"Oh, you saw it, lad. Not everyone can."
"Have you ever seen it?"
"Twice."
Frowning, Taliesin considered all that Cormach had told him. "If the Westerlands are lost," he said at last, "it is up to us to hold back the darkness."
Cormach"s eyes narrowed. "Why do you say that?"
"It must be us. We are the only ones that know; we are the only ones that can do anything."
The Chief Druid pondered this and for a long moment sat gazing at the boy before him; fair-haired, with that high, shining brow; eyes like forest pools, now blue, now deep green; long, slender limbs and torso. He would be a tall man, taller than most. Cormach gazed at him and asked, "Who are you, Taliesin?"
The question was not unkindly put, but the boy started, his expression full of anguish. Cormach saw the youngster"s distress and thought, Hafgan is right. This Taliesin is different, and one forgets he is but a boy after all. Still, how much does he know? What powers does he possess?
"I am Taliesin ap Elphin," he replied and then admitted, "But sometimes I think I will remember something else-thai I have only to think very hard and I will remember everything. But I never do."
"Nor will you, lad. Not yet, at least."
"Last night I remembered part of it-but it makes no sense to me this morning."
"One day it will, Taliesin, if you keep watching and listening."
"But tell me, Master, what can be done about the darkness? We must do something."
"Each must do what he can, Taliesin. That is all that ever can be done by men. Yet, if all men did only that, it would be enough. Yes, and more than enough."
Taliesin frowned again. "If? Do you, mean some will not resist?"
"No, lad, they will not. Some men, it is true, have no light in them and give themselves to the darkness when it comes. It makes our task that much more difficult."
"Then we must be all the stronger," replied Taliesin bravely.
The Chief Druid cupped the boy"s chin with his hand. "Look on me and remember, Taliesin. Remember me to the one who is to come." Cormach dropped his hand and slumped back exhausted.
"I will remember, Master," Taliesin promised. "I never will forget you."
The old man smiled briefly, then leaned on the staff and raised himself with an effort. "Good. Now, let us see how Blaise is doing with that fish."
They left the clearing together, Taliesin leading the dun pony. Hafgan was sitting on his stump outside the gates; he rose and came to them as they emerged from the wood.
Cormach sent Taliesin on ahead so he could speak to Hafgan alone. "I had another reason for coming. I wanted to tell you before word came from elsewhere."
Hafgan nodded.
"The choice was easily made," Corrnach continued. "It required no hazelnut or oak water. You will be Chief Druid."
Hafgan stopped walking and turned to his master. "You honor me too highly."
"I honor you not at all," Cormach said. "It is your right. No one else could take my place."
Hafgan"s mouth worked, but the words stuck in his throat. He turned his face toward the cliffs and the silver rirn of sea shimmering at the horizon.
"Do not be sorry about this," Cormach told him. "I am old and tired. It is time for a younger man to be Chief of the Brotherhood. I am fortunate enough to choose my own successor and can die without qualm."
"I will go back with you" Hafgan began.
"It is not necessary."
"Please, allow me to serve you."
The old druid shook his head gently. "Your place is here with the boy. Stay. You will see me again before Samhain." He drew a breath deep into his lungs. "Ahh, the air off the sea makes a man hungry."
Hafgan took his arm and they started through the caer. "We will eat and you can rest."
"Rest?" said Cormach. "Soon I will have my rest. I would rather talk to you, Hafgan, if you would oblige an old man by listening."
CHAPTER SIX.
Charis did not know whether avallach was in Kellios or whether he was away on yet another campaign of his endless war against Nestor and Seithenin. She was prepared to accept either situation: to confront her father at once, or to wait patiently until he returned. She was not, however, prepared for the spectacle that greeted her.
Since meeting with Throm she had been nervous and ill-at-ease. Not because he forecast the destruction of the world- that was too fantastic to comprehend-but because she feared that she would not be allowed to see her home again. This, as the miles stretched on and on, had become an obsession for her, and she hoped with each pa.s.sing moment that she would not come too late.
But as the carriage rolled down the lowering hills to the dish-shaped harbor, Charis glimpsed the Isle of Apples floating serenely above its orchards across the bay. She sighed, feeling both pleasure and a little disappointment in the familiar sight. Nothing has changed, she mused. It is all exactly as it was the day I left.
This thought, comforting in its way, also produced a flat pang of disappointment. Something ought ought to have changed; I have been away seven years! she thought and realized that she had vaguely expected her home to have changed as much as she had in that time. to have changed; I have been away seven years! she thought and realized that she had vaguely expected her home to have changed as much as she had in that time.
