The Bwy Hir Complete Trilogy

Home > Other > The Bwy Hir Complete Trilogy > Page 12
The Bwy Hir Complete Trilogy Page 12

by Lowri Thomas


  Once the battle was won Bran removed himself from the island forever, he offered service to those Druids who would follow him and for those left behind he caused the spit of land to disappear protecting them from the mainland. Bran then decreed that all Druids who served the Bwy Hir would keep the gift of fire, receive great knowledge and a lifespan far longer than that of normal men. Only later did the other Bwy Hir place limitations upon Bran’s lavish gifts, but by then the Druids were already bonded.

  Despite the misgivings voiced by the Bwy Hir, Bran refused to withdraw the promises made to the Druids and so the other Bwy Hir twisted Bran’s gifts, lacing them with barbs. Knowledge would be earned through laborious study and not taught to Humans by the Bwy Hir. The Druids would have to discover knowledge themselves but the Bwy Hir provided them great libraries to study in and filled it with as many scrolls and tomes as the Druids required. The gift of fire could not be wielded against the Bwy Hir, or for the destruction of anything that the Bwy Hir claimed as their own.

  The final barb and certainly the cruellest was to the Druids lifespan; it was caused that the Druids would live a normal Human life, only when that life ended would they begin their second life. His dead Human body would be transformed into the living body of a hunting hound to serve the Bwy Hir as they deemed worthy. The Druids got far less than they had anticipated, but the pact was sealed, there was no return.

  Awel shook herself from her musing, Mab was speaking to her but she wasn’t listening, she was tired, irritable and unfocused. ‘Too many threads … I must rest, my bones grow weary.’

  ‘You didn’t hear a word I said, did you?’ Mab was exhausted herself. ‘Did you deliver Taliesin’s message?’

  ‘Yes of course, I left it where our little guardian will know to find it … Mab, what is to become of the Halfling child?’

  ‘I do not know. The child will either become a boon or a curse, that is if the girl doesn’t miscarry … do you think keeping this a secret is a mistake?’ Mab chewed a nail as she spoke, a very Human trait she had displayed since childhood.

  ‘I no longer know up from down.’ Awel sighed heavily. ‘Let me rest a while, gather my thoughts … mayhap the knowing will come upon me.’ She shrugged her shoulders, gathered her belongings and left in search of her own cot.

  What would become of the child? What would the child be? Would it have any powers? Would it be deformed, flawed? Would it even survive? Where would it belong? With the Bwy Hir? With the Chosen? ‘Ah!’ Awel threw her hands up as she walked to her tent. There were too many questions. Would the Bwy Hir accept a Halfling? Would they see it as an abomination, or a tool? Would it change anything? Would it be safe? What were the ramifications? Awel shook her head, maybe the child wouldn’t survive and she was worrying about nothing, but maybe … She needed to rest and as soon as she reached her tent she lay down on her cot fully clothed, took a couple of deep, calming breaths and settled into a troubled sleep.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Dafydd and Gwyn had been longer at the pub than they’d intended. It was nearly eleven o’clock by the time the pair of tipsy stop-outs made it back to Ty Mawr, shushing each other as they fumbled their way to the back door expecting Nerys and Anwen to be long in bed.

  Bara ran into the house ahead of them, keen to warm her fur by the Aga. Kicking off their boots while holding themselves steady against the hallway wall, the pair made their way into the kitchen to scrounge a snack to line their swishing bellies and stopped dead in their tracks.

  Nerys and Anwen were sitting side by side smiling over the photo albums that covered the kitchen table. They both looked up and fixed Gwyn and Dafydd with a longsuffering stare before returning their heads to the photos laid out in front of them.

  ‘Everything alright?’ Dafydd slurred, trying his best to look sober and guiltless. Gwyn was still standing with his jaw unhinged, staring at the two contented women who only hours before had been at each other’s throats.

  ‘Everything’s fine.’ Nerys smiled. ‘Why wouldn’t it be?’

  ‘No reason, no reason,’ Dafydd rushed. ‘You had a good evening?’

  ‘We’ve had a lovely evening, Dad.’ Anwen piped up, ‘Nerys has been telling me stories about the family. I didn’t know you used to take a cat to bed with you when you were little because you were afraid of the dark.’

