“All I can say is, I very much hope there’s another way back.” Grim-faced, Cathal took hold of the shorter rope with both hands and worked his way up it, leaning out over the water, until he could grasp the guide rope again. His palms were red raw; they would be all blisters.
“You’re doing well,” I said, eyeing the far bank. It still looked rather a long way away. And what if those creatures came back, bats, birds, something in between? “I’m sorry I’m not helping.”
“You are helping,” said Cathal. “Someone has to hold the child. Keep down, they’re coming back.”
Out of the corner of my eye I saw them approaching. They were feathered and beaked like crows, but their bodies resembled those of bats, with clawlike hands and feet. Pale eyes gleamed amid the coal-dark plumage. At a certain point in their flapping progress they simply folded up their bodies and plummeted straight toward us. This time I felt a sharp, raking blow across my cheek and I cried out in fright, pressing Becan’s head against my chest. Cathal took one hand off the rope, reaching for the dagger in his belt. His eyes narrowed as he watched the creatures circling in preparation for a third assault.
“Leave it, just get us across,” I gasped. I could feel blood trickling down my face. “I’m all right.”
“A pox on it!” Cathal hissed, his jaw tight. He drew the dagger, weighing it in his hand as if preparing to throw. The raft swung this way, that way; water washed over my legs.
“Please, Cathal! Forget them, just get us to the other side. Ahh!” A swoop, a dive. Something sharp drew a line across my brow. Blood filled my eyes, blinding me. I hunched myself over Becan and muttered an incoherent prayer. The raft seemed to be moving more quickly now; Cathal had seen the wisdom in my words and was concentrating on hauling us over.
“Off, vermin!” he shouted. I felt sharp pain on the back of my neck, then across my arm, through the fabric of cloak and shirt. “Off!” And then, “Clodagh, here!” He was offering me the knife. The raft was dancing about on the water; I grabbed the weapon with difficulty. Cathal put his hand back on the rope and we steadied. “Try to fend them off,” he said, his tone calm, his eyes far less so.
“It’s not far now,” I whispered, wondering if I might faint and knowing I could not possibly afford to do so. Cathal was only in this mess because of me. As for Becan, I was all he had. “I’m fine. Really.” Brighid help me, the way the raft was rocking I’d as likely stick the knife into Cathal himself as land a blow on one of the attackers.
The things came again, three in formation, swooping low. They were aiming for me and me alone. With my left arm around the baby, I held the knife in my right hand, waving it more or less at random, for my head was muzzy now, my vision blurring. “Get off!” I yelled. As battle cries went, it was hardly impressive, but this time the creatures passed without making a mark on me.
“Good girl,” I heard Cathal say. “Firm grip; keep your arm relaxed. Be ready for them.”
I was, next time. The three dived toward me. I slashed with purpose and felt the weapon connect. There was an eldritch shriek as the wounded creature veered away from the raft, its companions creaking heavily after it. Their dark shapes merged into the gray obscurity of the rain. My hand relaxed on the dagger, then tightened again. I must not drop it. If one thing was sure, it was that we’d need a weapon on the other side. Cathal’s tall form wavered before my eyes. The bank was closer now, but I could see it only as a shadowy blur. I thought maybe I was crying, or perhaps it was the blood.
“Clodagh!” Cathal’s voice was sharp. “Don’t faint, stay with me! I can’t help you now, but we’re nearly there. Hold onto the child; do your job.”
Becan. I wiped my eyes again, noting with some detachment that my hand came away red, and looked down at the baby. He was hiccupping weakly; he had gone beyond fright. “Nearly there,” I murmured to him. “Nearly there, sweetheart. Oo-roo, little dove . . .” My voice was rough as a toad’s, but Becan didn’t seem to mind. While Cathal wrestled with the rope, heaving us across the water, I continued the lullaby. The infant quieted, his sobs subsiding, his little twiggy hand curling trustfully into the sodden fabric of my shirt, his lips forming what looked oddly like a smile. Did babies smile so early? “Time to bid farewell to day,” I sang, and we reached the other side.
