Page 29 of The Bear's Heart
We dismounted, and men came to take our horses to the long low stable buildings that stood on this side of the land-bridge. For a moment, Arthur stood looking uncertain as they led away his horse, and I realized with a jolt that this place was stranger to him than it was to me. This must be the first time he’d been here. Legend had Din Tagel down as the place he was born, but I had no idea if this were true. Perhaps I’d ask him later.
Cei came up behind him and slapped him encouragingly on the back. “Come, brother, best to get this over with straightaway.”
Arthur turned to me, his dark eyes somber and brooding. “It’s you she wants to see, not me.” Was that a faint hint of resentment in his voice? Could his apparent reluctance to come here hide quite different feelings?
I doubted very much that she wanted to see me more than him. What mother would not want to see her long estranged son once the controlling father who’d prevented this had died? Had it never occurred to Arthur that it was his father who’d kept her from him? Along the journey I’d been thinking about this summons. All those years when Uthyr Pendragon had been living, Arthur’s mother had supposedly made no effort to see her younger son. Yet now, with Uthyr barely cold in his grave, and Arthur elevated to kingship, she’d sent a message as soon as the spring weather set in. I was more than curious about her motivations, and about meeting a woman I’d read so much about in legends.
We passed between the houses, barns and middens of the fortress, heading toward the looming bulk of the hall. Blowing hard from the west, the sea wind snatched away the smoke rising from the rooftops and tugged at our cloaks.
Eigr was standing alone on the wooden platform just outside her hall, holding her cloak tight around herself. A tall, white-haired woman, upright as a pillar, she held her chin high, and an air of cold unapproachability clung to her like a second skin.
Arthur halted several paces short, and I stopped beside him. Disregarding her icy front, Cei strode up and seized her in his strong arms to hug her close. “Mother, you look well. Winter’s not treated you so badly.” He planted a kiss on her pale cheek.
Over his shoulder, her pale blue eyes, like Cei’s in color but not in warmth, regarded me stonily. Arthur reached out and took my hand, his fingers interlacing with mine in a gesture of solidarity I felt grateful for. I determined to be strong, glad of this physical support. Or maybe it was me supporting him. I couldn’t be sure.
Cei released his mother and stood to one side, giving her a clear view of Arthur and me. I made a little bow. After all, she was my husband’s mother, and had once been a queen, like me. Arthur inclined his head infinitesimally, but from what I could see of his profile, he appeared to be scowling. As for her, hunger filled her eyes, gnawing hunger, perhaps for a son she’d been driven apart from so long ago.
“Arthur.” Just one word that cut through the chill spring air. Overhead, a bevy of gulls rose shrieking from the cliffs and were caught on the sea wind to be sent somersaulting away.
“Mother.” He answered her with a matching single word. I was reminded sharply of the way he’d greeted Cadwy at his father’s deathbed.
She held his gaze for a good minute, before shifting her eyes to me. “So, this is your queen. The long awaited Lady of the Ring.” She didn’t sound that pleased to see me.
His hand tightened around mine. “It is.”
Another silence ensued.
“Shall we go inside?” Cei put in, his voice edged with discomfort. He liked people to get along. “It’s blowing a gale out here.”
Eigr seemed to remember herself with a start. She’d been staring at me as though seeing something quite different, looking through me into the far distance, reading my inner thoughts, perhaps. After all, people said she possessed the Sight. I tried hard to think nice things about her, just in case.
“Of course. I’m remiss. Come inside. Your queen must be fatigued after so long a journey.” She looked straight at my flat belly. “Her being with child.”
My free hand went to my belly in a telltale protective movement.
I’d have sworn nobody could have got a message to her over the winter to tell her I was pregnant. Could she tell by just looking, or was it the Sight? Common sense inclined me not to believe that anyone could foresee the future or read minds, but then again, I’d got here by magic, so who was I to quibble?
We followed her inside the hall– a smaller version of the one at Din Cadan, aisled, with pillars down either side supporting a thatched roof, and divided widthways by a wall two thirds of the way down. A fire burnt in the central firepit, and the pile of wiry-coated hounds who slept beside it stirred to get up and lazily sniff us newcomers.
Although there were no windows, the hall was well lit by torches burning in brackets on the pillars, and now I found time to take a better look at Eigr by their light. She was a beautiful woman, even at her age, which, despite her white hair, couldn’t have been much above her early forties. Still slender, despite her many pregnancies, she wore a gold-filigreed belt over her fine, green wool dress that minimized the slight thickening of her waist. Now that we were out of the wind, she shrugged the fur-lined cloak from her slender shoulders and tossed it onto a table.
“You came.” She was looking at Arthur. “You came to me at last.” A hint of triumph edged her voice, and a quaver. Could she be close to tears? I had a sudden vivid picture of her arguing with Uthyr Pendragon over the possession of their children. She would have been a formidable opponent.
Arthur didn’t reply; he was still wearing his cloak despite the warmth inside the hall, almost as if he were prepared to make a hurried departure if things went wrong.
Her face softened, or seemed to, but it might only have been the effect of the golden torchlight on her skin. She half raised her hand to him. “I have missed you.”
Arthur still didn’t answer. His eyes remained as stony as hers. She let her hand drop to her side.
It seemed she wasn’t prepared to take no for an answer, however. “I know you’re angry.” Her voice carried through the empty hall. “I know you hate me for what I did. The reason I’ve asked you to come here and visit me is because I want to explain to you why. We need to start again.” She paused. “You are my son.” She was almost pleading.
He stayed silent– a technique I’d used many times. Usually the recipient begins to gabble.
“Food!” Cei said, the one forced to gabble in this instance. “We need food and drink before the Queen faints from starvation. I’ll send for food.” He marched to a low door at the side of the hall and flung it open. “Hoy!” I heard him shout. “Your lord is here and so is your king. We need refreshments. Now! Get about it, you idlers, or I’ll have you chucked over the cliffs.”
I doubted Cei, with his inner core of soft putty, would do anything of the sort, but as a threat, it worked. Straightaway several servants came running into the hall bearing trays of cold meat, baskets of bread, bowls of olives, a wheel of cheese and some pitchers of wine.
Cei looked pleased. He was a man fond of his stomach, there being a lot of him to sustain. “Sit down, sit down,” he said as though no face-off were going on. “Help yourselves.” He sat down at the nearest table and began to tuck into the provided food with gusto. I looked from Eigr to Arthur and down at the laden table, then took a seat opposite Cei and helped myself to some of the meat. I was as hungry as he was. After a moment, Merlin, too, sat down and sliced himself a chunk of the cheese with his dagger.
