Holder of Lightning

She was still on Knobtop, but the sky above was simply the sky, starlit between shreds of clouds slowly moving from the west. She looked down; she was holding the stone, and it throbbed like the blood in her head, pulsing cold but no longer shining. She was suddenly afraid of the pebble, and she started to throw it away, drawing her hand back.

Stopping.

The mage-lights came to you. They came to you, and the stone. .

She brought her hand back down to her lap.

Kesh whined again, coming up to rub against her, then his head lifted, the ears going straight, his tail lifting and a low growl coming from his throat.

"What is it?" Jenna asked, then she heard it herself: the sound of shod hooves striking rock within the copse of elm and oak trees down the slope of Knobtop. Jenna stood. Whoever it was, she didn’t want to be seen here. She put the stone in her pocket and lifted the hem of her skirts. "Come, Kesh," she whispered, and ran. There was a small stand of trees fifty strides away, and she made for the darkness there. She stopped once she was under their shade, looking back through the tree trunks to the field. She saw the horse and rider emerge from under the trees: Tiarna Mac Ard, astride Conhal. The tiarna made his way slowly up the hillside, looking at the ground, glancing up at the sky. Kesh started to run out to them, and Jenna held the dog back. "Hush," she whispered. Mac Ard wouldn’t be finding the mage-lights tonight, and she didn’t want him to find her, either, or to have to explain why she was here.

"Come," she said to Kesh, and slipped deeper into the shelter of the woods, making her way down the slope toward home.

Her mam looked up from the fire as Jenna opened the door. "Your boots are muddy," she said.

"I know," Jenna said. Sitting on the stool at the door, she took them off.

"I was worried when you weren’t here."

"I went walking with Kesh."

"On Knobtop." The way Maeve said it, Jenna understood it was not a question. She nodded.

"Aye, Mam. On Knobtop."

Maeve nodded, worry crinkling her forehead and the corners of her eyes. "That’s where he said you’d be." She didn’t need to mention who "he" was; they both knew. "You look cold and pale," Maeve continued. "There’s tea in the kettle over the fire. Why don’t you pour yourself a mug?"

Wondering at her mam’s strange calmness, Jenna

poured herself tea sweetened with honey. Maeve said nothing more, though Jenna could feel her mam's gaze on her back. By the time she'd finished, Kesh barked and they heard the sound of Mac Ard's horse approaching. The tiarna knocked, then opened the door, standing there in his cloca of green and brown. Maeve nodded to the man, as if answering an unspoken question, and he turned to Jenna. He seemed too big and too dark in the cottage, and she could not decipher the expression on his face. He stroked his beard with one hand.

"You saw them," he said. "You were there." When she didn't answer, he glanced again at Maeve. "I saw your boot prints, and the dog's. I know you were there." His voice was gentle-not an accusation, just a sympa-thetic statement of fact.

"Aye, Tiarna," Jenna answered quietly.

"You saw the lights?"

A nod. Jenna hung her head, not daring to look at his face.

Mac Ard let out a long sigh. "By the Mother-Creator, Jenna, I'm not going to eat you. I just want to know. I want to help if I can. Did you see the lights first, or did you go there and call them?"

Jenna shook her head, slowly at first then more vigorously. "I didn't call them," she said hurriedly.

"I was here, and I heard Old Stubborn making a commotion and went outside to check and… I thought I saw something. So I went. Then, after I was there, they came." She stopped. Mac Ard let the silence linger, and Jenna forced herself to stay quiet, though she could see him waiting for her to elaborate. "Did you see them, Tiarna?" she asked finally.

"From the tavern, aye, and as I was riding toward the hill. They went out by the time I reached the road and started up Knobtop. I saw the flash and heard the thunder when the lights vanished." He held his right arm straight out, and ran his left hand over it. "I could feel my hair standing on end: here, and on the back of my neck. I rode up to where the flash seemed to have come from. That's where I saw the marks of your boots." He let his hand drop. His cloca rustled. His voice was as soft and warm as the blanket on her bed. "Tell me the truth, Jenna. I swear I mean you and your mam no harm. I swear

He waited, looking at Jenna, and she could feel her hand trembling around the wooden mug. She set it down on the table, staring down at the steaming brew without really seeing it. She was trembling, her hands shaking as they rested on the rough oaken table top.