High Rhulain

The very mention of Deeplough’s monster brought gasps of fear from many. Leatho let the message sink in before carrying on with his plans.

“Right, here’s wot we need. Secrecy, or our plans will be ruined. Organisation an’ obedience, if we’re to see this through together. An’ weapons! When the time comes, bare paws’ll be useless against Felis’s murderers. Last, an’ most important, we need our Rhulain, a High Queen that this isle hasn’t seen since seasons out o’ memory!”

One of the Wavedog clan called out, “How’ll we know the Rhulain when we see her?”

Leatho, at a loss to answer, turned to Zillo. “Can you tell us, mate?”

The bard pondered a while. “All I can tell ye is wot I know from the poems an’ ballads passed down through my forefathers. One thing is certain, though, she’ll be of the Wildlough blood. I’ve heard old paeans an’ lays that tell of a warriormaid, tall an’ swift. Fearless in battle, an’ more deadly with sling’n’stone than any livin’ beast. ’Tis said that she wore a gold coronet set with a greenstone, and also that she wore a surcoat of armour from neck to waist, embossed with a gold star. That’s about as much as I can tell ye.”

There was a hesitant silence over the meeting. Then Big Kolun, Skipper of the Galedeep sea otters, boomed out in his loud, jolly voice, “Well that’ll do for us Galedeeps. Ye couldn’t’ave painted High Rhulain clearer, Zillo. Sounds like the kind o’ queen I’d foller to Hellgates an’ back. Right, buckoes?”

Yells of approval greeted him. Leatho winked at the big fellow. “Galedeeps were always loyal warriors, matey!”

Kolun spat on a huge paw and held it out. “Here’s me paw, an’ here’s me heart, Shellhound. I’m with ye!”

Dawn of the following day found Riggu Felis, Lady Kaltag and their two sons taking breakfast beneath an awning on the pier which fronted the lake. It was a fine summer morn, with sunbeams dancing on the water from a cloudless sky of cornflower blue. Otterslaves stood by, ready to serve the demands of the warlord and his kin. As usual, Jeefra and Pitru were quarrelling, this time about two gull eggs which they had been served.

Jeefra went whining to his mother, tears beading in his eyes as he wailed, “Mamma, Mamma, Pitru stole my egg. He’s finished his own and now he’s taken mine!”

Kaltag left off sunning herself in the early warmth. “Will you two stop bickering? Pitru, give that egg back to your brother, this instant!”

Pitru tossed the egg up, then caught it deftly, smirking. “Tell him to come and get it!”

His mother fixed him with an icy glare. “Give Jeefra the egg. Do as I say!”

The chain mail half-mask which covered Riggu Felis’s disfigured face chinked as he drew in breath. He was watching his sons with interest. The wildcat rasped, “Let them be, Kaltag. If Pitru wants the egg, let him keep it—though mayhaps Jeefra’s warrior enough to take it back by force. Go on, son, let’s see what you’re made of.”

Jeefra feared both his father and Pitru, so he took the soft alternative. Turning to an otterslave, he ordered, “You, bring me another gull’s egg!”

“Stay where you are, slave!” The warlord’s fangs showed between the quivering chain mail. “Jeefra, go and take the egg back off Pitru. Go on!”

Kaltag complained, “My lord, you should not be urging brothers to fight each other in this way.”

The wildcat ruler of Green Isle snarled at her. “Stay out of this! They have to learn to take what they want. Well, go to it, Jeefra. I’m waiting!”

Pitru taunted his weaker brother. “Aye, go to it, Jeefra. I’m waiting, too.”

Jeefra had no option. He knew it would go badly for him if he was shamed in front of his father. Gathering his nerve, he made a sudden charge, but his brother easily sidestepped him. Leaping onto Jeefra’s back, Pitru forced him to the ground, holding him there as he mocked his feeble attempt.

“ ‘Mamma, Mamma, Pitru stole my egg!’ Here, take it back, you big snot-nosed kitten!” Wilfully, he smashed the raw gull egg over his brother’s head. The runny mess splattered down across Jeefra’s face. Pitru contemptuously kicked his brother’s backside, then freed him. Jeefra fled indoors, sobbing.

Pitru licked yolk from his paw, commanding one of the otterslaves, “Go and bring me another egg, I’m still hungry!”

A gurgling laugh issued from behind the chain mail as Riggu addressed Kaltag. “That one’s got the makings of a proper wildcat!”

She sniffed. “We have two sons, both wildcats.”