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a flourish, he reached again into the cloak whisked out a leather jug
brimming with ale, and set it by the rest.
"There! Enough for two I think," he said modestly and dropped down by
Lugh on the bench.
The boy looked it all over wonderingly.
"Where did this come from?" he asked.
"I picked it up here and there," the clown answered lightly.
"You mean, with all that stumbling about, falling over the tables, you
were.. ."
"... collecting," Gilla finished. "That's what I call it. And it's only
what's rightly owed me, that it is! In times past I've always been
treated well where I entertain. Always feasted at the chieftain's
table. But not here anymore. Oh no! They tolerate me because they like
a bit of coarse fun. But I'd get nothing from them, the mean, ill-
spawned brethren of boars."
"Why are you saying all this to me?" Lugh asked, alarmed by the man's
open attack on the Fomor. "Aren't you afraid I'll tell the others
you've been stealing? Aren't you worried about insulting one of them?"
"I would be," Gilla said softly, smiling shrewdly at the boy, "if I was
speakin' to one of them."
"What do you mean?" Lugh demanded, trying to sound outraged. "I'm as
much a Fomor as..."
"... as my poor, tender backside!" Gilla finished. "Come on, lad. I saw
it when you came in. All alone, with those bright young eyes and that
easy walk."
Lugh didn't know what to say. He was cornered in a room full of these
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brutal warriors, revealed by this absurd, grinning clown.
"Lad, lad, rest easy!" Gilla reassured him, seeing the alarm in the
boy's eyes. "I'll not give you away. I've only admiration for your
courage in coming here, though you must be mad for
, ing it. I only mean to give you help if you need it. Now, have some
drink. Relax and tell me what you're after." Lugh tried to relax. He
took some of the ale and drank a
"I'm only here to find out what I can about the Fomor. I'm
stranger to Eire. It's important for me to learn."
"You're choosing about the most foolish way you could to
j that! And there's very little you'll learn here from these
men- Drinking and the telling of filthy tales are about their
onlv interests. They're not much the ones for talk. They'd be
out roaming the streets for women if there were any left to
them.
But Lugh wasn't listening to the clown. He had noticed
another man who had entered the room. He didn't look like a Fomorian.
His body was free of obvious deformities and his features seemed
normal, if coarse and very dark. He was dressed in a richly textured
tunic and cloak and moved with authority through the warriors. Two
Fomor flanked him like guards, pushing a way for him, and those who
looked up looked quickly away, as if afraid to be seen watching him.
They made their way through the room to a back wall not far from Lugh
and Gilla. A wicker screen was covering a large opening there, and the
guards moved it aside so the man could pass behind it.
"Where does that doorway lead?" Lugh asked Gilla.
The clown glanced around at it and shrugged.
"It's just a separate area for Fomor officers. Most of them aren't so
hard to stomach as this lot, and they like to have a place to eat where
they don't have to see the rest."
Lugh watched the doorway longer, curious about the man he'd seen. Soon,
he noticed a warrior near the door get up from the tables and make his
way to it. He looked like the other Fomor, shabbily dressed, his face
wrapped like Lugh's with a heavy scarf covering nose and mouth.
He paused by the wicker partition and looked around him with that same
kind of wariness that Gilla had shown before taking out his food. Then
he slipped through the opening into the separate room.
But the quick glimpse Lugh had gotten of him was enough to stun the
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boy. When he'd seen the eyes above the masking scarf, he had known
without doubt that the Fomor warrior
78
THE RIDERS OF THE SIDHE
THE MISSION
79
who had gone into that room was the High-King of Tara, fires himself!
Lugh rose swiftly from the table and moved toward the doorway.
"Wait! Where are you going?" Gilla called after him.
Lugh paid no attention to him. It was all fixed on that separate room.
He had to know for certain if it was Bres, and why he would come here
in disguise.
He moved through the crowd of men, edging closer to the door. There was
a large group gathered near it, watching two Fomor locked together on
the floor, trying to get at one another with their knives. The rest
were betting on the outcome.
Lugh worked his way casually around them and leaned against the wall by
the edge of the wicker partition. He'd hoped for a crack that would
allow him to look into the room, but there was none. However, the
thinness of the barrier did allow the voices of those beyond to filter
out. By concentrating, Lugh could pick up snatches of conversation
above the raucous noise of the warriors.
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