The Realm of the Sun

The Tournament

            Eirainna tied her satchel to her horse and gently ran her fingers through his long mahogany mane. Conn stood behind her, taking her shoulders in his strong, coarse hands. She closed her eyes, unable to turn around and face him bravely.

"You should not fear, Eirainna," he said, after a pause. She nodded.

"Once we've done it, once we've run away and are far from it all, I will be all right. It's just that I can't help but worry when we are apart."

"I promised you I wouldn't let anything happen to me and I never break a promise," he walked around to face her.

"It's prettily said, Conn, but not very realistic. I don't want you to have to lie just to comfort me. I can handle the truth," she said, strongly, though she was not absolutely sure she could.

"You can't give up hope," he encouraged her, commanding her gaze and taking her by the hand, "I am convinced now more than ever that this is right. That we are meant to do this together."

"So am I," she sighed, helplessly, tears of joy brimming her eyes as she imagined living freely and openly in a far-off uncharted land.

"Then we will meet here in a fortnight. To the day. Can you do it?"

"Yes," she replied, blindly, nodding and casting aside her worries.

"You will leave at midnight and by dawn we will be together. Then we will begin our journey east," he proclaimed with eyes round and earnest.

"But midnight is so secretive a time...the guards stand watch all through the night and as soon as they discover I am gone, the whole realm will be searching for me...no, no I will say I am going to the orphanage and leave at an unsuspicious hour. This way, they'll not suspect anything for at least three days," she thought aloud, trying to suppress her excitement as the idea came to her. It was difficult even for someone as levelheaded as she not to be swept up by the dangerous, romantic plot.

"And by the time they realize you're not in the village, we will be far, far away somewhere on the eastern moors...riding into paradise," he whispered in her ear, their heads touching. Taking a deep breath, Eirainna gripped his hand for strength before unweaving her fingers from his. Connor helped her onto the horse and they said nothing more. Their eyes spoke volumes as he let go of her hand. Then, with an exhilarated, hopeful smile for the days and years of happiness to come, she rode off.

               One week and five days had passed, which seemed like years to Eirainna. All her life she had never longed to be anywhere but Tara, and now all she wanted was to be far away from it. She almost wished she had never met Connor, because a world without having known him was safer. His mere existence made her impractical and spontaneous, two things she would never have described herself as previously. The very thought of him made her fraught with emotion and there is nothing she loathed more than not being in control of her own feelings. It pained her that she had so much excitement pent up inside, but was bound to silence. What concerned her even more was the treacherous thought that Connor might make a bold decision, a fatal risk or be caught off guard by a surprise attack. But she couldn't think about all that; she decided she would not. Between the relentless worrying and the aching and the waiting, a mere fortnight was becoming a cavern in time.

"Raina! Raina! Are you in there? Of course you're in there," Eilé babbled, knocking incessantly on Eirainna's bedchamber door. Eirainna, though fully dressed and awake, could do nothing all day but lie in her bed and dream. She stretched her arms behind her, as if letting in the sun that hung at its mid-day point. It was an unusually warm day for the season.