Mac Tire � Son of the Earth

Part 9 - Journey to Tara

It was time to leave. Everyone except two sick sailors in the next village was now fit and well. Ninus had already told everyone that he needed to travel to the place where his cousin always landed. He had no idea how long it would take him to get there, he said, not knowing where he was.

There was no way the stranded sailors could get home without a decent trading vessel willing to help. The ship had been completely wrecked on the treacherous rocks. Ninus said he would travel up the coast until he reached the landing place. There was no other option.

Ninus left a week before Dom and Lij did, taking a dozen men with him, leaving the rest to help in the villages. The natives were glad of the assistance. Winter was here, and the more logs and peat stacked up against its biting cold the better. Food was plentiful, and the sailors had caught more game than they could eat in a year. The ground had already begun to freeze, making peat cutting a priority during the last few days.

So Dom cut peat and Lij pulled the last of the vegetables, scraped and hung the skins from the hunters' catch for drying, and helped with the hunting. The two huge storehouses were full to the thatch with foodstuffs, and seeing this, Dom approached Ayveen about transport.

"We need horses, Ayveen. I know you have only two, and we cannot take those, but is there any vill or chieftain near us that will sell us horses? We need four - one for each of us and a pack animal."

"You need five horses, Dom. Six would be better. Cassawn has offered to lead you, and you must take him. How else will you reach Tara, if you do not know where you are?�

They sat by the fire, listening to the wind drawing the last warmth out of the earth. No snow had yet stuck on the ground, but there had been several flurries, and Lij and Pen-Nekeb, who used the stick Dom had cut and shaped for him, more for show than from need, were entranced by it, staring up into the grey skies like children, waiting for the white flakes to fall. Lij caught a few in his hand, and exclaimed, laughing, "It is cold!"

Dom smiled at Lij's happy face, but was secretly concerned at how these men - reared as they had been in the heat of Egypt - would tolerate the cold. Dom looked over at Lij now, sitting next to Nekeb by the fire, wrapped in extra wool and furs given to him by Ayveen who seemed to have a good stock of warm clothing. Nekeb seemed to have become accustomed to the climate very quickly, but Lij found it a trial. He was shivering, but smiled at Dom, and ate his mutton stew with relish. At least the food was to his taste, everything except, as Dom had discovered a few days earlier, mushrooms.

Ayveen had brought some dried ones in from her jealously guarded store and had made soup from them to go with three fowls roasting gently on the spit.

Lij's nose had wrinkled at the smell - earthy and pungent. And when he tasted it, Dom was hard put not to laugh at the expression on his face. Afterwards he'd said privately, "Never ask me to eat a mushroom again, Dom. It was the vilest thing. It tasted like it had been festering in the cellars for months! And it smelled like that mould poultice Raya had put on Titi's arm the time the lion cub bit her arm. Remember?"

At the mention of his daughter Lij's face had taken on a wistful look, and Dom, seeing it and understanding only too well how his love felt, made him laugh with some nonsense about something he'd observed earlier in the day. That night, wrapped tightly in each others arms, Lij whispered into Dom's neck "I miss my babies, Dom. I cannot help it. I think about them often - whether they are well, if they are eating - if they miss us."

Dom decided then that the news he had brought from home would keep until they were on their return journey - if they ever did return. If, for some reason they could not, he was not sure he would ever tell of it. Lij had enough to brood about. Adding to it would not help. Therefore he held his counsel - he was good at that.

The couple had travelled with Ayveen and Cassawn to the nearby hold of a minor tribal chieftain. Minor but wealthy, the man owned and bred a stock of good strong horses. For ten silver pieces each, and two of Lij's rings for his head wife, he sold them six fine steeds. They had tried to pay in gold, but the man had never seen any, and was unsure of its value. Silver he knew, and that was acceptable.

The morning of their departure, Cassawn brought the horses to the edge of the compound, and the villagers and Pen-Nekeb expertly loaded the two pack animals with necessaries - including, to everyone's amusement, Lij's bundles and the bath - while Dom and Lij bade farewell to their new-found friends. Ayveen had tears in her eyes, and both men were surprised, because she displayed little emotion in her daily dealings with those around her.

"Take care...and the gods go with you!" she murmured as she clutched Lij to her breast. He returned her embrace with fervour. She had been kind, and had saved lives.

"May the Mother watch over you and this village," Lij said, his throat a little tight, both from the cold air and emotion.

"You worship the Mother? What is her name in your land?" she asked, surprised.

"Isis," Lij answered, pulling on the rabbit skin mitts she had stitched for him only the night before. "May she watch over you, and your people, Ayveen."

