The Swordswoman - Books 1-3

Chapter 3-1

Melcorka stood in the bows of Wave Skimmer and stared wonderingly ahead. The mainland of Alba was far larger than she had expected. After a lifetime bounded by the confines of an island that she could walk round in a few hours, it was awe-inspiring to witness the never-ending shore of the mainland with its headland after headland and cove after cove, interspersed with semicircles of sandy beaches. Behind the coast, slow green hills rose, ridge after ridge, to the serrated peaks of purple-blue mountains.

Wave Skimmer"Alba," Bearnas said quietly. "Now we will sail as close as possible to the capital and give our message to the king."

Melcorka touched the hilt of her sword. "I chose the sword," she said, "but I cannot use it and I still do not know what is happening."

Bearnas smiled. "You do know. You were born with the way of the sword. Let Defender guide you."

"I named it that! How do you know its name?"

"Defender is only one name people have called her. She was named long before your great-great-grandmother was born and she will exist long after you have taken the warrior"s path."

Melcorka laughed. "I am no warrior."

"What do you think you are, if not a warrior?" Bearnas raised her eyebrows. "It is in you."

"But what do I do? How do I fight?"

"That is a simple question to answer." Bearnas put her hands on Melcorka"s shoulders. "Look at me, girl!"

"Yes, Mother." Melcorka fixed her gaze on her mother"s eyes. They were steady and bright, wise with years.

"You must never draw blade unless in righteousness. You must defend the weak and the righteous. You must never kill or wound for sport or fun. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mother. I understand."

"Good," Bearnas said. "You must never take pleasure in killing, or kill for revenge or cruelty. Fate has granted you a gift, and you must use it responsibly, or the power will drain and turn against you. Do you understand?"

"I understand," Melcorka said.

"Good again." Although Bearnas did not smile, there was a world of compassion in her face. "You had a choice between a life of sloth and luxury or a life of duty and devotion. You chose the latter. Your name will be known, Melcorka. Sennachies will tell tales of your endeavours and bards will sing of your deeds, or you will die in a ditch and the wind will play tunes through your bones. That is the way of the warrior."

"It is a hard choice I have made."

"It was your choice," Bearnas said. "If you draw your blade for the right, defend the weak and oppose tyranny, Defender will fight for you. She will not fight for injustice, or for the wrong. Remember that, Melcorka."

"I will," Melcorka said.

"Then this is to help you remember," Bearnas said and, with all the crew of Wave Skimmer as witnesses, she leaned forward and kissed her daughter on the nose. The resulting cheers did nothing to ease Melcorka"s blushes.

Wave Skimmer"Bearnas! Over there!" The shout came from the masthead. "Sail, ho! Sail on the larboard bow!"

"Keep an eye on it," Bearnas ordered.

"I will need more than one eye," the reply came down immediately. "There is more than one sail. There are two… three… four… There is a whole fleet, Bearnas."

"I"m coming up." Although Bearnas would never see fifty again, she scrambled up the rigging like a teenager to join Oengus at the mast head. "Melcorka," she called down, "up you come."

Oengus slid down the backstay to make room for Melcorka. "The deck looks tiny from up here." Melcorka balanced at the masthead without any fear of the height.

"Don"t look straight down," Bearnas advised, "until you get used to it. You"ll be dizzy and might lose your balance." She pointed north. "Look over there instead and tell me what you can see."

Melcorka tore her gaze from the thumbnail-sized deck of Wave Skimmer and looked north. From up here, the mainland was clearer, the mountains larger, sharper, starker than she had expected and the coast stretched forever to the south. Offshore, in a crescent formation, was rank after rank of ships.

Wave Skimmer"Who are they?" Melcorka asked.

"The enemy," Bearnas said quietly, "the men of the North. They are back."

"Is that who Baetan spoke of?"

"That is who Baetan warned of," Bearnas said quietly. "By rights, the king should be first to know. By rights, he should make the decision. But now you have seen them, you must know. They are the enemies of your blood, Melcorka."

"Have we fought them before?" Melcorka tossed the hair from her eyes. She found it easy to balance on the cross-trees with her legs wrapped around the cool pole of the mast. "I have heard the Sennachie, but I thought that was just a story. I know I have not fought them, but, Mother, you are all geared up like a warrior woman, and all the islanders treat you with respect. And what is this Cenel Bearnas anyway, Mother? Are you the leader here?"

When Bearnas looked at her, Melcorka saw the worry behind her humour. "So many questions from one young woman! By now, you will be aware that we are not simple islanders, Melcorka."

"What are we, Mother?"

"We are what we are. We are called upon when needed."

"Are we needed now?" Melcorka looked at the fleet that was creeping noticeably closer. "Are we going to attack them?"

"You can count, Melcorka. How many are there?"

Melcorka ran her eyes over the fleet. "Thirty – no, there are more behind that headland."

"That is Cape Wrath – the Cape of Turning," Bearnas told her. "The coast alters direction there and rather than south to north, it runs east to west."

"More ships are coming from behind the headland of Cape Wrath," Melcorka said, "many more ships."

"Now, count how many ships we have."

"One," Melcorka said at once.

"Do you still think we should attack them?"

