“With his family, in one of the settlements. He had no visible wounds; the hurt was within. He requires constant care. Without that he would do harm to himself or to others.”

After that, I could find nothing else to say until the two of us were back in the courtyard. My services as a wise woman, useful as they might be for dressing wounds and setting broken bones and lancing boils, would be next to useless in such a case. I might perhaps offer tonics or sleeping drafts for the other family members, but the victim himself would likely be beyond any healer’s help. Did those wee folk really possess the ability to lead folk astray to the point of driving them permanently crazy? I recalled various old tales in which that was exactly what happened. She left her home behind and went dancing off over the hills, and if she hasn’t come home yet she’s dancing still. Yet that little woman had seemed full of common sense.

“Thank you for walking back with me, Onchú,” I said. “I’m sorry if I haven’t seemed to take due heed of the warnings. I do weigh the odds up carefully. Always.” That was perhaps not entirely true; where Mathuin of Laois was concerned, I had more than once let my desire for justice outweigh my common sense. “I will have to take some risks if I’m to find a solution to this. Midsummer Eve is getting closer all the time.”

“We are always happy to accompany you, Mistress Blackthorn. Our duties here are hardly onerous; the men are glad of something to occupy their time.”

“Thank you, Onchú. Some things, a wise woman must do alone.”

• • •

Geiléis was up and waiting for me in the dining chamber. That did not surprise me. Nor did the displeased expression on her face.

“You went out on your own,” she said.

“And here I am, back again.” I would not allow her to conduct an interrogation as if I were a wrongdoer. I’d had enough of that to last me a lifetime.

“If Onchú had not gone to fetch you, you might be wandering in the forest still, unable to find your way. Or drowning in the Bann. Do you think yourself indestructible?”

That made me smile. “I am not so much of a fool. But I know how to calculate risks. If you want the ritual to have some chance of working, you must let me do it in the way most likely to achieve that.” I sat down at the table. Senach appeared from nowhere with a tray of refreshments, which he set down noiselessly before departing. “Now,” I said briskly, “we should set a day and time for this observance. Far enough ahead for word to go out to the settlements and for folk to make their way here. But not too far ahead.” Gathering folk together was important. It would give me the opportunity to talk to them. I could not believe that none of them knew the story of the monster in the tower. “Five days? Six?”