'So here we are then,' Hector roared, 'all waiting for this Shining One who ordered the Caterans to attack my ships and my people.'
'You look cheerful this morning,' Melcorka said.
'I want to get this over with so I can return home,' Hector nearly shouted. 'I don't enjoy these foreign adventures.' He raised his voice further. 'Where are you, Shining One? Hector MacRae is here! Show yourself you false coward! I am Hector and I will fight you man to man!'
'I will fight him for you, Chief,' Tuath stepped forward, axe on shoulder. 'I am your bodyguard.'
'No, Tuath,' Hector put a huge hand on Tuath's chest. 'This is one fight I must win alone. This Shining One is a chief; it is fitting that one chief should fight another, and where would the world be if I allowed you all the glory?'
'It is my job…' Tuath began, until Igraine put her far more delicate hand on his arm.
'Listen to Hector,' she urged. 'Let him fight if he wishes.'
Melcorka glanced at Bradan. She knew that Igraine was not concerned for Hector's glory, but for the life of her man. She could sense the dark shadow that waited in this place.
Hector took a few practise swings of his sword, the Gaelic claymore with the upturned quillons and great five foot long blade. 'I need the exercise,' he said. 'I used to be a great warrior.'
'Used to be,' Melcorka repeated. 'Perhaps you should allow Tuath or me to fight for you? We both have more recent experience.'
'Chiefs fight chiefs,' Hector said. 'I have made my decision.'
Tuath took a deep breath, looked at Melcorka and raised his eyebrows. 'As you wish, Hector and if he kills you I shall take my revenge on him.'
'No.' Hector shook his head. 'This will be an honourable fight; the victor will walk away unmolested. Swear that!'
'Hector…' Tuath said.
'Swear!'
'I do so swear,' Tuath mumbled through gritted teeth.
'And you, Melcorka,' Hector said. 'You are only in this fight at my bidding; you have no obligation to continue it after my death. Swear you will not seek vengeance.'
'I do so swear,' Melcorka did not mention that Defender could not kill for revenge. If Hector was defeated, there was nothing she could do.
'Very well,' Hector said. 'Then let the charade begin.'
Hector's men formed themselves around the stones, gathering together individually or in small groups that were so reminiscent of the long-gone people Melcorka had seen the previous night that she felt the sweat start on her body. History was repeating itself, except these men were living, breathing and talking as they watched their chief stride forward to battle the unknown.
With his claymore across his back, his dirk at his belt and the skein-dhu in his stocking, Hector was every inch the burly Hebridean warrior as he walked toward the central circle. 'I am here, Shining One! I am Hector MacRae of Ulvust! Fight me if you dare, or be forever doomed to be known as a coward!'
At first there was no response, and then the sun crept up beyond the highest of the stones. There was the call of a cuckoo, all the more unsettling for being out of season.
Melcorka did not see where the Shining One came from. One minute only Hector stood there, and the next there was a giant that glittered under the power of the sun. The reflection was so bright that Melcorka narrowed her eyes and then had to look away. There was light, and there was a blazing golden hue that dominated the avenue of stones that led to the central circle at Callanish.
'The Shining One!' The words passed from man to man along the crowd, with many making the sun gesture to Bel with thumb and forefinger. Tuath was among them, watching through the fingers of his left hand and an expression of superstitious awe on his face.
'It is Bel himself,' Tuath said.
'Bel… Bel…' The name was repeated like the crisp rustle of leaves in an autumn breeze.
Even Melcorka felt the small hairs on the back of her neck rise as the great glittering giant strode forward along the avenue of standing stones, with the sun reflecting from every part of him.
'Hector!' Tuath yelled, 'you cannot fight a god!'
'I am Hector MacRae!' Hector's voice sounded, 'and I am scared of nobody, not man nor beast nor god nor demon!'
For the first time, Melcorka felt a twinge of admiration for Hector. 'Fight well Hector!' she shouted, 'and may God give strength to your arms!'
Running around the outside of the stones, Melcorka tried to find a place where she could stand outside the glare. There was nowhere. The sun caught the Shining One, reflecting and dazzling from every angle. She could only guess how much worse it was for Hector, close up and with his life at stake.
