If anyone would understand, it would be him.

She stood back up and continued through the caves, along the same path she had followed the Simian all those months ago. Her pace quickened into a run towards the cave’s exit.

Outside, the night was cold and cloudless; a full moon shone down over the fields leading to Roseán, augmented by a thousand tiny stars. She began sprinting towards the lights of the village.

Taigdh was worried; he was the most worried about where I’ve been. He’d have to understand.

Taigdh was surely intelligent enough to appreciate their efforts, and wise enough to see what their work would mean for the rest of the world.

The petrified troll loomed up ahead as Morrígan considered what to say to Taigdh.

Imagine a world without death, Taigdh, she mouthed silently as she ran. Imagine if nobody, like my mother, like your grandfather, like Mrs. Mhurichú, would ever have to die again.

The ground beneath her feet shifted from the freshly turned soil of the fields to the rough stony path of the Sandy Road. A forest of alder trees stood tall and golden to the south, even in the darkness.

The road curved into Roseán, and her old home was one of the first buildings to appear ahead. The sight lightened her heart, even though she was breathless.

This is it. She reached the old familiar door. She raised a fist and rattled upon the wood.

“Taigdh! Taigdh!” she called, taking a step back to get a view of the second-story windows. It was a red-brick house, like the others along the Sandy Road, with cracked and stained wooden panels surrounding the windows. One window opened, and a head of short brown hair peered out.

“Morrígan?”

All of the words she rehearsed caught in her throat.

Where could I possibly begin?

“Just… come with me! I need to show you something!”

“What is it?” He yawned.

“It’s hard to explain. It’s… something Yarlaith and I have been doing. I need to show you!”

The window above closed with a bang. A moment later, Taigdh opened the front door, dressed in a dark green tunic and brown leather boots. He wore a heavy black cloak tied at the front with a thin, brass brooch. He eyed Morrígan with concern.

“Come on!” she said, turning back towards the fields. “It’s this way!”

They ran in silence, back down the Sandy Road and over the fields.

He knows it’s important. They were passing the petrified troll again. He knows not to ask about it until we get there.

They stopped outside the caves. Taigdh stared at Morrígan as she casually stepped inside.

“Morry, you know that leads into the Glenn, don’t you?”

“Yes, but I’ve been in here a thousand times now, and it doesn’t go straight into the Glenn. It leads into the catacombs first.”

The two stepped inside. Taigdh looked around in all directions. “The catacombs?” he asked, as Morrígan started down the tunnel. “The Lost Catacombs?”

“Yes, those ones. That’s not all though, there’s more.”

Morrígan trotted down the tunnel while Taigdh followed. She pointed out where there once had been coffins and sarcophagi, with bodies that belonged to the warriors of Móráin’s Conquest. Taigdh didn’t ask many questions, but Morrígan gave him plenty of answers. As the tunnels twisted deeper underground, she told him all about the Simian she had followed through the caves but left out the part where she had given him a means to escape from the battlemages. She didn’t know for sure if he really did escape in the end, but she presumed so; the colonel probably didn’t want to tell everyone in the village about it.

They reached the lake, and Morrígan told him about how the caves reached into the Glenn, and also out into Penance, which was why the Silverback and the Simians used them to go back and forth across the valley. Taigdh seemed more concerned with the rats, however, as Morrígan saw him flinch as two paddled by in the lake, leaving a trail of tiny waves as they swam.

“Here,” she said, as they approached the entrance to the workshop. “We’ve been doing most of our research inside.”

“Research on what?” he asked, as they got closer. He suddenly wrinkled his nose.

She took a breath. “We’ve brought my mother back to life, Taigdh. It’s incredible! Come, I’ll show you.”

As they walked inside across the bloody chamber, she gestured towards the limbs hanging on the walls.

“Imagine, Taigdh, if nobody ever had to die again. Imagine if we all could just… live forever!”

The boy gave no response. Morrígan turned to see terror etched upon his face as he stared up at Mrs. Mhurichú’s severed head.

She held his hand. “Don’t be frightened, Taigdh, please. I was scared, too, at first, but Yarlaith said that this was all a means to an end, and we mean to change the world. You need to understand that.”

Taigdh spoke, but his voice was barely a whisper. “Did… did you do this?”

“Yes, that’s my mother over there, at the top of the room. Yarlaith was able to bring her back to life earlier, and I think I can do the same. Here, I’ll show you.”

Taigdh pulled his hand away from Morrígan’s.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I won’t come any closer.”

“What? Why?”

The lad took a step back. “This can’t be real,” he muttered, as if to himself. “This can’t be.”

“Please,” whispered Morrígan. “You have to understand. Don’t you know what this means?”

“It means you’re a murderer. Worse. The bodies, Morrígan… where did they come from?”

“We took them from the graves. Well, some of them. We found most in the catacombs and—”

“You weren’t there,” Taigdh said, with startled realization. “I looked for you at Mrs. Mhurichú’s funeral, but you weren’t there!”

“Yes. I was here instead. Here trying to fix the world. And I need your help.”

She reached out a hand to him, but the lad flinched.

No. Why doesn’t he understand?

“Please, Taigdh. Why can’t you see what we’ve achieved? Beyond the bodies and the gore, there’s greatness here.”

“Get away from me!” he cried, taking a quick look behind him. “You’ve changed, Morrígan. You’re no longer—”