The Black Cauldron (11 page)

The Black Cauldron

“FAREWELL, MY OWLETS,“ Orddu said, turning toward the cottage. ”Unfortunate you couldn't strike a bargain with us. But that, too, is the way things are. Flutter home to your nest, and give all our love to little Dallben.“ ”Wait!" Taran called, and strode after her. Eilonwy, realizing his intent, cried out in protest and caught his arm. Gently, Taran put her aside. Orddu stopped and looked back at him.

“There is--- there is one thing more,” Taran said in a low voice. He stiffened and took a deep breath. “The brooch I wear, the gift of Adaon Son of Taliesin.”

“Brooch?” said Orddu, eyeing him curiously. “A brooch, indeed? Yes, that might be more interesting. Just the thing, perhaps. You should have mentioned it sooner.”

Taran lifted his head and his eyes met Orddu's. For that instant it seemed to him they were quite alone. He raised his hand slowly to his throat and felt the power of the brooch working within him.

“You have been toying with us, Orddu,” he whispered. “You saw that I wore Adaon's clasp from the moment we came here. You knew it for what it was.”

“Does that matter?” Orddu replied. “It is still your choice, whether you will bargain with it. Yes, we know the brooch well. Menwy Son of Teirgwaedd, first of the bards, fashioned it long ago.”

“You could have slain us,” Taran murmured, “and taken the clasp.”

Orddu smiled sadly. "Do you not understand, poor chicken? Like knowledge, truth, and love themselves, the clasp must be given willingly or its power is broken. And it is, indeed, filled with power. This, too, you must understand. For Menwy the bard cast a mighty spell on it and filled it with dreams, wisdom, and vision. With such a clasp, a duckling could win much glory and honor. Who can tell? He might rival all the heroes of Prydain, even Gwydion Prince of Don.

“Think carefully, duckling,” Orddu said. “Once given up, it shall not come to you again. Will you exchange it for an evil cauldron you intend only to destroy?”

As he held the brooch, Taran recalled with bitter clarity the joys of sight and scent, of dewdrops on a spider web, his rescue of the companions from the rock fall, of Gurgi praising his wisdom, the admiring eyes of Eilonwy, and Adaon who had entrusted the brooch to him. Once more there came to him the pride of strength and knowledge. At his feet, the ugly cauldron seemed to mock him.

Taran nodded, barely able to speak. “Yes,” he said heavily. “This shall be my bargain.” Slowly he undid the clasp at his throat. As he dropped the bit of iron into Orddu's outstretched hand, it was as though a light flickered and died in his heart, and he nearly cried out with the anguish of it.

“Done, my chicken!” Orddu cried. “The brooch for the Crochan!”

About him the companions stood in silence and dismay. Taran's hands clenched. “The Crochan is ours,” he said, looking Orddu full in the face. “Is this not so? It is ours, to do with as we please?”

“Why, of course, dear fledgling,” Orddu said. “We never break a bargain. It's yours entirely, no question of it.”

“In your stables,” Taran said, “I saw hammers and iron bars. Will you grant us the use of them? Or,” he added bitterly, “must we pay still another price?”

“Use them by all means,” replied Orddu. “We'll count that as part of the bargain, for you are a bold chicken, we must admit.”

Taran led the companions to the stable and there he paused. “I understand what you were all trying to do,” he said quietly, taking their hands in turn. “Each of you would have given up what you treasured most, for my sake. I'm glad Orddu didn't take your harp, Fflewddur,” he added. "I know how unhappy you'd be without your music, even more than I without my brooch. And Gurgi, you should never have tried to sacrifice your food on my account. And Eilonwy, your ring and your bauble are much too useful and beautiful to exchange for an ugly Crochan.

“All of these things,” Taran said, “are doubly precious now. And so are you, the best of true comrades.” He seized a heavy hammer that was leaning against the wall. “Come now, friends, we have a task to finish.”

Armed with iron bars and sledges, the companions hurried back to the cottage and, while the enchantresses looked on curiously, Taran raised his hammer. With all his strength he brought it down on the Crochan.

The hammer rebounded. The cauldron rang like a deep bell of doom, but remained undented. With a cry of anger, Taran struck again. The bard and Eilonwy added a fury of blows, while Gurgi belabored the cauldron with an iron bar.

Despite their efforts, the cauldron showed not the slightest damage. Drenched and exhausted, Taran leaned on his hammer and wiped his streaming face.

“You should have told us, my goslings, what you intended,” Orddu called. “You can't do that to the Crochan, you know.”

