After the Brollachan

Glenstorm63

Summary: Colin and Susan return to the safety and comfort of Highmost Redmanhey for rest and recuperation, leaving the world of myth and magic behind them... for a while.

Notes:

I always craved the next steps in Colin and Susan's lives. I wanted the promise of something more. I find it unfortunate that in Boneland, Garner chose to make Susan disappear off with Celemon to the Pleiades leaving Colin alone and bereft with memory loss and PTSD. I certainly never thought the conclusion of the Moon of Gomrath, foreshadowed this, at least in the short term. For at Angharad's intervention, Susan is held back from joining the Pleiades and riding off with them to Caer Rigor...

'"It is not yet! It will be! But not yet!" And the fire died in Susan, and she was alone on the moor, the night wind in her face, joy and anguish in her heart.'

This is followed by Colin's perceptions...

'But as they crossed the valley, one of the riders dropped behind, and Colin saw that it was Susan. She lost ground, though her speed was no less, and the light that formed her died, and in it's place was a smaller, solid figure, forlorn, in the white wake of the riding.'

Chapter 1: Under a Leaden Sky

It was just after dawn and the sun was almost rising. Scamp gave three sharp barks before, with a slight yelp and a trembling protracted growl, he slunk back into the barn, no doubt detecting the eldritch nature of the approaching company. For Colin and Susan were mounted on Melynlas the fairy horse, as it picked its way down the Riddings. Atlendor and three of his horsemen accompanied them a short distance behind. Uthecar was nowhere to be seen.

Gowther lurched out of the dairy and catching their silhouettes against the grey sky with still a star or two in the soft pink light, stared steadily before calling in a sharp yodel towards the house, "hoiyo lass!"

After a short pause, Bess rushed out wiping her hands on her apron, looking wildly about with tired, frightened eyes. Gowther pointed and she caught sight of Colin and Susan, then the small stature of the horses and riders behind them. She took in a sharp breath. Though the two figures mounted on Melynlas were real enough, the elves seemed to shimmer in and out of sight.

Then she held up her hand palm outwards, in a gesture of denial, fingers pointing to the sky, the other a determined fist by her side. She stared hard at the four small horses and the bright-haired ruddy-skinned midget-men who were now picking their way down the hill. Their white feathered cloaks were glowing slightly in the growing light, ruffling in a cool breeze.

"And yon will com no closer!" rang out the penetrating voice of Bess, staring beyond Susan and Colin who had pulled up just outside the gate. She was shrill in her righteous anger and hard as nails.

This time Gowther did not seek to still her voice, but instead stood by with his hand around her waist glaring at the company as it picked its way down the hill.

Atlendor and his men stared back haughtily with ice keen eyes but said nothing.

As Colin and Susan came into the house yard and surveyed the scene there, they braced themselves. Mistress Mossock had clearly not slept well for some time. Gowther was not much better. It was then more with the delayed relief from extended fright that Bess began to sound off in the way that could only be expected.

"We've been worrited sick! No sleep! …You look like you've not slept neither! …Quickly! Get away from them sprites! …This madness is going to stop! Mark my words... How dare you go off without sayin nought! … And there's your mother to be thinking of!" She continued her tirade for a full minute.

Once she had paused, Colin turned in the stirrups and called. "I'm sorry you lost warriors in the fight to rescue me, Atlendor! Susan and me talked about it on the way. We would do anything to help you if we could. We feel in your people's debt. But we are still too young to do much. We've decided we need to grow up first."

"And I know it was a heavy price Atlendor, but it wasn't completely wasted effort!" retorted Susan. "The Brollachan has been destroyed and the Morrigan seems to have fled again, so maybe your people will be left alone now. And the Wild Hunt will be about to rid the world of the morthbrood and the garbage of Bannawg if the other night on Shining Tor was anything to go by. This moon magic was good for something at least. And, thank you for the escort back. We are very glad of it."

Atlendor continued to stare haughtily. Then he managed a curt nod.

"It will be long before we traffic with the children of men again, moon magic or no. Do not seek us. There is always a cost to us when we are seen by mortals. I hope to never cross your paths again."

He included Bess and Gowther in his glance, and made a sign. Its execution was so swift and subtle it was unreadable, but its meaning was clear.

