
seekers of the Awl, the Anti-Witchcraft League. That had been in the days when
suspected witches were burnt to death. In company with the old, blind man and the little
boy, Finn and her gang had taken refuge from the Awl in a hidden valley at the very foot
of the Fang. There they had formed the League of the Healing Hand, a fellowship sworn
to protect the two witches who, despite having such potent magical abilities, were in
themselves frail and rather helpless. The League had ended up being very important in the
overthrow of the Awl and the restoration of the Coven, and had earned the heartfelt
gratitude of the new Righ, Lachlan MacCuinn.
Remembering, Finn thought rather wistfully that those years had been the happiest of
her life. Although there was always the danger of losing a hand as a pickpocket or being
captured as a rebel, there had been the close comradeship of the gang and the constant
thrill of pitting one's wits against the world and winning. Although Finn was never cold or
hungry anymore, she was lonely now and sullen with misery. The constraints of court life
chafed her unbearably and she felt all the court ladies, including her own mother,
disapproved of her greatly.
It had been five years since Finn had discovered she was not an orphan of the
streets, as she had thought, but the daughter of the prionnsa of Rurach. She had been
kidnapped by the Awl as a mere child of six in order to force her father to their will. She
had only discovered the truth during the Samhain rebellion which had put Lachlan
MacCuinn on the throne and returned the Coven to power. Her father had then brought
her back to Rurach, to meet a mother she had not remembered, and to learn to be a
banprionnsa. Although Finn had felt a wrench at leaving her friends, she had been eager
to see her home and her mother and to enjoy a life of ease.
But although Castle Rurach was as luxurious and comfortable as she had imagined, it
was also boring. Built high in the mountains, it was a long way from the crowded streets
of Lucescere, with its merchants, artisans, street performers, thieves and idle nobility. A
young lady of Rurach was expected to spend her time with the other ladies of the court,
plying her needle in exquisite embroidery and discussing the newest way to cut a sleeve.
Finn had no interest in fashion, refused to learn how to sew, and thought of her mother's
retinue as a gaggle of fussy old hens.
The towering range of mountains that culminated in the crooked spire of the Fang
was no longer a source of wistful longings but instead a prison wall which kept her
locked away from the world with no chance of escape. If Finn had known the secret way
over the mountains, she would have run away long ago, searching out her old friends in
Lucescere. She did not know it, however, and so she took what pleasure she could in
defying her mother and shocking the castle.
Goblin had curled up to sleep but suddenly the little cat raised her head, ears pricked
forward. Finn tensed. She heard a step on the stair. She knocked out her pipe with one
hand and thrust the other into her pocket, drawing out a small square of tightly folded
black material. With a shake it billowed out into a cloak which she wrapped around her
swiftly. Wherever the silky stuff brushed against her skin, it tingled and stung, and all the
little hairs rose. She pulled the hood up to cover her face, and sat very still.
A gangly young man came out on to the battlements and stood hesitantly. Her father's
piper, he was dressed in the castle livery, a black and green kilt with a white woollen shirt
and black jerkin. Although he had wrapped his plaid around his thin shoulders, it was