Blood Brother, Swan Sister by Eithne Massey

Author:Eithne Massey [Eithne Massey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781847176516
Publisher: The O'Brien Press
Published: 2014-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

THE QUEEN’S TASK

During the next day it was much harder for Arna to get away from the house, as Birgit watched both her daughters like a hawk. She lined up so many chores to be done that Elva, who knew it was Birgit’s way to keep busy when she was anxious, realised that her mother must be very anxious indeed. Arna seemed to be half asleep as she did her work, doing everything so slowly and making so many mistakes that Elva wondered if she was acting like this on purpose. Perhaps she was hoping that Birgit would give up asking her to do things. Elva could have told her that that tactic would not work with her mother. She had tried it often enough herself!

But finally Birgit ran out of things for them to do. ‘Well girls, now you can do what you want until it’s time to help me with the wash,’ she said, ‘be sure to be back for that. But don’t go beyond the walls, nor near the palace. Are you listening to me now, Arna? And stay together; the streets are full of soldiers and the town is not safe. So be sure to stay together. Do you hear me now, I’m serious!’

The girls left the house together, but they were barely out the door when Arna turned to Elva and said: ‘You needn’t think you can stick to me like horse glue today. I have things to do that have nothing to do with you.’

Right so, said Elva to herself, let’s see if I can’t just follow you and see what it going on with you! Aloud she said: ‘So, nothing new there, then. See if I care what you get up to!’

At least she had the satisfaction of seeing Arna’s face drop in surprise.

In fact, Elva was almost sure that Arna would head straight for Queen Kormlada in the palace, so she waited just a few minutes and then started up the hill to where it stood. She caught up with Arna just in time to see her disappear into one of the side entrances, and stood, considering her next move. If she followed her, the soldiers on guard would challenge her, and she would not be allowed in. She thought back to the only time she had been in the palace. Arna and she had been sent with there some lotions of her mother’s. Birgit, as well as being a healer, made beauty lotions for the skin and hair, and they were famous all over Dublin. The queen had sent for some. And never paid her mother, if Elva remembered rightly. An armed guard had brought the two of them to the queen’s room. It had been large and the walls were covered in shelves, filled with all sorts of powders and potions. In the centre there was a huge loom, and the queen had been weaving something, a large banner with the symbol of a black crow against a blood-red background.

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