In the Shadow of the Wall (44 page)

He joined Colm’s growing band of warriors but he soon found the opportunity to tell Colm that his main talas in thinking, not fighting. Within a few months he was the first man Colm of Broch Tava looked to for advice. Lutrin quickly learned to manipulate Colm as easily as he had once controlled his parents. Colm was not stupid, but he was blinded by his desire for power. Lutrin was happy to plant seeds of ideas, to make subtle suggestions and to let Colm take the credit for the resulting idea. At Lutrin’s subtle prompting. the tribute gathered from the coastal farms was increased, a stockade was erected around the upper village, a smithy was built and Caroc the smith recruited to make the iron tools and weapons the village needed. Lutrin had plans for gold and silver working, too, along with a fleet of ships so that Broch Tava could extend its influence south across the river more easily and contend with the tribes from the north.

As Broch Tava grew in power and influence, so Lutrin grew rich, little by little, willingly taking gifts that Colm gave him. Whenever the fancy took him, he simply helped himself to coins or small items of jewellery from Colm’s growing wealth. He was, at last, a man of wealth and power. Yet he dreamed of more.

Colm had everything that Lutrin wanted so Lutrin worked to make himself indispensable to the head man. Colm’s enemies had a habit of having accidents, often arranged by Lutrin. But he was careful and never obvious. Sometimes his plans took months, or even years, to come to fruition, but all the time he had his eyes on the main prize. One day, he had promised himself, he would be head man of Broch Tava. Which would give him power and wealth. And Mairead.

She was a few years older than Lutrin, but she was still beautiful. Lutrin encouraged Colm to treat her harshly, but only so that she would be more receptive to his own advances when he did decide to take the final, fatal step on his path to power. It was Lutrin who planted the idea with Colm that Mairead was not capable of producing a daughter and that without a daughter, none of Colm’s descendants would ever hold positions of power after Castatin was gone. It was an argument even Lutrin thought was facile, going against everything in the culture of the Pritani, but he planted the idea and Colm remembered it. The thought grew and festered in his mind until he told Lutrin to visit Nechtan to make overtures about arranging a marriage between Colm and Nechtan’s daughter. Colm would divorce Mairead and Lutrin would be free to take her for himself. Then Colm would have an unfortunate accident. When that happened, Lutrin, already married to a woman of the line of Beathag, would be the obvious choice for the new head man. It was a good plan, he thought. All he had to do was wait for Nechtan’s daughter to come of age.

Then the man Brude had arrived, throwing Lutrin’s plot into confusion. He suggested to Colm that they would all be better off if Brude was dead, but Colm, usually quite happy to let Lutrin dispose of his enemies, was reluctant to take such overt action against his childhood friend. Lutrin thought Colm was afraid of the man. He realised that he would have to find a new plan but had still not managed to formulate one by the time Colm was ready to divorce Mairead and marry Nechtan’s daughter. Now, though, Colm was seriously considering letting Mairead marry Brude. Lutrin was forced to think quickly. He managed to persuade Colm that allowing Brude to stay in the village, married to Colm’s former wife, would be dangerous, at color=us for any malcontents among the villagers. It would be better, he suggested, to banish them both. Colm liked the idea. Lutrin, though, was counting on Mairead not wanting to leave her son. If she refused to go, Lutrin would insist that he marry her. But if she did leave with the man Brude, he had enough warriors loyal to him personally to waylay Brude and kill him. Lutrin had visions of arriving in time to drive off the assailants and rescue Mairead. He had not figured out all of the details, but he knew there would be a way to achieve what he wanted. There always was.

Now things had turned out better than he could have hoped. Colm was in disgrace with Nechtan and the witch woman, Veleda, had taken Brude for her own purposes. Lutrin had no idea what the old druid wanted with Brude but he did not really care; all he knew was that men who got into the clutches of the old crone were usually never seen again. All he needed now was a way to dispose of Colm.

Still, Lutrin was wary of taking the final step. He had arranged that the men loyal to him were those who were mounted on horses but that was just the sort of precaution Lutrin always took. He toyed with the idea of simply drawing his sword as he rode alongside Colm on the journey home, killing him without warning, trusting to his men to either overpower or simply escape from the foot soldiers. There was a great temptation to do this but Lutrin preferred more subtle means if he could achieve his ends without direct action. If direct action was called for, he knew he still had Cruithne to deal with. The giant warrior was a potential problem, even though the big man’s attitude towards Colm seemed to have changed since Brude had beaten him in what the villagers were calling the spear challenge. Lutrin would have liked to have seen that because he had not believed that anyone could beat Cruithne in a straightforward fight. It would have been instructive to see how Brude had managed it. The stories he had heard from the likes of Seoc and young Castatin were hard to believe, even though everyone told more or less the same tale, even Cruithne himself.

Lutrin resolved to bide his time. Colm was still in a rage at the affront given to him by Nechtan and Brude was out of the picture, at least for the time being and, possibly, permanently. Lutrin decided he would have to dispose of Cruithne somehow before he could act against Colm. He was a patient man. He could wait a little longer.

The journey back to Broch Tava was not a happy one. Colm seethed and railed against Nechtan, threatening revenge and calling on every god he could think of to bring ruin on Nechtan and all his people. Lutrin stayed mostly silent though the few words he spoke were designed to encourage Colm’s anger.

They rode slowly out of the trees to the north of Broch Tava and saw the familiar sight of the great tower with its huddle of buildings clustered around it. The fields and pastures were lush and green with the ripeness of early summer but Lutrin saw immediately that the fields were empty. No workers, no slaves, and precious little livestock were to be seen. Something was wrong.

