Donal shook his head and pointed at the road ahead of them. “I’m telling you this is a bad idea.”

  Siobhan shrugged. “It was one family that lived more than a mile outside of town. We still need to meet Niall’s man in Donegal town and we’re in no state to do so. What’s more, we didn’t pack any tents and supplies to make camp. The hour’s late, and if we rode to Donegal it would be suspiciously late by the time we reached town.”

  “The manner in which that man warned me to leave,” Donal said, “he seemed very sure of himself.”

  “I’m sure he did,” Finn said. “But I think Siobhan’s right.”

  Donal grasped his chest. “You do?” he asked in mock exasperation. “Who could have seen that coming!”

  Finn slugged his brother in the shoulder. “It costs us nothing to ask.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Donal said with a shove of his brother’s back.

  The MacLaughlins’ new horse, Cáined, pulled the wagon down the main street of Killybóthar. Not a soul stirred in front of their homes. No shouts of playing children. No hammer strikes. No scraping of brooms. They had the entire town to themselves.

  “Hai, I suppose everyone in town is having a late dinner?” Donal asked.

  Siobhan frowned and scanned the road ahead. She led the wagon to the right, away from the harbor, and found more of the same: nothing.

  “Are they hiding from us?” Finn asked. “Why? How would they even know to do as such?”

  Siobhan turned left at the next crossing and nudged Finn’s arm. “They’re not hiding,” she said. She pointed down the street ahead of them.

  A crowd of people had gathered in front of the inn. The throng forced Siobhan to stop the wagon several buildings short of their destination. The crowd of men, women and older children all shared a look of discomfort yet they remained silent.

  Siobhan held up a hand to keep the brothers seated. “Leave the weapons here, lads. No sense in making a bad situation worse.”

  “What’s worse than being surrounded by an unfriendly mob while unarmed?” Finn asked.

  “If it gets that bad,” Siobhan said, “then we have those other ways. Let’s hope for everyone’s sake it doesn’t come to that. If they won’t take us in, we surely shouldn’t risk the greeting that these people likely sent for us in Donegal. Agreed?”

  The brothers shrugged. Finn gave a solitary nod.

  “Eloquently stated,” Siobhan said. “Finn, stay with the wagon and be ready for anything. Let’s go, Donal.”

  Donal hopped over the side of the wagon and tucked in behind Siobhan. The pair had to squirm their way in between the locals as very few gave way, in spite of Siobhan’s polite requests and the occasional toe-stomp from Donal.

  Two men stood shoulder-to-shoulder with arms folded in front of the inn’s door. Siobhan turned herself sideways to slide between them. The men pressed their shoulders together, preventing her passage. She pulled away and sighed. “Make way, if you please,” she said. They stood unmoved. She turned back to Donal.

  “What now?” Donal said.

  “I ask again?” Siobhan said. She brought both hands up into a questioning pose, even though Donal knew she had her answer. She flicked her hands downward and muttered, “Lucht stata?.” An arc of lightning no wider than a human hair arced between her fingers as she turned back to the gentlemen barring their entry.

  “Let’s try this again, fellas,” she said, drawing a smirk from the man on the right. She touched the backs of her hands together and put them in the narrow space between the two men. She separated her hands and pushed. Both men winced at her touch and dropped to a knee, a look of surprise on each of their faces as she entered the inn.

  Donal grinned and stepped forward as the men rose. He lifted his hands until he felt the warmth from Mag Mon spread across them. “Thanks, lads,” he said. He threw his palms down and pretended to pat their shoulders. “Don’t get up on our account.” The energy from the first pat doubled them over, knocking the man on the left prone.

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  Siobhan’s display of power was deft. Donal was certain no one but himself knew precisely what caused them men to buckle. Donal’s follow-up was less subtle; he kept his eyes forward and hoped for the best. Siobhan glanced behind her at the wake of their entrance and slid Donal a wink.

  The crowd inside was thinner yet it held more people than the keeper could dream of on the busiest of nights. Every seat at the inn’s six boards was full. A group stood near an unlit fireplace. Another group gathered near the staircase. There were three people next to the bar for every stool. Every pair of eyes followed Siobhan and Donal.

  A tall, lanky man stepped from behind the bar and walked over to another standing among the group next to the staircase.

  “That’s the father,” Donal whispered to Siobhan. “The one the keeper’s talking to. The one who warned me.”

  “You’re sure?” she asked.

  Donal nodded.

  The keeper leaned in and muttered something to the farmer, who nodded and pointed at Donal. The keeper bobbled his head and stepped toward the entrance and addressed the visitors. “I understand you’ve had quite the day,” he said.

