Kingdom of Summer by Gillian Bradshaw

Author:Gillian Bradshaw
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780451135537
Publisher: ROC
Published: 1981-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

NINE

When I returned to Degannwy an hour or so later, I went to look for Rhuawn. It took some looking, but I eventually found him. He was with Medraut, and the two sat together in a quiet corner of the feast hall, near a fire, playing the harp in turns. Both looked up when I walked over to them, and Medraut smiled and indicated a place to sit. I sat, leaning against one of the benches. Rhuawn was singing a long song in praise of the spring, “when warbands are splendid before a bold lord,” and, while it was not exactly what I had been enjoying the season for, it was still a fine song.

When Rhuawn finished, Medraut took the harp. He began to pluck it idly, as men do before they’ve decided what to sing, bringing out light ripples of sound like the wind on a pool.

“We have songs such as that in Irish,” he told Rhuawn. There is one which is supposed to have been made by the greater warleader, Fionn mac Cumhail. It is the longest and dullest of the lot, so, of course, everyone has to memorize it.” He played a little more, the runs of music sliding into each other with a rush under his fingers, while he gazed dreamily into the fire. “My brother was born in the spring,” he said, after a little. “He will be twenty-seven this May.” A kind of tune began to grow out of the music, then faded again, “I wonder if I could give him a present.”

Rhuawn snorted. “I don’t think you should; and I think, if you did, he would not receive it from you.”

“I might show him my care by it.”

“I don’t think he’d pay any attention. He does not listen to me when I try to speak with him on your behalf. He keeps very much to himself.”

Medraut smiled warmly at Rhuawn. “I thank you deeply for your efforts. It is good to have a friend in this…but truly, I think he only misunderstands me. If I remain patient and generous, he will see that I at least am not his enemy.”

Rhuawn shrugged. “Hawks may swim and salmon may fly.”

“My brother can swim, and his name means hawk. I wonder…”

Rhuawn straightened and leaned forward, putting out his hand for emphasis. “Your brother will remain obstinate. He’s already made that plain to me, abundantly plain. I don’t know why, but he’s set against you and will never change his mind.”

I opened my mouth to say something in Gwalchmai’s defense, but Medraut was already speaking. “I can’t simply give up his friendship. He is my brother.”

“He has abandoned you. He has sworn the Threefold Oath to Arthur, and he holds that above his own blood. He tells people that you and your mother are sorcerers, and he tramples your kinship. In your place, I’d have no qualms about letting him discover his own condemnation.”

I stared at Rhuawn, astonished. But Medraut was shaking his head. “It isn’t Gwalchmai’s fault.

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