One of my favourite parts from Child of The Prophecy. Well okay, so every part with Darragh in it are my favourites, but it so happens that I was flipping the book randomly and landed on this part. So... =)
Then a lot of things happened quite rapidly without a single word spoken. A cloak over my shoulders, blissfully warm. I could not sit down, my body was too sore; a folded blanket smelling strongly of horse was produced, and I was eased to a half-lying position, as close to the fire as was safe. Then a hand curled my frozen fingers around a cup of something hot and fragrant. Tremors coursed through my body, my teeth chattered, I could not have uttered a word even if I had known what to say. Darragh busied himself building up the fire, throwing on a log or two, blowing on the coals. The flames licked up; my face began to thaw. I took a sip of the beverage he had provided. It was a tea, very hot and very sweet. I had never tasted anything so good. At last Darragh settled himself across the fire from me, and looked at me direct.
"That's a fine wee mare you have there," he observed. "Learned to ride, I see, since you left me."
For a moment I was speechless. Was that all he could think of to say? On second thoughts, it was typical.
"The way I remember it, you left me," I snapped, but my voice came out sounding shivery and pathetic. "But yes, I can ride. A bit. Just as well. I have to be back before dawn."
Darragh looked at me. "Is that so?" he said.
"You don't need to sound like that," I retorted.
"Like what, Fainne?"
"Like you know best. Like you think I'm stupid for coming here. I don't know why I bothered." A new bout of shivering seized me, and I clutched the cloak tighter around me.
Darragh watched me in silence for a while. The little gold ring in his ear glinted in the firelight.
"Why did you come?" he asked me eventually.
"T-To tell you. To tell you something important."
Now he was stirring his pannikin over the fire. Peg and Molly and the others always cooked an oaten porridge in the mornings. Kept out the chill, that was what Peg said. He took the pot off the heat, and brought it around to me.
"No golden platters here," he said. "No silver spoons. Not used to catering for fine ladies, you see. But the food's good. Come on, Fainne. You must eat."
"I'm too tired to eat."
"Here," he said gently, and settled himself by me. "Eat, and don't talk." He dipped the horn spoon into the pot, and I found myself opening my mouth and being fed like a bird in the nest. It would have been humiliating, but the cautious expression on his face, the great care with which he went about the task, somehow made it all right between us.
"Good," said Darragh from time to time. "Well done. Good girl." And soon enough it was all gone.
"I'm sorry," I said, my voice somewhat stronger. "Was that going to be your breakfast?"
Darragh did not reply. He was sitting close by me, looking into the fire, arms folded. The silence drew out. At length he spoke with some diffidence.
~*~*~
"Who's Orla?" I asked.
Darragh glanced at me sideways. "O'Flaherty's daughter. The younger one."
"I see."
"No you don't, Fainne."
"Yes I do. I suppose she's good with horses, is she?"
"Very good," he said, his teeth gleaming white in the darkness as he grinned. "A capable rider, for a girl. Understands all the tricks."
"Yes, well, she would, I suppose. And no doubt she's a beauty as well?"
"Oh, yes," said Darragh, stretching out his hands to warm them at the fire. "Long golden hair, cheeks like roses, eyes blue as a summer sky. Same as her sister. They've suitors lining up from here to the Cross, the two of them."
He was teasing me.
"Forget I asked," I said crossly. "Now answer the question. Why are you here?"
~*~*~
"You haven't convinced me," he said.
"Convinced you of what?"
"That you're all right. That you don't need keeping an eye on. I don't believe it for an instant. Your words are giving me one story and your eyes another. Come on, now. You can talk to me. There's no secrets between us, you and me. What is it that's troubling you so badly?"
"Nothing." My voice quavered, despite my best efforts. "Nothing. I'm just telling you, go away and never come back here."
"And what will you do, when I'm gone?"
~*~*~
Then he said nothing for a long time, and as the silence drew out I began to yawn, and my eyelids began to close, despite the cold, and I thought dimly that it was rather a long time since I had slept. But I must not allow myself to sleep. I still had to ride back to Glencarnagh, I still had to...
"Here," said Darragh. He'd found another blanket, not much more than a strip of sacking, perhaps used to keep Aoife warm, for like the other, it smelled strongly of horse. "Best rest awhile. You're weary to death. Come on, lie down and I'll cover you up."
"I can't," I protested through my convulsive yawns. "Told you... back by dawn... long way..."
"Aoife's quick," said Darragh. "We'll have you back in plenty of time. I'll wake you."
"No - you don't understand..."
"Yes, I do, Fainne."
"But..." The blanket felt good, so good. I put my head down and closed my eyes even as I mumbled my protest.
"Hush now," said Darragh. "I'll keep watch for you. Rest now."
Sleep rolled over me like a great wave, sudden and unstoppable. Once or twice I half-woke, aware of the winter cold that pierced through blanket and cloak and gown alike to touch the very spirit with its frosty fingers; aware that I was trembling and shivering again, despite the still-glowing coals and my efforts to curl up on myself as tight as possible. And then suddenly I was warm, wonderfully warm, and I was safe and well down on the sparkling water of the cove, and it was summer. Later still I stirred again, knowing the night was passing, but unwilling to wake fully lest this fair vision be lost forever. There was an arm across me, holding the cloak around me; and the same old blanket covered the two of us. Darragh lay behind me, his body curled neatly against my own, his living warmth a part of me, his slow, peaceful breathing steady against my hair. I kept quite still. I did not allow myself to return to full consciousness. And I slipped back into sleep.
"Curly."
I hugged the blanket around me, and screwed my eyes shut.
"Fainne. Wake up, sweetheart."
I put the blanket over my face.
"Fainne. Come on, now."
I blinked, and stretched, and gave a groan.
~*~*~
