CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Liam noted Riordan’s presence before his friend joined him on one of Carraigmór’s granite balconies. It was his usual choice when he needed to think over a difficult matter, and he and Riordan had had many conversations here over the years. Usually, though, the Ceannaire gave the advice to Riordan, not the other way around.

“I told him.”

Riordan stepped to the railing beside Liam. “How did he take it?”

“He’s angry. Disappointed. Expected something more dramatic, perhaps.” Liam rubbed his eyes. “I suspect he’d like to go off somewhere to sulk, but he has too much self-respect to be seen doing so.”

“I imagine he does. He’s an impressive young man. You have done well by him.”

“Have I?” Liam wasn’t so sure. All these years of treading the road he thought Comdiu had set before him, secure in his justifications for his actions, were crashing down around him. “I lied to him. Or, rather, I allowed him to believe a lie, which is much the same thing.”

Riordan was quiet for a moment. “I did the same with Conor.”

“Aye, on my direction. It seems I’ve made many such questionable decisions.”

“What is this really about? I’ve never known you to be so melancholy.”

Liam pushed away from the rail and turned his back to the Fíréin city. “The druid is amassing an army. You know this; you saw and heard firsthand how he is conscripting men and boys.”

“We will be under siege.”

“Aye. And many will die, on both sides. Niall knows that even his trained men cannot stand up to the skill of the Fíréin. He just seeks to throw bodies in our way, the younger the better. If we kill them, the sorcery in their blood is a threat to us. If we take pity on them and let them live, they will find a way to strike at us from the inside. And while we are distracted, he can seek his true objective.” Liam crossed his arms over his chest. “The city will fall, and all we have built, all we have protected, will be gone.”

“And the victory?”

Liam had to give Riordan credit. To most men, news that their brothers would die and their city would fall would automatically mean defeat. “Comdiu has not shown me that. So much still depends on Eoghan. And Conor.”

“What does Conor have to do with this?”

“More than you know. More than I can tell you. His time in Seare is not finished. But I will soon become unnecessary.”

Once, Riordan would have tried to reassure him, but they both knew the time for that was past. No matter the outcome, the brotherhood’s part in Seare’s history was coming to an end.