He screamed at the assembly, his face a twisted mass of disdain. “You fuck’n fools! What will ya do here? Stand? With your pitchforks and peat cutters? With your…IRON? They won’ care! They’ll run right over you and rip those tools from your hands… use them to butcher your children! And they’ll laugh. Think it merry sport. ‘Cause that’s all you will be. They’ll set your precious sheep on fire while they’re still livin’ and delight as they run around, bleating as they burn. They’ll kill you men, but not before you been good and scalped…given the same red hat they all wear. They’ll rape your wives and your daughters…savage them mercilessly with hands covered in the ash of your homes!”

The crowd stood silent. The faces of the men were a mix of fear and fury. Tears fell silently down the mothers’ faces, the sobs of their little ones giving voice to their weeping. Two-Keg gave them all one last pitiful look, than seemed to shrink.

“You can all stay for that…if you want,” he mumbled. “Not me. I seen it all before.” The clurichaun shuffled off, away from the crowd and into the dark.

The villagers stood unmoving, heads bowed, eyes lost and wide.

Scolded children.

Ardal’s face was the worst, all resoluteness vanished, replaced with doubt and defeat, the axe hanging limply at his side.

It was the alewife, Jileen, who spoke. “Ardal. We should go.

All of us.”

And then one of the men cursed, his voice feeble and afraid. His arm was outstretched, pointing out into the night-covered fields. A fire burned out in the dark, just passed the last house. Another gasp, another fire, this one just over the river. And yet another on the hill to the south where Rosheen and Padric had first spied the village. Then they were everywhere, surrounding them. A dozen red, angry eyes opening in the death mask of night.

Watchfires. Too familiar even after a thousand years of peace. Rosheen had hoped never to see them again.

“It’s too late,” she said. “Ardal, listen to me! You cannot flee now.” She pointed out to the fires. “The goblin magus can see you through those flames. He is watching and will know where you go! The Red Caps will not stop here, but follow you into the fields where you have no hope of defense. They will run you down before you reach the fort. You wanted to stand and fight…and now you have no choice.”