Above the tree line, on ofe of the hills above the coast, he could make out faint wisps of smoke, indistinct yet visible, far more than he would normally expect to see from the village’s cooking fires.

Colm, his mind full of thoughts of vengeance, had not noticed so Lutrin, mindful of his role as trusted advisor, tapped Colm’s arm, pointing out the lack of field workers and the unusual smoke.

Colm swore. He jabbed his heels into the flanks of his horse, urging it forwards. Lutrin followed, calling to the other riders to stay close. In a thunder of hoof beats, they sped along the edges of the fields, heading for the main gate in the stockade.

Armed men opened the gates to let them in. “What has happened?” Colm demanded.

“The Romans came,” one of the men answered. “The village is destroyed and many men are dead.”

Lutrin saw the shock on Colm’s face, watched the colour drain from him and felt an inner exultation. Colm’s world was disappearing before his very eyes.

Leaving their horses, they hurried down to the lower village where they found every house burned to the ground, the ashes still hot and smoking, charred timber beams lying in blackened heaps. The bodies of the dead were being gathered and laid out. Lutrin saw Cruithne among them and his heart began to beat faster for fate had removed another obstacle from his path to power.

Mairead ran up to Colm, calling his name. “Castatin is gone!” she blurted, her fear evident on her face. “They took him and Barabal.”

Colm stared at her as if she were a stranger to him. “What?”

“The Romans came. They took Castatin away on their ship. Barabal too. And they killed little Seasaidh.”

Lutrin looked again at the row of bodies. He saw Seoc kneeling at the far end where one corpse, smaller than the others, lay. The young warrior’s long hair tumbled down around his face, hiding his grief from the other villagers though Lutrin could see that everyone was in a state of shock and would have paid no heed to Seoc’s tears had they seen them.

Colm was especially affected. He shook his head as if to deny Mairead’s words and the evidence before his own eyes. “The Romans would not do that. They are our friends.”

Mairead gaped at him. Angrily, she gestured around at the devastation. “I this the work of friends?” she demanded. “Seoc saw Castatin and Barabal being taken onto their ships. We found Seasaidh just a short while ago. Colm, my son is gone! Do you not understand?”

Lutrin intervened. “My lord Colm, we have much to do. Can I suggest that you and your lady wife come with me to the broch. I will have men organise a funeral pyre. Then we must find shelter in the upper village for those who have lost their homes.”

Colm nodded blankly but Mairead said, “I need to stay here to help.”

“Please come up to the broch first, my lady,” Lutrin said. He looked meaningfully at Colm. “Your husband needs your support just now and we must plan what to do next. It will not take long. I promise.”

Mairead looked as though she would argue but she nodded. Taking Colm’s arm, she led him back to the track that climbed the hill to the broch. Lutrin hastily signalled to Irb, one of the warriors he knew he could trust. Irb was a burly man with a cruel streak, which Lutrin admired. “It is time,” Lutrin told him. “Get our men together. Once I am in the broch, make sure that those who might oppose me are dealt with. Permanently.” He named nine men, telling Irb to repeat the names back to him. All were warriors Lutrin knew would be loyal to Colm. “Get them to the upper village and send all the other men down here. Tell them to help get a funeral pyre built. That will keep them busy while we go about our business.”

Irb grinned. “It is about time.”

The warriors who had been on foot on the march from Dun Nechtan had now arrived so, while Lutrin set off after Mairead and Colm, Irb began shouting orders, directing men where Lutrin wanted them.

As Lutrin climbed the hill, he started humming to himself. All of his dreams were about to come true and he wanted to relish the moment. He trudged up the track, admiring the way Mairead walked as she led Colm towards the upper village some way ahead of him. What a fine woman she was, he thought. She was upset at the destruction of the village, appalled at the loss of her son, yet she was still strong, not giving in to the crushing despair the way Colm was. Lutrin knew she was unhappy in her marriage. He looked forward to freeing her from that burden, to offering her a new opportunity for a better life at his side.

He became aware of someone else walking up the slope behind him. He glanced back to see Caroc, the taciturn smith. Caroc’s eyes met his and the big man said, “Going to get some more axes,” by way of explanation.

Lutrin nodded. “Good idea.” He really didn’t care.

Looking back down the hill he saw Irb leading a group up the slope, some of them Lutrin’s men, some of them his intended victims. It was all coming together perfectly.

Apart from a few warriors, the upper village was nearly empty. Only the old, the very young and a handful of slaves were left while the others were down in the ruins of the lower village. Lutrin saw Brude’s old mother, Mor, approach Mairead and Colm. She began to harangue them. Then Mairead was asking Colm questions. Lutrin hurried over because he knew what this would be about and Colm was in such a state of shock that he would not know what to answer.

Mairead rounded on Lutrin as he approached. “What has happened to Brude?” she demanded.

“Nechtan’s witch woman, Veleda, has him.” The pain in her expression annoyed Lutrin. Brude meant too much to her, he thought.

“The druid! What does she want with him?”

Lutrin shrugged. “She had heard of his magic. Perhaps she wants him dead. Perhaps she wants him as a pupil. Either way, I’m afraid we won’t see him for a very long time, if at all.” He gave her a look meant to convey sympathy. “I’m sorry. There was nothing we could do. One does not refuse a druid when demands are made.”

Mor, her lined old face crumpled in tears, buried her head in her hands at the thought of losing her only son for a second time. Old Seoras came over to comfort her, gently putting his arm around her. Mairead glared at Lutrin, obviously wanting to argue, but he ushered her towards the broch, leading the unresisting Colm by the arm. “Come inside. I will explain as much as I can,” he told her insistently.