Celtic Tales | Page 5

stooped to take his javelin from the ground.
And there, beside it, lay a wooden-hilted knife.
'It is as I thought,' he said. 'This knife is used but by the hillmen who
are in bondage to Concobar. The King seeketh my life. Go thou, then,
back to thy lonely cottage, and await that day when he shall make thee
his Queen.'
'Ask me not to turn from following thee, O Nathos, for thy way must be
mine, this day and ever.'

'Come, then,' and Nathos took her by the hand.
Through the shadowy forest they walked swiftly, until of a sudden he
bade her rest among the bracken. Then went he forward and told his
waiting huntsmen to return by a long and winding path to the castle of
the sons of Usna.
Three days would it thus take them to reach it, and Nathos with Deirdre
would be there on the morrow, if, tarrying not, they walked on through
the dark night. But Concobar's messengers would follow the hounds,
thinking so to capture Nathos.
'By dawn, Deirdre, shall we reach the castle, and there may we rest in
safety one day and one night. Then must we set out for the hills and
lochs of Alba, and with us Ailne and Ardan, for if the King cometh and
findeth me fled, then will he slay my brothers.'
On and on they sped, through the forest, across the Moor of Loneliness,
up the glens and gorges, and over the hills. Above glimmered the pale
stars, around them was the screech and the moan of wakeful bird and
beast.
It was not till the dawn broke that they rested on the mountain-side.
There they stayed till the pink stole through the grey, and the sky
gleamed mother-o'-pearl. Then they rose and followed the stream that
trickled to the valley below. And now Nathos was glad.
'Look, Deirdre, yonder stands the castle of the sons of Usna.' And with
that he gave a cry known by the brothers each of the other, and Ailne
and Ardan came forth gladly. But when they stood before Deirdre, so
great was their wonder at her exceeding beauty, that they stood
spell-bound and uttered no word.
Then Nathos spake: 'The fair maiden whom ye behold is none other
than Deirdre, the daughter of Felim the Harper. From this day I hold
her as my wedded wife, and to you she cometh as a sister.'
But when the brothers heard, they were filled with fear, for had not the

King Concobar vowed that this same fair maid should be his Queen?
And had not the Wise Man foretold the sorrow that the daughter of
Felim should bring upon the land?
'I ask none to share the sorrow that may come,' said Nathos.
'To-morrow Deirdre and I set forth for the bay where our galley is
harboured, and if so be that we gain the shores of Alba, before
Concobar overtake us, there, if he come thither, shall he be met by a
host of our own land. Yet, lest the King should follow me hither, and,
finding me not, seek to slay you, were it not well that ye leave this
place?'
Ardan spake: 'Not for fear of that which might come upon us, but for
the love we bear you and our fair sister Deirdre will we never leave
thee. If sorrow come upon thee, let it be upon us also. Are we not the
children of one mother, and if death come, let us face it together like
men. Are we not under a bond that we will stand each by each, even
unto death?'
Then said Ailne, 'As Ardan hath spoken, so let it be, for although the
words of the Wise Man come to pass, and sorrow be upon us, yet will
we not henceforth leave thee.'
But when Deirdre heard how the sons of Usna would thus face death
for her sake, she sighed aloud. 'Alas! it is not for me to bring sorrow
upon the land. Let me even now return to the cottage in the forest, and
there with Lavarcam will I live and die, unless it be that Concobar take
me thence.'
But Ardan answered: 'For fear of what may befall us, the sons of Usna,
shalt thou never leave us, nor shalt thou go forth from us, but of thine
own free will.'
Early next morning one hundred and fifty men rode with the three sons
of Usna and Deirdre, the wife of Nathos, toward the bay where their
black galley was harboured. It was not till night, when on the high
ridge of a hill, that they looked backward, and there in the far valley
below, where stood the castle of the sons of Usna, they beheld a

column of