restless, walked to a hillock and peered toward the sea.
'Keep to the shadows,' said the voice of Gwydion. 'Achren's eyes are sharp.'
Chapter 15
The Island
THE PRINCE OF DON rose like a shadow from the sedge. Though he had discarded his head-cloth and tools, he still wore the shabby raiment of his disguise. Perched on Gwydion's shoulder, Kaw blinked and ruffled his feathers, indignant at being awakened; seeing Taran, however, he bobbed his head and began croaking with excitement.
Taran, startled, cried out. Prince Rhun, waving his sword with great vigor and making as fierce a face as he could, hastened to join Taran.
'Why, it looks like the shoemaker!' Rhun called, lowering his weapon as he caught sight of the tall figure. 'Is it, indeed? Whatever have you done with those sandals you promised?'
'Alas, Prince Rhun,' Gwydion replied, 'your sandals must wait on other matters.'
'This is no shoemaker but Gwydion Prince of Don,' Taran hurriedly whispered.
Gurgi and Fflewddur had now run up. The bard's jaw dropped.
'Great Belin!' stammered Fflewddur. 'To think we shared a stable at Dinas Rhydnant! Lord Gwydion, had you only made yourself known to me…'
'Forgive me for deceiving you,' answered Gwydion. 'I dared not do otherwise. Silence then was my best shield.'
'I would have sought you at Dinas Rhydnant,' Taran said, 'but Magg gave us no time. He has stolen away Eilonwy. We have been told of a place called Caer Colur where he might have taken her and have been trying to make our way there.'
'Thanks to Kaw, I know a little of what has befallen you,' Gwydion said. 'He told me you had chosen to follow the river. He lost you when Llyan pursued him, but found me here.
'Achren, too, sought Caer Colur,' Gwydion went on quickly. 'When I learned this, I strove to follow her ship. One of the fisherfolk sailed with me to the northern coast. Your island people are bold,' he added, glancing at Rhun. 'Remember them with honor when you shall be King of Mona. The fisherman would have brought me to Caer Colur itself. This favor I could not accept, for I dared not reveal my mission to him. Yet before he returned to Mona Haven, he willingly gave me the small boat he carried aboard, and would take no reward for his risk or his generosity.'
'Have you already gone to Caer Colur?' Taran asked. 'Was there any trace of Eilonwy?'
Gwydion nodded. 'Yes. But I have failed to save the Princess,' he said heavily. 'She is Achren's prisoner. Magg moved more swiftly than any of us.'
'The spider!' cried the bard with such heat that Kaw started up in alarm. 'The sneering, sneaking spider! I beg you, let me deal with him. He and I have a long score to settle and it grows longer every moment!' He raised his sword. 'I shan't need this! When I find him, I'll squash him with my bare hands!'
'Hold hold,' ordered Gwydion. 'Spider he may be, but his sting is all the more deadly. His vanity and ambition have made him Achren's willing creature. He shall be dealt with, and so shall Achren. Our concern now is for Eilonwy.'
'Can we not free her?' Taran asked. 'How closely is she guarded?'
'Last night I rowed to the island,' Gwydion said. 'In the little time I remained there, I could not discover where the Princess is held. Though I saw that Achren has but a paltry company of warriors? hirelings and outlaws who have cast their lot with her. None of Arawn's deathless Cauldron-Born is among them.' He smiled bitterly. 'Without the protection of the Lord of Annuvin, haughty Achren commands only lackeys.'
'Then we can attack them now,' Taran cried, his hand on his sword 'We are enough to overcome them.'
'This task calls for strength of a different nature, and swords are not all we shall have to fear,' Gwydion replied. 'There is much I have not told you of this matter, and much that I myself did not know. Even now the riddle is not fully answered. But I have learned that Achren's plans are deeper than I had imagined, and Eilonwy's plight graver. She must be taken from Caer Colur before it is too late.'
Gwydion drew his cloak around him and stepped toward the riverbank. Taran caught his arm. 'Let us go with you,' he urged. 'We shall stand with you should you need us and guard Eilonwy's escape.'
The tall warrior paused and glanced at the waiting companions. He turned his green-flecked eyes on Taran and studied him closely. 'I do not doubt the courage of any one of you. But Caer Colur holds greater peril than you know.'
'Eilonwy is dear to me, to all of us,' Taran said.
Gwydion was silent a moment, his weathered face grim and withdrawn. Then he nodded. 'It shall be as you wish. Follow me.'
The Prince of Don led the companions from the marshy fields to a narrow shoulder of beach. From there, they passed along the edge of the sea to a sheltered cove, where a small boat bobbed at the end of a mooring line. Gwydion beckoned the companions to step aboard, took the oars, and with swift noiseless strokes guided the little craft seaward.
As the glittering black water rolled beneath him, Taran crouched in the bow of the boat and strained his eyes for a sign of Caer Colur. Prince Rhun and the companions huddled at the stern, while Gwydion bent his powerful shoulders to the oars. The stars had begun to fade and banks of sea mist drifted in chill clouds.
'Our task must be finished quickly and before daylight,' said Gwydion. 'Most of Achren's warriors have been set to guard the landward entry. We shall land on the far side of the castle, hard by the outer wall. In darkness we may escape their eyes.'
'Glew told us Caer Colur had broken from the
mainland,' said Taran, 'but I had not imagined it to be this far at sea.'
Gwydion frowned. 'Glew? Kaw said nothing to me of Glew.'
'It was then that Kaw left us,' Taran explained. 'Small wonder he could not find us again, for we were deep underground.' He told Gwydion finding Eilonwy's bauble, the treachery of Glew, and the strange book. Gwydion, who had been listening intently, shipped the oars and let the boat drift.
'Alas that you did not speak of this sooner. I would have found better means of safeguarding it,' he said, as Taran handed him the golden sphere which began to glow brightly. Gwydion spread his cloak and shielded the light. Quickly he took the book from Taran's hands, opened it, and brought the bauble closer to the empty pages. The ancient writing sprang into sight. Gwydion's face was tense and pale.
'To read this is beyond my power,' Gwydion said, 'but I recognize it for what it is: the greatest treasure of the House of Llyr.'
'A treasure of Llyr?' T'aran whispered, 'What is its nature? Does it belong to Eilonwy?'
Gwydion nodded. 'She is the last Princess of Llyr, and it is hers by blood-right. But there is more you must understand. For generations the daughters of the House of Llyr were among the most skillful enchantresses in Prydain, using their powers with wisdom and kindliness. In their fastness at Caer Colur were stored all their treasures, magical devices and charmed implements whose nature even I do not know.
'The chronicles of the House of Llyr give only veiled hints as to how these mysteries were guarded. The lore tells of an enchantment known only as the Golden Pelydryn, handed down from mother to daughter, and of a book holding all the secrets of those magical devices and many potent spells.
'But Caer Colur was abandoned and fell into ruins after Angharad Daughter of Regat fled the castle to marry against her Mother's wishes. The book of spells, which she carried away with her, was believed lost. Of the Golden Pelydryn, nothing was known.' Gwydion looked down at the bauble. 'The Golden Pelydryn was not lost. What better way to hide it than to put it as a shining toy in the hands of a child?
'Eilonwy believed she had been sent to live with Achren and study to be an enchantress,' Gwydion went on. 'It is not true. Achren stole Eilonwy and brought her as a child to Spiral Castle.'
'Did Achren fail to recognize the Golden Pelydryn?' Taran asked. 'If she knew its nature, why did she leave it in Eilonwy's possession?'
