“Enough!” Maeve said, strapping the quiver to her waist. She crossed Uargal’s top floor and stood nose to nose with the sorceress. “I’ve fought, bled and rained a second death on this land for more than half of a day without cease, and all I have to show for it is a fallen friend. I am done deciphering riddles and playing games. You will tell me who you are and what you mean for us to do, or you can piss off.”

  The woman’s mouth opened into a sneer. “Clearly, you have too little wit to have made it this far.”

  The knuckles surrounding the grip of Maeve’s bow whitened. Finn bounded to Maeve’s side. “Before the festivities resume,” he said, “can you at least tell us the name of your sister?”

  The woman’s sneer widened into a smile, exposing both of her incisors. “Danu,” she said, unflinching in Maeve’s stare.

  Finn’s stomach dropped. If Maeve understood the enormity of the woman’s revelation, she did so without flinching. Finn swallowed hard. “That would make you—”

  “—Donu, lad.”

  It was as he feared. He reached across Maeve’s body to prevent her from raising the bow. “Maeve, she’s the matron of the entire bleedin’ Fomori.”

  Maeve freed herself with an elbow to Finn’s ribs. “I don’t need a bard to tell me everything, MacLaughlin. I knew plenty of things before we met.”

  “‘Plenty’ must mean something different on íriu,” Donu said.

  “Maeve, don’t—”

  Maeve hopped back to her left and nocked an arrow. Finn lit his barrier in anticipation and extended his arm to keep it between the women. Below their feet, garrisoned archers loosed their first round of arrows upon the raiders.

  “Why are you here?” Finn asked Donu.

  “Why do you care?” Maeve asked Finn. “I’ve had enough of humoring those who’ve done me and my friends harm. Do you realize this wan is ultimately responsible for so much of the pain in your life? Who do you think Breaslin, Indech, Dother—and, of course, Ciara—served when they killed your parents and chased us across two worlds?”

  “Themselves, lass,” Donu said. “I’ve never desired the manner of control they seek. For myself or for them.”

  Maeve scoffed. “And we must take you at your word.”

  “You’re still standing. I had you to rights when I first came through. See here, I didn’t even want to come. I have a quiet home north of here on the edge of the sea, away from all of this mess. It was my sister who opened up a doorway with no warning.” She looked at Finn. “That’s more that a wee bit dangerous, you know.”

  The pounding of weapons and fists shook the gate.

  “I can end that business below right now with no more bloodshed, if you’ll allow me. Then we can see your friends.”

  Maeve lowered her aim. “Dya’mean by that?”

  “That’s why I’m here, lass. It’s what my sister begged me to do.”

  Maeve removed the arrow from her bowstring and nodded at Finn, who understood it as a signal to drop his barrier. She jerked her head toward the window. “Go on.”

  Donu walked up to the window and drew in a long breath. “Oi! You down there!” she yelled in a deeper voice that echoed off the trees. “Go back to your masters!”

  The leader of the raiders shared a confused look with one brute pounding on the gate. “And if we don’t?” he asked, jabbing a spear into the air for emphasis.

  Donu extended her arms and dragged them back to her chest. She swung her arms wide as if readying for an embrace but when her hands met a circle of fire surrounded the invaders. Unfortunately for the forces of Uargal, the circle extended through the fence. Warriors on both sides yelled and hurled curses at her.

  “I’m taking the mortals,” she said. “If you Fomori are here when I return, or if anyone attempts to follow me, the scavengers won’t want what’s left of you. Any questions?”

  People on both sides of the fence looked at their comrades and muttered between themselves. No one spoke out.

  “Grand,” Donu said. She repeated the motion with her arms. When her hands met this time, however, she pushed them down and the motion stifled the fire below. “You lot, grab that other mortal of yours,” she said as she descended from the top level.

  Maeve and Finn stood motionless, staring at the blackened ring that encircled both sides of the gate. It’s truly her, Finn thought.

  Donu’s head reemerged from the stairs. “Oi!”

  “Right,” Maeve said, swatting Finn on the arm. She yelled ahead of them for Niall, and their elder met them at the front door of the tower.

  “Would either of you care to share what’s happening?” Niall asked.

  Donu brushed past them. “Oscar? Goll?” she asked. She turned back to Maeve. “Why was I summoned with you two sitting only here?”

  “The lady herself jumps into the fray, and we’re the odd ones,” Goll said, grinning at Oscar. “To answer your question, auntie—” Donu recoiled at the term. “—up until this morning that dark one had us under his spell.” He raised his hammer toward the earthly trio.

