The Islands of the Blessed

by Nancy Farmer

  “You do know what happened to him?” the boy said sadly.

  I know everything, replied the cat. They spoke of this and that, and Jack invited him to come along, but Pangur Ban preferred to stay in the monastery. They spoil me rotten, he said, purring loudly. Besides, I want to keep an eye on Ethne. Now you should go, for the way is difficult.

  They put out the fire and called the horses, and Thorgil gave a last stroke to Pangur Ban’s fur. He sniffed her hand and made an excited chattering sound. Forgive me. She smells like Bird and I always lose control.

  “What’s he saying?” Thorgil said suspiciously.

  “Nothing you need to know. Farewell, old friend,” Jack said to the cat. “May the life force hold you in the hollow of its hand.”

  And you as well. Pangur Ban stretched luxuriously and then trotted off. After a moment he turned aside and vanished into the bushes.

  Chapter Forty-six

  THORGIL SILVER-HAND

  Up until then the weather had been cold but dry. Now storm clouds blew in from the northeast, and by afternoon the first raindrops began to fall. “Balder’s backside,” grumbled Thorgil, wrapping herself in a heavy, woolen cloak treated with oil. The rain increased until they could hardly see the way forward. The road became awash with streams pouring out of the forests on either side. The ponies’ hooves slipped in hidden holes, and finally Jack said they would have to camp.

  They had only gotten as far as a small beech wood, a half-day’s journey from town. In the teeming rain they saw a well with a copper cup attached to a chain. “We won’t be needing that for water,” said Thorgil. “All we have to do is look up and open our mouths.”

  The beech trees were completely leafless and offered no shelter from the storm. Jack and Thorgil had to huddle next to the well, where an ancient wall, half tumbled down, gave some protection. The ponies stood together with their backs to the wind.

  “Maybe we should return to the monastery tomorrow,” said Jack.

  “Never! I shall never go back,” Thorgil said. Jack knew there was no point arguing with her yet. By morning she might be miserable enough to change her mind. He put St. Columba’s robe over both of them, and as before, it gave them ample cover. It not only made them feel warmer, but drier. The wool didn’t smell of wet sheep either, but of green leaves and summer.

  “I wonder whether I could magic up some kind of shelter,” Jack said, looking at St. Columba’s staff.

  “That would be very welcome,” said Thorgil. She might be warmer, but she was still shivering.

  Jack held the staff out, trying various commands such as “Walls, arise!” and “House, appear!” but nothing happened. Even to him the words sounded lame. He needed a lorica, and that only came when needed.

  I really, really need one now, Jack thought, hoping that someone was listening. The water kept thundering down. Next, he tried to stop the rain, but he had only ever been good at calling it up. “The staff has a mind of its own,” he conceded at last.

  “We’ll get through this,” said Thorgil. “I remember once, when I was very small, being stuck on a cliff with Olaf while he was hunting wild sheep. A storm came up and we couldn’t move. The wind was so strong, I thought it was going to blow us over the edge, but Olaf said, ‘Hang on by your fingernails, child. That’s why Northmen never cut them. They’re as good as eagle talons.’ He was so cheerful about it, I lost all fear.”

  Jack unwrapped one of the venison pies, and they took turns nibbling it. Darkness fell with no letup in the storm. The ground where they lay was full of stones and a tree root meandered through the middle, but eventually exhaustion brought them sleep.

  It was still raining in the morning. “We have to return,” Jack said.

  “Never,” said Thorgil flatly.

  “I’ve seen these storms go on for a week. Besides, what’s the harm in staying at the monastery until spring? You can stuff wool in your ears if you don’t want to hear Christian prayers.”

  “I won’t go back!” cried Thorgil, with more than a little hysteria in her voice.

  Jack decided it was better to eat breakfast before pushing the argument further. He unpacked a round of cheese and cut her a chunk with his knife.

  “I’m not hungry,” she said.

  “You need to eat.” He made the mistake of trying to put the cheese into her mouth, and she struck him. The whole round went spinning into the mud. “What’s the matter with you?” Jack shouted, retrieving the food and holding it out in the rain to clean it.