  ‘I was never afraid of the dark!’ Dafydd blustered. ‘It was the cat that was afraid, not me! It was forever scratching at my door, steeling under my covers, making all kinds of hue and cry if I tried to turn the lamp off!’

  They all laughed at his poor defence, even Bara wagged her tail as Dafydd blushed and for the first time in a long time Ty Mawr was once again filled with happiness and the sound of laughter.

  ‘We’ve made you some ham sandwiches, they’re in the fridge. We’d have done you some hard boiled eggs but the hens still aren’t laying properly and we’re running short.’ Anwen was so worried about her hens. If they didn’t start laying again soon she knew they would find their way into the roasting pot. She hoped her father would stay the axe at least until Spring as the hens would reduce their laying in Winter or stop altogether in the colder months. Hopefully they would start producing again. She had learned not to name her hens anymore, but she still felt a twinge of guilt when she cooked an animal she’d known personally.

  Gwyn grabbed the plate of sandwiches from the fridge and added a jar of pickled onions to the feast. ‘Anyone for tea?’

  ‘I’ll make it.’ Nerys got up from her seat and closed the album they’d been pawing through, ‘Though I’ll be having cocoa, tea will keep me up all night. Cocoa for you too, Anwen?’

  ‘Um, yes please.’ Anwen began carefully gathering the albums together and went to return them to their cupboard in the living room.

  ‘Please?’ Gwyn whispered to his father in surprise as Anwen left the room.

  ‘Perhaps we should go out more often,’ Dafydd whispered back.

  ‘And perhaps you should too.’ Nerys’ stern voice made the men wince.

  ‘I told you,’ Dafydd mouthed to Gwyn, ‘ears of a bat.’

  With bleary eyes and stifled yawns the kitchen was put straight, lights were switched off and doors were locked as the family made ready for bed. Wishing each other a good night, one by one they made their way to their bedrooms.

  Dafydd was the last to go upstairs. He made a final check of the back door lock and paused to turn off the hallway light. Bara ran upstairs ahead of him, pushed the bedroom door open with her nose and jumped on Dafydd’s bed, circling twice before taking her usual position in the middle of the bed.

  Dafydd smiled as he entered his room, ensuring the door was left ajar in case Bara needed to go downstairs to drink from her bowl. He pulled off his jumper, socks and trousers and pulled the duvet back. He slipped into bed still wearing his t-shirt and underpants, pushing a disgruntled Bara further over to the other side of the bed so he could lie down comfortably.

  ‘Just so you know,’ he said to Bara as he stroked her head, ‘you’re not here because I’m afraid of the dark, because I’m not. You’re only here to keep the bed warm and save me the trouble of making a hot water bottle.’

  Dafydd turned off the bedside lamp and lay on his back, feeling the reassuring bulk of Bara nestled beside him. His head felt fuzzy, he was still cold from the walk back from the pub and he doubted whether he’d be able to get to sleep. He felt troubled and restless, the Solstice was only days away, Gwyn would attend for the first time and he worried how Gwyn would cope with the experience. It was never pleasant. All the Chosen men would attend, unless they were ill and then they were encouraged to stay away as the Druids wanted no contamination.

  Dafydd rolled onto his side, his arm across Bara’s body. He was still worried about the Druid Gwyn had shot and he had burned. It seemed almost too good to be true that both the Druids and the Chosen Council had been so blasé about the whole incident. Would this be the end of the matter?

  Dafydd huffe
d and wriggled to find a more comfortable position, Bara rumbled her objection at being disturbed and Dafydd stopped moving his limbs around. He was at least glad for one thing: Nerys and Anwen had somehow settled their differences. It was good to see them getting along, it reminded him of the old times, of Emily, of his parents. With a final sigh he pushed his head further into his pillow and drifted off to sleep. All was well, he convinced himself, and there was nothing to worry about.

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  Gwrnach paused as he appeared in the Reception Hall. Stepping away from the Cerdd Carega he checked to make sure his clothing was all in place before blowing out the candle of the lantern and returning it to its home among the shelves of other lanterns standing in patient rows awaiting use.

  Gwrnach wiped the silly grin off his face when he became aware of how quiet it was. Where was the usual din? Where were all the Druids? There were always black clad men shuffling about the hallways, even in the dead of night, so why was it so quiet?

  ‘You’ve missed quite an evening,’ Cadno said from his hiding place among the shadows. ‘The Druids have been sent to bed with no supper!’ He laughed as he sauntered into the light where Gwrnach could see him.

