"Wicked," Sparrow whispered.
"Elen helped Maara to escape, not to save her life, but so that when she was caught, her flight would witness to her guilt. But she wasn't caught. She found her way to us instead."
I took time to look at the faces around the circle. I had their complete attention, as I unraveled the mystery of Maara's past.
"Maara knew that Elen would have to reward anyone who brought her back," I said. "She told the northerners she would lead them to Elen's house, if they would let me go."
I saw with satisfaction that every person there felt the touch of shame. The woman they had thought so little of, if they had thought of her at all, would have died to send me home to them.
"Did you agree to this?" Fodla asked me.
"I knew nothing about it," I replied. "Maara spoke to the northerners in their own tongue. Then she told me to go home, that she had something of value to offer them. She told me she would follow me."
"But she didn't mean to, did she?"
"No," I said. I glanced at Maara, who sat motionless, silent as a stone beside me. "I'm still angry with her about that."
"You didn't go," said Sparrow.
"No. It took me longer than it should have, but at last I guessed what she had done. She had told me about her time in Elen's house and that she had been accused of killing Elen's husband. The price on her head was the only thing of value she had to offer."
"Would you have gone to your death unresisting?" Fodla asked her.
"I kept my word," Maara said. "I led the northerners to Elen's house, and they were well rewarded for their trouble. After that I would have done all I could to save my life."
Fodla nodded. "Well done," she said.
I couldn't make up my mind if she was speaking of Maara's sacrifice or her determination to survive or both.
"What did you do?" Sparrow asked me.
"I followed them," I said. "By the time I caught up to them, they had joined a large encampment. At first I thought it was a base camp, a place from which to send out raiding parties, a place to which they could return with their wounded and their spoils, but it was so vast. Once I thought it over, there was only one explanation. They were gathering an army."
"How many were there?" Fodla asked.
"More than I could count."
"More than we were this morning?"
"Many more."
While I wondered how to explain to them why I hadn't turned back at once to warn them, Maara said, "When I saw that encampment, I knew what they intended, and I knew why. Tamras saw them from a distance. I walked among them. It was not want that set their hearts against us. It was grief."
"Do you believe they meant to do more than plunder?" Fodla asked.
"They meant to conquer," Maara said. "They made no secret of it."
I glanced at Ru. The grim look on her face told me Maara was right. All of this was news to me. I wished for time enough to hear Maara tell me everything that had happened to her during the time we were apart.
"What did you do then?" Fodla asked me.
Was she asking why I didn't return to Merin's house with a warning?
"My heart chose for me," I told her. "I followed Maara."
"Of course," she said. "But how did you follow her once she was lost among so many?"
"I knew where she was going. I believed I could find Elen's house myself, but I was wrong. I got lost in the forest, and I would be wandering there to this day if a hunter hadn't found me."
I paused for a moment, remembering my extraordinary luck.
"The fates were kind to me that day," I said. "The hunter knew the bow I carried. It is the bow that killed Eramet. Maara and I found it on the body of the man who killed her, the man Vintel murdered."
"Vintel murdered him?" Fodla asked. "When was this?"
"When she escorted Merin's prisoners to our northern border."
"I didn't know that," Fodla said.
"I did," said Sparrow. "Vintel told me she had avenged Eramet. She thought I would be pleased."
"Were you?"
Sparrow shook her head. "I took no satisfaction from it."
"What happened when the hunter found you?" Fodla asked me.
"When he recognized the bow, he brought me the brother of the man to whom it once belonged. His name is Finn, and he remembered me, because I helped the healer tend his brother's wound. I told him someone dear to me was held hostage in Elen's house and asked if he would lead me there. He did more than that. He sent for the others who had been our prisoners. Bru, the man you met this evening, is their chieftain. They have stood by me ever since and done all they could to help me. They have never forgotten what we did for them. They call Merin's house the house of kindness. It is a name we might aspire to be worthy of."
I expected Fodla to object, but she only knit her brows and glanced at Ru out of the corner of her eye.
"The next morning," I said, "they escorted me to Elen's house."
I brought a picture of the place into my mind and described it as best I could. I tried to do it justice. Anyone would see it as a lovely place, prosperous and safe, though I would always think of it with bitterness and regret. I told them how Finn and I went down into the valley and how I gained admittance to Elen's great hall. Then I stopped.
Maara leaned her shoulder against mine. "Tamras will claim she has no idea how it all came about," she said. "Perhaps she was guided by the fates, or perhaps it was her own cleverness that saved us. Whichever it was, her plan freed me from captivity and sent an army to defeat your enemies."
Maara paused to enjoy the silence of anticipation, as her listeners waited to hear how it was done.
"It was the simplest of plans," she said. "Tamras told Elen that an army of the northern tribes had gathered on her eastern border. I know Elen, and I know how she heard that news. She wouldn't believe they intended to make war on anyone but her. Tamras saw what she believed and encouraged her to believe it. Because a band of northerners had brought me to her only a few days before, Elen assumed I must be involved in their plot, though what good I could have done them as Elen's prisoner I can't imagine. At any rate, when Elen led her warriors out against the northern army, she took me along with them as a hostage."
