A Hero's Tale (29 page)

Then Finn wove in his tale of exile, of how it came about that Bru, the rightful king, had dared to take the field against the mighty. Elen, their queen, held a prisoner whom the wolf girl sought to rescue.

"To return kindness for kindness," said Finn, "those who had once been prisoners themselves offered her their help. The girl asked only for a guide, but Bru read the signs and saw that change was coming."

"Did he really?" I asked.

"Well," said Finn, "he did eventually, didn't he?"

Finn told of our journey to Elen's house, our meeting with his friend the armorer, and our supper in the kitchen yard, when I was taken into the house to serve at table. With half a wink to me, he skipped the part where I was kicked out of it. He said only that I had rejoined them to finish my meal.

"It was then that she produced the knife," he said.

Maara flinched. "I should have thrown the cursed thing away."

"No," I said. "That's what got me back inside. They thought I stole it. They dragged me into the great hall and accused me before the queen."

I stopped. I was not yet ready to revisit Elen's house, not even in memory.

"For three days," said Finn, "we waited for news. There was no sign of her. No word. We feared the house of wickedness had swallowed her up and we would never lay eyes on her again. But then things began to happen. The queen suddenly prepared for war, and when her army marched out to the battlefield, they brought the prisoner with them. Now we would have our chance at rescue, we thought, but where was Tamras?"

Finn leaned toward us and lowered his voice, though there was no one anywhere nearby to hear him. "That night," he said, "when we were all asleep, out of the queen's dungeon she walked, past the queen's servants, and out of the house, in plain sight down the empty street. So she came to us and told us what she'd done."

Finn paused for effect, while Maara and I both waited to hear what it was.

"It seems there was an army gathering in the east, intending to make war on the people Tamras came from."

Maara nodded. She had seen it too.

"Too late to take them a warning herself, Tamras sent an army out against their enemy."

"How did she do that?" Maara asked.

"Strange," said Finn, "how evil will turn back upon itself. All Tamras did was inform the queen of the presence of the army. She also told her its intentions, but the queen didn't believe her. She thought it was a trick. She led her army out and took her prisoner with her. The rest you know."

Maara looked at me. "Not quite, I think," she said.

She was asking me to tell her what had happened while I was in Elen's house. Did she know it was another story of betrayal? I took a breath, while I wondered where to start. Finn put his hand on my arm to stop me.

"This is your tale to tell," he said, "but I will begin it, because it is a hero's tale."

I shook my head and started to protest, but Finn spoke first.

"There is an old story of a hero, a younger son of Totha, who embarked on a quest to distant lands, where he was captured and held in thrall to an evil queen. For a time he succumbed to her enchantment, but at last, by his pure heart, he overcame her. I have now seen that story told again."

"I'm not a hero," I said. "I had no idea what I was doing. I blundered through it all."

Finn touched my brow lightly with his fingers. "You may not have known what you were doing or how you did it, but look at the result. You set this woman free. You saved the house of kindness from the malice of their enemies. You divided the mighty and so gave Bru his opportunity. If he fails, he is the king no more. But I think he will not fail."

Finn watched me, waiting for me to understand.

"Whatever you took with you," he said, "whatever you may wish to call it, purity of heart, strength of spirit, greatness of soul, you took that and nothing more into the house of wickedness, and you came out of it again, bringing fortune to your friends and ruin to your enemies. If that's not a hero's tale, I've never told one nor heard one told."

"It won't make the telling any easier," I whispered.

"Perhaps not," he said, "but it may make the listening less painful." He turned to Maara. "Listen, but don't judge, until you've heard it all. She is utterly truthful, and she will not spare herself."

Then he got up and left us.

"Finn is too kind," I said.

"What is he afraid that I will judge you for?" Maara asked me.

I opened my mouth to answer her, but I found I couldn't speak.

"What are you afraid that I will judge you for?"

"You saw it all yourself," I said. "You were there."

"I was," she said, "and I was proud of you."

