“He can look after himself well enough. All he needs is to deal with Tor. The man is a serpent.”
“Why do they think I’m a witch?”
“He’s been whispering in their ears the entire time you’ve been gone, talking about you bewitching Cam. Then when he kissed you that was all the proof they needed. They listened too much to his whispered words. Cam will set them straight soon enough if he deals with Tor first. Until then we need to get you back to your own time. To be sure you will be safe”
“What? How do you know about that?”
“That you’re from the future? I have ears in many places. I know the necklace brought you here. I also know where there is another one.”
“Where?”
“This way.”
He led her through the woods and out the other side. The castle vanished from sight in the distance behind them. Eventually, they reached an abandoned village, houses covered with ivy, others half rotten and falling into the earth.
“What happened here?” Rachel asked. “Was it the barefoot man?”
“No. It was abandoned after the last war, too hard to defend. The people fled to the castle after the fire. This is the place.” He stopped in the doorway of one of the more complete buildings. It still had three walls and half of its thatch roof, the straw green and stinking, the smell sticking to Rachel’s throat as they entered.
Philip knelt down in the corner, levering up a small flagstone. Using it as a spade, he began to scrape away at the earth, not stopping until he uncovered a small wooden box. He brushed the soil from it as he lifted it into the open.
“Let me see that,” Rachel said, taking it from him. “This is the box that came to my house. How’s that possible?”
“I don’t know,” he replied.
“Where did it come from? How did you know it was down there?”
“It was hidden during the war to stop them from stealing the necklace. Someone told me it would be needed one day.”
“Who?” She pulled at the lid. “It’s locked.”
“The key is back at the castle. I wish I’d known this would happen. I’d have brought it with me. Come on, we will have to try and retrieve the key without anyone noticing.”
They made their way back toward the castle. Rachel carried the box, her head spinning. At some point the box was buried and then dug up in the distant past. Then it made its way to her. Someone posted it to her but who? More importantly, why?
She couldn’t make head nor tail of the matter. She could only hope to find the answers at some point in the future.
When they got back to the castle the crowd had gone as had Cam. “Inside somewhere,” Philip said. “No doubt sorting all this out. We will go through the sally port and into the tower. The key is in the muniments room behind a loose stone. Come, quickly, before the guards spot you. We do not yet know where their loyalties lie.”
They moved to the base of the wall, hugging the stone so they could not be viewed from the battlements. Philip led her around to the sally port. “This is how we left last time,” she said, thinking how much had changed since then.
“Keep quiet,” he replied, pulling out a key and unlocking the door. They slipped through it and into the tunnel beyond. At the end they stopped, Philip peering out. “Wait,” he said. “There are too many people.”
She looked past him, seeing Cam at the far side of the courtyard. At least he didn’t look hurt. The crowd had vanished. He must have gained control while they were gone. Or had he told them the witch had been dealt with and they were safe once more?
She looked at him more closely. He was in the middle of a conversation with a beautiful woman almost as tall as him. She’d never seen her before but she couldn’t stop feeling a pang of jealousy as the woman put her hand on Cam’s arm.
To her surprise the woman leaned up and kissed Cam. Everyone in the courtyard turned to watch.
Rachel’s insides churned as she saw what was happening. “Come on,” Philip said. “While they’re distracted.”
She followed him out into the open. They moved quickly up the keep steps and inside. Philip walked up another flight of stairs and then along a narrow corridor. Rachel followed, unable to get what she’d seen out of her head. He kissed someone else. Was that the woman he was supposed to marry?
She couldn’t remember her name but she remembered the MacKenzies talking about the woman he’d turned down, the friction that had caused.
“How did you calm them all down?” Rachel asked as Philip unlocked another door. “When we went, I mean?”
“It wasn’t difficult. The MacKenzies are like children. You just need to know how to handle them. As for the MacGregors, well they can be children themselves sometimes. If it wasn’t for Tor they would have been as quiet as lambs. Instead, he turned them into wild boars.”