The woman wiped her eyes then went to exchange a few words with Cassawn, before he mounted his horse. She whispered "Let it be quick and painless, and far enough away that these villagers never hear of it. We...they...have grown to love these men. In... seven or eight days, perhaps. You will be distant enough by then. However, it is your choice. Farewell."

Cassawn nodded. "It shall be as you say. Farewell." The men had finished their farewells to the villagers and the sailors who were staying behind, and came forward to mount their steeds. Nekeb was a little stiff, but luckily he was as good a rider as Dom and Lij and once he was moving he was as proficient as they were at negotiating the unfamiliar terrain.

As the little group moved inland, the land grew steeper, and as they rose, so the air grew colder. Lij, shivering on his horse's back wondered if he would ever be warm again. Dom told him the sun shone all summer long in this land, and was hot and comforting - but that was in the future and the present was cold.

"As cold as a witch's teat!" Dom had said, the night before. Lij made a vow not to ever come within sight, never mind touch of a witch, if that is how cold they were.

Dom had explained witches to them. There were good witches and bad, just as people were good and bad, he had said. Good witches helped people, healed them, made them feel good - bad ones try to bind them to evil with incantations and spells. Lij, pondering this from the back of his horse thought there was little new under the sun. It was the same in Egypt.

They stopped for the night in a cave Cassawn had known of, tucked into the side of a hill. Cassawn had been all for bedding down without erecting their ox hide tent, but Dom knew that Lij needed the extra warmth.

Nekeb, appointed their cook, warmed some stew he'd brought wrapped in a hide bag. There was bread also, but Cassawn, grunting over his portion, told them that they would have to be content with dried strips of meat and dried fruits on their journey unless they found a cott or vill where they would be granted hospitality.

Dom explained that to be unwelcoming of strangers - indeed of any visitor - was unheard of in Erin. Cassawn coughed. "Is it always thus where you come from, Dom? I have seen it lately when it has not been so! You have lived in Erin before. Perhaps you were born here...your accent speaks of it, unlike Lij and Nekeb. Where would you have been born, now?" The man put down his bowl and directed a searching look at Dom. Dom returned it, soberly.

"I was born near Tara. I had not lived anywhere else before I left the country. Tara was my home."

Cassawn considered the vast, sprawling complex that was Tara and its lands. "Sure it's a big, fair place. Why did you leave it?"

Dom's face darkened. "I was...visiting a relative several days from there, when I was caught by slave traders. I had no choice in the matter. I was taken on board their ship and that was the end of it."

The look on Dom's face warned Cassawn not to pursue the subject. Dom's question, therefore caught him unprepared. "And where were you born, Cassawn? Your accent, too, hints at a place that seems familiar to me."

Cassawn swallowed his drink, and carefully put his cup on the floor. "I was born at Monaghan...further north," he replied carefully. Dom nodded. "I know it well," he said to Cassawn's utter astonishment. "It is a beautiful place, is it not?"

A wolf howled outside, breaking the tension. Nekeb yawned. "Dom, I am tired. If we put up the tent, Lij and Cassawn can tend to the horses and the fire.� Dom nodded. There was little Lij did not know about horses. He and Nekeb unfolded the tent, as the other two men walked to the horses which stood at the back of the huge cave.

"I am glad it is dry inside this place, Cassawn. I am afraid I am not very good in the cold. Where I live it is never cold, except at night sometimes it gets chilly. Never like this, though."

Each man took a handful of hay and rubbed the horses down with it. As it was winter, fodder had to be transported too, and their packs were consequently bulky and heavy. Relieved of their burdens, fed and watered the horses were docile, and Traig, Lij's mount, pulled at his rider's sleeve with his teeth, not wanting the grooming to stop.

Lij laughed. "You are like my old Star!" he grinned. "Fifteen he is, now, but never can he get enough grooming. My son says..." Lij stopped suddenly.

"You have a son? How old is he? You don't ..." Cassawn glanced at Lij, who was staring at the horse, absently petting its nose. His mind was far away. He had not heard him. Cassawn decided that was enough questioning for one day. He would cause suspicion by goading them into speech. They had time enough for talking, before...

The three friends entered the tent. Cassawn said he would be happier outside it, as with four inside it would be very crowded. "Crowded, yes, but warmer, too," Lij grumbled, after the villager had left to sleep with the horses, lying down on the furs Ayveen had provided.

"Nekeb, friend, lie as close as you can to Lij on that side, and I will warm his front for him." Lij giggled as Dom grabbed him. "Be still, you lecher!" Nekeb blushed in the dark.

