Chapter 18

Eoric continued to soak up energy from the rock around him in the cave and gradually his senses returned to their full capacity. He was staring at Gemma, but having connected to her, he could see the way her mind had been devastated. The presence of Merlin now made sense to him and he realised the wizard had acted quickly in order to save him.

"Well met, Merlin. My thanks for rescuing me from the clutches of such an evil witch. I can see that Nimue has received a fitting reward for all that she has done, you have done us all a service by dealing with her. I can sense you are concerned over my reaction to your use of Gemma's body, but you shouldn't be. I think she herself would have accepted the fact that you had little choice my friend," Eoric said.

"Nevertheless, I'm sorry I had to take over her body, Eoric, but I hope you can see that I couldn't leave her behind in the state she was in with no one to look after her. I grieve for your loss my young friend," Merlin replied.

"My loss, Merlin? What loss?" Eoric asked.

"Gemma, my friend. I know how much you two loved each other and Nimue has simply torn her mind asunder. Surely you can feel the shocking damage that has been done. I'm afraid the princess as you knew her is gone forever," the wizard said.

"Merlin, I have spent many hours with Gemma, connected with her intimately. I know every memory, every quirky little part of her essence. The very love you talk of ensured that I had to know everything about her and I have it all imprinted here inside my own head. I can see how her mind has been shattered and the pieces scattered around, but I know how to put it all back together again so that she will be herself," Eoric said with a smile.

Merlin simply looked at Eoric for a few moments. He had not considered such a thing possible, but Eoric was so calm and sounded totally convincing when he said it. Such an ability was far above anything that he could do as a wizard and he was beginning to suspect that Eoric had huge untapped capabilities.

"Here is a wonder, Eoric. To be able to do that is beyond anything I have ever heard of. I continue to be surprised by the extent of what you are capable of. I suspect you have not even scratched the surface of your full ability yet my friend. Come, we need to be heading back to Dalriada and I can at least act as your guide for that. Once we are safely there you can do what you need to do to heal Gemma. At that point I feel my time with you really will be at an end, I sense my spirit has hung around solely to settle matters with Nimue. Now that that's done, I should be able to rest in peace," said Merlin.

Eoric sensed the truth of this and was saddened at the prospect of losing the old wizard for a second time. He was still young enough to be plagued by uncertainty and insecurity and having Merlin around was something of a security blanket for him. He thought about Merlin's words with regard to his abilities and recalled a previous conversation when Merlin had suggested they might grow the more he used them. Perhaps there was something in that after all. His experience so far was that when he needed something it was just there - he hadn't had to think about how to repair Gemma's mind, the lore had simply come to him and he knew what to do. There was a lot to think about he decided, but for now, Merlin's suggestion that they should start the journey back to Dalriada made sense.

Eoric stooped and picked up Nimue's glass ball and then joined Merlin. They made their way carefully back up the passageway that led to the outside world. Merlin hadn't closed the entrance behind himself and quite quickly they could determine the daylight up ahead that marked the exit.

As Eoric stepped out into the daylight he heard a shout from his left and looked up to see a band of mounted men, perhaps fifty or so strong.

"It's Æthelfrith, King of Bernicia" cried Merlin from behind him, "if they stop us and find out who we are we could be in trouble. We need to make a run for it!"

The pair of them dashed off, heading for the cover of the nearby trees. The sounds of drumming hooves were loud in their ears as they passed the first of the thick oaks. Both hoped that the trees would slow their pursuers and give them a chance to make a getaway.

Eoric glanced back over his shoulder and could see the horses were gaining on them. Without any further thought he grabbed Merlin/Gemma and hoisted him over his shoulder, drawing more energy up from the earth as he did so. Merlin was looking backwards now and he felt the surge of pace that Eoric was able to produce. The gap between themselves and the mounted Saxons didn't close any further and he breathed a sigh of relief.

After a few more minutes Merlin was sure that they were actually drawing away from the horses and it began to look like they were going to escape. His relief was brought up short when Eoric skidded to a halt and cursed hotly. Merlin felt himself being lowered so he could stand and when he turned he saw the reason for Eoric's curse. The trees ended abruptly at a cliff's edge and there was a yawning chasm of more than a hundred feet before them.

When Eoric looked down he could see the running water of a stream and piles of loose soil and debris below. He guessed the stream and the weather were eroding the cliff face and over time they had widened the gap that now existed. He glanced over his shoulder and could see the horses were only about forty yards behind them now and closing rapidly.

"We'll have to take our chances and jump unless you want to try and talk our way out of this," he said to Merlin.

"No, Nimue was working with them so that can only mean they have a vested interest in harming our cause. I can't think of a believable story that they won't want to check out with her and as soon as they go back to her cave they'll know we killed her. It looks like a long way down, but I agree we need to chance it," the wizard replied.

"Okay, join hands and we'll take a run and jump. Ready? On the count of three then. One, two, three!" Eoric shouted.

They both ran at the cliff edge and jumped out into the abyss. The fall to the water was all of twenty feet and Merlin closed his/Gemma's eyes as soon as he saw he was heading for the water. There was no way for Merlin to determine just how deep the water in the stream was and therein lay the gamble for him, Eoric sensed it would be enough to break their fall.

Merlin was surprised when the falling sensation stopped but he didn't hit the water. Then he heard hysterical laughter. When he opened his eyes he saw that Eoric was holding him up and... Eoric was flying! When he glanced at the young man he could see the excited gleam in his eyes and heard the continued laughter.