  Maeve caught Finn’s flushed cheeks and rolled her eyes.

  “Could have done without those extra arrows,” Oscar said, rolling his arms and flexing his legs.

  “We’ve got our own bruises to grumble about,” Niall said.

  “My sister must be pure scarlet,” Donu said to the group. “Relying on both you three and myself to clean up the messes here.” Her head spun toward the gate. She took three steps and pounded on the gate. “I can still hear you! Perhaps you need some more encouragement?”

  Donu looked at Cronan. “You in charge?”

  Cronan nodded. “I—”

  “—will remove this beam barring the door,” she said, taking one step backward. “Thank you.”

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Cronan blinked once and then scurried to the gate. He lifted one side of the bar and leveraged it out of the brackets. He swiveled the bar out of the way, allowing room for one door to open. The captain grabbed the handle, dipped his chin and raised his eyebrows.

  Donu huffed and pointed a hand at the gate. Cronan swung it open and averted his eyes as she passed him, stepping into the crossroads. She flicked her hand as if shooing a fly and a bolt of lightning struck a tree beside the stragglers fleeing the field.

  “You said something about our friends?” Finn said.

  Donu stood with her back to the gate. She held up one finger as she watched the raiders round the first bend and head out of sight. “Grand. Follow me.” She turned right and walked north without stopping to confirm the rest of the group were in tow.

  “You never told us why you were here,” Finn said. “Not exactly, anyway.”

  “My sister—”

  “Sorry, but you mentioned that part,” Finn said.

  Donu stopped walking and gave him a withering look. Finn held up both hands.

  “You strike me as someone who hates repeating themselves, s’all I meant by it,” he said.

  She pressed her tongue against the inside of her bottom lip as she eyed him. “So I am. Best tell me what you mean, then.”

  “Why you instead of her, if she felt so strongly about it?” he asked.

  Donu let slip a soft, compressed chuckle. “A good question, that. The simple answer: I was closer to both you and the nearest weak point in the veil. We’ll need a point like that to get all three of you across.”

  “Why can’t we take a door such as the one you used to travel to Uargal?” Niall asked.

  “Portals and doorways that aren’t tethered to a thin spot in the veil—‘drafts,’ my sister insists on calling them,” Donu said. “Those doorways are unstable. Every time a person goes through an untethered doorway, they sap some of its magic, and the doorway will collapse quickly.”

  “And you’re taking us to one of these thin points?” Niall asked.

  Donu nodded without looking back. “There’s a tower nearly halfway between Uargal and my home. ‘Airthaile,’ some call it. There’s a tether in its base.”

  “If I may,” Finn said, “why were you so willing to attack the Fomori? Aren’t they your people?”

  The muscles rippled in front of Donu’s ear as her jaw clenched. “I’m not willing to attack anyone. Those eejits may descend from the raiders, but that doesn’t make them my people.”

  “The powers they use come from ancestors who got them from you,” Maeve said.

  “She speaks,” Donu said, her tone bitter. “And she judges. Well, ranger, I’ll come find you after several centuries to review the deeds of your descendants. We’ll see then if you’re so quick to pay the penance for their misdeeds.”

  “Your people against mine? I’ll take those odds.”

  “Ignoring the millennia headstart I’ve had, no doubt,” Donu said. She shook her head and sighed. “I can’t deny, though, the pain caused by the raiders and their descendants. I didn’t intend to sow violence and chaos.”

  Maeve added a bounce to her step. A look of satisfaction took hold of her face, albeit without a twinkle in her eye or a smile curling her mouth.

  “What was your intent?” Finn asked.

  “Awfully bold of you to be digging in my mind,” Donu said.

  “There was a time when every visit to íriu amazed me. Your world moved with such speed. So many things sprouted, grew and died well before I could appreciate them in full.

  “I watched your earliest ancestors from afar. Cessair's people, Partholón's people, Nemed's people—all of the aul' ones. They did so much with so little at their disposal. Their children would build upon it and accomplish even more. I’m not embarrassed to admit I learned a thing or two from them.

  “Those civilizations grew so rapidly. They were taking more and more from the land. It didn’t matter how far I traveled, the tale was the same: the natural order that balanced Cessair's people struggled against Partholón's people. It failed before the superior numbers of Nemed's people.

  “The raiders had no proper home. Most mortal lands shunned them because of their wretched appearance. Not all of them looked beastly, mind you. But I imagine it’s why they took to pillaging in the first place.