"And what of Tamras?" Fodla asked. "Did she take Tamras too?"
"Elen locked me up," I said, "but I escaped. I left Elen's house in the middle of the night and went to the place where Finn was waiting for me. Bru and his men were there too when I arrived. In the morning we followed Elen's army to the battlefield."
"Did you see the battle?" Sparrow asked me.
"We were a day too late," I replied. "We saw only the dead."
"Were you a witness to it?" Ru asked Maara.
"No," she said. "Elen kept me under guard in this encampment."
"So you were still Elen's prisoner," Fodla said.
"I was," said Maara. "I remained her prisoner until the next morning, when Tamras and her companions arrived with the northern chieftains."
Then I had to explain how we made the northerners our allies, and I took some time to describe all the different factions and why they were there -- the young king and his men, the common folk, the prisoners and the remnant of the northern army -- as well as a little about Bru's people and the story of their exile. Finally I told them how Bru provoked Elen's anger against the young king.
"Once the mighty were divided," I said, "Bru and the common folk, with the help of the northern army, dealt Elen her defeat."
"When did all this happen?" Fodla asked.
"Yesterday," I said.
"What became of Elen?"
"I imagine she is seeking refuge among her kinsmen in the north."
"And the fate of Elen's house?"
"It's Bru's house now."
"And Bru and his people are your allies?"
I nodded.
"So when you learned our army was approaching, you persuaded the northerners to join your alliance against us."
&nbs
p; "Not against you," I said. "Against Vintel. And I would not have permitted them to harm any of you."
"She was most convincing on that point," said Ru.
Fodla scowled at me. "What would have happened if Merin's people had made a different choice this morning?"
"Bru would have welcomed me," I said, "and I would have been glad to join his household."
"And the northerners?"
"They would have been free to choose."
Fodla turned to Ru. "And now?" she asked. "What will your people choose to do?"
Ru gazed at me for a moment before she turned to Fodla with her answer.
"Tamras offered us the friendship of Merin's house if we would help her to regain her place there," she said. "We will expect her to keep her promise."
Nothing more was said about the part I had played in the defeat of the northern army. One by one my friends, their curiosity satisfied, excused themselves and went to bed. When Ru got up to leave us, Fodla joined her, and the two of them wandered off together into the night. At last only Maara and Sparrow remained with me by the council fire.
"Is it possible that Ru isn't angry?" I asked Maara.
"Why would she be angry?" Sparrow said. "You did what anyone would do. You defended your own."
"Then perhaps she understands," I said.
Maara chuckled. "I think she understands that it's dangerous to be your enemy."
"And advantageous to be your friend," said Sparrow.
I smiled at her, but my smile turned into a yawn.
"It's past your bedtime," Sparrow said.
"You're welcome to join us in our tent," I told her.
But Sparrow shook her head. "If you two were reunited only yesterday, you must have a lot to talk about."
She started to get up, then stopped. "Oh," she said. "I almost forgot."
She took something from the pocket of her tunic and handed it to Maara. Maara held it in the palm of her open hand and gazed at it. It was the token Namet gave her on midsummer's day.
"Thank you," she whispered.
I had last seen it in Vintel's hands.
"How did you persuade Vintel to give it up?" I asked Sparrow.
"I didn't," she replied. "I found it hidden among her things."
"Does she know?" asked Maara.
"Oh, yes," Sparrow told her. "I ran across it not long after you left us. I told Vintel I meant to keep it, so that she could never deny her responsibility for what happened to you. I don't know what prompted me to bring it with me, but this morning I was glad to have it. If Merin's people had doubted Tamras when she accused Vintel, I would have used it."
Sparrow turned to me.
"I make no excuses for Vintel, but I want you to know that she regretted what she did. If she acted without thinking, she thought better of it in the morning. She went north to find you and bring you back, and met her own warriors coming home. When they told her you were dead, she had to make the best of it."
"Did you stay with Vintel as her apprentice?"
Sparrow shook her head. "I told her my apprenticeship was over, and she saw it was no use to argue with me. She let me go and awarded me my shield."
Sparrow answered my unspoken question. "We have not been again what we once were to each other," she said. "I could never have forgiven her."
96. Home
I woke early, before first light. Maara was awake already. When I tried to slip back into sleep, she wouldn't let me.
"We need to make our plans," she said.
I snuggled closer and whispered in her ear, "I'd prefer to be doing something else."
"There will be time for that," she said, "but not now."
Still I refused to let her go. "Can't we make our plans in bed?"
"All right," she said.
Though she sounded reluctant, her arms tightened around me.
"I think we should let Fodla choose which of the northerners to bring home with us," said Maara. "She will insist on giving us the benefit of her experience anyway, so she might as well take the responsibility."
"Bru made a promise to them too," I reminded her.
