But Dermat would not flee from Finn, yet it was his will that Grania should go with Angus. ‘And I will follow if it be that I leave this place alive, yet should I be slain, I pray thee, Angus, send the Princess to her father and beg him that he deal gently with her.’
Then Dermat kissed Grania, and Angus, having told the way that they would go, placed the Princess beneath his mantle and was carried forth on the wings of the wind unseen of Finn.
When Angus and Grania had gone, Dermat girded on his armour, and, deep in thought, he walked to one of the seven doors and asked who was without.
And the answer came, ‘True friends are we, and no harm shall befall thee, shouldst thou venture forth.’
But Dermat answered, ‘I seek the door guarded by Finn, and by none other shall I leave this place.’
And he came to another door and asked who was without, and again was it told him, ‘Thy bounden friends.’
Then to the third, to the fourth, and to the fifth door did Dermat go, and at each was he told how the men without were willing to fight to the death for their love of him.
But when Dermat came to the sixth door and asked by whom it was guarded, the answer came, ‘No friends of thine, for shouldst thou dare to venture forth, we will make thee a mark for our swords and spears.’
‘Cowards, no fear of you keepeth me from coming forth, but I crave not the blood of such as ye.’
And he went to the seventh door and asked who was without. And the voice of Finn answered, ‘He that hateth thee, and will sever thy head from thy body shouldst thou dare to come forth.’