Emer's Quest (Manannan Trilogy) (22 page)

It was a
subdued Drifa, with the marks of her beating and Emer’s scarring blue and swollen on her face. She climbed down into the waiting skiff. Halla was carried aboard, for Emer had snapped the woman’s knee cap in two. It would be some time before she would be able to walk again. Neither of them said goodbye, but they shot poisonous looks at Hari and Emer as they left.

“That’s that,” Thorstein said when he returned. “Good riddance to that pair of harridans. The lady’s brother didn’t look too pleased to see his sister. I pity him her company.”

As the sun was setting on the third day of their voyage, Dag’s ship sailed into the great bay. He turned its prow into the
Awin Vooar
. The journey had been, for once, uneventful, for which everyone gave thanks. Emer and Hari were home again.

That night they sat in Ragnar’s hall and told their story.

“So the young hawk has left the nest at last.” Ragnar laughed when he found out that Dag had remained on
Skuy
.

“There is a woman on
Skuy
who caught his fancy,” Emer said with a smile. “Her name is Romi.”

“Good.
About time he produced a son. Are you content that Dag remains and rules in the place that should have been yours?” Ragnar asked Hari.

“
I am. I don’t want to live there again. Dag asked me to bring back something for you.” With a grin, Hari swung two sacks onto the table and pulled them open. Silver coins, bracelets and goblets shone in the firelight. Everyone gasped. “This is part of
Fadir’s
hoard. He’d added to it since the last time I saw it. We agreed to split it into three parts and drew up another contract with the help of Beacan, my
lovsigemann
. Dag kept a third, one third is mine and this is yours.”

“These are riches indeed and, by rights, should be yours, according to our original agreement.” Ragnar gave Hari a hard stare.

“
What I have is sufficient to buy the things my family needs now and in the future. Without your help, I would have retrieved none of it. This is yours. I call upon everyone here to witness my words.”

A great shout went up. Hari sat down and smiled at Emer.

Epilogue

It was high summer when the dragonship returned from
Skuy
and the beginning of the harvest was approaching. This was the time of the festival called
Luanistyn
on the island and
Lughnasa
elsewhere. The name and the customs continued even after the Norsemen invaded. The newcomers entered enthusiastically into the events and produced many champions in the contests, whether they were runners or spearmen or poets.

This year the
event was to be held on flat land by the bay. People travelled long distances to attend. Their tents filled the meadows. Emer and Hari came with her parents. They stayed with Renny in the village. By this time, Edan was hobbling around on sticks, trying to look as if the effort did not hurt him.

Thorstein had taken the dragonship back to
Skuy
to pick up Dag. Everyone was waiting excitedly for it to return. Once they had come back home, Emer felt as if she had been freed from some sort of prison. She shed the unhappiness and responsibilities of the last year and became a girl again, laughing and singing. Hari smiled to see her and her parents rejoiced, but Emer had a secret sorrow. Since she had lost her baby, she had not quickened again. Before they set out for the festival, she had spoken to her mother. Niamh went away and came back with a flask containing a small amount of liquid that smelt of herbs.

“My father
made me drink this potion, when I could not bear children,” Niamh said. “He taught me how to make it and I keep a supply for other women. It will bring a baby if you drink it after you lie with Hari.”

Emer pulled out the stopper and sniffed. “It smells sweet.”

“There is honey in it, as well as herbs
.
Athai
r
wrote the secret down in the book I once showed you,” Niamh told her. “After I am gone the book will belong to you. Keep it safe so you or one of your children can use it to help others.”

“Thank you, I will.”

Emer took the flask and brought it with her to the festival. The family had spent
Luanistyn
at Ragnar’s village many times before, but now she was rich and Hari was with her. It was wonderful to introduce him to old friends. They feasted each night. New poems and stories were told, invented especially for this feast. There were ceremonies in praise of the gods and athletic events. Emer entered the archery contests and won. Her victory on
Skuy
had given her a new confidence. Olaf suggested to Hari that he tried sword fighting.

“I will even wager on you,” he said and Hari laughed.

This year would also see a number of hand-fastings. Chief among them, to Emer at least, were those of Freydis to Njall and Finnr to Pola. Her childhood friend looked intensely proud and Emer, on her husband’s arm, put away the past and wished him happy with all her heart.

