22

She dreamt of monstrous birds swooping down on her and giant horses galloping through water towards her. There were noises and screams and shouts. She was alone so who was making all that noise? She looked from left to right but there was no source of the clamour. She opened her eyes. The shouting was real. Her birthmark itched. The door of her bedroom was flung open and Iddig appeared, wide eyed, flushed and sweating.

“Cludydd you must come!”

“Why, what’s all the shouting for?”

“A Draig tân is coming. It is directed at Upper town.”

September was already crawling from the bed cursing herself for having undressed. Or was she still dreaming? All her life had become a battle against the monsters of the Malevolence. She wrapped the cloak tightly around her.

“One of those fiery comet things?”

“Yes. Heulwen thinks she can stop it with her brooch, but she doesn’t have her father’s power.”

“No, I know.”

She recalled her first visit to the Land and her first use of the Maengolauseren to support Aurddolen and his golden plate. Could she destroy a Draig tân on her own? Well she was going to find out. She hurried after Iddig down the stairs, out of the house and into the street. They ran to the clearing near the lift. The moon was high in the eastern sky, over half full. The sky was dark and filled with stars, but lower in the sky was the latest manifestation of the Malevolence. The bright red disc was already twice the size of the moon and it trailed a tail of flickering fire that curled over the horizon. Flares burst off its surface and it grew noticeably as she watched. Some of the people of the town stood staring at the thing coming towards them while others ran hither and thither. Heulwen was there too, her brooch unpinned from her dress and held aloft. It glowed brightly but did nothing else. Meryl was by her side. September just caught her words above the noise of the waterfall.

“It’s no use, Heulwen,” Meryl tugged at her sleeve, “Even if you had your father’s great plate of aur you would not be able to stop the Draig tân. Come with me and get out of its path.”

“No, it’s coming to me. It is my duty to destroy it,” Heulwen replied.

“It’s not just you,” Iddig shouted, “It aims to destroy us all.” He had drawn his sword and had raised its point towards the growing comet, to no great purpose that September could see. She reached inside her cloak for the pendant and drawing it out flicked the clasp. The stone glowed with the same blue whiteness as the moon and stars.

“Let us try to stop it together,” September said, feeling calm and still as if in a dream. It seemed the right thing to say. Meryl looked at her and added her encouragement.

“That’s it, Heulwen. Join with the Cludydd. Together you can destroy it.”

Heulwen took her eyes off the approaching comet and glanced at September and the starstone.

“Yes,” she said breathlessly, “we’ll destroy it, the two of us.”

The comet was approaching from the direction of the gorge. It hardly seemed to move, just to grow. Its tail lashed from side to side across the plateau, and gouts of fire dropped from it to the ground.

More people had joined them, standing silently in a crowd behind the four of them.

“Right then. Together,” September shouted; she was confident she knew what to do. She thrust the stone out in front of her, “Ymadaelwch,” she cried and Heulwen echoed her.

A violet aura radiated out from the starstone, Heulwen’s brooch shone a brighter yellow and Iddig’s sword glowed red hot, but nothing approached the Draig tân. Now it was a roaring, fiery sphere ten times the diameter of the moon. Fear gripped September, it felt real, this wasn’t her dream. The Draig tân really was bearing down on them all. What if she didn’t have the power to destroy a Draig tân without the Mordeyrn?

“Again,” she shouted to Heulwen. Once again she thrust her arm with the stone aloft. “Ymadaelwch!” A violet beam shot from the stone but faded and died in moments. Still the comet approached. Now she could see that it was over the eastern cliffs surrounding the lake. Globules of fire rained down. It’s going to hit us, she thought, all this journey is for nothing. Tudfwlch and Cynddylig have died to get me here and it’s all going to be a complete waste.

“Try again,” Iddig appealed. “It’s closer now.”

And these good people are going to die with me, she thought.

“You can do it Cludydd!” Meryl shouted, “For your companions who died!”

