Deception's Pawn (Princesses of Myth) (8 page)

The first time Kian gave me our signal, it took me several false starts before I reached the clearing. Luck seemed to favor me initially, because we fosterlings had been given that day to use for our own purposes. My friends went off to follow their usual routines at such times—Dairine to her flirtations, Ula to her pacing on the battlements, Gormlaith to her secret place in the shadows.

“How will you spend today?” Dairine asked me as she pinched her cheeks to make them glow for her sweetheart.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty to do,” I replied.

“What, washing and mending and that sort of drudgery? I gave one of the servant girls a bronze ring and she’s been looking after my clothing ever since. You could do the same.”

“I’d rather do this myself,” I told her, and since I didn’t say what “this” was, I spoke no lie.

It took very little to put my friends off the scent, mostly because they were too involved with their own plans to meddle with mine. I now know I should have taken more interest in why Gormlaith and Ula chose such joyless, solitary paths, or why there was always such an air of desperation to all of Dairine’s romances. At the time all I could think of was how convenient it was that their choices left me free to follow my own.

Sidestepping the girls was easy. Leaving Dún Beithe was not. The guard minding the ringfort gate wanted to know where I was going.

“I’m picking berries,” I told him.

“Early in the year for that,” he said.

“I’d still like to look. You never know.”

“I know you won’t be bringing many back without a basket.” He smiled.

I stared at my empty hands. How could I be so stupid? My cheeks burned with shame at my blunder. Fortunately for me, the guard misguessed the reason for my blushes.

“Never mind, milady, you go ahead. Don’t keep the lucky boy waiting.”

I ran so fast that he must have thought I was half-mad with love.
I hope he won’t jabber to the other men about this
, I
thought.
I don’t want them putting their heads together, trying to figure out who my nonexistent sweetheart could be.
I was so lost in thought over what had just happened that I forgot some of Kian’s directions for finding the clearing. I had to backtrack almost to the edge of the woodland before I put myself on the right path.

“You took your time,” he said pleasantly when I emerged from the trees. “This will have to be a short lesson.” He handed me one of the two wooden practice swords he’d brought, and we began.

C
HAPTER
F
IVE

Swords and Slingstones

S
HORT OR LONG
, that first lesson tried my limits. Before I knew it, I’d collapsed in a heap on the grass, panting for breath and sweating heavily. Kian dropped down beside me, looking concerned.

“Are you all right, Lady Maeve?”

I pressed my lips together and inhaled deeply to recover. “You’re not to blame, Lord Kian. I’d do better if I were wearing something besides this cumbersome thing.” I grabbed the skirt of my gown with both fists and shook it. “I spend more than half my effort trying not to trip on it.”

“How did you manage before, with your friend at Cruachan?”

“He gave me some of his old garments.”

“I could do the same. You can change behind the trees when you come here.”

It would have been churlish of me to ask
If I do, will you promise not to spy on me?
Something about Kian made me want
to believe that he was honorable, no matter what his smaller failings.
He sacrificed the chance to win our bout to protect Ea
, I thought.
That shows his true nature better than a hundred promises.

“You’d have to keep those clothes for me,” I said. “Otherwise the girls will find them.”

“Those three are like mice, into everything,” he said. “I’m surprised you could shake them off your track to come here, especially Dairine.”

“Don’t you mean Gormlaith? The others say she likes to cling to people.”

“Her? That could be. I say if she wants to get close to you, what’s the harm? The poor thing’s lonely.”

“With all four of us in one room, at meals, and having lessons together?”

“True, but that’s—” He waved his hand. “Well, it’s
different
from what she used to have.” He saw my puzzled expression and went on: “There are friends and
friends.
You know Connla, right? Taller than me, redheaded, ridiculous mustache?”

“I’ve seen him
and
that mustache.” I giggled just thinking about it. The poor boy looked like he was carrying a flame-colored stoat under his nose. “But we’ve never spoken.”

“That lad’s been a brother to me since we were babies. If he wasn’t such a good fighter, he’d have asked to serve as my charioteer. I’d mourn any of our warriors who fell in battle, but if the Morrígan sent her ravens after my comrade Connla—may it never happen!—I might go mad with grief. I’d fight the gods themselves to drag him back from Tech Duinn, and he’d do the same for me.”

“Gormlaith had a friend like that?”

He nodded. “Aifric.”

Aifric … How could I have forgotten? Once more I heard Gormlaith murmur,
“We were friends. Like sisters.”
I also recalled how Ula and the others had avoided answering the questions I’d asked about Aifric’s fate. Was that why Gormlaith sometimes hid herself away, to be alone with the ghosts of past happiness?

“Do
you
know what happened to her?” I asked Kian.

“I don’t think anyone at Dún Beithe does. One day she was here and the next, gone. It happened in the late autumn, after Samhain. My father sent hunting parties after her, but the weather turned foul and they lost her trail early, too early to tell where she was headed. If she went into the boglands …”

His voice trailed off. I could tell he was imagining the worst but didn’t want to say it and make it real. Bogs could be as treacherous as they were beautiful. There were pathways through some, but not all, often with planks laid down to keep the traveler safe. And yet one step off the known road, and the mire could gulp you down. Devnet sometimes sang of kings who tried to change their fortune by giving men and maidens to the soft, hungry earth as sacrifices. Such tales never failed to send chills through all who heard them.

I tried to distract him from those dark thoughts. “Wouldn’t she have gone home?”

“Home? If you could call it that, with no living mother or father to welcome her return.” He sighed. “I rode with the men who took that road, but we reached her kinfolks’ house without finding her along the way.” A pained look came into his eyes. “I thought it would be hard for them to hear she’d run off, but she’d been with us so long that she was no more than a name
to them. When they said they were sorry, it was only because they had to say
something
.”

