I deliver a long, slow kiss to my bride and we melt together in the silver nightglow. I am thinking that now, now, now, our time is finally here. Then she stiffens in my arms.

"What's that? Do you hear it?"

Tenderly, stubbornly, I nibble at her ear.

"Crying. I hear a woman crying!"

She pushes me away and turns her beautiful head this way and that way. "Over there, by the horses, can't you hear it?"

I am left alone, cursing in the moonlight. Still cursing, I follow.

There is the stranger, Labraid, hanging on his horse's neck with his face buried in its mane, sobbing like a brokenhearted lass.

"Labraid!" When I say his name, he spins around, one hand on his sword. His headdress is unraveling on one side. From the weeping and the length of dark hair that spills out, it is plain to see that we've all been fooled. If I can believe my eyes, he is a she!

Another surprise comes then. Baine and Keu, arm in arm, stroll into view. Baine takes one look at Labraid and stops dead in her tracks. Keu groans. "He's a woman! I thought as much."

Labraid, whose name is really Lasair, tells all. When we've heard her strange tale, Da's harsh voice breaks in. He's been standing behind us, listening, for who knows how long.

"A fine nightwatch this is! The Niafer could be at our throats and we'd be none the wiser till we smelled their stinkin' breath. Datho says we move now. Hadaig is already gone down to the bogside with the druid. One of the scouts says they're closin' in, so be quick!"