Cathbad, with Lir's help, managed to open a portal actually inside of New York City. Lir wasn't able to create the portal himself, but he had a better understanding of direction and location in the otherworld, and between his knowledge and the druid's scrying methods, they found the city Emery and Tess described. It helped that it was such a big and populous location.

Before they went out to the dolmen to transport themselves, they attempted to make some sort of plans. Six of them--Cullen, Emery, Cathbad, Tess, Lir, and Cearnach--sat in the otherwise empty feasting hall and drank some, spoke first of routine items, mostly what obligations and abilities Cearnach would have in Cullen's absence, where things were, which villagers would be honest and helpful, and so on.

"Should trouble arise with Conchobar," Cullen advised him, "remind him of what I've promised upon my return."

"What was that?" Cearnach asked.

"Keltar has delivered the message. Conchobar will know."

Emery eyed Cullen, but nobody questioned him.

"And you, Lir?" their chieftain went on.

Lir had foregone his white cloak for one of pale, shimmery blue. It reminded Emery of rippling water, as did the glimmery stones set into his multiple rings and hair. "My kin have avoided me. I have sought aid, but they've only delayed answer. They meet amongst themselves, and I sense they are troubled, but they exclude me for reasons I cannot fathom. I will continue to importune."

Emery, who'd put Charlie under a drinking horn on the other side of the hall (as far as she could manage before feeling discomfort), looked at her hands as she said, "So the plan is to find the building where they were; hopefully it will catch them off-guard."

"But you could also just be walking right into their hands, Em," Tess noted.

"What's the alternative, though? To sit here and wait?"

"We could. If anyone tries to take you, we could deal with them as they come."

"Lady Tess," Cullen interrupted, "your concern is fitting, and yet I have failed to keep Emery safe in such circumstances, more than once. I will not wait for her to be taken from me again. Whether it is wise or not to seek our enemy, only time will tell, but I cannot sit idle and hope to build walls around her."

"The least we can do," Cathbad added, "is prepare ourselves. I obtained my staff from my cottage, and while I have always been somewhat limited in my strengths, Lir has helped me regain some equilibrium, for this moment."

"If we do have to fight these things," said Emery, "they're huge, and they're freaky. And according to Charlie," (Cullen's eyes narrowed at the name), "they're super powerful ancient creatures. So if anything at all can defeat them, it'd have to be either the Gods themselves--and Lir seems to think they won't help--or magical weapons. Cullen has the Sword of Light and Gáe Bulg, and I have Lugh's Spear."

"We can't just walk through New York City with a bunch of weapons," Tess interjected.

Emery nodded. "I think we can, actually. Nobody will think they're real. They'll just assume we're cosplayers or larpers. That's what I thought Cearnach was when I first met him, and Cat, too. That city is full of strange people."

"So, then, we should wear these clothes? If we put on modern clothes and carry weapons, that will look worse."

"Good thinking, Tess. Yes," Emery agreed.

Cathbad was flustered. "Ladies, we will defer to you and your knowledge of clothing, for certain. But Emery, there is no hope for Lugh's Spear. It is far too dangerous a weapon to bring. The flame alone--"

"She must bring it," Cullen interrupted. "Find a way. Now."

Cathbad, though irked, capitulated. "Surely, my Lord. I will do so." He rose and hastened from the hall with a flourish of his cloak.

Emery gave Tess an apologetic look, but Tess only sighed, got up, and followed the druid. Cearnach, too, stood. "My instructions are done, Lord, I wager? I've told some of the boys I'd show them how to remove a man's head in one blow. If I'm no longer required . . . ?"

"It is well. Go," Cullen returned, though he didn't sound as if it was well.

Emery was somewhat embarrassed by his brusqueness. Cullen's patience was limited with everyone besides her, it seemed.

The minute Cearnach was out the door and it was just the three of them, Cullen turned on Lir. "You Gods--demanding your blood sacrifices. All those years past, what did you want with those children, with Emer? What does it have to do with her, now?"

Lir drew back somewhat. "I'd watch your tone. I am a God--"

"And one who called for the blood of innocents. Whatever your reasons, I denounce them. We sought you then, at Tara, though you were silent, so I ask you, now--what part does Emery play in this?"

