Ruathain felt on safer ground here. He shook his head. ‘He was a bonny lad, given to pranks and such. Good hearted, though. I never saw him torment another child, or laugh at another’s misfortune. But he was easily hurt in those days. Perhaps children are. They are more open. He thought his father was a coward, which was not true. This fact drove him to prove himself. Once, when he was very young, he ran away to the woods to kill a wolf. I found him sitting in the bushes, a knife in his hand and an old pot on his head for a helm. It was getting dark when I found him, and he was terrified, though he tried not to show it. He was a good lad. Still is.’
‘And he fought the bear,’ she prompted.
‘Aye. He wouldn’t leave his friend. It was a grand deed – and I wish it had never happened.’
‘Why?’ she asked, surprised. ‘He survived, and it made him famous.’
‘It did that. But it has all but destroyed Braefar. Both boys changed that day. Conn became the hero. But Wing . . .’ Ruathain let out a deep sigh. ‘No-one ever blamed him for not fighting the bear. He was young and unarmed. He watched the fight, saw his brother ripped apart. And afterwards he felt everyone thought him weak. No-one did. But it has coloured his life since. I think he blames Conn. I have tried talking to him . . .’ He shrugged and fell silent for a moment. ‘Now he is angry and hurt by Gwydia’s marriage to Fiallach. He loved her himself, and I thought they would be wed. But Meria told me she became bored by his constant complaining that everyone was against him, that no-one understood him. That was bad enough, but to marry the man who shamed him at the Games . . . Oh, that hurt him badly.’ He forced a smile. ‘Anyway, you did not come here to listen to me prattle about my family.’
‘Nonsense,’ she told him. ‘It is my family too. Wing will change again, when he finds a true love.’
He shook his head. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘And what of Bran? You don’t speak much of him.’
‘I daren’t,’ he said, conspiratorially. ‘He is my pride and joy. To show my feelings too much would damage Wing even more. He’s a grand lad, is Bran. Fearless. Yet a rascal. The girls love him, and I fear he leads them on.’
‘Did you do that when you were young?’
‘No,’ he said. Leaning back against a boulder he stared out over the glistening water. ‘No, I fell in love early, with Meria. As did my friend Varaconn. She married him. It was a great love match. I don’t think she has ever quite recovered from his death. Strangely enough, I don’t think I have. I loved him too. Closest friend I ever had. It is a great sadness to me that Conn never knew him. It is so easy for people to praise or condemn. I am a fine swordsman. Therefore I am a hero. I become a brave man. Yet where is the bravery without fear? I have never feared a battle. Varaconn did. He trembled with fright. Yet he was there. Beside me. He overcame his fear. That, to me, is the greatest courage.’ He looked at her and chuckled. ‘Whisht, woman, I am beginning to prattle. And the sun is going down. We’d best be getting back.’
Leaning towards him she kissed his cheek. ‘You are a good man, Ruathain. I am glad you are my father now.’
‘Aye, it pleases me too,’ he said.
They rode in silence for a while. Tae unrolled her cloak and threw it about her shoulders, for the temperature was dropping.
Ruathain was feeling the cold too. His left arm was particularly pained, and he clenched and unclenched his fist. The ham had given him indigestion, and there was a tightness in his chest as he rode. He took several deep breaths, which seemed to ease the pain.
Tae rode alongside him. ‘There are some people up ahead,’ she told him. Ruathain peered through the gloom. Four men were standing by the edge of the trees. One held a bow. ‘Probably hunters,’ he said, ‘though they’ll catch nothing now. Sun’s almost gone.’