Lord of Raven's Peak - Catherine Coulter [146]
“There was a loud rumbling of thunder, flashes of lightning filled the afternoon sky.
“ ‘It is done,’ she said, smiling upon Ulric. ‘All that you can see is yours.’
“Then she disappeared. Ulric rubbed his hands together. He thought of the men who were his enemies. He thought of the girls who had managed to escape him, and said, ‘But it is night now and that is strange, for it was a bright afternoon when I saved you. Grant me the sunlight again so that I may see my dominion.’
“Alas, there was no one there to hear him. The fairy was gone, but the night remained. Always.”
Laren stopped. She said not a word more, just stood there and waited. The groans and hisses came quickly. Merrik laughed and rose to stand beside her. “It is the babe that makes her tales less courageous than before. The babe in her womb makes her moralize. She gives me sermons each night, and endless instructions on what she wishes me to do, and—”
Laren grabbed him by his ears and pulled him down to her. She kissed him loudly.
27
TWO DAYS LATER, late in the afternoon, Laren was seated in front of the longhouse, loading a shuttle with thread from her distaff. Once the thread was woven into cloth, it would be a soft blue, just the color of Merrik’s eyes. She could already see the tunic she would make for him. She was humming softly, the everyday sounds so familiar to her that she scarce paid them any heed. No heed until she heard Taby yelling at the top of his lungs. She dropped the distaff and jumped to her feet.
He was running toward her, his face utterly white, his bare legs filthy and bleeding from cuts from bramble bushes.
“Laren! Where is Merrik? Laren!”
She raced to him, dropping to her knees in front of him and grabbing his arms. “What is the matter, Taby? What have you done?”
He was panting and for a moment he couldn’t catch his breath to speak. She held him, his urgency flooding her now, and she felt her heart begin to pound faster and faster.
“Tell me,” she said, shaking him now. “What is wrong?”
“It’s Cleve,” Taby gasped out. “He will die, you must hurry, Laren. A rope. Hurry!”
He wrenched free of her and turned to run, screaming over his shoulder, “Hurry!”
Merrik was there suddenly, carrying a line of herring, Old Firren beside him.
“Come quickly!” Laren yelled at him. “Something has happened to Cleve! Bring a rope!”
Merrik called to Oleg and a dozen other men. They were all running after Taby. They caught him quickly. Merrik raised him to his shoulder, saying calmly, “Tell us where to go, Taby. Easy, lad, tell me.”
Taby was sobbing with fear by the time they had claimed up the narrow path to Raven’s Peak to the very top where Erik had been struck down by a rock.
“Over the side,” Taby said, his voice small and shaking, yet Merrik understood. He set him on the ground, then raced to the edge of the cliff. He saw Cleve some fifteen feet down, his body tangled in an outgrowing bush, unconscious.
“By all the gods, he has fallen.”
Oleg quickly unrolled the rope. “I will get him,” Merrik said as he tied the rope about his waist.
Oleg grabbed Merrik’s arm. “Listen to me. That bush doesn’t look very strong and you are very big, Merrik. Best to let Eller go.”
Merrik nodded slowly. Then he shouted, “Quickly, Eller, quickly.”
Oleg and Roran held the rope as they eased Eller down the sharp face of the cliff.
“The bush is pulling free,” Laren said, staring down.
“No,” Merrik said. “The bush will remain until we have freed Cleve.” And she believed him. She fell to her knees and took Taby in her arms. “You did well,” she said to him as she kissed his filthy cheek, stroking her hands up and down his back. “Can you tell me what happened? Did Cleve fall?”
Suddenly Taby stiffened in her arms. He lowered his head.
“Taby?” It was Merrik. “What happened?”
“I don’t know,” Taby said, his face still buried in Laren’s neck. She felt his tears on her flesh.
Merrik looked baffled. He shook his head, frowning in some bewilderment down at the boy, then walked to the cliff edge. Eller was balanced, just