Realtanna

Bláithín sat on the wall surrounding the schoolyard watching all the children. Still for the most part the Holy Isle children stayed to one side and the Armengar children to the other. Only the rougher of the native children would dare play the games of Armengar and despite her efforts, most of the Armengarians didn't see there was anything they could learn from their classmates. Well she was sick of it. She was sick of having to fix things everytime a fight started. She was sick of Ruairí and Gráinne acting like bullies and scaring the younger children into training when sometimes they just wanted to play. She was sick of Aisling being picked on because she heard things and her daddy was a bit weird and she always had to tell them off but they still teased her the next day anyway. Sick of everyone expecting her to make things better when the teachers tried to stop them practising with their weapons. And being eight was just horrible. Amáraiga bounded over to her and tried to climb the wall.

"Bláithín! Help me up!"

Bláithín looked at her. "Go away."

She didn't seem to have heard. Amáraiga grabbed the top of the wall with her arm and tried to pull herself up but ended up with a scraped elbow for her trouble. She hardly noticed. "Bláithín! Help me!"

"I said go away and leave me alone!"

She shouted it out enough that half the yard stopped what they were doing to stare at her and pass the message back to the other half who were now wondering what had happened. Amáraiga looked up at her with doleful eyes. Her lip began to quiver. Before Bláithín could say another word to her, she turned on her heels and ran. The show over, the playground returned to normal and Bláithín continued to stare out across it. She groaned inwardly when Griana and Fiach started making their way purposefully towards her.

"That was mean, Bláithín. She just wanted to sit with you." Griana jumped up beside her, Fiach on the other side.

"I told you-"

"Yes you told us you wanted to be left alone and we did coz we're your friends but now you're making your little sister cry so something's wrong, right?" Griana folded her arms.

"Yeah," Fiach joined in. "and you've been all bad moody since your birthday and so has Ruairí and we asked people and no one's seen you two talk since so you had a fight with him, didn't you?"

Bláithín looked from one to the other and she wanted to tell them to leave her alone, but they looked like her mammy got when she thought something was wrong and wasn't going to go away until Bláithín told her. "Ruairí told our mammy and daddy he wants to go home but Mammy doesn't want him to coz the ceasefire might end any time. Then Daddy started fighting with her and he said she was making Ruairí pay for things her daddy did and that made her go very quiet."

"What did her daddy do?", asked Fiach.

Bláithín shrugged. "Dunno. But I think it was something bad coz Daddy knew he said something mean but he couldn't take it back coz Ruairí kept saying it then and I thought she was going to cry! He called me names when I tried to make him stop and Mammy got real angry and hit him and it was all horrible."

Griana patted her on the arm. "It's okay. My mammy and daddy used to fight sometimes but they told me it's just coz people get scared and need to know the other person is there with them. It doesn't mean they don't like each other any more or anything."

"My mum shouts lots too but it's just coz she's worried people will get hurt if they don't do what she says." Fiach nodded to himself and swung his legs against the wall. "Me and Ruairí fight sometimes but that's okay coz he's still my brother, but Mammy and Daddy never fight like that and it's all my fault."

Griana frowned. "Why? What did you do?"

"When I didn't want to go to school anymore and wanted to come here. Daddy didn't want me to. That's what started it."

"Oh."

The three of them sat in silence a long moment before Griana clapped her hands, then jumped from the wall."I know what!" She beckoned them down. Fiach and Bláithín gathered around her to hear her whispering. "Can you get out tonight?"

"Out where?"

"Just somewhere we can be alone. I want to show you something."

Fiach and Bláithín both frowned. "But we're not allowed", Fiach said. "It's dangerous."

Griana rolled her eyes. "Everything is dangerous. Let's meet here."

Bláithín shook her head. "Creathna will never let me go. She's been acting kind of weird since Mammy was here a few weeks ago and wanted to see I still had my pendent."

"So don't ask! Come on Bláithín, it's cool and it will make you feel better. My Mammy showed it to me before I came here and now I know where she is all the time and I'm not scared so much. Will you come, Fiach?"

Fiach nodded. "Mum will kill me if she finds out." His grin grew wicked. "Okay."

"Bláithín?"

A small smile began and quickly grew. "Okay then. Tonight."

"Tonight!"

The three laughed just as the bell rang to call them back to the classroom.

