Hood Page 18

  Outlanders, she called them, whose presence was an offence under heaven, a stink in the nostrils of God.

  While Bran shared this view, he could not see himself effecting any significant change in the situation. Even if he had been so inclined, as the matter stood, he was a man marked for death. If he was caught in Elfael again, Bran knew Count de Braose would not hesitate to finish what he had almost succeeded in accomplishing at the forest’s edge.

  The fear of that attack would come swarming out of the night to kindle in him an intense passion to escape, to flee to a safe haven in the north, to leave Elfael and never look back.

  Other times, he saw himself standing over the body of Count de Braose, his lance blade deep in his effete enemy’s guts.

  Occasionally, Bran imagined there might be a way to unite those two conflicting ambitions. Perhaps he could fly away to safety, persuade his kinsmen in the north to join with him, and return to Elfael with a conquering warhost to drive the Ffreinc invaders from the land.

  This last idea was late in coming. His impulse from the beginning had been escape, and it still claimed first place in his thoughts. The notion of staying to fight for his land and people had occurred to him in due course—seeded, no doubt, by the stories Angharad told, stories that filled his head with all kinds of new and unfamiliar thoughts.

  One morning, Bran rose early to find his wizened guardian gone and himself alone. Feeling rested and able, he set himself the task of walking from the cave to the edge of the clearing.

  The day was clear and bright, the sun newly risen, the air crisp.

  He drew a deep breath and felt the tightness in his chest and side—as if inner cords still bound him. His shoulder ached with the cold, but he was used to it now, and it no longer bothered him. His legs felt strong enough, so he began to walk— slowly, with exaggerated care.

  The ground sloped down from the mouth of the cave, and he saw the path trodden by Angharad on her errands and, judging by the other tracks in the well-trampled snow, a multitude of forest creatures as well. He hobbled across the open expanse and arrived in good order at the edge of the clearing.

  Flushed with the exhilaration of this small achievement, he decided to press himself a little further. He entered the forest, walking with greater confidence along the well-packed snow track. It felt good to move and stretch. The downhill path was gentle, and soon he reached a small rill. The stream was covered by a thin layer of translucent ice; he could hear water running underneath.

  The track turned and ran alongside the stream; without thinking, he followed. In a little while he came to a place where the ground dropped away steeply. The water entered a deep cutting carved into the slope and disappeared in a series of stony cascades. The path followed this ravine, but it was far too steep for Bran, so he turned and started back the way he had come. When he reached the place where the path joined the stream, he continued on, soon reaching another impasse. On his left hand, a rocky shelf jutted up, twice his height; on his right the stream flowed at the bottom of a rough defile, and dead ahead, the trunk of a fallen elm blocked the path like a gnarled, black, bark-covered wall.

  He did not trust his ability to clamber over the fallen log —in his present condition, he did not dare risk it. He had no choice but to retrace his steps, so he turned around and started back to the cave. It was then he learned that he had walked farther than he intended, and also that he had seriously misjudged the slight uphill climb.

  The rise was steep, and the snow slick underfoot. Twice he slipped and fell; he caught himself both times, but each fall was accompanied by a sharp tearing sensation—as if his wounds were being ripped open once more. The second time, he paused on his hands and knees in the snow and waited until the waves of pain subsided.

  After that, he proceeded much more carefully, but the exertion soon taxed his rapidly tiring muscles; he was forced to stop to rest and catch his breath every few dozen paces. Despite the cold, he began to sweat. His tunic and mantle were soon soaked through, and his damp clothes grew clammy and froze, chilling him to the bone. By the time the cave came into sight, he was shaking with cold and gasping with pain.

  Head down, wheezing like a wounded bear, Bran shuffled the last hundred paces to the cave, staggered in, and collapsed on his bed. He lay a long time, shivering, too weak to pull the fleeces over himself.

  This was how Angharad found him sometime later when she returned with a double brace of woodcocks.

