The Realm of the Sun

In Silence and Solitude

          Eirainna could see the moon in the window from where knelt beside Furbaide's bed. Her back ached from the position she had maintained for hours now. Glancing around the room, she felt a sudden chill that stirred the stagnant, empty air. Niall sat in a chair by the fading fireplace, his arms folded and his head bowed forward as he slept. Eirainna smiled and thought how, even sleeping, he seemed to hold a graceful and firm authority over the room.

          Something moved the bed causing her to flinch. She began to think she had imagined it when she looked over to find Furbaide laying peacefully still. But keeping her eyes on him, she noticed his neck muscles strain ever so slightly as his head stretched back then suddenly jerked to one side feverishly. Eirainna's spine straightened, her hand finding Furbaide's wrist to check his pulse. The rushed and irregular beat fought her fingers. His head thrashed back. She anxiously rose to her feet, placing her other hand on his forehead.

          "Niall," she murmured, "Niall..."

          Before she could find words, Niall was sprung from his chair and at Furbaide's other side. Beads of sweat surfaced on Furbaide's furrowed brow.

          "He's overcome with fever," Niall said, his voice gravelly from slumber, "He lost too much blood—he's in a state of shock."

          Eirainna rushed to the velvet fringed rope that rung the bell in the servant's quarters. Within moments, Una and Grainne rushed through the door with a pale of cold water and rags.

          "I don't know what happened, he was fine for hours and then all of a sudden he began to get very hot," Eirainna explained, trying desperately to maintain her composure, "Do you think he's in a lot of pain, Niall?"

          "It's all right, Milady, we've got more help on the way. We'll do everything we can," Una assured her, as the corridor began to glow with an increasing number of candles, the torches that lined the hall being lit one by one. More maids rushed in, startled but equipped with all kinds of cloths and oils. Eirainna looked on in horror as Niall carefully reopened Furbaide's bandage.

          "It's begun to bleed again. Una, hand me a clean rag!" he demanded as Furbaide lay catatonic, the veins in his neck bulging.

          "Is he going to be all right?" Eirainna could not help but ask, despite her best efforts to remain calm. She could have guessed that anyone's evaluation was as good as hers, but she selfishly needed a hopeful answer. And the answer she sought at this moment need not be the truth.

          "We're going to do all we can, Milady, rest assured," was Niall's safe response as he tried to juggle his ailing patient and Eirainna's nerves. Looking around the room frantically, her eyes caught an elegant, looming shadow passing in the corridor. She chased it before she could register why. Once she stepped out of the doorway, the cloak of the figure ceased brushing the stone floor.

          "What, have you come now for the kill shot?" Eirainna whispered, the hiss of her 's' lingering in the cavernous hall. Maeve turned around as the echo died out, surprised to see Eirainna so unhinged.

         "Of course it was an accident, Eirainna. You wouldn't understand. People get hurt in training all the time."

          "An accident?" Eirainna found the impulse again and nearly laughed at this notion, "An accident that you have perfect aim and shot the only knight who happens to have royal blood? Maeve, there are never any accidents with you."

          "He's overreacting," Maeve stated coolly, as she inspected the only unlit torch in the corridor, running her fingers over the cold ash-covered sconce.