'I will go,' said Nathos, but he looked not at his star-eyed wife as he
spake the words.

That night all rejoiced save Deirdre. Heavy was her heart as she thought
she would never again, in shadow or in sunlight, rest in the land of Alba
of the lochs.

On the morrow they set sail, and swiftly the galley bore them to the
shores of the Green Isle. And when Deirdre stood once more on the soil of
her own land, then was her heart glad, and for a brief space she
remembered not her fears or her dreams.

In three days they came to the castle of Borrach, and there had Fergus to
keep his bond to feast with Borrach. 'For,' he said, turning to those with
him, 'my feast-bond I must keep, yet send I with you my two sons.'

'Of a surety, Fergus, must thou keep thy feast-bond,' answered Nathos,
'but as for thy sons, I need not their protection, yet in the company each
of the other will we fare southward together.'

But as they went, Deirdre urged that they should tarry, and when they had
gone further, Nathos found that his wife had vanished from his side. Going
back he found her in deep sleep by the wayside.

Gently waking her, Nathos read terror in her starry eyes.

'What aileth thee, my Queen?'

'Again have I dreamed, O Nathos, and in my dream I saw our little company,