Read Online Challenge of the clans by Kenneth C Flint - Free Book Online Page B

Their image grew larger, as if they moved toward her. Soon their faces became clear. She saw the man who led them, saw the patch upon his eye. She understood what her vision meant.
    The vision faded back into the red glow. Her wits not slowed by age, Bodhmall was quick to react. She turned toward Finn. Noting her abrupt move, he looked up at her.
    "Bodhmall, what is it?"
    "You have left the woods," she said bluntly.
    He was stricken. He should have known she would find out. He colored with shame as he blurted out the truth. "I wandered to the edge. I saw a rath. I—I met some boys." His voice was anguished. "Bodhmall, I only meant to play with them. I would have told you, but—"
    She leaned forward and laid a hand upon his arm. Her voice was unusually soothing. "Demna, it is all right. I expected that this would happen."
    His anguish turned to bewilderment. "Expected?" he repeated.
    "Of course, lad. When I gave you the fi-eedom to roam, I knew that one day your own courage and your need to know the outside world would draw you out in spite of my warnings. And I knew that on that day you would be ready."
    "Ready for what?" he asked.
    "To do what you were meant to do," she answered with force. "To enter the world. To ready yourself to take your father's place."
    Entering the world outside Slieve Bladhma had been his dream since hearing his first tales of it. Since his brief adventure into it, it had filled his mind constantly. Now the time he had waited for had come.
    "You must go out and learn wliat we could not teach you here," she went on. "You must gain the skills to become a warrior and a man of the Fianna. Only then can you hope to become the leader of the Baiscne clan, as is your right."

    she rose and moved away, leaving him staring in a rather bewildered way as he tried to come to terms with this tremendous happening. She crossed the room to a large wicker basket and rummaged in its depths. She pulled forth some items and came back to him.
    "It will be very dangerous," she told him. "The sons of Morna will hunt you. They cannot let you live. Here." She handed him a linen tunic and a heavy woolen cape. "These are the clothes of a common warrior. No one must know who you are until you are ready to act. Now, gather some food. You must leave here at once."
    "Tonight?" he said in consternation, looking out into the rain-filled blackness.
    "No, Bodhmall!" protested a stunned Liath. "You can't send him away like this!"
    "There's little choice," the gaunt woman snapped. "I have seen the sons of Morna. Demna's journey outside the glens has led them to him. They are searching Slieve Bladhma now."
    Liath knew there could be no argument with this. "My poor Finn!" she cried in anguish. Her head dropped forward and she began to sob brokenly.
    Finn went quickly to her, kneeling beside her and hugging her close. Then her grief brought home to him the full meaning of what was occurring. He looked up at the sober-faced Bodhmall.
    "But what about you?" he asked. "How can I leave you?"
    "There is nothing else that you can do," Bodhmall told him firmly. "With you gone, we are just two harmless old women Hving alone. We will be safe."
    Finn knew fi-om long experience that when Bodhmall had made her decision, there was no shifting her.
    "All right," he agreed reluctantly. "But leaving you will be the hardest thing I have ever done. I've been with you all my life. I don't know what I'll do without you."
    "Yes, you do!" she answered fiercely. "Everything I have taught you was to this end. I've forged and hammered you into a sword of iron. Now you must

    hone its blade to a killing edge! Now make ready to go, and quickly. There's little time."
    Swiftly he changed into the clothes Bodhmall had given him. He belted a sheath about his waist and slipped the old knife into it. Liath and Bodhmall gathered food and filled a leather bag. Finn slung this over his shoulder and took up his two hunting spears.
    "I'm ready," he said.
    "The hunt is coming