C H O S E N B Y F I R E
A novel by Harriet Locksley
Copyright © 2021 All rights reserved
Starlight whispered. It showed me the face of someone I did not know. Looking back, I think she hardly knew herself at that time. She would certainly have had no idea of the part she was to play in all of this – the lass whose name was forged in Fire.
ONE
Kaetha
She stopped running. Her laughter died, lost in the wind which coursed over the hills, tugging at purple heather. Kaetha didn’t understand why the back of her neck began to prickle, trailing a shiver down her spine. Likewise, she couldn’t say why her gaze was transfixed by the river, glinting silver beyond the rise of the hill. However, a creeping suspicion clutched coldly at her. She hoped desperately that she was wrong.
“Didn’t you hear what I was saying?” said Archie, panting as he caught up with her. “What is it?” His tone had changed to one of concern.
She hardly knew how to answer him and was glad of the interruption of hooves thudding behind them. Morwena reined in her horse but she wasn’t looking at Kaetha or Archie. Instead, she stared out across the hills, her face drained of colour, her eyes drawn to the same point in the river that Kaetha had been looking at.
“You shouldn’t go too close to the Eachburn today, my dear,” said Morwena in her soft, lilting accent.
Kaetha rubbed the back of her neck, failing to rid herself of the tingly sensation. Catching Morwena’s eye, she was surprised by the searching look her guardian gave her. Then a smile touched Morwena’s face like a shadow.
Archie tensed, shifting awkwardly as if he was uncomfortable in his own skin, but Kaetha couldn’t tell if that was because he’d sensed something uncanny too, or if it was simply due to his usual shyness of Morwena. Her guardian often made a striking impression on the villagers and not only from her unusually dark hair or the vivid colours in her clothing. The bone pins holding back sections of her hair; the bone handle of the knife at her belt; the leaves of silver in a chain around her neck and the stone and amber beads sewn into her blue tunic, all were marked by carvings of patterns and shapes which, to a Dalrathan eye, looked decidedly foreign.
The most intricately fashioned item she wore was the silver clasp which secured her cloak and was shaped like a pair of herons in flight. Her array of carved, wrought and engraved images was echoed in the blue tattoos which draped her arms and wrists, never quite covered by her sleeves. Her years spent living here in Dalrath had never managed to make her want to hide or put away these signs that she was Edonian. Kaetha admired her honesty about who she was, her loyalty to her people.
“It’s good to see you, Archie,” said Morwena.
He cleared his throat, though he didn’t appear to know what to say, so he bobbed his head in a bow.
“I’ve not seen you wearing the silver clasp and necklace for a long time,” said Kaetha. Then she realised. “You’re going to Ciadrath. Already.” She sighed, making no effort to hide her disappointment. “I thought you were going next week.”
“I was meant to be but a messenger came from the citadel and now I’m wanted up there today. I know it’s late but I’ll get there before dark. Gwyn will be at the hall though, so you shouldn’t be lonely.” Kaetha lowered her eyes and didn’t comment. “I rode this way in hope of seeing you.”
“Why do they want you there now?”
Morwena leant forward in her saddle. “I hear that Princess Rhona’s suitor will arrive sooner than expected. I think what she really needs is some reassurance from her old nurse.”
Kaetha had never met Princess Rhona and had only seen her from a distance a handful of times. However, she had long thought that they were somehow linked, both having known the love and care of this woman.
“Ma says it’s about time the princess got married,” said Archie, finding his voice at last.
Morwena gave a small laugh. “I think King Alran would agree with her,” she said. She studied Kaetha’s face again and a tangible silence followed.
Archie turned to Kaetha. “I’ll wait for you at the oaks, shall I?”
“Aye,” she replied. “I’d outrun you if you didn’t have a head start.”
“You wish,” he muttered before leaving them.
“Come here, my lass,” said Morwena. Kaetha reached towards her and Morwena squeezed her hand, her smile faltering. “Growing up so quickly,” she said, tucking a lock of unruly auburn hair behind Kaetha’s ear. She seemed about to say something else. Kaetha could almost feel the unspoken words hanging in the air between them. But then they were gone as if the wind had blown them away. “Stroud will follow on tomorrow with my things. I hope to be back within the fortnight.”
Kaetha raised her eyebrows.
“I’ll try to be,” Morwena added before straightening up in the saddle and turning her horse. She glanced once more out across to the river. “We’ll have a good talk, you and I, when I return.”
Kaetha’s hand had been warm a moment before, held tightly in Morwena’s, but now it felt cold as she watched her ride off down the road, a flutter of blue sinking towards the steely clouds which billowed out across the horizon.
Catching up with Archie, just as he reached their best oak for climbing, she dropped her bag on the ground and dug her fingertips into the bark of a low branch. “Ready?”
“Is everything alright?” he said. “With you and Lady Morwena?”
“Aye. Everything’s fine. You ready?”
“If you’re ready to lose.”
She grinned. “And what’s that like, Archie?
