The Dragon Bard (Dragon of the Island) (35 page)

“I said I would escort her home. I have no reason to dislike her. Whatever happened between her and O’Bannon is no concern of mine.”

“She let the lord’s wife die, is what happened. Or, perhaps I should say she killed her.”

“Many women perish in childbirth,” Bridei responded. “I doubt it was her fault.” He motioned. “If you want her gone, then open the gate.”

“And what of you? Why are you going with her?”

“She gave me a tinsane for my throat. As payment, I said I would make certain nothing happened to her during her visit to Dun Cullan.”

“As soon as I see the back of her, she’ll be safe enough. There’s no reason for you to escort her home.”

“I gave Emer my word, and I mean to keep it. I don’t see what concern it is of yours if I escort the lady home.”

“Something might happen to you, is all. Then we’d never hear the rest of your tale.”

Bridei smiled and made a casual gesture. “I’m not as helpless as I appear. I have a knife with me. I think it would suffice against most threats.”

Would this guard ever let them pass?
Bridei felt his stomach squeeze with anxiety. It worried him that the guard had taken so much notice of them leaving. Now, when Bridei didn’t return, the man might think something had happened to him and raise the alarm. He had to prevent this. All at once it came to him. He leaned near to the guard and whispered, “The truth is, the woman has promised to make it worth my while if I see her home. It’s likely I won’t be back until morning . . . if you understand my meaning.”

The guard drew back, appearing startled. “
Her?
I can’t believe it. When I left the hall to begin guard duty, half the women there looked to be yours for the asking.”

Bridei shrugged. “Every man has his own taste, and I happen to favor redheads.”

The guard gaped openly at Emer, then shook his head. “Your taste in women is very strange, bard. But do what you will.” He went to open the gate.

As soon as they were through it, Emer muttered. “Did you have to make me look like a slut?”

“Well, I had to give some reason why I wouldn’t be returning to the hillfort this night. Besides, if all goes as planned, you’ll never have to see him again.”

“Aye, I suppose that’s true,” Emer said. “If we get away, that is.”

“I mean to do my best,” Bridei said. “Come now, we must hurry. I want to be far from here by daylight.”

Bridei was ready to run all the way to forest, but in deference to Emer, he kept to a fast walk. “So, all went well in freeing her?” he asked as they hurried along.

“Aye. The rope was where you said it would be, and she climbed out easily. I presume she made it through the gate, although I didn’t stay to see.”

“She must have left early enough that there was a different guard at the gate than the one we spoke to. That was a stroke of good fortune.”

“I was a bit worried when I saw how much taller she is than I am,” Emer said. “But she must have gotten out. If she’d been discovered, we would have known it.”

“Aye,” Bridei agreed. He imagined one of the warriors dragging Dessia into the hall and explaining she’d tried to get out of the hillfort by pretending to be Emer. If that had happened, he felt certain he and Emer would now both be dead.
Thank you, Great Queen Rhiannon. I’ll never forget what you’ve done for me
.

He quickened his pace, and Emer hurried after him. At last they reached the woods. As they entered the darkened forest, Bridei called out, “Dessia? Are you here?”

For a few terrible seconds, there was no answer. Then he heard rustling noises and Dessia called out, “Aye. I am here.”

Bridei rushed to her and pulled her into his arms. “Ah,
cariad,
” he sighed. “So long I have waited for this.”

“Oh, aye,” she murmured, nuzzling her face against his. “I thought I would never see you again.”

They stood entwined for a few moments, and Bridei savored the almost unbearable joy and relief of holding her close. Nothing felt better than this, to feel her next to him.

“Shouldn’t we leave now?” Emer asked in an anxious voice. “What if they come after us?”

“Emer is right,” Bridei said, gently disengaging himself from Dessia. “If we’re going to get away, we have to hurry.” He grabbed Dessia’s hand and started out of the forest.

“Where are we going?” Dessia asked.

“To get horses.”

“What of me?” Emer asked in a shrill voice.

