“Perhaps we scared the Sidh away,” Andrew said hopefully as we rose well before dawn.
“Maybe we did,” Dougie agreed. “Maybe that attack down the chimney was their last, and now they’ll leave us in peace.”
I felt the tension as we prepared for the journey, with Mr and Mrs Lunan watching through haunted eyes. Jim’s leg was troubling him, so he remained in the house, with the Lunans. We left the house half-an-hour before dawn, with the steady drizzle weeping on us and the floodwater extending to the hills on either side.
Dougie took the lead, probing under the water with his pike, feeling for the raised track, with the rest of us following, step by slow step. Agnes and I were in the centre, with Peter acting as rear-guard and Andrew never straying far from his family.
“It looks so differe
