The Sea of Love

by Sorcha MacMurrough

  Cathal had died four years ago, but Malachi and Diarmuid had added to the number sharing the secret cave. They had had happy times together, but it could never be the same without Cathal. Only nine months apart in age, he and Aidanna had been taken for identical in every way, and Ruairi and the monks had thrown up their hands in despair at the wild young girl who had dogged her older brother's footsteps, eager to be as skilled in the arts of war and sailing as he.

  What Ruairi hadn't taught her about horses and weapons, Conn's father Brendan had taught her about ships, along with Tomas' father Seamus. By the time she was ten, she had sailed to Spain, Portugal and France, as well as circumnavigated Ireland, and by the age of twelve, she had even been up and down the Mediterranean and the North African coast.

  But there was a price to be paid, and had Ruairi forced her to learn the more womanly arts of cooking, sewing and embroidery to ply during the doldrums at sea, and the long winter months when the storms kept them from their travels. The adventure had been wonderful, but it had also been grand to come home to the snug walls of the magnificent cloister that had stood on Inishmuc, as a symbol of O'Flaherty prosperity, ever since the mid-thirteenth century.

  Aidanna sat watching the incredibly handsome face resting on the snowy white pillowcase as she mended her fishing nets and lobster pots just inside the mouth of the cave. Truly, she felt she could stare at him all day, and at his eyes, so warm and glowing one moment, so ferocious… Like a lion at other times, Aidanna concluded firmly, recalling the wonderful beasts she had seen in cages on the south coast of Spain, and how Declan's gaze altered when he was angry.

  Suddenly the golden eyes open, and Aidanna's face became suffused with warmth. Fortunately the brown dye obscured her high colour, and she knew her disguised had worked, when he said in English, "Get me some water, please, boy?"

  Aidanna rose and dipped a goblet into her rainwater barrel. She had to cradle his head gently while he drank. His eyes seemed to be almost spinning in his head, and he winced as he allowed his head to thump back down onto the pillow abruptly.

  "God, where am I? What happened?"

  "We rescued you," Aidanna said gruffly in a deep voice. "You nearly drowned, and your head is very bad. My uncle took a look at it, though, and says you need to rest for a few days."

  "Auburn hair, a woman, I can't quite remember," Declan muttered more to himself than his companion.

  Aidanna's heart surged with joy for a girlish moment. He certainly seemed to be interested in her.

  "I was on a ship, she was there. Did she try to have me fed to the fish?"

  Stung, Aidanna hotly defended herself. She knew his sore head was making him muddled, but all the same he had to know the truth about Donal Mor Burke once and for all.

  "No, my step-mother rescued you. Donal threw you overboard, tied in a sack. She was coming back from a visit to Galway. She saw you on the deck, recognised your black coat with flaming red slashed sleeves. You had helped her against Donal, so she repaid the debt."

  Declan seized her hand, and growled, "You can't be Diarmuid. He's dead! I saw a body…." He trailed of in confusion.

  "I am Diarmuid, very much alive. Rosa got me here to safety, just as Mother ordered her to. She should have stayed here, but she went to see if Mother's sister Aine was well, and to give warning to the O'Flahertys about what Donal had done, and that I was blameless. Mother says she was captured and tortured."

  Declan nodded, and seemed to believe his companion's story. "Donal had her killed. I'm sorry, lad. And your mother spoke true. I remember now. You have black hair, not fair, like the poor murdered boy they brought before me."

  He took a deep draught of the water, and then said almost too casually, "Where is your Mother now?"

  Aidanna shrugged. "Scotland, I suppose, on a trade run to Glasgow."

  "But I thought you said...." Declan trailed off, disappointment evident in his tones.

  "No, she was coming back from Galway."

  Declan sighed, and rubbed his face with his hand for a few minutes, feeling his growth of stubble with a grimace of distaste.

  "She must have gone to Galway to see St Leger then, little knowing what a fool's errand she was on. St. Leger was never in Galway, ever. Donal tricked me too. I thought Sean Burke had been murdered by one of the O'Flahertys, for his body was discovered on their land.

  "But the murderer was careless. I could see the body had been moved, and eventually found the spot where he had been ambushed, just outside the castle at Carrickmore. Donal used him as a pawn as well, and tried to use yet another death against the O'Flahertys, and your mother."

  He sighed. "I only thank God I allowed Aidanna her freedom, even though all the appearances were against her."

  "It was a brave act, but you were foolish to remain and trust Donal Mor. You'e a stranger here, Declan Burke. How can you ever hope to understand our customs and culture?"

  "And I damn well don't want to, if this is the way you all live," Declan remarked nastily, as he tried to sit up against the headboard of the bed. He grunted at his first hasty movement, then eased himself up gingerly.

  He began to look around him a bit more carefully, focusing on one item at a time as if struggling to remember what it was.

  "Why did Aidanna bring me here?" he asked hoarsely.

  She shrugged. "To keep you safe, and get you well, until you decide what to do. Will you go back to face Donal, or go to Galway or Dublin to seek redress? Punish the real murderer of Angus and Malachi?"

