Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies Read Free Book Online Page B

stumbled. It was only then that Bandach noticed the deep gash on his flank.
    ‘Salen, Salen! You’re wounded,’ cried Bandach as he rushed forward.
    ‘Yes,’ panted Salen desperately. ‘They came on us downwind. We thought they were Outriders at first and by the time I realized what was happening it was too late. The cowards attacked us in groups. There were too many of them, Bandach, too many’.
    ‘Hush, Salen,’ said Bandach. ’Don’t speak.’
    ‘I saw you from above the path,’ Salen went on, struggling with his breath. ‘I was resting up there in the bracken. When I saw you pinned against that tree I realized you hadn’t a hope. I knew with this wound there was little chance of helping you on flat ground, but with that slope there was a slim one.’
    ‘You saved my life, Salen.’
    ‘At least I did some good then.’ Salen nodded, his breathing shallow now and his eyes glassy. ‘Those damned Draila. They’ve taken Tarn, Straloch and Crinnan. I passed their bodies by the old cairn. I saw them catch Spey on the east hill. We’ve all gone, Bandach, all of us. The Outriders have been destroyed.’
    ‘Hush, Salen. Try not to move.’
    Salen’s head was swaying back and forward now. But suddenly his dazed eyes seemed to clear.
    ‘Bandach, tell me. What of Captain Brechin?’
    Bandach hesitated. ’Salen, you’re wrong,’ he said suddenly. ‘You’re not the last of the Outriders. I saw Captain Brechin escape over the western hills.’
    ‘I knew it,’ sighed Salen. ’They’d never take Brechin. Then at least there is some hope.’
    Salen’s body began to shudder violently. His legs shook and with a great sigh he laid his head on the forest floor. In the valley bottom the Draila had finally settled the hinds and the nervous mothers were beginning to graze again.
    But suddenly, as though of one body, the hinds and their fawns flinched and pricked up their ears to listen. From the hillside they heard, for the last time on that terrible day, one more bellow of pain. It was Bandach, mourning for Salen.
    ‘Enough of your silly stories, Blindweed,’ snorted Bhreac by the rowan tree. ‘Can’t you see you’re frightening Eloin?’
    Eloin’s little calf had started to feed again.
    ‘They’re more than just stories,’ grumbled Blindweed.
    ‘Nonsense. Besides we’ve more important things to worry about than a fawn mark.’
    Eloin, who had been deep in thought, pricked up her ears.
    ‘What do you mean, Bhreac?’ she said. ‘What’s wrong?’ Bhreac was silent. She looked nervously at Blindweed.
    ‘What’s happened?’ said Eloin, struggling to get up.
    ‘My dear,’ answered Blindweed quietly, ‘there has been fighting in the herd. The Draila are up to something.’
    ‘Brechin?’ cried Eloin. She was up now and pawing the ground as Rannoch tried to nudge between her legs.
    ‘I don’t know. I last saw him going to the meeting place’.
    ‘Then I didn’t dream it. The cries from the hillside?’
    ‘No, you didn’t dream it,’ said Blindweed. ’The Outriders have been attacked.’
    Rannoch seemed to sense his mother’s fear for he nestled in beside her, looking up nervously at the two old deer.
    ‘I must try to find Brechin,’ said Eloin, glancing about her desperately. Nearby she saw Bracken, her dead new-born fawn lying motionless at her feet, as she grazed listlessly by the trees.
    ‘No, my dear, it is better that you stay here with the little one,’ said Bhreac. ‘Blindweed says the herd is swarming with Draila. Blindweed? What are you doing now, you old fool?’
    The storyteller had wandered off to the edge of the stream and was pushing his muzzle into the side of the bank, as though trying to pick up a scent.
    ‘This is no time to graze Blindweed,’ snapped Bhreac.
    ‘Have you gone mad?’
    But when Blindweed lifted his head it was stained with mud from the wet ground. He trotted back towards them.
    ‘Blindweed. Stop fooling,’ said Bhreac.
    ‘Silence, hind,’