Jim was a few seconds later than Peter, but the creature vanished.
“Where is it?” Dougie asked. “Where did it go?”
Torn between helping Mrs Lunan and catching the Sidh, I guessed the answer. “Under the ground,” I said. “It’s under the ground! You lifted the floorboards, remember?”
Leaving the bothy-boys to their hunt, I tried to help Mrs Lunan. She sat with her head back and the two arrows protruding, dripping blood. Mrs Lunan’s eyes were wide with shock and pain.
“Liz! We’ll get them out,” Mr Lunan said.
The arrows were frail, with shafts of reeds attached to the flint head. Mr Lunan snapped the reeds between his finger and thumb and gently drew the shafts through Mrs Lunan’s face. The blood spurted out in great scarlet fountains as Mrs Lunan made horrible gurgling noises, putting he
