Melcorka paused, remembering the seal meat she had eaten at Hector's table. 'They do,' she said. She did not add that it was natural for humans to hunt animals for food. 'Just as seals eat fish.'
The king stepped forward, his round eyes liquid. 'Seals have to eat fish; there is no other food. Humans do not have to eat seals.'
'If you let these men go, and Alva, this child, I will ask them not to hunt seals for food,' Melcorka promised.
'It is too late for that,' the selkie king said. 'I have declared war on humans. We shall hunt you until humans no longer venture near our domain. My people will capture humans whenever they are at sea, or on the coast, or within reach of the coast. You will learn to live in fear of us, as we do of you.'
'Then we are enemies,' Melcorka said simply, 'for we need the sea as much as you do.' For one moment she had thought there might have been an understanding between them, but their dispute was too fundamental for that. Coastal communities lived on a knife edge of survival at all times, when life or death may depend on one catch of fish and a seal could provide food for a family or a village for a week and clothing for a woman or man for a year.
Melcorka expected the sudden attack. The selkies rushed at her, mouths wide and talons slashing. She swung Defender in a circle, slashing belly-high so the blade sliced through three of her attackers. They fell, howling and bloody as Melcorka took one step forward toward the selkie king.
'Fight me fair! Or will you let the people you claim to care for die in your place?'
More and more selkies emerged from the water channel, slashing at her with their talons, extending necks and faces to bite at her. Melcorka hacked and stabbed and thrust, killing, maiming, wounding and all the time backing away, pulling Alva along with her, keeping the child away from the malevolent power of Eileen or savagery of the selkie king.
She knew that Defender gave her the ability to kill selkies all day. They did not have the ability to reach her with talons or teeth, yet the longer the battle raged, the more tired she would get and eventually she would make a mistake. When that happened, the selkie king would take advantage and either wound her or, worse, snatch Alva. Despite her advantage with the magic blade, Melcorka knew she was still human and the cuts the king had inflicted her were weakening her. She could feel the blood flowing from her back, and the slight slowing of her reflexes. She had to close with him and end this, and she had to ensure that Alva was safe. Time and numbers were both on the side of the selkies.
Grabbing Alva in her left hand, Melcorka suddenly lunged forward, swinging Defender in a figure of eight motion; a steel shield that no selkie could penetrate. They did not even try; those that did not back away dived into the water so she faced the king with no distractions save Alva and Eileen.
The king stepped toward her, his face elongated, jaw and mouth out-thrust and his flipper- arms stretching until they matched the length of Defender. The claws on the end of his flippers were as long as any bear and hooked ready to tear into her flesh.
'We do not need to fight,' Melcorka said. 'If you give up your prisoners and let them go free, nobody will get hurt.'
The king said nothing, but lifted a hand and a cascade of water surged from the channel and into Melcorka's face. She blinked, startled by the force, and slashed with Defender in case the king should rush her when she was distracted. She felt Alva slip free from her grasp.
'I've got her!' The words formed inside her head and she reached backward for Alva. The child was not there.
'In the water! Quickly!' That was the king's voice.
Melcorka stooped and turned around. She saw two selkies with Alva in between them. The child was supine, not struggling as they carried her toward the channel.
'Leave her!' Melcorka yelled, and staggered as the king sent another deluge of water toward her. She took three strides forward and plunged Defender into the body of the nearest selkie. The creature screamed high-pitched and fell, changing into a seal as it slid into the water channel. The second selkie wrapped its arms around Alva and began to alter shape into a seal, a second too late as Melcorka sliced the top off its head off so a porridge of brains and blood seeped out. She scooped Alva back onto the stone ledge and yelled in sudden pain when the king's claws slashed along her shoulders. Fresh blood flowed down her back.
'Alva!' Melcorka shouted, and slapped the child hard across the face, hoping to shock her back to reality. Instead Alva slumped down to the ground. Melcorka could feel the blood seeping out of her wounds, soaking through her leine, slithering down her back and flanks, onto her hips and running down her legs to form little pools on the ground. She staggered in sudden weakness and knew her strength was draining away with her blood.
