Hero's Song

by Edith Pattou

  Silien closely examined it for what seemed to Collun an eternity. "It is Nemian," he finally said.

  "What is Nemian?" Collun asked, filled with dread at the tone in the Ellyl's voice.

  "Nemian is from the Cave of Cruachan. Like Moccus's sow. Nemian can be one or it can be many, but wherever it goes, it leaves behind death. It cannot be killed. I did not think it could even be injured. The wizard Crann was right, Collun. The stone in your dagger must be the Cailceadon Lir."

  Collun nodded impatiently. "Perhaps. But what has this Nemian done to Brie?"

  "I do not know, but I believe it has poisoned her blood."

  "Will she die?"

  "Yes."

  "No!" Collun cried. "There must be something we can do."

  "I can try," shrugged the Ellyl, "but it will avail her little." Silien kneeled again by Brie and laid his hand over the black mark on her neck, his own face still gaunt with fatigue.

  Collun heard the song but faintly. Yet he felt a flickering of hope, and the tips of his own numb fingers tingled slightly.

  When the song was done, Brie's eyelids trembled. Then slowly her eyes opened. Collun felt a surge of joy, but then he saw the expression in her eyes. There was nothing there; no sign of recognition, only a terrifying blankness.

  FOURTEEN

  The Ellyl Wind

  Collun sat by her and said, "Brie? It is Collun. How do you feel?" But she did not respond. He laid a hand on her forehead. It was still freezing cold to the touch. He gave Silien a questioning look.

  The Ellyl shook his head. "She is alive. She can move her limbs. I can do no more." He was already lying on the ground, eyelids drooping. "Just a short rest," he mumbled, and his eyelids fell shut.

  Collun and Talisen tried to feed Brie some nuts, but she would not chew them. The best they could do was to pour water into her mouth, which she swallowed, more by reflex than choice.

  While Silien slept again, Collun decided they must get Brie back to Temair. Perhaps there they would know what to do. All thoughts of setting off on his own were forgotten.

  When the Ellyl awoke, Collun told him his intention.

  "It will do no good," said Silien, shaking his head. But Collun set his mouth in a stubborn line.

  "We go to Temair," he said. Silien shrugged.

  When morning came, they got Brie to her feet and found she was able to walk, although she moved sightlessly, like a sleepwalker. One of them had to be at her side always to guide her steps.

  Collun chose an easterly direction, thinking to circle Bricriu's dun and then travel south toward Temair.

  The day wore on and they made little progress from the copse of silver fir trees. Then they came to the crest of a small hill and Silien suddenly halted, a smile on his face. "There is a river near," he said.

  Stepping briskly, he fell into the lead, and by late afternoon they came to the banks of a large, noisy river. "The River Ardagh," said the Ellyl with the tone of one meeting an old friend.

  As they sank down onto the spongy turf at the river's edge, they watched Silien take out a length of translucent thread. To the end of it he attached a small glittering object and cast it into the water. It wasn't long before the riverbank around him was covered with flopping, silvery fish. Talisen kindled the fire, as Collun's right hand was still useless, and after Silien had cleaned the fish, Talisen roasted them over the flames. The hot fish melted in Collun's mouth.

  They tried again to feed Brie, but she would not move her jaws. Collun made a broth of fish, water, and herbs to pour into her mouth.

  As Collun lay down to sleep that night, he noticed the Ellyl sitting on the very edge of the riverbank, Fara at his side. Silien was gazing fixedly at the flowing water. Ever since they had come to the river, his face had worn a distracted, hungry look.

  Collun remembered Silien telling them Ellylon loved water, and many of the ways into Tir a Ceol were by water. Collun wondered, as he drifted off into an exhausted sleep, whether the Ellyl was homesick.

  When Collun woke in the morning, Silien still sat by the river. Next to him was a makeshift basket made of reeds, filled to the top with fish. Fara was leisurely cleaning herself. Collun walked over to the Ellyl. "You have been busy."

  "Yes," replied Silien. "I wanted to leave you with a supply of fish. The road back to Temair is a long one."

