“Here you are.” Rona, well shawled against the cold, was sitting by a small fire, which burned between rocks on a patch of level ground. The stream gurgled by, swollen from autumn rains. There was a pot on the fire, and steam rising, and a fragrant scent of herbs. Rona’s hut was not far away, but she could usually be found here, for she liked to watch the many moods of the sky. “You’ve brought a visitor, I see. But we have a visitor already. And we have a problem.”

Nessa put her bag down. The other hound must have wandered in here somehow and sheltered in the ancient cairn. That did not present much of a difficulty as long as the Norsemen did not want them back. Now the first dog was running about and pawing the earth at the cairn’s entrance. Nessa walked across. Since that time long ago, when she had first discovered the tower in the earth, she had dug out its true door and its original passageway, always with due respect for the ancestors. It was now possible to walk in, though one had to stoop, and to stand upright in that first chamber. Light could be admitted by shifting the flagstone on the top, where a small Nessa had once made patterns of sun and moon, sea and quarters. There were little oil lamps inside and an old blanket or two. She used the tower for certain rituals, solitary ones. Some powers are best honored in underground places, secret, cradled places such as this.

“Careful,” Rona cautioned, but Nessa knew the dogs meant no harm; she had known that from the first moment she saw that creature moving along beside her like a graceful shadow. They might have come all the way from the snow lands, but they belonged here now. All the same, Rona did not utter warnings without good reason. Perhaps the other dog was injured, and might bite. If it was unharmed, why would it remain inside?

Nessa retreated, fetched a lamp from Rona’s hut, bent to light the wick from the fire. Rona wasn’t saying anything. There wouldn’t have been much point, with the racket the two dogs were making. Nessa walked back to the cairn’s low entry and made her way in through the stone-lined passageway that led to the first chamber. The dog pushed past her, knocking her sideways; she bumped her head and nearly dropped the little lamp. Ahead, there was an ecstatic chorus of canine greeting.

As soon as she emerged from the tunnel and straightened up, the two dogs jumped on her, planting large paws on her chest and arms, tongues licking enthusiastically. Standing thus, they were as tall as she was. The lamp wobbled dangerously.