Dallan. Finn. Diarmid. Conan. Cormac. Ardál. Illadan. Broccan. Out of fifty-three men who had undertaken the training to become part of the Fianna, they were the only ones who finished it. Some had simply failed. Many had died. And now the safeguarding of the kingdom fell squarely at their feet.
Dallan and Finn stopped to gaze at the white wisps climbing toward the clear blue sky.
“Where is that?” Ardál asked, taking several steps closer. “It’s not Cill Chainnigh, is it?” He looked up at the sun to gauge the direction of the smoke, which now billowed ominously not a day’s ride out.
“Nay,” Illadan, the leader of the Fianna, shook his head. “’Tis Thurles.”
“There’s a rider,” Cormac added, pointing to the man flying over the countryside toward Caiseal, pushing a destrier to its limits. “Brian will want us to go.”
With all haste, the men headed for the solar, making it to the courtyard inside the keep before being waylaid by Dallan’s sister.
Eva rushed toward Finn, her husband, the joy on her face bringing a smile to his own. Dallan had been furious when he first learned of his sister’s love affair with his best friend. He had trusted Finn, and the betrayal had stung more than he cared to admit. But now he held them both in nothing but the highest regard. It had taken some time, mind you, but Finn and Eva had both proven trustworthy in the end.
Unlike other people in his life.
“You’re back early,” she commented, eyeing the other men who were even now piling into the solar. “Is something amiss?”
“It looks like Thurles is under attack,” Finn told her, pulling her against his chest.
Dallan felt that he had intruded on a private moment, turning away to join the others in the solar instead of loitering in the courtyard. He also didn’t care for the consideration of his own love life their romance had dredged up. He could certainly do without revisitingthatever again. All that mattered to Dallan was that his sister had found love, and that she could share her life with someone who loved her right back.
“Dallan,” Eva called before he could disappear entirely. She pulled him aside, Finn hovering next to her, his arm about her waist. “You don’t have to leave every time I hug my husband, you know,” she teased. “I want to see you, too.”
“I know,” he replied. “I just thought you might appreciate some privacy.”
“Are you still upset over the betrothal?” Finn asked, concern writ on his face. “What can we do to fix it?”
Dallan shook his head. “No, of course not. We cleared that up long ago,” he grumbled. “You’re both imagining things. I’m just fine. I was only trying to be polite.”
“Are you still seeing that lady’s maid? Ciara?” Eva asked, clearly unaware that there were far more important matters at hand.
“No,” Dallan replied tersely. He’d never had the heart to tell her that the maid’s recent boasts of bedding him were entirely fabricated. She’d been so happy thinking that he might have found someone that he never bothered to correct her. “And we need to get in there before Brian does. That rider will be here any minute.”
“Dallan,” his sister persisted, “you took a vow to marry for love. It’s part of your oath, a responsibility you have now. You’ll have to do it eventually.”
She was right, of course. It was part of the oath each of them had taken to become one of the Fianna.
“I have every intention to,” he informed her. “It won’t be a problem, I simply decided Ciara wasn’t that person. And it doesn’t need to happen anytime soon.”
His sister had the good sense not to comment further, but he didn’t care at all for the look she gave him.
“What was that about?” Finn asked as they walked through the first set of doors leading to the solar, leaving Eva in the courtyard. “Do you mean to tell me there’s a part of your life you haven’t boasted of yet?”
Normally, Dallan would have shoved him into the wall of the corridor. Instead, he held his tongue and stayed his hand.
Finn stopped walking. “Gods, Dallan. Maybe we really should talk about this.”
“It’s something I don’t much care to speak of, and I like thinking of it even less.”
Finn furrowed his brow, staring thoughtfully at Dallan. “I’ll try again when you’re in your cups,” he decided aloud.
That time Dallan did shove him.
They arrived in Brian’s solar moments before Broccan, Illadan, and Brian returned from the barracks and the hall. Broccan had started assembling the army, and Illadan had gone to retrieve Brian and intercept the messenger.
Brian took a seat before the hearth, burning even during the day now that the weather had taken on the chill of autumn. Though he was but a shadow of the warrior he’d been in his youth, he still commanded any room he entered with ease.
“As you’re aware, Thurles is under attack.” Brian had never been one to mince words. “King Aodh of Ailech has come all this way south from Ulidia to wreak havoc on my allies. According to the rider I just received, King Cohal of Thurles is dead and one of his daughters has been captured. The village is burning, the keep has fallen.
