‘Well, it is time to sleep now. Come,’ she said, rising.
Wearily he climbed to his feet. ‘I don’t deserve your friendship,’ he said.
‘No, you don’t. But you have it, Conn.’ She helped him undress. His clothes were filthy and there was dried blood upon his hands. Eriatha led him to the bed, slipped out of her clothes, and together they lay down. Pulling the blanket over them Eriatha drew him close, his head upon her shoulder.
And he slept.
Eriatha lay beside him for more than an hour. Then she eased herself clear, put on her dress and, taking his pony, rode back down to the settlement. Before the dawn she was back. He was still asleep. Conn awoke to the smell of frying bacon. Sunlight glowed in the cave mouth, and he could see the beauty of a clear blue sky outside. He sat up and saw that fresh clothes had been laid out for him.
‘Go and wash in the stream,’ Eriatha told him. ‘Then you can eat.’
He rose and walked out into the sunlight. Eriatha cracked two eggs into the pan, and toasted some bread. Conn returned minutes later, dried himself, then dressed. They ate breakfast in silence, and she watched him carefully. His eyes were less haunted now, and he looked more like the young man she knew.
‘Are you ready to leave this cave?’ she asked him.
‘Aye. I’ll go back to the world. But not as the same man.’
‘Be a better one, my dear.’
He strode from the cave to find Parax waiting for him. He was leading a second pony. The old man smiled and lifted a hand in greeting.
‘You feeling better, boy?’ he asked.
‘Well enough, old man. How did you find me?’
Parax grinned. ‘You left a trail a blind man could follow. It was hardly worth calling on the services of a great man like myself to find you. Are you ready to ride?’
Conn nodded. ‘I am ready,’ he said.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
throughout the spring and summer conn worked tirelessly, hurling himself into his duties with almost frenzied energy. He rode the lands, organizing the building of mills, granaries and storehouses, and ordered a census of every person living in the lands of the Northern Rigante. Putting Fiallach in charge of Seven Willows he told him to build watchtowers along the coast, and strengthen the defences of the town. Braefar was appointed Second Counsel, under Maccus, for the older man fast found himself exhausted with the new workload.
‘Why all the new granaries?’ Maccus asked Conn one day, as they were riding to inspect a newly discovered gold mine in the Druagh mountains.
‘War is no longer a matter of individual bravery and mass tactics,’ Conn told him. ‘It is about supply. No matter how courageous the men, they cannot fight if they are not fed. It is vital that when war comes we can feed a standing army without relying on neighbouring tribes.’
‘Maybe so,’ Maccus replied, ‘but in a mere four months you have all but emptied the Long Laird’s treasury. Let us hope that there is ample gold in this new mine.’
The mine had, at first, proved a disappointment. The mine governor, Lycus, a short, stocky man who also ran the Laird’s two silver mines, assured Conn that, in time, the mine would prove itself. Conn remained suspicious, and sent Govannan to the site, ordering him to pretend to be an itinerant worker seeking employment. After six weeks Govannan discovered that more than two thirds of the gold was being carried north-east, to Queen of the Rocks, a port settlement on the coast where Lycus owned several houses and a large parcel of land.
Conn, Ruathain, Maccus, Govannan and twenty of Conn’s Iron Wolves arrived at the settlement in the first week of autumn, raided three warehouses, and discovered a hoard of gold and silver. Lycus was taken back to Old Oaks, tried in open court, and hanged in the main square.
Braefar took charge of the mining operations and the incomes rose spectacularly.
With the first snowfall news came to Old Oaks that the Long Laird had died. The old man, broken by the death of Tae, had suffered one illness after another. He had died in his sleep, in a bedroom whose window overlooked the soaring peak of Caer Druagh.