  ‘What has happened?’ Gwrnach asked, concern lacing his deep, rich voice.

  Cadno’s grin was full of mischief. ‘Aeron threw his weight around in the Council Chamber. Something to do with them intending to punish his creepy little Councillor, anyway, the long and short of it is they are all in purgatory at Aeron’s pleasure and the only one still creeping around is Afagddu.’ He threw his head back and laughed. ‘Oh how they must all hate y gigfran right now! I don’t fully understand why Aeron did it, but with Aeron it’s never the reason you expect.’

  ‘I have little care what happens to the Druids.’ Gwrnach shrugged his shoulders. ‘Is there anything else I’ve missed?’

  Cadno folded his arms. ‘Why do you ask? What have you been up to?’ His eyes were slits as he looked Gwrnach up and down for any clue, his grin deepening.

  ‘Nothing, I’ve been up to nothing!’ Gwrnach felt his face flush and turned his back on Cadno while he fussed with the lanterns making sure they were set straight.

  ‘I see … so why are you blushing? What are you guilty of?’

  ‘I’m guilty of nothing,’ Gwrnach bluffed, ‘it’s cold out there tonight, my face is wind chapped, that’s all.’

  ‘So where have you been?’ Cadno teased.

  ‘Out on the mountain filling my lungs with fresh air, these halls are stuffy and dank, too long have I been cooped up inside. I needed fresh air and so I took some, lung-fulls of it and now I am refreshed. Does that satisfy your curiosity?’ Gwrnach growled, ruffled at Cadno’s persistence.

  ‘Peace brother!’ Cadno chuckled while slapping Gwrnach on the back affably. ‘I meant no offense. I too am bored stuck here waiting for the Solstice.’

  Gwrnach gave a noncommittal grunt and Cadno tipped his head to one side. ‘You are not looking forward to the Solstice, Gwrnach?’

  ‘I look forward to the Great Hunt more.’

  ‘You surprise me brother, I thought you would relish a bit of procreation.’

  Gwrnach sighed. ‘Do you wish there was another way, Cadno? That the Solstice was less … barbarous?’

  ‘Barbarous? Ho Gwrnach, you’ve been thinking on this long and hard! Barbarous!’ Cadno jeered before realising how serious Gwrnach had become. ‘Yes Gwrnach, I wish the Solstice was different … I wish the Host and Pride could live as one, I wish we didn’t need the Druids’ ateb, I wish for a lot of things, but we are what we are and I know not how we can change what we’ve become.’

  Gwrnach fought inside himself, but he pressed his lips together and remained silent, brooding.

  Cadno was intrigued. ‘I am riding tomorrow with some of the brothers. The dragons are restless and could do with a few practice flights before the hunt. Why don’t you join us and we can enjoy some fresh air together?’

  Gwrnach brightened. ‘I would enjoy that. Yes, I will come.’

  ‘Good,’ said Cadno as he flung an arm around Gwrnach’s neck, ‘then you can tell me what you’ve been up to!’

  Gwrnach threw Cadno’s arm away from him gruffly, Cadno skipped back to avoid a blow, laughing and hooting.

  They walked together up to the Bwy Hir quarters on the upper floors, directly below Aeron’s chambers.

  Gwrnach pushed open the heavy door leading to the main chamber where the Host assembled to relax and while away time. Gwydion, Gryff, Brenig, Llud and Celyn-Bach were all lounging in front of a roaring fireplace. Gwydion and Brenig were throwing dice, Gryff and Llud were talking quietly between sips of mead. Celyn-Bach was typically reading, he didn’t even look up when Gwrnach and Cadno entered.

  ‘Ho, brothers!’ Gwydion called. ‘Will you join the game, although I must warn you I am winning.’

  ‘Maybe later.’ Gwrnach stood rubbing his hands in front of the flames that danced upon a colossal log in the fireplace. Cadno made himself comfortable and sat down among his brothers, filling a goblet and draining it before refilling it once more.

  ‘Ready to ride tomorrow?’ Gryff asked Cadno.

  ‘Ready and willing,’ he replied jovially, ‘I can’t wait, both because Gwrnach will be joining us and because he has a secret to tell.’

