No, it is not urgent, he decides, shaking his head. It will come to a head naturally. There are more pressing matters at hand, and she may still recover some of her sense; even a little of it would be enough. If we both stopped drinking so much she would have more clarity and I would learn better how to manage her. A few more days cannot hurt; a little more time to spend with her; that’s all I need, some fresh memories to hold her by once she is gone.

He calls out for Alannah. She soon appears at the end of the street, playing with a crow’s feather in her hands, coming towards him. He notices that she does not even look towards the dead horse.

‘Have you been crying?’ she asks.

The man is speechless for a moment. ‘You do not like my domination, do you?’ he finally says. ‘How easily I run the town; you cannot support it?’

‘I do not mind it,’ she says, glancing towards her prostrate husband, ‘as well you as any other. Is Colca dead?’

The man shakes his head. ‘You would make a nonchalant widow.’

‘And, so,’ Alannah asks, ‘what do you want from me?’

‘You have endangered my wife.’

‘She says she is not your wife, and she is treated by you like a slave and a whore; that I have seen with my own eyes.’

He looks away from her; grips the sides of the fountain until his wish to strike her has subsided. ‘You know nothing of us,’ he says. ‘What outcome do you seek?’

Alannah points behind him. He turns, and in the distance sees five men standing in a semi-circle, two horses behind them. Their outlines are vague, but he can see one man in front is unnaturally tall, like a giant, and he is black.

‘These are not your men,’ she says.

‘On the contrary,’ the man says, ‘a horse is taken from me, and I receive two more.’

‘You believe yourself the match for five Gaels?’ Alannah says. ‘You are not a match for a-one.’

‘Why do you believe they are Gaels?’ he asks. ‘Is that why you have been making havoc? Gaels do not approach towns out in the open; they slink like rats, concealed. No, these are not Gaels; they even walk too much like men. Today, I shall make some money.’

‘What name will you use?’