Susan King - [Celtic Nights 01] Read Free Page B

went."
    "Your old legs could not catch him," Niall said.
    "Let me worry what my old legs can do," Lulach snapped. "They are younger legs than yours."
    "I am fine," Alainna assured them quickly. "I am under the protection of the Maiden. Cormac would never harm me here."
    "He would be a fool to test the spell," Niall said.
    "He is a fool," Lulach pointed out.
    "You need the protection of a blade, not an old stone," Giric said. Usually relaxed in manner, he was tense, his hands fisted. "Do not trust any man of Clan Nechtan."
    "Cormac would not dare harm me," she reassured them. But she shivered inwardly, recalling Cormac's threats.
    "She has no blade, but she does have an arrow," Niall said. He peered at the shaft in her hand. "Where did you get that?"
    "I found it in the grass."
    "Elf-arrow," he said. "Lost by the faeries."
    "It is human-made," Lulach said. "Needs new feathering, but the point is still good."
    "I found it after I made an offering to the Maiden. It may be an omen," Alainna said.
    "True, a sign that there will soon be one less MacNechtan," Niall said. "It is good to make an offering on such a fine day, but you should not come out here alone."
    "And you will not have the Maiden's protection for long," Lulach said. "Soon we will mark the end of seven hundred years of the faery spell."
    "It is months until Saint Brighid's day," Alainna said.
    "So what did Black Cormac want?" Niall asked.
    "To take your other hand," Lulach drawled.
    "Baothan," Niall grumbled, "blockhead."
    Giric stifled a laugh. "Peace, I beg of you! Alainna wants all of her kinfolk to bide the winter at Kinlochan. But she has enough to worry her without you two adding to that."
    "Fine, then," Niall said. "Alainna, we saw Esa at her home in the hills last night. She refuses to come to Kinlochan. We even offered to carry her great loom, but she wants to stay by her own hearth."
    "I wish we could convince her to join us," Alainna said.
    "Convince slate to turn to marble," Lulach said. "She has made up her mind."
    "She mourns her Ruari Mor still, though it has been over a year since his death." Alainna sighed. "A bond like theirs—ah, it must be hard to lose the other."
    "We will talk to her again," Giric said. "Now tell us what Cormac wanted."
    "It is obvious what he wants and we should take his head off for it," Lulach said, fisting his hands on his hips.
    "He spoke of marriage," Alainna said. "I will explain later, over some hot porridge. I am hungry." She stepped forward and whistled to Finan, who had strayed to the loch's edge.
    "Cormac MacNechtan thinks to wed our toiseach, our leader, our own youngest one?" Niall asked, as the men walked beside her. "That cannot happen!"
    "Our clans need peace, and she needs a husband, but not that husband," Lulach said.
    "Though it is time you married, Alainna," her brother said.
    "We would never find a warrior willing to join a feud, and who would please this clan," she replied.
    "Marriage to the female chief of Clan Laren offers fine rewards," Niall said. "Forests filled with deer, a loch thick with fish, grass for cattle, a beautiful girl of proud blood—"
    "And a blood feud generations old," Alainna added bitterly.
    "You are our youngest one, the last of our blood," Lulach said. "The right marriage can make our clan safe again."
    Safe. She wanted that for them, so much. Her throat tightened. "But whoever I wed would give his name to our children. What then for Clan Laren?"
    Her kinsmen were silent as they walked beside her.
    "Your husband could take our name," Niall suggested. "It is sometimes done."
    "I have heard of it, but have not seen it done," Lulach said.
    Alainna frowned. "We would never find a man who would accept our troubles, let alone our name."
    "If only you could marry our Giric," Niall said. "He is not your blood kin, and he loves all of us well."
    "But he is her foster brother," Lulach pointed out.
    "It is up to the king to decide whom she will wed," Giric said. "He has the right to choose a