  ‘I do not!’ Gwrnach snapped spinning from the fire to confront a band of curious faces. Cadno sniggered in his goblet and Gwrnach blushed again. ‘I do not!’ he rumbled, clenching his fists.

  Celyn-Bach, the smallest of the Bwy Hir with snow white skin and soft long hands folded his book carefully and set it aside. ‘I shall not be riding with you tomorrow, so why not tell us now what mystery makes you so prickly and have done.’

  ‘There is no mystery! Cadno you are a poisonous worm – look what you’ve started!’

  ‘Now we’re all intrigued!’ Gwydion left his dice game and sat up. Gwrnach huffed and rebuffed, evaded and beseeched, but the battle was lost.

  ‘I made a promise!’ Gwrnach moaned, ‘the secret is not mine to tell, I promised my silence, can’t you leave me be?’

  ‘Oh, stop your bleating!’ Brenig rolled his eyes. ‘You know as well as we do, Cadno will have it out of you sooner rather than later, so put yourself out of your misery and tell us.’

  ‘If I tell you, we must keep it between ourselves, no-one else must know, not even Aeron and especially not the Druids – do you promise?’

  And so huddled around the fire Gwrnach whispered his secret, swinging his head from left to right to ensure no eavesdropping. He shushed their whoops and howls, calmed their excited bobbing and bouncing as he unravelled his tale, embellishing his performance, leaving no delicious detail unspoken.

  ‘I don’t believe you!’ Cadno threw himself back and snorted. ‘If your story is true, why would the Pride pick you for such a task, instead of me?’

  A raucous laugh went up and cushions were hurled at Cadno as they jeered. Gwrnach swelled with satisfaction when he realised Cadno’s jealousy. ‘They picked me because they needed a stallion and not an ass!’ Gwrnach flexed his muscles and the band renewed their laughter.

  ‘You sound in good spirits, may I join you?’ Taliesin said as he peeped his head around the door. There was a short pause before Celyn-Bach waved him over to join their huddle. ‘Yes, come and join us, Taliesin. Gwrnach was just demonstrating how much bigger his muscles are than poor, weedy Cadno’s!’

  Gwrnach lifted his arms and flexed his muscles, smiling at Taliesin, nodding at him to come and feel his bicep. Taliesin’s head only came up Gwrnach’s chest and he had to reach to grab Gwrnach’s flexed arm, pinching the brawn between his overstretched thumb and fingers Taliesin shook his head and said, ‘You think you’re magnificent, Gwrnach? You have a long way to go until you are a match for me!’ Then he flexed his own much smaller arm muscles encouraging whoops and laughter from all.

  The camaraderie continued well into the night. Perhaps it was the fact that he w
as Aeron’s son, or simply because he hadn’t blossomed yet, but Taliesin had the niggling suspicion that he hadn’t quite been accepted yet, that something was being kept from him, but he enjoyed their company none the less and they served to fill the gap his father left by his aloofness.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  Olwyn had substituted wine for water as she ate her breakfast of berries and roasted trout. The Tylwyth Teg that had served her blinked once at her choice of beverage, the gesture equivalent to fainting in Human terms.

  Awel came and sat beside her as she finished her meal and set aside her plate. ‘Good morning to you Oli, Mab has requested you visit her this morning, she waits in her pavilion.’

  ‘Then lead the way, Awel. It has been long since I visited our queen.’

  They strolled side by side through the hollow, giving greetings to all they passed. On arriving at the pavilion Awel called out to Mab as they both entered the outer chamber and Mab called them to enter her inner chambers.

  Mab was all smiles as she greeted Olwyn and motioned for her to sit beside her. The three made themselves comfortable and Mab got right down to business. ‘So, tell me Oli, how was your evening?’

  A smile split Olwyn’s face and she gushed, ‘Oh, it was wonderful, wonderful!’

  Mab was taken aback by Olwyn’s wistfulness and shared a look of wonder with Awel. ‘You … enjoyed it?’ Mab inquired with as much subtlety as she could.

  ‘Oh yes! It was … wonderful!’ Olwyn heaved a contented sigh.

  ‘Oh for crying out loud!’ Awel barked. ‘This will take forever at this rate! Oli will you just explain what happened last night, every detail, but please spare us the moaning and sighing!’ Awel rolled her eyes and admonished herself for using so many Human maxims lately, but she was getting so frustrated.

 

‹ Prev