A shiver went through him. What was this thing? And why had Madeleine hidden it?
He strode outside, Mara trailing at his heels. The farmyard was a mass of muddy footprints, but he spotted a set that led around to the back of the house. They were clearly Madeleine’s as they were too small to be his and they were deeper than normal which suggested she’d been carrying Rory when she left.He followed the trail of footprints around the house and up the track a ways to where they turned across country—heading south.
Where is she going?he thought. South was neither the way back to Fortrose or to Torryn Keep. The only thing that lay out there was...
The place where I found her,he thought.She’s going back to the ravine.
Returning to the house, he went into the bedroom and flung open the secret compartment he’d built into the wall. He hesitated as he took in the contents. The red Order of the Osprey cloak lay neatly folded right where he’d left it and the huge broadsword that had been gifted to him by Laird Callum was propped in the tight space. He’d hoped he’d never need any of these things again.
He reached in and took out the sword. As he belted it around his waist, he was surprised by how familiar it felt, how natural, as though it had been meant to be there all along.
Tucking Madeleine’s strange device into his sporran, he threw his threadbare, hooded cloak around his shoulders, called Mara to heel, and then set out into the wilds.
Chapter 11
Maddy staggered to a halt. Her arms ached from carrying Rory, and her lungs burned. She looked around, trying to get her bearings. Was this the right way? She shaded her eyes against the sun and squinted into the distance.
Yes! She recognized that ridge to her left with the lightning-blasted pines clustering its summit.
“Where are we going?” Rory whined for approximately the three hundredth time since they’d set out. “I’m hungry.”
She put him down and knelt. “Well, you can have your favorite pancakes for breakfast soon. You can even have chocolate sauce on them if you’d like. We’re going home, Rory. How does that sound?”
If she expected him to be excited, she was sorely disappointed. He merely shrugged and then sat down and crossed his arms, his little face folding into a scowl.
Maddy sighed. She rolled her shoulders and worked her neck, trying to get the aches out of both. They’d seen not another soul since climbing out of Deryn’s hidden valley. This was the wilds all right, with nothing but undulating hills covered in heather and pine trees stretching as far as the eye could see in every direction. Thankfully, the weather had been kind, and the dawn had brought a bright, sunny day with a hint of warmth to the wind that spoke of the summer to come.
If she hadn’t been wound as tightly as a drum, she might even have enjoyed it. As it was, she barely noticed as she looked around, searching for what she needed. Where was that damned arch that had brought her here? She knew it was around here somewhere.
Taking Rory’s hand, she pulled him to his feet and they set off again. Rory was in a bad mood, and she could see from the stubborn expression on his face that a tantrum wasn’t too far away. Great. That was all she needed.
“I’ll bet you’re looking forward to seeing your classmates, eh?” she said, trying to cajole him. “And Mrs Porter?”
Even the mention of his favorite teacher wasn’t enough to mollify him. He stomped along with a face like thunder. “I want Mara! And Deryn!”
You’re not the only one, she thought.But we can’t always have what we want.