The next morning when Lij woke, it felt considerably warmer. He rubbed his arm, which was still hurting him for some reason, and left the tent. Nekeb and Dom were coming back inside the cave. Their feet were white. "Go and look, Great One!" shouted Nekeb, forgetting himself. Dom looked around him, but there was no sign of the villager. He grinned as Lij ran for the cave opening.

He blinked. The whole world was white! The clouds had come to earth. Lij stare in amazement at the trees covered with branches decked in white - the ground, a shining mass of glittering crystals. It was a miracle. He moved further out, and bent to pick up two handfuls of the beautiful stuff.

He spun around, his face suffused with joy, and saw Dom standing in the aperture. Dom's gut contracted at the expression on his spouse's face. How I love you! he thought, as Lij capered about leaving footprints in the gleaming snow, and bending to gather it up, casting balls of white dust into the sky.

Lij ran to Dom and grasped his hand. "You never told me...such beauty!" Lij breathed. "Such beauty, indeed!" Dom replied, his eyes still trained on Lij's face. They kissed each other, gently, revelling in the warmth of their lips on cold skin. Lij pressed close to Dom, as they embraced, feeling Dom's response to his kisses rise against his body even through layers of clothing.

"Soon!" Dom whispered as he saw Cassawn appear out of the corner of his eye. They went inside to break their fast.

***

The next three days passed as days do when travelling. They rode, they stopped, they ate and slept. Dom and Lij had found no opportunity to slake their need for each other, which was making Dom short tempered. Looking over at Lij on the fourth morning, wanting him so badly the pit of his stomach ached, Dom was surprised and a little put out to discover his mate did not return his ardent glances, but sat hunched on his horse, staring mutely at the terrain ahead of them.

Dom gave up and rode beside Nekeb, who was struggling a little with his horse in the deep snow. The night before Dom had offered to rub the salve Ayveen had provided into Nekeb's leg, and saw for the first time the deep scar that ran from groin to ankle, and which would trouble the man for the rest of his days.

The ointment helped to soften the skin, puckered slightly along the length of his leg, and Dom, hearing Lij coughing quietly in the background, hurried to finish his task so that he could lie by his spouse. However, when he had finished his task, Lij had been asleep.

Dom supposed that the cold weather was tiring Lij, but when, that night, sheltering in an abandoned cott, Lij refused the warm drink Nekeb had made over the biggest fire they could safely light inside, Dom looked at his lover carefully.

There were dark circles under his eyes, and his face, always pale was chalk white and damp. But Lij insisted he was well, and brushed off Dom and Nekeb's enquiries about his well being with chilling hauteur. "I am well, I thank you," he pronounced. The two men, used to the Look, held their peace.

Cassawn observed Lij carefully from under his lowered gaze. He saw what Dom had missed - the heaving of Lij's chest as he struggled to breathe - and smiled inwardly. One less to dispose of.

As they were passing a near-frozen pond on the fifth morning, Cassawn seemingly lost control of his horse, and careering into Lij, knocked him off his mount into the icy water. Of course he leapt in to pull him out, but the damage was done. Lij lay gasping against Cassawn's chest, unable to draw breath, never mind speak to his frantic lover.

"We have to find help!" Dom urged as he helped load Lij onto his own horse, leaping up behind to hold his beloved upright. Lij sagged against Dom. "I am sorry!" he managed.

Cassawn pretended concern. "This is no help to be found in these parts," he called to Dom over the rising wind. "No one lives here." But Nekeb's eyes had spotted something in the densely wooded copse nearby. "What is that smoke?" he yelled. "Someone must be there! He galloped off in the direction of the smoke and returned a few minutes later. He gestured to them from the edge of the wood. "She will help. Come!"

Nekeb led them to a small group of what looked like deserted ramshackle huts; but one was in better condition than the others and obviously occupied. Cassawn took charge of the animals, trying not to look as thwarted as he felt, and Dom and Nekeb hal

f carried Lij inside.

They checked on the threshold. Standing by the fire, which was placed unusually against a wall, there was a tiny female form. An old woman, with wrinkled skin and apple red cheeks. He white hair hung past her knees in two long braids. She must have reached up to Dom's chest, and one could hardly call him tall. Dom found his voice. "Can you help him?" Brown eyes stared deeply into his. "I can, but that is not to say that I do it willingly." She looked at Nekeb carefully. "He is not a man, is he? You might be faery folk, and will bewitch me if I say you nay."

Nekeb looked calmly at the old dame. "Where shall we put him, mother?" The woman gestured to a bed in the corner of the large square room. "There." The bed stood on legs, which surprised Cassawn, coming in. "I have stabled the horses in one of the cotts," he said, nodding his head coolly at the woman, who was pouring some warm liquid into a cup. "I shall light a fire there and stay with them."

