Ciar turned on her. ‘Don’t think to tell me what I should or should not do! Why would I come all the way out here only to lose my courage and go running off home again? Keep your opinions to yourself!’

‘Through here,’ Donagan said, parting some foliage to show a narrow pathway. Ahead lay the place Blackthorn had chosen, a soft patch of greensward amid the proliferation of ferny undergrowth. ‘I will lay my cloak down here’ – he did so – ‘and, my lady, you might wish to pass your own cloak to Mhairi. And we will leave you in peace awhile.’

The moment was here; the wood seemed to tremble. Ciar and I stood side by side on the sward. The others had retreated to the path. Night was descending fast; the moonlight on Ciar’s perfect features – Flidais’s features – turned her to a silver goddess.

‘Ciar!’ said someone softly from behind her.

‘What?’ Ciar turned, then sucked in her breath; she had just given herself away.

Blackthorn stepped forward from the shadows, sombre-faced. She was clad in a voluminous woollen cloak. She put me in mind of some old goddess of the wood, come to deliver judgement.

‘What are you doing here?’ Ciar’s tone was shrill. I put my hand on her shoulder and she started, looking up at me. ‘Oran, what is this?’

‘We know the truth about you,’ I said. ‘That you are Flidais in outward appearance only; that when you went swimming in Dreamer’s Pool that day, you were somehow changed. Your response when Mistress Blackthorn called your name is proof in itself.’

‘What can you mean? That’s nonsense! It’s ridiculous!’ Then, to Blackthorn, ‘I never trusted you! I knew you were up to something! I knew it the moment you and your big oaf came to live in the house! You’ve lied to me, haven’t you? That story about the wood and what it could do for me, you made it all up just to get me here! But why? Why?’

Over on the path, Mhairi burst into tears. ‘Ciar, just tell them the truth! This has gone on too long. Please put a stop to it.’

‘You accuse me of lying, Ciar,’ said Blackthorn with commendable calm. ‘And yes, I did tell a story to bring you here tonight. But you have spun a mighty web of lies. It’s time to start telling the truth, as Mhairi so wisely advises. Much of it we’ve guessed already. And I imagine that if you are not prepared to tell us the rest, your maidservant will do it for you.’

‘This is rubbish! What do you think this is, some fairytale?’ Ciar tried to wrench away from my hold, intending I knew not what – it would hardly do her any good to run. ‘Let go of me! It’s not true!’