They really had brought a woman back, and she was absolutely ethereal. She must've been as young as or perhaps younger than Emery and Tess. She was average height but slender, fair-skinned and delicate. Her hair cascaded down her back in golden curls, shining under the sunlight as she stood looking helpless and startled. She wore a glittering silvery dress with a blue-ish sheen to it, somewhat too shiny outdoors, and when Emery caught a look at her face, she saw pale green doe eyes under fluttery golden lashes, a tiny rosebud-of-a-mouth, and dewy pink cheeks. For all her innocent demeanor, though, Emery distinctly sensed that she was cleverer than she let on.

As they approached the group that had gathered around the young woman as well as King Cú Roí and the other returned warriors, Emery realized an argument was taking place. Tlactha stood next to Cú Roí and was, strangely, larger than she'd seemed in her abode. She in fact rose a head above him, almost like the giantess Ainle had claimed her to be, as Cú Roí himself was a large man. The druidess was practically yelling at him in her pinched voice, pointing to the golden-haired girl intermittently, her triangular teeth menacing.

Emery caught her words as they drew as near as they dared: "--your demise! Damn you Cú Roí! You bring disaster upon us all! Return this woman or your own blood will spill before the night is out."

"Old woman!" bawled the king, clearly frustrated by whatever she'd been yelling at him. "I will have no more! Return to your hole!"

"You dare speak so to me, the daughter of Mug Ruith? After what I've done for you? The heads I've aided you in acquiring? Is this the end of it all?"

Tlachta was practically screaming, and she seemed to be growing larger without actually physically growing larger . . . it was as if her presence somehow expanded. Emery was about to grab Tess and run, but when she turned to her friend, she realized Tess had taken steps toward the blonde girl. Emery stood as if frozen, afraid for Tess but also unwilling to go toward the group of restless men, the roaring king, and the freaky druidess.

Tess touched the young woman on the arm, and she turned. Whatever Tess said to her, a relief seemed to relax both of them, and then they began to walk toward Emery and Cathbad. When Cú Roí saw them, he protested, but Cathbad leapt to explain that Tess and Emery were going to take the terrified girl to rest in their chamber, which seemed reasonable enough to the king, who went back to yelling at his druidess and ordering his men about.

Rejoining the girls, Cathbad hurriedly said, "I must find my Lord. I will come to you as soon as I can. This situation grows tenuous."

Tess walked with an arm around the frightened girl, which for some reason irritated Emery. She might have looked fragile, but there was something off-putting about her. Emery couldn't quite pinpoint what it was, but she did know that Tess often saw the best of everyone; she wasn't a cynic like Emery was, and that had often put Tess in precarious situations with people she assumed were her friends.

By the time the three of them had made it to their bedchamber, the doey-eyed girl had at least stopped trembling, though she immediately sat on the bed as if unable to stand any longer. "It's all right, now. Everything's going to be all right," Tess tried, though Emery doubted her words were taken to heart.

"Who are you?" Emery asked a little more bluntly than her friend.

The girl raised her pale green eyes without raising her head, giving the impression of a child in trouble. "I am Bláthíne. It means Little Flower. My father is Mend, King of Fir Fálgae."

When she spoke, her voice was like a spring rain, gentle and delicate. "Did they kidnap you?" Tess asked softly.

Bláthíne nodded, her golden hair falling around her heart-shaped face. She began to tear up. "The large man, he killed my father. He took hold of me, and he brought me here. I did not wish to come!"

Emery was sure she meant Cú Roí, but she had to make sure. "The one outside? The big man with the orange hair? Not the other one with the dark red hair?"

Turning her face up toward the girls, Bláthíne actually smiled. The tears that had formed in her eyes stayed hovering at the bottom of her lids. "Oh, no. Lord Cuchulain--he is known even in Fir Fálgae. He was good to me. He tried to stop the other. They near fell to fighting over me. I'd have come with him, gladly, had he asked." She scrunched up her face, resembling a little bulldog. "But not this other. I don't want him!"

Emery narrowed her eyes, not entirely sure she liked this girl. But Tess was already offering to get anything Bláthíne might need or desire, food or a bath or any other comfort. That was just like Tess--even though this wasn't her home and she had no understanding of its layout or her privileges in it, she was willing to go out and search for niceties for this stranger. Emery wished she herself could be half as friendly.