Only a sliver of moon hung in the night sky over the three children when they met again. The stars were bright and it was cloudless - which made Griana very happy as she led her friends into the small school garden. She unfolded the blanket she brought with her over the grass and lay flat out, a contented sigh escaping from her. Only after a minute or two did she notice Blaitin and Fiach standing awkwardly watching her.

"Well what are you waiting for? Come on." She patted the blanket either side of her with both hands.

"I thought you wanted to show us something-" Bláithín started.

Griana sat up, an impatient look crossing her face. "I do. But you have to lie down first."

Fiach was looking distinctly uncomfortable. "Uh, Griana, we're only-"

"It's the stars, okay? See they're almost the same and Mammy says if we're looking at the same stars then we're not that far away, right?"

Bláithín craned her neck right back and looked up. "How do you know they're the same?"

"That's easy. But it's easier if you lie down!"

At that Bláithín and Fiach lay down on the blanket either side of her.

"Well?" Fiach asked, "what are we looking for?"

With a large grin on her face, Griana lay back and began.

"There's patterns, see? Up there-" Griana pointed directly above their heads. "There's five of them and if you draw lines it looks like the citadel."

"Oh yeah-"

"That's called Armengar obviously - so we can see Armengar from here! Isn't that cool? It's in a different place in the sky at home but it's still there and Mammy says that's what matters." Her handed moved a little south. "There. See the star that's a bit red?"

"Where? I don't see it."

"There, Fiach!"

"Oh yeah."

"Can you see it, Bláithín?"

"I think so... yeah."

"Well that's another easy one. That's Delalaria's star. See how just below it there's two little stars that flicker lots? Well they're the flame spirits that Delalaria keeps away from Armengar!"

"That's cool!" Fiach added enthusiastically. "Just like in the story!" He considered it for a moment. "Is there a star for Heramacles?"

Griana turned her face to him with a look of that being such a ridiculous question. "Of course there is, there's a star for all the protectors of Armengar so they can always watch over us so of course there is for the first one!"

Bláithín got a look of concentration over her face. "So where's Chareos?"

Griana spoke in a hush with an air of reverence as her pointed finger sought out the stars. "Mammy showed me just before we came here... it's new, see? So not easy to find - there!" Her hand stiffened as she pointed into the east. "See where it looks like a face, only with one eye missing? See the other eye, then those two are the nose, then the smiley mouth?"

Bláithín frowned as she followed where her friend was pointing. "Looks more like a boat. See it's got a mast, and a flag."

"Then you're not looking at it right!" Griana perched herself up on one elbow. "It can't be a boat, it's got no sails."

"Ah yeah, I see it!" Fiach pointed it out now too. "See, Bláithín? It helps if you tilt your head a bit like this."

Bláithín tried it. She still didn't look convinced but she nodded anyway. "Yeah."

"So where's Heramacles then?"

"That's much easier-" Griana pointed over their feet toward the horizon. "The really bright one of course. Coz he was the first."

Her voice became more muted then as she pointed to a tight little triangle of three stars. Fiach and Bláithín had to strain to hear her. "See those three? Mammy says when she and Daddy were young and before they got married Daddy used to show her all the stars and there only used to be two of them there. And he named one for her and one for himself - because they were so close."

"So why's there three now?" Fiach asked.

Griana's eyes lit. "Mammy says the third one just appeared there one night, after they'd been married for ages, and that's how she knew about me."

Fiach turned to her with a look of utter amazement. "That's so cool! I wonder if my Mum has a star?" He scanned the sky searching, then pointed up. "Look at those ones, there! They look like a little circle. Bláithín, that could be your mum!"

Bláithín didn't look too convinced but never got the chance to comment.

"No that's Oidhre, that one!"

"Who's Oidhre?"

Griana rolled her eyes at Fiach like he should know better. "He was high priest of Heramacles once. He was the one that made the Volksraad change their minds and stop killing the Protector every year."

Bláithín folded her arms behind her head. "Why did they do that? That was just silly."

Griana shrugged. "I dunno. Mammy says they thought they were doing the right thing at the time and they just had to learn like everyone does. That's why there's so many stars." She nodded knowingly. "Coz of all the Protectors we've had."

"But your Mum and Dad weren't Protectors." Fiach added.

"It's not just Protectors, is it? See there? Where it looks like a big growly wolf with big teeth? That's Madra that is."

"So is my Mum there?"

Griana shrugged. "There's way too many of them for my mammy to tell me what they all are."

"How does she know what they are anyway?"

Griana looked at Bláithín with a very serious expression. "Daddy told her. My daddy was very smart."

