The Lady of the Sea (38 page)

chapter 55

T
he sun rose higher over Cornwall’s rolling lands. Most of the country still slept. But from the depths of an ancient greenway rose a strange, high, bee-like drone. An old crooked man on an ambling white mule was raising his anthem to the breaking day.

“I am the hawk on the cliff,

The tear in the eye of the sun.

I am the salmon at the leap,

And the lake asleep under the gaze of the moon.

I am life, I am death, I am Merlin!”

“And Merlin has done well,” he cackled as he went along. “Arthur and Camelot at peace, the knights all embarked on the Quest . . .”

A voice in his ear broke into his reverie.

Ah, but Isolde and Tristan now—

“Who’s there?” Merlin yelped.

There was a mellow laugh.
Oh, I think you know.

“Igraine?” The flame in his yellow eyes scorched the nearby leaves. There was no one to be seen. But a strong, mellow presence hovered near him in the air.

Yes, indeed. But I come with no evil intent. All has turned out well for Tristan and his lady, Isolde.

Merlin thrust his head in the air. “As I knew it would.”

So, old man?
came Igraine’s voice again.
Then why did they need Merlin’s hand in this? You are fated to be the never-failing guardian of these isles, ever wakeful around our island shores. You were never doing all this for Isolde, were you?

He flared his eyes again and enjoyed the green spurt and crackle of his fire. A laughing girl rose before him with hair like sunrise and a heart that danced like a wave of the sea. A young woman made of gold but wearing the green, with her love at her side and a soul that would be greater yet.

Isolde.

“Never, no,” he said musingly. “She had no need of me. That merry young soul had the leap of the salmon and the spring of a doe in the rut. All that and the hands of a healer and the heart of a warrior queen.”

For her mother, then? You were her lover once.

Merlin grinned and felt the old heat scratching his loins.

“A wonderful woman, the Queen, one of the best,” he purred. “Foolish, yes, and led by her passions, like all women who love men more than themselves. But what a woman she was—what a queen!”

An infinite fondness swept his withered frame. She had made him a man, and he would never forget.

But would you have done all this for the old Queen alone?
Igraine pressed on.
Braved the wild seas in winter, set Tristan alongside Arthur, your heart’s darling, and the work of the House of Pendragon and the future of Britain, too? Why, Merlin, why?

“Ask me no more,” he burst out, wheezing through his teeth.

I must,
the great voice rolled on.
And you know the reason.

“You have to protect Isolde.” Merlin nodded his aching head. “As I fought for Tristan. Yes, yes, I worked and schemed to save Tristan. I never cared for Isolde, any more than I do for Guenevere. But both of them are happy enough now.”

A deep sigh drifted down through the trees.
Tristan was the beating heart of your love and concern.

“Yes!” Merlin cried and found himself drowning in tears. “Tristan—Arthur—all these sorrowful lost boys. Motherless, fatherless, nameless, and homeless, too, flying boys becoming wounded men.”

And yourself, Merlin. Don’t forget yourself.

“Goddess, Mother, yes,” Merlin prayed. “Help the unmothered child—”

He saw through the mists of time the sadness of Tristan’s birth, the young mother dying in the depths of the dark wood, the huge eyes full of sorrow, the little body split apart by her travails with her great son.

For Tristan, then, the child of sorrow.

And for the mother who bore the sorrowful child.

“And I did not save her!” he grieved. “Fool! Fool! Triple fool!”

Well, let her sleep in peace. Cast your mind over the good that is to come.

Merlin knocked the tears from his eyes. Resolutely, he spun his agate-glinting, golden gaze through all the worlds he knew and the world to come.

Cornwall—safe enough now and for a long time ahead, with Queen Igraine in Tintagel and Tristan and Isolde on the throne.

And the Island of the West—safer still.

Through a mist he saw Isolde and Tristan moving hand in hand into the dawn. As he watched, they paused to look into each other’s eyes, and there was no greater beauty on the earth. “Elf-shining,” they called that look in ancient days. The future was with them both, he had no fears.

“Joy upon you!” he cried, raising his hand. “May the Shining Ones bring you days of happiness and nights of bliss!”

Now the scene shifted, and his spirit eye looked ahead.

“Ireland, yes,” he sang in his high Druid wail.

On the westernmost beach of the sacred Western Isle, a couple rode through the surf as the day broke over the sea. Gilded with the dawn’s fierce tints of ice and fire, the woman sat proudly on her horse, great with child. Even prouder, it seemed, was the man riding at her side.

