Authors: Juliet Marillier

The Well of Shades (90 page)

BOOK: The Well of Shades

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“Tuala hopes very much that both Eile and Saraid will be frequent visitors.”

“Thank you, my lord,” Eile managed, looking as if she would as soon burst into tears as anything else. “I hope this isn’t
just—just charity—I mean, we couldn’t accept that—I’m sorry, that’s so discourteous—you can’t know what this means to me, a garden, my own garden, and a little house… How did you know? How did you know that was what I wanted more than anything? Almost anything.” She leaned her head against Faolan’s shoulder. Then she lifted it again, peering into his eyes. “You didn’t say something, did you?”

“Me? Not a word. I may have mentioned to the king that we would prefer to live outside the walls, but no more than that, I swear.”

“Believe me, Eile,” Bridei said, recalling a certain tale Faolan had confided about a house on a hill, “a gift from
the king under such circumstances is entirely the usual practice. Think of it as part compensation, part wedding gift. I am assuming you two plan to
allow Broichan to regularize your alliance?”

“If he’s prepared to marry a pair of godless Gaels, yes.” There was a new note in Faolan’s voice.

“By the Flamekeeper’s manhood, Faolan,” Bridei said, “it does me good to see you so content at last. I welcome you gladly to the number of my councillors. To tell you the truth, both Aniel and Tharan are getting on in years, and it’s past time a younger
man joined them.”

There was a silence, then Faolan said, “Thank you,” and Bridei wondered if there were tears in his friend’s eyes.

“My lord,” Eile said softly, “we’re so happy this has worked out well for you and the queen; that Derelei is safely home at last, with his grandfather. I thought, when I first came here, that kings and queens were grand people whose lives were quite unlike mine;
folk who lived in a different world. But at heart we’re all the same, aren’t we? We all have the same love and the same fear. The gods set the same blows on us, and help raise us up when we are in despair. At least, that’s how it seems.”

Bridei smiled. “You’ve found a rare prize there, Faolan,” he said. “Or maybe she found you. Perhaps you understand, now, what drove me along the shore to Banmerren
by moonlight all those years ago in search of the girl they’d taken away from me. Back then, you found my behavior incomprehensible.”

“Some things take a long time to learn. Good night, Bridei. Our gratitude is too strong to be put into words.”

“No need for words. Besides, I’m the one who should be offering thanks to the two of you. Good night, Faolan. Good night, Eile. May the Shining One guard
your dreams.”

Then Faolan and Eile went back to their quarters, arms entwined, feet light with hope, ready to begin the next part of their lives. But Bridei walked the walls of
White Hill awhile longer, his loyal dog at his heels and Dovran on watch, silent by the stone steps. The clouds parted; the Shining One revealed herself in her cool, pale perfection.

What lies in store?
the king of Fortriu
asked her.
Have I done right? Have I led my people on a path of truth?

The goddess gazed down on him, bathing his form in silver. And it seemed to him she whispered,
Walk on, my loyal son. Step forward with faith and with courage. Your people need you; they look to you. Do not fail them.

A
UTHOR’S
N
OTE

As with the other books in The Bridei Chronicles,
The Well of Shades
is a blend of historical fact, informed guesswork, and pure invention. The broader political and military framework of the story is loosely based on the small amount we know of Pictish history in the latter half of the sixth century. There are few written records, none
of them Pictish, and all of them were set down well after Bridei’s time.

The major players in this story were real historical figures: King Bridei, his druid Broichan, Gabhran of Dalriada, Drust the Boar of Circinn and his brothers, and the powerful Uí Néill chieftains in Ireland. The account of the battle of Cúl Drebene and its aftermath is on historical record. Brother Colm, better known as
Saint Columba, did have to leave Ireland under unfortunate circumstances, and is recorded as making a journey up the Great Glen to Bridei’s court and performing a number of miracles on the way, several of which make an appearance in this book in somewhat altered form. Columba was promised the island of Ioua, or Yew Tree Isle, by the Gaelic king of Dalriada, and later had to negotiate with Bridei
to ensure permission for his monastic base to be founded there. Ioua gained its later and much
better known name of Iona as the result of a slip in penmanship. The details of Columba’s progress up the Great Glen, and such additional gems as the story of the white pebble by means of which he scored points against Broichan, we owe to Adomnan’s
Life of St. Columba
, written about a hundred years after
the saint’s death. It is a far more starry-eyed account than Brother Suibne’s.

Adomnan’s chronicle tells us that Bridei kept hostages from Orkney (the Light Isles) at his court to ensure the loyalty of his vassal king, and that such hostages were at court when Columba came to visit, as was the Orcadian king himself.

The Well of Shades
includes much that is fictional, although I have always tried
to base the story on what might have been possible in the context of the beliefs and culture of the highlands in Pictish times. The Good Folk arise from the folklore of the region, and the religion followed by Bridei and his people blends together a number of earth-based spiritual beliefs. My Priteni are probably a little further down the path toward equality of the sexes than is altogether likely
for that period, but the matrilineal succession is a plausible theory that has long been attached to Pictish culture, and it seemed to me that indicated a respect for women that might well flow more broadly into the attitudes and practices of the people. Hence the highly influential wise woman, Fola, the determined educator, Ferada, and a spiritual practice in which three goddesses (the Shining
One, All-Flowers, and Bone Mother, sometimes known as Black Crow) are revered alongside the warrior deity, the Flamekeeper.

The geography of The Bridei Chronicles is that of the Scottish Highlands. In the interests of good storytelling, I have taken some liberties with some of the locations and distances. White Hill is located at Craig Phadraig in Inverness; Caer Pridne is Burghead. I placed
the house of the wise women at Banmerren around Burghead Bay, where the spiritual center of Findhorn can now be found.

For the Irish section of the book, I chose a location at
Kerrykeel in the north for Colm’s temporary dwelling while he is waiting to leave for Fortriu. Faolan’s home at Fiddler’s Crossing and Eile’s at Cloud Hill are somewhere in County Armagh.

Breakstone Hollow is an invention,
but I expect that during those tumultuous times of internal warfare, such places of arbitrary imprisonment existed, just as they do now.

For more on the culture of the Picts and the historical background to The Bridei Chronicles, visit
www.julietmarillier.com
.