The Hart and the Harp

by Sorcha MacMurrough

Bran walked down the ladder with Shive, and said worriedly, “You know, there’s still no word from Ruairi. Could he have been taken captive?”

  Shive frowned, and then said in a firm tone, “No, I don’t think so. No news is good news where Ruairi is concerned. He wants to maintain an element of surprise in all this as well. He knows all we know, and he'll be here, I’m sure, when the time is right. And he won’t have left Lissatava unguarded."

  She glanced around, then added in a low tone, "But nor can Ruairi give us reinforcements, Bran, if that’s what you're thinking. It would waste their time and energy to muster them and bring them north when the heaviest of the fighting will be on Ruairi’s lands. No, I'm afraid we are going to have to do everything in our power to stop them from getting through.

  “And if they can’t get through the pass at Maumkeogh, they'll have to go east, or west, further into Tiernan’s territory, or our own. Are all the men up from Aille yet?”

  “They should be on their way now to reinforce us here at Rathnamagh,” Bran confirmed.

  “Send out patrols from here, east and west, and send one messenger on to Earc’s troops at Aille. Tell them if they haven’t already left yet, to hurry here as fast as they can. And start arming the women here too. We'll need everyone to defend this place if our losses get too heavy,” Shive added in a whisper.

  Bran gaped. “Is it going to be that bad, do you think?”

  She met his worried gave head on. “This is Muireadach we're talking about, remember? Worse than you could imagine.”

  Shive and her two companions Oran and Tadhg the messenger mounted up and rode to Tiernan’s castle as rapidly as they could, only to be met with complete opposition as they banged on the outer gate.

  “You’re not allowed in, my lady, as you well know,” Padraig the gatekeeper answered sadly. As with so many others of the O'Haras, he had become quite fond of the fiery young women in the time she'd trained with them at the castle. It was hard to believe she had betrayed Tiernan when they had seemed so happy.

  “Please, Padraig, this is a matter of the utmost urgency. I must see Tiernan. It’s not about our quarrel with each other, if he has one with me. The O’Rourkes and O’Dowds are on their way south with a huge armed force ready for a summer campaign. I’ve blocked the pass at Maumkeogh with men in the middle and the south, but we'll need help to hold them off. Muireadach is trying to overrun your lands, and Ruairi O’Connor’s to the south-east. Please, I must see Tiernan.”

  Eventually, after repeating what she had said several more times, and with Oran and the messenger Tadhg confirming all she said, Padraig finally began to believe her tale, but admitted, “Tiernan isn’t here.”

  “Get Cian then, please. We haven’t much time!”

  But Cian was somewhere in the extensive castle precincts, so she demanded to be let in, and for Padraig to summon Irial, Tiernan’s sergeant at arms.

  Padraig opened the gate and passed the message along to the others that Shive had permission to pass.

  At last she met with Irial at the main entrance to the castle, and without preamble said, “Look, Irial, I know the lies put about by Orla is coloring your judgment of me, but you know me personally. Whatever I might be accused of doing in terms of my supposed love affair with Ruairi O’Connor, I’m still a warrior, and head of my clan.

  “I’m also still Tiernan’s wife until such time as we're divorced. I'm begging you to listen to me, and help me stop Muireadach O’Rourke before it’s too late. He and the O’Dowds are on the move. We must make a stand at Maumkeogh before they overrun all our lands. If we don’t fight together, all of us will be destroyed. Muireadach, who hates Tiernan and Cian, will have no mercy on any of you.”

  Irial considered the news from Tadhg the messenger, and Oran’s confirmation that Shive had in fact been kidnapped and held hostage by Muireadach O’Rourke until he himself had rescued her and brought her back to Rathnamagh.

  Irial said at length, “I believe you, Shive, and would like to help, but all of the men would have to agree. Wait here. I'll muster them.”

  Shive put her case to the men again as quickly as she could. They could see from the desperate demeanor and urgent pleading that it was no lie she told.

  At last Cian appeared, and agreed to support her plan for the defense of their lands.

  “Thank you, Cian, for your offer," she said loud enough for all the O'Haras to hear, "but I need to receive the undertaking from the men. It’s their lives they're risking, and they might not be wiling to die for me.”

  One of the men who had fought loyally in her small elite band, Stiofan, stepped forward and declared loudly, “You were our war lord when you lived under this roof. Whatever may be wrong between you and Tiernan, Shive, you’re now trying to protect us again, just as you did when the Vikings raided Breachnach and tried to attack Glenfarne. I will swear loyalty to you to the death so long as you're an ally of this clan.”

  “I fight for all of us, and Ruairi too, not because he is my lover. I have no love other than Tiernan. I fight for Ruairi because he is even-handed and just, and because a man like that should be high king. Muireadach will try to take over all our lands and will destroy Ireland to become high king. We must stand firmly together."