  Bran sensed a movement and opened his eyes to see her bending over him, the birds dangling in her hand and her brow creased with concern. “You went out,” she said simply.

  “I did,” he said, his voice husky with fatigue. He clenched his jaw tightly to keep his teeth from chattering.

  “You should not have done so.” Laying aside the birds, she straightened his limbs in his bed, then arranged the fleeces over him.

  “I am sorry,” he murmured, sinking gratefully beneath the coverings. He closed his eyes and shivered.

  Angharad built up the fire again and set about preparing the woodcocks for their supper. Bran dozed on and off through the rest of the day; when he finally roused himself once more, it was dark outside. The cave was warm and filled with the aroma of roasting meat. He sat up stiffly and rubbed his chest; the wound was sore, and he felt a burning deep inside.

  The old woman saw him struggle to rise and came to him.

  “You will stay abed,” she told him.

  “No,” he said, far more forcefully than he felt. “I want to get up.”

  “You have overtired yourself and must rest now. Tonight you will stay abed.”

  “I won’t argue,” he said, accepting her judgement. “But will you still sing to me?”

  Angharad smiled. “One would almost think you liked my singing,” she replied.

  That night after supper, Bran lay in his bed, aching and sore, skin flushed with fever, barely able to keep his eyes open. But he listened to that incomparable voice, and as before, the cave disappeared and he travelled to that Elder Realm, where Angharad’s tales took life. That night he listened as, for the first time, she sang him a tale of King Raven.

  CHAPTER 21

  Angharad settled herself beside Bran on her three-legged stool. She plucked a harp string and silenced it with the flat of her hand. Closing her eyes, she held her head to one side, as if listening to a voice he could not hear. He watched her shadow on the cave wall, gently wavering in the firelight as she cradled the harp to her breast and began to stroke the lowest string—softly, gently releasing a rich, sonorous note into the silence of the cave.

  Angharad began to sing—a low whisper of exhaled breath that gathered force to become an inarticulate moan deep in her throat. The harp note pulsed quicker, and the moan became a cry. The cry became a word, and the word a name: Rhi Bran.

  Bran heard it, and the small hairs on his arms stood up.

  Again and again, Angharad invoked the name, and Bran felt his heart quicken. Rhi Bran. King Raven—his own name and his rightful title—but cast in a newer, fiercer, almost frightening light.

  Angharad’s fingers stroked a melody from the harp, her voice rose to meet it, and the tale of King Raven began. This is what she sang:

  In the Elder Time, when the dew of Creation was still fresh on the ground, Bran Bendigedig awakened in this worlds-realm. A beautiful boy, he grew to be a handsome man, renowned amongst his people for his courage and valour. And his valour was such that it was exceeded only by his virtue, which was exceeded only by his wisdom, which was itself exceeded only by his honesty. Bran the Blesséd he was called, and no one who saw him doubted that if ever there was a man touched by the All Wise and granted every boon in abundance, it was he. Thus, he possessed all that was needful for a life of utter joy and delight, save one thing only. A single blessing eluded him, and that was contentment.

  Bran Bendigedig’s heart was restless, always seeking, never finding—for if it was known what would satisfy his unquiet heart, that knowl
edge was more completely hidden than a single drop of water in all the oceans of the world. And the knowledge of his lack grew to become a fire deep inside him that burned his bones and filled his mouth with the taste of ashes.

  One day, when he could endure his discontent no longer, he put on his best boots, kissed his mother and father farewell, and began to walk. “I will not stop walking until I have found the thing which will quell my restless heart and fill this hunger in my soul.”

  Thus, he began a journey through many lands, through kingdoms and dominions of every kind. At the end of seven years, he reached a distant shore and gazed across a narrow sea, where he beheld the fairest island that he or anyone else had ever seen. Its white cliffs glowed in the dying sunlight like a wall of fine pale gold, and larks soared high above the green-topped hills, singing in the gentle evening air. He wanted nothing more than to go to the island without delay, but night was coming, and he knew he could not reach the far shore in time, so he settled down to spend the night on the strand, intending to cross over the narrow sea with the next morning’s new light.