  Collun was about to thank the Ellyl when the meaning of his words sank in. He stared down at the basket of fish. "You are leaving us?"

  "My home is not far. I do not know if my father will have me, but I have decided to return. I have been gone long."

  Talisen overheard Silien's words. He sat upright and said angrily, "You're deserting us?"

  "I can do no more for the Flame-girl."

  "Silien," Collun cut in, his voice higher than usual, "is there nothing that can save Brie?"

  "No." The Ellyl paused. "Nothing in your land."

  "What do you mean, nothing in our land?"

  "Except perhaps for your Crann, who comes and goes as he chooses, there is no one in Eirren with the power to heal the Flame-girl. If she were Ellyl..."

  "Yes?"

  "There might be a way, if she were Ellyl."

  "Can you not use the same method on Brie?"

  Silien shook his head. "I do not know the way. Only the elders of Tir a Ceol know it."

  "Then take us with you to Tir a Ceol," Collun said, his voice loud.

  Silien was startled, but he shook his head again. "They would never agree to heal one of your kind."

  "Are you sure?"

  "I am."

  "Take me to them anyway. Perhaps if I could speak with them..."

  "You would be destroyed if you even tried to enter Tir a Ceol. And I, too, no doubt, for bringing you."

  "Take us, Silien," Collun pleaded. "I will say I forced you, that you acted against your will."

  The Ellyl only smiled.

  Then Collun was angry. "Brie was right all along. You are capable only of feeling for yourself. You would let her die, as you would let anything weaker than you die, if helping meant danger to yourself."

  "It is foolish to act otherwise," Silien responded coolly.

  "Then you are a coward." Collun turned away, tears of anger stinging his eyes.

  Silien was unmoved. "Call me what you will. I wish to return home, and I can think of no reason to take you with me." He bent to place a cover on the reed basket.

  Collun walked back toward Brie, his good hand clenched tightly in frustration.

  "I can understand your point of view," he heard Talisen say to Silien. Collun spun around in disbelief.

  "After all," Talisen continued, "you have said that no one in hundreds of years has dared to bring a human into Tir a Ceol. To be the first," Talisen paused, "why, it would be an act of infamy. Ellylon would speak of it for years hence."

  Silien straightened. There was a speculative look in his eyes. He gazed across the water.

  "Think of what your parents would say..."

  "I have no mother," Silien said distractedly, still staring at the river.

  "Your father, then. Why, he would never let you live it down. To bring a human into Tir a Ceol. Of course, it's unthinkable."

  Silien shifted his gaze to Talisen. He gave his half-smile. "You are indeed the clever one, harp-player. Very well, I will take you into Tir a Ceol, if only to see the look on my father's face." He turned and walked off toward a nearby stand of trees.

  Talisen let out a whoop and danced an impromptu jig around the remains of last night's fire. "Did you hear, Collun? We are going to Tir a Ceol!"

  "Thank you, Talisen," Collun said to his friend.

  When Silien returned, he bore an armful of branches. He sat down and patiently set to work stripping them. Collun asked what he was doing, and he replied, "On my own, I can swim to my home. But you are human and cannot. I must build a curragh to take us into Tir a Ceol."

  "We will help you."

  Silien nodded and put Collun to work stripping
the leaves and twigs off the branches. At first it was awkward, working without his right hand, but Collun soon learned the knack of holding the branch between his knees, steadying it with his right shoulder, and using his left hand to pull off leaves.

  It took them a day and a half of hard work to build the boat. Often, as they labored, Collun could hear Silien humming under his breath. Collun guessed the melody held Ellyl magic, for the work went much faster than it otherwise would have.

  As he kept a watch over Brie, Collun stripped the hazel rods. Silien and Talisen went to hunt for game. They came back, exhausted but triumphant, bearing a large kine between them. They skinned the animal, saving the meat for dinner, then stretched the hide out on the ground to dry in the weak autumn sun.

