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Authors: Morgan Llywelyn
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boats. Then suddenly he disappeared.”
My ability to feel returned in full measure. Agony shot through me. This latest disaster was one too many. If the son of Vercingetorix had drowned due to a bad decision of mine, my failure was complete.
Briga sneezed. “Labraid didn’t drown, Ainvar,” she said in her hoarse little voice. “I went after him.”
“But you can’t swim.”
“No,” she agreed.
My second wife took a step forward to get my attention. “Briga went out and Briga came back,” Lakutu said simply. “With Labraid.”
chapter V
“B RIGA WADED INTO THE SEA BEFORE WE COULD STOP HER,” THE Goban Saor elaborated. “I was sure they both would drown and tried to go after them myself, but Grannus and Teyrnon held me back.”
“We couldn’t afford to lose everybody,” Grannus said reasonably.
“Just so. Anyway, while we watched, Briga kept going in the direction where we had last seen Labraid. She went a long way out, Ainvar. Her feet could not possibly have been touching the bottom. Besides, the surf was very strong. When we saw the waves break over her, we thought we’d lost her, too. Then she reappeared holding Labraid. While we stood and stared like a tree full of owls, she returned to us. They both returned to us.”
This explained the texture of Briga’s hair. It was stiff with salt.
Grannus took up the story. “Sulis stretched Labraid out on the sand and pummeled him until he coughed up the water he’d swallowed. He’s all right now, though considerably quieter than he was yesterday, which is no bad thing. He’s asleep over there under my cloak.”
Fear snapped the thread of my temper. “Don’t ever do anything like that again!” I shouted at Briga.
She gave my arm a little pat. “Oh, Ainvar, a bit of water won’t hurt me.”
“We’re talking about the Great Sea!”
She just smiled at me.
Teyrnon thought he had seen Briga swimming, but his eyes were not young and sometimes deceived him. In Gaul, when we went bathing in the lake, Briga had always stayed in shallow water. When I offered to teach her to swim she demurred. “Why would I need to swim? I never go into deep water.”
Yet here she had gone into deep water.
Lakutu had a different version. My second wife said flatly, “The water parted and let Briga pass through.”
If this was true—and I had never known Lakutu to lie—it was magic of a very high order.
Briga laughed at the suggestion. “I didn’t work any magic, Ainvar, I wouldn’t know how. I just did what had to be done.”
“What, exactly, did you do?”
She pleated her forehead for a moment, then gave a Gaulish shrug of dismissal. “It all happened so fast, I don’t remember.”
Because she was Briga I chose to believe her. Had she been Onuava, I would have demanded a pinch of valuable salt first. My third wife liked to embroider the truth or even stretch it completely out of shape. When Onuava tugged at my arm with her own version of the incident, I did not bother to listen. Much later I would wish I had.
When I regained my composure, I related our encounter with Cohern and the deal we had struck, including the promise of sheep and cattle. “They’ll give us a small supply of food to begin with,” I said, “but Goulvan was right about one thing: This land is teeming with game. We’re in no danger of starving.”
The Goban Saor spoke up. “While you were gone, Ainvar, I did some exploring. The tales we heard are true in one respect. There’s gold in the streams flowing down from the mountains. I also found rocks containing iron and copper ore, so as soon as we get settled, Teyrnon and I will be able to forge metal. We even have an apprentice. Lakutu’s son, Glas, is interested in craftsmanship and he’s good with his hands.”
“As soon as you make some shears for me and Grannus builds a loom,” Damona chimed in, “I can weave the wool from our new sheep.”
Already my people were planning new
My ability to feel returned in full measure. Agony shot through me. This latest disaster was one too many. If the son of Vercingetorix had drowned due to a bad decision of mine, my failure was complete.
Briga sneezed. “Labraid didn’t drown, Ainvar,” she said in her hoarse little voice. “I went after him.”
“But you can’t swim.”
“No,” she agreed.
My second wife took a step forward to get my attention. “Briga went out and Briga came back,” Lakutu said simply. “With Labraid.”
chapter V
“B RIGA WADED INTO THE SEA BEFORE WE COULD STOP HER,” THE Goban Saor elaborated. “I was sure they both would drown and tried to go after them myself, but Grannus and Teyrnon held me back.”
“We couldn’t afford to lose everybody,” Grannus said reasonably.
“Just so. Anyway, while we watched, Briga kept going in the direction where we had last seen Labraid. She went a long way out, Ainvar. Her feet could not possibly have been touching the bottom. Besides, the surf was very strong. When we saw the waves break over her, we thought we’d lost her, too. Then she reappeared holding Labraid. While we stood and stared like a tree full of owls, she returned to us. They both returned to us.”
This explained the texture of Briga’s hair. It was stiff with salt.
Grannus took up the story. “Sulis stretched Labraid out on the sand and pummeled him until he coughed up the water he’d swallowed. He’s all right now, though considerably quieter than he was yesterday, which is no bad thing. He’s asleep over there under my cloak.”
Fear snapped the thread of my temper. “Don’t ever do anything like that again!” I shouted at Briga.
She gave my arm a little pat. “Oh, Ainvar, a bit of water won’t hurt me.”
“We’re talking about the Great Sea!”
She just smiled at me.
Teyrnon thought he had seen Briga swimming, but his eyes were not young and sometimes deceived him. In Gaul, when we went bathing in the lake, Briga had always stayed in shallow water. When I offered to teach her to swim she demurred. “Why would I need to swim? I never go into deep water.”
Yet here she had gone into deep water.
Lakutu had a different version. My second wife said flatly, “The water parted and let Briga pass through.”
If this was true—and I had never known Lakutu to lie—it was magic of a very high order.
Briga laughed at the suggestion. “I didn’t work any magic, Ainvar, I wouldn’t know how. I just did what had to be done.”
“What, exactly, did you do?”
She pleated her forehead for a moment, then gave a Gaulish shrug of dismissal. “It all happened so fast, I don’t remember.”
Because she was Briga I chose to believe her. Had she been Onuava, I would have demanded a pinch of valuable salt first. My third wife liked to embroider the truth or even stretch it completely out of shape. When Onuava tugged at my arm with her own version of the incident, I did not bother to listen. Much later I would wish I had.
When I regained my composure, I related our encounter with Cohern and the deal we had struck, including the promise of sheep and cattle. “They’ll give us a small supply of food to begin with,” I said, “but Goulvan was right about one thing: This land is teeming with game. We’re in no danger of starving.”
The Goban Saor spoke up. “While you were gone, Ainvar, I did some exploring. The tales we heard are true in one respect. There’s gold in the streams flowing down from the mountains. I also found rocks containing iron and copper ore, so as soon as we get settled, Teyrnon and I will be able to forge metal. We even have an apprentice. Lakutu’s son, Glas, is interested in craftsmanship and he’s good with his hands.”
“As soon as you make some shears for me and Grannus builds a loom,” Damona chimed in, “I can weave the wool from our new sheep.”
Already my people were planning new
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