Elf Killers (18 page)

"I've not once heard them since we've been out here in the Strah."

"I have, but it was right near the edge of the Maidenhair Woods when we were on our way back to the camp for tools. Then on one of the trips back to the woods for timber, we found where a strike falcon had killed one of them. He was a strike falcon kill, no question, and he was easily the biggest wolf I've ever seen. He was a fresh kill. He'd been dead only long enough to get dew in his fur. He had deep slashes all over, particularly his shoulders, and his throat and his belly were ripped out. It was the only strike falcon kill I've ever seen where it didn't look like they'd eaten any of it."

There they sat for a time, listening to the crickets and looking at the very first stars. When at last Kieran spoke, it startled Doona, and her heart filled with sadness.

"I reckon you know that they've decided for a dance?" he said, peering into her face as the wolves howled again, far away and wee. "They're having it right after Great-Grandma's kitchen roof is up."

"Yes," she said, avoiding his eyes. "Everyone's all excited. It's been so long since we've had anything to celebrate. A few people did want to hold off until all the houses were done, but everyone else kept saying, 'Vorona's kitchen.'"

"Yeap, that's what my folks said. So, I reckon you've already been asked to the dance, aye?"

Doona took a deep breath and turned to look him in the eyes. "No, Kieran, I haven't been asked to the dance yet."

At once he was fairly bouncing with glee, utterly unable to hide his grin in the dark.

"Kieran," she heard herself say as she put her finger to his lips to quiet him. "If you're about to ask me to the dance, please don't."

"But you just said that no one's asked you. Oh, I see. You're waiting for Oisin to ask you, aren't you? And you can't say yes if you've already agreed to go with me."

"I'm not going to go to the dance with Oisin, Kieran."

"Then I don't get it, Doona. If you're not waiting for Oisin to ask you, then why aren't you going with me? Oh, I see. You want to be with both of us, so you can't say yes to either one of us, right?"

"Oh Kieran. Why does this have to be so awful? Please just stay quiet and listen. You and I and Olloo have grown up together, and we've always been friends. I don't ever want that to change, but I know that it's about to..."

"Doona, it wouldn't be that different for the three of us, if you and I..."

"Stop! And let me finish. Please."

Kieran fell silent.

"Kieran, you're a wonderful friend. You're more like family, like another brother, really. But what you don't see is where it stops. You just don't seem to get it. I am not in love with you and it tears me apart knowing that telling you this will change your feelings about me forever, but it would be plain cruel for me to let you think that there could ever be anything more than friendship between us. I'm so sorry it's come to this..." she said as a tear ran to her chin in the dark.

"It's because of Oisin, though, isn't it? You're in love with him. He's stolen your heart away from me..."

"No Kieran. Haven't you been listening? Oisin hasn't stolen my heart away from you because I've never been in love with you in the first place. And right now, I care for you every bit as much as I ever have."

"I see. I think we had better climb Carraig Faire before your folks send someone down here to see what's keeping us." At once he was on his feet, quickly walking along the tops of the broad walls to the back of the house where the wall was lowest before leaping to the ground.

"Kieran?" said Doona. "Are you going to help me down?"

Kieran hesitated.

"I guess it's too late for strike falcons, but how do you suppose it would look if you got back there without me?"

Kieran darkly turned on his heel and came back to help her down before seeing her the entire way back to the sandstone shelf, a step ahead of her.

"Ah! You're back," said Brenden with a smile as he set down his bow and lyra. "Why don't you ones have a seat and I'll play a tune or two before we sleep?"

"Thanks Brenden," said Kieran, avoiding his eyes, "but I really have to be going. How about another time?"

"Any time," said Brenden. "You're always welcome."

Kieran nodded and vanished without another word.

"My word!" said Brenden. "What did you do to him, Doona?"

"Shut..." said Onora between her teeth as she smacked his shoulder, "your mouth!" She kissed him at once and held her finger to her lips, shaking her head.

Doona was up and dressed well before anyone else. The sky was taking on the faintest twinge of purple as she scrawled "apothecary" on a piece of slate and laid it upon her bedding. She knelt beside the slate and hurriedly braided her hair before at last tiptoeing away into the darkness. A sleepy field sparrow sang a piece of song as she slid to the ground at the foot of Carraig Faire and hurried along the meandering path in the dew. Even though they had no more of the roof up than the purlins on one side, she, Oisin and Edard were already doing some work there. Today would be a very good day to get an early start, catching up with preparing salves and tinctures, and she would be there long before Oisin and Edard. Best of all, she could avoid her family and be doing something to take her mind off the horrible way she still felt.

Baase tugged at Olloo's blanket and flashed him a mind picture of a nice plump rabbit. Olloo crawled to the basin, splashed his face and tied back his hair. "Ow, you little cac!" he said as Baase pinched and twisted at his bare toes and showed him the image of another rabbit. “It isn’t even daylight yet.”

Baase responded by continuing to pinch and twist all the while Olloo struggled to put on his clothes, socks and boots. Olloo gathered up his bow and quiver and started to tiptoe away.

“Good morning Olloo,” said Onora. “We didn’t think you'd be up this early. I’ll have breakfast started directly if you’d do me a favor and wake Doona.”

“Sure. I’ll wake her, but I was just on my way down the rock with Baase so he could bag a rabbit for his breakfast. He seems extra hungry this morning. In fact, I’d be asleep if he hadn’t awakened me. If you want to wait, I'll be back with a fresh brace of rabbit, maybe." He walked over to Doona's blankets and picked up her slate. "Here," he said, handing her the slate. "She's already gone." 