The two men ignored him. They were too busy stripping off Lij's soaking garments to respond. "Rub him with this," the crone shoved a rough piece of linen into Dom's hand. "And you, whatever you are, help me with this cauldron. It needs filling if I am to do anything with him."

"There are rabbits and other meats hanging in the third building down, if you need food," she called to Cassawn as he left. She muttered under her breath, "There will be little time to eat if we are to save this one today."

She neared the bed, where Dom was wiping the freezing water from Lij's body. She looked down on him, critically. "Yes, one of the faery folk, I think. No mortal man ever had skin like this. White as curds, he is, and not a blemish in sight - except for this." She touched the brand gently. "What is this?"

Dom continued his task, not taking his eyes off Lij. "A love token. And there is another mark, if one knows where to look for it," he said, huskily. The woman laughed. "You are bewitched by the faery. Bad cess, man! He will do you no good in the end, mark me. He has..." Lij opened his eyes and focused hazily on the small figure. The words died in her throat.

"Dom, do not let him...he waits for me. He is laughing. He said"... Lij panted desperately"...that evil stalks us. Dom...Anubis..."

Dom kissed his beloved's brow. "Do not you fear, a stor, he shall not have you. I shall stride into the Halls of the Dead and claim you back if he tries to take you from me before your time."

Dom glared at the woman. "He is no faery, but my love. He will not harm you. If you can help him, do it now, I beg you."

The woman smiled. "I see now he is one of the Fair Folk. He is a good man, as you say. I will help him. You..." she pointed at Nekeb hovering nearby..."bring water from the well. And be quick about it." Nekeb picked up the two pails indicated by the woman, and rushed off to do her bidding.

"We need to put him in warm water if we are to save him. It is a pity my wash tub is not big enough. We shall have to try washing him down...not hot, just warm at first, or we'll kill him with kindness."

Dom looked up from his task as Nekeb came in with the water. "Nekeb, friend; fetch the bath." The woman stared. "Bath? *Bath?* You are travelling through the snow with a bath?" She shook her head disbelievingly as Nekeb came in with the copper bowl. "Perfect!" she crowed.

Nekeb emptied the hot water from the cauldron into the bath, topped it up with some cold, and filled the cauldron with the remainder. "More! Another two should do it!" Nekeb left.

"What is your name? And his?" pointing to Lij. "Dom. And this is Lij, my spouse." Dom said quietly. "The man with the horses is Cassawn, and the other is Nekeb"

The woman tested the water with her elbow, and, satisfied, indicated that Dom place Lij in the bath. Nekeb rushed to help as he came through the door, leaving the pails in the middle of the floor. The air was whistling in Lij's lungs, his chest heaving with the effort of breathing. He opened his eyes again, and stared at the woman. "Thank you, Gronya," he murmured.

The woman gasped. "How did you...?" Lij closed his eyes again, and his head fell against Dom's shoulder. She handed Dom a small cup. "Keep pouring the warm water over him. I'll add a drop more in a moment." She gestured to Nekeb to put the water on to heat. After he had done so he came to Dom's side. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Gronya snapped. "Yes, keep out of the way, you great lump." Dom raised his eyes from Lij's face for a second. "You can help me hold him, Friend of Friends."

That silenced the old dear Nekeb thought, kneeling behind Lij and holding him carefully, whilst Dom poured the water over his body.

Over the next hour Gronya poured in more water until the steam rose and the water slopped over the edge of the copper bowl onto the flagged floor. She went to a chest and drew out a fine linen sheet. "Take him out now and after you dry him off a bit, wrap him in this." She put the sheet on the bed, and Nekeb held Lij whilst Dom rubbed him with the towel.

"Go out and fetch that cloak, Nekeb.� asked Dom. Nekeb flew out of the door and before Dom had reached the bed, he returned with the fine cloak.

Gronya looked at it astonished "Fit for a king to wear, that is!" she gasped. Nekeb hid a smile. "So it is, lady. So it is! Dom sat Lij on the edge of the bed, wrapped him in the sheet as instructed, and, covering him with the cloak, laid him down on the bed.

The woman brought a large pillow and put it under Lij's head. He opened his eyes again. "Dom," he said. "My Dom." Dom gently touched his spouse's face. "Do not waste your breath, muh hraw."

The woman felt Lij's head. He was hot now, but not sweating. She lifted up one of Lij's eyelids, but he was no longer responding. She looked at Dom, trouble in her deep brown eyes. "We must get him to sweat."

Nekeb asked the question Dom did not dare to ask. "What will happen to him if he does not sweat?" The old woman turned her back on them, and fiddled with something on the table in front of her.

"He will be dead before morning," she said.




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