“Tristan!” wept Merlin, weak with joy.

Tristan indeed, old man, your lost boy no more. The child of sadness is a father now.

“Joy upon him!” Merlin crowed. “Joy upon all of us.”

Yes indeed.

He frowned at himself, then laughed. “And where now?”

Oh, I think you know. Back to the place of your heart, the island the Old Ones loved.

“The Western Isle!”

Suddenly, Merlin felt the call of the green hills, the land of the ancient trefoil, a land of enchanters and deceivers, of heroes and scoundrels and those who love the
craic.

He turned the mule’s head into the western wind. “Forward!” he cried. “You know the way, my dear.”

epilogue

C
ome, my love.”

“To the ends of the earth and beyond.”

So Isolde followed Tristan into the light of the dawn and above them the love star glowed and pulsed in the sky. That night the moon rose smiling on a love she knew would outlast wind and weather, the coming of winter and the sweet return of spring.

For here was a man to love always, a man with love in his eyes, truth on his forehead, and the hero-light shining round his head.

Next year she knew, when the celandines woke again like stars in the grass, he would turn to her with the same smile in his eyes. As the primroses peered and the cowslips showed off their spotted throats, she would lie with him in the tender warmth of the sun. Together they would watch the blindworms nuzzling through the grass after their long winter sleep and hear the skylark filling the air with song. And so they would continue through all the springs to come, and the summers and winters, too. And so they would walk with their Gods to the Land of the Living Light to dwell in the Plains of Delight evermore.

The moon sailed away in the sky. Here was a love to endure, to reach out, to thrive, to build on and build anew. These two would be part of the fabric of the islands and the future of the world. And thus they wander the star-eyed silence, hand in hand and soul forever in soul, and nothing will part them now in the years to come.

In time they will be blessed with a babe born of the sun and the rain, a child of the wave and the woodland to dance with the wind and the sea. The west wind will tenderly bring the infant to life, and the warm wind from the south will kiss its tears away. Other children will follow, grave-eyed girls and merry-hearted boys, and the joy that they give to their parents will be deeper than tears. But there would be nothing like the joy in the Island of the West over the loving couple about whom this story would be written in times to come.

And in time they will go to join the Old Ones and live forever in dignity and peace. The Tuatha Dé Danaan, as the Old Ones call themselves, will welcome them to their long-ago destined place among the ancient heroic ancestors of all the Celts, living in the enchantment of every new day, in a world of terror and daily miracles. Now they, too, are members of that twilight race, the great ghosts that haunt the Island of the West and the memory of the world yet to be. Not all will understand their story, but those who do will become part of that shining world.

And these lovers will come at last to the place of timelessness, free from the pains of the earthbound mortals who struggle to follow them. Now they will live in the Old Ones’ Tir N’an Og, the Land of the Ever-Young, where Avalon’s orchards never cease to blow and the blossom and fruit together bloom on the bough. There, with the world’s blessed souls, they will remain, forever roaming the Islands of the Mighty, the Happy Isles.

Forever now, Tristan will chase the running deer and Isolde open her arms on his return. For they knew desire beyond joy or tears, and knew no more nor no better than to follow the dream.

For that they live on in the world above kings and princes and queens on their golden thrones. And a new sun will rise for them every day and a new dawn, when lovers rejoice and kiss and fall again in love. And those who have sunlight in their hearts and moonlight in their minds will always be able to follow their love, their dream.

And wherever the children of Erin may roam in the world, She will call them home. Until then, they will send their dreams back to their birthplace, the Land of the Shining, the island the Mother has always called Her own.

I
RELAND.

E
RIN.

H
OME.