Cathal hooked our craft to a weathered pole set among rocks. He held out his hand to help me up. My legs were not keen to support me.
“Left or right this time?” he asked, standing on the edge of the raft. He sounded admirably calm.
“Left going in,” I said. “Right coming back. I heard a tale about it once.”
“What happens if you make a mistake?” He stepped off with his left foot, guiding me after him. The shore was covered with tiny white stones as smooth and regular as eggs. They crunched as we walked forward.
“I don’t know. I think you might end up somewhere different, not where you wanted to go. Or you might not be able to cross the margin at all. These things matter. I wish I could remember properly.” I reached up to wipe my face again.
“Here,” Cathal said. He had put the two bags on the ground. Now he began to unfasten his, perhaps seeking a cloth with which to stem the flow of blood.
“Don’t worry about that, I’m fine.” I heard my own voice as if down a tunnel, its tone distant and hollow. “Shelter. We must get dry . . .” A moment later trees, rocks and pebbles spun before me and everything went dark.
I woke to the crackling of a fire and the sound of Cathal muttering, “All right, all right, I’m doing the best I can.” Becan was crying. I had Cathal’s cloak around me, and when I opened my eyes I could see the sky. It was a shadowy purple-gray with neither sun nor moon in evidence. I could not tell whether it was day or night. Dusk? Had I lain in a dead faint most of the day? I lifted a cautious hand to my face, feeling for damage, and winced as I touched swollen, abraded skin. My hair was sticky with blood.
I sat up. A wave of dizziness went through me, making my stomach churn. I swallowed, breathed, sat a moment waiting for the nausea to subside. I could not afford any more weakness.
“You’re awake,” Cathal said. “Good. My efforts to feed our friend here haven’t gone well, and he’s loud. I’m concerned his cries will bring company we don’t want. Judging by the reception we received on the way across, I’d say we can’t expect an easy trip. Can you take him?”
He was sitting cross-legged not far away with Becan in his arms. The infant’s arms and legs had come free of his shawls. His cries held a tone of outrage.
“Pass him over here.” I held out my arms and realized belatedly that underneath the cloak I wasn’t wearing much at all. “Where are my clothes?”
“Drying out,” Cathal said. “See, over there.” My gown, cloak, shift and stockings were hanging over a makeshift frame of branches and bracken on the far side of the fire, steaming gently in company with various garments of Cathal’s. “No need to blush,” he added. “You’re still covered, just. It’s cold here. The things you were wearing were sodden, and the spares in your bag weren’t much better. I didn’t really have a choice.”
I couldn’t think of a thing to say, so I gathered the cloak around me as best I could and took the infant on my lap to feed him. A little later, with Becan relaxed and sucking steadily, Cathal and I regarded each other in the firelight, and if his gaze was wary, I imagine mine was more so. We were in the forest, that strange forest we had glimpsed across the river. The trees were big enough to dwarf the most massive oak at Sevenwaters, and the spaces under them were full of an intense and disturbing darkness like that of a vast subterranean chamber. There was an eerie stillness about the place, a sense of anticipation that was not allayed by the little crackle of our fire. From the area of level ground where we were camped the terrain fell in a gentle slope to the east. I thought I could hear the murmuring voice of the river some distance away.
“How did you get me up here?” I asked, and even though there was nobody to be seen but the three
of us I kept my voice down.
“You were easy enough to carry,” Cathal said. “The difficult part was leaving you and the child here while I went back for the bags. I half expected that some mysterious entity would snatch you away the instant my back was turned, just to remind me that this place is . . . different.”
I didn’t really want to owe him still more of a debt, but it seemed I did. He had not only carried me to safety, he had undressed me, cleaned me up, then left me to sleep while he made a fire, dried out my clothing and tried to look after Becan as well. In view of our situation, the fact that Cathal had seen me at close quarters in my small-clothes seemed far less shocking than it would have done a day ago.
“How’s your face?” he asked. “Does it hurt?”
“Not much. I feel sick, but it will pass. How bad are the cuts?”
