Number Seven stared at Sorrow’s back. He had no idea how long they’d been walking. It seemed like both 5 minutes and all day.

'Do you have a plan for this fight?' said Jude, walking beside Sorrow.

'I plan to kill her. I’ll offer her terms for surrender, if I can, but I’m not going to lose any sleep if I can’t.' Sorrow sounded like she meant it.

Ahead of them the trees thinned out and the forest opened into a clearing. Sorrow and Jude stopped on the edge of the clearing. Seven stopped too, standing behind them and looking over Sorrow’s shoulder he recognised the clearing on the shore of the pool where he had swum with the goddess.

The pool and the waterfall looked the same but everything else had changed. The grassy clearing was ringed with weapons thrust into the ground. Near the centre of the clearing was a stone object, oval, roughly the size of a small sofa and covered with black fabric. At the top of the waterfall there was a standing stone carved with the figure of a man tied to the stone, apparently by his own intestines. Seven was sure he would have remembered that.

The biggest change was in the Goddess herself. She had been intimidating enough when she was naked in the water. Dressed in ancient armour and seated on a black throne taller than Sorrow, she was terrifying.

Seven looked up at the trees. Every branch overlooking the clearing was weighed down with ravens. Most of them were looking his way. 'Well this is elegant,' he said.

'You find this humorous?' said Jude.

'I’d prefer not to die today but I’ll be damned if I’ll take it seriously,' said Seven.

'Damned? That’s handy. That’s exactly what I had in mind.' Number Four stepped out from behind a tree on the edge of the clearing.

She didn’t look like herself, and Seven understood immediately why they hadn’t been able to find her on the footage from the Beta house. They’d been looking for a petite and delicate blue-eyed blond. Not the strong, dark-eyed, 5’4” goth that stood before him. The youth had gone from her face and she looked hungry and bitter.

Her wings were as magnificent as Sorrow’s but, like Sorrow’s, they were showing the effects of the shedding. They looked untidy. Seven doubted that they would get her into the air and he was sure they wouldn’t keep her there.

Sorrow interposed herself. 'Whatever you’ve got in mind for him you’ll have to go through me first.'

Jude joined her. 'And then through me.'

'He’s not worth it,' said Four. 'He’s not worth either of you.'

'Cepha disagrees,' said Sorrow

'Which is good enough for me,' said Jude.

'Running out on you wasn’t personal.' Four managed to look genuinely regretful.

'I know. This isn’t personal. Enjoyable yes, personal, no,' said Jude.

'Your boss doesn’t really care about Lucky. Neither does my boss,' said Four. 'It’s all about that damn suit he’s wearing.' She dodged between Sorrow and Jude and shoved an ancient metal mirror in front of Seven’s face.

There again was the strange broad face, the blond hair, the weirdly full lips and the ice blue eyes. He took the mirror out of her hand, half expecting to feel his sanity slide away from him as he looked at it but there was nothing. He ran his fingers through his hair, staring at the blond in the mirror. 'I’m not sure about this hair cut,' he said. 'It looks okay on the suit but I think my real face needs something shorter.'

'I don’t know what you’re worried about,' said Sorrow, 'Almost no one can see your real face.'

'And none of them are going to judge you for the length of your hair,' said Jude.

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Seven handed the mirror back to Number Four. She didn’t look disappointed, but Seven could see the effort that charade was costing.

'Handmaidens!' The voice of the Morrigan filled the grove. 'To me!'

'After you,' said Sorrow.

Seven remained where he was, standing on the edge of the clearing, in the shadow of the trees, with Jude blocking his way should some overwhelming urge to run after Sorrow overtake him.

'This is a rare pleasure,' said the Morrigan. 'It’s been more than ten generations since last my Ravens chose opposing sides in a battle.'

'Ten generations is about 200 years.' Sorrow’s voice sounded amused. Was she attempting to make peace with Number Four?

'Looks like your Number Five isn’t dead yet,' said Jude.

Seven followed his gaze and saw a group of people on the edge of the clearing. Five and Six were there alongside a heavy set woman in a raven feather cloak with long red hair.

'So, allowing for Raven generations being a bit longer than 20 years, that could be the American Revolution or the Jacobite uprising?' said Four.

'Could be,' said Sorrow. 'Or something in Ireland. That is where she’s from.'

'And now you’re “bonding”. So sweet,' said the Morrigan. Seven crept between the trees, shadowing the edge of the clearing, Jude at his shoulder, heading for Five and Six.

'Let me know when you two are actually ready to fight,' said the Morrigan. 'The delay will let me get a closer look at the spoils.'

Seven felt a brief moment of panic as he realised what she meant by spoils. That became horror when he felt a hand on his throat. He clawed at the hand, trying to tear it away from his neck but there was nothing there. The nothing lifted him off the ground and dragged him towards the Morrigan.

Seven grabbed a tree trunk and tried to resist the pull but he was moving too fast and only succeeded in tearing bark from the trunk with his fingernails. Jude grabbed for him but he was gone too quickly.

He passed between Sorrow and Number Four and he could feel their eyes on him.

He reached the throne and the Morrigan bundled him up in her arms and sat him across her lap.

'There now,' said the goddess, 'So much more comfortable and no chance of you getting in the middle of things.'

'This is my fight.'

'No. This is her fight. It’s just about you.' The Morrigan opened his jacket, unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt and pulled it away from his skin with one long, pointed fingernail. She looked down the gap she’d created. 'I can see why you’re so highly regarded, though this suit you’re wearing is a dangerous thing.'

He was sure that she wasn’t talking about his clothes. 'Surely it’s not dangerous to them?' He tried to drag his eyes away from the goddess and towards the field of battle but failed.

'That thing is a danger to everyone but you and I and soon it will become a danger even to you,' said the goddess.

She was looking at Sorrow and Number Four as she spoke, as if she feared that he might read something in her eyes. He’d have thought she was lying if he couldn’t hear the concern in her voice. She wasn’t lying but she was worried. About him? About Sorrow? About herself?

'But never to you?'

'I would have to hurt you very badly before the suit would be a danger to me.' Again he heard that concern.

'But you’re going to throw me to Four if Sorrow loses.'

'That’s not the kind of hurt I mean. 'I would have to break your heart. Or win it.'

At last Seven managed to look away from the Morrigan and back to the two women staring up at him. One friend and one lover. One had betrayed him and one was prepared to take a bullet for him. If he were poetically inclined he might say that one had put a crack in his heart and the other had it on loan. Not quite broken or won but maybe close enough to make the suit dangerous to them all.

Did the Morrigan expect him to somehow fix it?

#

'I see you’re not dead yet then.'

Number Five started at the strange voice and turned around to see a stranger dressed in white approaching.

'Is that Jude?' said Number Three, head tilted toward the sound of the voice.

'White, blond hair, about six foot tall, dressed like an extra from Austin Powers,' said Number Six.

The raven on Six’s shoulder stared at the stranger first with one eye, then the other. 'Got something a little bit reptilian about him.'

'That’s him,' said Three. 'Tell him I said hello.'

'Number Three says hello,' said Five.

The man in white slowed down, 'I thought he was… you know… dead.'

'He is. It’s complicated,' said Five.

The man in white gave a half shrug and joined them. 'Any idea what’s going on?' he said.

'That stone thing is the Cauldron of Dagda,' said Five. 'I need to get to it.'

'My mother will not look kindly on any attempt to get him there,' said Sgàthach 'He needs a distraction and he needs to be quick.'

'Quick I can supply,' said Jude. 'We’ll have to rely on Sorrow for the distraction.'