The Fathomless Caves Read Online Free PDF Page B

back the Tower o’ Sea-singers, so that when they return we are already in the strongest position possible!’ the MacSeinn cried, his sea-green eyes shining.
    Isabeau frowned. ‘The Isle o’ the Gods is the most sacred spot o’ all the Fairgean,’ she protested. ‘Even in the height o’ the summer months it would never be left unguarded.’
    Linley MacSeinn stared at her. ‘Well, we shall just have to win it back anyway,’ he said.
    ‘But do ye no’ understand the Fairgean will never submit to allowing ye to step foot inside the Fathomless Caves? It is sacrilege o’ the highest order. That is one reason why they fight against us so mercilessly, so relentlessly. They believe their gods were all born within the caverns there, that it’s the womb o’ all that is sacred and divine. As long as ye seek to win back the Isle o’ the Gods, they will never submit.’
    Linley shrugged, his face set hard as granite. ‘Och, what will they care when they are all dead?’
    Isabeau had lost all her colour. ‘Do ye plan to kill them all then? Every single one, women and babes as well?’
    She turned on Lachlan. ‘Is that the plan? To kill them all? To wipe them from the face o’ the earth? Did ye no’ see that their blood runs as red as your own? They may be faeries o’ the sea but they breathe air and make love and bear children and worship the forces o’ nature just like any o’ us.’ Her voice broke.
    Lachlan gripped his sceptre tightly. His face was troubled.
    Isabeau rose to her feet, looking from him to Meghan. ‘Last year ye said we would never gain a lasting peace until we came to some sort o’ understanding with the Fairgean, until we learnt to forgive and understand each other. When ye said that, I thought at last ye had become a rìgh, a true rìgh like Aedan Whitelock must have been. I thought how wise ye were, and how brave. Was I wrong?’
    Lachlan met her furious gaze straightly, his mouth twisting. ‘I hope no’,’ he said. ‘But it is no’ me that sought this war, Isabeau, ye ken that. I have sent messengers seeking to parley, I’ve offered to come to some sort o’ treaty, and no’ just me, my father and grandfather afore me. Ye saw how they answered me!’
    Isabeau was silent for a moment. ‘But do ye seek to kill them all?’ she asked at last, her voice a little softer. ‘The MacSeinn is set on winning back the Isle o’ the Gods while I tell ye now the only way humans shall ever set foot in the Fathomless Caves again is over the bodies o’ each and every living Fairgean. Is it genocide that ye aim for, or a way o’ bringing peace to the land?’
    Lachlan stirred uneasily. When he spoke his voice was gentle. ‘Ye are right, Isabeau. We do no’ go to wipe the Fairgean out once and for all, we go because we hope to find some way o’ making a lasting peace.’
    Linley MacSeinn groaned and struck his forehead with his hand. ‘Are ye all soft in the head?’
    Isabeau turned on him. ‘I hope we are soft in the heart and no’ in the head,’ she cried. ‘Why are ye so hard? Do ye no’ understand the Fairgean feel grief and rage and love, just like we do?’
    He laughed harshly. ‘And what would ye ken, ye bairn? Were ye there when the Fairgean attacked at night, killing all they could reach and driving us out into the bitter snows with naught but a few clothes to our backs? Were ye there when I had to watch my wife and my eldest die with Fairgean tridents in their hearts, or when my daughter died from cold and starvation on the road?’
    ‘Were ye there,’ Isabeau countered, ‘when your ancestors first attacked the Fairgean in their sacred sea-caverns, massacring them and driving them out to drown in the icy seas? Were ye there when they took flaming torches into the holy darkness where no light had ever before fallen? Were ye there when the Yedda sang a thousand Fairgean to death, mere babes among them? Ye do no’ need to be there to ken.’
    There was a long moment of silence,