Colwyn alone smirked; he did so triumphantly at the transfixed stares of those assembled. Pleased by effect he had had upon them all. With Arduinna thanking him and beckoning for Lyr and Meallán to speak of their own reasons for having answered

  This they did rather clumsily in comparison with Meallán starting, only to motion for Lyr to do so, this he might well have done had Connor not attempted to speak up only to stop partway.

  This won them several laughs, notably from Wiglaf and Cormac, along with the youngest of Arduinna’s daughters. Even the venerable lady of En-Coillt??n smiled, amused by this uncertainty after the oily tones of the prince of Gwyneira.

  “You tell the tale nephew,” Said Meallán with a small laugh.

  Lyr chortled only to begin in the most bombastic tone that Cormac had ever heard anyone speak with that was not Daegan. “But of course, our tale was no less grand and involved far greater shows of manhood and kingliness on our parts! We were visited by the wraith of the dark-moon, who came to our halls in the halls of the castle of my father’s good friend and cousin, Haldor in Fialinn. My father was off in the west along with my mother, seeing to a dispute with my aunt’s good-father, ere the shadow arrived. He came even more grandly than how Colwyn described his visitor, and-”

  “Pah, impossible,” Colwyn cut in, a little annoyed by all the comparisons and the clumsy attempt to outdo him in the telling of the story of the visiting wraiths.

  “Tush Colwyn, you had your turn now it is that of prince Lyr of ériu,” Wiglaf reprimanded in exasperation with a roll of his eyes and much beard tugging.

  Colwyn grumbled beneath his breath, and Lyr resumed agitating his arms as he spoke with such enthusiasm for his tale that he almost compared with the Cymran if only in this one area of story-telling. “He came abruptly, and it was during a Northman’s feast for we celebrate not only our traditional festivals of our green-lands but also those from across the Glacial Sea. Though ordinarily, my revered parents attend they were however excused by their cousin, due to the western troubles.”

  “Did he speak of ejecting you from your own halls, or rather those of your cousin’s?” Cormac questioned curiously, not having meant to speak but swept away by the moment.

  Some attempted to shush him, such as Connor, the eldest of Arduinna’s daughters and even Ronald the Tigrun, but Bardulf defied them with his gaze, saying with his hand upon the lad’s shoulder. “It is a fair question, friends.”

  Lyr for his own part took no offense, and even gave a respectful nod to the lad, “Nay, though I understand why you might ask such a question.” He then added more loudly, as his enthusiasm for his own speech and tale took over him once more, his arms agitating with every word uttered. “He arrived with such din, such thunder just as the festival drew near to a close, so that we all stood up, many of our huscarls and guards drew their arms. Some such as Connor here, or his highly-respected, valorous father Baronk near tried to have the dark-rider ejected. But the rest of us knew at once that such an effort would only result in their deaths.”

  “So you say,” Grumbled Connor bitterly.

  Lyr ignored him, continuing after a small swallow from his gourd of wine, and with a smack of satisfaction of his lips. “The wraith of the dark-moon menaced us with great dooms if we did not at once ‘release our claim over the lands of the north of ériu that once belonged to the Warlock-King.’ I need not add that save for a few songs; no one has spoken of the dark time of that Unliving monster’s reign over ériu in nigh on twenty-years, not since the dawn of my father’s reign.

  For those of us who live upon the Emerald-Isle prefer to look to the morrow, than to shudder at the past, and yet here was a monster pulled from the foulest of those tales and planted therein the halls of Fialinn. We told him in no uncertain terms that, we refused and shortly thereafter we received word from Fergus on behalf of venerable Wiglaf that there was to be a council. My father had no wish to come; he did not see the purpose of this council, for he was not present when that wraith appeared. Accompanied by the smallest of guards though, I hurried here to represent my noble people!”

  The last part was exclaimed with such fervour, there were few who did not smile or felt a small spark of hope in their hearts. A spark that petered out soon enough, so that only Connor continued to cheer and whoop, ere he searched about the room for others who felt as filled with passion for the kingdom of ériu.

  *****

  Lyr was now to seat himself once more, at Arduinna’s urging, with all looking about to one another expectantly. All awaited further tales or events with Ronald shrugging his shoulders ere several eyes found his and his twin Fergus.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  “We were told to come hither to En-Coillt??n as the Order felt that Wiglaf should have our assistance. For this reason, King Mael Bethad released us from service in his court also, and sent us with his best wishes and support. Though he wishes to know more of the situation, and I shall have word sent to him of, to-day’s proceedings.”

  None objected, and even less spoke for some time, as more glancing and uncertain staring occurred. In time Bardulf prompted the old crone politely, to speak her own time, being curious as she alone had remained silent until this time.

  “Well what of yourself, dear lady? What brings you here? You are the only one here that I do not recognise though your robes and habit show you to be a nun.” Questioned the old sorcerer genially, his thick eyebrows rising high above his big blue eyes, so that he appeared the very image of a grandfather.

