A Book of Myths, by Jean Lang - Umnet

heart of the king. For when Lavarcam had gone forth, well pleased that
she had saved her darling, Conor sent a spy--a man whose father and
three brothers had fallen in battle under the sword of Naoise--that he
might see Deirdrê and confirm or contradict the report of Lavarcam.
And when this man reached the house of the Red Branch, he found that
the Sons of Usna had been put on their guard, for all the doors and
windows were barred. Thus he climbed to a narrow upper window and
peered in. There, lying on the couches, the chess-board of ivory and
gold between them, were Naoise and Deirdrê. So beautiful were they,
that they were as the deathless gods, and as they played that last game
of their lives, they spoke together in low voices of love that sounded
like the melody of a harp in the hands of a master player. Deirdrê was
the first to see the peering face with the eyes that gloated on her
loveliness. No word said she, but silently made the gaze of Naoise
follow her own, even as he held a golden chessman in his hand,
pondering a move. Swift as a stone from a sling the chessman was
hurled, and the man fell back to the ground with his eyeball smashed,
and found his way to Emain Macha as best he could, shaking with
agony and snarling with lust for revenge. Vividly he painted for the
king the picture of the most beautiful woman on earth as she played at
the chess-board that he held so dear, and the rage of Conor that had
smouldered ever since that day when he learned that Naoise had stolen
Deirdrê from him, flamed up into madness. With a bellow like that of a
wounded bull, he called upon the Ultonians to come with him to the
House of the Red Branch, to burn it down, and to slay all those within
it with the sword, save only Deirdrê, who was to be saved for a more
cruel fate.
In the House of the Red Branch, Deirdrê and the three brothers and the
two sons of Fergus heard the shouts of the Ultonians and knew that the
storm was about to break. But, calm as rocks against which the angry
waves beat themselves in vain, sat those whose portion at dawn was to
be cruel death. And Naoise and Ainle played chess, with hands that did
not tremble. At the first onslaught, Buinne the Red, son of Fergus,
sallied forth, quenched the flames, and drove back the Ultonians with
great slaughter. But Conor called to him to parley and offered him a
bribe of land, and Buinne, treacherous son of a treacherous father, went