"Declan..."
The bard stepped forward, his power seeming to awe them all. "There is no time to speak of this now. You must hasten. I will guard Niall. No one would dare harm him in my care. Go, Caitlin of the Lilies. Only you can give this hero tale a joyous ending."
She knelt, crushing Niall to her one last time. Rising, she reached out, clasped Declan's hand. Together, they rode into the night.
Chapter 23
Caitlin sat in the silent chamber watching Niall's haggard face, marking each precious breath that slipped between his pale lips. Four days had passed since she first pressed an elixir of herbs between his lips, struggling to purge the poison that flowed through his body.
She prayed she had blended the right mixture, prayed that too much time had not passed for the healing powers to work. Yet with each sunset he did not awaken, she grew more frightened, felt more alone.
She could hear the abbess's gentle voice as she bent over a novice who had lain senseless for days.It seems the longer they sleep, the closer God draws them to eternity. I fear she will never awaken.
Never awaken...
Nay. She could not bear it. And yet, if Niall must slip away, she was glad he had clung to life this long. If he could stay with her a few more days, his mother and Fiona would come, would have the chance to tell him goodbye.
Declan had sent riders to Daire, men he trusted, men who cared for Niall, though Niall had never known how deep their loyalty ran. Yet she feared even one more sunset was too much to ask of the fates now.
He looked so pale, so still. His face like marble, translucent, as if captured in some wicked spell. She had decked the chamber with elderflowers to remind him of his mother, talked endlessly late into the night as if stories and tales, cajoling, and commands could reach him in the mist world where he wandered now, alone. She had sung the melody they had danced to at the bonfire and told him how much she loved him, until her throat ached and her voice rasped in exhaustion.
Yet still he would not open his eyes.
She heard a soft sound in the doorway, turned to see Declan peering in, the warrior worn out from keeping his own vigil, standing guard outside the door.
Caitlin tried to smile, motioning Declan into the room. "Would you care to sit with him awhile?" she asked. "I know it gives him comfort that you are here watching over us."
"Do you think he knows? Knows that I... I would die for him. Not only as my chieftain but as my friend."
"I am certain he knows."
"Caitlin, there is nothing more to guard against beyond this door. Few would challenge Niall now. If you could only step outside, look about you, listen to the people, what they are saying. The truth has spread through Glenfluirse swiftly. The tales of Conn's treachery with Niall and his father gave other men courage to step forward, tell how Conn schemed and plotted against them, trapped them into doing things that shamed them."
"How many other lives did he corrupt the way he did Niall's?" Caitlin said sadly. "Poisoning with half-truths and secret fears?"
"More men than you can count have suffered under Conn. Of any gift, any strength Niall could bring to Glenfluirse as chieftain, this is the greatest of all. He freed them from the chains of Conn's lies, opened their eyes to the truth for thefirst time in so very long. Aye, and opened their hearts with his courage against Conn's evil. He showed all of us that his first loyalty was not to his own gain but to what was right."
Caitlin reached over, touched Niall's cheek. "He is the finest man I have ever known." She surprised herself with a ragged laugh. "He would say I have not known enough men to judge, having grown up in the abbey. But it would not matter if I had known every man in Ireland, would it, Declan? He is the finest of them all."
Declan nodded, swallowed hard.
"It is still so strange to know that you were the one who carried me to the sisters."
"You must despise me for my part in taking you from your parents. But I wish you to know I did not abandon you. Whenever I was near Saint Mary's, I would climb the tree that looks over the wall. I would watch you at your play."
"I remember telling the sisters I thought a giant lived in that tree. I always thought I had imagined you."
"You were such a beautiful child, and it comforted your parents to know the sisters loved you."
"My parents knew?"
"It was the only thing I could do to ease their pain. Carry tales about you back to them. Images of a little girl to hold in their hearts. Conn forbade me to tell anyone where you were hidden or ever to return there. Made certain I knew the penalty was death. But I have babes of my own, could not bear the grief in your father's face. He wanted you to sense his love, though he could not be there to hold your hand. That is why he sent you the lily each year on the day of your birth."
"The lily was from my father?"
"Aye. After he died this last winter, I could not bear to bring one to you when the time came. I should have, I know, and yet... every time I thought of Fintan, every time I thought of you, knowing you would never have the chance now to touch your father's face, hear his voice... the pain of it, aye, and my own guilt, was near unbearable. I tried to banish you from my mind, and your father as well. There was nothing I could do to change what had gone before."
The warrior swallowed hard. "Forgive me. For leaving you there. For refusing to tell your father where you were. I believed Conn's vow that you were safe. If I had ever suspected what he planned for you, I would have snatched you from the abbey myself, taken you to safety."
