I dunno how Nion found me back there in the bilberry woods behind King Cormac's wheat field. First thing after we left Keu at the healer's, I met a friendly lass who showed me this path that went down to a nice big berry patch. We never did get to gathering any of the fruit. We been drinking and rolling around together in the berry patch since the feis started a few days ago. Now Nion stomps in, hauls me out of there by the ear, and throws me in the creek.

"Yer all blue!" he hollers between slapping my face raw and half-drowning me with dunkings. "By the Dagda's belly, me only son is bluer than one o' those dagger-demon Picts! And smellin' like a brewery too. Betcha haven't even picked so much as a flea off anybody either, have ya? What are we here for? It took me three days and two nights to track ye down. Now its about time to earn a livin'!"

Da beats me like a washerwoman pounds a bloody war-shirt till most of the bilberry blue is gone downstream and I'm near sober again. Then he sends me wobbling off to the healer's tent to see if Keu is still alive. He said also to look for a man in MacRoth colors who promised to be holding seven bags of silver and three good horses for us as an pledge of alliance. He might be somewhere near the tent. Sure we could use an extra man since we don't know if Keu will make it. And we had to leave one of our best horses behind when we got chased out of that bruidean in Cill Dara.

I'm loathe to leave the friendly lass and I'm tempted to just forget about Keu and go back to the berry patch, 'specially now that I'm all cleaned up for a fresh start. I swear Da hears what I'm thinking. He gives me one more swat and reminds me that my share of the silver will buy whatever lass I like, or even several! Then he gives me a kick in the breeks to send me on the way.

The hillside going down to the healer's tent looks like a battlefield. There's blood all over the grass and I see one man with an arm cut off who is dead and already feeding the flies. A sorry looking horse and a beat-up wolfhound sit mournfully off to one side while the healer and another woman are pulling arrows out of some unlucky ranger. They are so busy that they don't see me lurking around the tent. It looks like the ranger is a MacRoth because blue and green rags that were probably once part of his clothing lie in a red puddle on the grass beside him. What if that was our man? How will I ever know? Da will drum me up one side of Tara Hill and down the other if I don't find that man.

I steal into the tent and find Keu still stretched out on the cot. At first I think he must be dead. Then I see his chest moving. He's only sleeping, good! He looks pale as a corpse but at least he's still alive. His sword arm is all wrapped up, from fingertips to the shoulder.

"Maybe we should just leave him here," Hadaig whispers right behind me. I jump and jerk my head around to glare at him.

"How did you get here? Why did you sneak up on me like that?" I hiss at the Night Raven. "Where is Baine? We were all s'posed to stay together."

Hadaig just blinks at me. "Nion's been looking for you ever since we got here. I see from the bilberry blue bruise around your eye that he finally caught up to you. Anyway, what about Keu? And did you find the MacRoth? We should be on our way to raid Inver Colpa by now!"

The healer comes into the tent to get more of her medicines. She looks exhausted. She looks at us in surprise, and Hadaig and I look at each other like two wolves in the sheep pen, thinking the same evil thoughts.