Chapter 19

Word had quickly reached Eochaid that Eoric and Gemma had returned to Taynuilt. While he was immensely relieved, the King was also annoyed that his daughter and good-son had not sent word to him that they were safe. Indeed, from the reports he had received from the now dead druids, he wasn't even sure what state his daughter was in. They had described her as mentally disabled in some way and as all fathers do with regard to their daughters, he worried about her.

Nothing would do but that the King would once again ride for Taynuilt, at least this time with a certainty that he would find someone at home. Eochaid set out from Dunadd in the first few days of August with a close guard of fifty mounted troops. They rode up Loch Awe side until the Loch began to wind its way west and thinned dramatically before it gave out altogether in the shadow of mighty Ben Cruachan. Another half an hour of riding brought them to Taynuilt and Eochaid approached the relatively small stone built house that Eoric had made his home in.

As the King drew near to the house he was surprised to see Gemma sitting outside with another woman. The second woman had yellow hair much like his own and was strikingly beautiful he thought.

"Sweet Jesu, don't tell me that this is the Saxon woman that Eoric was so worried about? Herein lies a tale I'll warrant. One minute the boy is wracked with guilt about his dalliance and the next he looks to have moved the woman into his household. So much for his concerns about my daughter's reaction. It seems this old dog can still offer advice when it comes to the ways of women, for did I not tell him that he was worrying too much?" the King thought to himself, as he pulled his horse up before the two womenfolk.

"Sire, it is good to see you. Can I offer you refreshments?" Gemma asked.

She was puzzled at the look her father was giving her. The King was examining her closely, looking for any signs of the mental trauma that the druids had described. As far as he could see there was no difference in Gemma from the last time he had spoken with her. She smiled and spoke as she always had. That was something of a relief, but relief quickly gave way to his annoyance.

"Daughter, I have had men out scouring the whole of this Dalriada for you and my errant good-son for ten days now. Where have you been and why didn't you send word that you had returned safe and well?" he levelled at her.

Gemma was taken aback by the King's tone and looked at him askance. Of course, she had had no idea that Eochaid was aware that she and Eoric had been through so much in the past five days or so and they had therefore no idea he was worried.

"Sire, we were not aware that you had missed us. Certainly we knew nothing of this search that you seem to have been conducting and if we had we would have sent word to you or indeed would have called in at Dunadd on our way north. But manners, Sire, manners. Let me introduce Sarah. She has been through many years of hardship after having been abducted by the heathenish Picts. She has suffered brutality on a scale that I can only imagine and feel horrified about. Now Eoric has saved her and brought her to live with us. At last it maybe, Sarah's life is taking a turn for the better for she carries Eoric's child," said Gemma with a smile.

This series of statements stunned Eochaid. Not only was his daughter welcoming the Saxon woman in the full knowledge that Eoric had slept with her, she seemed unmoved by the news that the woman was carrying the young man's child. He admitted to himself that Eoric had chosen well, Sarah was indeed all but perfect. Still, he was surprised at just how calmly, happily even; his daughter was taking the situation.

"I'm pleased to meet you, Sarah and I'm happy you have been freed from the clutches of the savages. Eoric has mentioned you to me and it seems that between you, the three of you have worked things out to your satisfaction," Eochaid said a little stiffly.

Sarah was still as confused at her situation as Eochaid seemed to be. She could see that he was puzzled at her apparent acceptance by Gemma, despite her pregnancy and she was none the less surprised herself. She had expected harsh words from Eoric's wife, but instead she had been shown genuine love and affection. As a result she was quickly growing to like the princess and an unlikely bond was forming between them.

Once the women had the King indoors, Gemma prepared food for him to eat. She could see him looking round the house as if expecting to see Eoric, but there was no sign of the young man and she explained his absence.

"Eoric is out fetching some fish for supper, Sire. Always he is successful so if you care to wait you might do better than this bread and cheese in a short while?" she asked.

The King nodded his assent at this suggestion and sipped on a beaker of ale that Gemma provided while they waited. Eochaid's curiosity about what had happened to his daughter and Eoric was now tormenting him, but he managed to push it aside to wait for Eoric's return. He wanted to hear the full tale and guessed that would require the Lord of Lorne's presence.

Eoric had made his way to the shores of Loch Etive in search of some sea salmon. Sitting on the banks, he had rested while looking across at Beinn Mheadhonach on the opposite shore. The peak was around two thousand five hundred feet high and it served as a dramatic backdrop to the large sea loch in front of him.

As he lay back and just basked in the natural beauty, soaking up all that Mother Nature provided of her bounty, he sensed the presence of King Eochaid Buide in Taynuilt. He smiled to himself and made a note to catch an extra fish for his guest then roused himself to wade a short way into the water.

