Free Waves in the Wind by Wade McMahan Page A

he raised the Christian cross.”
    “So now ‘vengeance’ is the word, eh?”
    “Aye, Your Majesty. Laoidheach and I were charged by Master Tóla to collect warriors about us and bring retribution against the Christians. If the gods will it, so we shall.”
    The King looked to Laoidheach and pointed to a table across the room. “There is a bottle of wine and cups there. Pour some for us, will you? That’s a good lad.”
    “It seems the High King gives us little option other than to raise warriors to defend ourselves and the gods,” my father muttered. “Sire, a crime was committed at Dún Ailinne, a high crime against all who died there, against our faith, against humanity itself. Master Tóla, chief Druid to King mac Dúnlainge, and martyr that he now is, was murdered. Had King Túathal Máelgarb stood against the Christians such a tragedy would not have occurred.”
    “You are right, of course, Ciann,” King Domhnall sighed. “Were it that simple, but it is not. King Máelgarb feels the primary thing he must do, always do, is retain power and by so doing secure the throne for his lineage. He will say the attack on the school is a matter between religions and beneath the notice of kings. You see, it only becomes a threat to his supremacy if he openly chooses sides and he will not jeopardize his position by doing so.”
    “Your Majesty—” I spun around at the crash of breaking crockery.
    A shamefaced Laoidheach stood across the room, jagged pieces of a broken cup scattered about his feet. “I…I’m terribly sorry, Your Majesty. The silly thing slipped from my hand and…”
    “No harm done,” he chuckled. “It was merely a cup. Let us only hope you perform better as a bard than a servant.”
    Laoidheach, now on his knees scavenging for crockery shards, glanced up, his face crimson. “Yes, Sire, indeed I do…that is…yes, Sire.”
    King Domhnall looked to me. “You were saying?”
    “Thank you, Your Majesty. I intended to ask how anyone could feel safe in a land where rulers refuse to rule. Are we now a land defined by chaos?”
    “We are a land trapped within an incomprehensible, terrifying darkness. I’m afraid many of the rulers you speak of are lost within the darkness along with their people. Do not expect overly much of them,” he shook his head, “no, not in these times, not now. The attack upon your school was not born of a war between kings or tribes. It speaks to a war among the people, between individuals holding opposing beliefs.” He rose, stepped to the fireplace, held his hands to the fire and spoke over his shoulder. “If that is how you define chaos, I will not argue against it.”
    Laoidheach toddled back to us, cautiously balancing four cups of wine in his hands. King Domhnall took a cup and gave him an encouraging smile. My father and I took ours and the four of us remained quiet as we sipped the dark wine.
    My father spoke, breaking the silence. “It is easy for a king to rule during good times. Never have the people needed their kings more than they do now. King Máelgarb has abdicated his authority over Eire. Now other kings such as our own Eoghanachts King, Eochaidh mac Óengusso, and Illan mac Dúnlainge, King of Leinster must step forward to maintain order in the face of Christian attacks.”
    Eyebrows knitted, King Domhmall asked, “Would you make the enemies of the Druids also the enemies of a king?”
    “Kings rule at the benevolence of their gods.”
    Laoidheach interrupted. “Excuse me. My home is among the Ui Maine and I do not understand the hierarchal aristocracy of the Eoghanachts.”
    “My pardon, Laoidheach,” my father replied. “Eochaidh mac Óengusso is King of Kings among the Eoghanachts and his realm encompasses seven houses. King Domhnall rules one of the houses here in Rath Raithleann.”
    “I thought it might be something like that. Thank you,” Laoidheach nodded.
    “Yes, Ciann,” the King continued. “And do you forget that King mac