There was another surge of pain as the king thrust his talons deep inside her arm, twisting to enlarge the wound and barking like a rabid dog. Holding Defender with her now injured left hand, Melcorka stabbed ineffectively at the king, while trying to drag Alva as far from the water channel as she could.
Two more seals emerged from the water, transforming into selkies the instant they came onto land, and a further two clambered out behind them. Ignoring Melcorka, all four lunged toward Alva, their broad flipper-hands extended to grab her.
With a last thrust to make the king keep his distance, Melcorka turned to defend Alva. She knew she could not keep up this unequal fight much longer. Pain and the loss of blood was weakening her so even with Defender she was hard pressed to even stand, yet alone fight.
The king came again, throwing a wall of water in front of him and barking to bring out more selkies.
'You won't take her!' Melcorka yelled, but she knew she was losing. She lifted Defender; staggered through weakness and realised she was paddling through her own blood. She saw Conall appear behind the selkie king, smiling.
'I will keep her for myself, Melcorka,' Conall said, 'and use her as I see fit.' His smile was more evil than anything Melcorka had ever seen.
She lifted Defender as the selkies closed on her, talons slashing, ripping at her back and arms. 'You won't touch Alva!'
'I'll take her!' that was a very familiar roar.
Melcorka looked around, blinking away the salt water that burned her eyes.
'You kill the king and leave these things to me!' Tuath stood behind her, his teeth white behind his beard. Lifting a selkie in each hand, he banged them together and threw them against the opposite rock wall. 'You filthy creatures from hell!' Lifting his foot, he kicked another so it lifted high in the air and fell back in the water. 'Igraine!' He yelled, 'take your daughter.' He looked over to Melcorka. 'Well; what are you waiting for? Kill that thing! You are Melcorka the Swordswoman; he is only half a bloody seal!'
'How did you get here?' Melcorka closed her mouth. Her many questions would wait. Wounded and weakening, she needed all her strength to defeat this selkie king. Now grasping Defender in both hands, she stepped forward, very aware that Eileen could distort anything she saw or thought she saw but with fortified by the knowledge that Tuath and Igraine would defend Alva to the death.
The king barked; he opened his jaw to a tooth-filled gape and spread his arms wide, claws extended.
Melcorka took a step forward, winced and staggered, her head whirling. The king rushed forward, straight onto the point of Defender.
'Sorry your seal majesty,' Melcorka said, twisting the blade to enlarge the wound and ripping from side to side. 'I am not dead yet.' She watched as the king writhed, screaming. 'You abducted my Alva,' she said, totally without pity, and pushed the sword in deeper. 'You were going to eat her.' She put her weight on it, feeling satisfaction as the selkie king died. 'Or worse, hand her to Conall!'
'Look who you have killed,' the voice came into her head. 'You have killed your own mother.'
Melcorka looked down. Bearnas, her mother lay at her feet, bleeding from the wounds she had inflicted. Bearnas eyes opened, blinked in recognition as her lips formed the words: 'Melcorka, my daughter.'
Melcorka gasped and s
tepped back. 'Mother!'
Bearnas stiffened in agony. 'You killed me,' she said. 'I came back and you killed me.'
'No, mother,' Melcorka said. 'I killed the selkie king,' yet when she looked down on the well-remembered face of her mother, she knew that she was wrong. Eileen had fooled her; Eileen had replaced the selkie king with her mother, or rather had replaced her mother with an image of the selkie king. She had killed her mother; no, no; that could not be. Egil the Northman had killed her mother. The dead could not return.
And on two occasions she had faced Egil over the cross-bar of her sword and both times the Norseman had walked away, alive.
There would not be a third time. Melcorka looked at the body lying at her feet. She knew that, whoever it looked like, this corpse not her mother.
'Melcorka?'
'Bradan?' Melcorka staggered and held the wall for support. 'Where did you come from?' She forced a smile. 'You'll have to go on alone, Bradan. The selkie king wounded me sore. I can't go any further.' She felt the blood draining from her as she spoke and slid to her knees. 'Look after them Bradan.' She knew she was dying. 'Mother… I am coming.'
