“I know this place,” Siobhan said.

The canopy of leaves was behind them. Meadows and fields retreated into the darkness on their left. A dense collection of Scots pine lined the right side of the road.

“What is so special about this forest?” Donal asked.

“Not the forest,” she said. “What sits behind it. We’re near Doon Rock.”

“And that is?”

Donal felt his brother shake his head in response to his question.

“G’way with that head shake, Finn,” he said. “Don’t act like it’s some well-known thing when you’ve never been there.”

“I’ve never been to England, but I know it’s there,” Finn said.

Siobhan cleared her throat.

“My mam’s taken me there a few times. It’s where they appoint the new O’Donnell chieftains. They have a holy well and a rock from which they hold special masses.”

“Hang on,” Donal said. “All this druidic and sílrad business and you still go to mass?”

“Have you forgotten that Murrough takes us to mass?” Finn asked. “Every time we visit.”

“It’s complicated,” Siobhan said. “Very few O’Donnells are druids. Not many more are aware of our druidic roots. Most have no clue about any of it. Mam says we should go if no other reason than appearance. Personally, though, I very much like going to mass. I go sometimes without her. I feel lighter afterwards. More at peace.”

“Complicated, indeed,” Maeve said.

Siobhan eyed Maeve and then scanned the horizon to their right.

“During the day you can see Doon Rock from most places along this road—if you know where to look.”

“Well it’s a good thing we’re traveling at night,” Maeve said, “because we don’t have time for a tour.”

“At no point did I suggest that.”

“Just remember you’re riding with three people who don’t have a family castle or an ancient site of heraldry,” Maeve said. “Let alone both.”

“I wasn’t trying to put on notions,” Siobhan said. “I didn’t realize how close we were to it, that’s all.”

“It’s not her fault we’re lacking them,” Donal said. “You don’t have to apologize for your family, Siobhan.”

Siobhan eyes lowered. Her face darkened.

“I have two uncles that would prove otherwise,” she said. “One a swindler, the other a betrayer.”

Donal tapped on Finn’s sides as a memory flooded his mind.

“What are you doing?” Finn asked.

“I almost forgot!” Donal said. “Remember Dother’s eyes down under the abbey?”

“I remember you got all jumpy about them,” Finn said. “But I never understood why.”

“When we first saw them near Cashelmore they passed right by us—as close as Siobhan is to Maeve right now,” Donal said. “Dother looked right at me and his eyes started glowing that same green. I felt this pull on my stomach until we were too far apart.”

“A few days later at Doe, your uncle and I were talking in between training sessions. The conversation turned to what Lorcan’s trying to do to him. He started sympathizing with some of the clans that were displaced by the MacSweeneys when they came back.”

“I’m not hearing a reason for your excitement,” Siobhan said.

“Right before he started talking about that I saw his eyes shine bright green. At the time I thought it was just a weird trick of the sun. I think Dother’s put some kind of spell on him.”

“I don’t know of any spell capable of that,” Finn said.

“Nor do I,” Siobhan said. “To last that long, over a long distance—I don’t know how he could corrupt someone like that out of nowhere.”

“It wouldn’t be out of nowhere, would it?” Donal asked. “Faelan has grounds to be angry at your granddad and uncle. Dother wouldn’t have to create that kind of resentment out of whole cloth. He’d just have to give it a push. Maybe that’s why I felt the pull at Cashelmore—that shadow in my head makes me an easier target than the rest of you.”

“That kind of manipulation goes along with the conflict they’re trying foster between the different factions,” Finn said.

“So you’re saying he’s an innocent victim?” Siobhan said.

“I’m saying he wouldn’t be the first good man that got swayed by Breaslin’s tricks,” Donal said. “When this is all over, you should talk to Faelan instead of kicking down Doe’s gates and chargin’ at him.”

Siobhan looked away but said nothing.

“Which brings me to another thought,” he said. “Whatever our plan is, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to leave me to face either of those sorcerers by myself. I don’t think they’ll have any better luck than before, but I’d rather not take that chance.”

“I can’t imagine a plan where any one of us has to face either of them alone,” Siobhan said, “but noted.”

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“Whisht!” Maeve said. “Finn, look up there on the left. Is that one of your tombs?”

“How can you see anything like that in the dark?” he said.

“Years of focus and training,” she said.

“That can’t make your eyes function better,” he said.

“You two make wind and thunder fly from your hands, but my ability to see things in the dark is too much to believe? Just tell me this: two large boulders holding up a large flat stone over a pile of earth. That’s a tomb, right?”

“Sounds like it.”

“Then why isn’t anything crawling out of it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe it’s a good thing?” Siobhan asked. “A sign that Breaslin and Dother still aren’t back yet.”

“I still don’t like it,” Maeve said. “Let’s keep quiet until we get closer to the town.”

They rode in silence for the next mile, their heads swinging back and forth toward every noise they heard. Siobhan held up the group at the halfway point and stared at the hills to the south for nearly a minute before continuing forward. The end of that mile-long stretch was the end of the road itself, terminated by a larger crossing road.

“This is the road leads back toward Dunfanaghy,” Maeve said. “Kilmacrennan is not far to the right.”

“How long until sunrise?” Donal asked.

Maeve turned her head toward the northern sky.

“Two, maybe three hours,” she said.

“How can you tell?” Donal asked.

She pointed to the sky.

“See The Plough up there? This time of year it crosses under the North Star right as the sky starts to brighten. Right now it’s still a bit to the left of the North Star. My guess is that it will take another two hours for The Plough to cross under it.”

“That’s brilliant, Maeve,” Finn said.

Maeve fidgeted in her saddle.

“Simply a lot of time spent staring at the night sky.”