A few hours later, everyone assembled in the feasting hall again. Whatever had gone on between Tlachta and Cú Roí, it'd been settled for the moment. The druidess wasn't present, although that wasn't particularly odd; she hadn't been there the first night, either. Cullen's and Cú Roí's men were assembled throughout the hall, the overall mood far more somber than the previous night's, and the chieftain and king themselves were near the platform at the front, engaged in a discussion. When Tess and Emery walked into the hall, Bláthíne behind them, all eyes turned toward her. Emery in fact felt embarrassed. She knew no one looked at her and instead looked around her in attempt to see the shimmering princess kidnapped from her island kingdom.

The girls had listened to what Bláthíne told them of the raid, how she'd been weaving with her women when the commotion had broken out, how she'd hidden away only to be located by Cú Roí himself, as if he'd known she was there, as if he'd come expressly for her. He'd grabbed hold of her, slaughtering any servant or soldier in his way, and returned to a trysting point, where Cullen and the other raiders assembled. They'd piled treasure upon a wagon and waited for something--she now knew for their portal to open. When Cullen had seen her, he'd tried to convince Cú Roí to leave her behind, and they began to quarrel, but before violence could occur, the portal opened, and they'd gone through. The minute they'd arrived at Cathair Chon-Raoí, the men had parted, and the rest was as Tess and Emery already knew.

Emery, approaching the platform with her friend, saw Cullen turn and look at her. His eyes quickly moved to the golden-haired young woman near her, though, and a strange glimmer entered his eyes. A weird distress flickered in Emery's chest. Cullen was always difficult to interpret--what was he thinking? But then she scolded herself. It wasn't as if she'd ever given him reason to continue caring about her (if he even did care about her). Oh, why was this girl here? Emery gave her some side-eye and decided she wasn't all that stunning. In fact, she looked like an oversized baby animal, all pouty and wide-eyed. It was annoying.

The girls were going to seat themselves with the Red Branch, but King Cú Roí, letting Tess and Emery pass, leapt down from the platform in front of Bláthíne and, taking her hand (though she visibly tried to yank it away), pulled her back up with him, forcing her into a chair that had been added next to his own. Emery watched everything as it happened, the hall having fallen still and awkward. She saw the way Cullen watched Cú Roí and Bláthíne, not sitting down, ever stolid yet a frigidity in his eyes, about his mouth. He was certainly unhappy at what was going on. But then the King spoke (or roared, more like) in attempt to put things back to normal.

"Friends!" he bellowed, standing and raising his drinking horn, Bláthíne sitting uncomfortably at his side. "Our raid has met with success! King Mend of Fir Fálgae bleeds out his last, and his treasures are ours for the keeping!" The hall roared in return. "Our friend Cuchulain, ever the exceptional warrior, took the heads of twenty-seven men! Even I, myself, managed only thirteen!" Another roar from the hall. Cú Roí quieted them with a wave of his free hand. "And now, our spoils having been divided and our wounded aided, I announce my intentions of handfasting with this woman, Bláthíne of Fir Fálgae!"

Emery widened her eyes, careful to watch Bláthíne's reaction—the girl gripped the arms of her chair and, looking terrified, half rose. Cullen, who'd still not yet sat down, tensed. His hand went to his sword, and her own instinctively went to the dagger she had at her waist though had yet to use.

The atmosphere was so tight that anything seemed capable of snapping it, but the only person who didn't realize it was King Cú Roí himself. He stood blabbering on about whatever else had happened on their raid, the benefits of getting married, something lewd about wedding nights. Why didn't he realize only his own men were listening anymore, and even they recognized the Red Branch had stiffened, had seen their chieftain's signs. But it was Bláthíne herself who toppled the castle in the air that Cú Roí was building.

Standing upright, she gathered more rage than Emery would've assumed was in her delicate body, and she shouted, "I will never wed a beast like you! I could never love you! I'd marry him, instead!" She nodded at Cullen.

Cú Roí slowly turned to her, a massive figure next to her small shape. He was in his all-leather garb, his orange hair styled into some spiky mess, and his bearded face turned deep red. "You will not speak to me this way!" And then he lifted an arm and hit her across the face with the back of his hand.

Emery and Tess leapt up from their seats. Cullen turned quickly toward them, and Emery saw him nod to Cathbad, who jumped to the girls and told them it was time to leave. But Emery wasn't going anywhere. King Cú Roí was roaring something about "keeping a lass in line," and his terrible men were laughing and drinking, and musicians began to play absolutely discordant music, but none of it made any sense and absolutely anything was about to set it all off--and in fact, whatever did actually set it off, no one knew. It was as if all of a sudden, there was shouting from somewhere, and all the men and warrior women were suddenly up and fighting. The whole place turned into a massive brawl, and it was beyond lucky that Emery and Tess were near the wall, so Cathbad could pull them backward beyond the curtain into relative safety and advise them to stay put.