The sun was just peeking over the horizon when Oisin stepped into the apothecary. “Good morning Doona,” he said with a smile. “I never expected to see you here, but it has certainly made my day.”

“And you’ve just made mine,” she said, returning his smile with a blush.

“Well then, let me get my apron and I’ll help you with those tinctures.”

Doona nodded and forced herself to look at her work instead of staring agape at the love of her life. Besides, she certainly didn’t want him to think her too forward, after all.

"Well," he said as he tied his apron, "hawthorn, aye? Shall I pour it while you hold the funnel?"

She gave a quick nod. Of course she would hold the funnel. It was just the keeping of her mind on it that was going to be the hard part.

“I've always thought we work together well," he said, as she moved her funnel to the next bottle. "When we finish stoppering, wiring and dipping them, rack them if you would, and I'll fix us a nice pot o' tea. I got some nice blue maidenhair leaves when we went through Vorona's Gap. They're from a tree I never picked before and they're particularly lively. Too bad we don't have milk." 

"Love to," she said.

Soon they were having tea. After a moment when neither of them could think of anything to say, Oisin blurted out, “Would you go with me to the celebration dance?”

Doona set down her cup with a soft rattle and smiled in spite of biting her lip as she shook her head. “Oh Oisin. There’s no one I’d rather go with, but I can’t accept your invitation. I'm truly sorry.”

“Kieran got to you first, didn’t he?”

“Well, he did,” she said, hurrying to add, “but I told him no.”

Oisin frowned. “Who then?”

“No one. I can’t go to this dance with anyone. I’ll be there, though, and I certainly hope you'll ask me to dance. In fact, I hope you’ll be asking to see me over and again.”

“Well, certainly. You can count on that,” he said, though he still looked disappointed.

"Oisin, I’m not toying with your affections. I was forced to turn down your invitation.”

“Of course," he stammered. "I knew there had to be something. You just mean a lot to me Doona and I was hoping...”

“That makes me very happy, Oisin," she said, reaching out to take up his hand, "because I’ve been hoping too. Now, before you say anything more let me explain...”

"No Doona. If you say you have a good reason for turning me down for the dance, then that's good enough for me.”

"I know. I want to tell you anyway. Last night when I turned down Kieran’s invitation, I made it plain to him that I could never be in love with him, and I also really hurt him. And I think it's 'way too soon to go dancing in front of the neighbors, waving about my rejection of him by showing off your invitation instead. Do you understand?”

“But you'll go with me to the Shamhna dance, won’t you?”

Doona nodded, her eyes lit with pure joy.

Chapter 13

A bluestem basket in the next room fell from atop a stack of things, smashing one of its clay jugs against the other. Vorona's eyes flew open.
"
Damn!
"
she thought as she lay on her back scarcely breathing, studying the growing blue of the sky between the trusses of her unfinished kitchen roof.
"
No way that's a stinking troll, but there's no other way to treat the curse, either.
"
She grew from her bedclothes in absolute silence, stepped through her bow and strung it. She took three arrows from her quiver and nocked one of them.
"
One good thing about oversleeping,
"
she thought as she stepped around her kettle,
"
at least I can see.
"
Something else fell over in the next room. Slowly, slowly she crept along the wall toward the doorway between the rooms. There was another crash. She drew a deep breath, and like a fluttering ghost in her white gown, took one lunging step into the middle of the doorway with her bow drawn.

"Do you want me to go down to the apothecary and get Doona?" said Olloo. "You'll need to keep an eye on Baase for me though. He's getting too big to haul down the rock twice in a row, particularly when he wants to be hunting."

"There's not much point," said Brendan. "I'd allow that she's too busy."

"So what's going on with her? Did she break Kieran's heart last night?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, Kieran couldn't wait to leave after he got back here with her last night. He just brought her up here and vanished. I'd think that if he had managed to ask her to the dance, he'd have been hard to get rid of, if anything."

"Well, you didn't miss anything."

"Was I supposed to?"

"Not really," said Brenden, "but she needs to feel like she's had some privacy for all this. It would only be thoughtful if we gave her the time to tell us what happened last night in her own way. And last night she didn't look very ready."

"Yea, I saw that, too," said Olloo. "I think I'll go see how Kieran's doing. He really thought that he and Doona would be together someday, don't you know?"

"We thought that's how it was," said Brenden, "and I'm sorry that Kieran had to be hurt, but you know Olloo, sometimes the people we fall in love with have no way of feeling the same way about us."

"It sure would've been easier for everyone if he hadn't."

"Undoubtedly, but I hope you're not upset with your sister for turning him away."

"Nay, I wouldn't do that. I know Doona's not to blame and neither is Kieran. It's just how things are."

"Well, another way things are is, if you run off, I'll be eating your breakfast and Doona's breakfast as well as my breakfast."

"Grandma," cried Kieran, throwing up his hands. "It's me! Don't shoot!"

"Well I might be doing myself a favor if I did," she said as she let down her bow. "And just what's the meaning of your tramping around in my crockery at this hour?"

"I just needed to get off the rock before Mom and Dad got up and I couldn't think of any place else to go but here. I'll leave if you want."

"Ye would, aye? Well, ye don't have to. I've got what must be the only three eggs laid by those old hens they brought back in a coop from the camp. You can eat two of them and I'll eat one, but you'll have to get a fire going in the fireplace."