Dublin (14 page)

  Some, who knew of Conall's desire to be a druid and his distaste for such ventures, saw deeper.

  Even the favourite nephew must bow his head under the royal yoke. "The king is right, though," these murmured. "It had to be done."

  The High King glanced across to where poor Conall was standing. His nephew looked shocked. No doubt Larine had told the young man of his promise to consult him before taking such a decision. Well, that was too bad. It would be a lesson to Larine and his nephew. Kings use princes: they should both know that.

  Besides, his uncle considered, the young man seemed so uncertain what he really wanted that by sending him out like this he might be doing the boy a favour. Then he looked at his wife. She was beaming at him, as he had hoped and expected. She had got her way. He smiled back at her.

  There was some surprise, a little while later, when he rose again to speak. Perhaps someone was to be honoured.

  They listened politely.

  "I have a further announcement to make. A happy one." He looked round them slowly so that they knew clearly that happiness was a requirement.

  "As you know, I have been fortunate indeed to have the company of my lovely wife for many years." He inclined his head towards her, and there was a murmur of not entirely heartfelt assent. "However," he continued, "it is the custom amongst us, from time to time, to take an extra wife." A deathly hush fell now. "And so I have decided, in addition to my dear wife, to marry again."

  There was a gasp. All eyes turned on the queen, who looked stunned, as if she'd been hit by a rock. Husbands, who knew about her domineering ways, glanced at each other. Wives, some of them, were shocked. Yet not a few had suffered at the queen's hands at one time or another. And in just a moment or two, all round the hall, like mist condensing in droplets on the leaves of the trees, the communal thought was forming itself: she had it coming to her.

  But who was the bride? At a sign from the king, they now saw a tall figure step forward, with long moustaches, accompanied by a handsome girl who, until shortly before, had been serving the ale and mead. People looked at each other. What did this mean?

  "Deirdre, daughter of Fergus, son of

  Fergus, of Dubh Linn," announced the king. And smiling at Deirdre, he drew Fergus close and put his arm round the older man's shoulder so that the chief, who now looked as pleased as if he'd defeated an army single- handed, found himself held, by his kingly son-in-law, in a grip like a vice.

  It was Goibniu, while the company was still collecting its thoughts, who quickly rose to his feet and raising his beaker called out, "Long life, good health, to our king and to Deirdre." To which the company, having seen which way the wind was blowing, assented with a friendly roar.

  From under his bushy eyebrows the High King watched them all. He could have divorced the queen. Divorce was common and easy on the western island. But that would have offended her family, who were important, whereas by choosing an extra bride, he merely cut her down to size. The masterstroke lay in his choice.

  While any man on the island might take extra wives, a king had to be careful. Choose the daughter of one great chief and you offended all the others. You could have concubines, of course, but that was not his purpose. Marriage was a balance of power, whether you liked that fact or not. He had needed to undercut the queen and he had done it. The cleverness of the choice was that the girl was noble and looked a princess, but that her father was of no account at all.

  Lord of a marsh, a no-man's-land, a deserted ford.

  The prospective husband in Ulster would give no trouble. He would send one of his men to give the fellow a generous present. The Ulster man would understand: a High King took priority. As for Goibniu, the High King had already secretly compensated the cunning smith for his loss of a marriage fee late that afternoon. So everyone who needed to be was happy; except perhaps Conall and the girl.

  "The marriage feast will be tomorrow evening," he said.

  It was dark that night; the stars had hidden their faces behind the clouds. Not even a pinpoint of light was offered from above to help Deirdre as she groped her way through the blackness that, creeping close, seemed to pore over her, smothering in its attentions.

  Sometimes she felt the ox-hide flaps of the wagons and other temporary shelters that dotted the grounds; several times she disturbed sleeping bodies wrapped in their cloaks. She heard snores or other more intimate murmurs all around. Her father was back in the hall, lying contentedly in sleep along with fifty others. But she could not bear to remain there, and so she had left him, gone out past the dying torches, and begun to wander towards the place where their cart should contain her two younger brothers. It was strange that, in this moment of crisis, she should have sought out the comfort of their two, probably drunken bodies; but at least they were her family. For better or worse, that was something. One last be night with her family.

  And then? Marriage to the king. She didn't blame her father. There was nothing he could have done about it. She didn't even blame him for being so pleased. It was natural. And how could she tell him that, as she stood with him facing the king, she had felt nothing but a physical horror? It wasn't just that the High King could have been her father. Older men could be attractive. But his swarthy face with its bloodshot eyes, his thickening body, the hands which, to her, seemed like hideous hairy paws, all filled her with revulsion. Would she really have to offer her body to him the following night? Was this the only loving she was ever to know, year after year, until he died? Or she did? It had taken all the self-control she possessed, in front of that company, not to shudder openly. Even the man from Ulster, she had thought bitterly, would not have been so bad. He hadn't repelled her. She could probably have learned to love him.

  And Conall? What had he been planning to say to her in the morning? Had he decided, after waiting so long, to ask for her in marriage after all? The thought was so painful she could hardly bear it. Useless.

  Too late.

  It seemed to her now that, in the blackness ahead, she could just make out the shape of their cart. She moved forward cautiously. She reached it. Yes. She was sure this was the one. She listened for the I sound of her brothers" snores. She started to raise the leather flap at lie back.

  And froze, as a hand clamped onto her arm.

  "Out walking?" The voice was a low hiss. She gave a little gasp and tried to break free, but the grip on her arm was too strong. "I've been waiting for you." This time the voice was more like a growl.

