“Do you think the festivals will continue after we’re gone?”
Logan nodded. “I believe Mama and Papa, and Quade are there every year. They’ll go on for centuries.”
They said nothing for a while, just enjoying the view and the company. Then Logan said, “Do you still dream about Maddie?”
“Aye. About twice a moon. She comes from heaven to deliver messages. She’s never able to linger, but I cherish every moment. Every memory. Why do you ask?”
“My Gwynie weakens. She’s not what she used to be.”
“None of us are, you old goat. She’s still better looking than you.”
“Aye,” he said, grinning. “I cannot argue that point.” He looked down at the view for a moment, collecting himself, then said, “But I think her time is near…”
He reached over and clasped Logan’s shoulder. “Fear not. When it happens, you’ll see her again.”
Chapter Twenty-One
The sapphire sword is passed on…
The many groups of warriors moved out of the hall, preparing for their journeys. There were only a few left, among them Father Dowall, who was reading his Bible by the hearth. Logan searched out Alex, Avelina behind him.
Alex could see them making their way across the hall. When Logan reached him, he said in an undertone, as if he didn’t wish anyone else to overhear them. “Lina and I must speak with you.”
Alex knew exactly what they wanted. He looked across the hall and called out, “John, help me to the solar, please.”
John hurried across the hall, eager to help his grandsire as he always was. “I wish I could travel with them, Grandsire. How old must I be? Papa asked me to stay here while they search for Chrissa, but he said I could go to Stirling with him after they return.”
Alex wouldn’t tell the lad that it was his fault he was still here.
Once they were settled in the solar, Logan said, “Avelina has a story to tell you, John.”
John turned to her without speaking, his expression open and intent. He’d become a good listener, John. He wasn’t the sort to jump in with questions until he had a sense of what was going on. An unusual trait in one so young.
Alex nodded to her. “Go ahead, Avelina.”
“This is probably verra new information for you, so please listen and ask questions at the end. Many years ago, the Queen of the Fae visited me. She told me an evil force had captured the sapphire sword and was intent on using it to overtake the land. My mission was to find the sword and take it back. I was successful, although once the sword was in my power, I had to marry within two moons to preserve its power.” She smiled. “I was fortunate to have already met the man I wished to marry. Once I defeated the man who’d stolen the sword, Queen Erena bid me to hide it. She said we wouldn’t have a need for it for decades. But she came to me a short while ago and told me the time had come to pass it on to someone else.”
John was totally enraptured by the tale. His eyes widened when Alex opened a drawer, taking out a package wrapped in a Ramsay plaid and setting it on the desk. He nodded to Avelina, indicating she should be the one to reveal it, and she unwrapped the plaid and pulling out the sword, its gemstones glittering.
Alex and Logan watched, spellbound, as Avelina set the sword down closer to John. “Erena instructed me to pass the sword along to your grandsire. She said he would choose my successor, and he has chosenyou, John.”
John lifted the sword, rubbing his fingers over the fine gemstones, then glanced up at his grandsire with wide eyes. “’Tisa most fine beauty anyone would be honored to hold. But why me?”
Alex said, “I chose you because you are young and you will protect it well. You have the constitution to think carefully before using it, to always consider what is best for our clan, our people.”
John, clearly humbled, set down the weapon. “I hope to make you proud,Seanair.”
“There is one other point we must make,” Avelina explained. “If you were older, you would have been given two months to find a mate, but I’ve learned you’ve already chosen your mate?”
“Aye,” he said without hesitation. “Coira.”
A knock sounded at the door. Alex smiled at John. “I was certain you’d say that, so I sent for her.” Speaking more loudly, he said, “Enter.”
The door opened and Coira stepped inside, her golden hair falling to her waist, unplaited but tied loosely back. She’d become a lovely lass at one and ten, but she was still shy unless she was around John.
“Coira, sit down, please,” Alex said.
John held up the sword for Coira to see, and she gasped. “Oh, John. ’Tis small but quite beautiful. What is its purpose?”
