders.
'Be so good as to dress,' he said, not looking at her.
‘I’d like to dry off first.'
Kaelin struggled into his trews, and donned the buckskin shirt. ‘I’ll wager that feels uncomfortable,' she said. 'All that water dripping on your skin.'
'Aye, it is,' he agreed, buckling on his belt.
'Why does my nakedness bother you?'
'It is not seemly.'
She laughed. 'That is a Varlish concept, Kaelin Ring. How many more of their ways have you drawn into your heart?'
'What do you mean?' he asked, finally turning towards her.
'The Keltoi have never been ashamed of their bodies. But the Varlish teach of the evil of nakedness.'
He sat down and looked away towards the lake. Then he sighed. 'I think you are right,' he said. 'We live among them and we absorb their ways without even knowing it. We think we are holding to our culture, but it is an illusion. Clan children are born and no-one gives them soul-names. We buy our clothes from Varlish stores, we learn in Varlish schools, and we no longer speak the language of our ancestors. They are stealing our souls and we do not notice.' He fell silent for a while. Then he glanced at her and smiled. He looked suddenly young, she thought; almost vulnerable. 'I am sorry I spoke like a Varlish. You are very beautiful. The most beautiful girl I have ever seen.'
'Have you seen many naked women?'
'I haven't seen any - well, until now.'
She laughed. Then it is not much of a compliment, Kaelin Ring.'
'I guess not, Chara Jace.'
She lifted the woollen shirt over her head and slipped into it. Then she shivered. 'That's better,' she said. 'Tell me, why did my name seem to upset you?'
At first she thought he had ignored the question, for he looked away once more. When he spoke his voice was heavy with sadness. 'I knew someone with that name,' he said at last. 'A sweet girl. She wanted to walk with me to the Beltine Feast.'
'She was smitten by you?'
‘I think that she was. Because of it she was raped and murdered by two Varlish.'
The words hung in the air between them. Chara did not know what to say. Rape was a rare crime in the highlands, but to murder a woman? As the silence grew she knew she had to say something to break it. 'I am so sorry, Kaelin. Did you love her?'
'I did not - though I regarded her highly. Still, she was attacked because of me. Had she fallen for one of her own kind she would now be walking the hills and enjoying the sunshine.'
'Did they hang the men who did it?' asked Chara.
'No. Someone hunted them down and killed them.'
'Someone?'
He looked uncomfortable. 'It was never discovered who.' He looked at her and smiled, but she could see the smile was forced. 'I am sorry I lost my temper with your father, and that I was gawping at you.' It was a clumsy attempt to change the subject, but she accepted it without comment.
'Well, I forgive you. Perhaps my father will too.'
'And what of Bael?'
Now it was Chara who looked away. 'He is a proud man, Kaelin. I think that he will challenge you.'
'Do you care for him?'
'Of course I care for him. He is my brother.' Pulling on her leggings and shoes Chara rose. 'We should be there by dusk,' she said.
Call Jace was troubled. A strong man, he liked to believe he was in control of his life and the security of his clan. Mostly this was true, but occasionally, as now, he was forced into the realization that sometimes a situation would develop its own momentum. Attempts to change its course were fraught with peril.
Bael was right. Kaelin Ring had stared at Chara with undisguised longing. This had caused momentary irritation. As a result he had insulted the boy. Who could have foreseen the outcome? That Bael was alive was little short of a miracle. The problem now was partly one of perception. Call bore no grudge against Kaelin Ring, but this was beside the point. The Black Rigante prospered because of the tributes paid by all landowners and farmers. Those tributes were not, in the main, paid out of love or respect. Fear was the foundation. The hard-won reputation of the clan was that they made merciless and deadly enemies. Now this incident would be the talk of Black Mountain and surrounding settlements. The clan chieftain had been struck, his son shot, by a southern boy. Without retribution the clan reputation would suffer, and others might think of denying tribute. The easy answer was to let Bael kill the boy. Yet easy answers, he knew, were often wrong.
He left the big house and wandered out into the foothills, on the long walk to Shrine Hollow. He hoped the Dweller would be home, but she had not been seen for some months, and he doubted he would be able to call on her wisdom.
Shrine Hollow was a place of mystery and quiet beauty within the forest. In the late afternoon shafts of sunlight speared through gaps in the trees, bathing the forest floor in gold. A man could sit here, close his eyes, and almost hear the whisper of the Seidh flowing back through the centuries. Call always came here when he was troubled. He sat for a while, listening to the birdsong, then climbed to the western lip of the hollow and stood looking out over the glittering waters of Sorrow Bird Lake. In the distance, due west, the mountains dipped and rose sharply, forming a V-shaped goblet into which the sun sank. At sunset the iron grey waters would become bright bronze and crimson, as if the dying sun had melted and was flowing under the mountains. Call Jace had never lost the sense of wonder inspired by Sorrow Bird Lake and Shrine Hollow.
