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could kill a man? There is a difference between hitting straw and human flesh.”Mira thought back to the night in the dunes… Her husband, drowning in his own blood…
    “Yes, I could.”
    “Here are letters of introduction  to the heads of our houses. They will see to your requirements.  Give me the map; I will have their locations marked on it.” Kerris  untied the velvet bag. She held up a copper disc inlaid with markings.”  When you get to the city look for the home  of Elmund Dwarfdale. Present this”.
    They stood in the courtyard while her horses were prepared. She had chosen a tough little Steppe  pony. Bred for war by the horsemen of the Khanate, its name was Posy.  “You can trust the Rangers, should you meet any. Others you will have to decide for yourself”.
    Mira  mounted her pony. Kerris looked up at her ,arms folded in the sleeves of her habit.
    It is like watching a daughter leave home….No mother ever sent  a  child into a world like this.
    Kerris stood close, taking the reins of the pony. “Mira you are not the girl you were three years past... Do not expect to find the man you lost. He will be different….” Kerris  stood back” May the Spirit of Life watch over and protect you.”
    A mile from the castle one of the horses started to limp.

 
     
     
     
                                                       McGinty Tells a Story.
     
    “I met her once”. Said McGinty
    Moll stared at him.“The Hag?”
    McGinty shook his head. “The one at Poulnafulla.” Moll put down her cup.“Paddy McGinty, you never said a word”.McGinty shrugged.
    “T’was years ago”.
    “Where, what did she say?” Moll asked.
    “There was a ould witchy woman on her death bed the other side of the Glen. She had neither family nor friends. All her life up to mischief, settin’ Pishroges,… putting curses on people..  Back in the Famine days she cursed a man who refused to marry her. He died.
    I went across in the evening to see if there was anything I could do for her. To be honest I was never sure if it was Christian charity or pure divilment that sent me. There were a few good for nothings hanging about outside, waitin’ to ransack the house as soon as she died. I hunted them.
    As I was going in I met the Parish priest coming out. He was shaking like a leaf. He told me she had refused the Last Sacrament. I commended him for his bravery in offering it... He considered himself strong in the faith but not strong enough for Black Biddy.”
    She had a nephew; lived  over in Ballycotton. The most useless man you could meet in a day’s journey. I caught him pulling out drawers in the sitting room.  .I hunted him with a kick in the arse.To annoy her I shouted: “God Bless all here”. A screech came from the bedroom. I opened the door and the smell nearly knocked me . “Ah, Paddy McGinty , is it yourself”, she says lifting her hand to beckon me in.
    “What way are you Biddy?.The smell of piss and vomit would knock a bullock. “
    “As you see Pat ,as you see. Not long now” She lifted herself up out of the covers and I was shocked at the sight of her. She was nothing but skin and bone.
    “It’s only a bag, I’ll have a new one  soon…Tell me Paddy” she says, “How is that in all the years we lived across from each other we never had a cross word?”.
    “I don’t know Biddy, maybe because we stayed out of each other’s way. Or maybe because in all the mischief you brought on people you never did anything to the McGinty’s “
    “That’s true, I did not” She said
    “I s’pose it was just as well. If you had caused us trouble my father would be over and he would have pulled the house down around your ears”.
    Biddy hooted. “He would, and he was one man that could have done it….. Or maybe it was because I was told to leave you and your family alone and not bother you”.
    “What do you mean by that Biddy?”
    She tapped the