Chapter 17

Nimue re-tied Eoric to his horse and nimbly mounted up herself. Her route had been planned out in her head and she estimated it would take her a further four days of riding before she would be able to say for certainty that she was safe. A big concern for her was how well Eoric would hold up. She had brought bottles of some of her brews with her and she would be able to dribble these into his mouth in the place of food and water, but his lack of movement could affect his body.

She left the forest and spent the day heading across the Campsies, fording the River Clyde and continuing on down through Clydesdale. The high Pentland hills were ahead of her, but she angled slightly further south so that she could skirt these and eventually stopped for the night in a wood that ran alongside the river.

Nimue was up early the next morning and she lifted Eoric's head to drip some of her drug into him and then some of the nourishing brew to sustain him. After eating a small amount of food herself, she returned to her horse and started off once more.

The going was tougher now, as she cut across the grain of the terrain. She dissected Tweedale and entered the Ettrick Forest then crossed Teviotdale and made camp at the foot of the Cheviot Hills. Crossing the hills took all of the next day, but by midmorning on the fourth day she headed down the Larriston Fells and looked at the broad expanse of Kielder water in front of her.

She was now in Bernicia and her ultimate goal was a cave under the Kielder lake. Nimue was extra careful now as she took her secret path and entered the tunnel that led under the lake. She cast a masking spell to make doubly sure no one could see where she turned off the path into the rock.

Once she had Eoric lying down on a table of stone, she fed him some more of her brew and then began preparations for the spells that would be required to suck all of his secrets out of him. Once that was completed she would have no further use for the interfering boy.

Merlin cast his strongest reveal spell in an effort to uncover Nimue's tracks. He began to wonder if she knew he was still abroad when his spell was cancelled out by equally strong magic that had been used to conceal the tracks. Surely she would only have gone to such lengths if she thought a powerful wizard would try to follow her?

He knew he was going to have to resort to one of his abilities that she wasn't aware of, one of those levels of lore that Nimue hadn't managed to leech from him. This was something he seldom resorted to as it was extremely taxing on the mind and body given the amount of energy it required.

Merlin sat on the ground outside Eoric's house, still surprised to see Gemma's legs stretched out in front of his eyes, and concentrated. Once his eyes were closed the figure of an Uruisg appeared at the edge of the stream Eoric had been sitting at before and began to channel energy towards him.

He felt the jolt of energy and didn't question it; rather he immediately began to channel it to help him focus on what he was doing. Merlin had mastered the art of being able to summon a vision. It took enormous energy and he could only call visions that dealt with lesser things, not the outcome of great battles or anything of that nature. He had seldom used it given the level of information it could provide, but now he was desperate and he needed some clue as to where Nimue had taken Eoric.

The additional energy that he felt flowing into him made the task far easier than he could remember it being and within a few minutes an image of Nimue riding a horse and leading another horse behind her appeared in his/Gemma's head. He tried to focus on the detail of the countryside around her rather than on the woman herself and after a few minutes he was pleased when he recognised where she was.

He quickly cut the vision to conserve his energy and as he looked up he caught a glimpse of the Uruisg slipping back below the surface of the stream. He recognised that this must have been where the additional energy had come from and he raised an eyebrow at such an unusual thing. The faeries were not known for appearing without being called or for offering their help without being asked. It seemed that Eoric had more of a connection as an elemental than he knew.

Merlin/Gemma now mounted one of Eoric's horses and galloped off towards the east. He knew he needed to skirt Loch Awe before then heading southwards. His vision had shown him the Clyde valley and he knew that was where Nimue was heading. If possible he had to catch up with her before she disappeared into one of her hiding places.

King Eochaid felt bored after the many weeks of campaigning and he decided he would call on Eoric and Gemma. There was some concern in his mind after Eoric had shared his tale about the Saxon woman and he thought it might be a good idea to check on the young couple and make sure they were okay together.

The ride to Taynuilt took most of the day and when Eochaid arrived he found the house deserted. His enquiries amongst the local people were less than helpful as no one had seen either Eoric or Gemma all day. The King decided he would wait for them to return and he searched through the house to find something to eat. When there was still no sign of them by nightfall, he curled up in one of the beds in the house and slept the night away.

Daybreak brought no sign of his daughter and good-son and he now began to worry. If they had planned to travel some distance then Eoric would have taken some troops with him. People would have known about that if it had happened. No, it was far more likely that they hadn't gone far and if that was the case, where were they?

Eochaid organised the locals and his own men into search parties to scour the immediate surroundings. The search went on all day, but was unsuccessful. Once more Eochaid slept the night in Eoric's house and by morning he was both anxious and ready to return to Dunadd. It was possible the young couple had set out to visit him and that they had passed each other on the road. An image in his head of Gemma nearly dying at Dunadd some weeks before was enough to have him running for his horse and calling for his men to mount up.

Sarah tried to persuade the Bauchailleen to take her to where Eoric might be found. The faeries knew where he was, but insisted that his orders had been to rescue her if necessary and then to keep her safe, not rescue her and then go traipsing round the country.