  Declan looked at the dark face sharply, and said, "I understand how you feel, lad, truly I do. Malachi was your brother. And I will wager all I own Donal had a hand in your father's death. Not to mention what he tried to do to your step-mother. But as you say, I am a stranger here, in a strange land. What can I do? The Burkes would never side with me no matter what."

  "They will if we all tell the truth, that Donal threw you overboard."

  "I need more allies if I'm to move against him. My base of power is back in London. No, it's impossible," Declan shook his head, though Aidanna could see an almost fanatical gleam in his eye. This man was not used to walking away from a challenge, and the desire for revenge burnt deep in his breast for all his talk of the hopelessness of his situation.

  But Aidanna was not about to encourage him to act at once, for she could see he was still very weak. So she simply offered him more water. After a short time she said, "There's no need to decide anything now. My uncle Ruairi has a firm grounding in the law and is a great warrior as well, for all he is a priest. Mother and the others will be back in a fortnight. You need to get well. So you can decide once we have more information and evidence, and when you are better.

  "But I am sure of one thing. You're not without allies. The O'Flahertys and O'Donnells will align themselves with you, if only to make sure Donal doesn't try to take over the entire territory. Conn O'Flaherty and Tomas O'Donnell were on the ship too, as well as Aidanna. They saw you getting fished out of the ocean tied in a sack. Them, and and dozens of the crew besides. You have witnesses to the attempted murder, and friends if you want them."

  Declan once again looked at Aidanna sharply, taking in her humble dark brown woolen tunic and leggings. The lad was intelligent, friendly, and Declan concluded he could learn much from him.

  "You mean I'm stranded here in this cave for two whole weeks?" he asked with a scowl, but oddly enough the idea did not displease him as much as it might once have done.

  The sound and smell of the sea, the sunshine, fresh air, beckoned to him. He had spent so many hours in the royal residences, dancing attendance on the Duke of Norfolk or the king himself, that he couldn't remember the last time he had even gone for a walk, or sat on a horse. His journey from England had been long and pleasant, with only the Captain, the sea and the sky, and a few books for company.

  "For the moment it would be safest to remain, wait until they all come home to stand witness for you against Donal. Until then, I wouldn't risk being on the
mainland if I were you."

  "I will stay, for two weeks only," he declared firmly. "Then I shall make my decision. Now, can I have something to eat. After that, do you think you could help me outside onto the beach?"

  Aidanna smiled, pleased he seemed so content with this unexpected turn of events. He swung his great legs over the side and rose from the bed shakily, with Aidanna taking his huge weight on her slender shoulders, as she helped him to stoop low and then sit outside on the sand, his back propped up against a large rock.

  Once he was settled comfortably, she brought him some meat, bread and cheese, and some watered wine to drink. As he chewed thoughtfully, he asked, "Tell me about this place, your life here."

  "I live here with the monks in the monastery on the main island most of the time, but this was always Mother's secret hideaway, with her brother and foster brothers Conn and Tomas, and Aine, her sister, of course. We would fish, swim, fight, when we were all together here, but of course, now Cathal and Malachi are dead, and they're all grown up now except for me. I'm the last, apart from Aine, but her father wants her to grow up a proper lady."

  "You mean her sister isn't?" Declan laughed.

  Aidanna reddened at the question. "She is. She can do all the household duties very well, and is an excellent cook and nurse, but she loves the sea, the adventure."

  "I'm sure motherhood will eventually settle her down," Declan commented. Suddenly his face closed up.

  "She would have to remarry to do that, and I doubt she will ever do," Aidanna replied quietly. She rose and felt Declan staring at her back as she fetched her lobster pots, and placed them in the small coracle beached nearby.

  "If I row, will you pull up the full ones, and throw these down? There's a great swell on today," she asked quietly.

  Declan blinked at her as though he had been miles away, and then nodded. He held out his hand, and Aidanna managed to pull him up. He climbed slowly into the boat, and Aidanna found a mound of old sacks for him to sit on so he could be comfortable and dry in the bottom of the small boat. He leaned against the back, and Aidanna pushed mightily until it got down to the water's edge.

  "Your very puny for a boy your age," Declan remarked.

  Aidanna spat caustically in Irish, "Maybe you're just fat and overfed, Sasana!"

  Declan recalled some of the Irish of his youth, and eventually deciphered the words. Aidanna started as he roared with laughter.

  "You're right about the first, boy, I am not well exercised, but incorrect as to the second. I'm not an Englishman. I was born here, though my father took me away when I was very young. He'd made a good marriage in England, to an only daughter, and he was ambitious for me to prosper."

  "We all prosper in the clan system," Aidanna informed him. "All is shared out equally, even the land, though the leader does have great power. But you would change all this with your English ways."

  "But the Irish clans often fight long bitter struggles for the successions as well," Declan argued, enjoying the intellectual debate. He suddenly realised with a sense of freedom that for once he did not have to weigh every word carefully for fear of offending a powerful courtier.