  “I said I wasn’t hungry and I meant it! I want to get moving! I’ll go mad if I sit here and do nothing!”

  “Go mad, then.” Jack turned his back on her. He ate slowly while staring at the teeming rain. Even on the high ground where they were, the water sat in pools. It seemed likely that the road ahead was flooded. He heard a slight noise over the relentless storm and turned to see Thorgil crying.

  She was trying not to make a sound, but her body shook with sobs and a few gasps escaped her. “Thorgil, I’m so sorry,” cried Jack. He was used to her rages. Crying was much more alarming. He slid over to put his arm around her and found that her skin was hot. “Oh, Thorgil. Oh, no,” he murmured. She had caught flying venom. It had simply taken a while to surface.

  When they had arrived at the monastery, the monks and nuns no longer had it, but Ethne was still ill. Thorgil had bent over her when she transferred the rune of protection. The elf lady had breathed on her.

  Jack held Thorgil closely. He was aware that she could infect him, but he didn’t care. “You know you’re very sick, don’t you?” he said. There was no point avoiding the truth. Northmen preferred to face a problem head-on.

  “I don’t feel good,” Thorgil admitted. “My head aches horribly, and I keep having chills. My eyes are blurry.”

  “It might be flying venom.”

  “It might. Wulfie said she felt like this.”

  They sat for a while longer. “You know that we can’t go to my village now,” said Jack. “We’d carry the disease to them.”

  “I know,” she said.

  “The only place in the world where we’ll be welcome is the monastery. They’ve already had the disease. They won’t catch it again.” Jack smoothed her wet hair. Even that was too hot.

  He helped Thorgil to her feet, and she called the ponies in the way that only the heirs of Hengist knew. They came readily, but he had to help her climb up. “Put your arms around its neck,” Jack advised. “That way you won’t fall off.”

  Far too slowly, they began to retrace their journey. The road was cut by streams and sometimes disappeared altogether. Jack had to keep checking landmarks to be sure they were going the right way. Without the sun, he had no sense of direction. Thorgil slipped into a kind of trance as they plodded on. She no longer raised her head and depended on Jack to find the way. Unfortunately, his pony wasn’t at all cooperative. It balked at going down the road and turned around frequently to be sure its companion was following.

  Jack had to fight the animal constantly, and it soon became clear that they wouldn’t reach St. Filian’s before dark. He was looking for a place to camp when suddenly the way before them was blocked by a tangle of bare branches. He halted. “Where are we?” said Thorgil in a drowsy voice.

  “Almost there,” Jack lied, his heart thudding with fear. Somehow, while fighting the pony, he’d gotten off the road. He looked back and found the trees completely unfamiliar. He couldn’t remember which way they’d come, and now they were surrounded by the confusing jumble of a hazel wood.

  Paths led off in all directions, most of them roofed by branches so low, a horse and rider couldn’t get through. The light was dim and getting dimmer. Jack looked around desperately for some kind of shelter. “Must lie down,” said Thorgil in a muffled voice.

  “No!” cried Jack, but she had already slipped to the ground. She landed in a mush of dead leaves, and he dismounted quickly and ran to her. His pony, freed of its burden, wheeled and galloped off th
rough the trees. Thorgil’s pony followed. “No! No!” shouted Jack, waving his arms, but they paid not the slightest attention to him.

  “Call them back, Thorgil,” he begged.

  “Throat sore,” she whispered. Jack didn’t dare try to track the ponies. He’d get lost, and anyhow, they would obey only the shield maiden. Perhaps in the morning she would have recovered enough to speak. Right now, though, they were in a terrible situation, because the ponies had gone off with the food and supplies. All they had left was what they were wearing and, of course, St. Columba’s robe and staff. Jack never let go of these.

  Now is the time for a lorica, implored Jack to whatever powers were listening. But apparently, it wasn’t. “Curse this staff!” he cried, flinging it away. He wrapped himself and Thorgil in the robe, and it not only became large enough for both of them, it insulated them from the ground. Inside, it was warm and dry, so apparently some of the magic was working.