Bridei grabbed her arm with his free hand. “You’re coming with us, as I promised.”

This was dream,
thought Dessia as she raced along beside Bridei. She’d begun to think she would die in that awful place. But there were still many challenges ahead of them. They had to get back to Cahermara before O’Bannon discovered they were missing. Then they had to deal with his inevitable attack. Although she’d fought in many skirmishes, she’d never defended a hillfort.

It was a clear night, with a half moon and myriad stars. She was impressed that Bridei seem to know exactly where he was going. He led them to stone enclosure, then opened the wooden gate and went inside. Dessia heard Bridei whistle softly. A short while later, to Dessia’s amazement, he came out of the pen leading a horse. “We’ll have to ride bareback,” he said. “I was able to sneak bridles out of the stables, but I knew I’d never manage saddles.”

Dessia nodded wordlessly. He’d seemingly thought of everything.

“That’s Cahir,” Emer said in awed tones. “Tiernan’s stallion.”

“Aye,” Bridei responded. “Having him with us will make it easy to get one of the mares.”

“But how did you get him to come to you?” Emer asked. “Everyone I know is afraid of him.”

“I spent a lot of time with horses when I was a slave,” Bridei answered. “I learned how to talk to them.”

Dessia was also stunned. She’d never guessed Bridei had these sorts of skills.

“Come on,” Bridei said. “We need to get one of the mares and be off.”

They went to a different pasture where the other horses were kept. “Here,” Bridei said, holding out Cahir's reins to Dessia.

Gazing at the large, strong animal, she suddenly felt afraid. “It’s been years and years since I’ve ridden,” she said.

“It will come back to you,” he said. “Besides you aren’t going to ride this animal, merely hold the reins while I fetch a mare for you.”

Swallowing hard, Dessia took the reins. Bridei disappeared into the shadowy darkness. They heard his soft whistle. “It’s like magic,” Emer said.

Dessia nodded. She’d acquired a reputation as sorceress, but it was Bridei who could do extraordinary things.

The stallion whickered behind Dessia. A short while later, Bridei appeared leading a light-colored horse. As the two horses greeted each other, Bridei said, “Come here, Dessia. I’ll help you mount.”

“What about the stallion?”

“Drop the reins. He’ll stay here with the mare.” Dessia did as Bridei asked. He moved behind her and boosted her onto the mare’s back. Handing her the reins, he said, “Just hold them loosely. The mare should follow the stallion without you having to guide her.”

Dessia nodded wordlessly. Her whole body felt taut. When she’d ridden horses as a girl, it had never seemed like such a long way to the ground.

“Relax,” Bridei said. “You’re making the mare nervous.”

 Dessia willed her stiff muscles to ease.

“What of me?” Emer asked.

“You’ll ride with me,” Bridei said. “Come on. I’ll help you up.”

“I don’t know if I can do it!” Emer’s voice was squeaky with fright.

“Of course you can,” Bridei reassured her. “I’ll be right behind you.” He boosted Emer up, then mounted behind her. “See,” he said. “Nothing to it.”

Dessia wished fervently that she was the one riding in front of Bridei, feeling his strong arms around her. She told herself not to be such a little mouse. This was much better than being imprisoned in an underground chamber. Bridei clicked his tongue and the stallion started off. As he’d predicted, Dessia’s mount followed easily.

Bridei guided the stallion back to the forest, then skirted the edge of the woods. He kept the animal to a walk at first, then when they reached open country, urged the stallion into a trot. Dessia’s horse followed. Bouncing along on the animal’s back, Dessia at first felt sick with dread. Then, gradually, as she realized she hadn’t fallen off, her panic began to ease.

I’m free,
she thought.
And I’m riding, something I haven’t done in years.
Exhilaration began to replace her dread. She started to get comfortable on the horse, to relax and let her body merge with the animal’s. At last, she had the courage to urge the mare next to Bridei’s mount. “How long before they come after us?” she asked.

