In the Shadow of the Wall Read Free Page A

Mairead was looking more at Brude than at him.
    Mairead was a couple of years younger than the two boys but they had grown up together. Colm was two months older than Brude and liked to take the lead in most things that they did together, which was just about everything. Though they were like brothers, Brude, as the younger, usually let Colm have his own way. He knew that Colm, who had lost his parents when he was quite young, liked to prove he was better than everyone else. He always wanted to win at rything he did. Most of the time Brude did not mind that. Colm was taller than he was by half a head but Brude was stockier and stronger. Despite that, he usually let Colm win when they wrestled. Usually, but not always.
    Mairead, by common consent, was the most beautiful girl in the village. She had reached the age where she should marry. Everyone seemed to take it for granted that she would marry Colm before long which meant he would be the next head man, for Mairead was the daughter of Brude’s grandmother’s cousin. The Boresti, like all the Pritani, inherited through the female line. Only men could rule, of course, but even though Brude was the son of a head man, his mother was not of a noble line, so he would not follow his father in that position. It did not bother him. He was young, strong and happy, and he was off to war to become a hero. What more was there to wish for?
    They gathered on the wide, open space north of the broch. Its mighty tower, the height of twelve grown men, dwarfed them all, casting a long shadow in the morning sunlight. It was the wonder of the coast, built by Brude’s great-great-grandfather after the Romans had come and gone many years before, built to offer protection for the villagers should the Romans ever return. They never had, so the broch had never been needed as a defence. Its two concentric walls, each as thick as a man is tall, formed an impregnable fortress, providing a safe haven for people and animals alike. With only one small entrance and a platform at the high summit from which defenders could hurl rocks and spears at any enemy, the broch was a symbol of the power of the Boresti. The village of Broch Tava had grown and flourished in recent years. Brude’s father was accounted a good leader, for the people prospered under his rule. He was not the mightiest lord of the Boresti but he was the only one who had a broch to defend his people and the whole village took pride in that fact.
    Now Nechtan, the mighty warrior, lord of lords, led them in a prayer to Belatucadros, god of war, seeking his blessing on their venture. Then he drank from a horn full of ale, tossing it loftily aside when he had drained it. They all cheered as he waved his arm, urging his horse to turn and set off westwards.
    The army followed, accompanied for some way by the villagers. Colm ran to Mairead and gave her a kiss, waving happily to her as he rejoined Brude in the marching troop. “I’m going to marry her when we get back,” Colm told him. Mairead’s father, Fionnlagh, who was marching a few paces ahead of them, turned to give Colm a studied look before glancing at Brude.
    Brude looked away, turning his head in time to see Mairead blow him a kiss. He grinned at her like an idiot and tried to blow a kiss back, but couldn’t because he was holding a spear in his right hand and had a shield strapped to his left arm, so all he succeeded in doing was knocking the spear against his head. Colm laughed at him but Brude did not mind for he had a secret. He knew that Mairead would not marry Colm. She had told him so last night when she had given herself to him. Brude knew that she was waiting for him to return, not for Colm. Brude knew that his friend would not be happy, but that was a problem for another day. Today they were marching to war and he was a real man with a woman waiting for him to return a victorious hero.
     
    They marched inland, skirting the flat-topped slopes of the hill they called the Law