“The cauldron belongs to us,” retorted Eilonwy. “Taran has paid more than enough. It's our business if we want to smash it!”

“Naturally,” replied Orddu, “and you're quite welcome to hammer and kick it from now until the birds start nesting again. But, my silly goslings, you'll never destroy the Crochan that way. Goodness no, you're going at it all wrong!”

Gurgi, about to crawl inside the Crochan and attack it from within, stopped to listen while Orddu continued.

“Since the Crochan is yours,” she said, “you're entitled to know how to dispose of it. There's only one way, though very simple and neat it is.”

“Then tell us!” Taran cried. “So that we may put an end to the evil thing!”

“A living person must climb into it,” Orddu said. “When he does, the Crochan will shatter. But,” she added, “there's only one disagreeable thing about that, the poor duckling who climbs in will never climb out again alive.”

With a yelp of terror, Gurgi sprang from the cauldron and scuttled to a safe distance, where he furiously brandished his iron bar and shook his fist at the Crochan.

“Yes,” said Orddu with a smile, "that's the way of it. The Crochan only cost you a brooch, but it will cost a life to destroy it. Not only that, but whoever gives up his life to the Crochan must give it willingly, knowing full well what he does.

“And now, my chickens,” she went on, “we must really say farewell. Orgoch is dreadfully sleepy. You had us up so early, you know. Farewell, farewell.” She waved a hand and, with the other enchantresses, turned to enter the cottage.

“Stop!” Taran shouted. “Tell us, is there no other way?” He ran to the doorway.

Orddu's head popped out for an instant. “None whatever, my chicken,” she said, and for the first time there was a hint of pity in her voice.

The door snapped shut in Taran's face. He pounded in vain; no further reply came from the enchantresses, and even the window suddenly darkened with an impenetrable black fog.

“When Orddu and her friends say farewell,” remarked the bard, “they mean it. I doubt we shall see them again.” He brightened. “And that's the most cheerful piece of news I've had this morning.”

Taran wearily dropped his hammer to the ground. “Surely there must be something else we can do. Though we cannot destroy the Crochan, we dare not part with it.”

“Hide it,” suggested Fflewddur. “Bury it. And I should say, as soon as possible. You can be quite certain we won't find anyone eager to jump into the thing and break it for us.”

Taran shook his head. “No, we cannot hide it. Sooner or later Arawn would find it, and all our efforts would have been useless. Dallben will know,” he went on. “He alone has the wisdom to deal with the cauldron. Gwydion himself planned to bring the Crochan to Caer Dallben. Now that must be our task.”

Fflewddur nodded. “I suppose that's the only safe thing. But it's a cumbersome beast. I don't see the four of us lugging it along some of those mountain trails.”

In front of the silent cottage, the companions led out Lluagor and Melynlas and lashed the cauldron between the two steeds. Gurgi and Eilonwy guided the heavily laden horses, while Taran and the bard walked, one in front, one behind, to steady the Crochan.

Though eager to be gone from Orddu's cottage, Taran did not dare venture across the Marshes of Morva again. Instead, he determined the companions would travel some distance from the edges of the swamp, keeping to solid ground and following a path half-circling the bog until they reached the moors.

It's longer,“ Taran said, ”but the Marshes are too treacherous. Last time, Adaon's brooch guided me. Now,“ he added with a sigh, ”I'm afraid I'd lead us to the same fate as the Huntsmen."

“That's rather a good idea!” cried the bard. “Not for us,” he added quickly, “for the Crochan. Sink the beastly pot in the quicksand!”

“No thank you!” answered Eilonwy. “By the time we found quicksand, we'd be sinking along with the Crochan. If you're tired, we can change off and you lead Melynlas.”

“Not at all, not at all,” grunted Fflewddur. “It's not as heavy as all that. In fact, I find the exercise bracing, quite invigorating. A Fflam never flags!”

At this, a harp string broke, but the bard gave it no heed, busy as he was in holding his side of the swaying cauldron.

Taran trudged in silence, speaking only to call directions to Eilonwy and Gurgi. They continued with few moments of rest throughout the day. Nevertheless by sunset Taran realized they had covered only a little distance and had barely reached the broad moorlands. He was aware, too, of his own fatigue, heavy as the Crochan itself, a weariness he had never noticed while he had worn Adaon's brooch.

They camped on an open heath, cold and barren, shrouded with mist drifting from the Marshes of Morva. There they unroped the Crochan from the tired horses and Gurgi brought out food from the wallet. After the meal, Fflewddur's spirits revived. Although shivering in the chill and dampness, the bard put his harp to his shoulder and attempted to cheer the companions with a merry song.

