into a shout, and all movement in the cottage was stopped.
âAs bad as the Invaders?â repeated Merrigutt. âIs that right?â
Oona nodded. She swallowed and said, âIâm not leaving here if thatâs what youâre planning. Iâll not let those Invaders take this house. This is our home, and has been for longer than anything!â And her hand enclosed the back of her grannyâs chair.
âSheâs a stubborn one,â said one of the other old women. âSheâs a Kavanagh through and through. Look at that grim look on her face â just like the father!â
âQuiet now!â said Merrigutt. âYouâre not to make judgements so easy!â
Silence, and in it the kettle began its grumble, firelight blinking on battered belly.
âWhy are you all here anyway?â said Oona. She looked to Merrigutt, who held her gaze. âTell me the truth, cos I donât like being lied to. Iâm not a child or stupid, so donât think it!â
âAll right,â said Merrigutt. âWeâre here to escort you South, my girl. Weâre here now because those Invaders havenât come over the Divide and down South just for the sake of it, not for their own amusement.â
âNot a bit of it!â went one of the women with her mouth full of blue-moulded loaf.
âNo, theyâve been looking and looking for something,â said Merrigutt.
âChildren,â said Oona. âI know that much. Iâve seen.â
âTrue!â said one of the women with half of one hand buried in a pot of gooseberry jam.
âBut more than that,â said another, fingers around a tendril-sprouting potato. âThey donât want the children just for the sake of having them!â
âTheyâre here now,â said Merrigutt, still focusing on Oona, âbecause of their Kingâs orders. And he has no interest in cottages or kettles or anything else.â
âWhat does he want?â said Oona.
The room was at its quietest, the old women all like they were waiting.
âWe donât know everything of what this King wants,â said Merrigutt. She looked away from Oona and focused instead, with sudden intentness, on the painting Oonaâs mother had done. Its rough rectangle was occluded with so much web, but Oona knew it was the painting of that dreamed-up place: low hills like the softest rise and dip of the sea, the colour of wild meadow and bright blossom. âAll we know,â said Merrigutt, and she turned once again to face Oona, âis that the Invaders are keen on capturing and not killing those children. Using the Briar-Witches to snatch? Those creatures are more used to just gobbling up whole and thinking about the bones later. No, theyâre keeping those children for some reason.â
âInformation,â said Oona. âBy the Torrid, they were all shouting about keeping the children alive, so ââ
âTheyâre looking for something,â said Merrigutt. âA small thing, but precious enough too that the Invaders and their âKing of the Northâ, as they call him, would happily turn this Isle to dark and rot if it meant getting it.â
âWhat something?â said Oona.
Some shiver passed through the air. Everything in the cottage shook.
âIt is a something,â said Merrigutt, âthat weâve been searching for too. And we think weâve found it â we think weâre right in believing that it is hidden right here in the cottage of the Kavanaghs.â
12
And the ground mightâve been listening in â couldâve been waiting readied to hear just these words spoken! â because it began to seethe with something underneath and every old woman was suddenly into the air and all transformed in the same hop-spasm-shudder back to jackdaws, with Merrigutt crying, âOona, quick! Quick, onto the table!â
Quick but not quick