  "That is true, and as you can see, Donal Mor is not averse to murdering three people, or even a dozen to get the succession. But your alternative is that the land is held by only one man. What is to prevent that one man from turning everyone off the land? Look at the O'Flahertys. They all share everything, the boats, ships, profits, food. They rotate the farms once a year, so that all the land labourers have a turn at the good soil. As for the ships, all the booty is distributed evenly, the captain taking no more than an oarsman."

  "I must admit it sounds ideal, but it only takes one ambitious man to destroy all that," Declan remarked cynically.

  "Aye, I do know that," Aidanna said with evident sarcasm, her grey eyes staring deeply into Declan's golden ones. "But even worse would be a tanaist with the power and might of the English behind him, who would bring soldiers to enforce the English laws, evict the tenantry, stop the trade along the coasts, or try to make us pay crippling taxes and duties."

  "Now don't blame me, son, I tried to help your stepmother. I wasn't trying to change things here, or take the succession myself only to try to force everyone to be loyal to the king of England. I only wanted to see justice done," Declan defended himself stoutly.

  Aidanna gazed at him silently for a few moments, and then conceded, "You weren't to know you were being used. I must admit, you could have taken advantage of the situation ruthlessly if you had wished. And you certainly didn't have to save Aidanna from execution.

  "But can I ask you, when did Donal send for you? I only ask because, well, my father died less than two months ago, and yet you are here already, when the journey must take at least six weeks just to get to London to deliver a message to you, let alone get a reply back again, or come yourself in response to the summons.

  Declan sighed. "You're right, lad. I'm sure Aidanna has figured it out as well by now. I got a letter six months ago telling me Angus was dead. I really have walked into a nest of vipers. As soon as I suspected, I said I was sailing back to England. In reality I was planning to take advantage of calling it at Galway to see Lord Deputy St. Leger.

  "But St. Leger wasn't there, knew nothing of Aidanna's false trial or depositions, and Donal has no intention of surrendering to the crown. In fact, he swore to fight the English to the death to hold what he's murdered to get."

  "And you know all of this how, exactly?" Aidanna asked with a sharp glint in her eye.

  "As Donal tied me into the sack, he admitted all of his plot to me, and crowed in triumph over what a fool I had been," Declan revealed, running his fingers though his jet black hair until he winced at the bump on his head.

  "Not a fool," Aidanna said gently, "just kind, generous, and lacking in suspicion, which I may say is an odd characteristic for a sophisticated courtier from London like yourself."

  Declan remained silent, and then nodded. "My own arrogance made me assume these people were simple, easy to control. But burning ambition rules Donal's heart. I fear it is only a matter of time before he moves against the O'Flahertys."

  "When Donal does, he will be signing his own death warrant," Aidanna declared.

  Declan stared at her again.

  "You, boy, are a Burke! This can't be easy for you."

  Aidanna shrugged. "It isn't easy, but justice must be done for my father and brother. Aidanna did nothing wrong. Donal did it all. If the Burkes won't punish him for murdering his own brother and nephew, my father's former allies will."

  "That's a remarkable sense of loyalty. Why won't they just leave things as they are?"

  "Because even if Donal didn't have ambitions to move against the O'Flahertys and claim right of succession through Aidanna's marriage contract, he would ruin the whole region in no time with his constant cattle thieving and internecine warfare. It would be open season on any holdings for miles around. No one wants to try to live happily ever after in a thrionbush."

  Declan laughed at that. "True."

  "And, as you may know, since you are Irish by birth, the fosterage system, raising each other's children in different family households, was designed to keep up a network of alliances. The O'Donnells and O'Flahertys have always been very close, and through Aidanna, we were supposed to be allied with the Burkes."

  "Why the O'Donnells in particular?"

  Aidanna hauled up a lobster pot and put her bounty, two large ones, into her creel. "We brought the O'Donnells here as gallowglasses, mercenaries, oh, centuries ago, and they settled here permanently. They still have family alliances in the west of Scotland, that we draw on for trade, and soldiers if need be. There are a few lesser tribes around this area, who will not want to see Donal get too powerful.

  "Donal may try to press his claims to the Burke and the O'Flaherty successions, but until the clan gatherings can be assembled, to vote for a new tanaist in each case, the succession rests with Aidanna O'Flahert
y in the one instance, and with Donal in the other, but only if he has no challenger. Assuming Donal wants to become the leader of the O'Flahertys, he will either have to marry Aidanna or kill her. I'd say hell would freeze over first before he could succeed in doing either."

  Declan smiled at the youth, and commented, "You seem very sure of her, boy. Is she such a good mother, then?"

  "The only mother I've ever had, and my best friend. I don't care myself about the Burke succession, though in theory I should have it. You took it from me, but I don't blame you," she hastened to reassure Declan. "Donal used you. He used us all. The day may come when Diarmuid Mac Angusa is elected to be head of the Burkes, but you are older, more experienced, and only you can keep the peace."

  Declan shook his head. "No, you speak the truth, son, and I never really stopped to think about it, I was so selfish. And for a time thought you were dead. But you are correct. You are the rightful leader. I should support your claims to the succession."