Yseult: A Tale of Love in the Age of King Arthur Read Online Free

head I have not committed.
    "I do not answer for the fall of one man.
    "No one man answers for my own fall.
    "If I remain true to the law,
    "The joys of the Otherworld await me.
    "My fame in this world is of my own making.
    "My fate in the other mine as well."
    It was a day for challenges. But while the majority of the audience would be aware of the challenge in Boinda's song, only few would know that Lucet was attacking the religion of the Christ with his poem. The man in the white robes of a druid pushing his way through the crowd even now, however, was certainly one of those.
    Patraic stepped before the judges, his color high. "I too would participate in the competition."
    "Only filid or those trained as filid have a right to sing here," Brigid said.
    "I received training from my master, Miliuc."
    Even though he was her enemy, Queen Yseult could not deny the truth of what he said. She touched the wise woman's elbow. "He speaks the truth, Brigid. According to the rules, he is allowed to participate."
    "Then step forward for your challenge," she said, eyeing Patraic warily.
    The Christian wise man turned to Lochru.
    "As you wish to answer Lucet directly, I will give you the same challenge," the druid said. "Barley, blood, man."
    Patraic had no harp, so he stood with head bowed and hands laced together in front of him for a moment. Then he lifted his head, looked first at Brigid and then directly into Queen Yseult's eyes and began.
    "I am not a sheaf of barley
    "To be cut down and traded for a bushel of eggs.
    "I am not a white bull
    "To be sold at a fair for a ring of gold.
    "I am a son of Adam,
    "A man like any man,
    "With blood in my veins and needs of my own.
    "I do not answer to any but God.
    "No man owns me; I make my own way.
    "If I remain true to God's will,
    "The joys of heaven await me.
    "Truth and honor will stand
    "Between me and the powers of darkness."
    Lucet strode forward. "That was no answer. Slavery has nothing to do with the doctrine of original sin which your religion proclaims."
    Patraic turned away from the judges and faced the angry druid. "You based your argument on the idea of free will, did you not? A slave is robbed of his free will."
    "Does your religion forbid slavery? I have read nothing of that in your holy books."
    Before Patraic could answer, Lóegaire stepped between the druid and the Christian wise man. "Enough, both of you!"
    Lucet and Patraic stared at the High King as if he had interrupted a discussion of philosophy in the house of druids. The queen suppressed a desire to laugh.
    "I am probably not the only one who has had enough of the arguments about whose truth is true," the High King began. "I want each of you to fetch a book containing your truth. We will bury this now."
    Lucet looked mildly confused at the turn events had taken, but he motioned to the young bard Aneirin standing at the front of the crowd to come and join him. Patraic summoned the first disciple he could locate, Ciaran. After a brief consultation, the two hurried off to fetch the desired books. Queen Yseult wondered what Lóegaire was about now; his mind was closed to her.
    Aneirin returned with a set of ogham staffs of hazelwood, the letters carved in the sides and the whole bound at the top with a leather thong. The book Ciaran brought was in Latin, written in ink on parchment. The young men presented the books to the High King.
    "Now we will see which book retains its truth," Lóegaire proclaimed, his voice rising above the curious crowd. "Come with me."
    He led the way down the hill, while the audience of the competition followed him, the druid and the Christian wise man at their head. When they arrived at the banks of a stream, he turned to the expectant onlookers.
    "We will subject these books to trial by water." At these words, he threw the staffs and the parchment into the stream. Finally the queen understood what he was doing, and she turned to Brigid and smiled.
    The current was sluggish where Lóegaire had