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offer you my hand, as I would gladly have offered you my life.'
'I will take your hand, Conaire,' Gwenhwyvar answered, leaning close, 'but I will have your cheek as
well.' Taking his hand, she pulled him to her, put her lips to his cheek and kissed him.
SIX
The Irish king grinned broadly and, lifting the reins, urged his horse forward. We raced to Rath Mor, and
had almost reached the shelter of the wood when, with a sudden cry, an enemy warband burst out from
among the trees.
Within two heartbeats we were confronted by fifty warriors  large men, fierce, pitiless eyes glittering
like chips of jet in their sallow faces. They advanced on foot, warily, and carried no swords, only the
thick black spear and heavy wooden shield we had seen on the ships. They hesitated only a moment,
then the enemy battlechief gave a shout and they rushed upon us, black spears levelled, screaming as they
ran.
Arthur lashed his mount to speed and raced to meet the charge head-on. 'Follow me!' he called, setting
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his shield as he flew towards the enemy.
Llenlleawg was first to react to Arthur's lead. He blew past me and took up position to the left and just
behind Arthur so that the barbarians could not come at the king from his blind side.
Conaire was suddenly beside me, holding out his spear. 'You have no spear,' he said. 'Take mine.'
'Keep it,' I told him. 'I prefer the sword.'
Gwenhwyvar lashed her mount to speed, unslinging her shield and drawing her sword at full gallop. 'Oh,
heart of my heart,' said Conaire, watching her go, 'is that not a sweet sight?'
'Come, Irishman,' I called. 'They are leaving us behind!'
Arthur reached the enemy line and hurtled through, scattering foemen in all directions. Llenlleawg, right
behind, did not give them a chance to regroup. He ran down three or four as they fled and slashed two
more. The line gaped wide, allowing Gwenhwyvar to ride through unopposed. She gained the edge of the
wood and then turned back, charging again into the re-forming rank.
I saw where she intended to strike and swerved to join her attack. Conaire, on my right, loosed a wild,
joyous whoop and rode straight to the centre of the line  spear high, shield outflung, and reins flying
loose. One glimpse of the three of us sweeping down upon them and  mouths gaping in unintelligible
shouts, shields thrown high  the strangers scrambled for the cover of the wood.
Arthur and Llenlleawg met them, however, swinging up from behind. The Vandal warband was neatly
sliced in two  those closest to the trees made good their escape, but the rest found themselves the
centre of an attack by five swiftly converging horsemen. The disordered rank folded inward upon itself to
become a confused knot. Gwenhwyvar and I reached this knot first and stabbed into it. Conaire slashed
in from the side, and Arthur and Llenlleawg charged in from the rear.
They fell before us. Confused, crying out in panic and rage, lunging desperately with their short, clumsy
spears, they threw themselves at us, and we trampled them down. The soft green turf blushed bright
crimson in the lowering sun and the shadows stretched long.
The enemy warriors fled the fight, leaving their dead and wounded on the ground as they disappeared
into the shelter of the wood. Llenlleawg would have pursued them, but Arthur called him back.
'Warriors!' Conaire hooted in derision. 'I have never seen such hopeless warriors. If that is the best they
can do, give me a gang of boys with sharp sticks and I will conquer the world!'
'They were a scouting party only," replied Arthur. 'Our horses scared them.'
'But they attacked us!' argued Conaire. 'They wanted to fight. Fifty against five! And we routed them
without breaking a sweat.'
'Arthur is right,' I remarked. 'They were only searching out the land and we surprised them. And now
that we have shown them what manner of men inhabit this place, we should not expect them to make the
same mistake again.'
'Bah!' Conaire growled. 'What do I care what you call it? We beat the thieving barbarians. Let them try
again and we will give them the same.'
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Arthur shook his head gravely. 'Speed and courage saved us today, Conaire. We should count
ourselves fortunate to have escaped with our lives.' He swung himself from the saddle and walked to
where the enemy warriors lay on the ground. He stooped briefly over two or three of them, and then
called, 'This one is still alive.'
'I will soon put that right,' Conaire answered, quickly jumping down from his horse.
'No,' Arthur said, halting the Irish lord. 'Let us take him back to the caer and see what we can learn from
him.'
Conaire frowned. 'We will get nothing from him. Let us kill him now and save ourselves the trouble of
carrying him back.'
However much I agreed with Arthur, I strongly suspected Conaire was right. One look at the strange
features  high cheekbones and narrow, almost slanted eyes above a long thin nose, and skin the colour
of old ivory, he seemed to have come from another world  and I concluded that we would learn
nothing of value from the injured man. Nevertheless, we picked him up and slung his unconscious body
across Llenlleawg's saddle. The Irish champion shared Gwenhwyvar's horse and we made our way
quickly back to Rath Mor, where Conaire summoned his druids, informed them of the danger, and then
dispatched messengers to rally his lords and chieftains. The barbarian was taken to one of the nearby
round houses to be guarded until he awakened.
'I have sent word to Fergus to join us here,' Conaire explained. 'He and his folk will be safer in this
stronghold than wandering around in the forest where the barbarians can get at them.' [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]