10
The castle came into view in the early afternoon. Tavish had brought them up a craggy outcrop of rock that circled the side of a mountain. There had been few signs of life since they’d set off that morning.
His fear about being caught had subsided once they’d left the main track and made their way through short grass to the loch that marked the first natural defense of MacIntyre Castle. Skirting that brought them closer.
He’d not been this near since the last war and that had been a long time ago, a year before his exile. He’d barely been a boy when he’d seen his first real battle. So much death. So many screams.
The higher they climbed, the more thoughts fell away until he was back in the role he knew well, scouting an entrenched enemy position.
“There,” he said, laying down and crawling forward until he could peer over the far side of the ridge.
Halfway down the other side, the mountain had suffered a rockfall eons ago. Whatever had caused it had scoured the side of the cliff, gouging a line down to the valley floor. The fallen rubble had been used to build the castle that sat hidden in the valley.
When he’d first studied the other clans, he’d thought only a fool would build a castle in a valley compared to a hilltop. They couldn’t tell if an army were approaching until it would be too late.
He’d soon learned that, like so many things in life, it wasn’t quite that simple. There was only one entrance to the valley and that was heavily guarded. No army on horseback could get up or down the sheer cliffs of the surrounding mountains.
That combined with a few well-placed scouts by beacons overlooking the surrounding Highlands was enough to ensure MacIntyre Castle was the only one he knew that had never been successfully besieged.
He’d been part of the army that had tried, desperately fighting to retrieve the sacred stone of the Sinclair Clan.
“Have you been here before?” Lindsey asked, lying next to him and peering down at the dark stone of the castle.
“Aye, and watched many good men go into that bottleneck in the canyon down there. We didn’t get within a quarter of a mile of the place. Arrows rained down from there and there. It was a slaughter.”
“Great. So how do I get in?”
“You’re not an army. You sneak in up the garderobe.”
“Garderobe? You mean the toilet?”
“I dinnae ken that word.”
“Never mind. How do I get in a castle through a garderobe?”
“The drop from them tae the gong scourers heap is never guarded. You go in the way the waste goes out.”
“You’re serious?” She looked scared, glancing from him to the castle and back again.
He crawled back from the edge, beckoning for her to follow. Once the castle was out of sight he sat up.
“Ah will distract the guards overlooking the rear of the castle. Ye get to the chute at the far corner and get up inside.”
“Then what?”
“Then you make your way to the chapel. It shouldnae be hard to find. If ah ken the MacIntyres, they’ll have the stone in there somewhere. Wi’ any luck, you’ll no encounter any trouble. Get the stone and come back out the way ye went in. Ye ken?”
“I think so,” she said.
“What is it? Something troubles ye. Are ye too scared?”
“No, it’s not that.”
“What is it then?”
She sighed, looking up at the sky while picking at the bobbles forming on her cloak. “It’s just my mom. What if I get killed? She’ll never know what happened to me. She’ll think I just walked out on her for no reason.”
“She’ll have the locket.”