Ever since he had absorbed the faeries, those elements that had come from the Uruisge had lent him a significant affinity with water and he now revelled at the feel of the salt water licking around his lower legs and thighs. Extending his senses he reached out to identify what he had come for and soon found a number of fairly large salmon. He couldn't see the fish so couldn't use his ability to call them to him, so instead he shucked off his clothing and leapt forward into the water.

Once submerged the transformation in the young man was wondrous to behold. Anyone seeing him would be left in no doubt that here was a creature born to be in the water. His body jack-knifed and took him deeper and then it undulated as he powered himself forward in the direction of the fish. He didn't use his arms to swim, only his body, his legs and his feet. The length of time he remained underwater also made it clear that he was somehow managing to take in oxygen as he went.

Eoric was enjoying himself so much that he avoided the fish for the moment and simply swam around for a while longer. The water was clear with a greenish-blue tinge to it and he could see the loch bed below him. At last he sensed the darkness was beginning to gather and he sped up, becoming almost a blur in the water as he aimed directly for two large salmon over to his left. The fish were caught completely unawares and his hands snagged them both as he powered through the water, sweeping round now to head back to the shore where his clothes lay.

Eoric let small surges of energy pass through both of his hands to quickly and painlessly kill the fish. He climbed dripping form the water and shook himself, smiling inanely at the pleasure his swim had brought, as he dropped the fish and pulled on his kilt, shirt and plaid. Once dressed, he recovered the fish and began running back towards the house at Taynuilt.

When he arrived he greeted the King, but made himself scarce to dress the fish so that Gemma could begin to cook it. The princess had prepared fresh bread in his absence and the smell of it brought a pleasant mood to the house. Gemma was all business, shooing Sarah out of the kitchen when she tried to assist her, and it wasn't long before large salmon steaks and warm bread were laid on the table.

Talk halted while all four of them tucked-in to the tasty fish, but before long Eochaid's curiosity got the better of him and he asked for details of what had happened to the pair in the last week. His annoyance had receded once he had found that his daughter was perfectly fine and that the two youngsters had been blissfully unaware of how anxious he had been.

Eoric began the tale with how he had drunk the ale Gemma had given him and then quickly lost consciousness. He stunned the King and Sarah when he then told them how Merlin had taken possession of Gemma's husk of a body and given Nimue pursuit. Gemma and Eoric had not shared the fact that Merlin's spirit had made itself known to them after his death at Dunadd, so Eochaid was puzzled by this reference to the wizard.

"But Merlin died, how could he help you?" the King asked.

Eoric had to suspend the first story to explain how Merlin had come back. Eochaid shook his head in wonder and disbelief as Eoric took up the story of the chase south once more. He glanced at Sarah and saw she was struggling to take all of this in, his story was so fantastic and unbelievable.

When Eoric reached the part where Merlin dealt with Nimue he could see Eochaid smile and nod his head in satisfaction. That look changed to one of intense interest when Eoric explained that Nimue had been working with Æthelfrith and that the Saxon had given chase to him and Merlin/Gemma.

Eoric's audience literally stopped breathing and looked at him in amazement when he described how he had had to fly across the wide canyon as they made their escape. Even Gemma had not been aware of this up to this point and she shook her head in wonder at yet another sign of her husband's incredible abilities. Sarah unconsciously let her hand drop to her abdomen and she rubbed herself, wondering what manner of child was growing there.

There was further stunned amazement when Eoric described how he had absorbed Merlin into his own body so that he could remain to help and advise him. Then there were tears in the eyes of all three when he described how he had painstakingly and lovingly put Gemma's mind back together again. A little guiltily, Eoric omitted to mention the slight tinkering he had carried out on that one memory of the princess's.

The story had been so outlandish and unbelievable that Eoric had suffered very few interruptions from his audience. Mostly he had been faced with stunned silence. Once he had finished there was a rush of questions from Eochaid and Gemma, but a continued and worrying silence from Sarah.

"Tell me more of this with regards to Merlin," said Eochaid, "do you really have him inside you? Are you sure that Nimue is actually dead? Will the Saxons be able to link Nimue's death with Dalriada?"

"Did you really take me flying?" asked Gemma, "can we do it again?" Is Merlin now privy to everything you do? Absolutely everything?"

Eoric tried his best to answer all of the questions that were fired at him. He explained how Nimue had met her end and that there could be no doubt the witch was indeed gone. As to evidence, he wasn't sure whether Nimue had shared any information with Æthelfrith about her kidnapping of him. While he had been wearing a kilt, the Saxons would see many such so it was unlikely they would be able to guess who had killed the witch. He promised to try and take Gemma flying again, but explained he hadn't been able to repeat the feat since that first time.