Taran, usually eager to listen to the bard's music, sat apart, gloomily watching the cauldron. After a time Eilonwy drew near and put her hand on his shoulder.

“I realize it's no consolation to you,” she said, "but if you look at it in one way, you didn't give up a thing to the enchantresses, not really. You did exchange the clasp and everything that went along with it. But, don't you see, all those things came from the clasp itself; they weren't inside of you.

“I think,” she added, “it would have been much worse giving up a summer day. That's part of you, I mean. I know I shouldn't want to give up a single one of mine. Or even a winter day, for the matter of that. So, when you come right down to it, Orddu didn't take anything from you; why, you're still yourself and you can't deny that!”

“Yes,” Taran answered. “I am still only an Assistant Pig Keeper. I should have known that anything else was too good to last.”

“That may be true,” said Eilonwy, “but as far as being an Assistant Pig-Keeper is concerned, I think you're a perfectly marvelous one. Believe me, there's no question in my mind you're the best Assistant Pig-Keeper in all Prydain. How many others there are, I'm sure I don't know, but that's beside the point. And I doubt a single one of them would have done what you did.”

“I could not have done otherwise,” Taran said, “not if we were to gain the cauldron. Orddu said they were interested in things as they are,” he went on. "I believe now they are concerned with things as they must be.

“Adaon knew there was a destiny laid on him,” Taran continued, turning to Eilonwy, his voice growing firmer, "and he did not turn from it, though it cost him his life.

“Very well,” he declared. “If there is a destiny laid on me, I shall face it. I hope only that I may face it as well as Adaon did his.”

“But don't forget,” added Eilonwy, “no matter what else happens, you won the cauldron for Gwydion and Dallben and all of us. That's one thing nobody can take away from you. Why, for that alone you have every reason to be proud.”

Taran nodded. “Yes, this much have I done.” He said no more and Eilonwy quietly left him there.

For long after the others had gone to sleep, Taran sat staring at the Crochan. He thought carefully over all Eilonwy had told him; his despair lightened a little and pride stirred within him. Soon the cauldron would be in Gwydion's hands and the long task ended. “This much have I done,” Taran repeated to himself, and new strength budded in his heart.

Nevertheless, as the wind moaned across the heath and the Crochan loomed before him like an iron shadow, he thought once again of the brooch, and he buried his face in his hands and wept.

The River

HIS NIGHT'S SLEEP refreshed Taran but little and hardly blunted the edge of his weariness. Nevertheless, at dawn he roused the companions and with much effort they began roping the Crochan to Lluagor and Melynlas. When they finished, Taran glanced around him uneasily. “There is no concealment for us on these moors,” he said. “I had hoped we might keep to the flatlands where our journey would be easier. But I fear that Arawn will have his gwythaints seeking the Crochan. Sooner or later they will find us, and here they could fall on us like hawks on chickens.”

“Please don't mention chickens,” said the bard with a sour grimace. “I had quite enough of that from Orddu.”

“Gurgi will protect kind master!” shouted Gurgi.

Taran smiled and put a hand on Gurgi's shoulder. “I know you'll do your best,” he said. “But all of us together are no match for even one gwythaint.” Taran shook his head. “No,” he said reluctantly, “I think we had better turn north to the Forest of Idris. It's the longest way around, but at least it would give us some cover.”

Eilonwy agreed. “It's not usually wise to go in the direction opposite to where you want to be,” she said. “But you can be sure I'd rather not fight gwythaints.”

“Lead on, then,” said Fflewddur. “A Fflam never falters! Though what my aching bones might do is another matter!”

Crossing the moorlands, the companions journeyed without difficulties, but once within the Forest of Idris the Crochan grew more burdensome. Although the trees and bushes offered concealment and protection, the paths were narrow. Lluagor and Melynlas stumbled often and, despite their most valiant efforts, they could barely drag the cauldron through the brush.

Taran called a halt. “Our horses have borne all they can,” he said, patting the lathered neck of Melynlas. “Now it is our turn to help them. I wish Doli were here.” He sighed. “I'm sure he'd find an easier way of carrying the Crochan. He'd think of something clever. Like making a sling out of branches and vines.”

“There!” cried Eilonwy. “You've just said it yourself! You're doing amazingly well without Adaon's brooch!”

With their swords Taran and the bard cut stout branches, while Eilonwy and Gurgi stripped vines from the tree trunks. Taran's spirits lifted when he saw the sling take shape according to his plan. The companions hoisted up the Crochan and set off again. But even with the sling, and all their strength, their progress was slow and painful.

