Hush: An Irish Princess' Tale by Donna Jo Napoli Read Free Book Online Page B

approvingly. “Like that, on this nag, no one will ever guess who you are.” She makes a cup of her linked hands. “Put a foot in here and climb up.”
    “I haven’t been on horseback in years, Mother.”
    “It’s easy,” says Brigid.
    “That’s why you’ll ride in front,” says Mother. “You’ll control the beast, Brigid. And there won’t be much controlling to do. This mare’s gentle. But she can go fast if you need her to.”
    “My tunic will ride up,” I say. “My legs will show”
    “Which is fine for a boy. You’ll be safer as boys—two peasant boys. No one will bother you.” Mother cups her hands insistently before me.
    I take the lift, and up, I’m on the horse. It seems high, I swallow and look down and swallow again.
    In a flash, Brigid’s in front of me. “Give me the reins, Mother.”
    Mother unties the reins from the hitching pole and hands them to Brigid. Then she slops a blob of mud on my exposed knee and runs it down to my ankle. She hesitates at my shoe.
    “Please let us keep our shoes, Mother.” I won’t go barefoot like a slave. “Please.”
    “Go out the south gate and take the fork that leads to the coast.”
    I circle my arms around Brigid’s waist. “But that’s the direction of Dublin.”
    “Exactly. If Vikings come looking tonight, they’ll expect you to have fled inland. To the monastery. Or north. Any direction but toward Dublin.”
    “Where should we stop?” asks Brigid.
    “The convent,” I say quickly, gratified to know something Brigid doesn’t. Once Mother said south, it was obvious. “That’s right, Mother, no?”
    “A convent will protect you from Irish criminals, but not Vikings. Vikings see a convent as an opportunity. No, stay on the coastal path till you get south of Carlingford Lough. Then turn inland. Soon you’ll come to a ringfort.It’s large. The chief and his wife, Michael and Brenda, they’ll take you in.”
    “So they know we’re coming?” I ask.
    “No. No one knows. I couldn’t take the risk of a messenger.”
    “What if we don’t make it that far?” I ask.
    “You will.”
    “What if we don’t?”
    “You will.”
    “What if Michael and Brenda have left or been overthrown? What then?”
    “You’ll use your good sense, Melkorka. You’ll present yourselves as lost boys and beg for charity.”
    “What if they aren’t charitable sorts?”
    Mother gives a mirthless smile. She hands me a small cloth pouch on a string. “Hang it around your neck inside your clothes. Your gold teething ring from when you were a baby is in there, Melkorka. Any nobleman will realize it’s worth several years’ lodging and food for both of you. And anyone who isn’t a fool will recognize it as belonging to the first child of a truly wealthy king. It’s worth generations of loyalty. You’ll be taken in”
    Mother holds another pouch up to me now, this one large. “There’s plenty to eat as you travel to that welcoming ringfort. Stay there till you hear it’s safe to come home.”
    And what if we don’t hear that? What if we hear that Downpatrick has been burned to the ground? But I won’t ask that with Brigid listening. She’s only eight.
    If the worst happens, I’ll think of the right thing to do. Because I’ll have to. Brigid depends on me.
    “And Melkorka, don’t show your teething ring till you know you can trust someone. And don’t reveal who you are to anyone.”
    “Not even Michael and Brenda?”
    “No one.” She grabs my arm.
“Immalle—
together—whatever you do, stay together.” All along she’s acted solid, in control. But now her lips give her away. They tremble.
    The skin on my arms pimples like gooseflesh. We might never see Mother again. “I love you.”
    “I love you too,” chirps Brigid.
    “Immalle”
says Mother.
    “Immalle.
I promise, Mother.”
    “Go fast. God speed you with my love.”
    Brigid turns the mare with mastery that doesn’t surprise me. But then she pulls the horse to a stop. “Where