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Cú Chulainn leapedfrom his horse and, gripping his spear, thrust it into the heart of one of the Fomorians.

One down...

The other two were closing in on Fand's position. Fand was powerful in her own way—but her power, as a Faerie, was not the sort of magic meant for war or even for self-defense. Even the Faerie king had to recruit a human army and a powerful sorcerer—undoubtedly promising them some kind of blessing—when he'd come to arrest Cú Chulainn. Of course, no one knew everything the faeries could do with their power. Perhaps it was less the capacity of the magic they used and more the constitution of the faeries themselves that made them incapable of violence. After all, the magic the sorcerer wielded, what was it if it hadn't come from the Fae? And these Fomorian warriors. Three other creatures, somehow recruited by the Faerie King, to do what he could not... to murder his wife, the faerie whom Cú Chulainn loved.

Cú Chulainn inhaled as the ríastrad invigorated his gait. He didn't need a horse... he was faster than any steed in this form. Raising his spear overhead he threw it, catching the second Fomorian between the shoulder blades. The creature crashed into the sandy ground.

Two down...

Cú Chulainn yanked his spear out of the second Fomorian's body and charged the last Fomorian who was closing in on Fand.

"Sétanta!" Fand shouted as she saw him. Not many people still called him by his true name. But the last time he'd seen Fand that's the only name he'd had.

Cú Chulainn again raised his spear. The second Fomorian turned, raised his hand, and cast some kind of blue magic against his spear, causing it to turn around in mid-air and fly back toward Cú Chulainn.

Under the ríastrad Cú Chulainn was not only more agile, but his senses were also heightened. He dodged his own spear as it darted toward him through the air.

He didn't dare turn his back on the Fomorian to recover his spear. He'd have to rely on his strength... if only he allowed a little more of the wolf to emerge he'd use the beast's jaws or claws. Whatever it took...

It wouldn't be the first Fomorian he'd bested that way...

He hoped it would be his last.

But the Fomorian shifted shape—he took the form of a giant fish and dove into the sea.

Cú Chulainn stopped by the edge of the sea.

"I can't believe it's you..." Fand said coming up behind him.

Cú Chulainn looked at her and his heart skipped a beat. In an instant, he released the ríastrad and resumed his normal appearance. "It has been too long..."

A tear fell down Fand's cheek. She was even more beautiful than he'd remembered. "I cannot help that I love you still..."

"As I love you," Cú Chulainn said.

"It is on account of our love my husband now seeks my life..."

"Still, if I'm by your side, the Fomorian who remains will not dare come after you again..."

"Sétanta, my love. I cannot be with you. My husband would never..."

"I do not know how marriages work amongst the Fae, but in Ulster, if a husband ever attempted to take his wife's life he would be imprisoned. She would be released from the marriage contract."

Fand nodded. "That would be just and right."

"Then if such is true, for the sake of all that is right and just, you are not married..."

"But what of you?" Fand asked.

Cú Chulainn winced. "I had only just spoken my vows to my would-be wife when your husband sent an army after me... But the marriage was never consummated."

"And there was another... a woman with the ríastrad, like you. She assaulted the Fomorians before..."

Cú Chulainn nodded. "It is a wonder they were able to escape..."

"I don't know," Fand said. "She seemed to give up her pursuit once they fled... undoubtedly to my husband."