Brighid gave him an understanding smile.

“Brighid! Brighid! Brighid!” Liam started to hop up and down while he clutched the edge of the wagon’s frame, but one sharp word from Nara, who was sitting beside the wagon driver, was enough to make him hold himself very still. All of himself, Brighid thought, except for his mouth. “Can I come up with you? I really should come up with you. I’m your apprentice. I should be with you. Don’t you think? Isn’t that right?”

Brighid wasn’t sure if she wanted to scream or groan. How did mothers do this?

“Liam! Enough.” She held up one hand and the boy went blissfully silent. Then she turned her attention to the New Fomorian Healer. “Is he well enough to ride?”

The Healer tried unsuccessfully to stifle her smile. “Not far and not fast. But, yes, he is well enough to ride.”

She looked at Liam. His eyes were big and round with surprise, but his lips were carefully clamped together.

“If I let you ride with me you must carry yourself with the dignity of a centaur Huntress. Can you do that?”

“Yes! Yes! Ye-” Unbelievably the boy stopped mid-yes. Carefully, he drew himself up, holding his bandaged wing close to his body, and nodded. Once.

Before she could think better of it she edged up to the side of the wagon. “Help him on,” she told the children who were sitting around him. All talking at once, they boosted him onto her equine back. “Hang on,” she said, putting one hand back to hold his leg. She hoped he wouldn’t fall, but if he did she could at least keep him from hitting the ground. Maybe.

“Hang on to what?” he asked in a little boy’s voice.

“Put your hands on my shoulders,” she said, then sighed and added. “If you’re scared, you can wrap your arms around my waist.”

After a slight hesitation, she felt warm little hands on her shoulders.

“I’m not scared,” he said. “You wouldn’t let me fall.”

Not having a ready answer for his blind faith, Brighid kicked into a smooth canter, quickly rejoining Cuchulainn and his mother at the head of their company.

“Not a word,” Brighid told Cu as the warrior opened his mouth.

“It’s good to see you looking so well, Liam,” Etain said, with a motherly smile. “You should be back to hunting form soon.”

Brighid could feel Liam quiver with pleasure at Etain’s words, but when the boy spoke his words were polite and brief.

“Thank you, Goddess.”

Pleased, Brighid squeezed his small leg before loosening her grip, and then she smiled secretly to herself when Liam squeezed her shoulders back and whispered, “See, I’m a good centaur.”

“There,” Cuchulainn said, pointing to where the small rugged trail forked to join a much wider road that was obviously well traveled. “This is the road that runs between the castle and Loth Tor.”

“Finally. I was beginning to think we would run out of daylight before we got to it,” Brighid said, trotting onto the well-packed road and turning to her right.

“Is the castle close?” Liam asked.

“Very,” she said. “Tonight you will be sleeping at MacCallan Castle.”

“Will they like us?” the boy asked in a small voice.

Brighid looked over her shoulder at him. He was so young. His eyes watched her, waiting for her answer as if she held the keys to all the mysteries of the universe.

“Of course they will like you,” she said firmly. As she turned her head back she caught Cuchulainn’s eye and wasn’t reassured by the sober look he gave her.

“It will all work out. You’ll see.” Etain’s voice was filled with her usual confidence, and the silver mare snorted agreement.

Brighid looked beyond Cuchulainn at his mother. The Goddess Incarnate was smiling at Liam. She didn’t look at all worried. The Huntress glanced back at Cu. The warrior gave her a half smile and shrugged.

“Everything important?” Brighid mouthed silently to him.

“Yes,” Etain said without looking at either of them. “Absolutely everything important.”

Liam whispered, “She does know everything.”

Cuchulainn grunted and Brighid decided to turn her attention to the darkening roadway.

A fluttering of wings announced Ciara’s arrival, and the Shaman glided into the space between Cu and Brighid.

“They’re ready.” Her smile trembled and her eyes were riveted on the road ahead of them. “I think I’m nervous,” she said with a little laugh.

“We all feel a little nervous when we return home after a long absence, but it is a happy nervousness,” Etain said gently. “Remember, this is your homeland. The prayers and blood of your foremothers made that a certainty. It will all work out. You’ll see.”

“You can believe her. The Goddess tells her everything that is important.” Liam spoke in an awed, uncharacteristically serious voice that made the three adults smile. “Well, she does,” Liam said, and then-thankfully-the boy was too busy staring around them at the giant pines to chatter.

The caravan of more than a dozen wagons, all filled with New Fomorians, followed the Huntress, the warrior, their Shaman, and the Goddess Incarnate onto the road that would be the final leg of their journey. The four leaders trotted in silent anticipation, each of them deep in their own thoughts. When Fand padded beside Cu’s gelding, Brighid glanced at the warrior. He looked tense and grim. Had they been alone she would have reminded him that he was only coming home, not heading into battle. But she was reluctant to speak in front of Ciara, not sure if calling attention to the struggle taking place within him would embarrass or maybe even annoy Cuchulainn. And part of her understood that this homecoming was a type of battle for her friend. Soon he would be fighting to regain his soul and his life-and it was at MacCallan Castle that both had been irrevocably altered.

The road made a familiar bend to the west, climbed up, and suddenly they spilled out of the pine forest and in to the carefully tended castle grounds. The sun was setting into the ocean behind the castle, serving as perfect illumination for the imposing edifice that was already fully lighted from within. Its cream-colored walls were tinted by the bold colors of the evening sky, so it seemed that firelight danced within and without, welcoming them with the warmth of flame.

“It’s so pretty,” Liam breathed.

“It’s beautiful and perfect and…” Ciara’s voice choked and she couldn’t go on.

“And it is your home,” Etain finished for her.

Home…Brighid’s heart echoed. It wasn’t the open grasslands of her youth, but seeing it again made her feel settled and safe.

“They’ve done a lot the past two moons,” Cu said, working hard to keep his voice flat and emotionless, as if he was afraid that if he let any feeling leak into his words he would not be able to stop the tide and it would overwhelm him. “The four towers are completed, and much of the sentry’s walk.”

A shout helloed at them from the outer wall of the castle.

“Shall we let our Elphame know we’re here, my beauty?” Etain said, patting the silver mare’s neck.

Understanding perfectly, and without needing any further guidance from her rider, the mare pranced forward for several paces and then she reared gracefully, trumpeting a sharp greeting that was unmistakably amplified by the power of Epona’s presence.

The response from the castle was immediate.

“Hail, Epona!” called the sentry, and a moment later the newly installed iron gate was raised and figures rushed through the opening.

With a glad cry, Elphame sprinted forward. Her two powerful equine legs made her faster and stronger than the rest of her people, and she outdistanced them easily, reaching the group of travelers even before her winged mate.

Cuchulainn slid from his horse and just had time to open his arms for his sister as she rushed into them.

“Cuchulainn!” She hugged him tightly, burying her face in his shoulder.