Son of the Shadows Read Online Free PDF

herb beds and stillroom. My mother did not come out to join me, which was unusual.
    Perhaps, I thought, she was tired after the festivities. I weeded and cleaned and swept, and I made up a coltsfoot tea to take to the village later, and I bundled flowering heather for drying. It Page 12

    was a busy morning. I forgot all about Eamonn until my father came into the stillroom near midday, ducking his head under the lintel, then seating himself on the wide window embrasure, long legs stretched out before him.
    He, too, had been working and had not yet shed his outdoor boots, which bore substantial traces of newly plowed soil. It would sweep up easily enough.
    "Busy day?" he asked, observing the well-ordered bundles of drying herbs, the flasks ready for delivery, the tools of my trade still laid out on the workbench.
    "Busy enough," I said, bending to wash my hands in the bucket I kept by the outer door. "I missed
    Mother today. Was she resting?"
    A little frown appeared on his face. "She was up early, talking to Conor, at first. Later with Liam as well.
    She needs to rest."
    I tidied the knives, the mortar and pestle, the scoops and twine away onto their shelves. "She won't," I
    said. "You know that. It's like this when Conor comes. It's as if there's never enough time for them, always too much to be said, as if they can never make up for the years they lost."
    Father nodded, but he didn't say anything. I got out the millet broom and began to sweep.
    "I'll go to the village later," I told him. "She need not do that. Perhaps, if you tell her to, she'll try to sleep."
    Iubdan's mouth quirked up at one corner in a half smile. "I never tell your mother what to do,"
    he said.
    "You know that."
    I grinned at him. "Well then, I'll tell her. The druids are here for a day or two. She has time enough for talking."
    "That reminds me," said Father, lifting his booted feet as I swept the floor beneath them. When he put them down again, a new shower of earth fell onto the flagstones. "I had a message to give you."
    "Oh?"
    "From Eamonn. He asked me to say he's been called home urgently.
    He left very early this morning, too early to come and see you with any decency, was how he put it. He said to tell you he would speak with you when he returned. Does that make sense to you?"
    "Not a lot," I said, sweeping the last of the debris out the door and down the steps. "He never did tell me what it was all about. Why was he called away? What was so urgent? Has Aisling gone as well?"
    "Aisling is still here; she is safer under our protection. It was a matter calling for leadership and quick decisions. He has taken his grandfather and those of his men who could be made ready to ride. I
    understand there was some new attack on his border positions. By whom, nobody seemed sure.
    An enemy who came by stealth and killed without scruple, as efficiently as a bird of prey, was the description. The man who brought the tale seemed almost crazed with fear. I suppose we will hear more when Eamonn returns."
    We went out into the garden. At this chill time of year, spring was not much more than a thought; the tiniest of fragile crocus shoots emerging from the hard ground, a hint of buds swelling on the branches of the young oak. Early flowering tansy made a note of vibrant yellow against the gray-green of wormwood and lavender. The air smelled cool and clean. Each stone path was swept bare, the herb beds tidy under their straw mulching.
    "Sit here awhile with me, Liadan," said my father. "We are not needed yet. It will be hard enough to persuade your mother and her brothers to come inside for some food and drink. I have Page 13

    something to ask you."
    "You, too?" I said, as we sat down together on the stone bench. "It sounds as if everyone has something to ask me."
    "Mine is a general sort of question. Have you given any thought to marriage? To your future?"
    I was not expecting this.
    "Not really. I suppose—I suppose I hoped, as the youngest, for a couple more