The Bwy Hir Complete Trilogy (38 page)

CHAPTER NINE

Cadno disliked Caerlleon the moment he set foot on the English soil, to him it felt old,
over used and overrun with the Lost.

He had taken shelter in a small copse of ash trees just beyond the old
Roman walls that surrounded the entire city and here he waited for darkness. The Helgi were sitting forlornly on a carpet of fallen leaves, their heads hung low, their eyes half closed. Cadno didn’t know what was wrong with them, but they were obedient and subdued and that suited him just fine.

He rustled through his rucksack, careful not to let the two vials he carried bang against one another. One vial contained the original
Druid ateb, stolen from the Infirmary before he watered down the rest to hide the theft. The second vial contained the new ateb he had brewed to Taliesin’s instructions. He didn’t know which he would use, whether Taliesin’s was even viable – that’s why he had taken both. A back-up plan was always prudent, and besides, he didn’t have the first idea how to concoct the Druids’ ateb, so Taliesin’s had better be bona-fide.

Cadno craned his neck to look at the sky, the sun was well past its zenith and sunset wouldn’t be long in arriving.
Where will Atgas be hiding herself?
he wondered, as he settled down to wait.
Somewhere grand no doubt, Atgas loves all things beautiful, she wouldn’t go to ground somewhere that could not provide her warmth, comfort and retainers – she’d need retainers.
He rummaged through his rucksack again, this time retrieving the Dderwydd Ddrych. This mirror was twinned with Atgas’.

He ran his finger o
ver the cold glass. There was no message on it, there never had been, not since she’d been banished. Once, a long time ago they had used the mirror for all sorts of messages, many silly sport and jibes sent to each other. There had been a friendship between them then, a friendship that had sealed them together for every Solstice, but that was before her lusts had been discovered.

He lifted the mirror to his face and breathed to fog the glass and then he wrote:
Answer me Atgas. I have left the Host, I need to meet you.
He wiped the glass clean and waited.

If she didn’t answer he could always use the hunter-bind rune. He would simply draw the rune on the mirror and use the magic to take him to the mirror
’s twin and hopefully Atgas, but he’d prefer it if she would answer him first and so he waited.

The sun was beginning to set by the time Cadno finally decided to use the hunter-bind rune. His finger was poised over the mirror about to draw the first of the eight lines required when he heard the tell-tale snap of a twig behind him. The
Helgi heads shot up and they immediately began to growl, a low rumble deep in their throats.

Cadno focused and gathered his will
, ready to strike out with a whip of fire. ‘I dislike being crept up upon, especially when you’re not very good at it.’ He kept his voice light and unconcerned.

‘You took so long to notice that I felt it only polite to give you a sporting chance
,’ the female voice called from the shadows of the trees.

Cadno smiled
. ‘It’s been a long time since I heard that voice … I was just about to come and find you.’ He didn’t relax; his muscles tensed even more, every sinew poised to lash out if necessary.

Atgas laughed from the shadows
. ‘You were always one step behind me, Cadno.’ Her laughing stopped abruptly, her voice became harsh and demanding. ‘Why have you come? I made a promise to shoot any Welshman that dared enter the walls of Caerlleon after dark and yet you still came.’

Cadno wasn’t aware of that promise, but he did not consider himself Welsh so brushed the threat aside as he twiste
d his head. He couldn’t see her; she had positioned herself out of his line of sight. ‘I have left the Host. I am no longer part of the Triskele. I came to rekindle our friendship, so how are you faring, Atgas?’

‘Better than you
.’ Again she sounded wary, cold and distant. ‘I do not have an arrow trained at my head.’

Cadno had been expecting a frosty welcome but he hadn’t expected Atgas to be this cold
. He did however, have a back-up plan. ‘You have the arrow, I have the Helgi.’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘You can’t kill all three of us before at least one of us reaches you.’

Atgas didn’t reply at first and when she did her voice came from another direction, this time it was dead ahead of him
. ‘I wouldn’t be so sure, Cadno, I’ve had a long time to perfect my aim … what do you want?’