The Characters

Agnomon
         Young warrior of the Picts, nephew of Findra, and cursed with second sight

Agravain
                  Knight of the Round Table, first brother of Sir Gawain, embarked on the Quest for the Holy Grail

Andred, Sir
                  Cousin of Tristan and nephew of King Mark of Cornwall, son of Mark’s brother, and mortal enemy of Isolde and Tristan

Arraganzo, Dom Luis Carlos Felipe da Sevilla y Cadiz y Pinca y Salamanca
                  Cardinal Legate, Papal Envoy from Rome to Father Dominian in Cornwall, charged with hastening the downfall of Isolde and the triumph of the Christian Church

Arthur
                  Pendragon, High King of Britain, son of Uther Pendragon and Queen Igraine of Cornwall, husband to Guenevere, father of Amir, and leader of the Round Table Fellowship of knights

Balan
                  Knight of King Arthur, son of Sir Rigord of the Ravine, twin brother of Balin, proud and quarrelsome, who will never refuse a challenge to the death

Balin
                  Knight of King Arthur, son of Sir Rigord of the Ravine, twin brother of Balan, as proud and quarrelsome as his brother, who likewise will never refuse a challenge to the death

Blanche Mains
                  Nickname of Isolde’s namesake, daughter of King Hoel of Little Britain in France, known as “Blanche Mains” for the beauty of her white hands, once in love with Tristan and determined to ensnare him in marriage no matter what the cost

Brangwain
                  Lady in waiting and personal maid to Isolde, formerly maid to Isolde’s mother and nursemaid to Isolde when she was a child, born in the Welshlands and thought to be “Merlin’s kin”

Calvaria, Princess
                  Fourth daughter of the King of Dun Haven, facing a future in a nunnery

Cernunnos
                  The Horned One, God of dark secrets and ancient, midnight woods, said by some to be Merlin in his incarnation as a stag

Cormac
                  Chief Druid of Ireland, formerly of the Summer Country and once in love with Isolde

Cunnoch
                  Hard and seasoned warrior of the Picts, blood brother of Findra, formerly sword companion to the late King, and doubtful of the new King Darath’s ability to rule

Darath
                  King of the Picts, young warrior feared in Ireland as threatening to attack

Divinia, Princess
                  Second daughter of the King of Dun Haven, motherless and unhappy, facing a future in a nunnery

Doctor
                  Healer who has the care of the sick young Lady Unnowne

Dominian, Father
                  Christian priest, head of the Christian community in Cornwall and Father confessor to King Mark, abandoned as a child and cared for by Brother Jerome

Doneal, Sir
                  Veteran knight of Ireland, member of the Queen’s Council

Dun Haven, King of
                  Petty king of Cornwall under King Mark, Christian believer and part of Father Dominian’s flock, father of a number of motherless girls

Elizabeth, Queen of Lyonesse
                  Late mother of Tristan, wife of King Meliodas and sister of King Mark of Cornwall, lost in the forest when her husband was imprisoned, and died there giving birth to Tristan

Elva, Lady
                  Mistress of King Mark, lover of Sir Andred, wife of a courtier, and enemy of Isolde

Fer de Gambon
                  Knight of Cornwall, companion of Sir Taboral, quick-witted but cowardly, employed by Sir Andred against Tristan

Findra
                  Strong and trusty warrior of the Picts, blood brother of Cunnoch, and uncle of Agnomon, whom he would protect with his life

Gaheris
                  Knight of the Round Table, second brother of Sir Gawain, embarked on the Quest for the Holy Grail

Galahad
                  Knight of the Round Table and destined to triumph in the Quest for the Holy Grail, son of Sir Lancelot and the Grail virgin Elaine, daughter of King Pelles of Terre Foraine

Gareth
                  Knight of the Round Table, third brother of Sir Gawain, embarked on the Quest for the Holy Grail

Gawain
                  Knight of the Round Table, close kinsman of King Arthur, brother of Sir Agravain, Sir Gareth, and Sir Gaheris, famed for his great strength and his prowess with women, which causes him to fall foul of Lady Unnowne

Gilhan, Sir
                  Leader of the Council in Ireland, formerly a knight of the old Queen and loyal to Isolde

Glaeve
                  Sword of power given to Tristan by the Lady of the Sea, inscribed with runic script

Guenevere
                  Queen of the Summer Country, daughter of Queen Maire Macha and King Leogrance, wife of Arthur, lover of Sir Lancelot, mother of Amir, and friend to Isolde from their girlhood days studying with the Lady of the Lake on Avalon

Hermit
                  Holy man, head of a fellowship of hermits and healers living in retreat in the forest, who helps Tristan to give succor to the madman who attacks him there

Igraine, Queen
                  Queen of Cornwall, wife of the late Duke Gorlois, beloved of King Uther Pendragon, mother of Arthur, Morgause, and Morgan le Fay, and supporter of Isolde

