Down by the hall, there were three women dead. They lay huddled in a pitiful heap, speared through chest and stomach and throat, still clutching one another close in their terror. All were older women, who had served faithfully in Engus’s household. One had nursed Nessa’s mother. There were no young wives among the dead, no girls, no children. The plan had been for these to shelter in the outer hut, where stock were housed in rough weather; two of the bigger boys, who were to guard them, lay in their blood there by the wall. Mother, receive your fine sons, Gartnait and Drust, who never came to manhood, yet who died as men…Mother, receive your daughters, who have served you loyally. They cannot be laid in earth, but see, I prepare them as well as I can, and tonight I will keep vigil and say full prayers for their passing. Take them to their rest, and forgive the stain of heedless killing that has darkened this fair place…Receive your son, Erip…receive your son, Conal…receive your son…

She could not enter the hall, for the smoldering rubble was still full of heat, but she could see at a glance that if anything remained, it was no more than bones and ash. Nessa bowed her head. Mother of us all, here perished the last good king of the Folk in the Light Isles. Receive your son, Engus.

Guard was keeping very close by her side, tail between his legs, body shivering with unease. From time to time he gave a little whine, and she bade him be silent, but kindly, for his deep unquiet mirrored what was in her own heart. Here was the cairn where her two sisters slept their long sleep. Her mother would never rest now beside these two lost daughters, for her shrouded body had not yet been laid in earth before the fire had ripped through the hall, taking dead sister and living brother together in its frenzy. When all was lost, a king must die honorably in his hall; that was a true sign of strength, and Engus was one of the strongest men she had ever known.

There was yet one thing to be done before she might leave this place of shadow. Nessa walked up the slow rise of the Whaleback, and Guard followed her. The sheep ambled away and dropped their heads to graze again. Guard kept perfect pace as she came up the hill to a place from which the Kin Stone might be seen on the western clifftop, standing proud and strong between land and sea. There she would promise her uncle loyalty and truth; there she would swear by the stone to be worthy of the trust he had placed in her. She climbed higher, gazing westward. She blinked and looked again.