Then briskly, he and his small company wheeled about and trotted back up the Riddings. Before riding over the brow of the hill, they seemed to dissolve into the pink of the mist and the sunrise and were gone. Bess made her own sign, an old one she had learned long ago from her grandmother, but did it behind her back so no-one would see.

It was cold. Bess and Gowther came forward and helped the children dismount. The children were shivering and Susan's lips were almost blue, her eyes hollow. Colin had a similar pallor but was less weakened and they were both bloodstained.

Bess was wide eyed, "Oh, thank goodness you're here, but are you truly safe? I'll only believe that after I've seen you to bed! And a bath first! Mark me, there will be no more shenanigans after this!

"We really are truly sorry Bess!", apologised Susan, "But we think it's over now. I don't think we'll be going anywhere after this… not for a while anyway", she added sadly.

Beth and Gowther both eyed the horse warily. There was something about the horse's fairy blood which was palpable. There was an air. But it seemed placid and responsive enough, so after helping the children dismount, Gowther was not resistant when Colin said, "If you could help me get him into the stables and settled in Mr Mossock. Then as Beth says, I think Susan and I had best have a hot bath."

Gowther and Colin led Melynlas into the stables in the stall next to Prince, who whickered softly in welcome. Gowther remained silent throughout as they gave Melynlas a rub down with sacking, a long drink of water, a bag of chaff and a handful of grain. But Colin could tell that Gowther was eyeing the horse with a mixture of awe and concern. And if Colin had known it, Gowther had also noticed a certain something about Colin, which was more than the pallor of hunger and lack of sleep.

Susan was already slipping into half slumber in the deep tub, her eyes closed as Colin came in. The warm water trickled in as Bess re-fed the chip-heater before she bustled into the kitchen for the big kettle to bring the temperature up. Colin was past caring. He stripped off and stepping in, shrouded in steam, slipped in at the other end facing his sister, feeling the hot water penetrate his bones and bruised muscles. He and Susan half sat, half lay, over-tired by recent events, over-magicked, and over-whelmed.

They could hear Bess fussing about in the nearby kitchen, heating broth and filling hot water bottles for their beds. But it was a more contented if determined Bess than they had heard for some weeks. Her charges were home and she was not letting them out of her sight again. They heard the back door key turn in the lock. Gowther would be knocking after he came in from the milking.

She came in with the broth. They supped straight from the mugs there in the bath. The Mark of Fohla glinted on Susan's left wrist. Bess glared at it but said nothing.

A short while later, just as Colin was about to slip into a doze, he heard a fluttering of wings, felt a stirring of the air about him and opening his eyes, a single white feather floated down from nowhere and landed on his chest.

...

For the rest of the children's stay at Highmost Redmanhey, Bess and Gowther were true to their word and did not let the children out of sight of one or the other. The affair with Selina Place, the hikers, fimbulwinter, the stalking troll-women, the island of dreams, then the Brollachan, the Mothan, the Hunt and the Dale of Goyt (what little they knew of them), had been more than enough for a lifetime. They were both solid and sensible enough to recognise that the relatively safe physical return of both the children was more than could be expected, if not more than they could have hoped.

The coma-like condition of Susan after her bedroom blew apart and the long unexplained absences since, had frayed both their nerves. They were determined to impose earthy normality on the place, for their own benefit as much as the children's. The starting point was keeping the children away from the Edge and all strangers away from the house.

For their parts, Colin and Susan knew the necessity of being surrounded again by the prosaic. A line had been crossed for too long. They were wise now to not be talking endlessly about their recent experiences in front of thye Mossocks. Indeed, they each found the silence helped them order their thoughts. Their conversations with each other were more deliberative, more adult. Susan tried to read a few novels and nature books that Bess had picked up from the library. Colin ploughed again through the old vellum parish accounting book and similar material in the house but found even their rustic historical quirks uninspiring.

And there were still traces of sand in Susan's bedroom and the blasted window and doorframe were silent testimony to events. Susan may have had no memories of the possession and coma in there, but the others did. So Bess had Gowther clear the junk from a smaller room down the hall, to Susan's room and the door was bolted. Colin moved into the smaller room, whilst Susan took Colin's. A makeshift palette was set up and Colin was comfortable enough.

