couple hours’ ride distant, the group became involved in fog and drizzle, so that it was not till afternoon that they skirted Loch Key and came to Magh Ai, the Plain of Livers. The cloaks with which Cuchulainn had furnished them were of fine wool, but all three were soaked and silent by time a group of houses came into sight through air slightly clearing.
There were about as many of the buildings as would constitute an incorporated village in their own universe, surrounded by the usual stockade and wide gate — unmistakably Cruachan of the Poets, the capital of Connacht.
As they approached along an avenue of trees and shrubbery, a boy of about thirteen, in shawl and kilt and carrying a miniature spear, popped out of the bushes and cried: «Stand there! Who is it you are and where are you going?»
It might be important not to smile at this diminutive warrior. Shea identified himself gravely and asked in turn, «And who are you, sir?»
«I am Goistan mac Idha, of the boy troop of Cruachan, and it is better not to interfere with me.»
Shea said, «We have come from a far country to see your King and Queen and the druid Ollgaeth.»
He turned and waved his spear toward where a building like that at Muirthemne, but more ornate, loomed over the stockade, then marched ahead of them down the road.
At the gate of the stockade wasa pair of hairy soldiers, but their spears were leaning against the posts and they were too engrossed in a game of knuckle-bones even to look up as the party rode through. The clearing weather seemed to have brought activity to the town. A number of people were moving about, most of whom paused to stare at Brodsky, who had flatly refused to discard the pants of his brown business-suit and was evidently not dressed for the occasion.
The big house was built of heavy oak beams and had wooden shingles instead of the usual thatch. Shea stared with interest at windows with real glass in them, even though the panes were little diamondshaped pieces half the size of a hand and far too irregular to see through.
There was a doorkeeper with a beard badly in need of trimming and lopsided to the right. Shea got off his horse and advanced to him, saying, «I am Mac Shea, a traveler from beyond the island of the Fomorians, with my wife and bodyguard. May we have an audience with their majesties, and their great druid, Ollgaeth?»
The doorkeeper inspected the party with care and then grinned. «I am thinking,» he said, «that your honor will please the Queen with your looks, and your lady will please himself, so you had best go along in. But this ugly lump of a bodyguard will please neither, and as they are very sensitive and this is judgment day, he will no doubt be made a headshorter for the coming, so he had best stay with yourmounts.»
Shea glanced round in time to see Brodsky replace his expression of fury with the carefully cultivated blank that policemen use, and helped Belphebe off her horse.
Inside, the main hall stretched away with the usual swords and spears in the usual place on the wall, and a rack of heads, not as large as Cuchulainn’s. In the middle of the hall, surrounded at a respectful distance by retainers and armed soldiers, stood an oaken dais, ornamented with strips of bronze and silver. It held two big carven armchairs, in which lounged, rather than sat, the famous sovereigns ofConnacht.
Maev might have been in her early forties, still strikingly beautiful, with a long, pale, unlined face, pale blue eyes and yellow hair, hanging in long braids. For a blonde without the aid of cosmetics, she had remarkably red lips.
King Ailill was a less impressive figure than his consort, some inches shorter, fat and paunchy, with small close-set eyes constantly moving and a straggly pepper-and-salt beard. He seemed unable to keep his fingers still. An ulcertype, thought Shea; would be a chain smoker if tobacco existed in this part of the space-time continuum.
A young man in a blue kilt, wearing a silver-hilted shortsword over a tunic embroidered with gold thread, seemed to be acting as usher to make sure that nobody got to the royal couple out of turn. He spotted the newcomers at once, and worked his way toward them.
«Will you be seeking an audience, or have you come merely to look at the greatest King inIreland?» he asked. His eyes ran appreciatively over Belphebe’s contours.
Shea identified himself, adding, «We have come to pay our respects to the King and Queen. ah.»
«Mainemac Aililla. Mainemo Epert,» said the young man.
This would be one of the numerous sons of Ailill and Maev, who had all been given the same name. But he stood in their path without moving.
«Can we speak to them?» Shea said.
Mainemo Epert put back his head and looked down an aristocratic nose. «Since you are foreigners, youare evidently not knowing that it is the custom in Connacht to have a present for the man who brings you before a King. But I will be forgiving your ignorance.» He smiled a charming smile.
Shea glanced at Belphebe and she looked back in dismay. Their total possessions consisted of what they stood in. «But we have to see them,» he said. «It may be as important to them as to us.»
Mainemo Epert smiled again.
Shea said, «How about a nice broadsword?» and pushed forward his hilt.
«I have a better one,» said Maine mo Epert, exasperatingly, and pushed forward his. «If it were a jewel, now.»
«How about seeing Ollgaeth the druid?»
«It is a rule that he will see none but those the Queen sends him.»
Shea felt like whipping out the broadsword and taking a crack at him, but that would probably not be considered polite. Suddenly Belphebe beside him said: «Jewels have we none, sirrah, but from your glances, there is something you would prize more. I am sure that in accordance with your custom, my husband would be glad to lend me to you for the night.»
Shea gasped, and then remembered. That geas she had acquired could be handy as well as troublesome. But it had better not be taken off till morning. Maine mo Epert’s smile turned into a grin that made Shea want more than ever to swat him, but he clapped his hands and began to push people aside. Shea had just time to whisper, «Nice work, kid,» when the usher pushed a couple of people from the end of a bench and sat them down in the front row, facing the royal pair. At the moment a couple of spearmen were holding a serf and giving evidence that he had stolen a pork chop.
Maev looked at Ailill, who said, «Ahem — since the lout was starving, perhaps we ought to exercise mercy and let him off with the loss of a hand.»
«Do not be a fool,» said Maev, «when it is not necessary at all. What! A man inConnacht of the heroes who is so weak-witted that he must starve? Hang him or burn him, would be my decision if I were king.»
«Very well, darling,» said Ailill. «Let the man be hung.»
Two little groups stepped forward next, glaring at each other. Maine mo Epert began to introduce them, but before he got halfway through, Maev said, «I know of this case and it promises to be a long one. Before we hear it I would willingly learn something of the business of the handsome pair of strangers you have brought in.»
Mainemo Epert said, «This is a pair from a distant island calledAmerica. The Mac Shea and his wife, Belphebe. They wish to pay their respects.»
«Let him speak,» said Maev.
Shea wondered whether he ought to make an obeisance, but as no one else seemed to be doing it, he merely stepped forward and said, «Queen, you have become so famous that even inAmerica we have heard of you, and we could not restrain the desire to see you. Also, I would like to see your famous druid, Ollgaeth, since my wife is suffering from a most unpleasant geas, and I am told he is an expert at removing them. Also, I have a message for you and the King, but that had better be private.»
Maev rested her chin on her hand and surveyed him. «Handsome man,» she said, «it is easy to see that you are not much used to deceiving people. Your embroidery is in the style ofUlster, and now you will be telling me at once what this message is and from whom it comes there.»
«It doesn’t come from there,» said Shea. «It’s true I have been inUlster, in fact at Cuchulainn’s house of Muirthemne. And the message is that your plan against him will bring disaster.»
King Ailill’s fingers stopped their restless twitching and his mouth came open, while Maev’s eyebrows formed a straight line. She said in a high voice, «And who told you of the plans of the King of Connacht?»
Look out, said Shea tohimself, this is thin ice. Aloud he said, «Why, it’s just that in my own country, I’m