The wind fluctuated, sending the sail flapping against the single mast. Melcorka shook her head. "No," she said. "No, we should not."

"But you want to?" Bearnas eyes were sharp.

"I want to," Melcorka agreed.

"Warrior woman," Bearnas said. She raised her voice. "Back oars! Oengus, steer for the south. Baetan, beat the time for the oarsmen."

Baetan thumped the hilt of his sword on the hull, quickening the pace, so Wave Skimmer proved true to her name and surged across the water. The crew responded with a will but, after half an hour, age began to tell and a rasping gasp accompanied each stroke of the oars.

Wave Skimmer"Keep going!" Bearnas encouraged as Oengus guided them past a group of skerries, where the sea broke in silver spray against the dark-green rock.

Melcorka watched as the starboard oars nearly skiffed the outer rocks and the backwash rocked the ship, throwing spindrift onto the crew. A clutch of seals watched through round brown eyes.

"Melcorka," Bearnas spoke above the regular gasps, "get back aloft and keep watch to the northward. Inform me of everything the Norse do."

The Norse fleet was more distant than before, their sails merging with the darkening sky. Melcorka lost count of their numbers as the ships changed formation to round a prominent headland.

"We head south," Bearnas ordered, "and then east. There is a sheltered bay where even the Norse won"t land."

"We could sail all the way to Alcluid and march from there," Granny Rowan suggested.

"Such a course would mean passing through the territory of the Lord of the Isles," Bearnas said. "I am not prepared to do that."

In these high latitudes, the night was late in coming. There was a slow easing of daylight to a pink flush in the west, that faded to a heart-stoppingly beautiful sunset of scarlet and gold that died as the sun slid beneath the horizon. And then the darkness was intense, broken only by the slight phosphorescence of waves breaking on unseen skerries and the rising blades of their oars. After a while stars appeared, adding depth to the mystery of the sky.

"Row soft and easy," Bearnas ordered. "Sound carries far in the night."

"Can you hear them?" Melcorka asked.

The sound was distinctive, the deep-throated singing of thousands of men growling across the surge and swell of the sea. The song was powerful, an ode to forthcoming s*******r, a battle song to Odin and Thor.

"They are not coming to raid," Melcorka lifted her sword and felt the thrill of battle run from her hand to her whole body, "they are coming to conquer. It is the song they sing."

"But we are no longer enemies," Oengus said. "We share the same king."

"But not the same blood," Baetan reminded him. He stood in the stern of Wave Skimmer and touched the hilt of his sword. "Our days of peace have gone."

Wave Skimmer"Then God save this land of Alba," Bearnas said softly, "for we are ill-prepared for war."

"He will if He wills," Baetan said.

"How did you come to be in the sea?" Melcorka had wanted to ask that question since she had first found Baetan on the beach. Politeness had restrained her curiosity until now.

"The Norse destroyed my village," Baetan said quietly. "I was the only survivor."

"You are a warrior," Melcorka said bluntly. "I did not know we had any in Alba."

"We have them," Bearnas told her. "You will meet them by and by."

The boom of surf on cliff foot alerted them to danger, and the gleam of silver foam showed them where it lay. High above, stars glittered in the dark abyss of the sky.

"Look for the stretch of blackness between the surf," Bearnas ordered, "and fear only what you can see." She moved aft and took control of the steering-oar. "I remember this coast," she said, "so obey my orders when I give them."

Melcorka saw the dark break in between two lines of surf and knew there must be a gap in the cliff wall.

"Up oars, lower the mast," Bearnas ordered.

Wave Skimmer tossed on the back surge from the cliffs as the crew unfastened the stays that held the mast secure and positioned it back in the bottom of the boat. Melcorka watched, unable to help as she admired this newly-revealed skill of these middle-aged men and women.

Wave Skimmer"Oars!" Bearnas said quietly. "Quarter speed."

Wave Skimmer barely made headway against the receding tide as Baetan beat the time and the oarsmen grunted with effort. Melcorka watched as the stars suddenly vanished.

Wave Skimmer"Witchcraft?" she asked.

"Nothing like," Oengus said. "Stand tall and raise a hand. Go on!"

Melcorka did so and touched solid rock. "We are entering another cave," she said. "I did not know the world had so many caves."

"We are not in a cave, girl," Bearnas said. "We are in a tunnel."

After five minutes of cautious groping, with the oars on either side scraping on rock, Wave Skimmer re-emerged into the open air, with a circle of star-specked sky above.

Wave Skimmer"Steer starboard," Bearnas ordered, "hard against the rock-face."

Wave Skimmer eased toward a granite cliff, smoothed by the constant caress of the sea. "Up oars," Bearnas said, "smart now." The crew lifted their oars exactly as the ship touched something hard and Bearnas looped a rope over a jutting outcrop of rock. "I"ve used this landing stage before," she explained, "many years ago." She nodded upward. "That overhang shields us from view and the narrow opening ensures that there are no rough seas to damage the ship."

Wave Skimmer"Mother…" Melcorka began.

"You may call me Bearnas now," Bearnas said.

"You have told me nothing about your earlier life." Melcorka touched the hilt of the sword that already seemed so natural for her to carry across her back.