"I think I'll pick one for my mum."

"This is very cool. Thanks for showing it to us, Griana."

"That one there's my second favourite." Griana sat up and continued, a big grin on her face. "Over there above that tree where there's four stars that curve - like a pregnant lady. Mammy says that one will always look after us. That's Cinnte."

Fiach and Bláithín looked at her blankly.

Griana tutted impatiently. "Honestly, don't you two know anything about our history? If your mammy is going to be Lawkeeper she should know all this stuff!"

"She does!" Bláithín spoke indignantly in her mother's defence. "Just coz she hasn't told me doesn't mean she doesn't know. Carraig makes her tell him the stories all the time."

Fiach propped himself up on two elbows. "So who is Cinnte then if she's that important?"

Griana rolled her shoulders back proudly. "She's only one of our best Protectors and it was her that started the really important rule about knowing all your family."

Fiach groaned. "I can never remember all the names."

"My mammy wrote them all down for me", said Bláithín.

Griana looked from Fiach to Bláithín, the slightest of frowns on her face. "You've already started learning all that?"

"Course we have. Mammy says it's never to early." Bláithín looked back at her quizzically. "Why? Haven't you?"

"Course I have. I know all Mammy's family. Just that she's still sad about Daddy dying and she doesn't like talking about him. That's all." Griana quickly tossed back her hair in an attempt to look less perturbed. "Anyway it doesn't matter yet coz I'm not ten yet and I'm not getting married for ages anyway."

"Yeah but who's Cinnte?", Fiach whined.

It was just the distraction Griana needed and quick as that she was grinning again. "Okay. I'll tell you the story. But you're not to interrupt, okay?"

Her companions nodded as they all sat up.

"Well when she was a girl she was just like us. She went to training school and learned to fight the Calebii and she wanted to get married too before she had to have children of her own. She was a bit different to all the other kids though coz her daddy was a dessen... a deccedant... he had Heramacles blood in him."

"But lots of-"

She cast Fiach a warning look. "There weren't that many people then that had come from Heramacles because they were the ones that kept being Protector and back then the Protector used to get killed every year if the Calebii hadn't killed them first. And that's what happened to Cinnte's daddy - her mammy was already dead. He was Protector and he did really well fighting the Calebii and then midwinter came and he was killed by the High Priest. Remember I told you about Oidhre? Well he was from Heramacles too and he was learning to be a priest and seeing his uncle killed made him want to change things so no more Protectors were killed like that. Anyway they were running out of Heramacles people. He made a promise to Cinnte he'd make sure it all stopped."

"And he stopped it too!" Fiach was wide eyed, totally captivated by the story.

A smile flickered on Griana's face, too pleased at his enthusiasm to remind him about not interrupting. "Well he worked really hard to become High Priest so he could fix things. But see, he wasn't able to have any children himself and that might have made him.." Griana frowned, trying to remember the word her mother told her. It rhymed with.., "...zealous. There was a new priest just learning called Dagdan and he was just the right age and honoured Heramacles and everything so Oidhre brought him to meet Cinnte and they fell in love and got married."

Griana's face grew long and serious. "She had a baby then but it was too early and it died. And when she had another baby it was already dead before it came out. And she was very upset. But she tried again but that baby died almost as soon as it was born." She caught sight of Bláithín who was grimacing. "You okay?"

Bláithín looked startled a moment before answering. "Oh. Yes." They were both looking at her now. "My mammy lost a baby once. When the Calebii hurt her. I've never seen anyone so sad. Cinnte must have been really sad."

Griana nodded. "Fian told me once how she had two babies only they both died. She can't imagine either what it was like for Cinnte when she lost four."

"Four?"

"Yeah. Her and Dagdan had another baby but that one was the worst because when it was born it was so horrible it didn't even look like a baby. And Cinnte was so sad, some people even said she tried to kill herself but Oidhre stopped her. So she just got real angry with everything and with Heramacles for being cruel and letting it all happen to her. And her husband went away and everything and married someone else and had children with them."

Fiach looked shocked. "But that's horrible! I thought he loved her?"

Griana shrugged. "People sometimes have to do things that seem really wrong so they can have children. Anyway years later they learned something really horrible. Cinnte had got better and was an amazing fighter and she got lots of people home from the batlefield alive because she could see real clear everything that was happening because she wasn't worried about dying and had no family to worry about either. But then she found out. Her daddy wasn't really her daddy."

"So she wasn't straight from Heramacles!" Fiach gasped.