Ireland, Queen of
                  See Queen of Ireland, the late

Isolde, “La Belle Isolde”
                  Princess of Ireland, daughter of the Queen and the Irish hero Sir Cullain, lover of Tristan, wife of King Mark, and later Queen of Cornwall and Ireland in her own right

Jerome, Brother
                  Christian hermit and holy man, foster father and spiritual counselor of the abandoned Dominian

Laboria, Princess
                  Fifth daughter of the King of Dun Haven, facing a future in a nunnery

Lady of the Lake
                  Ruler of the Sacred Island of Avalon in the Summer Country, sister of the Lady of the Sea and of the Lady of Broceliande, and priestess of the Great Mother

Lady of the Sea
                  Ruler of the sea, sister of the Lady of the Lake and of the Lady of Broceliande, and chief priestess of the Great Mother

Lancelot of the Lake, Sir
                  Knight of the Round Table, lover of Queen Guenevere, son of King Ban and Queen Elaine of Benoic, and father of Sir Galahad

Lazaran
                  Leper and leader of the lepers in Cornwall, where they are outcasts from society and forced to live in the wood, used by Mark against Isolde to get his revenge

Lyonesse, Queen of
                  See Elizabeth, Queen of Lyonesse

Madrona
                  Former lady of high estate, inhabitant of the leper house in the wood where she nursed her son to his death and where she takes care of Isolde and saves her life

Mark, King
                  King of Cornwall, brother of Elizabeth, Queen of Lyonesse, uncle of Tristan and Andred, lover of Lady Elva, and husband of Isolde

Medhebar
                  Head woman of the village of Womenswold, where all the menfolk have been drowned at sea, ready to accept Isolde’s suggestion that they should be courted by the Picts

Meliodas, King
                  King of Lyonesse, husband of Elizabeth and father of Tristan, rescued by Merlin from imprisonment when his wife was lost in the forest and gave birth to Tristan

Merlin
                  Welsh Druid and bard, illegitimate offspring of the House of Pendragon, adviser to Uther and Arthur Pendragon, former lover of the Queen of Ireland, and protector of Tristan

Nabon, Sir
                  Leader of the Council of King Mark of Cornwall, supporter of Isolde

Painted Ones, the
                  See Picts, the

Penn Annwyn
                  Lord of the Underworld in Celtic mythology, the Dark Lord who comes to take his children home

Petrina, Princess
                  Third daughter of the King of Dun Haven, facing a future in a nunnery

Picts, the
                  Fiercely war-like tribe of the north of modern Scotland, ancient enemies of Ireland, called Picti, “the Painted Ones,” by the Romans for their custom of vigorously tattooing their faces and bodies in many colors

Queen of Ireland, the late
                  Mother of Isolde, ruler of the Western Isle in her own right, descendant of a line of warrior queens, wife of the dead hero Cullain, and lover of many Companions of the Throne

Queen of Lyonesse
                  See Elizabeth, Queen of Lyonesse

Quirian, Sir
                  Knight of Cornwall, member of the Council of King Mark

Seneschal, the
                  Loyal and ancient steward, one of the few remaining retainers at the Castle of Unnowne

Simeon
                  Young monk of the Christian community in Cornwall, pupil of Father Dominian and fiercely loyal to the Church

Taboral, Sir
                  Rogue knight, companion of Fer de Gambon, brutish but big and bold, employed by Sir Andred against Tristan

Thalassan, Sir
                  Knight of Cornwall and member of the Council of King Mark, and a great seafarer in his youth

Theodora, Princess
                  Oldest daughter of the King of Dun Haven, motherless and unhappy, facing a future in a nunnery and determined to change her fate

Tristan, Sir
                  King of Lyonesse, son of the late King Meliodas and Queen Elizabeth, nephew and knight of King Mark of Cornwall, favored by the Lady of the Sea, and lover of Isolde

Unnowne
                  Young mistress of the Castle of Unnowne, alone, orphaned, and sick, afflicted with a number of complaints

Uther
                  Pendragon, King of the Middle Kingdom, High King of Britain, lover of Queen Igraine of Cornwall, kinsman of Merlin, and father of Arthur

Vaindor, Sir
                  Knight of Ireland, former champion and chosen one of the late Queen, and member of the ruling Council

Wisbeck, Sir
                  Veteran knight of the Council of King Mark of Cornwall

Woodman, the
                  One of an ancient line of woodlanders who live in the forest and make their living from what it supplies, but determined to leave the life of his forefathers behind and live in the town