LITMIR.BIZ

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Celtic mercenaries clashing with peaceful Englishmen. Horses screaming, the scent of blood hot and sweet in her nostrils. Mortal wounds, great sorrow. She could not say exactly when it would happen, only that it would happen, and it would be soon.

      “They cannot be far now, lass,” Tiarnan said breathlessly, “and ye know it as well as I do m’self. We’ve been here too long. They must be close to findin’ us out.”

      Keelin quickly assessed the humble cottage. How would she manage to pack their meager belongings, reinforce the hiding place of Ga Buidhe an Lamhaigh, and get her weak and ailing uncle away before Ruairc Mageean’s warriors came? And where would they go this time? Was it wise to attempt to return home now?

      Last time they’d run, Tiarnan had still been able to see a bit. He’d not seemed so terribly old, nor so feeble as he was now. Would he manage the journey across Wales and down to the sea?

      And the visions…Something, Keelin wasn’t sure quite what, but something was going on at Carrauntoohil Keep. Her urgency to go back was no longer a mere yearning to go home. She was filled with a foreboding that would not rest until she returned the sacred spear to her clan and saw for herself that all was well.

      “Listen to me, Keely lass,” Tiarnan said calmly, sensing his niece’s rising panic. She was young, a mere nineteen years, and though Tiarnan considered her second sight a gift, he knew it was difficult for her. The visions always left her weakened, distraught and drained, even if she tried to hide it from him. “You must take Ga Buidhe an Lamhaigh and go away from here before—”

      “Nay, Uncle,” Keelin cried abruptly. “I will not leave ye.”

      “Keelin—”

      “The warriors have been thwarted for now. I’ll not be leavin’ this place without ye. I can pack us up,” she said quickly, “and you’ll ride in the wain when ’tis time.”

      “Keely,” Tiarnan said, closing his eyes wearily. It tried his soul to know that he’d soon send the lass away, to journey on alone, but no amount of prayers to the Holy Virgin or any of the saints had availed him. His chest pained him something terrible, and the cough…Well, he had no doubt the cough would be the death of him.

      Keelin’s clear green eyes were bright with tears that overflowed their bounds. She took both her uncle’s hands in her own and raised them to her cheek. “I will move us to another place, a safer place where—”

      “Do ye not understand, love?” Tiarnan said weakly, feeling her tears on his hands. “I am not well enough to travel, and ye must get away before it’s too late.”

      “Nay, Uncle!” she cried. “There is time.”

      “Keelin,” Tiarnan said, “even if there were time, ye don’t need an old wreck like me holdin’ ye back. Now, go on with ye. Start to pack up yer things and—”

      Tiarnan paused and cocked his head slightly.

      “What?” Keelin asked, alarmed at the way her uncle had tuned his ear to some distant sound that she could not yet hear. “What is it?”

      “Someone’s comin’,” the man replied. “Horses…men on foot.”

      “Oh, saints bless me!” Keelin cried, standing up abruptly from her perch. “How could I have been so wrong? They’re here? Now?”

      “I doubt it’s them, darlin’,” Tiarnan said with the calm that comes with age. “But we’ve no choice but to wait and see, now.”

      Keelin swallowed hard. They’d always kept well ahead of the Mageeans before. Never even got close to a confrontation. Yet here she stood frozen in her skin. She was barely able to move, unable to guide her uncle away from the cottage to hide. ’Twas no way for Eocaidh O’Shea’s daughter to behave, and she knew it.

      “Do ye hear the voices now, lass?”

      Keelin gave a slight nod, unmindful for the moment, that Tiarnan could not see her.

      At least they would not find Ga Buidhe an Lamhaigh, she thought. ’Twas well hidden again, and she would never tell where to find it. Allowing the holy spear to fall into Mageean hands would be the worst possible calamity.

      Rage would not serve Marcus now. His desire to accompany Kirkham and his men as they chased down and killed the barbarians in the wood was great, but the need to get Adam to shelter was even more imperative.

      With great care, Marcus carried the boy down the hill. The distance to the little cottage was a good deal longer than he remembered, perhaps because of the added burden of the injured boy in his arms. He tried to concentrate only on getting Adam to safety, to a place where his wound could be tended. Any other thoughts of the terrible moments in the wood would bring agony anew.

      Four men of their party were dead, and another two seriously wounded. The others had minor injuries. As Marcus walked, surrounded by his men, he was aware that even now, a few of the Wrexton men were gathering the bodies of his father and his other fallen comrades, and would follow along shortly.

      Why had they been attacked, Marcus wondered. He could not imagine any reason why foreign fighters would be on English soil, attacking a peaceful English party. It made no sense at all.

      It had been fortuitous that Nicholas Hawken, the Marquis Kirkham, had arrived when he did to rout the attackers. As cocky and irreverent as the man was, Marcus knew Nicholas could always be counted upon in a fray. And without Hawken, the Wrexton party would have been utterly doomed.

      One of Marcus’s men knocked on the door of the humble cottage, which was opened by a young woman who kept to the shadows of the interior. Marcus carried Adam into the room and, with help from one of the men, gently laid the boy on a bed. A white-bearded man lay silent on another bed at the opposite end of the room.

      “I’ll need hot water,” Marcus said as he drew out his knife. He started cutting away the boy’s doublet as he spoke. “And some clean cloths. Edward, hold his arms. Roger, take his feet while I pull the arrow.”

      Keelin pitied the poor wee mite whose body was pierced by the arrow. Nevertheless, she sent up a silent prayer of thanks that it was not Mageean’s men upon them. She sensed Mageean’s presence strongly, and the turmoil and despair of these men. But no immediate danger.

      Keelin stood near Tiarnan’s pallet and watched quietly as the English lord took care of his small charge and issued orders. The man was tall, and he’d had to duck as he entered the cottage. Even now as he knelt next to the wounded boy, his size seemed to take up half the room.

      His hair was the lightest gold she’d ever seen. With deft fingers, the young lord quickly unfastened his tunic of chain mail, and one of his men helped him remove the heavy hauberk, leaving his broad shoulders loosely clothed in a sweat-dampened, but finely embroidered white linen tunic. He pushed his sleeves up and leaned toward the child lying on the bed, leaving his powerful forearms bared to Keelin’s gaze. Then he crossed himself in silent prayer and spoke quietly to the insensible boy.

      “I’m sorry, lad, for what I must do,” he said steadily, “but we’ve no choice in the matter, and you must be brave.” And then he muttered under his breath, “As must I.”

      Keelin’s heart went out to the young man who was so obviously shaken. These were the Englishmen she’d seen in her vision this morning, and though she’d not recognized their faces, she understood the measure of their sorrow, their terrible grief. She knew they had lost several of their comrades today, as well as one in particular who held a special place in their hearts.

      She could do no less than to help them.

      Going to the corner opposite her bed, Keelin opened the small trunk that contained her things. She had a few linen tunics and an old chemise that could be torn into strips. Taking out the items she needed, she made bandages for the boy.

      When that was finished, she sorted through her leather pouches and took out the dried plants she would need. She’d learned the healing arts so well from her uncle that she had no need

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