Naoise turned to the two sons of Fergus.
“If we are sent to the Red Branch what will you do?”
“We will go there with you,” said Buinne.
“The king’s house is always filled with guests,” Iollann said. “He cannot know just when we should arrive, and he may have no place for us at a moment’s notice.”
“There is nothing Conachúr does not know,” said Deirdre. “Borach will have sent a runner to tell of our arrival, and his own spies will have told the king in what place we camped each night, and at what hour we marched again in the morning. He knows now that we are here, and if he sends us to the Red Branch we are lost.”
“I am as full of curiosity as an old woman,” Naoise laughed. “Let us go on and find out everything that is going to happen.”
In a short time they were among the streets and booths around Emain Macha, but the twilight had descended and the passers-by did not recognize the six travellers.
“Yonder is the Speckled Branch, the Armoury,” said Ainnle. “The Boy Troop will be going to bed shortly. You remember those nights, Naoise, and all the chattering?”
“And the climbing out of windows by a cord,” said Ardan. “And the scrambling back again while the comrades above threw all the world at the guards who were trying to stick spears in us as we shinned up.”
“There is the Red Branch,” said Naoise.