  The old lady seated near Meallán, chortled to herself, correcting him with utter mockery and similar geniality. “I am no more an abbess than you are a druid, wise Wiglaf. I am Marian, and have come as a messenger from Jarl Sweyn of Vargrstein.”

  “What tale do you have to say, Sister Marian?” Lyr asked, eager to hear tell of her tale.

  “Oh it is not anything too, too special or breathtaking as the tales of Colwyn or yourself were, dear prince, or even as daring as Cormac and Indulf.” Marian demurred adding a heartbeat afterwards, “I have been sent to seek any, for Sweyn requires aid, to resist the encroachments into his lands of the Queen of Duniarteine. For he had heard tell that there were Wilder-Elves here and thought to seek out allies hereon the Lairdly-Island. Especially since, Sweyn knows his own time may soon be at an end, and he fears the might of the lord of Tuathearolc.”

  Unfamiliar with the lands of which she spoke, the last of which sent a shiver up the spines of all those at hand, though they knew not why. The ominous tone of the nun only added to the sense of wrongness that permeated the hall of Arduinna now.

  It appeared as though not even the lady of the Longwoods had heard the warnings of the nun ere this meeting. No less disconcerted than the rest of them were, she encouraged the sister to continue to explain to them the worries of this Sweyn.

  Cormac for his own part wondered as his mind wandered elsewhere if this was the Jarl who had possibly sold his father to Gargath.

  As though she sense his thoughts, Marian answered them with a small twist of her lips as though she had tasted something bitter. “It was he who sought to place spies within the home of Gargath the Wicked, and he who feigned the selling of a man he considered as a brother, he who had tutored his children.

  The one you know as Murchadh, whom he sent but half-heartedly, for he loved Murchadh as much as his own brother. This is all that I know, and all I can relate to you all. Though I will add one more message to that of the good Jarl, for he is a good man; be warned that the Dark Laird shall not remain contented with his current lands. Or those of his neighbours, once he has conquered the whole of the Misty-Island, he shall come for the Bretwealda.”

  *****

  Marian was once again seated, and once again many of the wise there thought deeply on her warnings. Lyr and Meallán appeared visibly disturbed and worried, Colwyn stroked his beard, the Tigruns murmured between one and another in their feline-tongue and Bardulf was quiet and sombre.

  It was the eldest of the two daughters of Arduinna who spoke next, rising to her feet to declare, “It appears as though you have brought much sorrow and darkness with you to my mother’s lands.

  Mayhap it might have been better had you never arrived here, to my knowledge we shan’t know for certain if the situation is so dire as you warn Sister Marian. Certainly these wraiths are dangerous, surely once we reclaim the Cursed-Gemstone, this Dark Laird will be outlived and his control over his wraiths at an end.”

  Her words were the height of folly, or so Cormac thought unable to believe his ears. Stunned that an Elf could speak so utterly foolish, he gaped at the beautiful Elf-maiden who defied the council with her gaze.

  “Lauma!” Arduinna hissed at her, as stern as Kenna had been with Cormac whenever he spoke too hastily or neglected his duties.

  “What is the matter mother? It is the truth,” Lauma retorted furiously, “Our ways are not theirs, and theirs are not ours. We have always held the forest and this is how we have preserved our ways.”

  “Aye, but it is also why you will fall if this Dark Laird has his way,” Cormac snapped much to the surprise of those around him. “What we must do is trail these Knightwraiths and Kingwraith, retake the Blood-Gem and find a way to destroy it! Else, this Dark Laird shall come south, and burn the forest to the ground and what will be left of your ‘ways’? This affects us all, as Sister Marian has said; whether we are of the lands of Cymru, ériu, Caled or Brittia or a Wolfram, Tigrun or Elf!”

  The fervour that had overtaken his spirit, and caused him to speak out so passionately against the princess of the Longwoods, departed from him as suddenly as it came. Leaving him flushed red with a combination of anger at her folly, and embarrassment at his own comportment.

  It was not his intent to argue with an Elf, however he could not believe that those Corin and Wiglaf had described in his childhood as the ‘wise-folk’ could be so short-sighted. It angered him to think that they could so readily abandon the cause, for which his father had given up his life.

  Though Lauma glowered back at him, full of anger and humiliation, at his scolding of her as though she were little better than a child, her mother studied him with her cool, piercing gaze. This made him flush red all the more, for he had never spoken publically in such a manner or before such a council.

  Of all those present though, the one who gazed upon him with the utmost warmth, was Marian. The old crone with her bent back, and white hair had eyes that shone then with all the maternal joy that he had once hoped to see in the gaze of his mother.

  “Well-spoken,” Arduinna said with a nod of approval, adding thoughtfully, “We still have time to decide upon our next course of action, for our scouts have reported that the wraiths have yet to cross the straits that separate the two isles. Therefore we shall adjourn for the day. We shall reconvene here, on the morrow. Wiglaf, and you as well Bardulf, I would consult with the both of you.”