A shout went up from the beach and everyone turned to see the dragonship sailing into the bay, nosing its way towards the river. There was a great chorus of greetings. Dag came up to his father and greeted him. He embraced Edan and said how much better he looked.

“Thanks to Renny,” Edan said. “Don’t tempt me to leave her again. My raiding days are over. My sons can go in my place.”

“Th
ey are over for me as well,” Dag said.

“What?”

Dag turned and Romi came towards them through the crowd. She was richly dressed, wearing her
kransen
and her parents followed her proudly.

“
Fadir
, I bring you my future wife. Today we will be hand-fasted and wed at the end of the promised time.”

“My son, I am glad,” Ragnar said and h
ugged Romi. “Welcome to our family.”

That afternoon, all of the couples came forward in turn. They put their hands through a huge stone with a hole in the middle, which was kept for this purpose. Then their wrists were tied together.
They plighted their troth, promising to be as man and wife for a year and a day.

“Don’t think I am going to let you go
, when that time is over,” Dag told Romi.

“I wouldn’t want you to.”

Emer and Hari stayed for a time with their friends, congratulating the newly joined couples.

“You’re not sad, are you?” Finnr asked Emer, when the others were out of earshot. “If I could not have you…”

She raised her finger to his lips, stopping him.

“Today we are both happy. Who knows what would have happened if we had wed. Pola is a lovely girl and I love Hari. Let the past go, but remember we
will always be friends.”

She pulled his head down and kissed his cheek.

Later on she sought out Hari, who was sitting drinking with Njall and Freydis.

“Will you walk with me, Hari
, while you still can?”

“Where to?” Hari
laughed, put his beaker down and got to his feet.

“
There is a well that is said to work magic if we visit it on this day. It’s not far.”

The
well was small stream that bubbled out of the earth. It had been ringed around with stones, so no one should stumble into it and foul the waters.

“
Is this it? What must we do?” Hari asked.

“Take t
his.” Emer dropped a small pin into Hari’s palm. “Throw it into the well and wish for fine children.”

Hari closed his eyes and threw. Then Emer
threw her own pin.

“Now you must take dip your heel into the water.”

Giggling like children, they removed their shoes and, standing on one foot and holding onto each other, they put their feet into the cold running water. They started to sway. Hari slipped and pulled Emer down on top of him into a bed of fern, laughing and kissing.

What better place to make a
baby?
Emer thought to herself as she responded to Hari’s passion.

Afterwards, they walked back to their friends, nibbling bilberries that grew wild along the way. Emer had gathered a handful and gave them to Hari, knowing that they, too, were said to
help women conceive. That night she found the little flask and drank the contents to the last drop.

“
Afi
, thank you,” she murmured. “May the first of those children you promised me lie safe within my belly.”

She also prayed to Frigg and Freyja that the potion would work. She wanted
a baby so badly, a child who would not share her uncanny gift. She wanted him to live his life without knowledge of the future, in the same way as everyone else. She clutched her green stone tightly and wished as hard as she could.

Please be kind and leave a review where you purchased this book.

Michèle McGrath is a Thursday’s child who has tried to live up to her birthday. Born on the beautiful Isle of Man, she was fortunate enough to ‘go far away’ and witness stirring events. She knew the Beatles in Liverpool. In California, she watched the Berkeley riots and she was in London during the Swinging Sixties. Living in Paris and Grenoble taught her how to make a mean ratatouille and she learned the hula in Hawaii. 

In 2007, she started to write fiction and enter writing competitions. She has won several competitions, had second places and been short-listed in others. Her first children’s book, “A Night in the Manx Museum” is being used in Manx schools. She won an international prize for ‘Kilmainham Dawn’ in 2008. Three novels were entered for the 2008 UKA Competition. All three were short listed. Gigi’s Guardian was a runner-up and Manannan’s Magic won the fantasy category. Recently, she has reached three shortlists and came second in another. She is currently working on sequels and a holiday romance in the summer of 1914. Her short stories have been published in anthologies and on the web. Although she writes in many genres from ghost stories to everyday life, her true loves are historical fiction and fantasy.

Michèle is a qualified swimming teacher currently teaching three junior school classes. She also writes in the field of Management Training, having been a senior manager in a careers company.

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