“Man probably isn’t the word,” I said, looking. Ahead of us the trees were taller, their boles further apart. The spaces between them were carpeted with grass. Light penetrated the canopy here, pale and pure, touching the leaves to a hundred shades of green. There was a curious symmetry about the pattern of foliage that put me in mind of tapestries or banners. The shape of it drew the eye forward as if encouraging a visitor to walk on between the trees, where the path broadened into what seemed a grand ceremonial way. For a moment my eyes showed me a procession traveling along it, lords and ladies clad in shimmering garments, horses caparisoned in silks and satins, a rich cavalcade. I blinked and they were gone. There were only the three of us, a man, a woman, a baby, bedraggled and weary, lost in the vastness of it all. “I think we may be almost there,” I said.

As if in response to my words, there stepped out in front of us a small figure in gray, its face concealed by a silver dog mask. Both Cathal and I flinched in shock, and Cathal’s hand went to his dagger.

I bit back an impolite comment such as, You again. “It’s the creature I met before,” I murmured. “Let me talk.” I stepped around Cathal, placing myself between him and the gray-cloaked being.

“Well, well,” the little creature said. “You’ve come a long way. Changed your mind yet?”

“No,” I said firmly. “Please tell us where Finbar is. How much further do we have to go?”

Behind me I could hear Cathal moving. I knew without looking that he had drawn the dagger and stood poised to use it the moment he decided I was at risk.

“Tell her,” he said, and his tone frightened even me. “We have no time to waste. If you can help us, do so without delay.”

The creature hissed. The eyes behind the mask turned their gaze from me to Cathal, then slowly back to me. “Our kind does not speak to his kind,” the small being growled. “If you insist on keeping him with you, you bring down sorrow on yourself. Bitter sorrow.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” What sorrow could be more bitter than the abduction of a child? “If you can tell me, please do so. Is this the right way? When will we reach the place where my brother is being held?”

“This is the way. Close by is a place where you may rest and recover yourself.” I sensed the creature was eyeing me up and down, and I saw myself as it might: my hair a filthy tangle, my gown hanging muddy and crushed around me, my boots soaked, my face livid with cuts. Neither Cathal nor I had washed properly since we met in the forest of Sevenwaters. Immersion in the river hardly counted.