Bradan's hand held her. 'Wait here.' He stepped past her with his staff tapping on the ground.
Melcorka watched as he approached Eileen, prodding with his staff. Eileen turned away, with Bradan following, thrusting at her. She watched, feeling the blood flowing away, taking her strength and her life with it. She felt a terrible sadness, not that she was going to die, but that she had left so much undone and so much unsaid.
'Bradan…' Melcorka opened her mouth to tell him what she felt, only to see Conall slide behind Bradan. Conall dropped a dirk from his wide sleeve and moved into a half crouch, ready to use the groin stroke from behind.
'Bradan!' Melcorka tried to scream a warning, but her words came out as a strangled croak. She saw Conall sweep the dirk backward, then begin the terrible, deadly stroke that would plunge the long blade deep into Bradan's vitals. She reached forward to help her man but the darkness closed on her. 'Bradan…'
Melcorka woke to see Igraine looking down on her. 'About time you awoke,' Igraine said. 'You will feel pretty bad for a while and then that will wear off and you'll be yourself again.'
'Bradan?' Melcorka sat up. 'Is he all right?'
'I'm over here,' Bradan was sitting by the wall, smiling. 'How are you?'
'Alive,' Melcorka looked around. Nothing had altered yet everything seemed different. The water channel still bisected the cavern, the men still remained chained and vacant on the wall, the stalactites still descended from an unseen roof, yet there were no seals or selkies, no sensation of foreboding. 'I thought I was dying.'
'You were under enchantment,' Bradan said, 'like these poor people here.'
'I thought Defender was proof against that,' Melcorka said.
'It did not help you in Inch Iolaire,' Bradan reminded, 'Eileen's enchantment must have deceived you that it was helping here.'
Melcorka put a hand on her back. 'I was wounded fighting the selkie king.'
'You were only scratched,' Igraine said. 'It seems that your enchantment exaggerated things.'
Melcorka frowned. 'Did I actually fight the selkie king?'
'You did,' Bradan said. 'You fought him and you killed him, while rescuing Alva from the selkies.' Bradan smiled to her. 'It's good to have you back.'
'How did you get here? How did you free Tuath and Igraine from the spell?'
'The same way I freed you,' Bradan tapped his staff. 'I worked out that if this can battle creatures like Eileen, may also work against enchantment, so I pressed the holy cross at the end onto their forehead.'
'And it worked?' Melcorka asked.
'It did. It took a few moments but it worked.'
'Have you tried it on Alva?' Melcorka tried to sit up, staggered and returned to the ground.
'I have; she should be back to herself shortly.'
Melcorka looked around the cavern. 'It will take a long time to free all these people from enchantment,' she said.
'I have started,' Bradan said. 'I think there are a thousand men here and about fifty women and children. If I touch them with the staff, could you cut off their chains? It took us longer removing Tuath and Igraine's chains than it took removing their enchantment!'
Melcorka nodded. 'Is Eileen gone?'
'Eileen is gone and the selkie king is dead,' Bradan said.
'And Conall?'
'That treacherous creature is dead,' Tuath said. 'It was him that invited Eileen into Ulvust and betrayed the people…' He stooped down and lifted Conall's head from the ground. 'He died too quickly. He was about to skewer Bradan so I had to act quickly.' He shrugged. 'A pity: I would have liked to make him suffer.'
'He is dead; that is what matters. All that remains now is to get back to Rona.' Melcorka said.
'That road is closed,' Bradan said slowly. 'As soon as Eileen fled, a wall of rock descended; her final act I think, but it blocked the tunnel most securely. We have to go that way,' he nodded onward, 'wherever it leads.'
'Then that is the way we must go,' Melcorka's mind cleared. 'Onward, and we will fight whatever lies ahead.'
Chapter Twenty-Four
With no food and upwards of a thousand bewildered men and women to look after, Melcorka led them slowly through the echoing cavern and into another passage that led onward into the dark. 'This could lead anywhere,' she said.
