Page 65 of Queen of the Shadow

“Queen Scáthach, if I may.” Taog bowed his head. “My wife is a bonny healer, known in these parts as a true wise woman. Our cottage is just around the bend there.” He pointed to the south, away from the islet. “It would be my honor to take Amage to my home and care for your warrior.”

“Thank you, Taog. Your offer is much appreciated,” said Scáthach. She turned to Tabiti. “You may go with her.”

“And what will you do?” asked Tabiti.

“Return to camp and ready the guard to attack the fort at dusk.”

Amage took Tabiti’s hand. “G-go with the queen. Save Cu.” She looked up at Scáthach. “He s-saved us—shielded us with his b-body while they rained arrows at us.”

“He did,” said Tabiti. “And he was wounded.”

Amage looked up and met Scáthach’s gaze. “W-we didn’t w-want to leave him.”

Scáthach crouched beside Amage and Tabiti. “Of course you didn’t want to leave him. I know that. He knows that. And we’ll get him back. Alive.”

Scáthach stood. “Taog, can you take Amage to your wife and then come back here when it is fully dark? I have need of your boat one more time.”

“Aye, Queen Scáthach. My boy and I will gladly return.”

“You have my gratitude. Ask a boon of me, and if it is within my power I will grant it you,” said Scáthach. As she turned away, Iain ran to her.

The boy bowed low. “My queen! Would you consider training me?” He straightened and added, “I know I’m just a fisherboy, but I want to learn. I want to be a protector like you. Like Cuchulainn. Like Tabiti and Amage.”

Scáthach smiled and touched his cheek. “It is not important what you are now. It is important what you have a passion to become. Yes, Iain, son of Taog, the boon I owe will be fulfilled when you are of age and come to Dunscáith. I will train you to be a protector.” Her gaze slid from the boy to the old fisherman. “With your father’s permission, of course.”

“He has it as well as my blessing,” said Taog, his cheeks flushing with pride as he smiled at his son. “Now, laddie boy, let’s get our warrior loaded back into the boat and take her to your bonny mum.”

* * *

After the sun slid silently behind the Isle of Skye, a chill wind blew over the loch, bringing a thick shroud of mist that hovered over the water like spirits of the dead, creeping into the fort and the pine-covered hills, coating everything in a gray silence through which even the sound of the loch lapping against the shore was muffled.

Scáthach stood with her back to the loch. Taog and Iain had beached the little boat and waited. She faced the Shadow Guard. All were mounted and ready to ride to the fort. The thick fog allowed them to follow the same route around the loch she had taken earlier; it would conceal them until the guard was literally at the castle bridge. Uathach stood at her side. Tabiti was mounted at the head of the guard.

“My aunt Cliodna, Goddess of Waterways, is with us tonight,” Scáthach told her warriors, lifting her voice to slice through the muffling fog. “She sends concealment. Ride to the fort bridge and wait for Uathach’s sign—the opening of the great front doors—and then attack. The last count of Aife’s men was given me by Geirr of Lethra. He numbers them at two hundred.”

“Two for each one of us. Easy odds,” said Tabiti.

“Aye!” shouted her Shadow Guard, their fierce grins showing white through the gray mist.

“The only trap we know of was the one they sprang on Cuchulainn,” said Tabiti.

“But keep your wits about you and your eyes sharp,” said Scáthach. “We don’t truly know what awaits within the fort.” The Queen of Shadow stepped forward, closer to her guard. Her eyes flashed with anger, though her voice remained calm. “By sunrise Aife’s army will be destroyed. They have ambushed us on our own island, put a price on my head, wounded our people, killed Cynwrig, and captured Cuchulainn. For their crimes they will not be shown mercy. Shadow Guard,destroy them!”She raised a fist into the air.

“Aye!” her warriors shouted.

As mist consumed the echoes of their voices, the roar of a bear sounded from the woods, wrapping around them as if the beast would ride beside them to the castle.

“My mother’s creature adds his voice to ours. Even from Valhalla Béfionn supports us. Remember that with her blessing, the great brown bear also adds his strength to ours,” said Scáthach. “Béfionn is with us in spirit!”

“We will remember, Queen of Shadow!” vowed Tabiti. “To victory!”

“To victory!”the guard echoed. And then Tabiti kneed her horse, and the guard followed her to be enfolded in mist.

Scáthach and Uathach had already loaded their poles and weapons into the little boat. Dusk had settled into night and the fog was so thick that they didn’t need to conceal themselves in the bottom of the boat. They shoved off from the bank, and Taog and Iain rowed into the center of the lake. Once there, they lifted their oars as the old fisherman tried to get his bearings. Even far out on the loch the fog was so thick that it shielded the lights of the fort from them.

Uathach sat beside her mother on the aft bench. She leaned into Scáthach. “You should help him find the way to the fort. If not, we could be out here most of the night, rowing impotently in circles as Tabiti and the guard wait restlessly for the doors to the fort to be opened.”

“Help him?”