"What should we do?" Tess had to yell to Emery as they stood there in the shadow, the sounds of chaos beyond them.

A body crashed through the curtains down a ways from them, pulling the fabric to the ground. The girls scooted toward the passageway that led to their room. "We can't just leave her!" Emery cried. As much as she didn't particularly like that woman, she knew the poor thing didn't deserve to be stuck with a man like Cú Roí. "Go grab her and bring her here, and I'll cover you!"

Gathering their courage, the two flipped aside the curtain and hurried around the melee toward the back wall, where the platform sat. Most of the action was beyond that platform, everyone hurling and swinging and growling. There were terrible crunching sounds and screams of pain, and if Emery actually looked at what was going on, she was sure she saw blood spurt and unidentifiable objects fly. But she had to focus on following Tess up behind the massive chairs. The King had descended into the pandemonium, leaving Bláthíne cowering behind the throne. With everyone involved in fighting, the girls quickly reached her and, Tess taking her hand, pulled her back beyond the curtain and down the passage beyond. Rather than going to their chamber, though, the three continued down the curving hallway, hoping it'd take them somewhere else, somewhere outside, somewhere far away from everything happening. But it seemed only to lead to a few more rooms, none of them with windows low or wide enough to jump from, until at last the passage came out back at the feasting hall, on the opposite side of where they'd stood moments earlier. Everyone was still fighting, and they knew the only way out was through the main doors. So, backs to the wall, trying as best they could to keep behind the curtains and avoid the people who intermittently fell or fought through them, they hastened toward the exit, and when they reached the doors, which had been shoved open when the fight spilled beyond the feasting hall, they managed to avoid being seriously injured getting out of it.

In the wide open space beyond, inside of the walls of Cathair Chon-Raoí, people were scattered, battling in the dying sunlight. The dusky haze that surrounded them, worsened by the fine mist that had descended, made vision cloudy in strange ways. Emery scanned the grounds for a head of auburn hair, but the shadows made color difficult to discern. She thought she caught sight of the brothers--Naoise, Ainle, and Arden--as their fair skin and jet hair were an easy contrast to make out, but otherwise, too much was happening, and she could only hope that all the stories about Cullen were true enough and that he was a far greater warrior than anyone who might challenge him. Then again, only one stray dagger, or several men ganging up on him--but no! She couldn't think of it. Where was he? Couldn't she get out her own dagger and try to help?

"Tess!" she spun. "Take her somewhere safe!"

"But what will you do?"

"I have no idea."

"There! He's there!" cried Bláthíne, suddenly pulling away from Tess and running off across the accumulating mud. Her golden hair swung at her back, and she pulled up her skirt as she ran. Tess and Emery could only follow, unsure entirely where they were supposed to be in all of this. Everywhere they looked, bodies lay, grown men were hacking at each other, blood pooled and mingled with the mud.

But Bláthíne was right--she'd spotted Cullen, and he was in a heated duel with King Cú Roí himself. Tess cried out for Bláthíne to go no closer. As they watched the two men, the survivors began to gather round, watching the pair, knowing that whichever won would gain automatic victory for his men in this otherwise over fight. Emery watched in breathless anxiety, hardly able to take seeing Cullen borne down upon by the mighty Cú Roí. But though the King was larger, Cullen surely was greater. It was easy to see in his deft maneuvers, his stamina (while Cú Roí was beginning to pant, Cullen had hardly broken a sweat), and his weapon--The Sword of Light. Cullen certainly had an advantage with it, though it was far smaller in comparison to the King's giant, ponderous broadsword. Emery had no idea where this would all end--a quick stab to Cú Roí's heart? a truce? an admittance of defeat?

So when Cullen gained a sudden advantage and jammed his sword up to the hilt into King Cú Roí's throat and out the back of his neck. she was utterly horrified. Next to her, Tess cried out in shock and turned toward Emery, who took her friend in her arms and hugged her so she'd not have to look. But herself stupefied, Emery couldn't turn away, not even as Cullen used his foot to shove the King's body off his sword, causing blood to spurt out of him like a geyser. Only when Cullen began to saw off Cú Roí's head did she turn and fall to her knees, absolutely nauseated and unable to watch.

She and Tess were huddled with one another that way when they heard horse's hooves behind them, when they heard a woman's terrified scream, when they heard the massive doors of the gate groaning apart. And they were huddled against themselves when they heard those hooves and that scream carry away from them, as if they were gaining distance, until all of a sudden, both sounds were cut short, and everyone fell to silence.