‘Layne!’ he called. ‘Hold on.’ Gwalchmai stepped from the trail and knelt by the soft earth beside the gorse. The three companions gathered around him, staring in wonder at the footprint
‘It’s as long as my forearm,’ said Gwalchmai. ‘And look, the thing has six toes.’ All four lads scouted back along the line of tracks, but they found nothing. The earth by the gorse was soft, but the surrounding ground was rocky and firm.
‘What do you think it is?’ asked Gaelen, whose knowledge of mountain animals was still sparse.
‘It isn’t anything I’ve ever seen,’ said Gwalchmai. ‘Layne?’
The leader grinned suddenly. ‘It’s perfectly obvious, my friends. It’s a hunter’s joke. When they were laying the trails for our Hunt they made a jest of the rhyme “Seek the Beast…” the footprint points towards Vallon and the print was created to show we’re on the right track.’
Gwalchmai’s freckled face split into a grin. ‘Yes, of course,’ he said.
An hour before nightfall Layne scouted a small hollow where they could build a fire against a towering granite stone. The tiny blaze could not be seen from any distance and the four travellers unrolled their blankets and settled down for a light meal of oatcakes and water.
As the night closed in and the stars shone bright, Lennox curled up like a dozing bear and slept, leaving the others seated by the fire talking in low voices.
‘Who was Earis?’ Gaelen asked as he fed the fire with dry sticks.
‘The first High King,’ Layne told him. ‘Hundreds of years ago the Farlain lived in another land, beyond the Gates. There was a great war and the clans were nigh obliterated. Earis gathered the remains of the defeated army and launched one last desperate assault on the enemy, smashing their army and killing their leader, Eska. But it was only one of several armies facing him. The druids told the King of a way to save his people. But it was hazardous: they had to pass a Gate between worlds. I don’t know much about that side of it, but the legends are many. Anyway, Earis brought the Farlain here and we named the mountains Druin.
‘During the journey a strange thing happened. As Earis stepped through the Gate of Vallon, into the bitter cold of winter, his sword disappeared from his hand. Earis took his crown and hurled it back through the Gate. The sword, he said, was the symbol of kingship, and since it had gone so too would his position. From henceforth there would be no King for the Farlain. The Council voted him to the position of Hunt Lord and so it has remained.’
‘I see,’ said Gaelen. ‘So “the Bane of Eska;” that is a clue I can understand. But why the light that brings darkness?’
‘The sword was called Skallivar, meaning Starlight on the Mountain,’ said Gwalchmai. ‘But in battle whoever it touched found only the darkness of death.’
‘And that is what we seek? Skallivar?’
Layne laughed. ‘No. Just a sword. It makes the clues more poetic, that’s all.’
Gaelen nodded. ‘There is much still to learn.’
‘But you will learn, cousin,’ said Layne. Gaelen felt a surge of warmth and comradeship within him as Layne spoke, but it was
shattered by a sound that ripped through the night. An eerie, inhuman howling echoed through the mountains.
Lennox awoke with a start. ‘What was that?’ he asked, rolling to his knees.
Gaelen shuddered and said nothing.
‘I’ve no idea,’ said Layne. ‘Perhaps it’s a wolf and the sound is distorted.”
‘If it’s a wolf,’ muttered Gwalchmai, ‘it must be as big as a horse.’
For several minutes they sat in silence, straining to hear any more sounds in the blackness of the night. But there was nothing. Lennox went back to sleep. Layne exchanged glances with Gwalchmai.
‘It wasn’t a wolf, Layne.’
‘No, but it could have been a hunter trying to frighten us.’
‘I hope so,’ said Gwalchmai. ‘I think we should stand watches tonight, though.’
4
GAELEN AWOKE AT Gwalchmai’s touch, his eyes flaring open, his troubled dreams fragmented and instantly forgotten.
‘I can’t keep my eyes open any longer,” whispered Gwalchmai. ‘I don’t think there’s anything out there. I saw a fox that’s all.’