Thanks to Labraid's warning, the fire is put out before it catches much of the thatch. Tomorrow I will prepare a fine meal for the three old men who helped to save the inn from burning. We stand here, exhausted, with buckets and pots strewn around us, looking at the black blotch where someone threw a torch onto the roof. One of the men offers to ride to An Caiseal with news of this unhappy event. I let him take my cart-horse, then I go to my bed and try to sleep.

Next morning here comes Torann Thunder Spear, the young smithy who is a little too fond of his ale. Fenian has sent him to ask about the fire.

"They were talkin' backwards and in some kind of secret language," I says to the lad once he's settled with a few cups. I point at the long table. "All about a fox hunt, the queen of foxes, and going north to meet the ones who had her. Or sometimes it was a royal boarhunt. And something about killing a red heifer. Nonsense to me, it was. That's where they sat, seven or eight of 'em all in a huddle, drinkin' all night and finished a whole kettle of stew and a loaf apiece, but left me a generous portion of silver for it. And a bull as well! Said they were bringin'it somewhere for Samhain but then they said I could keep it for the pay."

Torann's eyes go wide. "A bull, you say? And what did these guests of yours look like?"

"Well, there was a humpback and another one with a horrible scar 'cross his face. Two couples, one had the look of ravens about 'em somehow, the other, a man with two hunting bows and a pouch of arrows, he had a wee wife who kept a toad in her sleeve." I lower my voice respectfully and touch my heart with my pointer and littlest finger before I go on. "She looked to me to be sidhe if ever I saw one! And one of the men had a giant arm. He tried to keep it hid under his brat but his fist kept sneakin' out and clutching at the air. Strangest thing! Another one with them, tall and dark and that one was called Labraid. I heard the name. That's the one who warned me about the torch thrown, just as they all left."

For once, Torann leaves without finishing his ale. He thanks me, throws a trinket down on the table, and runs for his horse, leaving me to wonder.