A Cold Cry

Man of Bhern

Eofin rose from Finyref's side, his face set and his throat closed with sorrow. His gaze swept the cave, and found Carras at the far side; and approaching, he saw him kneeling beside a second still form, a young lad's, whose dark hair was matted and whose blood ran over the rocks, a knife jutting from his side.

"Who is he?" he asked gently.

Carras lifted a grief-stricken face to him. "I do not know. He fell, defending me." He laid a hand on the boy's head, and his tears fell on it.

Eofin's eyes darkened, his heart heavy with the brokenness over them all, and he bent and took one limp hand in his, as he had taken Finyref's. "Carras, I – his pulse is beating; he lives yet!" He lifted his voice. "Diabh, Lyfin! Come, take this youth and tend to him."

He turned to Carras, whose own face was as colourless as the falling snow. "I will find someone to care for you also, my friend."

Carras shook his head. "Let them see to the gravely wounded first. What of Finyref?"

Eofin looked away and down. "He is gone," he said softly.

Carras put a weary hand upon his shoulder, and so they sat for a time.

Across the room, Lyfin who was skilled in healing withdrew the knife from Eithur's side, and pressed upon it a clump of the herbs which the Enydhwyn call fyrí and lybhra, and bound it tightly. And as he felt him for broken bones with sure fingers, Eithur stirred and murmured.

When King Eofin heard him, he crossed over and sat beside him; and when the lad opened his eyes, he said, "What is your name? and whence do you come?"

"Eithur son of Hylfher I am, of the house of Bhern," he answered, and was quiet, his face taut with suffering.

"We shall send word to your family, man of Bhern, that they may know you are safe."

A flash of another pain crossed Eithur's face; he shut his eyes, biting his lip in sorrow. "I am a boy," he murmured; "not a man."

All eyes turned upon Lord Carras as he rose and walked haltingly over to Eithur. "No man is made in one night," he said steadily. "A man never bore himself greater than did you this day, Eithur dimmur Hylfher, hyrdha gúlf Bhern."

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fyrí: the Enydhwyn word for yarrow
lybhra: the Enydhwyn word for comfrey
Eithur dimmur Hylfher, hyrdha gúlf Bhern: Eithur son of Hylfher, man of the house of Bhern