  When there were enough hazel rods, Silien used a piece of the translucent thread to mark out a large oval on the ground. He stuck thirty-two rods firmly into the ground at regular intervals around the oval. Next he wove more hazel branches through the stakes, making a pattern of sturdy wickerwork. With Talisen's help, the Ellyl then bent the long hazel rods over so they met and lay side by side, where they were securely bound with more of Silien's thread.

  Silien carefully placed several large rocks on top of the structure to help it set, and Talisen laughingly asked if the Ellyl planned to carry them all in a giant basket. But Silien just smiled and carried the dried kine hide down to the river, where he let it soak overnight in a shallow pocket of river water.

  The next morning Collun watched while Talisen and Silien stretched the now-pliable hide over the upside-down basket and, when they were done, helped them lace it all around the edge with the Ellyl thread.

  Then Silien set to work carving a tiller out of a large ash branch. He sang as he worked, and his hands flew over the wood. Soon he had not only finished the tiller but had fashioned two oars and a bench for sitting.

  By the next morning the boat was ready. It was a sturdy little craft, and Talisen dubbed it Wave-sweeper.

  Brie's body had shrunk in the time it had taken them to build the boat. She no longer had the strength to sit up. The dark spaces under her eyes cut more deeply into her face, and her skin felt like ice to the touch. It was the gray of approaching death.

  They carried the boat down to a muddy shelf by the side of the river and loaded it first with their few belongings. Then they carefully laid Brie in the bottom. She lay there without a sound, her dead eyes staring at the sky.

  Collun awkwardly stepped into the boat, and Silien and Talisen cast off. The river current immediately grabbed at the little vessel.

  Holding tightly to the side of the boat with his left hand, Collun watched the land on either side of him slide by. He had never been on a body of water this large before.

  Wave-sweeper suddenly slipped around a bend and was caught up in a rush of foaming white rapids. Silien guided the boat skillfully. The white water did not last long, and soon afterward the river emptied into a lake. If the river had seemed large to Collun, it was nothing compared to the broad expanse of water that stretched before them now. It was green in some places, brown in others, and everywhere overlaid with silver, like the Ellyl's eyes, where the sun caught it.

  "This lake is called Ullswater," said Silien.

  "It is large," replied Collun. "Is your home near?"

  "Very near." Silien smiled. "The porth—or entrance—to Tir a Ceol lies underneath."

  Collun's eyes widened. "Underneath?"

  "We enter there." And he pointed straight ahead, over the water. "There is a cavern," he added, since all that was visible to them was a thin finger of land.

  Silien got out the oars and began to row the boat across the lake. Compared to the headlong rush of the river journey, they now seemed barely to move at all. But then Silien began to sing, and the little boat skimmed over the water at an even, fluid pace.

  Then Collun noticed the sky was changing. The sun went under a thin bank of clouds and stayed there. The light took on a yellowish cast, turning the water yellow as well. The breeze died completely, and the air became heavy and still. Silien looked up at the sky uneasily.

  "Is there a storm coming?" Collun asked.

  Silien did not answer.

  The sky continued to darken, and the yellow light became more and more unreal. Their faces had all taken on the sallow color of toadflax blossoms.

  Collun looked down at Brie. Her eyes had closed. Collun felt for her pulse, his own heart racing. He found it, but it was thready and irregular, more so than before. He prayed she would hold on long enough for them to cross the lake.

  Then the boat slowed. Collun saw that Silien had set down the oars. The Ellyl took hold of the tiller with both hands, his knuckles white. He told them to get into the bottom of the boat and hold fast. Barely were the words out of his mouth when the first blast of wind hit them. It was as if a giant hand had come out of the sky and given them a mighty blow. As he ducked into the bottom of the boat, Collun was almost swept into the water, his breath snatched away.

  Silien said something they could not hear over the wind. Then he shouted, "My father. He is angry."

  "What do you mean? Where is your father?" called out Talisen.

  "He is below. He has sent Daoine Ellyl, the Ellyl Wind."

  "Who is your father, Silien?" Talisen shouted as loudly as he could.

  "He is king. King of the Ellylon," Silien replied, his eyes scanning the whitecaps that now covered the lake's surface. Waves slapped against the sides of the boat, rocking them up and down wildly.