"Proud? Why?"

"You kept your wits about you. You spoke so well. I have seen many stand before her, men and women of the highest rank and with their wisest counselors. None of them was a match for her."

"In the end, neither was I."

Maara grew still. "It was a vile trick she played on you."

"And I believed her."

"For a time." It was half a question. In her voice I heard the hope that I had soon after come to my senses. I had to disappoint her.

"For the whole time," I said. "I forgot you. I forgot everything but what would make me doubt you. I knew nothing else until I left Elen's house, when Bru told me you were still a prisoner."

Once the words were out, I felt a bit lightheaded. Perhaps lack of sleep had caught up with me, or perhaps I expected her to tell me what I most feared to hear, that I was no longer worthy of her.

"Do you doubt me now?" she asked.

I saw in my mind's eye the image I had fixed there, of Maara running down the hill to meet me. I shook my head. "Of course not," I told her. "No."

"Then why is it that you feel so far away from me?"

"Do I?"

I felt it then, the barrier between us, as I had felt it long before, when it was the walls around her heart I felt. Now it was the walls around my heart.

"What do you need to hear from me?" she asked.

Her voice had an edge. I didn't know what she meant.

"Do I need to tell you that I never touched her, that I would never have allowed her to touch me?"

That was the farthest thing from my mind.

"I hope you would have done whatever you had to do to save your life," I said. "Where you bestow your body may not be within your power to choose. I care only for who has your heart."

"Then you have nothing to reproach me for."

"Reproach you? I don't reproach you. I reproach myself."

"For what?"

The memory of my time in Elen's house came back to me all at once. I had to clasp my hands together, to stop their trembling.

"The abyss," I whispered. "Three days in the abyss, when I believed you had betrayed me. How did she do that? How did she kill me with a lie?"

I was too tired to think clearly or I would have seen it then, that Elen had seized on one small fault, a fault I had in common with all of humankind, a fault I had never taken seriously. Jealousy.

I wasn't thinking then. I knew only that some part of me remained lost in the abyss.

"Help me," I whispered. "I don't know how to come back to you."

Maara moved closer and took my hands between both of hers.

"You're exhausted," she said. "Sleep a while. When you wake, the world will change."

She slipped her arm around my shoulders and laid me down, so that my head rested in her lap. She caressed my back in a way she knew would calm me.

"Forgive me," I whispered.

"Hush," she said. "I understand."

How could she understand when I didn't understand myself?

As if she'd heard my thoughts she said, "Have you forgotten that I too was once in thrall?"

"But not this time."

"No," she said. "Not this time. This time I had a shield against her."

"A shield? What shield?"

"You."

Had I not had the same shield?

"Then I have no excuse for my defeat," I said.

"When this day is over," she replied, "we shall see who is defeated."

I woke in the afternoon with no memory of having fallen asleep. I was lying on the soft grass with Finn sitting beside me. Maara was gone. I sat up and looked around, fearing for a moment that her presence had been just a dream, until Finn said, "She'll be back soon."

"Where did she go?"

He nodded toward Elen's camp. What could await her there but danger? Had I found her only to lose her again?

I started to get up, but Finn said, "Wait with me."

"I need to find her."

He shook his head. "She told me to keep you out of trouble." Then he saw my fear for her. "She hasn't gone down there to fight. They have need of an interpreter."

I sat back down and tried to clear my mind of the confusion of sleep.

"Tell me what's been happening," I said.

"Well," he said, "you slept through the entire battle, though it didn't amount to much. Once they saw they would be overwhelmed, most of the warriors of the mighty threw down their swords. A few are holding out, it seems. Elen's personal guard, and some others. They have taken a stand behind the wagons that barricade the tents, where Elen and her captains ought to be preparing to negotiate the terms of their surrender."

"Ought to be?"

"She's in no hurry. She may believe she can still maneuver."

Remembering Elen's power, I said, "She may well succeed."

He shrugged. "We'll see."