“I wonder why she left,” I mused.

Kian shook his head. “There were rumors at first—there are always rumors—but they died quickly. If anyone knows the real reason, they’re not talking.”

I recalled more of Gormlaith’s words:
“She was happy here.”
Happy hearts don’t flee the place or the people they love.

“She never confided her plans?” I asked. Even though I’d never known her, I was unwilling to abandon Aifric to oblivion. “Not even to her best friend or any of the other girls? Didn’t any of them have the slightest idea where you could have searched for her?”

“I’ve told you what I can. Whatever became of Aifric, it happened years ago.” He stood and offered me his hand. I was still so worn out from wielding the wooden sword in an unmanageable dress that he had to haul me to my feet. “If you want to learn more weaponry today, we’re running out of time. You know we’ll have to go back to Dún Beithe separately, before dinner’s ready. But if you’d rather chew on old stories, it’s all the same to me.”

He spoke as if he knew I’d take the easier choice, a comfortable chat instead of a strenuous session of exercise with the blade. Nothing was more likely to spark my temper and make me keen to prove him wrong. I flung myself back into our sparring and didn’t rest for more than a few breaths between bouts until Kian declared it was time to go home.

I left the clearing first, head high.
I showed
him
what I can do with a sword!
I reveled in my triumph.

My smugness lasted up until the moment that my aches and pains began. My body wasn’t accustomed to working so hard at such a long-neglected skill. I could barely stir an arm or a leg the next morning and went creeping around the great house like an age-twisted old woman, not moving more than I absolutely had to. When Kian kept his dagger at his waist, I gave silent thanks.

I did my best to conceal the pain as I sat carding wool with the others, but it was more than a false smile could cover. Lady Lassaire noticed and asked if I was suffering from my moon time.

“Not yet,” I said truthfully.

My discomfort made her forget that she bore a grudge against me. “You poor child, I understand. I used to feel worse before my red days than when they came,” she said with a sympathetic look in her eyes.

“It’s the same with me,” Dairine declared. “How did you cure it, my lady?”

“I had a baby.” She smiled. “I don’t think any of you girls are ready for
that
remedy yet.” A chorus of horrified squeals agreed with her.

Lady Lassaire’s renewed kindness to me went farther than words. “Would you like to lie down for a while, Maeve?” she asked gently. I accepted at once and felt a little better by dinnertime, but far from fully healed when the next day dawned. To make matters worse, as I sat down with my breakfast of bread and cheese, I saw Kian’s dagger at his feet.

I didn’t
have
to go to our meeting. I could have found an excuse—Lady Lassaire had some special task for us to do; the
gateway guard refused to let me pass; I’d twisted my ankle and couldn’t fight. Lies, every one. After my morning duties and the midday meal, I picked up a basket and went to the woods.

I might as well have gone empty-handed—the gateway guard that day was a lazy fellow who didn’t even blink when I left the ringfort. I don’t know why I felt compelled to tell him, “I’m going to pick some berries for Lady Moriath. She’s still not feeling well and they’ll cheer her.”

“Huh? Oh,” he said, then fell back into his waking doze.

When I reached the clearing, I was startled to find Kian there without any of the wooden weapons we’d been using. A faint uneasiness crept up my spine. I hadn’t spent my life wrapped up in a fluffy little cocoon; I knew that not all warriors were honorable and that a girl who went alone to an isolated place to meet a young man ran certain risks. Kian hadn’t attempted anything improper at our first meeting, but he’d also arrived equipped for our lesson. His empty-handed presence here looked suspicious.

I failed to hide my edginess. Kian took one look at me and his brows came together. “Lady Maeve, what’s troubling you?”

I exhaled forcefully to calm myself and put on a pleasant face. “Nothing, Lord Kian. I’m simply puzzled: how can you teach me swordsmanship without a sword?” I made a sweeping gesture over the clearing. “Have you hidden the weapons? Do you expect me to prove myself by finding them?”

“Ha! I never thought of that,” he said. “No, you’re the one who’s been hiding things.”

“What are you talking about?”

His expression softened. “You worked yourself too hard at our first lesson and now you’re hurting—it shows.”

“Your mother told you.” I lowered my eyes. I didn’t want him to see my annoyance at having been discovered.

“Mother? She never said a word. I’ve got two good eyes. It’s brave of you to act as if you’re ready to fight again, but I won’t allow it until you’ve had a few days to recover.”

“Then why did you give me our signal this morning?” I said heatedly. “If you wanted to spare me, you could have left me—”

Kee-kee-kee!
A keen, familiar, beloved cry came from the far side of the clearing. I froze in midspeech, all my anger transformed to surprise, disbelief, and delight. Grinning hugely, Kian bounded across the grass, ducked in among the trees, and returned bearing Ea on his arm. I uttered a wordless cry of joy and rushed to welcome her, though every step I took sent a twinge through my legs.

I was so caught up in the happiness of seeing the hooded kestrel that I only half-heard Kian say, “I didn’t want to make you pick up any heavy weapons until your aches were healed, but I also didn’t want you thinking I’d given up on your lessons. That’s why I sent for you, to tell you that no matter how many days we have to wait between meetings, I’ll keep on teaching you as long as you want to learn.”

I didn’t stop to think about what I did. I simply acted, throwing my arms around his neck and kissing him on the cheek. Ea flapped her wings and scolded what she couldn’t see. When I stepped back I saw his free hand cup the spot I’d kissed as though shielding a newly struck spark from the wind. He had the most comical look on his face—astonishment and pleasure against a background of bright red.