Opening her eyes, Bee was surprised to see the fire was still burning brightly. She must have slept no more than a few moments. Everything she dreamed was as evident in her mind as if she’d lived rather than dreamed it. In truth, this wasn’t the first time her dreams had appeared so real. Usually when it happened, she’d something on her mind. One question troubling her this time was why she would dream of The Three. What could possibly have prompted it? Shaking her head, she accepted that by the time she was fully awake only a residue of the dream would remain. Listen to the ring fighter was a candidate for the most likely, and she suspected that was the reason for the dream. Did ring fighter have some connection to Danu’s Three?

  Bee looked across the fire to find Dorn regarding her with a smirk.

  “Not much of a sentry, are you?” he asked.

  “Why d’ye say that?”

  “Because it is difficult to keep watch when you are asleep.”

  Listen to the ring fighter.

  “I closed me eyes for a moment, so I did.”

  “Really. If you say so.”

  I do say so. And another thing I say is, who are ye? Ye’re not who or what ye seem.

  “I was thinking about The Gap,” he said, sitting up and wrapping his blanket around his shoulders.

  “Ye were?”

  Listen to the ring fighter.

  “I was…” He hesitated. “I am sure the way is closed. I just made it through.”

  “And yet, ye said nothing,” she scoffed, guessing he was about to reveal the reason for the message in her dream.

  Shrugging, he said, “I did not think you would believe me. Especially when you think there is no choice. But there is another way. It is a way that might give us an advantage over your brother, too.”

  Listen to the ring fighter me left butt cheek.

  “I thought I knew these lands, Ring Fighter, and here ye are, telling me I don’t.”

  If Bee thought her tone would cow him somewhat, she was mistaken. Staring at her intently, he said,“Something I learned when I was young was that we never know as much as we think. Take me, now; I travelled these Kingdoms all my long life, and I learn something new with each passing day.”

  “What did ye learn today, Ring Fighter?”

  “I learned to be humble.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I am not sure,” he said, smirking again. “Perhaps it means that sometimes we need to believe what others tell us. Perhaps we should allow others to take the lead once in a while. And sometimes, we need to listen.”

  Bee nodded briefly but said nothing. She still had very little idea about who this man was. She was no longer sure he and Finn were working together because he was beginning to appear much too complex for the tracker, who was probably not a tracker.

  Ye must take care, Bee; just because one arrow in the quiver is sharper than the rest doesn’t mean they came from a different fletcher.

  “So, ye have me ears. Tell me, Ring Fighter.”

  “The Western Wall runs from north to south with no break in it, bar The Gap. This is common knowledge. However, what is not common knowledge is that down south, there are passageways under the Fiery Mountain—”

  “Ye’re jesting,” Bee interrupted. “The tunnels that the molten fire created are known to be a warren. All who enter there die lost or burned. That’s also common knowledge.”

  “Ah, but not if you know the way.”

  “And ye do, I suppose.”

  “Yes. I do.”

  “How?” Bee asked, becoming more sure by the instant that this Dorn was not just a battered old ring fighter if he even was what he’d claimed. He seemed far too complex for someone who made heir meat and mead battering and being battered so sadists could lay wagers.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “I have been living in these lands for a long time. You’d be surprised, I reckon,” he said with an impeccable imitation of the tracker’s voice. So much so, that Bee turned to make sure Finn was still sleeping.

  Listen to the ring fighter. Was it a dream? I think not.

  “Hmm. Ye said we’d get an advantage over Bren…”

  “Your brother rode through The Gap before they closed it. He is going the long way around. With an underground shortcut, we might beat him to Breshlech. Well, with a little luck.”

  Bee rubbed her face with her palms. She suddenly felt exhausted, undoubtedly because of her curtailed recovery but also because she was afraid someone was manipulating her. The smirk on the brute’s battered chops did nothing to ease that fear.

  Listen to the ring fighter, both my butt cheeks.

  “What’s yer connection to Danu’s Three?”

  “Why do you think there is a connection?” he asked, his eyes twinkling with mirth.

  “Never mind. In the morning, we’ll go south, so we will.”

