‘I wouldn’t let you kill him.’

‘Then you’d end up fighting me.’ The first piece of roof collapsed, sending out a shower of sparks into the night sky. ‘Can we run away now?’ she said.

They dodged through the courtyard and began to hear voices raised in panic, from both inside and outside the tower. A gate burst inwards, and it was only luck that enabled them to hide behind the still-swinging door. A group of men stopped, looked, dithered, then ran towards the tower. Slates were sliding down, shattering, as the roof timbers gave way. With the men fully occupied dodging the bombardment, Va and Elenya ran out of the compound and into the darkened streets of An Cobh.

‘Do you know which way we’re going?’ said Elenya. The book was awkwardly heavy, but not as heavy as Akisi.

‘The sea is this way. I can smell it.’

They turned a corner and came face to face with a group of people wrapped in shawls and cloaks, woken by the noise. An elderly man thought nothing of giving chase, his nakedness exposed by the blanket he held around his thin waist flapping in the wind.

The cry went up, and soon they had a stretched-out trail of followers dogging them through the streets. Only if they threw their burdens away were they going to escape.

Then, in front of them, the clan macDonnabhan blocked their way. Va turned and saw that their pursuers had formed a knot at the last junction. Elenya put the book under one arm and reached for her knife.

‘You call this a plan? Half the town is looking for you.’ said Eoin macDonnabhan. He cleared his throat and called, ‘Everything is under control. We have them now.’

‘Will you take them to the king?’ someone shouted back.

‘They’ll get what they deserve, for sure.’ In a lower voice, so that only his clansmen, Va and Elenya could hear, he added, ‘A sound hiding for getting caught. Now drop Akisi and look beaten.’

Va hesitated, and macDonnabhan stepped forward, brandishing a sword as tall as he was. Elenya held out her knife and levelled it at macDonnabhan’s heart.

‘For God’s sake, Princess, do you not recognize friends when you see them? I swore you help, and though it feels like a ceilidh is going on in my head, a macDonnabhan keeps his word.’

She poked Va in the ribs. ‘Put Akisi down. Now.’

‘But—’

‘No buts. It’s now or never.’

He slid him to the ground. Akisi’s eyes showed relief and gratitude, though only for a moment. Clearly expecting to be cut free, he squealed and kicked as two macDonnabhans picked him up as he was and rushed him away. Eoin macDonnabhan held up his hand to acknowledge the crowd and pushed Va and Elenya after Akisi’s retreating feet.

‘Go. Hurry. Did you not steal any horses? Horses would be better than a boat.’

‘We didn’t steal any horses,’ said Elenya.

‘And I thought the sons of Aeire were mad fools.’ He hurried them along. ‘We have to get you out of the town, then out of the king’s land.’

‘What about you?’

‘It’ll mean exile for us, which won’t be easy, but the clan macDonnabhan has favours owing in Ciarra.’ They reached the small port. Amongst the sunken masts of waterlogged boats there was a rowing boat, oars stowed across the seats.

Va, stumbling on beside Elenya, asked her: ‘What are they doing?’

‘They’re giving us a chance. I suggest we take it.’

Solomon Akisi was dumped in the bottom of the boat. It rocked alarmingly, and water sloshed in the bilge. Va clasped Eoin macDonnabhan to him like a brother, surprising himself more than the Aeireann. Then he stepped onto the seat and started fitting the oars in the rowlocks.

‘Goodbye, Princess,’ said macDonnabhan. ‘The world is wide and we may yet meet again. Perhaps then you’ll be able to give your heart to a man who’ll cherish it, rather than reject it.’ He looked askance at Va, who in his unintelligible tongue was already urging a clansman to untie the mooring rope.

Elenya held his steadying hand as she climbed into the bow. ‘Find comfort elsewhere, Eoin macDonnabhan. I’d make a poor wife for any man.’

‘You judge yourself harshly, Princess Elenya. May the road rise up to meet you, and the wind be always at your back.’

Va hauled on the oars, and they inched away from the dock. With his next stroke they moved further out. A wave caught the bow, making the boat bob up and down.

‘What was macDonnabhan saying?’ grunted Va. He pulled again, and slowly they headed out to sea. Lights moved through An Cobh: the tower was a ruddy beacon of flickering light, and smaller fires of torches and lanterns dashed about like bugs.

‘He was wishing us Godspeed.’ Elenya tapped the book on her lap. ‘And I was wishing him the same.’

CHAPTER 24

‘WHEN YOU SAID I could watch you die, I didn’t believe you.’ Elenya was kneeling up, letting the salt spray from the white wave-tops soak her to her bones. The darkness around them was soft, the high cloud turning the moon-glow into a rainbow-touched pearl. ‘You always seemed so indestructible. Not a man, a force of nature. You could do whatever you wanted and the world had to bend to your will.’

‘You were mistaken.’ Va pulled at the oars rhythmically, each stroke as strong as the last even though he grunted with pain. The sea water was opening the wounds on his hands. He fixed his attention on the Kenyan, who was huddled in the stern, the struggle long since frozen out of him.

‘Do you remember the first time we met?’

‘I remember the last time.’

‘Why didn’t you want me?’

‘Because I’d moved Heaven and Earth to win you, and all I was left with was Hell.’

‘I was in my wedding dress.’

‘And I was red, head to foot, with other men’s blood. The only white you could see were my eyes.’

‘I was yours, Va. Totally, completely yours. Who could have imagined a love that would turn a murderer into a saviour, a gutter-born orphan into a king, a mercenary into the greatest general for a thousand years? At that moment you had everything.’

‘And you think me mad for dropping my sword and walking away? It was madness that drove me there. A cold dose of sanity was what I needed.’ He looked over his shoulder. ‘Are you looking out for rocks or do I have to do that too?’

‘We’ll miss them.’

‘And you can see underwater, can you? There are too many breaking waves.’ He turned the boat further out to sea and gave the black headland a wide berth. An Cobh and its sparking fires finally dropped out of sight.

‘Shall I untie Akisi?’

‘No. You can ungag him if you want.’

She stood up and fearlessly stepped over Va to the stern. She tried to loosen the knot at the back of Akisi’s head, but it had shrunk with the cold and the water until it had welded itself together. She took out her knife, and momentarily enjoyed the abject fear that drained the Kenyan’s face of blood. The blade slipped between his cheek and the gag, and she cut, not particularly caring how she did it.

He spat out the remnants of the cloth. ‘Are you mad? Setting out to sea in this? Who are you? What do you want?’

‘Isn’t it obvious?’ she said. ‘Of course we’re mad. But we’ve got the book, and you. Why don’t you tell us who you think we are?’

‘Are you with Cormac? If you are, I can do a deal with him. I can do much more for him than I ever did for Ardhal. He took me by force. He made me work for him.’ Akisi looked from Elenya to Va, and back again. ‘I’m telling you the truth.’

‘What’s he saying?’ asked Va.

‘He’s trying to save his own skin. He thinks Cormac sent us.’

‘Tell him who we really are. It’s a long time since I’ve seen a man piss himself with terror.’ He glanced up at Elenya. ‘Just because I have to try and love my enemies doesn’t mean I’ve succeeded yet.’