He was up in a flash and beside me, and I was blurting out a half-explanation of my fears. “. . . and the groom said one of Johnny’s men was with them, but I don’t know which—”

“Cathal, I think. One of the maidservants saw him heading off with the children. Johnny suggested I come after you and make myself useful. It may not be very safe for you to be out here on your own.”

“We do it all the time,” I said, for that was true, though I was beginning to think Aidan’s caution might be justified. “This is our home, after all. And the forest has . . . well, it has uncanny methods of keeping out enemies. Outsiders simply lose their way, even if they think they’ve memorized the paths. Come on, we’d best keep walking.” Cathal, I thought. What was that man up to? There was definitely something wrong about him. If I found Eilis and Coll—when I found them—I would make it clear they must have nothing at all to do with Cathal from now on. How could Eilis have been so foolish as to go off into the forest with him?

“Eilis!” I shouted again as we came out into a small clearing, and this time there was a reply.

“Over here!” My sister’s voice was shaky.

She was in a grove of massive oaks. From the foot of each mossy bole a tangle of heavy roots clawed out. The network of thickly leaved boughs high above cast a mysterious dimness over the place. Beneath one forest giant sat Eilis, blowing her nose on a linen handkerchief. Her eyes were red and she had scratches on her hands and face.

“What happened?” I asked, keeping my tone calm as I put my arms around her. “Has someone hurt you, Eilis? Where’s Coll?”

“I climbed down by myself,” Eilis announced, the assurance of her words undermined by a noisy sniff. “All the way. But Coll’s still up there.” She glanced upward; above her, the trunk of the oak towered into the sky. “He’s stuck. When I was safely down, Cathal went back up to get him.”

I followed Eilis’s gaze. If my cousin was in this monstrous tree, he was beyond the place where the canopy blocked my view. My heart bunched up tight; my palms went clammy. The thought that my little sister had been up there made me want to be sick.

“Misguided fool!” Aidan was frowning as he came up beside me. “How dare he cause you such distress? Still, there’s no cause for alarm. Cathal is an excellent climber. He will bring the boy down safely.”