All the way up the long avenue from the harbor to the palace, Charis imagined her seven-year exile to have been in vain. She would walk into the great hall and Avallach would be standing there still: arms folded across his chest, eyes hard, chin outthrust like a. a. granite cliff, his scowl dark and fierce, hiding the thunder about to break. And she would hear his voice, echoing across the polished floor, bridging the distance between them. It would be as if she had only stepped from the room a moment ago. Nothing would have changed. granite cliff, his scowl dark and fierce, hiding the thunder about to break. And she would hear his voice, echoing across the polished floor, bridging the distance between them. It would be as if she had only stepped from the room a moment ago. Nothing would have changed.
Even that might have been preferable to the scene which met her eyes as she made her way through a dim, filthy corridor toward the great cedar doors whose l.u.s.ter had been allowed to dull beneath a gray patina of dust. The palace was all but deserted. Upon her arrival she had been greeted by a young seneschal who was not at all certain who she was, then conducted without ceremony to the great hall. "Go find An-nubi," she ordered as the seneschal stood looking on in a dilemma of confusion and indecision. "Tell him Charis has returned."
The youth stumbled over himself in his eflfort to escape. Charis picked up the present she had brought for her father and turned back to the door, her haed trembling on the braided cord. She pulled; the huge panel opened without a sound and she entered the darkened hall. Even though it was bright daylight outside, the hall was steeped in twilight.
At first she thought the seneschal had led her astray and that Avallach was not there. She was just turning away when she heard a voice. "Who is it?" The voice was a raw, rasping whisper.
She turned and walked slowly to the center of the enormous room. "Father?"
From the dais at one end of the room came a dry cough. Charis stopped and looked toward the dais. There at the foot of the throne sat Avallach, leaning back against the footrest, legs splayed out before him. His eyes glittered back at her from the shadows.
"Eh?" he said. The utterance brought a fit of coughing that doubled him over.
"Father, it is me, Charis," she said, coming closer.
The king raised his head and peered at her, then climbed slowly to his his feet and came toward her, walking in a strange, halting gait. She saw that he was leaning on a crutch. "Have you brought my medicine?" he called as he came, his voice grating over the words. feet and came toward her, walking in a strange, halting gait. She saw that he was leaning on a crutch. "Have you brought my medicine?" he called as he came, his voice grating over the words.
"It is Charis," Charis," she said again. "Your daughter... I have come home." She stared at the ruin of her father in horror. she said again. "Your daughter... I have come home." She stared at the ruin of her father in horror.
"Charis?" Avallach lurched closer. His hair hung in lank, ropy strands; his flesh was pale as parchment, his eyes weak and watery.
Charis wanted to run to him, to take him in her arms. But the shock of seeing him so changed kept her rooted to the spot.
"So you have come back." Avallach lurched closer, breathing heavily, cold sweat glazing his brow.
"Father, what has happened? Where is everyone? You are ill; you should be in bed."
"You should not have come." He gasped with the exertion of walking across the floor.
"I had to come," she said. "I had to come back to see you. I have been away so long. I wanted..."
"-should not have come," Avallach repeated. He lifted his head and shouted, "Lile! My medicine!" The words echoed in the empty hall.
"I brought you something," said Charis, remembering the present. She lifted the long, thin shape wrapped in oiled leather and lay it across his hands as he balanced on the crutch.
Avallach eyed the object without interest. "What is it?"
"Let me open it for you," she said and began loosening the strips. Bright silver flashed under her hands and in a moment the wrap fell away to reveal a fine sword, its elegant length tapering to an imperial point. The hilt was fiery ori-chalc.u.m inset with rubies and emeralds-the eyes of two crested serpents whose entwined bodies formed the grip. It lay across Avallach"s palms, glimmering with cold fire.
The blade was decorated with an intricate filigree and engraved with the legend Take Me Up Take Me Up on one side and on one side and Cast Me Aside Cast Me Aside on the other. on the other.
"You mock me with your gift, girl," said Avallach. He thrust the sword back at her and turned away.
"No, please, I did not mean to"
"Lile!" the king roared again. "My medicine!"
Presently the door opened and a young woman hurried in.
She bore a silver tumbler on a tray and a long white cloth on her arm. "Your medicine, my hus" she began. She stopped so suddenly when she saw Charis that she almost sent the tumbler toppling from the tray. "What are you doing here?"
"I am Charis. I have returned." She stared at the young woman-pale and slender, with large, dark, almost luminous eyes and long hair that spilled in a dark cascade to the base of her spine. Lile was not much older than Charis herself.
"I know who you are," Lile replied. She stepped cautiously between Avallach and Charis and offered the king the tray. He seized the tumbler and lifted it to his lips, drinking noisily. "There, yes," she told him, "drink it all." When he finished, Avallach dropped the tumbler back onto the tray, and Lile dabbed his chin with the cloth as one would a forgetful child.
"Charis," Avallach said, grinning stupidly, "did you not know I was remarried?"
"How should I know?" she replied, still looking at the dark-haired woman. "No one told me."