Susan initially protested but with room for a desk and a stern look from Bess, there was enough to silence her. She moved in and was pleased to see that she had a clear view out the window to the night sky. Susan quickly noticed that Gowther had fixed the window so it could only be opened a few inches to let in a breeze, but said nothing. There was nothing to be said. The implications were clear. Both the children took to drawing in sketch books. Susan made stars and angels out of paper And hung them about the house. Colin began whittling whistles from elder and horses and riders from scots pine. Soon the house was littered with their work but Gowther and Bess could only give ech other glances of relief that the children were well occupied.

Things went smoothly enough for several weeks, although sometimes the household could hear Susan weeping at night, Colin pacing restlessly and talking to himself and once or twice Gowther noticed an unusually large number of owls about the place when he went to check things over before turning in for the night. But there were no marsh smells, no carrion crows, no strange hikers, no wildcats, no strange dwarves, no milk white horses, no troll-women, no freetings of any kind and no wizard.

But there was the ancient little horn that Susan kept slung over her shoulder and by her side night and day… and the silver and black bracelet. She would not be parted from either of them and both Gowther and Bess were sensible enough to leave well alone. And there was that strange white feather which Colin kept in his room next to his bed.

And there was the strange, if friendly horse living in the home field and the stable. Its simple tack and saddle were of strange if beautiful style. Gowther locked them in an old cupboard to stop questions from farm helpers. Whenever one of the children came outside Melynlas would always come over to the fence and watch their every move. Gowther had no doubt it could jump the high fence and would follow after them, if they so much as went to climb the Riddings.

Gowther and Bess both had questions that needed answering. When Bess was baking a lot of bread on a late grey afternoon, and getting the children to help her mix and knead the dough, Gowther slipped out, with Bess locking the door behind him a few moments later.

He took Melynlas, saddled him up and rode off to the gates of Fundindelve in the dull sidewise light. The ride was smooth as silk and it made Gowther wonder further about the horse.

He wasn't quite sure of his next move apart from a vague idea about finding a big stick, hitting the rocks and calling out. But the horse knew his purpose as well as Gowther did and he let out a piercing neigh which reverberated around the dell before the gates.

It was Uthecar who appeared. His arm was not in its sling but hung by his side still quite weak. But his hair and beard were trimmed and his clothes clean. He might have been presentable at a village fair hosting a game of nine-pins… if it hadn't been for the sword.

In his soft high country lilt Gowther began, "If I may make so bold, I'd be havin' thee run a message to the Master of this place. You con tell him from me that ..."

But Uthecar interrupted, holding up his hand.

"Good evening Farmer Mossock. My name is Uthecar. Begging your pardon, but listen to me. The Master of this place is no longer disposed to parley. He now has Firefrost back in safekeeping. Recent events have proven to him the folly of further traffic with the mortal world. He is barring contact with all but those of the old blood. The unknitting of ancient spells of sleeping and staying which were unwittingly committed by Colin and Susan have made this a necessity. Things are no longer as stable as they were. He is staying where he belongs, resting but alert for the day of his destiny. Nothing will disturb him from this purpose now."

"But Colin and Susan will be leavin' soon", protested Gowther. "Goin back to their home in Somerset they will! Who is to make sure they stay on the straight and narrow then? We're all afrit for them and what they might meet elsewhere. Now we knows there's the likes of thee about, who knows what will come out of the stones and the meres of the Summercountry to scramble them more?"

He saw Uthecar's expression shift. Gowther sailed on. He could feel his audience. He had come here full of words and he meant to get them out, his voice raising with every sentence.

"We reckoned we was doin' their mam a great favour by havin' the childer here for this long, goin' off on the trip of a lifetime tyo foreign parts, but seems all we done was brought them into the path of terrors! I'm keepin me eye on young Colin and he seems right enough, bar a few silent rambling moments like, … and that white feather of 'is, he keeps twirlin it about. But that young Susan we're feelin' right rum about. Seems to us she's pining for something and we are frit for worst. She's come unstuck my Bess reckons! Clutching at some old horn and that blasted bracelet like theers no t'morrer! Cryin' at night, lookin' out at the damn stars. Fillin' sketchbooks with god knows what. Happen they two should never 'ave com 'ere!".

