She led him inside the laager of wagons. A fire had been lit to boil
water, and its red glow danced over the white faces of women and
children and wounded men where they lay. To one side the dead had been
stretched, and white-headed Lochly of Dagh stood above them with his
bagpipes couched in his arms.
Kery knelt over Rhiach. The warlock's bleak features had softened a
little in death, he seemed gentle now. But quiet, so pale and quiet.
And soon the earth will open to receive you, you will be laid to rest
here in an alien land where the life slipped from your hands, and the
high windy tarns of Killorn will not know you ever again, O Rhiach the
Piper.
Farewell, farewell, my father. Sleep well, goodnight, goodnight!
Slowly, Kery brushed the gray hair back from Rhiach's forehead, and
knelt and kissed him on the brow. They had laid the god-pipe beside
him, and he took this up and stood numbly, wondering what he would do
with this thing in his hands.
Old Lochly gave him a somber stare. His voice came so soft you could
scarce hear it over the thin whispering wind.
"Now you are the Broina, Kery, and thus the Piper of Killorn."
"I know," he said dully.
"But you know not how to blow the pipes, do you? No, no man does that.
Since Broina himself had them from Llugan Longsword in heaven, there
has been one who knew their use, and he was the shield of all Killorn.
But now that is ended, and we are alone among strangers and enemies."
"It is not good. But we must do what we can."
"Oh, aye. 'Tis scarcely your fault, Kery. But I fear none of us will
ever drink the still waters of the lake where it is forever sunset
again."
Lochly put his own pipes to his lips and the wild despair of the old
coronach wailed forth over the hushed camp.
Kery slung the god-pipes over his back and wandered out of the laager
toward Bram and the Ryvanians.