Read Online The Dragon Bard (Dragon of the Island) by Mary Gillgannon - Free Book Online
Authors: Mary Gillgannon
Tags: Historical fiction
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one?”
Dessia struggled to form a response. Should she take credit for something that was not her doing? Would telling him she’d worked a spell make this man have a little more respect for her? She doubted it. It seemed nothing discouraged Bridei ap Maelgwn. What an insolent, aggravating man. To think he’d dared to lay hands on her. Held her against his body, tight as a lover’s embrace. She’d clearly felt his arousal, and she couldn’t seem to push the memory away.
“Perhaps the forces here don’t answer to your command,” he said, “but have their own purpose. If that’s so, then you must consider that whatever bewitchment surrounds this place allowed me to pass. Clearly, we were meant to meet here.” He smiled again, that mocking, bedeviling smile. “Perhaps this is a warning to you. A reminder that your defenses can be breached.”
She couldn’t keep the irritation from her voice. “You haven’t told me why you chose to come here. Why follow me? I thought things were settled between us. I told you my terms and you agreed. I need workmen to build the walls of Cahermara. That is the only capacity in which I’ll allow you to remain on my lands.”
“So you said. But that was before I followed you to this place. Before you realized I’m no ordinary man, to be set to breaking rocks all day. I didn’t speak of this before, in the hall where anyone might be listening, but I, too, know a little of sorcery.” His blue eyes glinted like those of a small boy sharing a secret. “Indeed, that’s the real reason I survived my entanglement with the slavers. One of them was going to kill me, but I called down a curse on him and his companions. A great storm arose, the high waves and fierce winds nearly swamping the boat.”
Dessia sniffed in disbelief. “If you called down a storm, how did you know the wind and waves wouldn’t send you to the bottom of the sea along with your captors?”
He smiled ruefully. “I had no way of being certain I would survive, but it seemed I had a better chance with the weather than with the slavers, who intended to slit my throat and throw me overboard. And as violent as it was, the storm didn’t last long. Only long enough to carry the vessel off course. Which is why I’m here. The sea gods brought me to the shores of your lands. Surely that means the deities wished for us to meet, that there’s some great purpose the two of us share.”
The conceit of this man! To imply he knew the will of the gods! Yet despite her resentment, Dessia couldn’t altogether suppress the shocking awareness that she’d begun to think the same thing. She recalled her reaction when she first saw Bridei, the sense she knew him somehow. Then there was the strange vision she’d had while talking to him in the hall. Even more unsettling was the fact that he’d surprised her here, in a place where she’d been so certain she would be left alone.
No one else had ever followed her to the lake. The people of her lands might enter the very edges of the woods for hunting, to gather firewood and to allow their livestock to forage, but as far as she knew, they never dared venture this deep into the Forest of Mist. This place was said to belong to the Ancient Ones, the fairy folk, and few were willing to risk an encounter with beings from the Otherworld.
Of course, this man didn’t know the old tales, which was why he wasn’t afraid to come here. But still, how had he gotten past the mist? She was used to it by now, and only experienced a brief moment of apprehension when the pale, formless vapor enveloped her. But for someone who’d never experienced the sensation of fumbling blindly in an unknown, sheet-white realm, it should have been terrifying enough to send him fleeing for his life.
But little seemed to trouble this man. He was so sure of himself, so maddening cool-headed and smug. Even now he watched her with that lazy smile, as if he didn’t care what she thought. Nothing seemed to
Dessia struggled to form a response. Should she take credit for something that was not her doing? Would telling him she’d worked a spell make this man have a little more respect for her? She doubted it. It seemed nothing discouraged Bridei ap Maelgwn. What an insolent, aggravating man. To think he’d dared to lay hands on her. Held her against his body, tight as a lover’s embrace. She’d clearly felt his arousal, and she couldn’t seem to push the memory away.
“Perhaps the forces here don’t answer to your command,” he said, “but have their own purpose. If that’s so, then you must consider that whatever bewitchment surrounds this place allowed me to pass. Clearly, we were meant to meet here.” He smiled again, that mocking, bedeviling smile. “Perhaps this is a warning to you. A reminder that your defenses can be breached.”
She couldn’t keep the irritation from her voice. “You haven’t told me why you chose to come here. Why follow me? I thought things were settled between us. I told you my terms and you agreed. I need workmen to build the walls of Cahermara. That is the only capacity in which I’ll allow you to remain on my lands.”
“So you said. But that was before I followed you to this place. Before you realized I’m no ordinary man, to be set to breaking rocks all day. I didn’t speak of this before, in the hall where anyone might be listening, but I, too, know a little of sorcery.” His blue eyes glinted like those of a small boy sharing a secret. “Indeed, that’s the real reason I survived my entanglement with the slavers. One of them was going to kill me, but I called down a curse on him and his companions. A great storm arose, the high waves and fierce winds nearly swamping the boat.”
Dessia sniffed in disbelief. “If you called down a storm, how did you know the wind and waves wouldn’t send you to the bottom of the sea along with your captors?”
He smiled ruefully. “I had no way of being certain I would survive, but it seemed I had a better chance with the weather than with the slavers, who intended to slit my throat and throw me overboard. And as violent as it was, the storm didn’t last long. Only long enough to carry the vessel off course. Which is why I’m here. The sea gods brought me to the shores of your lands. Surely that means the deities wished for us to meet, that there’s some great purpose the two of us share.”
The conceit of this man! To imply he knew the will of the gods! Yet despite her resentment, Dessia couldn’t altogether suppress the shocking awareness that she’d begun to think the same thing. She recalled her reaction when she first saw Bridei, the sense she knew him somehow. Then there was the strange vision she’d had while talking to him in the hall. Even more unsettling was the fact that he’d surprised her here, in a place where she’d been so certain she would be left alone.
No one else had ever followed her to the lake. The people of her lands might enter the very edges of the woods for hunting, to gather firewood and to allow their livestock to forage, but as far as she knew, they never dared venture this deep into the Forest of Mist. This place was said to belong to the Ancient Ones, the fairy folk, and few were willing to risk an encounter with beings from the Otherworld.
Of course, this man didn’t know the old tales, which was why he wasn’t afraid to come here. But still, how had he gotten past the mist? She was used to it by now, and only experienced a brief moment of apprehension when the pale, formless vapor enveloped her. But for someone who’d never experienced the sensation of fumbling blindly in an unknown, sheet-white realm, it should have been terrifying enough to send him fleeing for his life.
But little seemed to trouble this man. He was so sure of himself, so maddening cool-headed and smug. Even now he watched her with that lazy smile, as if he didn’t care what she thought. Nothing seemed to
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