Sleep does not come easy in the unfamiliar cave. I drift in and out of consciousness to a cacophony of annoyingly strange noises, tossings and turnings. The old man in Baine's tale haunts my dreams and take on the form of Turtle Man, whose loud gobliney snores and muttered curses keep waking me. Something startles me out of my uneasy slumber. I peer cautiously out from under my covers. All I can see by the light of the dying embers are dim, misshapen shadows. Then I hear it again...the disturbingly familiar sound that woke me. From somewhere across the fire come echoes of Fox Lady moaning in agony. Turning quietly, I peek over Caoimhe's shoulder to where she was sleeping earlier. She's gone! Careful not to disturb anyone, I crawl out of bed and tiptoe past Ciaran's head to retrieve my sword from it's hiding place. At the last moment, I decide not to use it in case I accidentally stab the wrong person. Looking around for a less lethal weapon, I spy a horse switch that will do nicely in a pinch. As I tiptoe past my friends, Caoimhe pops up behind me and whispers in my ear. "What are you doing with that? Going riding at this time of night? In the rain?" "Shhhh! Follow me and be ready for anything." Caoihme's silver eyes sparkle with excitement. Thinking it's a game, she shifts into "Pup" and happily tags along. We follow the echoes to the other side of the firepit, doing our best not to trip over anything or wake anyone. It seems to take forever, but soon enough we find an opening that leads into a smaller, darker cave. I can barely see in front of me, but Caoihme's senses are sharper. She heads unerringly toward a bedbox in which Fox Lady is lying captive beneath what appears to be a cloaked figure. Her eyes are glowing brightly and she's gasping for breath. "IT'S ATTACKING HER!" I yell. Shouting a shrill hero's holler, I leap up onto the bedbox, grasp the switch firmly with both hands and start beating the thing on top of her with all my might. Caoihme barks excitedly, takes the cloak between her teeth and pulls it off, revealing a ghostly creature. It's gangley arms are wrapped around the fox mother and is pale body is crushing the life out of her. Upon being discovered, it lets out a terrible screech, leaps straight in the air and dashes out the door. Caoihme chases after it with glee. I follow as best I can, stumbling over Turtle Man along the way. She catches up to her prey before it reaches the cave mouth, knocks it flat and sits proudly on its chest, waiting to be rewarded for her good deed. The thing squirms beneath the large wolfhound in a vain attempt to break free and spits fearsome curses in her face. We peer more closely at it to see what we've caught, only to discover it's neither a Fir Bolg or a Dubh Sidhe, but a son of Mil. And not just any son of Mil. He's our fox mother's bandit husband, Sean. By this time she has caught up to us and is obviously not pleased with our heroic efforts to save her life. "Uh oh! I think we made a big mistake!" I confide in my canine friend and signal her to release our prisoner. She barks and hangs her head, while I trip over my tongue, doing my very best to apologise to the unhappy couple. Sean is so miffed at us, all he manages is an unintelligible sputter of invective. The Healer and her man aren't amused either and look like they're about to banish us into the night. And Fox Lady is so upset, she's doubled over, trying to catch her breath and her shoulders are shaking. She leans against the cave wall and slides helplessly to the ground. I run to her side to see what's the matter, but she merely grimaces and waves me into the cave. "I will never understand adults," I say to Caoimhe with a shrug of my shoulders as we obediently head back to bed. She barks and wags her tail in response. Behind us we hear loud peals of laughter and before us we see Ciaran, only he's not laughing. Instead he marshals us straight to our makeshift beds with dire warnings about confiscating our coveted supply of sweets and shiny things, including my sword, and returning us to our respective homes if we do not learn to behave ourselves this instant. "And next time, wake me before you decide to ambush one of our hosts. Girls! Sheesh!"