  Some of the men look a bit dubious, so Shive gave the a more concrete reason they could grasp. "Muireadach has also been Tiernan’s bitterest enemy, ever since the quarrel between he and Tiernan and years ago, is that not so, Cian?”

  Cian looked surprised that Shive should know of the age-old dispute, but nodded. "He tried to killed me. It was as though he were possessed by a demon. Tiernan stopped him and gave him the scar to remind him never to cross our family again."

  "Then you know Muireadach has been burning for revenge ever since. A revenge years in the making. He won't be happy until both of you are dead and the O'Hara's necks under his sword, or his heel. You have all suffered much due to my father. You may have bowed, but you've never broken. Now it is my turn to repay you for never retaliating against my family. I pledge my life to your cause, since it is right and just. My men and I shall fight to the death on your behalf, all you O’Haras, but we need your help!”

  “What would you have us do, Shive?” Cian asked.

  “Spilt into three groups, for each of the two ends of the pass, and the third as reinforcements. The first and second groups will go to the southern end to stop them in case they do break through. The first and largest group will defend the northern entrance to the pass.”

  Irial frowned. “That will trap the O’Rourkes in the center. The fighting will be desperate there.”

  “My men and I are going into the center,” Shive said quietly.

  “Then we’re going with you, all of your little band, where the fighting will be the hardest,” Padraig the gate keeper, eager for action, vowed.

  Now the men moved to get their weapon and horses ready.

  Cian stated, “I shall go south to make preparations there.”

  “Good. You can link up with Mahon, and Sitric the Viking leader there.”

  Irial stated he would stay with the group who would head north, but they would hold on as long as they could to wait for Tiernan’s return.

  “If you can find him,” Cian sighed. “He’s been gone for a couple of days now. He could be anywhere.”

  “He might even have been captured by the O’Rourkes if he himself has gone north,” Oran guessed.

  “We'll just have to do the best we can,” Shive said firmly. She couldn't afford to show weakness or fear in front of everyone. She offered up a prayer that her beloved husband was still alive. Then she looked around her.

  “You all know where to deploy yourselves to best advantage. I must go now. Wait as long as you can, Irial, and make sure you keep out of sight until they attack the pass. Wait for my signal, if Tiernan doesn’t arrive.”

  “Be careful, Shive, won’t you. The baby is due in less than a month. I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to you or the
child,” Cian said as he hugged her to him.

  “Sure, haven’t I got nine lives like a cat,” Shive joked, as she mounted her steed and led her small force out towards Maumkeogh to confront her deadly foe.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Shive and the rest of her small band rode straight for the pass at Maumkeogh, anxious to set up their defensive positions before the O’Rourkes should come down from the north. Shive prayed that Tiernan would be located before the fighting started. He had to be alive, he just had to be. Surely she would know if he were injured, or dead. She needed him so. How could their stiff-necked pride and innate nobility have pulled them so far apart?

  But she couldn't be selfish. Tiernan wasn't hers alone, any more than she was his exclusively. All Ireland needed Tiernan now. She knew that the O’Hara men’s loyalty to her had been severely dented by all the lies that had been told about her and her supposed affair with Ruairi. Even Oran's admission he had been her unwilling jailer for months at Bothandun was not enough to convince all of them.

  Moreover, Shive was practical enough to realise that at over eight months pregnant, she would only be so effective on the battlefield, and then would have to hand over leadership to someone else.

  But her brains were as active as ever even though her body felt tired and sluggish and she ached all over. It wasn’t long before Shive found the right strategic vantage points for the fifty men she had brought with her. They all started to make fortifications and dig ditches, the bottoms of which they embedded with spikes, and covered over with marl from the forest floor to disguise their murderous intent. Woe betide the man or beast who fell into one of them.

  Then there were barriers of tree trunks which they all hastened to erect, so that if the O’Rourkes’ forces were mounted, their horses would not be able to charge through easily. Shive concealed her choicest archers in the thickest trees, and also secreted some of her men under the rock faces which hung over the floor of the narrow pass.

  “Look here, Shive!” Oran called at one point while they were making their preparations. “It’s a small cave, an animal den or something. There are several of them in a sort of grouping. Some badgers must have had a sett here once.”

  Shive nodded as she admired the cleverness of the animals, and the advantage the caves presented for her. “Get some leaves and branches over here to cover these. It would be a good place to conceal some of our men, and also some of the wounded, who might otherwise get trammelled on or further injured in the fray."

  Then she turned back to her task of hacking off the branches from some of the trees to make some more arrows for the men.

  Above, the men were also collecting rocks to hurl down at the enemy. Shive prayed their defences would be enough to hold off the O’Rourkes for as long as possible to allow the others at the south end of the pass to gather strength.

  Shive herself was not overly fearful, though, for she knew she had a good band of soldiers, and a strategic vantage point which she could hold easily whilst causing a maximum amount of damage to the enemy.

  All the same, when Oran offered her some food and drink a couple of hours later, as the sun began to dip lower in the sky, Shive couldn’t help feeling vaguely worried.

