Read Online The Silver Stag of Bunratty by Eithne Massey - Free Book Online

running forward, along with Sir Richard and the Marshal, but several huntsmen exchanged glances and made after the straying hounds, so that the hunt was split. The children looked at each other and smiled. Within a few minutes the same thing had happened again; some more of the hounds took off at a tangent, and several hunters followed them.
    ‘It’s working perfectly,’ said Maude.
    There was the call of a horn far in the distance, and the main body of the hunt, with Sir Richard at its head, drew to a halt.
    ‘It’s the sighting call,’ said Sir Richard. ‘Let’s go east.’
    ‘But the tracks are going this way,’ said the Robert, his forehead wrinkled in puzzlement.
    The horn called again.
    ‘Quickly, now.’ Sir Richard spurred his horse and led the way eastwards.
    The children watched.
    ‘That store of honey I gave young Bat, the miller’s son, was well worth it,’ said Cliar with satisfaction.
    ‘Just be sure he gets the hunting horn back to us safely,’ said Maude. ‘It was my father’s.’
    But then there was another call, a thin, eerie one, from the south.
    ‘Did he get his friends to help out?’ asked Matthieu, puzzled.
    Cliar shook her head. The horn called again from the north.
    ‘It’s the ghosts,’ she said. ‘They said they would help us; it’s a ghost horn, leading the hunters astray … nobody will know which way to go!’
    ‘I wonder where the stag actually is?’ asked Matthieu.
    That had been their worry all through the night, when they had carefully laid false trails of deer droppings and fresh meat all over the forest. The plan had been to throw the dogs into such confusion that the hunt would have to beabandoned. The after-effects of the ergot and the hunting horn calls from different directions would confuse the hunters further; one could only hope that by some piece of bad luck the hunt would not actually come upon the stag.
    ‘It looks like the plan has worked. Let’s go home,’ said Matthieu, who was getting tired and who had had enough excitement for one day. His stomach had felt sick all morning, from worry that they might not succeed with their plan. ‘We can’t really do any more, can we?’
    ‘Oh, don’t be such a baby,’ said Maude. ‘We have to make sure that Sir Richard gives up the hunt. Anyway, this is a chance to spend the day away from the castle. No-one has any idea where we are and they won’t care until everyone has returned home. If they even notice we’re missing then. Let’s have the food Margaret gave us.’

    Soon, not only had the hunt gone out of sight, but the children could not even hear the dogs or the horses.
    ‘Let’s follow the stream a little way and see where it brings us. If we hear the hunt we can always move away.’ Tuan led the way through the hazel bushes that overhung the clear stream that wound its way along the forest floor. There was no noise now, apart from the rustle of their horses’ hooves through the dry leaves that had fallen theprevious winter. Over their heads the new spring leaves formed a bright green canopy, and through it the sky was an intense blue.
    Within a few minutes thay had come to a clearing in the wood. In the centre was a pool of dark water that reflected the sky above. It was surrounded by young silver birch trees, and the trees too were reflected in the pool, the light moving as the branches swayed in the breeze. There was something about the place that made them all pull up their horses and dismount, then stand perfectly still. No-one said anything; they listened, but there was no sound apart from a cuckoo’s call through the trees. Then it too went silent.
    On the other side of the pool there was a rustle in the green branches. The sky through these branches seemed a deeper blue, a translucent colour that was almost violet, the colour of young bluebells. The heat buzzed with the intense stillness of midday. The horses remained as still as statues. Gile stood, one paw raised, as if he too had