  After a while Jack crawled out and retrieved the staff. “I smell flowers,” murmured Thorgil. He sniffed. Incredibly, so did he. Outside, the winter storm raged and water poured past them on either side, but inside it was spring. “If I die …,” the shield maiden said. Her voice was so low, Jack could barely hear it.

  “Hush. You’re going to recover,” he said.

  Thorgil swallowed. It was evidently very painful to talk.

  “I’ll go to Hel.”

  Jack was shocked. He knew that Northmen who died of illness were supposed to be condemned to the same afterlife as oath-breakers. It was dismaying that Thorgil still believed it after learning the truth about Valhalla. “You are absolutely not going to Hel,” he said. “The Bard said we get to choose our afterlife. If it were up to me, I’d choose the Islands of the Blessed. That’s where your mother went.”

  “Mother,” whispered Thorgil.

  Jack racked his brain to think of something that would comfort her. “You know, I never told you the poem I wrote about your battle with Garm, the hound of Hel,” he said. “It’s called ‘Thorgil Silver-Hand.’”

  She stirred in his arms. “Truly?”

  “It’s the best thing I ever did and will be sung in halls forever after. It goes like this. …” Jack hadn’t the slightest idea what words would come out of his mouth, but he needn’t have worried. The same marvelous feeling came over him as when he’d recited the lorica in Bebba’s Town. In fact, the poem was a lorica, only a very long one. And it was the best thing he’d ever done, right up there with the Bard’s “Beowulf.”

  There wasn’t a single word that was not beautiful and inspiring. It told of Thorgil Silver-Hand, who was put out for wolves to devour when she was born, but the royal dog Maeve rescued her. Many were the battles and adventures of Thorgil Silver-Hand. She fought a dragon even as it was carrying her to its nest to feed its young. She slew a giant eagle when it attacked her on the ice bridge to the Mountain Queen’s palace. She fought the hound of Hel to save her comrades and sacrificed her hand, just as the god Tyr had when he confronted Fenris.

  Tyr became the star that never moved, the one they called the Nail, that guided ships to their safe harbor. Thorgil, too, would shine in the night sky, and her fame would never die.

  By the time Jack had finished, Thorgil was asleep. He felt shaky, as though he’d run for miles, and his head throbbed. His throat hurt so much that he was amazed he’d been able to speak at all. Very soon he fell into the same stupor as Thorgil and gradually drifted into unconsciousness. The winter storm raged on around them, and water poured through the hazel wood like a river.

  Chapter Forty-seven

  THE ISLANDS OF THE BLESSED

  The sun was shining when he awoke. More than that, the sky was a glorious blue and the air was fresh and sweet. Jack sat up. He was on an island in the middle of a great river with the hazel wood lining its banks. The storm must have been mighty indeed to carve out such a channel. St. Columba’s robe lay on the ground, and he picked it up hastily, but there was no mud on it.

  He picked up the staff, too, and then realized Thorgil wasn’t with him. “Thorgil!” he cried, terrified. She must have fallen into the water and been swept away.

  “I’m here, silly,” she answered. “We’ve been waiting for hours.” She was in a little coracle tied to a branch overhanging the water. And with her was—

  Jack was so overcome with emotion, he couldn’t speak.

  “Come on,” the Bard said briskly. “We have a long journey, and you’ve made us late.” As if in a dream, Jack stepped into the coracle. It was unsteady and damp, as such boats always were. Thorgil untied the rope, and they sailed away down the river, going west.

  “Are we dead, sir?” Jack asked as the hazel wood moved past.

  “Of course not,” the old man said. “You’ve passed the qualifying exam for the School of Bards. You don’t think it’s easy getting in, do you? Not just any farm brat can knock on its doors and expect to be made welcome.”

  “But you’re …” Jack wanted to say you’re dead, but it seemed impolite.

  “Learn to ask questions when you want answers,” the Bard snapped. “Self-imposed ignorance does no one any good. I was shut into a tomb with Shellia for a while—and believe me, listening to her complaints made one want to be dead. I had to chase her all the way to the farther sea. But when Severus died, I was released from my oath.”

