“So what did you do?”
“I might as well tell you all, I suppose, otherwise you’ll just badger me until I confess.” He grinned and explained that he cast a vision-spell on the king and his nephews so that they would find everyone in Fife visually repulsive and overpoweringly smelly. It came into effect as soon as he uttered a Phrase of Power, unnoticeable to all but the knowledgeable - and not to many of them! Their escort were at a loss to understand why Owain was so uncomfortable at the Fife courts. They all thought the women were perfectly acceptable, he reported. Even I couldn’t resist a chuckle at the thought of the scene. It was quite funny but I queried if it was something he was accustomed to doing.
He swore he used this power very rarely and promised that the king was his own man in most things - including his installation as High Druid. Fife was a situation where action had to be taken, not discussed. He had heard of Fife’s machinations from contacts in Lothian and came to the conclusion that they were devious and untrustworthy.
“I did it in the best interests of Strathclyde and Alba - and even Dalriada, though they’re no friends of ours,” he said. “We share a two hundred-mile border with Northumbria and it’s tested daily. Oswy wants us weak and divided: the English want our lands for themselves. They’d enslave us. Anyway,” he continued before I could interject, “I have no qualms about using my knowledge and powers for the good of my people. You may be a bit more particular. Maybe you can afford to be.” Privately, I had to concede that I might, in the extremity, manipulate as Ieuan had done. I was still uncomfortable about it, though. Each person has to work out their own destiny, I believed; interfering to the extent that Ieuan had was to eliminate the freedom to choose. I used to make my living imposing the will of whoever my employer was on others, at swordpoint, that old life was behind me; those days as Prince Ciaran the Damned were long gone.
“So now there is a strong alliance in the north,” I said. More a statement than a question.
“I would have thought that you would have welcomed that. Don’t the Christians want peace? Don’t begrudge us that, my friend, just because it isn’t the peace of Christ,” he said.
“How long will it last?”
“As long as it lasts,” he shrugged.
“And the love that Owain and Gruach have for one another? Is that the result of some Druid love-potion?” He assured me that he had nothing to do with it. I queried whether that was always the case.
“Their love is genuine. It wouldn’t survive if it was otherwise. Love-potions aren’t known for their long-term efficiency. A night of passion can be guaranteed but a lifetime of devotion - no.”
“So such a thing wouldn’t work for Gawain and a Powys Princess - or any princess, come to that?” Ieuan looked up sharply.
“When did you guess?”
“The first time I saw him, and I didn’t guess. It’s part of my Gift, remember; the ability to divine true nature.”
“I hadn’t forgotten. But you’ve grown sharp over the years. We’ll all have to be careful around you, Ciar-sorry, Anselm.” He smiled and went on. “I don’t believe anyone else realises – no-one who matters, anyway. How can that be? A potion can sustain a night of passion even between incompatibles, as I said. He can perform well enough to satisfy the curiosity of his lustful warriors, when necessary. He has a reputation for restraint, that’s all.”
“And his real needs? How do you help him to satisfy them and yet keep his secret?”
“A forgetting-spell. Simple, but effective.” This response was as sharp as my own enquiries. Maybe I had become more judgmental but I was wondering if Ieuan was forcing others to serve his ends. I hesitated a moment. The discussion was getting awkward but I was resolved to get an answer.
“So, you connive at rape?” I asked, and not gently.
“No. No I do not,” he replied, with a flash of anger. “The young men are willing. All I do is make them forget what has occurred so that they can’t blackmail Gawain. You really should know me better than that.”
I offered a kind of apology but I was still uneasy. Why, I couldn’t work out. My mind had been set at rest about the manipulation of Owain, his marriage and even Gawain’s position. Ieuan still seemed to be genuinely friendly towards me but he looked so old. He was being worn down by something. What it was would emerge in good time, I decided.
“I take it that Owain doesn’t know about Gawain? I don’t suppose he would have mentioned anything about a state marriage if he did.” Ieuan shook his head in agreement.
“No, he has no idea. Gawain is tortured by his nature. He’s never accepted it or learned to live with it, as I have. And no, he and I have not lain together. I’m too old for him. Always have been and besides,” he sighed before continuing, “I achieved celibacy a long time ago and wouldn’t easily surrender it. I would not go through that fight again.”
We moved on and soon took to talking about old times, when we were together at the Druid training school at Innisgarbh, the Isle of Rock. Coivin, my foster-brother and Dark Twin, and I had arrived at Innisgarbh at just eight years of age. We quickly learned that it was a harsh place, where punishment was the norm. We were beaten for failing our classes, for doing our lessons too well, for cheeking our teachers if we answered them, and for our silence if we did not. And there was a cohort, led by an ollamh[8] named Lucius, that abused and exploited the youngsters in their care. There was even more to them than that, as I would find out, years later. A deep corruption that led them into monstrous evil. You could say they were seduced by the ‘dark side’ but the truth was: they embraced it. They rushed eagerly into its maw. They may have been as enthusiastic even if they had not been granted the power and influence they believed was their due. They revelled in it.
But that was not to be revealed for years.
It was Ieuan who had witnessed my first episode of the Sight. I had no idea what was happening; he knew exactly what was going on and took me to the right people for help and support. He had been my friend for the rest of my time through Innisgarbh. So far as he could, he had protected me from the attentions of Lucius, his ally Cormac and the rest of their gang, who would have used me and my Gift for ends that can only be described as the very depths of evil, as was made unarguably clear by what was uncovered at the Ballaugh, on Manannan’s Isle[9].