This realization proved so strong that it startled him, and he marvelled at its potency. It was, perhaps, the first time a thought like this had ever taken hold in Bran, and after the initial jolt passed, he found himself enjoying the unique freshness of the raw idea-divining the spirit of the Greene Wood, he called it. He turned it over and over in his mind, exploring its dimensions, delighting in its imaginative potential. It occurred to him that Angharad was largely responsible for this new way of thinking: that with her songs and stories and her oldfashioned, earthy ways, she had awakened in him a new kind of sight or understanding. Surely, Angharad had bewitched him, charmed him with some strange arboreal enchantment that made the forest seem a realm over which he might gain some small dominion. Angharad the Hudolion, the Enchantress of the Wood, had worked her wiles on him, and he was in her thrall. Rather than fear or dread, the conviction produced a sudden exultation. He felt, inexplicably, that he had passed some trial, gained some mastery, achieved some virtue. And although he could not yet put a name to the thing he had accomplished, he gloried in it all the same.
He lay back in the hollow of the great oak's roots as if embraced by strong encircling arms. It seemed to him that he was no longer a stranger in the forest, an intruder in a foreign realm… He belonged here. He could be at home here. In this place, he could move as freely as a king in his caer, a lord of a leaf and branch and living things like the hero of the story: Rhi Bran.
He fell asleep with that thought still turning in his mind.
Deep in the night, he dreamed that he stood on the high crest of a craggy hill rising in the centre of the forest, the wind swirling around him. Suddenly, he felt the urge to fly, and stretching out his arms, he lifted them high. To his amazement, his arms sprouted long black feathers; the wind gusted, and he was lifted up and borne aloft, rising up and up into the clear blue Cymraic sky. Out over the forest he sailed; looking down, he saw the massed treetops far below-a thick, green, rough and rumpled skin, with the threads of streams seamed through it like veins. He saw the silvery glint of a lake and the bare domes of rock peaks. Away in the misty distance he saw the wide green sweep of the Vale of Elfael with its handful of farms and settlements scattered over a rolling, rumpled land that glowed like a gemstone beneath the light of an untroubled sun. Higher and still higher he soared, revelling in his flight, sailing over the vast extent of the greenwood.
From somewhere far below, there arose a cry-a wild, ragged wail, like that of a terrorised child who will not be comforted or consoled. The sound grew until it assaulted heaven with its insistence. Unable to ignore it, he sailed out over the valley to see what could cause such anguish. Scanning the ground far below, a movement on the margin of the forest caught his eye. He circled lower for a closer look: hunters. They had dogs with them and were armed with lances and swords. That they should violate the sanctity of his realm angered Bran, and he determined to drive them away. He swooped down, ready to defend his woodland kingdom, only to realise, too late, that it was himself they were hunting.
He plummeted instantly to earth, landing on the path some little way ahead of the invading men. The sharp-sighted dogs saw him and howled to be released. As Bran gathered himself to flee, the hunters loosed the hounds.
Bran ran into the forest, found a dark nook beneath a rock, and crawled in to hide. But the dogs had got his scent, and they came running, baying for his blood…
Bran awakened with the sound of barking still echoing through the trees. A soft mist curled amongst the roots of the trees, and dew glistened on the lower leaves and on the grassy path.
The long rising note came again and, close behind, the very beast itself: a lean, long-legged grey hunting hound with clipped ears and a shaggy pelt, bounding with great, galloping strides through the morning fog.
Seizing his bow, Bran nocked an arrow and drew back the string. He was on the point of loosing the missile when a small boy appeared, racing after the dog. Barefoot, dirty-faced, with long, tangled dark hair, the lad appeared to be no more than six or seven years old. He saw Bran the same instant Bran saw him; the boy glimpsed the weapon in Bran's hands and halted just as Bran's fingers released the string.
In the same instant a voice cried, "Pull up!"
Distracted by the shout, Bran's aim faltered, and the arrow went wide; the hound leapt, colliding with Bran and carrying him to the ground. Bran crossed his arms over his neck to protect his throat… as the dog licked his face. It took a moment for Bran to understand that he was not being attacked. Taking hold of the dog's iron-studded collar, he tried to free himself from the beast's eager attentions, but it stood on his chest, holding him to the ground. "Off!" cried Bran. "Get off!"
"Look at you now," said Angharad as she came to stand over him. "And is this not how I first found you?"
"I surrender," Bran told her. "Get him off."
The old woman gestured to the boy, who came running and pulled the dog away.
Bran rolled to his feet and brushed at the dog's muddy footprints. Angharad smiled and reached down to help him. "I thought you were away to the north country and the safety of a rich kinsman's hearth," she said, her smile brimming with merry mischief. "How is it that you are still forest bound?"
"You would know that better than I," replied Bran. Embarrassed to be so easily found, he nevertheless welcomed the sight of the old woman.
"Aye," she agreed, "I would. But we have had this discussion before, I think." She extended her hand, and Bran saw that she held a cloth bundle. "Your fast is over, Master Bran. Come, let us eat together one last time."
Bran, chastened by his luckless wandering through the forest, dutifully fell into step behind the old woman as she led her little party a short distance to a glade and there spread out a meal of cold meat, nuts, dried fruit, mushrooms, honey cakes, and eggs. The three of them ate quietly; Angharad divided the meat and shared it out between them. When the edge of his hunger had been blunted, Bran turned to the boy, who seemed curiously familiar to him, and asked, "What's your name?"
The boy raised big dark eyes to him but made no reply.
Thinking the boy had not understood him, Bran asked again, and this time the lad raised a dirty finger to his lips and shook his head.
"He is telling you he cannot speak," explained Angharad. "I call him Gwion Bach."
"He is a kinsman of yours?"
"Not mine," she replied lightly. "He belongs to the forest one of many who live here. When I told him I was going to find you, he insisted on coming, too. I think he knows you."
Bran examined the boy more closely… the attack in the farmyard-could it be the same boy? "One of many," he repeated after a moment. "And are there many?"
"More now that the Ffreinc have come," she answered, handing the boy a small boiled egg, which he peeled and popped into his mouth with a smack of his lips.