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Flidais separated herself fro on whether you would shoith your weapons drawn or not Coan to follow, but I moved slowly and kept my sword out The downside to paranoia is that you occasionally becoet of sport like this, but the upside is that you stay alive

The slow pace allowed us to wonder at the scenery a bit Apart frouish fro feeorin, Fir Darrigs, geancanach, brownies, and a s the Blue Men of the Minch Pixies flitted about excitedly,shter wherever they paused to whisper

The sky above us was the precise shade of blue that travel agencies want on all their pro, what its Pantone nuht be back on earth Here it was the illusion of perfection that Brighid wished to project: All ell in Tír na nÓg, because how could it be otherith such fabulous weather?

The Fae Court wasn’t the stuffy European sort, of course, with ilt-fra about It was, rather, this heather-kissed rove So when Flidais had led us to "a tree directly outside the Fae Court," she e of the meadow Behind us lay the shade of i us, I knew

Judging by the sun’s position, ere on the southern edge of the Court; Flidais was leading us to the northern edge, where there was a small hill--a hillock, I suppose, a wee hid’s throne I could tell she was there, but the distance was great enough that I couldn’t read her expression, and in any case it was far enough away that she didn’t represent an immediate threat The crowd of faeries, however, which was parting to allow us through, would soon be on either side of us and then behind us, and I didn’t like that so much

"Flidais, please warn them to stay clear of my friends and me We ly"

The goddess of the hunt stopped and turned to face us "Do you truly feel we are so hostile?"

"I doubt Brighid is well disposed toward uard The Fae take their cue frohid wishes you harm, she’ll deliver it herself, Druid None of these would presu asped and went, "Oooooh," in expectation that I’d be paying for that comment soon

"Do please tell her that to her face" Flidais turned to resume her walk to the throne and called back over her shoulder, "I can tell already that this is going to be an a about a place where you can’t eat or drink anything I hope we don’t have to stay long, Atticus"

I have the saht-lipped nod to let me know she was okay Perun was okay too--rather, he was hopelessly in lust with Flidais’s backside As long as she didn’t go invisible on hi into the Court--or the ossip that had no doubt circulated on fluttering wings A susurrus of excitement swelled fro to the proportions of a spectator sport

A senuinely clueless about who I was and how I’d react to Fae flying at me, swooped in for a quick playful welcome dance over my head--or so I was informed afterward There were seven of them one second, and two seconds later, after a couple of quick shooing in, there were only three left The survivors, horrified by watching their coh for Perun to zap the mosquitoes here," he said, as a roar bellowed fro

"Those weren’t mosquitoes," Granuaile said, as Flidais whirled, a scowl on her face

"What happened?" she asked

"Pixies," I explained "Maybe so to establish my bona fides"

Flidais raised her voice and spoke to the assembled Fae on either side "I warned you he was the Iron Druid before he arrived," she said "Molest hi ly, "And if the Iron Druid doesn’t kill you, I will" It was Brighid’s voice In her aspect as the goddess of poetry, she could somehow hit three notes at the same time when she spoke--and if she wanted you to hear her clearly frory mob, she could do that too The effect was that she could speak once and you’d be told three tiic users no one could match She couldn’t lie or tell half-truths when she spoke like that, so she didn’t employ it often and she chose her words carefully when she did "Let him approach undisturbed, or I will have your life"

Cowed, the ave us a wider berth Satisfied, Flidais turned and led us again toward the throne It felt as if ere part of a very s was sad because the flowers on the floats had wilted The character of the buzz around us was not onlyforward confidently, thinking that Brighid’s very loud words and her presence were enough to guarantee our safety, but I was still wary There were all sorts of Fae in the Court now, and so If those pixies had been sent by someone to confirm I was truly the Iron Druid, that someone was still out there Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past Brighid or Flidais to have orchestrated it; I had supposedly been dead for almost twelve years, so one way to make sure I wasn’t an impostor was to watch some Fae turn to ash at the touch of my cold iron aura And one of the best ways to absolve herself of responsibility for any further attacks would be to very publicly threaten everyone with death She’d follow through on the threat, of course; couldn’t have her agents blabbing at the last an had told hid had conducted so; there had been a rebellion in his naical weapons abruptly found their way into angry hands, and a whole host of Fae had died Many--if not ’s spawn, but I’m sure there were other factions represented as well Thatthe Tuatha Dé Danann--and I had caused all of it

Well Maybe not all of it The Morrigan had her tensions with just about everyone, but especially with Brighid, and I had not caused that so ardless, I couldn’t look for the saht have even created some new enemies here, and until I could verify as content to let e, suspicion was the best policy

The crowd of Fae ended abruptly about twenty yards frohid’s throne It provided a nice little area for subjects to feel s their audience It also provided some space, to either side, for some VIPs to sit and offer catty reht sat the Tuatha Dé Danann, and to her left sat representatives of the various Fae factions

A quick glance at the Tuatha Dé Danann showed me that nearly all of them were present Manannan Mac Lir, wrapped in his cloak of mists, winked at me from underneath his bushy black eyebrows His wife, Fand, sat next to him, small and delicate and ethereally beautiful in a white sheath with the sans Flidais had ehter, perhaps it was a farace to her, even when she sat still

Og a shaven head these days, along with two large gold hoops in his ears He wore a golden torc around his neck and a kilt--nothing more He’d always been a bit vain about his six-pack His expression was one of polite interest, but you got the feeling it was a façade for his indifference Next to him sat Goibhniu, the master san, Granuaile, and Oberon Unlike Ogma, Goibhniu was riveted by the spectacle of an old Druid approaching Brighid with his friends He sat on the edge of his seat, grinning with anticipation, his elbows resting on his knees and his hands clasped together between thehid was his mother, and he was therefore probably one of the few people who thought it was funny to watch her get worked up His brothers, Creidhne and Luchta, lounged next to hi attention to our passing