Repentance,” I continued more softly, “repentance is the only way. You were kind and gentle once, Ieuan, you were my friend.”
“We can be friends still!”
“Not unless you turn away from this path. Remember how you gave up your desire for me and became my protector instead. That Ieuan, I loved. This traitor to the living, I cannot have as friend. I hate him and what he has done. But the old Ieuan, the one you were, the Healer - you are the Healer still, you saved Cedd – that Ieuan, the one who had that great Gift, that one I love and he is the one who God will save. Even this late, turn away from evil and repent.”
“It’s too late.”
“It’s not too late! You saved Cedd, you used your Gift for good. There is still goodness in you Ieuan! For your own sake, turn to the good!”
The atmosphere between us was so charged it almost crackled. Ieuan was silent and I could sense that he was wrestling within himself again. The good, the last, tiny piece of goodness left in him, was trying to emerge again after so long imprisoned within the fallen soul. I prayed for him to repent, even now, so late, and give himself the chance to make restitution, no matter how many cycles of lives it took. I had loved the man and I didn’t want to think of him condemned for eternity, not even after the monstrous crimes he had committed.
“I let the boy go, didn’t I?”
“Yes, you did.”
“I could have kept him and sacrificed him, but I let him go, didn’t I?”
“Yes.” I prayed fervently for my friend’s soul, but I kept my sword ready in my hand.
“I could have just killed him, but I didn’t want to.” A movement caught my eye. “But it’s too late. I’m lost Ciaran, I -” whatever else he intended to say, I never heard because a huge boar came crashing through the undergrowth to my right. It was charging straight for me. It’s shoulders were almost as high as my own, its discoloured tusks curled out and back, superbly developed for ripping flesh from bones, and its tiny eyes were filled with murderous intent. I dropped my sword and leaped up into a tree, catching the lowest thick branch and swinging myself out of the way just in time. The momentum of the boar’s charge carried it into the trunk of the tree and the impact nearly dislodged my hold.
I heard Ieuan laugh.
“Oh, wonderful, Ciaran, wonderful! Decide it with swords, you said, and now this! I congratulate you! And such detail!” He laughed again.
The boar heard the Druid’s voice and turned towards the noise. I could see every stiff bristle on its back. I could touch it if I just reached down. The brute was enormous.
It was setting off on another, unstoppable, mad charge. Directly at Ieuan.
“Ieuan!” I called desperately. “It’s not an illusion! It’s real! Get out of the way! Save yourself!”
The Druid finally realised that I spoke the truth - but too late. He had only begun to turn, looking for escape, when the boar was on him. The impact threw him fully fifteen feet through the air and he came to ground in a heap of bones that were probably already broken. The boar followed him every inch of the way and attacked furiously. Its sabre-like tusks ripped into his stomach and disembowelled him in an instant.
I dropped down from the tree and collected my sword from where I had dropped it. I was downwind of the monster as I ran to where it was killing Ieuan. Raising the sword in both hands as I came, I took aim between the ribs and crashed it, point first, into the heart.
The beast fell sideways, dead before it hit the ground.
I turned to the Druid and knelt beside him. His stomach was a mess, coils of grey intestines spilling out from it on all sides. He was rent from the ribcage to his groin; a wound that even Ieuan himself, at the peak of his powers, couldn’t have healed. Blood still oozed feebly from the exposed flesh, pumped feebly by the ruined heart. The Druid was not yet dead and managed to turn his head and whisper.
“You have me, Ciaran. My Master would not let me go.” He groaned. “Can you forgive me?”
“It’s not in my power, Ieuan.”
“You - “ he coughed and doubled up with the pain of it. How he managed to cough, God only knew - I didn’t. The man had no stomach muscle left to cough with. “You don’t bind on Earth and loose in Heaven?”
“No.”
“Can God forgive me?”
“There are no limits to His mercy, but nor to His justice. But you have to ask. You have to come to Him. He won’t make you.” Ieuan fell silent, and I thought he’d died already, and prepared to make a final prayer, but then there was some laboured breathing.
“Baptise me, Anselm. I -” he fell silent, then breathed again. “I’m sorry.” His eyes closed, but his lungs still fought for breath.
Baptise him. Sweet Jesus, where? There was no water nearby.
But there was the pool. I could baptise him in that pool. If the sacred place would accept him there was a chance for his soul.
I picked Ieuan up in my arms and I
ran.
The pool wasn’t far. A mile back, where they’d left the horses. Ieuan was
light as a feather
I could carry him
forever.
“Help me, Ciaran,” he whispered.
I flew now. My feet were ten feet above the ground. I could hardly hold Ieuan down, he was so light.
The pool wasn’t far, but I could
feel Ieuan’s heart beat fainter
My hand was wet, my sleeve was wet with Ieuan’s blood. There couldn’t be much time left.
Time must accommodate me. I ran past a sparrow, caught in flight, its wings barely crawled to beat their path as I raced past. The horses were in the way and I jumped over them
Godwin saw me approach at unbelievable speed and leap straight over the horses, the bundle I was carrying trailing blood and intestines. He shivered violently and sat down. It was too much for one day.
I came to ground and turned a corner and
the pool was there. I splashed straight in to the freezing shallows.
“Help me, Ciaran. I’m sorry. For the children.”
“I am Anselm. A Priest of the Irish Church. We are at a holy pool. There is hope. Do not despair.” I carried him into the water and he was so light he floated. I held him in my arms, determined that the current wouldn’t take him away. “What do you seek of Christ’s Church?”
Ieuan’s lips moved but there was no sound.
“Ieuan, what do you seek of Christ’s Church?”
The Druid’s lips moved again.
“Forgiveness,” he whispered.
“Baptism, Ieuan, the answer is baptism. What do you seek of Christ’s Church?”
“Baptism,” he whispered and sighed.
“Ieuan,” I shook him, “Ieuan, I’m going to ask you some questions. Squeeze my hand if the answer is yes. Hold on, Ieuan.” The Druid’s eyes were closed and the body was all but lifeless. The pool was red with blood and the ripples over the rocks were turning pink with it. “Ieuan, do you reject Satan?”
A squeeze.
“And all his empty promises?”
A squeeze.
“And all his pomps?”
A squeeze.
“And all his lies and deceits?”
The faintest pressure.
“And do you accept Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God, your Saviour and Redeemer?”
Nothing.
“Ieuan, do you accept Christ?”