  She still wasn't sure who it was who held her so fast. Only with the next words did she realise.

  "You think you can challenge me?"

  It was the queen.

  "No." She stammered it out. In her misery and fear she had forgotten about the queen. "This was no choice of mine," she said hoarsely.

  "Little fool." She could feel the queen's breath on her cheek. It smelt of ale, stale. "Do you think I shall let you live? Speak softly now. Do you?"

  "I…" Deirdre wanted to say something, but no words came.

  "Poison, drowning, an accident…" the terrible hiss went on. "Easy to arrange. If you marry the king, young lady, I can promise you, it's not a month you'll live. Do you understand?" The grip on her arm was now so tight it was all Deirdre could do not to cry out.

  "What can I do?" her whisper was almost a wail.

  "I will tell you." The queen's lips pressed against her ear. "Flee, young Deirdre. Flee for your life. Flee from Uisnech. Flee from Dubh Linn. Run to a place where no one can find you.

  Run tonight and never stop running. For if the king finds you he will bring you back; and if he does, I will have your life. Run."

  The grip was suddenly relaxed. There was a rustling sound; and then the queen was gone.

  Deirdre gasped for breath. She was shaking violently. She wanted to run, somewhere, anywhere, to a place of safety. It was no good going to her brothers or her sleeping father. She started to move, hurrying, tripping, almost running, she hardly knew where until in the darkness she found a path that seemed to lead somewhere. The path was rising. There was a sweet smell of long grasses. And then, above, a handful of stars burst through the clouds and she realised that she was climbing the Hill of Uisnech.

  Conall sat with his back against the big five-sided stone and stared blankly ahead from the top of Uisnech into the darkness. His mood was as black as the night.

  First that announcement about the cattle raid. It was the intent behind the thing which so enraged him. Instead of speaking with him beforehand as he had promised Larine, his uncle had made a public announcement that left Conall in an impossible position. Any argument would now be a defiance of the High King. His uncle had meant to outmanoeuvre him, use him, treat him with a cynical contempt. He hated him for it.

  But even this was nothing compared to the shock of the second announcement. Deirdre was gone. At this last moment, after the months of difficulty, of agonising, his love was suddenly impossible. She belonged to the High King. She was unobtainable.

  Clearly she didn't want his uncle. A glance at her face had told him that.

  As he had contemplated the terrible fact that she could never be his, Conall had experienced a new and intense emotion. It was as if his doubts had never been. Deirdre. He could hardly take his eyes from her. All the rest of that evening, whenever she was in the hall, he had found himself watching her every gesture.

  She, for her part, had never looked at him. How could she? Although once, when he had been turning away, he thought he had caught sight of her glancing in his direction. Would she still try to meet him at dawn?

  Probably not. What could they say? He was not sure. But even after he had left the banquet, the sense of her presence had stayed with him, like a shadow.

  And then, behind the stone, he heard a faint sound, and a I shadow came and sank to rest against the other side so that, had he wished, he could have reached his hand across to touch it; and next the shadow started softly weeping, before, in a voice he recognised, it murmured:

  "she will kill me." And then, realising who it was, and trying not to startle her, he whispered,

  "Deirdre."

  It was not long before he was holding her in his arms. Soon she had told him about her interview with the queen.

  "Tell me, Conall, what I should do," she cried. "How can I run, and where would I be running to, with the king looking for me, and myself all alone in the world?" Then, tearfully, "Is she really meaning to kill me? Tell me it is not true."

  But Conall was silent. For he knew the queen.

  So for some time they remained there, she trembling in his arms, while he, afraid for her, too, considered the impossibilities of his own life. Until at last he came to a decision. And as soon as he had made it, he felt a huge new warmth in his heart and a sense of exultation that seemed to him to fill his world with a visionary light. At last, he thought with relief, at last, he knew what he must do.

  "We'll run together," he said then, "if need be, to the end of the world."

  Finbarr waited nervously, while Fergus hesitated.

  "Well?" The High King fixed the man from Dubh Linn with an unyielding stare.

  The answer to the first question-Did he know anything of his daughter's plan to run away?-had been easy.

  He did not. Indeed, Fergus had been horrified, and the fact was obvious. But did he know that Conall was courting Deirdre? He decided honesty was the best policy.

  "It would have been a fine thing for me," he confessed,

  "but it was hard to tell if he was serious. He never came for her," he explained.

  They were all turning to Finbarr now: the king, the queen, the two chiefs who had been summoned to the banqueting hall that morning. So Finbarr did the only sensible thing. He told them what he knew of Conall's feelings, and how he himself had arranged for Deirdre to encounter Conall at the feast the day before. Bowing his head respectfully to the king-and trying not to look at the queen-he added: "I had no knowledge, then, of your interest in her." To his relief, the king accepted this with a brief nod.

  "It's clearly with Conall the girl's run away," the king concluded.

  Nobody spoke. Given the insult to his pride and authority, Finbarr considered, you had to admire the king's calmness. But the king was also looking thoughtful.

  "I am wondering," he said quietly, "if there may have been some other reason that caused them to run away." They all looked at each other.

  Nobody knew. The queen's face was impassive. Then she cut in.

  "What about that bull?"

  "Ah. The bull." The king glanced around. "Finbarr shall fetch it." He gave Finbarr a cold look.

  "Be sure you succeed," he added.

  Finbarr again bowed his head. The message was clear.

  The king accepted that he was not directly to blame and was even giving him a chance to distinguish himself. But if he failed to bring the king what he needed, he could expect an end to all favours.