'It could lead to the end of the world or Tir-nan-og,' Bradan agreed, tapping his staff on the ground with every stride. 'But when we are together, we can face whatever is here.'
'How was Tuath captured? He is not a man easily tamed.'
'Enchantment,' Bradan said. 'Eileen and Conall and between them made the people believe that the Lord of the Isles had sent a fleet to Ulvust. The people came out to welcome the Lord and were taken by the selkies.'
'Eileen is a dangerous woman,' Melcorka peered ahead into impenetrable darkness. 'I have never met her kind before.'
'I hope never to meet her again,' Bradan said, 'in any of her forms. When she appeared as the Morrigan she was feared for centuries. I don't know how long the power in my staff will last. It seems able to defeat her temporarily and then she revives her dark arts and attacks again.'
Melcorka glanced behind her, where the released prisoners formed a long column that followed, talking quietly, still dazed by what had happened to them. 'I much preferred fighting the Norsemen. Once they were killed, they remained dead!'
Bradan grunted. 'With you and Defender and me and my staff, we have advantages that others lack. Perhaps we were put on this world to remove the curse of Eileen and her magic.'
They walked on, with the tapping of Bradan's staff like the slow drum beat of an advancing army and the hush of the water channel a constant worry in case of selkie attack.
'I want to kill Egil,' Melcorka said.
There was another period of silence before Bradan replied. 'I know you do,' he said.
'I have been warned not to seek revenge and Fitheach told me that I would not be the cause of his death, yet I cannot let him live knowing that he killed my mother.'
'I know that too,' Bradan said. 'I wish that you would listen to good advice and leave his fate to fate itself. What will happen will happen.'
Melcorka nodded. 'I know that, yet I must do what is in me, whatever sense and advice say.'
'That is the way that you are,' Bradan touched her lightly on the arm. 'I would wish that it was otherwise.'
With darkness all around them, they had no idea if it was day or night so Melcorka decided when it was time to stop walking and men, women and Alva grabbing whatever rest they could, with fear of the selkies ensuring that sleep was fitful at best. Tuath organised the warriors into watches so they stood guard in case of attack, holding the cut-off manacles as makeshift weapons and hoping that nothing disturbed these periods of rest. Igraine held Alva close as nightmares and whimpering memories shook her.
'How long can
this tunnel stretch?' Somebody asked.
'All the way to hell,' somebody else replied, and there were wails of horror and fear.
'Everything goes somewhere' Tuath roared, 'and wherever it ends it will be better than where we were. On your feet, people of Ulvust, and march!'
They moved on, slower as hunger bit, wearier as exhaustion took its toll, fearful, tired, angry, frustrated, with tears and complaints, but with Melcorka leading and Tuath giving rough encouragement, they kept moving.
'We are walking uphill,' Bradan tapped the ground with his staff. 'We may be moving toward the surface.'
'Don't say it loudly,' Melcorka whispered. 'It might not mean anything.'
A few moments later others also noticed that walking took more effort as they struggled against an incline. 'We're going upwards!' Somebody shouted.
'I will go ahead and see if things get better,' Bradan said.
'Be very careful!' Melcorka warned. She heard the rhythmic tapping of Bradan's staff as he lengthened his stride and pulled ahead, until the sound faded into the distance and died completely. The darkness clung to them like the shroud of death. Time passed, slow as the water to their left, and still Bradan did not return.
Melcorka kept walking, putting one foot after the other, acting as an example to Alva and the others, being the heroine that she certainly did not feel. As the weight of responsibility pressed down upon her she wished fervently for the sweet kiss of rain, for the bite of a winter wind against her face, for the sting of the sun and the scent of autumn heather, or the piping call of the oystercatcher, her own totem bird. And the darkness remained, fixed in her present firmament, a constant in her world.
The column slowed as the slope steepened. Then the water channel beside which they had been walking for what seemed like an eternity ended; they had reached the source. Melcorka stopped for a second; aware that her actions would result in the entire long column halting with subsequent confusion and misunderstandings, yet she had to look.
The Shining One (The Swordswoman Book 2) Page 25