Griana shook her head. "Worse. Dagdan found something going through his daddy's things and it belonged to Cinnte's mammy - and they never knew they knew each other! And if they did have the same daddy that might have been why none of their babies came out right."

Bláithín too was stunned. "So that's why she started the rule."

"Yeah. See she became Protector soon after that. Only then midwinter came."

"But Oidhre fixed that!"

"You're interrupting again."

"But Bláithín did too!" He got another impatient look from Griana. "Sorry Griana."

"Yes Oidhre fixed it so she wasn't going to die but don't forget the Protector now spends the day at the temple of Heramacles with the High Priest - and Cinnte hated Heramacles and she hated Oidhre too because she blamed him for making her and Dagdan keep having babies."

"But how-"

Griana's look silenced his question. "She had to go because it was important to Armengar that she stick with this new tradition or they might want to bring the old one back. And she knew everyone else needed to believe Heramacles still took care of everyone and it was the best thing for her to do. So she did the whole ceremony with the sword and the poison and all, then she had to stay in the temple."

Griana stopped long enough to make sure she had their undivided attention. "They wer both angry about different things and were fighting. That's when Heramacles appeared." Her companions gasped in unison. Griana continued. "He thanked them both for everything they'd done for Armengar and knew that their biggest sorrows were that the Heramacles line was dying and that they had no children. So he promised Cinnte that he'd protect her if she had a baby - because it would be really important. Only they knew now that Cinnte wasn't really part of Heramacles line. But Oidhre was." She stopped dramatically and looked at the other two. Their jaws were dropped right down to the blanket they all sat on.

"You mean-"

"She-"

Griana nodded. "She had to overcome all her hatred and blame if she really really wanted to have a baby. It was a very difficult choice. She had to trust Heramacles to keep his promise."

"What did she do?" Bláithín whispered.

"Well you've heard of Dóchas, haven't you?"

Fiach nodded. "He turned back a whole century of Calebii by himself. And no Calebii sword ever touched him. Not ever."

"Exactly. Not even when he was a baby still inside his mother. Their blades always missed like something was protecting them."

Eyes widened. "That was Cinnte?!"

"Yup. And she was Protector for seven years after he was born before a Calebii killed her. And people sometimes asked where her baby came from but she never told them. She just said Heramacles willed it. Only she knew and Oidhre and Dóchas. And any of his children I suppose because she'd made that rule."

Bláithín folded her arms. "So how come you know then?"

Graina moved in closed between the two and whispered. "Because Cinnte talks to my mammy sometimes. Like when I got hurt and she told her how to heal me."

"Really? She-"

"There you are!"

A man’s panicked voice shouted at them from across the yard. Tirahn came running towards them, Ruairí close on his heels.

The three children looked at one another, knowing they were in trouble now. They quickly got up and Griana pulled the blanket up over her arm. She stepped in front and was about to say something, but when Tirahn reached them he was quickly trying to herd them towards the school building.

"Thank goodness you’re alright. Into the school now, quick."

Ruairí caught up with him and grabbed Bláithín’s arm. "What do you think you’re doing out here? Everyone was worried!"

"I’m okay Ruairí! What’s going on?" She looked around, frightened now by the urgency with which Tirahn was pushing them forward. There was a distant shouting that seemed to be getting louder.

"The others should be there already but we had to find you - Camelot is under attack and you go running off!"

"Under attack? But this is Holy Isle! We’re safe here! Everyone says so!"

"Talk about this later, children." Tirahn interrupted. "We’ve got to go."

Griana stood firm, a frown deeply etched on her brow and arms folded tight. "Who? Who’s attacking? If it’s the Calebii then we can help. You know we can."

"This isn’t a conversation, Griana, I want you all indoors now."

Griana stood firm. "Who is it?"

With a gulp, Bláithín took up position beside her friend. "I’ve never seen you scared like that. If it’s not the Calebii then who?"

Now Ruairí looked up at their teacher. "You told me you didn’t know. But you do, don’t you?"

"Children, we can talk about this-"

"My Mum says you have to tell people the truth so they know what they’re dealing with. It’s no use lying. We’ll do what you tell us but we have to know, right?" Fiach looked around at his friends. They all nodded with him.

Tirahn sighed, looking from one determined face to the other. "Sometimes I forget how old you children are. Alright. Now this isn’t confirmed mind, so don’t get too alarmed - but we think it’s Benedict Darkendale." His breath held.

Four faces stared blankly back at him.

Index