  “You know about Father Severus?” said Jack, astounded.

  “I know everything. Pangur Ban is the world’s biggest gossip.” The old man smiled at something he didn’t choose to share. “It took me a while to find the path back to Middle Earth. I just missed finding you at St. Filian’s, but no harm done. Ethne is positively blooming, for which I am most grateful to you and Thorgil.”

  “It was Thorgil’s doing,” Jack said honestly. “Will Ethne marry King Brutus?”

  “Perhaps. If Brutus is very lucky. Now admire the view a while, lad, because I want to think.” The old man sat in the stern of the coracle and turned his thoughts inward. Jack went to sit with Thorgil in the prow.

  The hazel wood had given way to oaks, and blue mountains rose to the north and slowly passed. “Do you want an apple?” said Thorgil, reaching into a basket. “The horses ran off with the venison pies, but the Bard brought these from the monastery.” She expertly cut one of the fruits in two with her knife.

  Jack stared. “Your hand—”

  Thorgil laughed merrily. “I forgot to tell you. When I woke up, it was as good as new. I guess I can’t keep the name Silver-Hand.” She passed him half of the apple and lowered her eyelashes. “I really liked your poem, though.”

  Jack felt his face grow warm. “Thanks,” he said.

  The coracle swept on and the river widened until the blue mountains withdrew to the north. The channel deepened, and a skein of geese passed overhead, calling to one another.

  “What’s that?” cried Thorgil, pointing. A large fish with sun-bright scales swam just below the surface, going against the current. It passed the coracle, stroking the water with powerful fins.

  “I think it’s a salmon,” said Jack, filled with wonder. “It’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen.”

  “It’s the Salmon of Knowledge returning to the pools of its youth,” said the Bard, stirring from his reverie. “It goes to feast on hazelnuts. Hobgoblins aren’t the only creatures besotted with them. Look ahead. We’ve come to the sea.”

  And so they had. Long waves rolled out of the west and changed the river’s color from blue to gray-green. “We’re going out there?” said Jack, looking with dismay at the waves.

  “It’s the only way to the Islands of the Blessed,” the Bard said. “That’s where St. Columba moved the School of Bards.” They continued outward just as steadily as they had on the river, though they had no sail.

  Jack looked back to see the land disappearing in the distance. “Will I ever return?” he said, suddenly close to tears.

  “Of course. I have done so many times,” said the Bard. “Once
you learn the paths in the hazel wood, you can go to quite a lot of places, not all of them nice.”

  “But what of Mother and Father, Hazel and Pega? I can’t just abandon them!”

  “You can watch over them. That is part of the high calling of a bard, but there is always a price to pay for such power and responsibility. It is to serve all life, not just a little corner of it. Don’t grieve, lad. If it puts your mind at rest, the Blewits have moved into the old Roman house and Hazel won’t have to leave the village. They decided it was better to be mudstruck than risk losing her. Pega has found the love she always deserved with your family. I think you’ll find that most of the time people get along just fine on their own.”

  The sun passed zenith and turned toward the west. The Bard brought out hard-boiled eggs, bread, and a bag of cider. They talked of many things, and the time passed quickly. Little by little Jack’s sorrow lifted.

  In late afternoon they saw the islands shining in the distance. A breeze brought them the scent of apples and land birds began to circle the coracle. As they approached, the sea became clear, as though they were sailing through the sky. They passed one island, then another and another. One had a green hill on which horses grazed.

  “Look! Oh, look!” shouted Thorgil. A woman and a dog were standing on the shore. The woman raised her hand in greeting. “It’s Mother,” cried Thorgil, bursting into tears. “She looks so young. And that’s Maeve, who saved me from the wolves. Oh, can’t I stop? Can’t I stay here?”

  “Another time.” The Bard waved back at Allyson and Maeve. “You can visit after you’ve studied awhile at the School of Bards. Don’t worry. They’ll understand.”

  “Thorgil ‘s going to the School of Bards?” said Jack, outraged. She hadn’t learned nearly as much magic and poetry as he had.