I got up and went to stand on the crest of the hill, to have a better look at Elen's camp. The fog had lifted. Men were sitting around their campfires, much as they had been the day before. The warriors of the common folk had returned to their places. This time they were not Elen's men, but Bru's. Behind the wagons, warriors in battle gear stood ready to fend off an attack, but no one threatened them. Bru had set out only a few pickets, to give the alarm if Elen's guard left their enclosure. He seemed prepared to wait them out.

I saw below me too the evidence of murder, the corpses of the men who still lay as they had fallen within the king's encampment. This was an easy battlefield to read. Believing themselves safe among friends, few wore any armor. Many were unarmed. Most were bunched where the boggy ground had hindered their retreat, where they had been trapped and slaughtered.

Behind me the warriors of the northern army commanded the hilltop, though they were no longer arrayed for battle. They sat in groups, talking quietly among themselves and sharing what rations they had, or lay in the grass asleep.

I turned back to Finn. "I'm going down there," I told him. "Will you come with me?"

"I suppose I can't persuade you to wait until you're sent for?"

I shook my head.

"Then let's take these folks down with us and give them something to eat. I imagine Bru has more to do right now than send someone up to fetch them."

With difficulty we woke the sleepers, but they all came gladly enough, once we pointed toward the encampment and made the signs for eating. Trailing half the northern army along behind us, Finn and I made our way down the hill. When we reached the camp, Finn saw to it that the northern warriors were welcomed properly and given what hospitality was to be had, while I went to find Bru.

Bru had established a meeting ground where the warriors of the mighty had been encamped. Around a central fire the northern chieftains sat, along with many of the men I had met the day before, Bru's kinsmen, and with them Bru himself, as well as several others I didn't know. They were engrossed in earnest conversation, and at first they didn't see me.

I knelt down behind Bru and tugged at his sleeve.

"Aha," he said. "I was about to send for you. We have a difficulty, and I don't know how to untangle it."

"Where is Maara?" I asked him.

He gestured at the wagons. I didn't see her there at first. I saw only three men who stood talking quietly together. One I recognized by his size and by his shield, which he had slung over his shoulder. On it was a black bear. Then I caught a glimpse of someone in their midst, and from her clothing I knew it must be Maara.

Bru saw my alarm. "Don't worry," he said. "She's perfectly safe."

"Safe? She's surrounded by the enemy!"

"Not quite," he said. "That big fellow there won't let her come to harm."

"But he's one of Elen's captains."

"Yes," said Bru, "and he's also a distant cousin of mine." Bru frowned. "He's in a difficult position. He took an oath to serve the queen, so he won't take up arms against her, but he won't serve her by opposing me. He thinks he can induce her to surrender. I doubt it, but what have we to lose by allowing him to try?"

The bear shield chieftain moved again between Maara and me, cutting off my sight of her. I turned back to Bru.

"What will you do with Elen if she surrenders?" I asked.

"Therein lies our difficulty," he said. "The king demands blood for blood."

"The king?"

Bru pointed at a small, light-haired man who sat not far from us staring into the fire. His left arm and shoulder were bandaged, but it was not the pain of his wounds I saw in his eyes. Although he appeared harmless enough, two of Bru's men sat behind him, charged with watching him. His beardless face looked very young.

"He demanded also Maara's blood," said Bru, "but that is, of course, out of the question. As he is a defeated man, he must accept our terms. But what to do with the queen is a question that concerns all of us."

I nodded.

"You have a strong voice in this," he said. "Perhaps the strongest voice of all."

"Me? Why?"

Bru smiled. "When will you understand? The world has changed, and you are the pivot point. I wield only the power of my sword and of my friends. You wield the power of the unseen hand, the hand that moves the destinies of men."

I laughed. "Finn must have been telling you his stories," I said.

But Bru was not about to make a joke of it.

"I have sense enough to understand a story that tells itself before my eyes," he said. "This day will change the course of many lives, and what we do here will echo down the generations. I must be as sure as I can be that I make no mistakes."