Conceding, Lir sighed and leaned over the table, placing his elbows on it. He sat across from Cullen and Emery and looked at both with remorse. "I have no recollection of you being at Tara, and in fact, I have little knowledge of this sacrificial business. I'm younger than my cohort, Cuchulain, and blood sacrifices aren't the sort of thing we just go around talking about. I would think your druid would know better than I what went on those years ago. You would know better than I! You were no child yourself, and you were actually present. You tell your wife what it was all about."

Cullen bristled somewhat, and Emery raised her eyebrows. For a moment, she thought he'd reach across and throttle Lir, but to her surprise, he acquiesced. "I know only what the sacrifice is meant to be," he said to Emery, then looked at the tabletop. "The druids practice this sacrifice every half century or so. They claim it is to keep an evil at bay, and our kings have gone along with it, trusting the druids with our safety and too cowardly to speak against them." He nearly growled the last few words of his sentence. "I know a blood sacrifice is required from as many druids as are available, and they purport that the sacrifice must be innocent, which is why they select children, who are then readied with years of purification rites. I have spoken with my druid, and he's confirmed that Emer was brought as a foundling child to the temple of his apprenticeship, before he himself was apprenticed there, and that when he arrived, he was given her as his offering, she having already been through the rites."

He fell into momentary silence, and Emery noticed his fingers worked distractedly at a splinter of wood coming up from the table.

"But Cathbad couldn't perform his sacrifice," Cullen went on, and Emery noted that it was the first time she'd ever heard him use his druid's name. "It was an abomination," he added in disgust, jamming the splinter of wood he'd removed into a groove in the tabletop. "I'd never seen anything so evil. I took the child from him and fled from there. The first dwelling I came upon was Lugloctha Loga, and Forgall, being widowed and childless, agreed to foster her." He sat back, fraught with the memory of that night, which Emery couldn't even recall. "My actions caused a stir. There was much time and effort that went into preparation of those children, so there was no replacement for Emer. Many were disgruntled by what I'd done, but none spoke openly against me.

"I made to remove that night from my thoughts, and I forgot the potential implications of it. My uncle, Conchobar, in spite of his numerous failings, stood by me. I built up my hillfort, took in the druid that'd been shunned after he'd neglected his sacrificial obligations, and welcomed those who came to Dun-Dealgan. So passed the time." He paused, then looked directly up to Lir and said, "This blood sacrifice is performed at the behest of the Gods; this is what the druids preach. So only you or your kind can explain the meaning for it."

Lir looked rather uncomfortable. "I'm afraid I can't, actually. I know only some history. I know that my kin arrived here centuries ago. I know that this evil your druids speak of obstructing is the Darkness brought by the Fomorians, our enemies in two past wars. Why you all believe they need the blood of children is beyond me--"

Cullen half-rose from his seat, startling both Emery and Lir, and the God backed up a little.

"Calm yourself, Cuchulain! I--I don't mean to be flippant, discussing such matters. My apologies." Cullen forced himself to sit back down, and Lir continued. "This gets us nowhere, this accusatory banter. But I do have some knowledge that might help. In speaking with my elders, I have gleaned insight as to a prophecy. It is ancient, so ancient that it is likely known only to your oldest druids, those who have defied age. When the Tuatha Dé came to this place in all their smoke and mist, their four druids came as well, bringing with them great treasures from the lands they left behind. You know of these treasures. The druid Esra hailed from Gorias, with the Spear of Lugh; the druid Uiscias came from Findias, with Claíomh Solais, your Sword of Light; Semias was from Muirias, bringing the Cauldron of the Dagda; and last was the Great Morfessa, from Falias, who arrived with Lia Fáil, the Stone of Destiny. These treasures were eventually lost from our home and were scattered, and at some point, our druids journeyed for lands unknown, leaving behind one final prophecy, and it was this: The Dark will rule, the Light will fade, when tainted blood of the unsacrificed is paid.

"When Emer was rescued, my fellow Gods recognized that part of the prophecy had occurred. She became the unsacrificed. No doubt your druids, even those that didn't know the prophecy, feared she was a risk as well and sought to take her from Forgall, believing Emer's blood could still be used to appease the Darkness. Anyone with a half-wit's skill at divination could recognize the signs of brewing trouble as the time passed. But Forgall the Wily chose to put a price on his ward rather than care for the druids' purpose. He waited too long, though, and . . . well, you know. You came along, Cuchulain. After you two--" Lir waved a hand between the two of them, "--the Gods realized the second part had come to pass: the blood of the unsacrificed had become tainted. All that was left for the prophecy to come to fruition was that Emer's blood be paid. Surely they felt she'd become a liability. It was, in fact--at least--I believe it was they who aided Forgall in banishing Emer to the otherworld, in the hope of protecting her from bloodshed."

