The Fathomless Caves Read Online Free PDF

they had simply overwhelmed the villagers with force of numbers.
    ‘Isabeau, ye ken more about the sea-faeries than anyone,’ Lachlan said. ‘What will their movements be?’
    ‘The Fairgean leave the summer seas in mid to late September,’ Isabeau said. ‘They then swim around Eileanan, moving slowly up the coast. I believe it usually takes them two months at least to reach their homes in Carraig. They have many newborn babes with them and so can only swim slowly. Besides, they do no’ sleep in the water, ye ken. They must come ashore to sleep, and that is why there has always been so much conflict over the few safe harbours and beaches. Where the Fairgean wish to come ashore to rest is where our kind has always settled. So much of the coastline is dangerous and rocky, ye see.’
    ‘But canna they breathe underwater like fish?’ the Duke of Gleneagles asked. ‘Do they no’ have gills like a fish?’
    ‘They have gills,’ Isabeau answered slowly, ‘but no’ like a fish. They can breathe underwater for no longer than five or ten minutes. Then they need to surface for air. That is why the Yedda can drown them by singing them to sleep.’
    ‘So if we can stop them from coming ashore to sleep, they canna rest,’ the Duke of Gleneagles said thoughtfully. ‘They will simply drown?’
    ‘It is no’ that simple,’ the Duke of Lochslain said. ‘The coast is very long and villages are far and few between. Although it is true that they prefer to come ashore in a safe harbour, we have kent them to climb up very steep cliffs and attack us from the rear.’
    ‘That would be the warriors,’ Isabeau protested, ‘no’ the women and babes. The warriors would’ve attacked ye so that they could make a safe resting place for the babes, who would have been only wee still.’
    ‘Nonetheless,’ the Duke of Gleneagles said, ‘if we can try to stop them from coming ashore to rest, we will weaken them considerably and happen that will help us defeat them in battle. Every Fairgean that drowns from exhaustion will be one less to fight later.’
    ‘But the babes …’ Isabeau said in some distress. The soldiers ignored her, taking up the Duke of Gleneagles’ idea with some enthusiasm.
    ‘We shall set up coastal watches,’ Lachlan said decisively after the subject had been discussed exhaustively. ‘Beacons must be prepared and manned on everyheadland. At the first sight o’ Fairgean in the seas, the beacons must be lit so the villagers have warning. Then when the Fairgean try to come to shore to rest, they must be kept off with sword and flame. The net idea is a good one if they try to swim up a river, as we all ken they do. The idea is no’ to waste lives in fighting them to the death, but to wear them out and delay them, to give us more time to get to Carraig. If we can be in Carraig afore them, we shall be able to choose our battlefields. We can secure every harbour against them, and have our men on every clifftop and in every bay.’
    The MacSeinn gave a hooray of excitement. Lachlan scowled down at his parchment, muttering under his breath as he tried to work out how long it would take to mobilise the army and march upon Carraig. At last he threw down his pencil with a curse and commanded Iain to work it out for him. ‘Eà kens I was never any good at mathematics!’ he cried.
    ‘I can vouch for that,’ Meghan said with a little smile as Iain began calculating how many months it was likely to take to get their troops mobilised, provisioned and on the march.
    ‘Well, by the time we g-g-gather together our armies here and then m-m-m-march to Carraig … even if we march at twenty miles a day, we canna be getting there afore Samhain ourselves, and that’s no’ counting any d-d-d-delays,’ Iain said at last.
    Lachlan scowled. ‘We need to strike faster than that!’ he cried. ‘There must be some way we can get some men to Carraig by autumn. ‘We want to surprise them if we can.’
    ‘Imagine if we can win