  “What’s wrong, Shive? You look rather forlorn,” Oran said, observing her closely.

  “Tis nothing, Oran, just a twinge of discomfort in my back and side, that’s all.”

  “Have something to eat, then. You must be starving.”

  “No, really, Oran, you have it. I’ll just have some water, and get back to work.”

  “You’re pushing yourself too hard,” Oran scolded.

  “I know, but in front of Tiernan’s men, how can I do otherwise?”

  Oran sighed and turned his dark eyes to Shive’s own violet ones tenderly. “They know that you’re a good leader, Shive, or else they wouldn’t have come here with you in the first place. They’ve taken every single one of your orders for the preparations and fortifications without a murmur of dissent. They’ve even taken my orders from you, though most of them have no idea who I am. Trust me, they respect you. You don’t have to drop dead of exhaustion to prove yourself.”

  Shive gazed at the old man fondly. “Thank you, Oran, for being so loyal. I mean, I know all this can’t be easy for you,” Shive sighed, rubbing the small of her back as she rose to face him.

  “I told you in the cellar before I rescued you that Muireadach had gone too far, and I meant it. I’m glad now I rescued you when I did. He would have killed you, just as he did Grainne Maguire. I hate to think what even a few seconds’ hesitation on my part might have brought about. Orla would have killed you in an instant.” Oran shook his head regretfully.

  “How sorry I am not to have given her the satisfaction,” Shive said with a wry grin.

  “Listen, Shive, you’re not safe, not yet. Once the fighting starts, some of the men will recognize you. Certainly Muireadach will if he’s leading his troop himself. Be careful,” Oran warned.

  “And if I run away from the fight, what will Tiernan’s men think of me then?”

  “Shive, you are of course still quite as slender as a willow wand, but even a blind man couldn’t fail to notice you're with child now. Think of yourself and the baby first. If the fighting gets really savage, hide yourself in one of these caves. I’ll find you when things have quietened down,” Oran promised.

  Shive shrugged as if the matter were of small importance.

  “No, Shive, don’t avoid the subject. I want you to promise me you’ll do that. The whole future of this region could well rest within you with this heir to both clans. Promise me!”

  “All right, all right, Oran, I promise,” Shive conceded.

  Just then the scouts gave a warning that the O’Rourkes’ forces were on their way.

  “Surely they won’t run the risk of coming though the pass at night,” Shive exclaimed, squinting up at the gradually darkening sky.

  Padraig came up and joined Shive and Oran.

  “No, no, it looks like they're going to make camp at the northern end, and head on through tomorrow morning,” Padraig guessed.

  Shive thought about how they might be able to use the dark night to their advantage for a time and then said, “Well, with them so close, we'll need to keep low, and not give away our presence or how many of us there are. Make sure none of their scouts get too far forward to uncover the traps in the ground. There are to be no cooking fires tonight to show where we are. You’re to keep quiet at all times. Make sure the horses make no noise either, jangling their harnesses and such like. Finally, I want a small band of volunteers ready to go over to their camp as soon as we're sure they’re asleep.”

  “Won’t that be a bit risky?” Padraig asked.

  “I know all of you know the country around here. If we can get into their camp and kill a few of them, and then slip out again, it will shock and scare them.”

  Padraig conceded her point. “I guess waking up next to a dead body would frighten the hell out of most people.”

  “I’ll lead the raid myself. Let’s all get a bit of rest now. We’ll go out an hour after we see the movement in the camp die down.”

  Padraig went off to pass the news down the line.

  As soon as he was gone, Oran took her to task. “Are you sure you should go on this raid, Shive? What happens if you’re caught?”

  “I need to lead by example. I want to make sure the raid is a success. Don’t worry about me. Besides, even if Muireadach does capture or even kill me, the army is ready. It will carry on without me, because that’s what I’ve trained it to do. It might even make Muireadach a bit too sure of himself. That’s when he will make a fatal error of judgment. We just have to wait for that moment. Now, come sit down beside me, and tell me how Muireadach fights.”

  Oran shook his head sadly, but sat and chatted about what he knew of Muireadach’s skills as a warrior until Shive eventually began to doze.

  While Shive slept, some of the men continued w
orking to gather rocks or fletch arrows, while others who had volunteered for the raid rested and ate some bread and cheese, and took some thirsty pulls from their wineskins.

  Shive woke about an hour later, and continued to whittle arrow tips with Oran at her side. She propped up her aching back against a rock face with her cloak for a cushion. She wondered idly as she worked whether Tiernan had been found yet, and what his reaction would be when he discovered that his men had gone with her.

  Would he believe all she had said? Or would he think it was some sort of plot to make a fool out of him?

  Surely he can’t hate me that much? How could he ever have believed I would run off with Ruairi after all we had shared together? Shive wondered to herself for the hundredth time as she rubbed her rounded belly.

  “Are you in pain?” Oran’s asked suddenly, with obvious concern.