The 'flight' lasted only a few more seconds and then they both came down to earth with a bump on the opposite side of the chasm from where they had started. Eoric picked himself up and dusted the dirt from his kilt and plaid. He looked back across the gap just in time to see the horsemen pull up at the edge of the cliff. He raised a hand and waved to them, a broad smile on his face.

The way ahead was through more trees and Eoric now led the way with Merlin following along, his amazement at what had just happened still clearly written on his face. Their flight had left them without a horse and with no clear idea of exactly where they were. Once they were well out of sight of the Saxons, Eoric called a halt so they could take stock and decide how to proceed.

Merlin was able to describe his route south and Eoric used his connection to the earth to extend his awareness outwards until he identified the Cheviot Hills and beyond them, the Pentlands. That solved the problem of finding their way back over the border and Eoric re-assured Merlin that he would be able to carry him and keep up the same pace running as he had before.

Eochaid had returned to Dunadd but still there was no sign of his daughter or good-son. He set up squads of men to scour the whole of Dalriada in an effort to find them or unearth any news as to their whereabouts, all without any success. It was as if the pair had simply vanished off of the face of the earth.

He feared some kind of foul play, but once more there were no suggestions or descriptions of any strangers or people acting suspiciously. The only thing of any note that caught his attention was an off-hand remark by one of his men. It seemed that there were two druids living close to where Eoric had set up his house.

Eochaid knew he had an in-built bias against the druids ever since he had been poisoned, but that didn't mean his suspicions were without some merit. He decided that it would be worthwhile paying these druids a visit to see whether they knew anything.

The ride to Taynuilt took most of the day to complete but the summer days were long and it was still light when Eochaid and forty mounted troopers rode up to the house that had been pointed out to them. He became doubly suspicious when no one came out to find out what was going on and when he beat on the door with the handle of his sword there was no answer.

Eochaid sent some of his troops round to the rear of the house and tried the door. He found the door was locked and very quickly a shout came from the rear to alert him that something was going on there. He ran round the house and found a number of his men wrestling two robed druids to the grass.

"Why run unless you're guilty of something?" he asked himself.

He wasted no more time in trying to get information out of these two. He strode forward and thrust his sword down and through the hand of one of the struggling druids, effectively pinning him to the ground.

"I know both of you were involved in what has happened to my daughter and the Lord of Lorne," he lied, "tell me where they are and I might spare your miserable lives!"

The druid with the blade through his hand was thrashing about in agony and couldn't speak, but his friend had witnessed the casual violence of the King and knew he was next. In an attempt to save himself, he began to babble out the whole story.

"It was Nimue, Sire. She was hot to get her hands on the boy, wanted him at all costs. She did something to take control of the princess's mind and used her to drug Eoric. She has carried him away, where to I have no idea, she didn't share that with us," he snivelled.

"Nimue! Merlin should have dealt with her while he had the chance. Now she returns to cause untold harm. What happened to my daughter? Was she taken as well?" he asked the druid.

"No, Sire. The princess was left in the house when Nimue took the boy. She seemed to have been rendered a simpleton by the witch's attack and there was nothing we could do with her," the druid responded, realising as he did so that the King's face was growing blacker by the second.

Eochaid listened with growing anger as this worm on the ground in front of him described how his daughter had been attacked and left behind as some kind of human vegetable. He couldn't control his rage and pulled his sword from the hand of one druid so that he could slash the head of the second one from his shoulders. He turned to the first druid who was no trying to nurse his injured hand.

"You'll mark that I only said I might spare your lives. Now, out with it, where has my daughter been taken or you will find your head beside your friend's! Quickly man, where is she?" he shouted.

Eochaid could see the man was terrified. He had just had his hand skewered by a sword and watched his friend's head being lopped off with a single stroke from the King. The front of the druid's robe suddenly developed a dark stain at the front and Eochaid guessed the man was wetting himself with fear.

"Sire, I know nothing, had nothing to do with any of it. It is as he said, the princess was left behind at the house and Nimue rode off with the boy. I swear to you, Sire, I don't know anything else!" the druid cried urgently, pleading for Eochaid to believe him.

The King did indeed believe him. The druid's terror was too real for him to be trying to hold anything back at this stage. Eochaid's thinking now was quite simple. If the druid didn't know anything he was of no further use and he had played a part in the attack on his daughter and Eoric. He reversed his sword and ran the druid through, the blade entering his stomach with such force behind it that it carried on until it exited his back and buried itself in the earth under him. Eochaid smiled as he tugged the blade free.

"As you say druid, you know nothing so I have no use for you. Pray to whatever god you worship man, pray as you feel your life's blood drain from your worthless carcass!" he said as he turned and walked away.

Sarah was at her wits end with the Bauchailleen. She knew she couldn't take any more of their pranks and childish behaviour. She was smart enough to know the sun rose in the east and set in the west and she had been secretly taking bearings over the past two days. She had pinpointed a distant peak as being almost due south and she intended to slip away from the annoying little faeries and head in that direction.

One of the Bauchailleen had let slip the fact that Eoric was the Lord of Lorne and she knew Lorne was in Dalriada. Her sketchy geography was good enough for her to estimate where Dalriada was and she knew it was south of Dalwhinnie. The walks she was allowed to take had allowed her to confirm the faeries hadn't taken her very far from the Pictish settlement so she had put all of this together and believed she could find her way to her man.