Yes, the Malevolence mustn’t win; I’ve got to do something for Tudfwlch and Cynddylig. September held the stone above her head. She rubbed her side annoyed by the growing irritation. She took a deep breath. The Draig tân was almost on them. It filled half the sky and its roaring was so loud that even the waterfall was drowned out. Fire was falling from it into the lake and the lower town below.

“Ymadaelwch!” September screamed out loud and long. The violet glow started tentatively. She felt the muscles in her arm stiffen and the stone seemed to grow heavy. Now the power flowed through her body. She felt it welling up from the ground, up her calves and thighs, through her trunk and up her arm. The beam stretched out, became brighter, broader. It reached towards the Draig tân. The violet light and the bright red fire met, merged, mixed. The comet swelled and flares fell to the ground setting trees and grass alight, and then the comet’s centre darkened and became a black hole with the violet shaft a spear in its centre. The blackness expanded rapidly swallowing the comet’s fire. The ring of flames blew away, dissipating. A gale blew across the plateau fanning the fires but the Draig tân was gone from the sky.

Heulwen collapsed to the ground and September felt a great fatigue. She had triumphed again but how often would she be called on to stand against the Malevolence? What would happen if she failed to summon the power of the Maengolauseren? Her arm bent and she looked at the stone. It glowed dimly now the danger was past. She closed its case and slipped it back inside her cloak.

“You did it,” Iddig shouted merrily, “You and the Maengolauseren; you destroyed the Draig tân and saved us all.” He grabbed her shoulders and shook her, laughing and crying with relief. September gazed around her. Everywhere seemed to be burning, the wheel of the lift, the buildings at the end of the street, trees and even the grass at her feet. The people were running to and fro. Already some had collected buckets of water to the throw on the fires. September could only watch. She felt no sense of triumph now she saw people striving to save their homes. She felt so tired that she could barely stand let alone move. Iddig saw the fatigue in her eyes.

“Let’s get you back to the Mordeyrn’s house.”

September looked at the prostrate body of Heulwen and Meryl crouched beside her. “What about Heulwen?”

“Meryl’s looking after her. Come away from the fires.”

September leaned against the plump warrior as they staggered back along the high street. The fires were restricted to the end buildings and the rest of the town looked quiet and peaceful. They reached the house and Iddig guided her in to the settee. Soon after Meryl arrived with Heulwen draped over her. She too was deposited into a chair. Iddig ran off.

“I’ll find something to restore your energy,” Meryl announced, leaving September alone with Heulwen. The young woman sagged in the chair but opened her eyes and stared at September. A smile spread across her face.

“We did it,” she said proudly.

“Did what?” September asked.

“We destroyed the Draig tân. You and I, my aur and your Maengolauseren.”

September was about to say that Heulwen had done nothing and that it was the starstone alone that had stopped the comet but she paused. She remembered Mother’s instructions not to brag and to show kindness. She didn’t feel particularly kind towards this proud and selfish young woman but she also didn’t want to make things difficult with the Mordeyrn and she didn’t feel like a hero. She took a deep breath.

“Yes, we did, we got rid of it.”

Meryl returned with a tray of mugs and a jug. She poured out two cupfuls of the liquid and gave one each to Heulwen and September.

September sipped. It wasn’t water but a sparkling, sharp, fruity drink. It seemed to flow into every part of her washing away the fatigue. She sat up straight.

“My, that’s wonderful stuff,” she said.

“That it is,” Meryl agreed, “I’m sure Iddig and the others will need some when they have put all the fires out. Now you two should get to bed. You’ve still got a journey ahead of you tomorrow.”

September didn’t need any further persuading despite the revitalising drink. She climbed the stairs to her bedroom and soon was beneath the sheets. The muted roar of the waterfall came through the window and the shouts and noise of the people still struggling to put out the fires, but her eyes soon closed and she heard no more.