Agwaine said nothing. The appearance of this strange woman had angered him, and he was loath to hand over the great sword-their only real defense against the beast-to a woman.
“How will we fight this beast?” asked Layne.
“How indeed?” she replied, her pale eyes showing sorrow.
“We could make spears,” suggested Gaelen, “by fastening our daggers to poles.”
“Come to that, I could make a bow,” said Gwal. “It wouldn’t be a great weapon, or very accurate. But it might serve at close range.”
“Then do it swiftly,” said the Queen, “and we will talk again.”
The boys rose and spread out nervously into the woods, searching for saplings or stout straight branches. Gaelen and Agwaine selected an infant elm and began to hack at it with their daggers.
“What do you think of her, Lowlander?” Agwaine asked as the sapling snapped.
“I think she is what she says she is,” snapped Gaelen. “And if you call me Lowlander again, you’ll answer for it.”
Agwaine grinned. “I don’t like you, Gaelen, but you are right. Whatever your pedigree, you are now a clansman. But I’ll never call you cousin.”
“I don’t care about that,” Gaelen told him. “You are nothing to me.”
“So be it.”
They stripped the sapling of twigs and leaves and shortened it to a manageable five feet. Then Gaelen unwound the thongs of his right legging and bound his knife to the wood. He hefted it for balance and hurled it at a nearby tree. The spear hammered home with a dull thud. Gaelen tugged it loose and examined the binding; it remained firm.
It seemed a formidable weapon, but he summoned the image of the beast to mind and then the spear seemed puny indeed.
“Were you surprised I found the sword?” Agwaine asked him.
“No, disappointed.”
“That was a good trick with the pack.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“I didn’t, but it was good anyway.” Gaelen nodded. He waited while Agwaine fashioned his spear, then wandered away; he didn’t enjoy Agwaine’s company and he knew the feeling was reciprocated.
He made his way back to the clearing where the old woman sat. She was deep in thought and Gaelen watched her for some time from the edge of the woods. It was easy to believe she was a queen, for her bearing was proud and confident and she was clearly used to being obeyed. But there was more to her than that: a kind of innate nobility, an inner strength, which shone through.
“Are you going to stand there all day, Gaelen?” she asked without moving her head.
Gaelen stepped forward. “How did you know I was here? And how do you know my name?”
“Let’s leave it at the first question. I heard you. Come and join me for a while, and eat something. To work efficiently the body must be fed.”
“Are you no longer a queen?” asked Gaelen, seating himself cross-legged before her.
The woman chuckled and shook her head. “A queen is always a queen. Only death can change that. But I am, at present, without a realm. Yet I hope to return soon. I promised my people I would-just as my father did before me.”
“Why did you leave your land?” Gaelen asked.
“I was wounded, and likely to die. And so the prophecy was fulfilled and… my captain… sought the Gate and passed me through. Taliesen healed me.”
“How were you wounded?”
“In a battle.” She looked away, her eyes distant.
“Did you win?”
“I always win, Gaelen,” she said sadly. “My friends die and yet I win. Winning is a hard habit to break; we can come to feed on it to the exclusion of all else.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Not when you’re young,” she said, smiling again.
“Why have you stayed up here and not in the village?”
“As I told you, I am a guest of the Lord Taliesen. He felt it would be wiser to remain near Vallon. Now, enough of questions. Look around you. Is this a good place to face the beast?”
“Is there a good place?” countered Gaelen.
“There are places you should avoid, like open ground.”
“Is here a good place?”
“Not bad. You have the trees to shield you, and yet there is no dense undergrowth so it cannot creep up on you unnoticed.”
“Except at night,” said Gaelen.
“Indeed. But it will be over, for good or ill, long before then.”
“What about you? You have no spear.”
The Queen smiled. “I have my sword; it has been with me these forty years. I thought it had been left behind when I passed through the Gateway, but Taliesen brought it to me. It is a fine weapon.”
Lennox came into view carrying an enormous club of oak. “I found this,” he said. “It will do for me.”
The Queen laughed loud. “There is nothing subtle about you, Lennox, my lad. Nor ever will be. Indeed it is a fine weapon.”
Gwalchmai had fashioned a short bow and had found six pieces of wood straight enough to slice into shafts for it. “It’s a clumsy thing,” he said, “and the range will be no greater than twenty paces.” Squatting down, he began to shape pieces of bark into flights for his arrows.
By noon they had completed their preparations and they sat waiting for the woman’s instructions. But she said nothing, merely sitting among them slowly chewing the last of the bread. Gaelen caught the Queen’s eye and she smiled, raising an eyebrow questioningly. He turned to Gwalchmai. “You are the lightest of us, Gwal. Why don’t you climb that tree and keep a watch for the creature?”
Gwalchmai nodded. “Wouldn’t the oak be better? It’s more sturdy.”
“The beast might be able to climb,” said Gaelen. “The elm would never support its weight.”
“How will you tackle it when it comes?” asked the Queen, staring at Gaelen.
“We must confuse it,” he said, his mind racing. He had no idea how five boys and an old woman should tackle a creature of such speed and strength, but the Queen asked him a question and seemed to expect a rational reply. “If we spread out, the beast must attack us one at a time. Each time it does, one or all the others must stab at it, turning the creature all ways. Gwal, you will stay in the tree,” he called to the climbing boy. “Shoot when you have a clear target.”
“That is all good thinking,” said the Queen, “but, even so, to confuse the beast you must surprise it. Once it is sighted, and we know which direction it is coming from, you must hide yourselves, forming a rough circle. But one of you must act as bait and stay in plain sight. With luck the beast will charge; I’ve seen that before. Ideally we must make it charge onto a spear. That way its weight will carry the point home far more powerfully than any thrust of yours.”
“I will be the bait,” said Gaelen, surprising himself.
“Why you?” asked Agwaine. “I am the fastest here, and I’ve outrun it before.”
“Speed is not usually required of bait,” Gaelen told him.
Agwaine chuckled and shook his head. “All right. I will stay on your right, Lennox and Layne can take the left. And may God give us luck.”
“Do not ask for luck, ask for courage,” said the Queen.
“How will you fight?” Agwaine asked her.
“With my sword,” she replied softly. “As I always have, against man and beast. Don’t worry about me, boy.”
“Why should you fight for us at all?”
“That is a mystery you will one day understand, but it is not for me to explain to you.”
“It’s coming!” called Gwalchmai from high in the elm. They could all see where he was pointing; the beast