"Let them take what remains of Elen's supplies. There is still beef on the hoof and oil and flour in the wagons. After we take what we'll need for our journey, the northerners can have what's left."
"And the young king?"
"Let's be generous with him too. He is in want of no more cattle, but a cart to bear him home would be a kindness. If you were to offer him the friendship of Merin's house, I think he would be glad to accept it."
"Is that why he joined us yesterday?"
"Partly," she replied. "He also meant to show you that he had taken your advice to heart."
"My advice?"
"Not to seek revenge."
It took half the morning, but at last we had everyone sorted out and ready to travel. After consulting with Ru, Fodla chose three of the northern chieftains, who, with the warriors of their households, would accompany us to Merin's house. Altogether they would be about three hundred, enough to allow them to feel safe but not enough to cause trouble. Fodla invited the wolfskin chieftain, despite Ru's warning that his had been the loudest voice opposing our alliance.
"That's why I want him," Fodla told her. "If we can win his trust, he will persuade the others who are reluctant."
The young king gratefully accepted the offer of several carts and the oxen to draw them, so that he and all his wounded could be taken home in some comfort. He and Bru, though lacking a common language, had by signs and gestures each extended the offer of friendship to the other. If Elen or her kin someday posed a threat to either of them, it would be wise of them to stand together. Whether Bru had thought of it or not, fostering his son with me would enable the boy to learn our language, so that when he returned home, he could serve as an interpreter with both the people of my household and the people of the young king's.
Before the young king left us, Maara and I went to bid him farewell. I told him he would always find a welcome in Merin's house, and though such offers are usually politely accepted, then soon forgotten, I had an idea that someday he would appear on Merin's doorstep. He asked Maara if she remembered the way to his house, and she assured him that she did, and that if we ever came north again, perhaps to visit Bru, we would be honored to accept his hospitality.
I hadn't seen Finn since early the day before. When Bru came to tell me that Vintel's warriors and their escort were ready to march, I asked him if Finn would be coming with us.
"He wouldn't miss it," Bru replied. "When he comes home again, he will have tales enough to last him all his life."
We agreed that Vintel and her warriors should follow behind us and keep a little distance from us, even when we camped for the night. Many of Merin's people had friends among them, and I wanted no one to be tempted to offer any of them a welcome. In my eyes, they were all as guilty of treachery as Vintel. They had come to Merin's house, not just as allies, but as guests, and they had betrayed Merin's hospitality.
Sparrow asked me if she should have the tent taken down and brought home with us. I told her to leave it where it was. I wanted to bring nothing with me that reminded me of Elen.
At last we got the multitudes moving in more or less the right direction. Maara insisted that we lead the way, though she sent scouts ahead of us so that we wouldn't stumble into trouble. My guard, of course, was never far away from me. Sparrow and Taia walked with us.
"How many days are we from Merin's land, do you think?" I asked Sparrow.
She and Taia consulted with each other. Sparrow thought a week, but Taia believed five days would be enough to bring us there.
"The way is always shorter going home," she said.
It didn't seem all that short to me. Even with friends to talk to, to pass the time, the days seemed endless. Soon all my friends had heard several times over every one of my adventures that I chose to tell, and I had heard every scrap of news of Merin's land that they could think of. When I could
manage to ignore the army following along behind us, it almost seemed as if we were just a band of Merin's warriors, traveling the frontier in search of cattle raiders. And as the time went by, I felt more and more at home with them.
One night we camped in a place that I remembered. We had camped there once before, on our first day in the wilderness, when we went to the frontier with Vintel.
"If we start early," I said to Maara, "we might be home tomorrow night."
"Day after tomorrow will be soon enough," she said. "We'll need time to set up an encampment, and to greet the people of Merin's house. You will have this homecoming only once. Let's do it properly."
"I don't care about properly," I told her. "I want to go home."
"You'll care later," was all she said.
Without seeming to exercise her own authority, Maara imposed some order on what might have been unmanageable chaos. To those of Merin's captains she considered most friendly to us, she assigned some important task or appointed them to a position of responsibility. They took their duties seriously. They knew that if they did well, they would be asked to join the new leadership in Merin's house.
Fodla took upon herself all dealings with the northerners. She traveled and camped with Ru and the three chieftains, and used the time to become better acquainted with them. She was the last person I would have chosen for a mission of diplomacy, but she seemed to be having some success. I believe her frank manner met with their approval. She managed to wrap her tongue around a few simple words of their language. Once or twice I heard laughter coming from their campfire, inspired by Fodla's misadventures of interpretation.
Laris and Kenit were busy keeping track of the warriors belonging to Merin's allies. Whether they would remain loyal to Merin was still uncertain, but I hoped they would stay on in Merin's house until midsummer, so that I would have a chance to get to know them, and they to know me. Laris agreed to stay, to show them that, even without Vintel, Merin had the loyalty of other houses just as strong. Kenit too volunteered to stay until his son was a year older, and Taia thought her family could spare her for another year.