“Oh, poor weary arms!” moaned Gurgi. “Oh, moilings and toilings! This evil pot is a cruel and wicked master to us all! Oh, sorrow! Fainting Gurgi will never leave Caer Dallben again unbidden!”

Taran gritted his teeth, as the rough branches bit into his shoulders. To him, too, it seemed as if the ugly, heavy cauldron had gained some strange life of its own. The Crochan, squat and blood-darkened, lurched behind him as he stumbled through the brush. It caught on jutting tree limbs, as though eagerly clutching them to itself. Often, at these sudden checks, the companions lost their footing and went sprawling. Then, laboriously, they were obliged to set the Crochan back in its sling once again. Though the weather was chill enough to turn their breath white, their clothing was drenched with sweat and nearly ripped to shreds by the grasping brambles.

The trees had begun to grow more dense, and the ground rose toward the comb of a hill. For Taran, the Crochan seemed to gain weight with every pace. Its leering, gaping mouth taunted him, and the cauldron dragged at his strength as he heaved and struggled along the ascending trail.

The companions had nearly reached the crest of the hill when one of the carrier branches snapped. The Crochan plunged to the ground and Taran fell headlong. Painfully picking himself up and rubbing his shoulder, he stared at the spiteful cauldron and shook his head.

“No use,” Taran gasped. “We'll never get it through the forest. No sense trying.”

“You sound like Gwystyl,” Eilonwy remarked. “If I didn't have my eyes open, I could barely tell the difference.”

“Gwystyl!” cried the bard, looking ruefully at his blistered hands. “I envy that fellow in his rabbit warren! Sometimes I think he had quite the right idea.”

“We are too few to carry such a burden,” Taran said hopelessly. “With another horse or another pair of hands there might be a chance. We are only deceiving ourselves if we think we can bring the Crochan to Caer Dallben.”

“That may be true,” Eilonwy sighed wearily. “But I don't know what else we can do, except keep on deceiving ourselves. And perhaps by that time we'll be home.”

Taran cut a new branch for the sling, but his heart was as heavy as the Crochan itself. And, as the companions wrestled their burden over the hill and descended into a deep valley, Taran nearly sank to the ground in despair. Before them, like a brown, menacing serpent, stretched a turbulent river.

Taran stared grimly at the choppy waters for a moment, then turned away. “There is a destiny laid on us that the Crochan shall never reach Caer Dallben.”

“Nonsense!” cried Eilonwy. “If you stop now, then you've given up Adaon's brooch for nothing! That's worse than putting a necklace on an owl and letting it fly away!”

“If I'm not mistaken,” said Fflewddur helpfully, “that must be the River Tevvyn. I've crossed it farther to the north, where it takes its source. Surprising, the bits of information you pick up as a wandering bard.”

“Alas, it does us no good, my friend,” Taran said, “unless we could turn north again and cross where the river is less wide.”

“Afraid that wouldn't answer,” said Fflewddur. “We'd have the mountains to go over, that way. If we're to cross at all, we shall have to do it here.”

“It seems a little shallower down that way,” said Eilonwy, pointing to a spot where the river curved around a sedge covered bank. “Very well, Taran of Caer Dallben,” she said, “what shall it be? We can't just sit here until gwythaints or something even more disagreeable find us, and we certainly can't go back to Orddu and offer to exchange the Crochan again.”

Taran took a deep breath. “If you are all willing,” he said, “we shall try to cross.”

SLOWLY, STRUGGLING

under the cruel weight, the companions brought the Crochan to the riverbank. While Gurgi, leading the horses, cautiously set one foot, then the other, into the stream, Taran and the bard shouldered the sling. Eilonwy followed beside them to steady the swaying cauldron. The icy water slashed at Taran's legs like a knife. He dug his heels into the river bed, seeking a firmer foothold. He plunged deeper; behind him, the straining, grunting Fflewddur did his best to avoid dropping his end of the sling. The chill of the river took Taran's breath away. His head spun, the branches nearly slipped from his numb fingers. For one moment of terror he felt himself falling. His foot found a rock and he braced himself on it. The vines creaked and tensed as the weight of the cauldron shifted. The companions were in midstream now and the water rose only to their waists. Taran raised his streaming face. The opposite bank was not far; the ground appeared smoother, the forest not as dense.

“Soon there!” he cried, taking heart anew. Gurgi, he saw, had already led the horses from the water and was turning back to help the toiling companions.