  “We did,” Siobhan said. “I’m just pleased it ended well enough, you know.”

  The keeper twisted his long, slender neck and furrowed his grey brows. “How do you figure?” he asked. “My cousin is down two head of cattle.”

  “It would have been worse if my friend here hadn’t stepped in.” Siobhan said. “The ones that did it were about to attack your cousin’s children.”

  “So he says,” the keeper said with a nod to his cousin. “Two days ago people started losing livestock. One poor fella died trying to defend his land. Now folks from the other end of Tyrconnell are down here claiming to have stopped them. Seems improbable to me.” He pointed at his cousin. “To us.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Siobhan said, shifting her weight to her left leg and folding her arms. “Are you arriving at a question, then?”

  The innkeeper narrowed his eyes. “Several. The first of which being: how did you know to come here?”

  “We have friends we keep in contact with,” Siobhan said.

  “‘Friends?’” the keeper asked. “What manner of friends?”

  “The manner who know to find us and tell us when certain… things occur.” She anticipated his next question, raising a hand and saying, “‘Things’ of an unusual nature.”

  The innkeeper rubbed his thick, disheveled beard as his next question formed. “You do this often?”

  Siobhan waited a few seconds before answering. “More so as of late,” she said. “This is the farthest south we’ve ever been.”

  An older, balding man cried out from the board closest to the bar, “They probably summoned the things in the first place! Then they pretend to be the hero to steal money from people like us.”

  “Whist!” the innkeeper said as he held up a halting hand to the room. “No sense in letting this turn unseemly if we don’t need to.” He turned back to Siobhan. “But if he’s thinking it, it’s likely others are, too. What say you?”

  “We haven’t asked for a single coin nor crop from any of you since we’ve been here. I’m a MacSweeney, so I have no need for it. Instead, we came here this evening to give you coin for a night’s peace. What say you to that?”

  The innkeeper scanned the room and marked the softened facial expressions of his patrons. “I’m inclined to trust you and your intentions.” He scowled at Donal’s brightening face. “But there’s one thing we have to weigh in this matter. You say this is happening more frequently of late? How certain are you that you’re the one following these strange things and not the other way ‘round? Can you say for a fact that they’re not following you?”

  Siobhan responded with a nod. Donal responded with a twitch.

  “They’re not following us. We hear about things like fuath on the move and we set out to stop them.”

  The keeper pointed to Donal. “Your friend doesn’t seem so sure.”

  Donal dropped his eyes to the floor as the crowd erupted. “This is blasphemy!” a woman yelled. “They’re summoning demons and unleashing them upon us!” another man yelled. “Don’t be eejits; whatever’s happening to us, they’re trying to fight it!” yet another called out.

  “If you please!” the innkeeper bellowed, his hand held high. He walked up to Siobhan and glanced at Donal. “I thank you for saving my kin. I trust your hearts are in the right place, but if there’s any chance that the tuath are drawn to you, I can’t take you in.”

  “You’re forcing us to travel through the night,” Siobhan said. “We’re willing to sleep in the bleedin’ stables at this point! Turning us away is wrong, and I think you know that.”

  The innkeeper dropped his head. “I just might,” he said. “Still, I have to look after my own.” He reached into a pouch tied to his belt and pulled out several coins and dropped them in her hand. “My name’s MacNulty. I can only hope the next time we meet will be in friendlier times.”

  “I thank you for the gesture,” Siobhan said, “but as I said, we don’t need the money.” She smiled as she put the coins in his hand and closed his fingers around them.

  The man sighed and nodded. “So you don’t. Safe travels, lass.”

  Murmurs and grumbles sounded throughout the room as Siobhan and Donal turned for the door. The two gentlemen who had failed to prevent their entry into the inn now blocked their exit.

  “Fellas,” MacNulty said, “they have a rough journey ahead of them, hai? They don’t need your help in making it worse.”

  With a last look at the innkeeper, the men parted, allowing Siobhan and Donal to pass. The rest of the outside crowd followed their lead, albeit with different levels of anger and disbelief on their faces.

  Donal leaned close to Siobhan and whispered, “Sure look, you MacSweeneys might not need the extra coin, but we MacLaughlins could do with some now and then.”

  Siobhan’s laugh caught nearby strangers by surprise given the situation. “We both know who was paying for the room,” she said, nudging him away with her arm.

  Confusion spread across Finn’s face as the pair approached the wagon. “You’re not bleeding,” he said, “but you’re also not staying. What happened in there?”

  “It’s a long story,” Donal said. “And you’ll get the chance to hear it several times on our trip home tonight.”