The non-stop pranks of the little red-hatted faeries were driving Sarah crazy though and she became more and more insistent about looking for her saviour.

"I can't remain cooped up in this cave anymore. It's unhealthy, so you're already defying Eoric's orders by keeping me here. I demand that you take me to him!" she said.

"Oh, she demands, she demands does she? If you need to get fresh air or walk about, one of us will go with you, but we are not risking a journey of the length needed to go to where Eoric is," replied one of the Bauchailleen.

Sarah shrieked loudly and the Bauchailleen fell around giggling. One of them had sneaked up behind her and had dangled a spider over her head and in front of her face.

"No more!" she said, "I can't take any more of your childish pranks. Last night I found a live bat under my blanket, this morning all of the bristles fell out of my brush when I tried to brush my hair and then one of the leaves I had for lunch turned out to be a nettle! I've had enough, we need to leave this cave."

"It's not safe to leave and anyway you shouldn't think about walking such long distances in your condition," said one of the faeries.

"What do you mean 'in my condition'?" Sarah asked.

"You have a baby growing inside you," the Bauchailleen replied.

Sarah stared at the faery open mouthed at this statement. She had thought herself barren after the harsh treatment she had received at the hands of Anarg. In a way she had been thankful for that given the numerous rapes she had suffered. The last thing she needed was to have the savage's child and fortunately that hadn't happened.

Now she considered her position anew. If she was with child it had to Eoric's and that made it even more important that she find him, find him quickly and share her news.

"I've had quite enough of your behaviour master faery. I insist you take me to Eoric or I will remove your hats!" she said firmly.

She was surprised when her threat brought only more fits of giggles from the Bauchailleen until they explained to her that as a mere human she wouldn't be able to do that, their hats were entirely safe from her.

"If I can't, how is it that Eoric can? He's a human too you've told me, how can it be that he can remove your hats?" she asked indignantly.

The Bauchailleen stopped their giggling and grew sombre.

"We don't know how he can do it, but it is clear he can. That's one of the abilities we spoke of earlier, one of the things that sets him apart from other humans."

Sarah had to accept that she was not going to get her way and as she had no idea where Eoric might be herself, there was nothing else to do but put up with the pranks and the company of the Bauchailleen for some time longer. She only hoped Eoric would come for her soon. Meantime she placed her hands on her stomach and abdomen and smiled to herself at the prospect of having his child.

Merlin/Gemma continued to ride as hard as he could in an attempt to catch up with Nimue. He tried another reveal spell soon after leaving Dalriada and was delighted when the tracks of two horses immediately became clear. It seemed that Nimue had judged herself safe once she had left Eochaid's kingdom and had stopped using her conceal magic.

With the path now visible to him, he slowed his pace slightly to allow his horse a breather. He also wondered about food and water. As a spirit he hadn't needed to bother about these for the past few weeks, but he knew Gemma's body would need to be sustained. Looking around himself he could sense that night wasn't far off and he began to look for a place to rest up for a few hours.

As Merlin prepared to skirt one of the many woods he had come across, he saw that Nimue's tracks led into it. He was forced to follow or lose her, so follow he did. He was surprised when he came across a campsite not too far into the trees and he dismounted to check the fire to see whether he could gauge how long it was since she had passed this way.

When the wizard detected some small amount of heat in the very centre of the fire he smiled grimly to himself. It appeared as if Nimue was only ten or twelve hours in front of him. If he pressed on and then only took a short break until dawn, he might make up some ground on her. He was already suspicious as to where she was ultimately heading. His vision had put her in the Clyde valley heading south and to him that could only mean one thing - she was heading towards the Saxons.

He mounted up once more and followed Nimue's tracks as they moved away from the camp and out of the woods southwards. He rode on until dusk was truly falling and then found a spot to rest up beside a small lochan.

Catching a duck for supper proved easy enough for the great wizard in Gemma's body and he soon had it plucked and roasting over a small fire. After he had eaten he rolled her body up in a blanket and edged closer to the fire before falling asleep.

Merlin/Gemma's eyes opened and he was awake. Just like that, he had gone from deep sleep to wide awake as his body sensed the first light of dawn appearing over the horizon. He ate the last of the duck from the night before and then cupped water into his hands to drink. He looked at the quality of the water before it reached his mouth and he changed his mind. It didn't look clear and the last thing he needed was to give Gemma's body some kind of illness when he was using it to hunt the Lady of the Loch down.

Merlin mounted up and continued on southwards, pleased to see that Nimue's tracks were still plainly visible. He pressed on down Clydesdale and followed the signs as they skirted the Pentland Hills and then swung southeast. By mid afternoon he could see that he was nearing the Cheviot Hills and his nose detected the smell of a fire. He left the banks of the River Clyde that he had been following and entered the trees to find another campsite. The ashes in this fire were still noticeably hot and Merlin guessed it had been lit this morning. That put him perhaps only just over half a day behind Nimue and gaining.