Sigefrith faces three Colbans

Caedwulf talked on, but Sigefrith scarcely heard. He had brought his son in to talk about his plans for the abbey – for the opportunity to build in stone was the only feature of an abbey that could interest Sigefrith – but Caedwulf had quickly turned the subject to the question of which mares would be bred to which stallions in the coming year.

Sigefrith thought that, if he knew his son, Caedwulf was rather more pleased than not that his father was not paying attention: it meant there was a chance he would carelessly agree to something of which he might not have otherwise approved.

But Sigefrith cared less for mares and stallions even than for abbeys this year. The only horses he cared about were those that carried the riders of the Wild Hunt, for they had appeared again a few nights before, as they had for every full moon since the month of October. The hunters did not seem to do any harm, but many dogs had taken to running with them, and the people were growing alarmed.

Sigefrith was so lost in this and other gloomy thoughts that he was not surprised but only rather pleased when Cubby came running into the hall.

And then he realized that the last time he had seen Cubby running through that door it had been… no, that door had not even been built when Cubby was last in the castle. He smiled dazedly, and then the boy was in his arms.

“Papa! I surprised you!”

“That you did, runt! We didn’t think you would make it in time, with all the snow!”

“But we did!”

“Are you hungry? Are you cold?” Sigefrith asked softly.

He was such a little boy to be out in such weather, it seemed to Sigefrith, though of course he was almost ten years old now. Sigefrith had seen him several times since he had gone away, but having him here at home made him seem that little boy again. Sigefrith wanted to take him on his knee, wipe his nose for him, cut his meat for him, tell him a story, and tuck him into bed.

But he could not do any of those things, because the boy’s father was there, and big Colban, and Malcolm’s twin brother, and his younger brother Lulach. Sigefrith would have to greet them, if nothing else.

“No, I’m not hungry!” Cubby cried. “But, look! Lulach’s here! And I want to show him everything! May I?”

“If you remember where you put it. But first you had better start with Eadie and your sisters and your – and young Prince Drage.”

Cubby turned abruptly to hug Caedwulf, speaking rapidly in Gaelic to young Lulach all the while. Thus Sigefrith was free to greet the others, and was caught up in one of big Colban’s furious hugs almost at once.

“My brother!”

After Sigefrith had received similar treatment from the other two big Scots, and given it to the remaining little one, Malcolm’s father asked him, “Where is my son?”

“He’s at Nothelm with his lady love, as he is almost every evening. You may either wait here for him or go to find him, if you don’t mind heading back out into the cold. Most evenings she retires early, but he may be there a while tonight, since he won’t see her tomorrow.”

“Aye, it’s to be for his birthday, is it?” Colban asked him.

“It is an auspicious day for becoming a knight, if one may choose.”

“He’s only seventeen, Sigefrith,” Colban said mournfully.

“I know it, but the situation is a little… urgent…”

“I did not understand from your letter,” Colban frowned. “Has he wronged her?”

“Ah – no! Nothing like that. It’s more of a…”

Sigefrith looked behind him to see who was near and who was listening, and Malcolm immediately volunteered himself to take the children up to meet the Queen and Princesses.

This was some relief to Sigefrith – he was rarely more ill at ease than when he was in the same room with Cubby and Malcolm, though he could handle Malcolm separately.

“That is to say,” Sigefrith began again, “the girl ran away and was kidnapped by elves last autumn and held for several weeks. Then she was rescued by other elves, who are supposed to be members of her family, and was returned to Egelric. It seems that at first he and Malcolm had the idea that if Iylaine were married she would be safer and steadier. Now – ”

“I’ve never known marriage to change a woman’s temperament,” Colban grumbled.

“I think sometimes it does,” Sigefrith said slowly. “For women at least. Once they start having babies, anyway.”

Colban’s eyebrows arched upward, but he said nothing.

“Anyway, the matter is urgent by any standards now. As far as anyone knows the girl is dying. Though I beg of you: please don’t mention it to Malcolm. And expect the worst when you go to see her. It will break his heart if you look surprised when you see how she has failed.”

Now Colban’s brows sunk down into a scowl.

“But it is not for his wedding that we had to hurry,” Malcolm’s brother said.

“No, that won’t be for a few weeks yet,” Sigefrith said. “As soon as his house is finished. Before Lent, he hopes.”

The two Colbans exchanged a quick glance, which was not itself alarming, but then they came to stand together, shoulder to shoulder, and Sigefrith had a queer feeling that they were standing against him, at least in spirit.

He was sorry Malcolm was not there to interpret their bearing, but in this circumstance, he realized, Malcolm’s presence might have made matters worse.

“Are you all hungry, by chance?” Sigefrith asked with his most pleasant smile. “I think Cubby was in a hurry to show young Lulach ‘everything,’ or he might have told me he was. I think you have traveled far today, to arrive so late.”

“We ate soon after we entered the valley, just after the sun set,” Colban said.

“Well, then! You will want to greet Her Majesty and see my other runts…”

“We shall greet Her Majesty and my brother’s children,” Colban interrupted, “but then we shall go in search of my son, if we may. I want to see the girl tonight.”