Cullen had grown increasingly irate, and at Lir's claim that the Gods had enhanced Emery's curse, he showed it. "After it was they told us to collect their treasures for them? You yourself gave the task to us! And is this how we are repaid?"

"Be at ease, Cuchulain. I've told you I can't recall charging you with obtaining the four treasures. I, too, suffer loss of retention. The other Gods have not themselves told me anything. I can only guess. Carman's magic alone couldn't have been so powerful, I'm sure. No, from fragments of information I've received, I've surmised that my kin saw advantage in Forgall and Carman's curse and aided its strength and creativity. Surely this is why its effects have been lasting. Neither Forgall nor Carman must have known of it. Forgall had become friendly with the witch, likely because she'd been sent by the Fomorians, as was Fear Doirich himself, to keep watch over Emer for their own purposes. And though Carman couldn't divulge these intentions to Forgall, she attempted to have her sons steal her away. When that didn't work, it seems Fear Doirich was given the lead role. The Gods likely saw in the curse an imperfect plan to buy time, hoping Carman couldn't do anything rash under the violent and watchful eye of Forgall."

He finished so abruptly that a moment of heavy silence passed, during which Cullen stewed in his ire and Emery tried to process everything he'd just said. At length, though, the girl began to think aloud. "Back to this prophecy. I didn't die when I was supposed to, so the unsacrificed part makes sense. But the whole part about me being tainted or impure . . . you all believed that it happened when I had sex with Cullen, is that right? That's what made me impure?"

Looking rather uncomfortable, Lir nodded again, opened his mouth as if to say something, but then Cullen banged his fist on the table, and he stayed silent.

Emery huffed in disbelief. "Did it ever occur to anyone that sleeping with Cullen was not what tainted me? That it was those monsters putting the Darkness inside of me that did it? You all just wrote me off as a liability and cursed me, when I wasn't even a danger, yet! If you had put your energy into keeping those Fomorians away from me so that they couldn't infect me instead of piggybacking on some entirely unjustifiable curse . . ." The girl was so worked up that hot tears threatened. "At the very least, someone could've told me about your prophecy! To think that you all just assumed I was dirty or ruined--if you'd only helped me instead of judged me, I wouldn't be here now, waiting for those monsters to eat me!"

Too furious to sit there any more, Emery stood and stormed out of the building, relishing the fresh air when she met it. Cullen didn't stay with Lir much longer, joining Emery after only a few minutes. He said nothing to her, just approached, returned her wearied look, and gently took her arm to turn her and lead her away toward their roundhouse. They went not to their own dwelling, though, but to the druid's instead, and they found him in a happy mood.

"Ah! Lord! Lord. Come. I've found something for Lugh's Spear. It's not ideal, granted, but it is good enough, I warrant. It's a homing enchantment." He turned to Emery, gray eyes dancing, Tess standing behind him with a soft smile. "Recall, Lady, when I gave you a walnut, and I asked you to crush it when you needed my aid. Yes, yes--it was a stag that did the crushing, but you can't rely on stags this time. Here, again, is a walnut, but instead of me, when it's crushed, it will bring Lugh's Spear to your hand." He grinned ear-to-ear and looked to Cullen. "What do you think, my Lord?"

It was Emery who spoke first, taking the walnut from him. "Will it come across worlds? From here to there?"

Cathbad was caught, somewhat. "I--I believe so. I admit that I obviously have no way of testing it. But the magic should be the same."

Cullen was done wasting time. "Good. Prepare, and then you will transport us to the portal you've opened." So saying, he nodded at Emery, and the two of them left for their own roundhouse.

Once inside, he turned to her. "It all comes to Tara, Emery," he startled her by saying.

"What do you mean?"

"After the handfasting, we were briefly parted. It was when Mug Ruith spoke to me. I do not know where you went for those moments, only that you were somewhat mystified, and then the God Lir came to us. We--we made love, after, and when I woke, you were gone." He closed his eyes, frowned, rubbed his smooth white forehead. "Perhaps there is something we're missing."

Emery couldn't tell him about the bargain with Charlie, but she was hopeful. "I'll try to remember . . ."

"No. Do not worry yourself. Damn them. Damn them all. We'll finish what they couldn't, what they won't."

And he pressed her to him as if afraid it might be their last embrace.