Roderick decided to ignore her question. “Perhaps, they were friends of yer brother?”
“I have no idea,” Siena sighed, then rested her head on his chest, deciding it was much more relaxing than sitting straight up. She couldn’t understand why she was so relaxed when she was around Roderick. She’d had very little contentment in her life, but now she would have to admit the coziness of a man’s arms around her was very nice.
“How did ye get away?”
“Since they thought I was a witch, I merely acted the part: kind of daft like, waving my hands over my head and chanting a curse.” She laughed as she pictured the scene. “You should have seen them run.”
Roderick chuckled. “I bet it was a sight.”Strange, he thought. He’d laughed more in the last two days than he ever had before. It was odd to experience just the slightest bit of mirth when he’d been bitter for so long. He didn’t understand how Siena made him feel so different, but she did.
“I did not understand their talk about the Holy Grail,” Siena said with a frown. “How would I know anything about a Grail? What where they talking about?”
“The cup of Christ,” Roderick said quickly, then when she still looked confused he continued, “’Tis said that he who has the cup will rule the world. The English have searched long and wide for the cup and most have died on their quest.”
“And the Scots?”
“Ah wull, we rarely chase after anything other than our enemies.”
“And the fairies?”
“Och, ye got me there, lass.”
She turned those bright blue eyes up to look at him. “I have no idea why someone would think I could find something that has been lost for hundreds of years.”
“Evidently, they think the White Witch can find the Grail.”
He saw the worry in her eyes. “We willna worry about it for now. You will be safe with me that I can promise ye.”
“You lost me before when those men took me. I’m still not sure how.”
Roderick laughed. “’Tis is a long story, lass. If I had been with ye . . . they would never have gotten you.”
Siena peered at him doubtfully from beneath her lashes, but she let the subject rest while she settled herself, so she could watch the scenery.
They rode on until a castle loomed ahead. It sat on top of a hill so that it overlooked the valley and the other rolling hills. It looked a lot like an English castle but much larger.
However, Siena couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She gasped, “It’s black.”
“Aye.”
“B--But it used to have white walls,” Siena said more or less to herself when she realized that she’d been to this very castle before.
“Ye know of Black Dawn, lass?”
“I thought it was called White Dawn.”
She felt Roderick tense behind her. He growled, “It was until yer brother attacked my home and burnt most of it to the ground.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said, but she didn’t tell Roderick that she had warned his wife that an attack would happen. Evidently, his wife hadn’t mentioned the warning. Now, Siena realized that Roderick was married, and his wife would tell him about her visit as soon as Siena met her. His temper was too bad for her to tell him. Would Roderick blame her too? After all, she had tried to help, but there had been nothing she could do to stop the attack. All she could do was warn his family. Thank God, Roderick didn’t question her further.
They rode down the hill and up the next toward the castle. She heard the rattle of chains as the castle gates magically opened without him calling out.
“I guess they knew we were coming,” Siena said, thinking how much his home reminded her of an English castle.
“Aye.” Roderick nodded. “They can see a great distance from atop the walls, and I have several outposts to watch for visitors approaching the castle.”
Roderick said no more as they passed through the lane that lead between the cottages with their thatched roofs which were scattered on both sides of the road and fields in-between some of the huts where crops would be grown in the spring. They continued on over the drawbridge, the horse’s hooves sounding sharp on the wooden floor. They rode under the portcullis and into the outer bailey where a large field stood empty.
Siena pointed. “Is that field for crops?”.