Cadno squinted into the trees but he still couldn’t place her and so he pretended to relax, leaning against a tree trunk in a nonchalant manner. ‘I’ve told you what I want, to rekindle our friendship. We used to be friends, didn’t we?’ His eyes flitted over every leaf, trying to pinpoint her.

‘Have you been declared
Gwaradwyddedig, Cadno?’ Atgas drawled. ‘What did you do? Why did they banish you?’

It was Cadno’s turn to laugh
. ‘I wasn’t banished or declared shamed, Atgas, I left of my own free will.’ He smiled into the darkness. ‘Although, if Aeron gets his hands on me, banishment would be the least of my worries.’ He leaned into the darkness and spread his arms wide. ‘Look, Atgas, I am getting cold, hungry and tired, I am going to light a fire right here and now – it is up to you whether you wish to join me and hear my tale, otherwise you can go, either way is fine with me.’ He waited and then snorted before summoning fire onto the logs he had already prepared.

He kept one eye on the
Helgi, watching their reactions as they stared into the darkness, their ears twitching and swivelling. He fed more sticks into the fire and then leaned back, waiting. ‘The Triskele is failing, Atgas, we are all failing …’ There was no reply. ‘So, I have done what is needed to survive, I have left the Host.’ Silence. ‘Do you know how many Bwy Hir have been born since you left, Atgas?’ Nothing. ‘One,’ he shouted into the trees, ‘only one, but that is about to change, there is a new ateb, Atgas … Atgas?’

‘I am here.’ Atgas appeared before him, as beautiful as she always had been. Only one blemish marred her perfection, a scar that ran from the corner of her eye, across her temple and into the hairline above her left ear.

‘You no longer show the Triskele?’ Cadno asked as she stepped into the firelight.

‘I am no longer part of it.’ Atgas stayed standing
. ‘Besides, Mab ensured her blade cut through it, it is a Triskele no longer, or it is a broken one.’

Cadno looked up at her. Her hair was raven black
, as were her eyes. Her skin was as white as the first snows of winter. Her scar was evident on her beautiful face, it had healed but it was shot through will blue, typical scarring for the Bwy Hir and yet, despite the obvious injury, instead of defacing her beauty, it somehow enhanced it. Cadno marvelled at her exquisiteness.
Aeron made a mistake when he chose Mab over Atgas.
Cadno pursed his lips appreciatively. ‘You look more beautiful than ever.’

‘English blood suits me,’ she
said, smiling wickedly, ‘as you will soon discover unless you have another supply?’

Cadno frowned
– he had worried about this, it was his only stumbling block. ‘You still …
take
blood?’

Atgas threw her head back and laughed throatily
and the Helgi growled. ‘I
take
nothing, Cadno. Everything I want is surrendered to me … everything.’ Her eyes glittered in the firelight. ‘I have carved myself a perfect niche here, Cadno.’ She licked her lips. ‘Will you share in the delights … or will you run back to the Triskele with your tail between your legs?’

Cadno shifted uncomfortably in his seat. There was something different about Atgas, her hair wasn’t the only difference, she no longer wore it in the Pride fashion, she had grown it out, thick, long and un-braided to spill around her face. No, the difference was in her eyes: they were wild, slightly savage, ferocious
, and Cadno felt uneasy. ‘Surrendered?’ he asked cautiously. ‘You don’t have to take it or touch it? How do you absorb it?’ He poked the fire with a stick.

Atgas grinned
. She looked vulpine in the firelight, something that had first drawn Cadno to her, it still enticed him, even now. ‘If you’re worried about your oaths you should have stayed with the Host.’ She leaned forward, showing her cleavage immodestly. ‘However, you need not worry,’ she said, as she traced her lower lip with her fingers, ‘I don’t drink blood anymore – there is no need. I don’t even see the donors, my blood is delivered fresh and cleaned of impurities and then injected directly into my veins by another’s hand.’ She leaned back with a smug, licentious smile.

‘How?’ Cadno sat upright
– he was intrigued. ‘How is that possible? You have Druids?’ Cadno was aware that a small number of Druids deserted their ranks on occasion, but he never thought for a moment that they were gathering to Atgas.