Gemma picked up on Sarah's mood and looked at her closely, taking in the concern and worry on her face. She glanced at Eoric and flicked her eyes towards the Saxon woman, alerting him to the fact that something was wrong. The King declared himself ready for bed as it had been a long day and Eoric's story had been so livid it had taken something out of them all. He kissed his daughter and Sarah goodnight and retired to the bedchamber Gemma pointed him to.

Once Eochaid was safely out of the room, Eoric took Sarah's hand in his and put his other arm round Gemma's waist. He drew both of them outside to sit on the step. It was a clear night and chilly, but the panoply of stars was all the more impressive in the night sky.

Eoric quietly began another story, this one the tale of how he had come to have absorbed four faeries and how that had changed him. Gemma knew all of this and she moved to sit on the other side of Sarah so that the Saxon woman was sandwiched between her and Eoric. Both of them put their arms round her and Eoric now tried to allay her fears. When Gemma had motioned to him inside the house he had connected with Sarah quickly and had read her concerns about the baby.

"Sarah, I am still very much a man, human. I might have some strange abilities, but I still feel all of things other people feel, experience all the emotions that you do, make mistakes the same as the next man. I can tell that you're worried about our baby and whether it will be born as some kind of freak. The answer to that is I'm not sure. If it reflects the feelings and love that surrounded the act that conceived it, I cannot believe there will be anything bad about this child. Look at me," he urged her.

When Sarah turned her head to look at him she could see the love shining in his eyes.

"And look at me, I will be here for you too and for the baby," added Gemma, proud of the speech her husband had just made and not in the least bit jealous at the sentiment he had expressed.

Sarah looked at Gemma in turn and could also see the princess's love for her written in her expression. Tears began to roll silently down her cheeks as she was overwhelmed with more love and caring than she had ever imagined possible. It was as if the years of torture and pain, misery and suffering were all now being rinsed away on a tide of pure love. Her concerns about the baby began to ease. Eoric's words had struck a chord, there had been nothing but love involved in the baby's conception and she hoped that was a good sign.

"Can we stop referring to him as the 'baby' and the 'child'," said Eoric. The boy's name is Connal."

Both the woman looked at him questioningly, their eyebrows raised.

"I can feel the boy growing, there is no doubt he is a boy and perfectly healthy so far as I can tell," Eoric added.

Sarah had heard so much about Eoric's abilities that night and had indeed witnessed some of them in Dalwhinnie, that she didn't question him about this latest statement for a moment. Eoric read the thought that appeared in her head that thanked him for putting her mind at rest with regard to the child - no, Connal - and he felt her pull herself closer to him.

These moments together under the stars did more than anything else perhaps to cement the relationship between the three of them. All of Sarah's concerns about how Gemma would react, how she would treat her, vanished when she saw the look the princess had given her. For perhaps the first time in her life she felt as if she had found her place, was at home and where she belonged.

The next morning Eochaid was more businesslike, but it was clear his evaluation of Eoric had risen once again. He listened whenever the young man contributed to the conversation and clearly gave great weight in Eoric's words.

He was in the process of setting out his plans for the autumn campaign against the Picts once the harvest had been safely gathered in. Eoric was impressed by the scale of what he intended.

"I will lead one force and consolidate the gains we have already made in Atholl and Tayside. Donachd will arrive with a force from Antrim and he will lead that force further north to begin to press the savages back yet further. I have promised him his own lands in the north if he can win them from the Picts. My son Domnall will drive a combined force with King Beli of Strathclyde across into the lands in the northeast. I expect you to be able to give me your full strength in four weeks time, Eoric," Eochaid finished.

"As to the men of Lorne, I will gladly see that they are ready for you Eochaid King, but I suggest another task for myself. I have already shown I'm not great in battle, but there is another iron I believe we should have in the fire," Eoric offered.

Eochaid considered this for a moment. Eoric's ability to pinpoint the enemy had proven to be a major asset in the previous campaigning and he was loath to lose that advantage. He knew however, that the fighting in Atholl and Tayside was likely to be light after the way he had already ravaged it the month before. His respect for Eoric's views caused him to ask what this other 'iron in the fire' might be.

"What is the nature of this other task you have in mind, my lord," the King asked.

"I believe your plans for the Picts are bold and well made. There is still time this year to do them much damage and I am pleased that King Beli is joining his forces this time. That is a sure sign the Celts are moving in the right direction. But. But I say, I believe we are going to have to deal with the Saxons sooner or later.