The Human Hounds

Finn and the rest of the guards came running up, their swords and spears ready.
"What happened?" Finn shouted. "What was that noise?"
"A banshee," Illan said quietly, beginning to grow warm now that the cold had vanished. He looked over at Finn.
"She has cursed me. What will I do?"
"What sort of curse?" Finn asked.
"I don't know - yet."
The captain of the Fianna looked troubled and then shook his head. "There is nothing you can do but wait for the curse to catch up with you. When you know what it is you might be able to fight it."

Illan and Tuirean were married a week later. The wedding was a huge happy affair, with all the knights of the Fianna and the nobles and their ladies there. It started at sunrise when the chief priest, the Arch Druid, married them in the first rays of the morning sun. It went on all day with eating, drinking, dancing and later contests and games. When night fell the bards came and sat around the huge fires telling stories about the ancient peoples who had come to the land of Erin. They told about the woman called Ceasir Banba who came from the land of Egypt and had given her name to the island. They told about the terrible Fomorians who were the demons from the icy north and they told about the magical Tuatha De Danann.

After the wedding Tuirean and her husband headed off to Illan's palace in the north of the country where they would have a few days holiday before he had to return to his duties as one of the Fianna.

However only two days later a messenger arrived from Finn asking Illan to come back immediately. He said that a huge pirate fleet had been sighted off the coast and Finn wanted his best men by his side should they try to land.

Tuirean stood by the tall wooden gates of the fort and waved at her husband until he had rounded the bend in the road and was out of sight. She was turning to go back indoors when she heard the sound of hooves. She looked back thinking Illan had forgotten something. But it was not her husband but a young man wearing a messenger's cloak. He pulled his horse to a stop a few feet away from Tuirean and climbed down. He bowed.
"My lady," he said, "has my lord Illan set off yet?"
Tuirean looked surprised. "He left only a few minutes ago - but surely you passed him just around that bend?" she asked, pointing down the dusty road.
The young man smiled and shook his head. "I'm sorry my lady, I saw no one."

Tuirean shook her head in wonder. Even if Illan had been galloping surely he wouldn't have reached the distant crossroads so soon?
"Was there a message for my husband?" she asked then.

The messenger nodded again. He was a young man who looked no more than fifteen or sixteen with a head of snow white hair and a sharp sort of face.
"I have a message for my lord Illan and for you too my lady," he said with a smile.
"For me?"
"Yes, my lady. Finn fears that the pirates may land in some of the smaller bays around here and try to sneak south to attack him. He does not wish you to be caught out here with no one to protect you."
"But the fort is guarded," Tuirean said.
"I think Muiren, Finn's mother and your sister, has insisted that he bring you south for greater protection," the messenger said.

Tuirean shook her long jet black hair and stamped her foot in annoyance.
"Sometimes my older sister is worse than a mother, always fussing."
"But does that not show that she cares for you?" the messenger asked quietly.
Tuirean said nothing and stamped off to pack a small satchel and have her horse saddled.

A little while later Tuirean and the messenger rode away from the fort and headed south in the same direction Illan had taken. They reached the crossroads by midday and then the messenger stopped. He leaned forward and pointed down one of the roads.
"That way."
Tuirean hesitated. "I thought it was this way," she said, pointing down another road.
"We could go that way," the messenger said, "but this way is safer. It takes us away from the coast where the pirates might come ashore."

Tuirean nodded doubtfully. She wasn't sure about that but still she followed the messenger down the side road. Soon they rode into a group of trees, short fat ancient oak trees with broad leaves and moss growing on the trunks. There was a little clearing beyond the trees and then the road continued on into a forest where the trees were growing so closely that their branches grew twisted together above the path and hid the sun and sky from their sight. Tuirean had to squint to see the path and she could barely make out the shape of the messenger ahead of her.

Suddenly there was the sound of thunder over head and then it began to rain. Hard heavy drops patted against the closely grouped leaves, spattering and splashing but very few actually reached the ground below. The messenger raised his hand and stopped, but Tuirean was so close that her horse actually bumped into his.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing," the messenger said, "but there is a clearing ahead and if we ride across it we will be soaked."