“Thank you,” Bradan said. “It's better already.” The antiseptic qualities of sphagnum moss were well known to everybody in Alba, so every warrior carried a quantity when he went into battle. Bradan tied the pad in place with the wiry stem of a heather shrub.
“What were these things?”
“This is the land of cats.” Astrid sounded remarkably calm. “Perhaps they were the reason for the name? A hybrid race of part-cat, part-human creatures.”
“That might be what they are,” Bradan lifted the pad from his arm, saw the blood was continuing to seep out and replaced the moss. “I only know they are dangerous.”
“They bleed,” Melcorka scuffed her feet over a smear of blood the creatures had left, “and I can kill them like any other creature.” She shrugged. “If you are ready, Bradan, we can look inside the cottage.”
Blood had trickled from inside the house under the door to form a spreading pool outside. When Melcorka pushed open the door, they looked on a scene of slaughter with two adults and three children lying on the floor, all slashed to bloody shreds and partially eaten.
Bradan turned away as Melcorka and Astrid exchanged glances.
“Aye,” Melcorka said. “I don't much care for these cat people.”
“Nor do I,” Bradan said. “Nor do I.”
Of the three, Astrid appeared the least concerned. “Cats have never bothered me,” she said.
“What now?” Bradan asked.
“Now we continue,” Melcorka said. “We go on to Dun Dreggan.”
Bradan shuddered. Even the name sounded ominous.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Melcorka saw Dun Dreggan from across the flat landscape. It stood on an isolated rock stack, 100 yards off the grim coastal cliffs with the sea frothing and boiling around its base. Flocks of seagulls circled, screaming, with skuas competing with herring gulls to see who could make the most noise. Between the edge of the mainland cliff and the castle, a slender rope bridge swung crazily above the sea.
“That is a hard place to visit unless the owner invites you,” Bradan said.
“That is Dun Dreggan,” Astrid said soberly. “Once I have guided you there, you are on your own.”
The castle was unlike any Melcorka had seen. The base rose sheer, nearly like a continuation of the rock stack, with a profusion of turrets that soared skyward. The single entrance that faced the mainland was barely the height of a tall man, although sufficiently wide to accommodate four men abreast. From the base of the castle to 20 feet up, Melcorka could not see a single window, while arrow-slits punctuated the upper storeys.
“It would be a hard task to take that castle without a battery of catapults,” Melcorka said.
“We are not here to capture the castle,” Bradan reminded. “We are here to gain access. We are here to gain information about the Book of Black Earth.”
“That may also be a hard task.” Melcorka pointed upward, where the two ravens that had been their constant companions circled, watching them. “I suspect the Lord of Dun Dreggan is already aware of our presence.”
“He will be. Look.” Astrid nodded forward as the castle gate opened and a man wearing a catskin hat stepped out, carrying a box under one arm. As he crossed the swaying bridge, two others followed, one with a small, square table and the second with a pair of straight-backed chairs. Both were lithe, active men, with cat-skins over their heads and the legs of cats draped over their shoulders.
“I remember that the ancient Fenians fought a tribe of cat-heads,” Melcorka said. “Perhaps these are the descendants.”
“There are too many cats in this province of the cats.” Bradan watched the men on the swaying bridge. “Cat-creatures, Great Men of the Cats and now men wearing cat skin.”
“What is this?” Melcorka asked as the servants set up the table in the centre of the narrow bridge and withdrew. The man in the cat-skin hat sat on one of the chairs, facing the mainland, and set out a chessboard. Pointing to Melcorka, he gestured her forward.
“I think he is challenging you to a game of chess,” Bradan said. “Have you ever played the game?”
Melcorka shook her head. “Never.”
“Then I shall take your place.” Lifting a hand, Bradan stepped on to the bridge. He had taken a dozen steps when the man in the cat-skin hat clapped his hands and a dozen skuas rose from the castle walls and dived toward Bradan. As the Arctic skua is a fast, furious and aggressive bird, known to attack anybody who came near their nest, Bradan raised his staff in defence. The man in the cat-skin hat clapped again, and the birds changed tactics, with two swooping at Bradan's head and the others at his body.
Fending off the two highest birds, Bradan gasped as one of the others dug its beak into his hand. He swung his staff at it, missed, and swore as two more pecked at his eyes.
“Bradan!” Melcorka ran on to the bridge, drawing Defender. “I'm coming.”
Three of the birds altered direction to attack Melcorka, as the man in the catskin hat began to rock the bridge, left and right, further unbalancing Bradan, until the man in catskin lifted his hand and the birds withdrew, leaving Bradan and Melcorka on the bridge. The man in catskin gestured Bradan back.
“Only the woman.” His voice hissed.
Bradan stood up, holding the rope parapet for balance. “Melcorka cannot play chess.”
“Only Melcorka, or nobody,” the reply came.
Putting her hand on Bradan's shoulder, Melcorka nodded. “I will come. Bradan; return to the mainland.”
Looking down at the boiling sea hundreds of feet below, Bradan hesitated, until Melcorka hardened her voice.
“Go, Bradan. We have no choice.”
“Melcorka is correct,” Astrid said softly. “She is fulfilling her destiny.”
Returning to the mainland, Bradan stood beside Astrid, leaning on his staff as Melcorka strode towards the table. The man in the cat-skin hat waited, gesturing for Melcorka to sit opposite him as the wind pushed the bridge this way and that and the skuas patrolled