  Unable to sleep, he lay on the beach all night long, listening to the fitful wash of the waves over the pebbles, feeling as if his heart would burst for restlessness. When the sun rose again, he rose with it and looked out at the many-splendoured island as it lay before him in the midst of the silver sea. Then, as the rising sun struck the white cliffs, setting them aglow with a light that dazzled the eyes, Bran struck out.

  Drawing himself up to full height, he grew until his head brushed the clouds, whereupon he waded out into the narrow sea, which reached only to the knot of his belt. He reached the opposite shore in nine great strides, emerging from the water at his normal height.

  He spread his arms to the sun, and while he stood waiting for the bright rays to dry his clothes, he heard the most delightful music, and he turned to see a lady on a milk-white horse approaching a little way off.

  The music arose from a flute that she played as she cantered along the water’s edge in the sweet, honeyed light of the rising sun. Her hair shone with the brightness of a flame, and her skin was firm and soft. Her limbs were fine and straight, her gown was yellow satin, edged in blue, and her eyes were green as new grass or apples in summer.

  As she came near, she caught sight of Bran, standing alone on the strand, and she stopped playing. “I give you good greeting, sir,” she said; her voice, so light and melodious, melted Bran in his innermost parts.

  “What is your name?”

  “I am Bran Bendigedig,” said he. “I am a stranger here.”

  “Yet you are welcome,” said the lady. “I see that you are beguiled by the sight of this fair island.”

  “That I am,” Bran confessed. “But no less than by the sight of you, my lady. If ever I boast of seeing a fairer face in all this wide world, may I die a liar’s death. What is your name?”

  “Would that you had asked me anything else,” she told him sadly, “for I am under a strong geas never to reveal my name to anyone until the day of Albion’s release.”

  “If that is all that prevents you, then take heart,”

  Bran replied boldly, for the moment she spoke those first words in his ear, he knew beyond all doubt that the thing required to bring contentment to his restless heart was the name of the lady before him—just to know her name and, knowing it, to possess it and, possessing it, to hold her beside him forever. With her as his wife, his heart would find peace at last. “Only tell me who or what Albion might be,” Bran said, “and I will achieve its release before the sun has run its course.”

  “Would that you had promised anything else,” the lady told him. “Albion is the name of this place, and it is the fairest island known. Ten years ago a plague came to these shores, and it is this which now devastates the island. Every morning I come to the sea-strand in the time-between-times in the hope of finding someone who can break the wicked spell that holds Albion in thrall.”

  “Today your search has ended,” replied Bran, his confidence undimmed. “Only tell me what to do, and it will be done.”

  “Though your spirit may be bold and your hand strong, Albion’s release will take more than that. Many great men have tried, but none have succeeded, for the plague is no ordinary illness or disease. It is an evil enchantment, and it takes the form of a race of giants who by their mighty strength cause such havoc and devastation that my heart quails at the mere mention of them.”

  “Fear for nothing, noble lady,” Bran said. “The All Wise in his boundless wisdom has granted me every good gift, and I can do wonderfully well whatever I put my hand to.”

  At this the lady smiled, and, oh, her smile was even more radiant than the sunlight on the shining cliffs. “The day you deliver Albion, I will give you my name—and more than that, if you only ask.”

  “Then rest assured,” replied Bran, “that on that very day, I will return to ask for your hand and more— I will ask for your heart also.” The lady bent her shapely neck in assent and then told him what he had to do to release Albion from the evil spell and break the geas that bound her.

  Bran the Blesséd listened well to all she said; then, bidding her farewell, he started off. He came to a river that the lady had told him to expect, then followed it to the centre of the isle. For three days and nights he walked, stopping only now and then to drink from the pure waters of the river, for his heart burned within him at the thought of marrying the most beautiful woman in the world.