“With luck, they won’t discover you’re missing until late tomorrow. That is, if Dermot has done what he said and given Druim something to sicken him.”

“Why would Dermot do that?” Dessia asked.

“It’s part of his scheme. His plan was to have me take you some poisoned wine. Then he was going to murder me, and tell O’Bannon he’d caught me in the act of poisoning you. He wanted to make certain Druim didn’t discover what had happened.”

“Why did he think you would want to kill me?” Dessia asked.

“I told him how you’d imprisoned me.”

“Oh, Bridei, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I should have trusted you.”

“It worked out well enough. As I told you before, if I’d been free at the time you were abducted, I’d have probably done something rash and gotten myself killed, just as Keenan did.”

“Poor Keenan,” Dessia said sadly.

“Aye. Although I never much liked the man, I didn’t wish him dead.”

Having an experienced warrior like Keenan around would have been very helpful in regaining Cahermara, Dessia thought. But she didn’t express her thoughts. She didn’t want Bridei to think she didn’t trust him to protect her. After all, he’d rescued her when she’d thought her circumstances utterly hopeless.

“Poor Aife,” said Dessia. “I’m certain she’s heartbroken.’

“Aye. She is that.”

“I can imagine what she’s going through,” she added. “If anything happened to you, I don’t know how I would go on.”

“I’m certain you’d manage.” Bridei spoke in a strangely jesting tone. Dessia was confused. She was trying to tell him how much she loved him and he was making light of it. Why? Was it because he didn’t want to discuss such things in front of Emer?

Dessia regarded the young woman with narrowed eyes. What was Emer to Bridei? She’d obviously been his accomplice in arranging her escape. What exactly had Bridei done to gain her cooperation?

Stop it, you fool
, she told herself.
Bridei risked his life for you; there’s no reason for you to be jealous.

“Emer,” she called out. “I haven’t thanked you for helping Bridei rescue me.”

“I would do nearly anything to spite that worm, Tiernan O’Bannon.”

“Why? What did he do to you?”

Dessia listened in amazement as Emer told what O’Bannon had done. When the young woman got to the part where O’Bannon told her to cut the babe out of his recently dead wife, Dessia’s stomach squeezed with revulsion. She’d known her enemy was ruthless, but not to this extent. “And you think O’Bannon deliberately caused his wife’s death?” she asked in horror.

“Bridei does,” Emer responded.

“I do,” Bridei said. “I think once he came up with this plan to abduct you, he knew he had to get Morrin out of the way. Women die in childbirth all the time. There was no reason anyone would question what had happened.”

“Except that he made it look as if it were my fault, and caused everyone at Dun Cullan to despise me!” Emer broke in fiercely.

Dessia nodded, turning things over in her mind. It was cunning scheme. O’Bannon’s wife dies and Emer takes the blame. Then the widowed chieftain is free to take another wife. “The part I don’t understand,” she said, “is why after all these years, he decided to abduct me.”

“It’s hard to say what gave him the idea,” Bridei answered. “Perhaps he thought of this plan long ago, then had to wait until he had an accomplice at Cahermara to help him carry it out.”

“Aye, the accomplice,” Dessia said. “Do you know who it was?”

“Emer said it was Beatha,” Bridei answered.

“Nay, that’s not possible!” Dessia exclaimed. “She had no reason to do such a thing.”

“Aye, she did,” Bridei said. “Her husband died defending you. Then when she thinks there’s a new man in her life, you take him from her as well.”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean?”

“It appears she was infatuated with me,” said Bridei. “While I only had eyes for you.”

“But why would she think she had a chance with you?” Dessia was more puzzled than ever.

“It happens all the time,” Bridei said. “It’s one of the hazards of my trade. If I sing a love song, half the woman in the room think I’m singing to them. Or, at least they hope I am.”

Beatha had hated her enough to betray her to O’Bannon
. The thought shocked Dessia. “I scarcely even noticed Beatha,” she mused. “Yet she nearly cost me everything.”