I took several deep breaths before I answered. My skirt was badly torn and my right knee had a bloody graze. I screwed my eyes shut for a moment, willing what had just happened into a closed corner of my mind. It was a complication I could not deal with right now. I was simply too busy.

Deirdre? I answered my sister’s call, using the skill possessed by the twins of our family, a link that allowed us to communicate silently, mind to mind. My father had this ability. His twin sister, Aunt Liadan, lived over the sea in Britain. The two of them had been able to share their thoughts and their news since childhood. What’s wrong? I asked my sister, making myself get up and limp toward home.

My hair! I put chamomile in the water, and now it’s dried out looking like a furze bush! I can’t get married like this! Where are you, Clodagh? I need you!

I reminded myself that my twin was leaving Sevenwaters tomorrow to embark on a completely new life in an unfamiliar home. It’ll be fine, Deirdre, I told her. I’m on my way back from the hawthorn. Don’t panic, we’ll think of something.

I picked up my pace again. Soon the high roof of the stone keep where we lived could be seen in the distance above a soft shawl of trees. Our home was a stronghold built to keep out invaders. The uncanny forest that surrounded it and the broad lake that lapped at its feet were in themselves deterrents to armed assault. My father had established fortified settlements in strategic areas of the forest, each headed by a freeman with his own complement of men-at-arms. This was necessary, since Sevenwaters was situated right between the two warring factions of the Uí Néill clan.

My mind went back to the figure I had half seen under the trees. Could a spy have succeeded in coming right into the forest unchecked? What could such a person hope to gain by that? I shivered, imagining myself abducted and held as a hostage, the price of my safe release Father’s agreement to relinquish control of his lands, or something even worse. Perhaps it was not a good idea to go for long walks on my own. People did get kidnapped. I could remember a terrible story about a girl who had been taken in that way. By the time her family had decided to comply with the captors’ demands, she had been killed. The tale went that her severed head had been thrown back over the wall of her father’s house.

My mind on this, I walked out from under the trees and straight into a big man in a gray cloak. A pair of strong hands gripped my shoulders hard. I screamed.

The man let go abruptly. I stepped back, ready to bolt past him for the safety of home.