Siobhan urged her horse into the middle of the new road. She stared down both directions before pointing her horse back at the group.

“Even with a few more hours of darkness as cover, I still don’t like our chances going straight through town,” she said.

She pointed to the next crossing south of where they stood.

“I say we take that left turn down the road there and go east until we know we’re past the town, then head south and enter town from some point on the town’s eastern edge. They’re expecting us to run straight in from Gartan, so they’ll have more people watching the western entrances.”

“How do you know that road will take us where we need to go?” Finn asked.

“I don’t, but the main road curves south after our turn. It’s likely that there will be a series of roads that will take us around the back to town.”

Her suggestion was met with shrugs and nods. She kicked her heels and led them five hundred yards down the road and to the left.

These back roads reminded Donal of home. Hedges extended into the road from both sides, reinforced by walls of thin tree trunks. The vegetation and the darkness disguised several sharp jogs in the road and relegated their average speed to a walk. Even when they came upon open stretches, Siobhan kept them slower than a gallop.

“Three horses galloping this time of night can be heard a long way,” she said.

“She’s right,” Donal said.

Her instincts about their alternate route proved correct. Their route traveled east, sometimes south, but never backtracked. The first hints of dawn crested the horizon in front of them.

“That’s far enough, don’t you think?” Maeve asked.

“It is," Siobhan said. "Time to take the next road heading south."

It was an easy three hundred yards from the turn to the next main road. Siobhan stopped them short of the crossing.

“This is the road leading to the eastern side of town,” she said. “Do we know where the abbey is within the town?”

“Never been,” said Finn. “The old abbey was destroyed three hundred years ago. I don’t think it’s been rebuilt.”

“So they could be just sitting around some ruined building creating this devastating blight?” Maeve asked. “Doesn’t seem like the brightest idea.”

“Unfortunately, it seems to have worked out fine for them for several months,” Donal said.

Siobhan looked in each direction. Grazing fields and barren growing fields allowed them to better survey the terrain in advance of the coming sunrise, but the added visibility had its cost.

“I had hoped for more cover,” Siobhan said.

Maeve pointed to the south.

“You might have it there. See that wandering line of trees? Looks like the markings of a river. Let’s cross this field and follow the treeline for a while.”

Siobhan nodded. The group dismounted and guided their horses through the meadow on the other side of the road, following its eastern fence all the way to the small river.

“Are you going to tell us what this river is called, Finn?” Maeve asked.

“I’m not sure how to answer that,” Finn said. “If I tell you, you’re going to slag me for being a know-it-all. If I don’t know, then you’ll slag me for being ignorant.”

“Indeed,” she said. “So pick one so we can move on with our day. Do you know it or not?”

Finn sighed.

“I do not.”

“You don’t know? Honestly, Siobhan, I’m failing to understand what you see in this one.”

“Ah well, he’s a patient man, for one,” she said with a wink at Finn.

“He has his moments,” Maeve said.

That was the first time Maeve let Finn off the hook. Donal threw his palms up and dropped his jaw in disbelief at her. She held up a palm and pursed her lips with a slight nod, much the way a parent might signal to their partner to feign defeat for the sake of their toddler’s confidence.

It was slow going along the river’s edge. The group had to lead the horses around the end of each stone fence separating fields. In some cases the treeline came too close to the fence, and Gála chose to wade into the river rather than squeeze through a narrow gap. They forded a smaller river that fed into the one they trailed. Finn didn’t know the name of that one, either.

They followed the river around another bend. Siobhan grabbed Donal as he was about to climb over another fence. She pointed to an area due west of where they stood.

“That’s it!”

A large wall loomed over the two fields between them. Where once was windows, asymmetrical holes offered a glimpse of another fragmented wall behind it. Several smaller stone shapes hung low the ground. There were no signs of movement, but Donal could see a soft orange glow and a thin pillar of smoke rising from the ruins. Above them a purple glow had formed at the base of the eastern sky.

“This river gets too close to the abbey,” Finn said. “We’re going to be spotted.”

“What about this wooded ridge to their east?” Maeve said. “It overlooks the grounds. We could get near the edge of the treeline without them noticing.”

“Alright, let’s follow this fence up to the ridge and work our way through the trees,” Siobhan said.

The group crossed the field, ducking behind the fence and trees whenever available. Donal caught himself holding his breath as they moved with deliberation. Gála and Airigid showed unease once they entered the woods.

“We should tie the horses here so that the people over there won’t hear them fussing,” Donal said. “We can come back for them when we finally decide on a plan."

“Do it,” Siobhan said to the brothers. “Careful as you catch up with us. Don’t snap a single twig.”

Donal and Finn tied up the three horses and tiptoed nearly the entire 160 yards to where the ladies were crouched.

“How many are down there?” Donal asked.

“I see four around the fire next to the wall,” Maeve said. “A fifth keeping watch. I don’t see any movement along the road into town, but we should expect two or three more guards between it and the ruins.”

“So which way are we going in?” Donal whispered.

“We’re not,” Siobhan said. “Not yet.”

“We’re not?” Maeve asked.

“We’ve got almost an hour until the sun rises, and it will be at our backs,” Siobhan said. “We can’t see where they have the cauldron from up here and we don’t know how recently they changed watch.”

“Also, Niall seems confident that Breaslin’s men are stopping to rest instead of riding through the night, which means he shouldn’t be here until at least midday. Some of us may want to attempt a brief nap of our own while we assess what’s happening down there. Anyone disagree?”

“Not enough to stop it,” Maeve said. “I’ll take first watch.”

“We won’t have much longer than an hour,” Siobhan said. “Are you comfortable without any sleep?”

“I don’t see how we’d get a decent rest, anyway,” Maeve said. “I’d rather save myself the aggravation. Best of luck to you all.”