Page:Celtic Stories by Edward Thomas.djvu/59

 and all who had a hand in it, excepting only your Majesty.'

So the king sent Fergus and commanded him not to rest going or coming, and once he was back in Ireland to send the sons of Usna straight to Navan, whatever happened. He and his two sons in a black ship sailed far among islands and round promontories until they came into Loch Etive on a hot day in summer. They saw the tents of Deirdre and the sons of Usna upon the shore, and Fergus gave a shout. Deirdre and Naisi were playing chess, and at the shout Deirdre became white.

'It is the voice of a man of Erin,' said Naisi.

'Nay,' said Deirdre, lying out of a foreboding heart, 'it is a man of Alba. Take no heed of the cry. It is nothing.'

Again Fergus cried and in a loud voice, calling the sons of Usna by their names, and still Deirdre said:

'It is a dream: play on.'

But Deirdre could not play, and Naisi would not.

At the third shout Naisi knew the voice of Fergus and sent Ardan down to the shore to welcome him. Deirdre would have held him back. Her cheeks were white as surf under the moonlight; her eyes were large, and she looked old and sick with the foreknowledge that came to her through that one cry of distant Fergus. But Naisi remembered the halls of Navan and the battlefields of Ireland with a new joy. There was none like them in Alba, and though he had got fresh glory he had done nothing like the deeds of old, because his enemies were not great enough. He could not understand the paleness of her who had never shown fear, nor did he hear, save with ears only, when she confessed that a dream had warned her against Fergus coming to them with friendliness that meant a doom.