Closer to the bank the river bottom turned stony. Blindly, Taran picked his way through the treacherous rocks. Ahead rose a number of high boulders and he warily guided the Crochan past them. Gurgi was reaching out his hands when Taran heard a sharp cry from the bard. The cauldron lurched. With all his strength Taran heaved forward. Eilonwy seized the cauldron by its handle and tugged desperately. Taran flung himself to dry ground.

The Crochan rolled to its side and sank in the muddy shallows.

Taran turned back to help Fflewddur. The bard, who had fallen heavily against the boulders, was struggling to shore. His face was white with pain; his right arm hung uselessly at his side.

“Is it broken? Is it broken?” Fflewddur moaned as Taran and Eilonwy hurried to lead him up the bank.

“I'll be able to tell in a moment,” Taran said, helping the stumbling bard to sit down and prop his back against an alder. He opened Fflewddur's cloak, slit the sleeve of the jacket, and carefully examined the damaged arm. Taran saw quickly that the bard's fall had not only been severe but that one of the cauldron's legs had given him a deep gash in his side. “Yes,” Taran said gravely, “I'm afraid it is.”

At this the bard set up a loud lament and bowed his head. “Terrible, terrible,” he groaned. “A Fflam is always cheerful, but this is too much to bear.”

“It was a bad accident,” Eilonwy said, trying to hide her concern, “but you mustn't take on so. It can be fixed. We'll bind it up.”

“Useless!” cried Fflewddur in despair. “It will never be the same! Oh, it is the fault of that beastly Crochan! The wretched thing struck at me deliberately, I'm sure!”

“You'll be all right, I promise you,” Taran reassured the sorrowful bard. He tore several wide strips from his cloak. “Good as new in a little while,” he added. “Of course, you won't be able to move your arm until it's healed.”

“Arm?” cried Fflewddur. “It's not my arm that worries me! It's my harp!”

“Your harp is in a better state than you are,” said Eilonwy, taking the bard's instrument from his shoulder and putting it in his lap.

“Great Belin, but you gave me a shock!”

Fflewddur said, caressing the harp with his free hand. “Arms? Naturally, they heal themselves with no trouble at all. I've had a dozen broken--- yes, well, that is to say I snapped my wrist once during a little sword play--- in any case, I have two arms. But only one harp!” The bard heaved an immense sigh of relief. “Indeed, I feel better already.”

Despite Fflewddur's brave grin, Taran saw the bard was suffering more than he chose to admit. Quickly and gently Taran finished making a splint and winding the strips about it, then brought herbs from Lluagor's saddlebag. “Chew these,” he told Fflewddur. “They will ease your pain. And you'd better stay perfectly still for a while.”

“Lie still?” cried the bard. “Not now, of all times! We must fish that vile pot out of the river!”

Taran shook his head. “The three of us will try to raise it. With a broken arm even a Fflam wouldn't be much help.”

“By no means!” cried Fflewddur. “A Fflam is always helpful!” He struggled to raise himself from the ground, winced, and fell back again. Gasping with the pain of his exertion, he looked dolefully at his injury.

Taran uncoiled the ropes and, with Gurgi and Eilonwy following, made his way to the shallows. The Crochan lay half submerged in the water. The current eddied around its gaping mouth and the cauldron seemed to be muttering defiance. The sling, Taran saw, was undamaged, but the cauldron was caught firmly between the boulders. He looped a rope and cast it over a jutting leg, directing Gurgi and Eilonwy to pull when he signaled.

He waded into the river, bent, and tried to thrust his shoulder under the cauldron. Gurgi and Eilonwy hauled with all their strength. The Crochan did not move.

Soaked to the skin, his hands numb, Taran wrestled vainly with the cauldron. Breathless, he staggered back to shore where he attached ropes to Lluagor and Melynlas.

Once again Taran returned to the icy stream. He shouted to Eilonwy, who led the horses away from the river. The ropes tightened; the steeds labored; Taran heaved and tugged at the immovable cauldron. The bard had managed to regain his feet and lent what effort he could. Gurgi and Eilonwy took their places in the water beside Taran, but the Crochan resisted the force of all their muscles.

In despair Taran signaled for them to stop. Heavy-hearted, the companions returned to shore.

“We shall camp here for the rest of the day,” Taran said. “Tomorrow, when we have our strength back, we can try again. There may be some other way of getting it out, I don't know. It is tightly wedged and everything we do seems to make it worse.”

He looked toward the river, where the cauldron crouched like a glowering beast of prey.

“It is a thing of evil,” Taran said, “and has brought nothing but evil. Now, at the last, I fear it has defeated us.”

He turned away. Behind him the bushes rustled. Taran spun around, his hand on his sword.

A figure stepped from the edge of the forest.