‘I hope he doesn’t mind cattle,’ said Emer. ‘There’s a long-horned bull in the next field over, and the spring being what it is, he’s feeling the need to protect his ladies.’

‘What happened, Emer?’ I asked, watching the golden-haired figure as he walked away with easy strides. ‘Why did you scream?’

‘There was some kind of – of scuffle, not a fight exactly, but – I heard a grunt and a gasp and saw someone moving around under the trees and someone else running, with a knife in his hand. That’s when I screamed. They were really close, as if they might come down the bank right onto me. But they didn’t, because Cúan appeared and blocked my view. He took a while asking me who I was and where I lived, and telling me everything was all right and there was nothing to worry about. By the time he moved aside there was nothing to see. Then he politely offered to escort me back here, and that was that.’

‘He didn’t ask you about who I was or where I came from, or anything like that?’ I tried to sound calm, as if this question was of little importance.

‘I said you were the local healer and that I was your assistant. He asked if he could have a word with you. All very correct.’

‘Mm-hm. Cara, tell us some more about this island. Are you saying there’s a whole community of warriors there, all with animal names?’ It sounded more old tale than reality. On the other hand, I knew from experience how closely interwoven the two could be.

‘Gormán sells them logs,’ Cara said. ‘He takes them to the lake shore on the ox cart. There’s a settlement where they load the barges.’ A pause. ‘I’m not supposed to go over to that side of the forest. But Gormán let me go with him once or twice when Father was away. Just so I would stop pestering him about it. That was what he said. That’s where I saw the men with the . . .’ She made the gesture again, suggesting a facial marking. ‘Don’t ever tell my father. Gormán would get in trouble.’

There was a whole story behind this. It was sounding more curious all the time. ‘If I ever have the opportunity to speak to your father,’ I told her, ‘I’ll make sure I don’t mention it. Why wouldn’t he want you visiting this lake and the settlement there? If you stand to inherit Wolf Glen someday, surely you should be learning all about the place and the work.’ If she’d been a boy, she would already have been helping her father run things.

‘It’s to keep me safe. Because he loves me. That’s what he says.’

‘Is this island in the lake? With its complement of warriors?’