Read Online Twixt Firelight and Water by Juliet Marillier - Free Book Online
Authors: Juliet Marillier
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a strong man to tears. When it was done, and the pond showed no more than a ripple or two, we sat for some time in complete silence. Glancing at the bird, trying to imagine what might be in his thoughts, I met a glare of challenge. Don’t you dare feel sorry for me. It came to me that I had been told this tale for a purpose.
‘A choice,’ I said flatly. ‘You’re offering me the choice to marry a raven.’
Ciarán stretched his arms and flexed his fingers; he had become cramped, sitting so still to hold the vision. ‘Offering, no. Setting it before you, yes. I thought it just possible you might consider it.’
‘No man would want a wife who wed him out of pity,’ I said.
The raven — Conri, if it was indeed he — gave a derisive cry. The sound echoed away into the darkness under the trees.
‘Is it pity you feel?’ Ciarán asked.
‘For the bird, no. He’s a wary, prickly sort of creature, and I wonder what kind of man he would be, if it were actually possible to reverse this — geis , is that the word? — by going through with a marriage. Who would perform such a marriage, anyway? What priest could possibly countenance such a bizarre idea?’
‘The one you see before you,’ Ciarán said. ‘Performing the ritual of hand-fasting is one of a druid’s regular duties.’
I felt a chill all through me. He could do it; he could do it right now, tonight, and if the peculiar story proved to be true, I could free a man from a life-long hell set on him simply because he’d wanted to protect a child. And I’d be saddled with a husband I didn’t want, a man who’d likely prove to be just as irritable and unpleasant as the raven was. I wondered if I had in fact fallen asleep in the forest, and would wake soon with a crick in my neck and the nightmare memory fading fast.
‘What possible reason could I have for agreeing to do this?’ I asked, then remembered something. ‘Wait! Did you actually know I was coming? Did you guess who I was? He came to find me. Fiacha. He led me to you. Don’t tell me —’
‘Nothing so devious, Aisha. I did not know who you were until you mentioned your father. I had seen you in a vision, earlier, approaching this place. I sent Fiacha out to find you, thinking you might need help. Perhaps some other power has intervened to aid my brother here, for your arrival seems almost an act of the gods.’
I thought about this for a while. Reason said I must give a polite refusal. A small, mad part of me, a part I recognised all too well, urged me to be bold, to take a chance, to do what nobody else in the length and breadth of Erin would be prepared to do. That impulse had led me into some unusual situations in my time. I’d never once failed to extricate myself safely. I considered the story itself and the odd bond between these two half-brothers. ‘I have some questions,’ I said.
‘Ask them.’
‘First — is it safe to speak his name now? To acknowledge that I know who he is?’
‘Quite safe. That part of the geis died with his beloved Lóch.’
‘Then tell me, how did you learn Conri’s story, and when? Was it like this, in a vision?’
‘Some of it was revealed to me in that way. But I knew already what had become of him. She told me. Our mother. There was a time when I went back to her. A dispute with my family drove me from Sevenwaters. There were aspects of our mother’s craft I wanted to learn. She welcomed me, little knowing the depth of my loathing. She gloated over what she had done to Conri; she thought herself ingenious. It was another reason to destroy her.’
‘She’s gone, then?’
His mouth went into a hard line. ‘She is no more.’
‘Ciarán ...’ I hesitated.
‘Mm?’
‘What she did to Conri — it was very long ago. Haven’t you tried to undo the geis before? There must have been other unwed girls in the family over the years.’
He grimaced.
‘A choice,’ I said flatly. ‘You’re offering me the choice to marry a raven.’
Ciarán stretched his arms and flexed his fingers; he had become cramped, sitting so still to hold the vision. ‘Offering, no. Setting it before you, yes. I thought it just possible you might consider it.’
‘No man would want a wife who wed him out of pity,’ I said.
The raven — Conri, if it was indeed he — gave a derisive cry. The sound echoed away into the darkness under the trees.
‘Is it pity you feel?’ Ciarán asked.
‘For the bird, no. He’s a wary, prickly sort of creature, and I wonder what kind of man he would be, if it were actually possible to reverse this — geis , is that the word? — by going through with a marriage. Who would perform such a marriage, anyway? What priest could possibly countenance such a bizarre idea?’
‘The one you see before you,’ Ciarán said. ‘Performing the ritual of hand-fasting is one of a druid’s regular duties.’
I felt a chill all through me. He could do it; he could do it right now, tonight, and if the peculiar story proved to be true, I could free a man from a life-long hell set on him simply because he’d wanted to protect a child. And I’d be saddled with a husband I didn’t want, a man who’d likely prove to be just as irritable and unpleasant as the raven was. I wondered if I had in fact fallen asleep in the forest, and would wake soon with a crick in my neck and the nightmare memory fading fast.
‘What possible reason could I have for agreeing to do this?’ I asked, then remembered something. ‘Wait! Did you actually know I was coming? Did you guess who I was? He came to find me. Fiacha. He led me to you. Don’t tell me —’
‘Nothing so devious, Aisha. I did not know who you were until you mentioned your father. I had seen you in a vision, earlier, approaching this place. I sent Fiacha out to find you, thinking you might need help. Perhaps some other power has intervened to aid my brother here, for your arrival seems almost an act of the gods.’
I thought about this for a while. Reason said I must give a polite refusal. A small, mad part of me, a part I recognised all too well, urged me to be bold, to take a chance, to do what nobody else in the length and breadth of Erin would be prepared to do. That impulse had led me into some unusual situations in my time. I’d never once failed to extricate myself safely. I considered the story itself and the odd bond between these two half-brothers. ‘I have some questions,’ I said.
‘Ask them.’
‘First — is it safe to speak his name now? To acknowledge that I know who he is?’
‘Quite safe. That part of the geis died with his beloved Lóch.’
‘Then tell me, how did you learn Conri’s story, and when? Was it like this, in a vision?’
‘Some of it was revealed to me in that way. But I knew already what had become of him. She told me. Our mother. There was a time when I went back to her. A dispute with my family drove me from Sevenwaters. There were aspects of our mother’s craft I wanted to learn. She welcomed me, little knowing the depth of my loathing. She gloated over what she had done to Conri; she thought herself ingenious. It was another reason to destroy her.’
‘She’s gone, then?’
His mouth went into a hard line. ‘She is no more.’
‘Ciarán ...’ I hesitated.
‘Mm?’
‘What she did to Conri — it was very long ago. Haven’t you tried to undo the geis before? There must have been other unwed girls in the family over the years.’
He grimaced.
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