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and brought the blade down horizontally in her hands, holding it chest high in a clearly ritualistic way, reminiscent of the formal transfer of possession practiced in Japan.
    » Manannan Mac Lir, I am here to return Fragarach to you as I promised the Druid Siodhachan Ó Suileabháin I would. Its original scabbard was lost long ago. Will you accept it? «
    » I will, « he said, disappointing everyone who was hoping for some more drama. I thought the Morrigan would have had a few more shenanigans up her—well, not up her sleeve. She didn’t have a stitch on. But then I flicked my gaze over to Brighid and realized what the Morrigan was doing. Brighid still stood as if she expected the Morrigan to charge her at any second. The Morrigan’s sudden appearance with the sword had goaded her into a defensive position, but now that the Chooser of the Slain was behaving in a completely nonaggressive and even polite manner, Brighid looked as if she had overreacted at best and like a frightened coward at worst.
    The Morrigan placed Fragarach gently into Manannan’s outstretched hands and said, » It is done. « Then, without a farewell or even a backward glance at Brighid, she morphed into her crow form and flew into the grove surrounding the Court. She’d followed Brighid’s curt instructions precisely, and now Brighid looked ungracious on top of everything else. The ball of flame still glowed redly in her gauntleted hand, and all eyes swiveled to her and registered that she was ready to fight a nonexistent threat. Realizing this, she muttered a couple of words, and the armor and ball of flame disappeared. To Perun’s great delight, she was once again clad—if one could call it that—in nothing but wispy, transparent gauze.
    She was seriously annoyed, however. Her eyes blazed with a glowing blue light. » How long has she had Fragarach? « she growled.
    » About twelve years, I suppose. But I thought she’d returned it. «
    » And what of the amulet? «
    I shrugged. » I’m sure she’s been working on it, but you could see as well as I that it’s not finished yet. «
    » The point, « Brighid said, her eyes cooling while her voice took on three notes of creepy, » is that it will be finished someday. And I would rather that day never arrive. « The unspoken bit we both understood was that Brighid did not want the Morrigan to be immune to fireballs hurled by the goddess of fire, as I was.
    The two black wolfhounds near the base of the hill had remained stationary and quiescent all through the Morrigan’s visit; now they rose to their feet, bared their teeth, and growled. At me.
    › Hey, that’s rude, ‹ Oberon said.
    Stay silent for now , I told him.
    » If you have naught but threats for me, Brighid, I will take my leave. «
    » You may leave when I allow it. «
    » We are none of your subjects, and you guaranteed us safe passage. «
    » True, but I did not specify how long it would take you to pass through. «
    I made a mental note to demand a fixed time period in any future negotiation with the Tuatha Dé Danann. Being duped twice by the same loophole in the space of a few minutes will drive a point home. Now you can growl , I told Oberon, and he did so with gusto.
    » You and I had a conversation once, if you recall « —I raised my voice over the din of three growling hounds— » about the finer points of hospitality. « She could take that one of two ways. She could remember that I had completely outmaneuvered her, take it as a warning that I had similar plans laid now, and calm down. Or she could listen to her pride, already wounded by the Morrigan, and flare up. The building blue glow in her eyes pointed toward the second option, and my heart dropped as I realized I’d have to kill somebody to get out of here.
    › This is awesome, ‹ Oberon said. › If I wasn’t already involved, I would totally want a bag of popcorn right now. ‹

Chapter 5
    » BWAH-ha-ha! « someone laughed amongst the Tuatha Dé Danann.