At the end of the Summer of Madness, seanbhuachaill the Archer Lad abruptly left Dun Tóraidhe to answer a mysterious calling that even he did not fully understand. It turned out that he was being summoned to tend to his mother, Becuma, who had suffered a crippling fall and was on the brink of starvation at Magh Croimor.
Anxious to return to Dun Tóraidhe and reunite with his beloved Winter Mist and their halfbreed son Caelervain, not to mention the rest of the outlaw band, seanbhuachaill decided to take Becuma back with him, despite her weakened condition. Forced to travel at an agonizingly slow pace, he impatiently left Becuma in Cashel with Muriel the Grey Lady so that he could hurry home to Dun Tóraidhe.
Meanwhile Baine and Amlaidh left the outlaw tribe and took the stolen Niafer prince, Fiachra, with them for safekeeping. They sought refuge at Dún Dair, the keep of Baine's brother Eachan, a prosperous and powerful Baoisgne chieftain. Eachan accepted Amlaidh as his court poet and welcomed Fiachra as a fosterling. The Niafer clan seems to have given up the search for their missing prince, and Fiachra thrives at Dún Dair, innocent of his true bloodline.
Not far from Dún Dair, at Brighid's sanctuary in Cill Dara, the warrior-poet Fenian recovers from his madness and prepares to return to Inver Colpa with his friend Torann. They've made peace with Conlaith the Cleric, who continues to work on establishing his church among the local pagan populace.
What will seanbhuachaill find when he reaches Dun Tóraidhe? When he left, the bandits were spending more time peacefully raising livestock, crops and babies than marauding over the countryside. There was some unrest, however, as Nion faced challenges from his cousin's sons after a strange and fatal accident (?) at the lough. Is Nion getting too old to lead the outlaw tribe? And what has become of Winter Mist during her husband's absence?
The answers to these questions and more will be found over the coming summer, as we chase down some phantoms!