«Go on!» yelled Brodsky in the background.
«Give it the business!»
Belphebe reached behind her to unhook her brassiere. Cuchulainn staggered as though he had been struck. He threw one arm across his eyes, reached the table and brought his face down on it, pounding the wood with the other fist.
«Ara!» he shouted. «Take her away! Is it killing me you will be and in my own hall, and me your host that has saved your life?»
«Will you let her alone?» asked Shea.
«I will that for the night.»
«Mac Shea, take his offer,» advised Laeg from the head of the table. He looked rather greenish himself. «If his rage comes on him, none of us will be safe.»
«Okay. Honest,» said Shea and held Belphebe’s dress for her.
There was a universal sigh of relief from the background. Cuchulainn staggered to his feet. «It is not feeling well that I am, darlings,» he said and, picking up the golden ewer of wine, made for his room.
IV
There was a good deal of excited gabble among the retainers as Belphebe walked back to her place without looking to right or left, but they made room for Shea and Brodsky to join her. The druid looked shrewdly at the closed door and said, «If the Little Hound drinks too much by himself, he may be brooding on the wrong you are after doing him, and a sad day that would be. If he comes out with the hero-light playing round his head, run for your lives.»
Belphebe said, «But where would we go.»
«Back to your own place. Where else?»
Shea frowned. «I’m not sure.» he began, when Brodsky cut in suddenly, «Say,» he said, «your boss ain’t really gotno right to get bugged up. We had to play it that way?»
Cathbadh swung to him. «And why, serf?»
«Don’t call me serf. She’s got a fierce geas on her. Any guy that touches her gets a bellyache and dies of it. Her husband only stands it because he’s a magician. It’s lucky we put the brakes on before the boss got her in thatroom, or he’d be ready for the lilies right now.»
Cathbadh’s eyebrows shot up like a seagull taking off. «Himself should know of this,» he said. «There would be less blood shed inIreland if more people opened their mouths to explain things before they put their feet in them.»
He got up, went to the bedroom door and knocked. There was a growl from within, Cathbadh entered, and a few minutes later came out with Cuchulainn. The later’s step was visibly unsteady, and his melancholy seemed to have deepened. He walked to the head of the table and sat down in the chair again.
«Sure, and this is the saddest tale in the world I’m hearing about your wife having such a bad geas on her. The evening is spoilt and all. I hope the black fit does not come on me, for then it will be blood and death I need to restore me.»
Therewere a couple of gasps audible and Laeg looked alarmed, but Cathbadh said hastily, «The evening is not so spoilt as you think Cucuc. This Mac Shea is evidently a very notable druid and spell maker, but I think I am a better. Did you notice how quickly I put down his wine fountain? Would it not lift your heart, now, to see the two of us engage in a contest of magic?»
Cuchulainn clapped his hands. «Never was truer word spoken. You will just do that, darlings.»
Shea said, «I’m afraid I can’t guarantee.» but Belphebe plucked his sleeve and with her head close to his, whispered, «Do it. There is a danger here.»
«It isn’t working right,» Shea whispered back. Outside rose the mournful sound of Uath’s howling. «Can you not use your psychology on him out there?» the girl asked. «It will be magic to them.»
«A real psychoanalysis would take days,» said Shea. «Wait a minute, though — we seem to be in a world where the hysteric type is the norm. That means a high suggestibility, and we might get something out of post-hypnotic suggestion.»
Cuchulainn from the head of the table said, «It is not all night we have to wait.»
Shea turned round and said aloud, «How would it be if I took the geas off that character out there training to be a bar-room tenor? I understand that’s something Cathbadh hasn’t been able to do.»
Cathbadh said, «If you can do this, it will be a thing worth seeing, but I will not acknowledge you can do it until I have seen it.»
«All right,» said Shea. «Bring him in.»
«Laeg, dear, go get us Uath,» said Cuchulainn.
He took a drink, looked at Belphebe and his expression became morose again.
Shea said, «Let’s see. I want a small bright object. May I borrow one of your rings, Cuchulainn? That one with the big stone would do nicely.»
Cuchulainn slid the ring down the table as Laeg returned, firmly gripping the arm of a stocky young man, who seemed to be opposing some resistance to the process. Just as they got in the door Uath flung back his head and emitted a blood-curdling howl. Laeg dragged him forward, howling away. Shea turned to the others. «Now if this magic is going to work, I’ll need a little room. Don’t come too near us while I’m spinning the spell, or you’ll be apt to get caught in it, too.» He arranged a pair of seats well back from the table and attached a thread to the ring.
Laeg pushed Uath into one of the seats. «That’s a bad geas you have there, Uath,» said Shea, «and I want you to cooperate with me in getting rid of it. You’ll do everything I tell you, won’t you?»
The man nodded. Shea lifted the ring, said, «Watch this,» and began twirling the thread back and forth between thumb and forefinger, so that the ring rotated first one way and then the other, sending out a flickering gleam of reflection from the rushlights. Meanwhile Shea talked to Uath in a low voice, saying «sleep» now and then in the process. Behind him he could hear an occasionally caught breath and could almost feel the atmosphere of suspense.
Uath went rigid.
Shea asked in a low voice, «Can you hear me, Uath?»
«That I can.»
«You will do what I say.»
«That I will.»
«When you wake up, you won’t suffer from this howling geas any more.»
«That I will not.»
«To prove that you mean it, the first thing you do on waking will be to clap Laeg on the shoulder.»
«That I will.»
Shea repeated his directions several times, varying the words, and making Uath repeat them after him. There was no use taking a chance on slipups. At last he brought him out of the hypnotic trance with a snap of the fingers and a sharp «Wake up!»
Uath stared about him with an air of bewilderment. Then he got up, walked over to the table and clapped Laeg on the shoulder. There was an appreciative murmur from the audience.
Shea asked, «How do you feel, Uath?»
«It is just fine that I am feeling. I do not want to be howling at the moon at all now, and I’m thinking the geas is gone for good. I thank your honor.» He came down the table, seized Shea’s hand and kissed it and joined the other retainers at the lower part of the table.
Cathbadh said, «That is a very good magic, indeed, and not the least of it was the small geas you put on him to lay his hand on Laeg’s shoulder at the same time. And true it is that I have been unable to lift this geas. But as one man can run faster, so can another one climb faster, and I will demonstrate by taking the geas off your wife, which you have evidently not been able to deal with.»
«I’m not sure.» began Shea, doubtfully.
«Let not yourself be worried,» said Cuchulainn.
«It will not harm her at all, and in the future she can be more courteous in the high houses she visits.»
The druid rose and pointed a long, bony finger at Belphebe. He chanted some sort of rhythmic affair which began in a gibberish of unknown language, but became more and more intelligible, ending with: «and by oak, ash and yew, by the beauty of Aengus and the strength of Ler and by authority as high druid of Ulstr, let this geas be lifted from you, Belphebe! Let it pass! Out with it! It is erased, cancelled and no more to be heard of!» He tossed up his arms and then sat down. «How do you feel, darling?»