“But will Dieda agree?” he asked.
“Leave her to me,” Caillean replied.
Still wondering at the summons, Dieda faced Caillean in the chamber that had for so long been Lhiannon’s.
“Ardanos has agreed to let you substitute for Eilan after the ordeal of the Oracle. Dieda—you must help us now,” said Caillean.
Dieda shook her head. “Why should I care what Ardanos wants when he has never cared about me? Eilan has brought her troubles on her own head. I will not consent to this deception, and you may tell my father so!”
“Fine words, indeed, but if you are always determined to do exactly the reverse of what Ardanos decrees, then his will still rules you. I suppose if I had told you he opposes this you would have agreed?” Caillean replied.
Dieda stared at the older priestess, her mind whirling.
“He doesn’t at all like it, you know,” Caillean added, watching her intently. “He would rather reject Eilan now and make you High Priestess in her place. I think he agreed to suggest the substitution only because he thought you would react in just this way…”
“High Priestess?” Dieda exclaimed. “I would never escape from this place then!”
“It would only be temporary, after all,” Caillean reflected. “As soon as Eilan’s babe is born she would return to take up her duties, and then, in any case, you would have to go away—”
“Would you let me go north to be with Cynric?” Dieda asked suspiciously.
“If that is what you desire. But we had thought of sending you to Eriu for advanced training in the skills of a bard…”
“You know perfectly well it is what I have always wanted most!” Dieda exclaimed.
Caillean looked at her steadily. “Then it seems there is something I still can promise or deny you. If you do this for Eilan—and for me—I will see that you are allowed to learn from the greatest poets and harpers in Eriu. If you do not, Ardanos will surely make you Priestess, and I will make sure that you rot within these walls.”
“You would not,” Dieda said. But she felt a chill of fear.
“You shall see,” Caillean responded calmly. “There is no alternative. It was Lhiannon’s wish, and I will do her will as we all have always done.”
Dieda sighed. She did not want to see anything evil happen to Eilan. She had loved her once, but after the past few years she found it hard to love anyone. It seemed to her that the other girl had been a great fool. She had had the kind of love Dieda had been denied and thrown it away. Nor could she see why Caillean should care. Still, she would not cross her. Caillean could be a good friend or a dangerous enemy—both to her and possibly to Cynric as well. Dieda had dwelt in the Forest House long enough to know just how much influence the Irishwoman wielded in her quiet way.
“So be it,” she said. “I pledge to stand substitute for Eilan until she is delivered if afterward you will be responsible for giving me my desire.”
“I will,” Caillean lifted one hand. “And may the Goddess bear witness. And no one alive can say I have ever broken an oath.”
Half a moon had passed since Lhiannon’s passing, and they were come to the Feast of Lughnasad. Eilan waited with Caillean in the separate dwelling where the High Priestess had so often prepared for the rituals. Hearing sharpened by anxiety alerted her to the scuff of sandaled feet outside the door. Then it swung open, and she saw the hooded figure, seeming impossibly tall in the half-light, standing there. She could just make out the shapes of the other Druids behind him.
“Eilan, daughter of Rheis, the Voice of the Goddess has chosen you. Are you prepared to give yourself to Her completely?” Ardanos’s voice tolled like a great bell, and Eilan felt her belly tighten with fear.