  As the sun rose on the fourth day, he came to a great dark wood—the forest from which all other forests in the world had their beginning. He entered the forest, and just as the lady had told him, after walking three more days, he came to a glade where two roads crossed. He strode to the centre of the crossroads and sat down to wait. After a time, he heard the sound of someone approaching and looked up to see an old man with a white beard hobbling toward him.

  The man was bent low to the ground beneath heavy bundles of sticks he was carrying, so low that his beard swept the ground before him.

  Seeing this man whom the lady had told him to expect, Bran jumped up and hailed him. “You there!

  You see before you a man of purpose who would speak to you.”

  “And you see before you a man who was once a king in his own country,” the man replied. “A little respect would become you.”

  “My lord, forgive me,” replied Bran. “May I come near and speak to you?”

  “You may approach—not that I could prevent you,” answered the old man. Nevertheless, he motioned Bran to come near. “What is your name?” asked the old man.

  “I am Bran Bendigedig,” he answered. “I have come to seek the release of Albion from the plague that assails it.”

  “Too bad for you,” said the bent-backed man, straining beneath his load of sticks. “Many good men have tried to break the spell; as many as have tried, that many have failed.”

  “It may be as you say,” offered Bran, “but I doubt there are two men like me in all the world. If there is another, I have never heard of him.” He explained how he had met the noble lady on the strand and had pledged himself to win her hand.

  “I ween that you are a bold man, perhaps even a lucky one,” said the aged noble. “But though you were an army of like-minded, hardy men, you would still fail. The enchantment that besets Albion cannot be broken except by one thing, and one thing alone.”

  “What is that thing?” asked Bran. “Tell me, and then stand back and watch what I will do.”

  “It is not for me to say,” replied the former lord.

  Pointing to the road that led deeper into the forest, the old man said, “Go down that road until you come to a great forest, and continue on until you come to a glade in the centre of the wood. You will know it by a mound that is in the centre of the glade. In the centre of the mound is a standing stone, and at the foot of the standing stone, you will find a fountain. Beside the fountain is a slab of white marble, and on the slab you will find a silver
bowl attached by a chain so that it may not be stolen away. Dip a bowl of water from the fountain and dash it upon the marble slab. Then stand aside and wait. Be patient, and it will be revealed to you what to do.”

  Bran thanked the man and journeyed on along the forest road. In a little while, he began seeing signs of devastation of which the noble lady had warned him: houses burned; fields trampled flat; hills gouged out; streams diverted from their natural courses; whole trees uprooted, overturned, and thrust back into the hole with roots above and branches below. The mutilated bodies of dead animals lay everywhere on the ground, their limbs rent, their bodies torn asunder. Away to the east, a great fire burned a swathe through the high wooded hills, blotting out the sun and turning the sky black with smoke.

  Bran looked upon this appalling destruction. Who could do such a thing? he wondered, and his heart moved within him with anger and sorrow for the ruined land.

  He moved on, walking through desolation so bleak it made tears well up in his eyes to think what had been so cruelly destroyed. After two days, he came to the glade in the centre of the forest. There, as the old man had said, he saw an enormous mound, and from the centre of this mound rose a tall, slender standing stone. Bran ascended the mound and stood before the narrow stone; there at his feet he saw a clear-running fountain and, beside it, the marble slab with the silver bowl attached by a thick chain. Kneeling down, he dipped the silver bowl into the fountain, filled it, and then dashed the water over the pale stone.

  Instantly, there came a peal of thunder loud enough to shake the ground, the wind blew with uncommon fury, and hail fell from the sky. So fiercely did it fall that Bran feared it would beat through his skin and flesh to crack his very bones. Clinging to the standing stone, he pressed himself hard against it for shelter, covered his head with his arms, and bore the assault as best he could.