Gowther finished his piece on a much louder note, a reddened face and a tear in his eye. Uthecar looked at him with soft concern.

"Aye, you are right to be so upset Farmer Mossock. It may well have been better if they had not come to stay with you, no matter that Cadellin is glad indeed to have Mistress Mossock's Bridestone back in his keeping after many hundred years. But what's done is done. There's only the best to be made of it."

"But that's just it!", blared out Gowther. "What is the best? As you rightly said just now, there shoulder been none of this truck and I for one am fair ready to wash me 'ands of the whole blasted business and pretend it conner have 'appened. But it did and them's two childer are gonta be growin' up arf mad to my way of thinking. It's all me and me Bess can do to sleep at night for worry about what next! They 'ave their own family and Bess is half out of her mind how she's goin to set things square."

Uthecar considered Gowther's words for a moment and then said gravely, "Now here is a question to think on Farmer Mossock. Would a visit to your farm by your's truly be tolerable? It must be a sore trial for Susan to not be talking to any other than her faithful brother after what she has been through. And she's been promised something you might say but she's wanting it now and cannot get it. She is too green. She needs some hope is my thinking. And unless I am much mistaken, Colin has been left with a burden and a gift all his own. They are both fearless and heroic but it has been a trial beyond their years. It might be of help to move on from here if they have a chance to bid farewell. 'Comrades in arms need both a reunion and a last leave-taking', it is said. The way I hear it, the children are barely let out of the house and certainly never at night, so I cannot expect them to come a'knocking anytime soon. Am I right in this?" It was less a question than a statement.

"Oh, aye, thee don't miss trick. How does thee know about this?"

"Oh, Farmer Mossock we have our ways and means," he said seeing Gowther's expression of surprise. "Do not doubt my intent. Thou hast both been most wise in this. But for what it is worth, tell the barn owls of your Mistress's decision, for I deem it will be her final word. This is women's business the more I know of it. Give me two nights yet as I have an errand to run. If it is a yea, I shall be upon thy threshold as quick as may be."

"Righto, well I shall think on that and mebbee I shall go out in the dead of night and talk to a barn full of birds and feel right barmy and mebbee I shan't." Uthecar grinned appreciatively and Gowther sighed. "But with what's gone on, it's the least I can do."

Gowther paused, then remembering the other matter, he said "And what's to become of this Melynlas, as Colin likes to call him? You don't look the size to be riding him about. Who does it belong to then? I con leave it here now if thee wants it."

"Oh, Farmer Mossock, did Colin not say? I am sorry to tell. This horse's former master has left this world. If I am in my reckoning, the horse has chosen another. That would be Colin. The steeds of the Children of Danu always choose true. That is a part of the burden and part of the gift for Colin now I am thinking. Melynlas shall bear him safely and keep him from harm if there is any within reach. Anyone who is Colin's friend who also rides this horse shall also be carried out of harm's way. He has consented to bear thee, knowing thy purpose. Nay, I should not consent to take him from you. Most like he would refuse. Anywise, I should be keeping him tight under thee on the way home tonight if I were thee."

He looked sideways into the last light of the day and frowned. That gave Gowther an uncomfortable feeling and looked at Uthecar questioningly, but in a moment even his solidity had melted into the gathering shadows and he was gone.

Gowther shivered and was glad when he felt the heat of Melynlas beside him. He clambered up and Melynlas needed no encouragment. Beech and pine stood still against a windless leaden sky. A few distant early lights began to twinkle out towards Macclesfield. Melynlas gathered himself and leapt silently down through the trees creating his own wind. Setting a brisk pace for near a mile, he leapt down an impossibly steep bank onto the soft dirt on the edge of Macclesfield Road without a bump. He cantered down to Bradford Lane and gathering speed, galloped through the shadows of beeches onto Finlow Hill and along the Riddings to Highmost Redmanhey.

Once he had settled Melynlas back in with Prince, Gowther tramped across the yard breathlessly and knocked at the door. There was a silence, so he knocked again. He heard Bess ask in a guarded, fearful voice "Who is it?"

"Gowther, lass! And haven't I just had the ride of me life? But what's with thee?"

…