'Swing hard Hector!' Melcorka yelled. 'Guard yourself.'
She heard the first grunt of combat and the clatter of steel on steel. Hector shouted his slogan and she knew he was fighting, although the glare encompassed both men, if indeed the Shining One was a man and not some creature from beyond mortality.
'Use this!' Melcorka had not seen Bradan come beside her. He handed her a strip of dark silk. 'Place it across your eyes and look through it!'
The silk acted as a filter for the glare, so Melcorka could watch the fight. The Shining One was clad from head to toe in armour, polished so hard that it reflected the sun as if it was a mirror. He was tall, nearer seven feet than six, with a helmet that covered his head and face, and fought with axe and sword in a fashion that Melcorka had seen only with the Northmen.
It was obvious that Hector was a skilled warrior as he slashed and thrust and parried with his claymore, yet he was at a major disadvantage as he fought with his eyes narrowed against the glare.
As one of his mighty slashes forced the Shining One a step back, Hector roared and sliced sideways, catching his opponent on the leg, denting his armour and making him roar in pain.
'He is no god!' Melcorka decided. 'The Shining One can be hurt; he is a man inside bright armour; that is all.'
The pain seemed to make the Shining One more determined. With a long sword in his left hand and the axe in his right, he countered Hector's next attack, trapping the claymore between his twin weapons and holding it there.
'Fight, Hector!' Melcorka shouted. 'Fight for your life!'
For a minute that seemed to stretch for hours, the Shining One and Hector stood like that, each man straining forward, Hector to free his sword and the Shining One to break his grip on the hilt. It was muscle against muscle, strength against strength, power against power.
Melcorka winced as Hector was forced a single step back. She saw the determination on his face as the muscles in his neck corded and writhed like snakes, and then he forced the Shining One to retreat in turn. They were poised again with neither man willing to concede an inch. Then Hector's sword snapped. The great blade broke in two with the top half falling in seeming slow motion to spear into the thin soil between the stones.
The sound echoed around the temple as Hector staggered back and the Shining One stepped forward. That might have been the end of the contest for a lesser man, but Hector was a Hebridean chief, a fighting man from a breed of fighting men. Even as the Shining One lifted his axe to deliver a killing blow, Hector drew the dirk from his belt and thrust it upward toward the Shining One's belly.
Melcorka nearly winced, knowing how deadly that stroke was. Instead she gasped as the long blade also snapped when it clashed against the Shining One's armour.
'He can't be killed!' Somebody shouted. 'He is invulnerable; he is a god!'
'He's only a man!' Melcorka yelled, and relapsed into silence as the Silent One lifted his axe and chopped sideways. She watched as the sun caught the blade of the axe on its journey, and then it dug into Hector's neck.
Hector's head lifted in the air, propelled by jets of blood, and descended to bounce twice on the ground and roll away. His body stood for a second, spouting blood, and then it crumpled and fell.
There was silence around Callanish as the men of Ulvust witnessed the death of their chief.
For the first
time that morning, a cloud slithered across the face of the sun.
Melcorka watched as the Shining One slid his sword into its scabbard and lifted the head of Hector. Blood slow dripped onto the grass.
'Is there anybody else bold enough to fight me?'
The silence endured. Melcorka saw Tuath step forward, only for Igraine to hold him back with a single finger. 'You gave your oath,' she said, the soft words carrying around that bitter temple with more force than any shouted battle-slogan.
'As did you,' Bradan whispered to Melcorka.
The Shining One walked on, holding Hector's head high. 'I have killed your chief!' he announced. 'Now I challenge you, any of you, to face me in battle.'
'I will fight you!' The voice was very young as Alva slipped free and ran up to the Shining One. 'I liked Hector.'
'Alva!' Both Igraine and Melcorka ran forward to save her.
Without hesitation, the Shining One bent down. He swept his arm in a great arc that knocked Alva off her feet and crashed her against the nearest stone. Melcorka reached her first, with Igraine one step behind.
