Free Emer's Quest (Manannan Trilogy) by Michele McGrath Page A

nose and her mouth. The fire grew brighter until, suddenly, darkness fell and the image of the ships was gone.
    She was shivering and croaking hoarsely. At first she could not think where she was. Arms held her, but arms which had never held her before. Her vision swam as if she were underwater. She saw faces that wavered.
    “Are you all right?” someone asked.
    “Drink this.” A beaker was held to her lips and she gulped thirstily. Water, only water, but nothing had ever tasted better. A fur blanket was pulled around her shoulders and more logs were piled upon the fire. Her shivering ceased. She was suddenly aware she was still clutching her green stone. It was difficult for her to unclench her fingers. Her vision cleared and she recognised the people with her, Atli and his sons. Rolf was holding her, so she could not see his face, but the others looked white and shocked.
    “What did I do?” she asked.
    “You started screaming,” Atli told her. “We watched as you asked us to, when the smoke began to clear. Then we could not wake you. What happened? What did you see?”
    Emer paused, trying to form the words. She closed her eyes and it was there, imprinted on the inside of her eyelids. The wonder, the hope, the abject fear and the things she could not tell any of them.
    “Emer? Did you find out what happened to my ships?”
    Emer drew a great breath, for she had never seen the ships at all. Atli was looking at her expectantly and she knew that her answer mattered to him and to her future. What could she tell him? Not the truth certainly, she still wanted him to find her father.
    “I saw them landing in a strange place,” she said slowly. “The beach was surrounded by trees that looked different from our trees.” This was safe enough. She had listened to Niamh telling the story of the wonderful journey made by her great-grandfather, Lir, to the middle sea. “No harm came to them and they loaded strange goods to be brought back to you.”
    She risked a peek at Atli who was smiling. He nodded and said,
    “Continue.”
    More confident , now that the lie seemed successful, she continued,
    “Then I was gone to another place. I was with a man, walking over green hills. I have never seen him before. A huge grey dog was with him and his hand lay on its head. He came towards me and his eyes were kind. ‘Greetings, Emer, we meet again after so many years,’ he said. I told him I did not remember our meeting. He said he had held me as a newborn baby, so I would have no memory of him. Then he told me to come with him for he had things to show me.”
    “What sort of things?”
    “We fell through rainbow light but I was not afraid, for he held my hand. It felt icy and my fingers started to feel numb. We landed on an island I did not recognise. Men built ships on a beach, my father among them. I called out to him, but he did not answer me. He was carving the curve of a keel and he never even looked up.” She could not keep the disappointment out of her voice. ‘He can’t hear you,’ my guide told me. ‘To him, we are like the mist on the sea. Don’t fret. I have brought you here so you may know he still lives. The journey you will make is necessary.’ Then once again we were surrounded by the rainbow light until I stood in my own home. My mother was nursing my new brother and my father was hurrying towards her with his arms outstretched.”
    Emer felt the tears running down her cheeks. She had so wanted to be there too in reality , rather than as a spectator. She dashed the drops away angrily.
    “We did not stay long and I was whirled away. Then I was standing on a beach, for I could hear the sound of the waves breaking on the shore. It was the early spring; the sun was shining and a few tiny flowers grew in the grass.” She turned to face Hari. “You stood next to me, I was wearing a silver crown and we both held swords in our hands. Then we exchanged the swords. You held your new sword out to me with a finger