“Not so bad. I’ll tend to them again tomorrow.” He was matter-of-fact about this.
“Cathal, how long was I unconscious? Is it really dusk already?”
“Believe me, if that were so I would have been trying to rouse you long before this. As it was, Becan took a great deal of my attention. He has a powerful voice. How very fortunate that he doesn’t need milk. Imagine bringing a goat across on that raft. So, what now?”
“We go on, I suppose. But maybe not right away. How soon will our things be dry enough to wear?”
“Your clothing won’t be ready before morning. I’m sure you don’t want to walk on dressed like that, so we’d best stay here overnight and keep the fire going. I did hesitate over lighting it. The smoke will draw attention if there’s anyone about. Which way are we headed next?”
I looked at him. He appeared remarkably sanguine, considering everything. Another part of the training, I supposed. And he hadn’t uttered a single word of reproach. It was almost annoying. It made me feel deeply inadequate, and I didn’t like that. “I thought you were the one who knew the way,” I said.
“I promised to find a portal. I’ve done that.”
True enough. Wherever we were, we were no longer in the forest of Sevenwaters. “I hate to say this,” I said, “but I think we just keep on walking, and sooner or later we’ll find what we’re looking for. That is, someone who can tell us where my baby brother is. Then we go there and I ask these people to give him back.”
“And you hand over Becan in exchange.” There was something slightly odd in his tone, as if there were an unspoken question beneath this statement.
“What’s wrong with that?” I asked.
“Nothing at all, Clodagh. It makes perfect sense, if the rules of our world are applied to the problem.”
“I don’t have any other rules to apply,” I said quietly. “Cathal, how did you know we had to cross the river? How did you know there was a river? There’s no such place on any map of Sevenwaters, and I know we didn’t go beyond Father’s borders.”
He shrugged. “A hunch,” he said.
“Like the one that told you Glencarnagh was going to be attacked.”
“Mm-hm. Does it matter? You wanted to be here and you’re here. Cold and wet, underdressed, with a few scars you’d probably rather not have, but in the land of the Tuatha De Danann. At least, one supposes that is where we are.” For a moment I saw a look of deep disquiet on his face. He masked it quickly, his features assuming a bland expression.
“Why is that so easy for you to believe now, when you scorned the very existence of such folk back at the keep?” I asked him.
Another shrug.
“Stop doing that!” I snapped, making Becan wail in fright. “Shh, shh,” I whispered, lifting the baby up against my shoulder while trying to keep the cloak modestly around me.
“Stop doing what?”
“Refusing to answer me properly. Acting as if nothing in the past matters. Pretending it wasn’t completely mad for you to come here with me. Not explaining why you’re doing anything at all. What about you and Aidan? Didn’t you see his expression when we set off from the shore? He looked as if we were breaking his heart. How can you be so . . . so detached about it all?”
He had unpacked his little cook pot and set it on the flames. It already held water, and now he produced a small harvest of mushrooms, which he proceeded to break into the pot. The silence drew out between us as the brew came to the boil and a savory smell arose, making me realize how hungry I was. Cathal added a handful of greenery to the mixture and stirred it. Eventually he looked up, meeting my eye across the fire. “The shirt I was wearing is almost dry,” he said. “Here.” The garment was hanging from a bush; he took it down and tossed it in my general direction. “Bear in mind,” he added, “that I’ve already seen you with a lot less on than that, and don’t let it trouble you too much. I’m bone weary after that river crossing and I haven’t the least inclination to take advantage of you.”
I looked at him a moment, then said, “Thank you.”
“It’s not altruism,” Cathal said. “If we’re attacked again, it’s going to help if you have both hands free to defend yourself. The requirement to keep your modesty shielded with a cloak would make that difficult. I want you to keep one of my knives, Clodagh. We can’t know what’s coming, but after that episode with the bats, or whatever they were, I think we can assume we’re not entirely welcome here. What are you going to do if these people won’t give your brother back?”
Since I had no answer to this, I gave him a little of his own treatment, responding with a shrug. Becan had fallen asleep against my shoulder. His shawls were damp, and so were his swaddling cloths. “Curse it,” I said. “I’m going to have to wash these.”
