Tír na nÓg Trilogy, Book II: The Rising Dark

Divorce and a Pony

King Conchobar left a week later. Emery saw little of him or of Cullen during the time he was in Dun-Dealgan, and she was pretty sure she was all right with that. She spent her time with Tess and Oonagh, working around the hillfort where they could, meeting the various villagers, and just in general enjoying one another's company. They even went out beyond the gates a few times, into the pastures, where Oonagh's brother took his sheep. At the end of each day, Emery was so tired that a bath and a meal and her bed were all she desired.

She learned much in her time out and about, though. She learned, for instance, that the real wealth of each tribe lay in its cattle. That was why, long ago, a queen had attacked Ulster for a bull. Emery had thought that sounded like a silly reason to go to war, but if cows were money, and a bull could make some pretty nice cows, it made a little more sense. That was when Cullen had fought off the army by himself. She learned, too, that the people who lived in Dun-Dealgan were all connected, whether by kinship or by friendship. The webs spun ever wider with every new family added to the tribe, but once Cullen had gained fame, distant cousins and aunts had begun to attach themselves to him, and then those peoples' friends and relatives had attached themselves, and so on and so forth. Oonagh believed that they'd need to add onto Dun-Dealgan or even build a second fort soon enough, as its population grew every year due to Cullen's renowned abilities and the likelihood that he and his warriors could protect them.

The more Emery heard about her purported husband, the more conflicted she grew. Every new bit of information seemed to add another tangle to the knot forming in her stomach, so that she wound tighter each day. Her fuse began to shorten, and she found herself losing patience with frivolous things. Both Tess and Oonagh recognized their friend's irritability but couldn't quite place its source. In fact, Emery herself couldn't place it; what exactly did she want out of all of this? She'd hoped that returning would spark her memory, but that hadn't happened, and her feelings for Cullen, rather than growing clearer in either direction, were more muddled in the middle.

So she'd been glad not to see him after the night of the king's arrival. Mostly. She was pretty sure she was glad not to see him. And when Tess pointed out how often Emery seemed to be looking for something when they wandered through the village, Emery assured her it was only to make sure she avoided Cullen if he happened to be around.

Emery was also irritable because she hadn't had much opportunity to speak with Cathbad about her nightmare. It hadn't recurred, but the whole thing had struck a chord in her. After the night she'd mentioned her dream to Cathbad, they'd had one brief conversation about it the following morning, and it had gone something like this:

"Quickly, Emery, tell me about your dream."

They'd been outside the feasting hall, in the sunlight, and had caught a moment where the guards were changing and paying little attention to them.

"It was a forest, and then a deer came to me--a baby deer--and I went to pet it, but then it died. And it said the Dark Man wants an answer."

"An answer for what?"

"I don't know!"

Cathbad had frowned in dismay, curled a hand into a fist, and pressed it against his chin in consternation. "I must tell Lord Cuchulain. I was hoping I'd been wrong, as you hadn't had any signs, but this bodes ill--"

"Don't tell him! Please! He'll just freak out and make sure I never go anywhere! Or he'll surround me with guards, or--I don't know. Please, Cat, just wait and see if I get any more signs. I won't go off talking to strange men, like you said."

And somehow, she'd managed to convince the druid to wait, to keep her secret, until they could know more.

Emery had hoped she would know more by now, that she'd have had time to bring Cathbad into her roundhouse, where he could sit with her and Tess and Oonagh and chat, or that he'd have offered to take them out to that tree again for another conversation. But both he and Cullen were kept very busy with the king. Conchobar's arrival and stay had put Dun-Dealgan into a hyperactive mode. Emery had hardly gotten used to life there before having it upset by the king and his retinue of men. Why they were there (beyond his "right off the first night" business) was unclear, but whenever Emery walked past the feasting hall, the king's guards were out front, keeping anyone away from whatever conversations were being held inside, and a general aura of tension permeated the hillfort.