The Raven's Wish by King Susan

Author:King, Susan [King, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: ePublishing Works!
Published: 2011-05-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

`How many small fishes

Do swim the salt sea round?

Or what's the seemliest sight you'll see

Into a May morning?'

~"Proud Lady Margaret"

"Ah," said Kenneth, frowning up at the raftered ceiling, "what is sharper than a thorn?"

"A dirk," Callum said, but Kenneth shook his head.

"A woman's tongue," Ewan offered. Elspeth frowned at him.

"Hunger," Magnus said. Kenneth nodded, caught. "Well, then," Magnus said, taking his turn, "what is whiter than milk, and softer than silk?"

"Clouds," Kenneth suggested.

"Snow," Ewan said.

"Curds," Callum said. His cousins stared at him.

"Down of a feather," Elspeth said. Magnus nodded at her.

"My turn," she said, sitting forward. Her brow creased as she pondered her next riddle. The others waited.

Duncan relaxed against the high back of carved chair, listening to the riddles fly back and forth. He drained the last sip of his heather ale and looked around the great hall. Darkness filled every corner, and a peat fire glowed in the central iron basket; though the hour was very late, the Frasers still sat in the hall. They had eaten their fill of a large and lavish dinner, including what Flora had announced with delight as MacDonald mutton gracing the stew.

After the meal, there had been some singing. Duncan had declined to join, finally relenting enough to hum; Elspeth had been pleased enough with that, he thought. Then the riddling had begun, a pastime that the Frasers obviously enjoyed.

Elspeth cleared her throat now, and sat forward. "Tell me," she said, "what is a hoop by day, and a snake at night?"

Ewan chuckled. "`By day like a hoop, by night like a snake, who answers this riddle, I take for a mate'. That is an old one, Elspeth. We all know it. A belt."

She made a quick face at him. "Well, then, try this one. What is never, ever silent?" Her cousins glanced at each other, puzzled.

Duncan set down his cup. "The sea is never silent."

"Ah! Duncan answered, and will have to be your mate," Kenneth said. Someone laughed.

"Whoever would try to marry me, I would set him a harder riddle than that one," Elspeth said firmly.

"Would you?" Hugh asked. "Would you set a challenge, like in the old tales?"

Elspeth nodded. "I might do so."

"You should have tried that on Ruari MacDonald," Kenneth said. "He lacks the wit for riddles. We would not have had to refuse the marriage offer then."

"Robert had to refuse that offer after his meddlesome attempt to give Elspeth to the MacDonalds," Hugh reminded them. "Ruari has enough wit to be offended by that. Elspeth knows she should beware Ruari. We should all beware."

Duncan saw that Elspeth pinched her mouth shut at that. "Ruari will not bother me again," she said. "Now then. Duncan Macrae answered my riddle, and he must say one next."

Earlier, watching Elspeth, Duncan had remembered a riddle that his father had taught him many years ago. He did not think she would like it much, but he could think of no other.

"What is blacker than the raven?" he asked.

Elspeth glanced at him, startled.

"Night," Callum said.

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