Quickly they woke the others and told them what Brie had learned.
"The arrow shows you things that are far away?" asked Maire, her eyes wide.
"Sometimes," Brie replied.
"And you told me there was no draoicht in you," Aelwyn said with her catlike smile.
"It rests in the arrow, not in me," Brie said shortly.
"Do we return to camp?" asked Maire.
"Yes," Brie replied. But she made no move to depart.
"It is too bad you did not consult the arrow before. It would have saved us a trip," grumbled Aelwyn.
"Mmmm," responded Brie, her mind elsewhere. "Aelwyn," she said suddenly, "is there, by chance, a porth near? To Tir a Ceol?"
"Perhaps." The wyll looked sulky.
"Aelwyn!"
"Surely the arrow can tell you where it is," Aelwyn purred.
Brie waited.
"Oh, very well. Yes. And it happens to be quite close."
"Why, Brie?" asked Collun.
"I'm not sure. But I was thinking that if we could get word to Silien..."
"Yes, an Ellylon army!" Collun's eyes lit up.
Hanna spoke, her face serious. "No matter how close your friendship with Prince Silien, it would take much for Ellylon to involve themselves in a matter that does not directly concern them."
"They were prepared to help us when Medb threatened," Collun pointed out.
"There was the cailceadon at stake then. Furthermore, there is no time for an army of sufficient strength to be mustered."
"It is worth trying," stated Brie. "At the very least we could send word to King Midir. After all, Prince Durwydd is a friend to Ellylon."
Hanna snorted. "Midir no doubt has as little respect for our prince as we do. But ... as long as it does not take us far off our path," she agreed.
They made it to the porth by midday. Aelwyn led them to an ancient willow tree on the edge of a still, silvery pond.
The wyll approached the tree, her hands upraised. But there was a sudden wrinkling on the surface of the trunk, accompanied by an almost melodic whispering sound. A person with golden hair emerged from the tree.
It was Silien. Collun let out a glad cry and clasped the Ellyl in a bear hug. Fara wound between Silien's legs, while Brie, too, warmly greeted him.
"We had come in search of you," she said in amazement, "and here you are!"
"I was seeking you as well. Well met, Breo-Saight."
"There is trouble, Silien," she said, after introducing him to the others.
"So I have heard."
"Will King Midir help us?" Brie asked bluntly.
Silien shook his head. "No. My father is preoccupied with cleaning up northern Tir a Ceol. Before the Firewurme was destroyed, it wrought havoc in the far northern stretches; the waters were fouled and the land corroded. Further, there has been an infestation of nathrach. They are strange small snakelike creatures and are quite toxic. We believe they were also let loose from the Cave of Cruachan by Medb. They have been bedeviling small pockets of Tir a Ceol. When I heard the rumors of trouble in Dungal, and that you and Collun might be involved, my father gave me leave to investigate, but he said not to count on him should there be trouble. Our own people must come first."
"Did you travel here alone?" asked Hanna.
"Well, no actually ... There was a small band of Ellylon stationed at the porth in the Blue Stack Mountains. I asked for a volunteer, to accompany me north. He seemed enthusiastic at first, though I'm afraid ... I'd better fetch him." Silien disappeared back into the tree.
The others were starting to fidget when Silien finally reemerged, followed by none other than the Ellyl Monodnock.
The Ellyl prince looked annoyed, saying, "Please excuse the delay." Monodnock's cheeks were almost as bright a red as his hair and he looked terrified. But when he saw Brie and Aelwyn, he let out a glad cry.
"Fair and tender ladies," he said, drawing himself to his full height, "it is a jubilation to see you once again. And shall I say that I am quite gleaming—no, blazing—with honor and privilege to have the opportunity, snatched from me so prematurely when last we met, to serve you on your mighty quest."
"Monodnock, well met," said Brie, biting on her lower lip to keep from laughing. She caught Aelwyn's eye, which flashed back at her merrily. Hanna, Collun, and the brother and sister merely looked astonished.
"Monodnock here keeps straying off; it's almost as if he wished to be elsewhere," Silien said with an ironic tilt to his eyebrows.
"Oh, no, no, no! I was merely performing a close inspection as to the state of the tunnels," blustered the taller Ellyl, running both hands through his spiky hair. "I know King Midir has the highest standards and I—"
"Yes, quite," broke in Silien. "Now, tell me," he asked Brie, "is it true that the gabha are on the move? And that they answer the call of a sorcerer with one eye?"
"He is Balor and he has two eyes, but one is all white. He seeks to overthrow Dungal, as well as Eirren. And ultimately, I believe, even Scath itself."
"He desires to conquer the Queen of Ghosts? This Balor does not lack for ambition," Silien said dryly. "The pass you saw, Brie, describe it to me."
The Ellyl listened intently, then nodded, saying, "Yes, it sounds like Tanniad Pass. Perhaps there is something we can do about the gabha coming from the mountains. Come, we must go quickly."
Silien rode with Collun on Fiain, while Monodnock nervously climbed up behind Brie on Ciaran. Silien led them east into the foothills.
"Excuse me." Monodnock leaned forward to whisper to Brie. "Prince Silien isn't truly planning to engage a host of one hundred gabha?" His voice cracked on the final word. "I mean, I know that the prince's draoicht must be impressive and all. But one hundred goat-men?"
"There is always danger when one seeks to defeat evil," Brie replied solemnly.
"Of course," Monodnock said tremulously.
***
By midnight they had begun the ascent into the northern peaks of the mountains. They rested briefly, then pushed on.
Silien, with his keen Ellyl ears, heard the gabha long before they were visible. The sun was rising as the Ellyl led them up a ridge. They then dismounted and followed Silien to the top of an escarpment. Taking care to keep out of sight, they gazed down into the valley that was Tanniad Pass.
In the distance they could make out the beginning of the column of goat-men Brie had seen winding through the mountains.
"There is a little time yet to prepare," said Silien.
He led them back to the ruins of an ancient stone wall. Giving them all a pleasant nod, he wandered over to a cluster of three larch trees. There he lay down on a mat of pine needles and promptly fell asleep. Fara curled up beside him, in her customary position by his shoulder. Monodnock stared across at the sleeping Ellyl, clutching Brie's arm.
"Don't worry, Monodnock," Brie said. "You know how much, um, energy it takes to work draoicht." She remembered all the times she had seen Silien fall asleep after performing some miraculous feat, although she could not actually recall him napping beforehand. She sent Clun to the crest to keep watch on the goat-men, while the others settled against the stone wall.
"He might have told us what he was planning," grumbled Aelwyn, fiddling with a gemstone on one of her necklaces. Brie noticed that it was a saphir and wondered if it was from the rock Collun had given Aelwyn long ago, when She had told their fortunes.
"Silien has always kept his own council," replied Collun. "But rest assured, if there were something we could be doing, he would have told us."
"I am glad to hear it," responded Aelwyn. "You met the Ellyl on your journey to destroy the wurme, did you not?" she asked, looking up at him with wide amber eyes.
Embarrassed, Collun said, "Well, it was before that. He rescued us from a vine, cro-olachan."
"I have heard of cro-olachan," Aelwyn said with a slight shiver. The saphir at her neck caught the sun.
Brie abruptly rose and moved away. She crossed to Ciaran and Fiain, who were grazing nearby. Hanna followed her.