  “‘What if their violence had meaning?’ I asked myself. I approached them and offered them a home and a purpose. When they agreed, I took them to my world.”

  Donu pointed at the sea on their right. Save for the peninsula sliding behind their view, it was as vast as it was empty. Back in Tyrconnell there was always an island, islet or sea stack to save the view from desolation.

  “There was a time when this wasn’t sea,” she said. “You’d have to walk a full day from here to even glimpse a distant shore. I helped them carve out a home. I spent the next several years getting the measure of ‘em.

  “The day came when I bestowed magic upon them. The power of gales, mastery of the sea, control over the rain itself. The ability to manipulate diseases and maladies. Strength to shake and reshape the ground, the deftness to wield lightning and fire.”

  “‘All the terrible things,’” Maeve said. “Saying that would have saved some time.”

  Donu turned her head back towards Maeve but kept her ire in check. “You’re wrong, lass,” Donu said. “There are things in your world more terrible than the natural order. Most of them lie in the dominion of mortals, and none of them require a lock of magic to occur.”

  Her eyes drifted to the ground in front of Finn for a moment. When she raised them to meet Finn’s gaze, he saw flashes of anger and sadness as the words formed in her head.

  “I thought we had an arrangement, them and myself. I thought they understood the responsibility of the gifts I’d given them. Sure, things were grand for a time. They used their newfound abilities enough to keep their parts of íriu in balance.”

  “‘For a time?’” Finn asked.

  Donu cinched up the sides of her mouth, not nearly high enough to hide the lament in her eyes. “I made a mistake. I’d forgotten how quickly íriu moves on. It wasn’t sudden, but temptation grew in each of the raiders. Temptation to abuse their powers. They succumbed to it, one after another. The power corrupted every one of them. It spread to their children. Subsequent generations married mortals and it spread further.”

  "So many years later, my sister attempted something similar with another group of mortals. I warned her not to. She wouldn’t listen. She acted as though she knew better than myself.”

  “‘They’re here because of your actions,’ she says to me. ‘Your monsters maimed them and killed them, drove them from their homes. I’m cleaning up your mess.’”

  Donu fell silent. Finn waited her out, even shooting Niall a stern look when his uncle appeared ready to advance the conversation.

  “I took a schkelp out of her gob. No magic. No weapon. Just my right hand. She just held the side of her face and smiled. ‘And you wonder why you failed,’ she says. She walked away and centuries passed before we spoke another word to each other.”

  “Whether she caught a puck or not, that’s a cold thing to say,” Finn said.

  Donu’s head flinched in Finn’s direction. “What really gnawed at me was that she was right. She succeeded where I failed.”

  “Did she really?” Finn asked. “The Tuatha Dé weren’t infallible. My own ancestor, Lugh, punished those who killed his father by sending them to several corners of the world on a quest intended to kill them—slowly.”

  Donu canted her head. “They’re not without their redeeming qualities—” She paused once more.

  “What is it?” Finn asked.

  “I’ve said too much,” Donu said. “What kind of magic did you use on me?”

  It was Finn’s turn to fall silent, only in surprise.

  “It’s just his way,” Maeve said. “He has this knack of drawing the bad out of you. Then he tries to convince you it’s either not so bad, or its not your fault.”

  Donu stopped and looked Finn from head to toe. “That’s… interesting.”

  “Damned annoying is more like it,” Maeve said. “Especially those times when he should know better.” She jabbed a finger at him. “You just watched a good man die at the hands of people who had neither the power nor the purpose to do so before her meddling.”

  She’s going to sabotage our shortcut to Siobhan, Finn thought. Or worse. “Maeve, I’m not sure that’s a smart—”

  Donu raised her hand. “It’s never that simple,” she said to Maeve. “I am sorry for your pain. Who did he descend from?”

  “No one, as far as we can tell,” Niall said. “His love was in the group we split from back in Mag da Cheonn.”

  “An innocent mortal?” Donu said. Her expression remained flat as she nodded to herself. “As I suspected. You’re madder at yourself than you are at the ones who did it. That’s because at least some part of you knew he was a dead man the moment he left íriu.”

  “You’re wrong!” Maeve said, stepping toward Donu.

  Niall was in front of Maeve before she uttered the second word and restrained her. “Here’s what I suggest,” he said in between grunts. “We walk the rest of the way in silence. No history lessons, no searching for common ground, not even small talk.”

  “Fine with me, Uncle,” Finn said.

  Niall shook his head. “You misunderstand me. I wasn’t putting it up for a vote.”