  Dorn nodded and said, “I will take the watch. I think you need some sleep.”

  ***

  When they broke the news to Finn the following day, he said nothing. Bee could tell he was less than happy with the decision because he was downcast as they turned their mounts away from the road and headed south to enter the forest on a narrow pathway towards the Western Wall.

  One’s as bad as the other, she thought, as they entered the cover of the trees, Dorn leading.

  As she’d been unsure of the brute’s motives and allegiance, so she was of Finn’s. What had he been doing in the Kingdoms before she arrived? And why was he not waiting for her at the Cave of Cats? The ferryman said he’d been on the boat twice in the last three days, so maybe he had been searching for Bren. But then she kept returning to his appearing from the wrong side of the crag. She supposed it was possible that he skirted the cave to relieve himself but why would he? No, he’d been doing something on the other side that didn’t involve his pants at half mast. But what?

  “I don’t know,” she whispered.

  “Sorry, didn’t catch that,” Finn said. Bee shook her head, saying nothing; her mind caught up with the puzzle everything had become.

  “You’re deep in thought,” Finn said.

  Listen to the ring fighter. But who says The Three are on the side of right? Or even that the dream was a message? It might just have been a dream.

  “Not thinking so much,” she said, realising that Danu and her Three might also be manipulating her. “I’m exhausted, so I am. I should be sleeping for another two hundred summers.”

  Leaning close and whispering so the brute riding to the front couldn’t hear, Finn said, “Do you think it wise to trust him?”

  “Don’t ye?”

  Glaring at the ring fighter’s back, Finn shook his head vehemently. “Summat very odd about him, I reckon.”

  Finn sounded so much like Dorn’s impersonation of him that Bee had to suppress a grin.

  “Aye, it’s almost like he’s been sent by someone, or something,” she whispered conspiratorially. And he’s not the only one, she kept to herself. “Do ye think he’s trying to keep us away from me brother?”

  As she asked the question, Bee caught something in the trackers look, which he quickly masked.

  “What d’you mean sent by something?” he asked. She was quite sure he was trying to distract her, hoping she hadn’t caught the expression. But what did it mean? It was when she mentioned Dorn keeping them away from Bren.

  “I don’t know, Finn. There’s something off, as ye rightly said.”

  They didn’t talk much during the rest of the ride. Watching Finn throughout the day, Bee noticed he became increasingly agitated the closer they got to the Western Wall. Maybe he’d heard of the tunnels and what happened to those who entered them, or maybe he was worried that using them they would catch her brother. Bee had to admit that the tunnels worried her. The intrepid had been searching for a way through for millennia. The brute’s claim was the first she’d heard that someone had found one.

  Their silence continued during the night when they camped in a dingle just off the road. They only spoke when necessity dictated the need. Even the quality of Finn’s food didn’t lighten their mood.

  The night of their second day's ride was closing in when the ring fighter drew rein and dismounted in a clearing covered with wildflowers. Bee could see the mountains through the gap in the forest canopy and felt her heart leap. Thoughts of the tunnels were making her nervous.

  Am I doing the right thing?

  “We lead the horses from here,” the ring fighter said.

  Dismounting, Finn dropped his reins and ran to stand before Bee as she climbed off her horse. “You can’t do this,” he said.

  “What?”

  “Lead us into those caves. It’ll be our death, I reckon.”

  Is he right, or is something else happening?

  Bee wasn’t sure the caves were the way to go but could not think of anything else. She rubbed her face vigorously. When she stopped, she saw the ring fighter over Finn’s shoulder, but it wasn’t Dorn, only an approximation of him. The same barreled chest and massive arms, the same rugged features, pock marked with a flat nose. However, with this new ring fighter, his ears no longer resembled flowers but were elongated. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t think how. He held a massive hammer in his hand, which he swung in an arc until it contacted the top of Finn’s head with a sickening crack. Bee watched as the tracker’s feathered cap slipped sideways, and his eyes turned up, displaying nothing but the whites. His knees buckled and he crumpled. Bee knew he was dead before he hit the grass and his brains began seeping into the pretty little clearing.

  So, Bheara’s premonition remains unfailing.