Prophet of Moonshae

When the madness finally passed from him, there was not enough left on the floor to prove that the body had ever been that of a man.

Alicia awakened to the soothing caress of a gentle hand across her brow-no, it was the breeze, washing across her skin. She heard the soft noise of water lapping beside her.

Dimly, then, she remembered her broken arm and the stunning kick that had nearly killed her, and she sat up in wonder. Her arm, her shoulder… all her body was whole! Or had she dreamed the entire episode, the horror that had stalked them? In truth, there was no sign of a great iron giant, though she sat very near the place where it had fallen into the pool, where the twisted form had jutted upward from the shallow water.

Then she looked around, her amazement growing to a sense of wonder that swiftly became awe.

The vale of the Moonwell had come alive around her! Dewy lilies lined the shore of the pool, with their padded leaves floating on the surface, forming a gentle fringe dividing the placid heart of the pond from the suddenly verdant land. Lush grasses grew away from the water, surrounding cedars that had somehow become tall and stately.

She touched her hand to the water and noticed with surprise that it didn't seem the slightest bit cool to her now, though she recalled a feeling of deep, numbing shock from the icy chill when she had struck the water during the fight.

'Tavish? Keane?' she called, suddenly alarmed.

'Ho, Princess! What say you to this?' She saw Tavish, her face widened by that familiar smile. The bard sat among the rocks nearby, her harp still slung carelessly across her shoulder, and gestured to the soft green flora surrounding them.

'A miracle?' Alicia guessed, hesitant.

'Aye. But look.' Ruefully the bard pulled her harp from her back and showed it to the younger woman. Alicia saw that the strings twisted in every direction, broken and bent. The wooden brace of the instrument and the soundboard as well were cracked and splintered.

'The strings went when I summoned that overgrown suit of plate mail to follow me around the pond,' Tavish explained. 'Then I fell and smashed the frame. It's beyond hope, I'm afraid.'

'I'm sorry,' said Alicia, feeling sudden melancholy. 'Where's Keane?'

'That 'failed apprentice' of a magic-user?' inquired the bard, gesturing to a nearby patch of smooth ground. 'He's over there. I tried to make him as comfortable as I could, as I did with you.'

A groan from a pile of rocks nearby told them both where Keane lay, and that he lived. The tall man raised himself from the ground stiffly, kneeling for a moment and blinking while he looked around, as if he sought to restore his equilibrium. Though he must have landed very roughly indeed, his skin was unmarked by bruises or abrasions.

For the first time, Alicia noticed that it was daylight. The sun even broke through the eternal clouds for several seconds, casting warmth and brightness on the sacred well before the familiar overcast closed in again.

'That thing-the monster,' Alicia wondered, climbing to her feet and walking over to her friends. 'What was it? Where did it come from?'

'A golem,' Keane supplied. 'Of iron-the most difficult type to create. Whoever sent it after us is a sorcerer or priest of great might.'

'Speaking of that,' Alicia said, diverting attention for a moment away from the question of the identity of their attacker's maker. 'Why have you kept your own ability such a secret? Your magic saved our lives last night. Never would I have believed you could wield such power!'

'In truth,' Tavish agreed. 'That was a display the like of which I've not seen in twenty years-not since the Black Wizards fought to place their own puppet on the throne of the High King.'

'My predecessors.' There was no humor in Keane's laugh. 'It is at the High King's own request,' said the young magic-user. 'He would not have it known that his own advisers are wizards of any notable power.'

' 'Tis true the Ffolk have always had an aversion to magic,' Tavish noted.

'And with the trouble brought upon the realm by the Black Wizards, King Tristan preferred to keep my role a secret.'

'And all those years you taught me,' Alicia said, wonderingly. 'I never had any clue, any suspicion that you could do more than light an oilless lantern, or put the dogs to sleep if they barked overmuch!'

'It would seem that your father saw you placed in very good care,' observed Tavish to Alicia. 'And thank you, mage, for our lives.'

Keane blushed, obviously embarrassed. Then he shook his head. 'We all took risks, and we all fought for each other. Lady bard, your diversion, leading the creature around the pond, was one of the bravest-and most foolhardy! — acts I have even been witness to. But that's just it. You and I didn't kill that thing! It was when the princess struck it with the staff,' he told them.

'No-it was when the staff touched the water,' Alicia disagreed, and then turned to Tavish. 'Where did you get it, anyway? I've never known you to carry a stave before.'

Tavish looked at them both, her face awestruck, her voice unusually somber. 'It was your mother's-the ashen staff of the Great Druid. She gave it to me … said that I would know when to use it. No, actually she told me I'd know who would use it, and use it well.'

'Me?' Alicia wondered. She looked around the shore, saw the smooth shaft of blond wood, and went to retrieve it. 'A druid's staff? But how? All my life I've studied as a warrior!'

'Still, you are your mother's daughter,' Tavish reminded her.

'And my father's, too!' the princess snapped, more fiercely than she intended. She felt something vaguely threatening about the long staff in her hands and quickly put it down. 'Besides,' she continued, tempering her tone, 'the faith of the goddess has passed from the Moonshaes. The druids have no might, no power.'

'Ahem,' Keane cleared his throat. He nodded at the thick, lush verdure around them. Wild flowers, brilliant blossoms that they knew had not been there when they had awakened minutes earlier, danced among the trees, brushed by the light morning breeze. 'Perhaps your last statement is no longer the obvious truth it has been for so long.'

'Indeed, this is nothing short of miraculous,' agreed the bard. 'It is a Moonwell as I remember, in the age before the New Gods ruled the land.'

'Wait.' Alicia shook her head, stubbornly refusing to accept her companion's arguments. 'That iron thing, the golem. You said that it was made by powerful sorcery. Well, now it's gone. All that power must have gone somewhere. Maybe that's what wanned the water and brought life to this place!'

Keane smiled with a smugness that inflamed the young woman's temper. He spoke with a patronizing kindness. 'It really doesn't work that-'

'How can we know?' she demanded. 'Tavish called this a miracle. Doesn't that mean we don't have a good explanation?'

'Well, yes …'

'And how do you know what an iron golem can do? Have you ever made one?' She regretted her tone as soon as she saw the hurt look on his face.

'No,' he said stiffly.

'Speaking of that,' Tavish interjected, 'where did that thing come from?'

They both looked at Keane, who seemed ready to snap back a reply. Instead, he sighed and pondered for a moment. 'I have to admit I don't know. I don't know of a sorcerer in all the isles who could do such a thing.'

'It had a helm,' Alicia remembered. 'Horned, like a north-man's.'

'In truth,' Tavish agreed thoughtfully. 'It looked like a northman warrior.'

'But there's not a one of them with that kind of knowledge,' objected Keane. 'The northmen value brawn and courage far above sorcery!'

'And another thing,' the princess realized with a sudden stab of fear. 'How did it know we were here? Was it random, or directed at us specifically?'

'At you,' Keane said softly. Suddenly Alicia was very glad he was here. 'The High Princess of Moonshae.'

'An assassin?' Tavish asked, gaping at the two of them. Very swiftly she, too, saw the likelihood. 'That leads