Atgas shuddered
. ‘I despise Druids, I have no need of them – any of them.’ She flicked her hair over her shoulder. ‘No, I have my own … cult. As equally as clever as any of your Druids, they are renowned and respected in the world of the Lost and they worship me. It is a most … agreeable agreement.’

‘Just like that?’ Cadno breathed out sceptically
. ‘No bargains? No Ransoms? They just hand over their blood, no questions?’

‘There is an exchange, of course, I don’t expect anything for free
.’ Atgas folded her arms beneath her breasts. ‘They give me their blood and I give them mine.’

‘What?’ Cadno shot to his feet
. The Helgi got to their feet, sensing his concern. ‘Our blood is poisonous to Humans, Atgas!’

Atgas shook her head
. ‘Not if administered in the correct quantity.’ She unfolded her arms and leaned forward. ‘It has taken a lot of trial and error, but given in the right quantity, the effect on Humans is quite astounding. Do you know our blood acts as a narcotic?’ Her eyes were wide, bright and intense. ‘And not only that, it is incredibly addictive.’

Cadno raised an eyebrow
. ‘Our blood is of value to them?’ He was already plotting these new discoveries in his mind, making plans and filing them away, tying them to his own objectives, opening new possibilities that served his purposes.

A feline grin split Atgas’ mouth, her feral eyes sparkled
. ‘You see, I have been very busy in my exile.’ She pursed her lips and considered him before saying, ‘Do you wish to share my boon, Cadno? What do you have to offer in return?’

Cadno smiled and took his seat
. ‘So we are to Ransom, Atgas?’ She raised an eyebrow of her own and smiled. ‘Very well,’ he said, ‘I think what I bring you will be of interest.’

‘
Helgi are of no interest to me.’ Atgas crossed her arms again.

‘I’m not offering them to you, the
Helgi belong to me. ‘What I have here however,’ Cadno said, patting his rucksack, ‘will be of interest … I have two atebs.’

Atgas tipped her head to one side, her hair spilling across one side of her face
. ‘You wish to mate with me, Cadno? Why? The ateb has never worked on me before?’

Cadno’s lips quirked
. ‘But there is a new ateb now, Atgas, one that works, it even works with Helgi blood and not Human, hence my Helgi.’

Atgas’ eyes narrowed
. ‘Who created this ateb? Why use Helgi blood instead of Human?’ She pursed her lips. ‘You only have two Helgi, Cadno, they will not last forever, what then?’

Cadno leaned back and stretched his legs, crossing them at the ankle
s, he felt smug and very pleased with himself. ‘I know how the transfiguration works … all I need is two Human women and then I have my own breeding pack of Helgi – an endless supply of Helgi. They will be my protection; bred to keep the other Bwy Hir away from me, that and to supply blood for the new ateb that works, Atgas – it works!’

‘But you need me.’ Atgas watched Cadno, she had always been attracted to him, but she didn’t trust him, she’d never trusted him
. ‘You need me to be willing to mate with you, to sire your child and supply the Human Solstice blood … what if I say no?’

Cadno shrugged his shoulders
. ‘I have other plans if you do not want to create our own line of Bwy Hir – you as my queen of course … yes, I have other plans … it’s up to you, just give me a yes or no.’

This meeting had been unexpected and although the possibilities were enticing, Atgas had plans of her own, she had made a new life for herself in Caerlleon and she didn’t know how well Cadno would fit into
it. ‘I need time to think, Cadno …’

‘This is a
Ransom, Atgas, I need a yes or no and I need it now.’ His eyes were intent; all his plans wavered on her next words. Atgas and Cadno stared into each other’s eyes across the fire, both hiding their own thoughts and concerns.
Will this work? Can we work together?
Cadno thought. They stared for a few moments more until Atgas dropped her gaze to watch the fire spit and crackle. ‘I have spent a very long time alone, Cadno, I have rebuilt my life and it is a good life … what if the ateb doesn’t work?’