  "Your father is king?!" yelled Talisen. "Why didn't you tell us before?"

  Silien cast a brief glance at Talisen and gave his half-smile. "It did not seem important. Get your head down."

  Soon Wave-sweeper was being tossed from the top of great peaks of water down into deep troughs, where the water rose like yellow walls around them. The wind was driving them toward the opposite shore at a terrifying pace.

  Then a wave larger than the rest loomed over them. It almost seemed to reach out for the boat. With a sickening lurch it flipped Wave-sweeper over, throwing them all into the churning, bitter-cold water.

  When he came to the surface, Collun took in a deep breath of air and looked around wildly for the others. Through the spray he caught sight of Talisen's dark head. He was next to the upended boat. Collun thought he could hear Silien's voice shouting. Then he went under again. Yellow water flooded his mouth and nose. He kicked upward desperately. It seemed to take forever to find the surface. When he did, a wave immediately slammed into the side of his head, and he was under again. His frozen arm dangled uselessly in the water. Even if he had been an experienced swimmer, this foaming morass would have been too much for him. As it was, he knew it was only a matter of time before his legs would not be strong enough to keep lifting him to the surface.

  The next time he came up he was closer to the shore and farther from the upended boat. But he was able to see that Talisen and Silien had gotten Brie on top of it and were somehow lashing her on. Then Collun saw a wave crash into them. When he next caught sight of the boat, Talisen and Silien were no longer visible, but Brie remained on top. Waves of yellow water washed over her. Collun wondered if she was still alive.

  Then, above the wind, Collun heard a voice. It was loud, and it sounded angry. In the confused nightmare world of seething water and wind, Collun thought he must be imagining things. Who in Eirren was possessed of a voice loud enough to make itself heard over this howling, yellow storm? But still he heard it, and it was coming from the shore. He saw something tall and green standing on the land. At first he thought it to be a tree. Then he saw it was Crann.

  Another wave propelled Collun closer to the shore. As he surfaced, gasping what felt to be his last breath, he saw Crann's mouth form a circle. His cheeks were distended. Collun had the sudden wild thought that the wizard was somehow sucking the great wind into his own gaunt body. He half expected to see the old man's throat balloon up, swelling like a frog's during mati
ng season. But of course it did not.

  And then the wind began to die. The waves started getting smaller. Collun didn't have to fight so hard to keep his head above water.

  He looked again toward Crann, who raised his arms above his head, as he had in the forest, and shouted the words, "Siochain gaoth!" Suddenly the wind was gone.

  Crann dropped his arms and turned toward Collun. The boy kicked feebly, moving forward in the nearly calm water.

  By the time he reached the shallow waters of the lakeshore, Collun's legs had no strength left in them. The wizard lifted him out of the water and chafed his arms with the green cloak. Crann noticed that Collun's arm hung limp, but he said nothing. Collun lay without moving, listening to the sound of waves quietly lapping against the shore.

  "Look," the wizard said. The upended boat with Brie on top was moving through the water. It wasn't until it was almost to shore that Collun realized Fara was dragging the boat, holding it by a length of rope clenched in her teeth.

  Talisen and Silien soon appeared, and before long they were all gathered on the shore.

  Collun kneeled by Brie. "Is she...?" he asked Crann.

  "She lives, though not for much longer. We must go." Crann's voice was stern, and Collun heard anger underneath his words.

  The wizard lifted Brie into his arms and began to lead them.

  They walked over a rocky headland covered with long grass and cattails. Crann led them inland toward a low-lying ridge of land.

  They were approaching the opening of a large cave. Without hesitation, Crann ducked his head and entered. The others followed. Crann paused briefly to spark a fire and make a torch from a length of dry wood he found lying on the cave floor. He gave Talisen the torch to carry.

  Silien spoke, his voice echoing in the cavern. "Do we go to Tir a Ceol?"

  "Yes," answered Crann shortly.

  "Do you know the way?"

  "I do." Crann bit the words off, his voice sharp.

  Silien shook his head. "I do not think..."