'Give her to me!' Igraine demanded, taking the child from Melcorka's grasp. 'You!' she shouted, 'Shining One!' Still carrying Alva, she ran up to the man and pushed him with one hand. 'I never gave my word not to fight you! Take off that armour and fight me fair; if you dare!'
In response, the Shining One pushed her aside as easily as he had Alva.
'You coward!' Melcorka did not release Defender as Tuath came to protect his wife.
'Fight me,' the Shining One said.
'We are bound by oath not to,' Melcorka said. 'We gave our word not to avenge Hector, if you should emerge victorious.'
'Then I could kill you where you stand.' The Shining One said.
'If you tried,' Melcorka told him, 'we would no longer be fighting to avenge Hector, but to defend ourselves.'
'I wonder what you are like under that helmet,' Bradan mused as he stepped in front of Melcorka. 'Are you so ugly that you must hide from our eyes, or so much a coward that you fear to be seen?'
Tying Hector's head to his belt, and sliding his axe on the opposite side, the Shining One put both hands to his helmet. 'I am like this,' he said, and pulled the helmet off. He shook his head so his long braided hair cascaded down on either side of his tattooed face.
'It's Father!' Alva said.
Chapter Twenty-One
For a moment Melcorka could only stare. The face that emerged was one that had filled her nightmares for the past fourteen months. Egil the Norseman, the killer of her mother and the man who had led half the army of Norse that had devastated much of Alba stared out at her.
'You knew me as Egil,' he said.
'It's Father,' Alva repeated, and backed away behind Igraine. 'Please don't give me back to him.'
Egil laughed. 'Have no fear of that; I have a fine son; I have no use for a snivelling daughter,' he stepped forward, arm raised as if to deliver a back-handed swipe to her face.
'If you touch her, we are no longer fighting to revenge Hector,' Melcorka said. 'Look around you.'
Hector's men were as bound by oath as Melcorka was, yet there were at least twenty arrows pointed at Egil at that moment.
'Your armour may protect you some of the time,' Melcorka said. 'Not all.'
'I defeated you once before,' Egil mused. 'Now you hide behind an oath because you are frightened to fight me again.'
'There is no fear in me,' Melcorka said quietly. 'I have a question for you, Shining One.'
'Only one question? Do you not want to hear how your mother squealed as I killed her? Do you not wish to hear how my men killed every last one of your family, your clan and your people?'
Melcorka lunged forward as the memories returned, only for Egil to push her away with ease.
'Your sword cannot kill me, Melcorka, and without it you are only a puny girl.'
Melcorka sprawled on the ground, unable to articulate her hatred.
'You left your daughter alone amidst mermaids,' Bradan tapped his staff on the ground. 'She thought you were dead.'
Egil pushed Melcorka with his foot. 'I hoped they would eat her,' he said, 'while the Morrigan and I had other matters to attend to.'
'I also have a question for you,' Tuath spoke quietly. 'You are posing as the Shining One; you are a man, not a god. Why pretend to be what you are not?'
'I am the only Shining One you will ever meet, coward with an axe.'
'You are fortunate that I am bound by oath,' Tuath said, 'or my axe would be buried deep in your head.'
Egil's laugh was as loud and insincere as ever.
'The chief of the Caterans handed his captives to you,' Tuath ignored the laugh. 'What did you do with them? Why do you want them?'
'That is two questions, yet I am happy to answer. I am only the next link in the chain. I passed them along to the king of the selkies,' Egil laughed again. 'He uses them as food for his people.'
'Food?' Tuath sounded stunned. 'You handed men over to be eaten?'
Egil's laugh was louder than ever. 'Why not?' He put his armoured foot on top of Melcorka's thigh and twisted, breaking the skin. 'The men of Ulvust eat the flesh of seals. Why should the seal-people not eat the flesh of the men of Ulvust?'
'And where is this king of the selkies?' Melcorka broke the horrified silence as she shuffled clear of Egil's foot. 'Tell me so I can kill him. He is the head of this evil and I am not oath bound to keep him alive.'
Egil smiled to her. 'He has his own temple in the distant isles,' he said, 'guarded by creatures of the deep so ferocious that you would scream in terror even to view them, Melcorka the orphan.'