"I thought you might have heard," said Avallach.
"We"ve been married three years," added Lile quickly. "We have a daughter."
"Oh," Charis replied. She fought down her roiling emotions and asked, "Where are my brothers? Where is Guistan, Eoinn, and Kian and Maildun?"
"Where I shall be when I have healed," growled Avallach. "Fighting!" He coughed again and Lile blotted his chin with the cloth.
"I see," said Charis. "And Annubi?"
"Oh, around... somewhere." Avallach waved his hand absently. He was looking at his young wife Wearily with cloudy and unfocused eyes. Was the medicine a narcotic?
"Annubi keeps to himself these days," Lile informed her. "No doubt you will find him in his stinking cell. You will excuse us... It is time to change the king"s bandage."
Lile took Avallach by the arm and wheeled him around. Charis saw the wound then, or evidence of it, for a watery red stain had soaked through the king"s clothing just Below his ribs on the left side. The two shuffled off together and Charis watched them go. Then she turned and fled the room, biting her lip to keep from screaming.
Charis found Annubi where Lile had said he would be-in his cell among the lower apartments. She knocked on the red door and then crept inside without waiting for a reply. He was sitting alone in the light of a single taper, gazing at the Lia Fail before him on the table. His hands were not touching the stone, but were folded one over the other in his lap. His face was lined and tired, but his eyes lit up with the old spark when he saw her.
"I knew you were coming," he said, his lips curving in a smile. "Until now I hoped you would stay away."
"Oh, Annubi..." Charis rushed to him. She fell on her knees beside him and pressed her head against his chest.
The seer put his arms around her and gently patted her. "It has been a long time," he said.
"I know. But I am home now." She raised her head and peered into his tired face. "Oh, Annubi, what is it? What is wrong here? Where is everyone and what has happened to my father? Who is that woman up there?"
"Lile?" Annubi shrugged. "The king"s plaything. She is nothing.", Charis rose to her feet. She pulled Annubi by the hand. "Come with me. We must talk. I want to hear all that has happened since I have been away, but I cannot bear this stuffy room."
So they left the cell and walked once more among the cool blue shadows of the columned portico as Annubi, speaking slowly, sadly, explained all that had happened.
"It was the war," he said. "It was many things: your mother"s death, your leaving, Seithenin"s wicked treachery- these things weighed terribly on your father. He found solace in the fight, however; he Believed revenge would heal the hurt that had been done to him.
"And indeed the war went well for him at first. His hatred and blood-l.u.s.t alone carried many a battle. But Seithenin and Nestor are skilled in deceit and cunning. When they saw they could not win against him by force-not with Belyn"s and Meirchion"s forces in support-they contrived to harry Aval-lach. They would not fight him in the open but lay ambush after ambush; they drew him away from positions where he would win, forcing him to give chase. And while he chased, they laid waste to the villages on the coasts and borders.
"Oh, they dared not face him fairly on the field, but they would raze a town and butcher the helpless townsmen as they ran from their home, then disappear to safety again just that quick. It makes me sick to think of what misery they have caused. In short, they forced him to fight with intrigue and guile-two weapons he has never favored and uses not at ail well."
"How was he wounded? When?" Charis wondered.
"Three years ago. I cannot say just how it happened. After those first successful battles, when the war turned, I did not accompany him again." The seer sighed deeply. "But he was riding to the defense of a town on the Coranian border- Oenope, I Believe. He arrived just in time to block Seithenin"s retreat. Seithenin was ready; he had held back a force in secret. For once there was a battle and Seithenin won. Aval-lach"s men were exhausted from the march and in no shape to go against fresh troops. Nevertheless, they fought and there were heavy losses on each side-the better part of both armies fell that day.
"In the end, Seithenin withdrew and left Avallach on the field-left him for dead. Make no mistake-Seithenin did not know Avallach was wounded, otherwise he would never have left the issue unresolved."
Charis listened with dread fascination. She had never once imagined that any of this was taking place. Her world of the bullring was so remote from what Annubi was describing, never once did she receive anything but a most vague impression of fighting far away. There was a war, yes, and it was dragging on and on. That was all she knew.
"The king was carried into the town, or what was left of it. There was a house that had escaped the torch, and Avallach was settled there. A merchant"s house, it was; his daughter was on hand to look after the king. The wound was not thought to be bad. A day or two to heal and he would ride back to the palace.
"But he did not heal. And by the time Belyn got word and arrived to bring Avallach back, the king, in his weakness, had become infatuated with his young nursemaid." Annubi paused and lifted his narrow shoulders by way of explanation. "She has yet to leave his side."
"She told me they were married."
"They were. Just after Avallach returned home. She came with him, of course."
"They have a daughter. That is what she said."
"Morgian, yes." Anaubi nodded. "I keep forgetting about the child."