“Eat first,” Cathal said.
“Where did you pick the mushrooms?” I asked. “We shouldn’t eat anything from here, that’s one of the rules.”
“Or?”
“Or we have to stay in the Otherworld forever.” Gods, it smelled good.
“I had them in my pack before we crossed over,” Cathal said. “Savor every mouthful; if you’re right about the food here, we’ll be on limited rations until we get back across. How long do you think this will take? And what about him?” He nodded toward the sleeping child. I had placed Becan on the ground while I took off the cloak and donned the shirt over my damp small-clothes. Under the circumstances, the best I could do for modesty was to turn my back and hope Cathal wasn’t looking.
“He seems to thrive on the honey water,” I said. “I can fill my water-skin from the streams on this side. I can’t see any reason why Becan shouldn’t partake of Otherworld food. I don’t know how long the journey will take. Not too long, I hope. My mother is fading fast; she needs Finbar back.”
“It suits you,” Cathal observed as I finished fastening the cords on his shirt and turned to face him. The garment was of good quality wool, warm and light. It came down to my knees.
I tried to imagine how I looked. My hand went to my face, touching the welts gingerly. “I’m going to have scars, aren’t I?” I asked.
“Think of it as adding character.”
I grimaced. “To my boring face? Oh well, I suppose that’s the least of my worries right now. Cathal, I should go back to the river to wash these shawls.”
“Does it really matter if he’s wet or smells a bit? It’s not as if he’s a flesh and blood child, after all. He seems more plant than baby to me. It’s natural for plants to be wet.”
I looked down at the sleeping child, curled in his damp shawls on the forest floor. Leaf-lids covered the pebble eyes, and the bark slivers that formed his lips moved gently in and out as if he dreamed of sucking. His hands were open, trusting. “He’s a real child with real needs and feelings, despite his odd appearance,” I said. “He deserves to be cared for just as Finbar does, just as any human baby does. It wouldn’t be right to neglect him. Clean clothing is only part of it. There are stories and singing; food and shelter and love. Every child needs those things. Becan shouldn’t be denied them just because he’s . . . different.” Perhaps, when I got home and looked in m
y mirror, I would be different too. Perhaps I would be so scarred that my chances of attracting a good husband, someone like Aidan, would have all vanished away. I thought of my sister Maeve, far off in Harrowfield, with the cruel marks of her burns disfiguring her face.
“Very well,” said Cathal. “When we’ve eaten, I’ll show you a place I spotted where there’s a small stream and a pool. We can wrap him in the cloak; I’ll give you my tunic to wear in the meantime.” He was removing it even as he spoke. “Now let’s try these mushrooms.”
Approaching the pool later, we disturbed a badger drinking. I held my breath, watching it turn its head to peer in our direction then retreat into the shelter of the ferns that fringed the waterway. An ordinary badger, with no sign of eldritch qualities at all. Somewhere high in the canopy above us birds were exchanging mournful cries, confirming that there was indeed life on this side of the river. In the undergrowth something scurried away, fearful of our cautious footsteps.
I settled the sleeping baby between the massive roots of a tree. Cathal stationed himself on a flat rock and I knelt by the pool’s edge to wash out the two shawls and the swaddling. The water was preternaturally chill; it was like plunging my hands into liquid ice. As I pounded the cloth on the stones, I tried to concentrate on a plan for tomorrow. How far could we reasonably expect to walk? Perhaps we should look for high ground so we could assess the lie of the land. If we saw any signs of life, would it be better to hide or to reveal ourselves? Somehow, stepping out and asking to be taken to Finbar’s abductors did not seem altogether a wise course of action. Those creatures at the river had been intent on attacking us.
“Are you done?” Cathal asked quietly. “We should return to the fire.”
“I suppose these are clean; the light isn’t good enough to see properly.” Perhaps it really was dusk now. The presence of badgers and owls suggested that. But maybe in this place it was always dusk. The prospect was disturbing. It was so much easier to feel confident by sunlight.