Shading his eyes against the harsh sunlight, he stared out at the large island at the centre of the lake. Huge trees grew there, oak and ash, and a few silver birch. There was a small bay on the eastern shore. The Dweller's boat was not there. Call was disappointed. She often had glimpses of the future, and he needed such a glimpse now.
He had sent Chara and Wullis Swainham to scout for Kaelin Ring. Once they had seen him make camp Chara had ordered Wullis to return and report. Which meant that Chara was seeking time alone with Kaelin Ring. Had she taken a fancy to the young man? Call hoped not. There were enough complications already.
He walked back down to Shrine Hollow, took a silver flask from the pocket of his coat and deep drank. The uisge was cask mellowed and twenty years old. It flowed into his throat like silken fire. Holding out his arm he tipped a measure to the earth. 'For the children of the Seidh,' he said.
He heard movement from the east and turned towards the sound. Bael appeared. He had removed the bandage from his head and the ten stitches could be seen upon the scabs covering the wound. 'I thought you would be here, Father,' he said. 'No sign of the Dweller?'
'No.' Call tossed him the flask. Bael took a deep swallow.
'Man, that's good.'
'The water of life. What brings you here?'
'I wanted to tell you that I'd abide by any decision you make. If you desire me to offer no challenge I'll accept it.'
'You are a Rigante, Bael. You have reached majority. The clan chief cannot order you to accept an insult.'
'I know. I wasn't thinking of you as the clan chief, but as my father. I will do whatever you require.'
Thank you, lad. I wish that I had not insulted the boy. His reaction was courageous. Three armed highlanders and he did not hesitate to attack. I respect that. However, the circle must be closed. Challenge him, Bael. Swords not pistols.'
'Swords, Father? He is a southerner. Swords are forbidden to them. He will have no skill.'
'You said you would abide by my decision, Bael.'
'And I will.'
Then let's be getting back to the house. They'll be here within
the hour.'
Chara Jace had enjoyed the walk with Kaelin Ring. He wasn't like most young clan men she knew. While in her company he didn't feel the need to fill the silences with empty chatter. Nor did he seek to impress her with tales of his exploits.
She guessed, though without any real evidence, that Kaelin Ring had avenged the death of the girl back in Old Hills. Something in his expression when he spoke of the 'someone' who had killed the murderers had convinced her. Added to which she had seen the sudden violence with which he had reacted to Bael's blow. Kaelin Ring was not a man to cross. It was a disturbing thought. What if Bael challenged him and he killed Bael? The prospect made her feel cold inside. Yet what if Bael killed him?
The sun was setting as they climbed towards the stockade wall blocking the pass.
Chara paused. Kaelin walked on for several paces, then glanced back. 'Why are you waiting?'
'I think, perhaps, this is not such a good plan,' she said. She sat down on a rock. He strolled back to her.
'What is the problem?' he asked.
'I do not want Bael to kill you. And I do not want you to kill Bael,' she added hurriedly.
He looked back at the stockaded wall. 'There are guards there, and they have seen me. I cannot walk away now. Perhaps there will be no fight. I shall apologize to your father.'
'And to Bael?'
'Aye, if that is what you want. He struck me - but, on the other hand, he could have shot or stabbed me. He was defending his chieftain.'
She smiled and rose, taking his hand. 'Good,' she said. His hand was warm and she squeezed his fingers, enjoying the touch of his flesh. He made no effort to pull away.
'You say there are no soul-names in the south? We could ask the Dweller to give you one,' she said.
'I have one. I am Ravenheart.'
'I am Flame on the Water.'
They stood in silence, then Kaelin raised her hand to his lips. 'It has been good walking with you, Flame on the Water,' he said. 'Now let us go and meet your father.'
Kaelin felt a welling sense of disappointment as they passed through the stockade gates. Two sentries came down, and began laughing and joking with Chara. They were speaking Keltoi and Kaelin felt excluded. Worse, he felt as if he had lost something precious. The journey with Chara had been fulfilling in a way he had never experienced before. Her company was a delight to him. Now that company was being shared. Chara took one of the guards by the arm, a tall man, wolf lean and hard-featured. She led him to Kaelin. This is Rayster, my dearest friend,' she said. Kaelin struggled to be polite.