'What temple?' Bradan asked.
'That you shall never be told,' Egil said.
Igraine took a step forward. 'Are you the father of Alva?' She faced Egil directly.
'That brat is one of mine,' Egil said.
'The men you are handing over are somebody's children,' Igraine said. 'How would you feel if somebody handed Alva over to be eaten by some monster?'
Egil stopped laughing. 'The little bastard is nothing but a wagging tongue. I would enjoy watching the selkies eat her.'
Igraine stiffened. She placed both arms around Alva. 'I am not letting you have her back.'
Melcorka saw Alva press closer to Igraine.
'Her time will come,' Egil said, 'and so will yours.'
'You…' Tuath took a step forward.
Igraine pushed him back. 'No, Tuath. You gave your oath; our new child will need a father with honour.' Her smile to Egil combined triumph and malice in equal measure. 'You have lost your daughter, Egil. However brave you think you are hiding in that armour, you are a poor parent.'
Tuath looked confused. 'Are we going to look after Alva?'
'Yes we are,' Igraine looked toward Melcorka, who had risen to her feet.
'Does Alva wish that?' Melcorka held a hand out to the child. For a moment Egil did not matter; her hatred of the Norseman was less important than the well-being of this child.
'Please, Melcorka,' Alva pleaded.
Melcorka felt Alva's tiny hand slip inside her own. For some reason it was painful to agree to something she knew was correct. 'Yes, Alva,' she said, slowly, knowing she was depriving herself of something precious, yet aware it was the only possible choice. No five-year old could live the life she had chosen, and if she was killed, then Alva would be alone in a very hostile world. 'Of course, Alva. Igraine and Tuath will give you a fine life.'
Egil gestured with his axe. 'I will come back and kill you both, and then hand the bastard to the king of the selkies to be his slave, until he gets hungry.'
'You have given me another reason to kill you, Egil,' Melcorka said.
There was no reply. Egil had vanished and the stones of Callanish were empty except for the headless body of Hector.
Chapter Twenty-Two
'We still have not found your man Abaris,' Melcorka lifted a keg of water and placed it in the bow of Catriona.
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'He has been dead for hundreds of years,' Bradan said. 'He will still be dead when we have found this king of the selkies.' He wrapped two sacks of meal in tarred canvas to keep them watertight and placed them amidships.
'This is no longer your fight,' Melcorka said. 'You have no reason to get involved.' She checked the oars for damage and wear after their recent voyages then began to remove the barnacles from the hull. 'These things can really slow you down,' she said, hauling off some long tendrils of seaweed. 'You don't have to come with me.'
'You don't have to go either,' Bradan reminded. He stood beside the boat, watching her work. 'I could expect you to try and get rid of Egil for what he has done. This king of the selkies has not harmed you or yours.'
'He has ordered Egil to capture scores of seamen to be eaten.' Melcorka ran her hand up the mast, rapping it with her knuckles to ensure it was sound and could bear the pressure of the sail in a full gale. 'I want to kill him.'
'That is revenge,' Bradan said. 'Your Defender can not kill in revenge.'
'It will be justice,' Melcorka said. 'And I have another weapon.' She showed Hector's dirk. 'I kept this; I did not like Hector much but he was a brave man and a fair one after his own lights.'
'It is a pity that Tuath could not come with us,' Bradan watched a flight of ducks pass overhead, their necks seemingly overlong for their bodies. He did not look directly at Melcorka, allowing her space.
'He is the new chief of Ulvust' Melcorka said. 'As Hector's foster brother, he has got an island to take care of.' She tested the edge of Hector's dirk. 'We have been alone before.' She was not referring to Tuath.
'We are better alone, perhaps.' Bradan said. 'I've never seen you like this.'
Melcorka ran her hand across the sharp bow of Catriona. 'I've never been like this,' she said. 'Even when Egil killed my mother, I was not like this.'
'Alva.' Bradan said the name that was uppermost in both their minds. 'Egil threatened her. You felt protective for her.'
Melcorka looked away. 'She is a child. She needs protected.'
The Shining One (The Swordswoman Book 2) Page 21
