‘Maybe they were,’ said Conn, defensively.
Ruathain shook his head. ‘I am not as accomplished as Arbon, but I can read signs. The fat man rushed at you like an idiot. The smaller man was running away when you bore him to the ground and cut his throat. Only the tall one had any skill – and he marked your face. What would I have said to your mother had you died here?’
‘You would have told her I did not run,’ said Conn, his anger rising.
Ruathain closed his eyes and took a deep breath. ‘Your courage is not in question. For that matter, neither was your father’s. But we are not talking of courage, we are talking of stupidity. What you did here was reckless. The fact that you won does not lessen it. I have known a lot of brave men, Conn. Many of them are dead now. Courage is meaningless unless it is allied to a keen mind.’ Stepping forward he laid his hand on the youngster’s shoulder. ‘I love you, Conn, and I am proud of you. But learn from this.’
‘I had to do it,’ said Conn, softly. ‘It was the bear. I couldn’t stand the fear any more.’
‘Ah, I understand. Are you clear of it now?’
‘Yes.’
Ruathain put his arms around Conn and hugged him. Then let us not mention this idiocy again,’ he said, kissing Conn’s cheek.
The prisoner kneed his pony forward. ‘Would you mind freeing my hands?’ he asked. ‘I can no longer feel my fingers.’
Ruathain released Conn and gave the man a cold look. ‘Why should I care?’ he asked.
‘Listen to me,’ said the prisoner. ‘I appreciate that you think me guilty of murder, but I am an innocent traveller, as I am sure will be decided at the court you speak of. Or is it your habit to accost and bind every foreigner who has the misfortune to ride through your lands?’
Ruathain moved to the man, checking the bindings. They were indeed too tight and he loosened them. The man winced as blood flowed through to his fingers. ‘Now let us ride,’ said Ruathain.
Brother Solstice was a druid, though those who saw him for the first time did not believe it. Druids were, in the main, older men, solemn and deadly serious, ascetic and disdainful of the world and its pleasures. There were, of course, younger druids, but since, to the average observer, they were men desperately trying before their time to become old, solemn and deadly serious, they were viewed in exactly the same way as their seniors. Brother Solstice was altogether different. Tall, wide shouldered, barrel chested, he was a man given to booming laughter and occasional practical jokes. He was also, unlike his brother priests, hugely popular. Curiously this popularity even extended among the ranks of his brothers. It was a rare event to see a druid laugh, but when such an event occurred the black-bearded Brother Solstice would be at the centre.
But today, Brother Solstice knew, there would be no laughter. He sat quietly in the Hall of the Long Laird as the prisoner was brought in. The many trestle tables upon which the nobles usually dined had been pushed back to the walls, and the hall was thronged with people waiting to see the murder trial. Before it could commence, defendants in other cases were brought forward, men accused of small crimes against their neighbours, fights and scuffles mostly. A woman charged with assault caught the imagination of the crowd and they hooted and jeered as she was brought in. She had, according to witnesses, hit her husband in the face with a lump of wood, breaking his nose and loosening his teeth. Three witnesses said that the husband had been seen in the company of an earth maiden earlier on the evening of the assault. The woman was acquitted, the assault deemed righteous. She was followed by a horse hunter said to have sold a lung-blown mount, and a tinker accused of robbing a widow. The horse hunter was fined twenty silver pieces and ordered to return the pony price to the buyer; the tinker was sentenced to a public flogging. These cases would not, alone, have attracted so many to the proceedings. Certainly the services of Brother Solstice would not have been requested. No, the populace of Old Oaks had come to see Brother Solstice question the man accused of rape and murder.