He pushed the door open and headed inside. Rachel followed him in time to see him pull the loose stone from the wall. There was the key she knew so well with its intricate M carved into the handle.
She took the key from him and unlocked the box, pulling out the necklace. It was deep blue like the clear waters of a loch. The blue seemed to swirl and shift in the light like waves falling on a misty shore. “It’s time to go home,” she said, thinking of Cam kissing the woman outside.
“Are you ready?” Philip asked, taking the open box from her.
“One last look outside,” she said, crossing to the narrow window in the far wall. “I’m going to miss this place.” She took a final glance at everything she was going to leave behind. She wouldn’t just miss the castle. She’d miss the mountains, the smell of the air, the wonderful clothes they all wore.
What was that?
She looked down at the courtyard. There was a huge pile of wood being stacked ever higher.
“What’s happening down there?”
Philip leaned past her, shouting down. “What’s the fire for?”
“We are going to sacrifice the Laird.”
Rachel’s blood ran cold. She staggered back from the window. Philip turned to look at her. “This isn’t your fight,” he said. “You can go home right now and forget about all of this.”
Rachel looked at the necklace and then up at Philip. Go home and leave Cam to be burned by his own people? Or stay and what? Try and save him and probably burn too?
She took a deep breath and then ran out of the muniments room, getting down to the courtyard in under a minute.
“Stop,” she yelled as a struggling Cam was dragged toward the pile of wood. “He saved you all and this is how you repay him?”
They all turned to look at her. “The barefoot man is coming,” Tor shouted. “He demands a sacrifice and we must provide it.”
“The barefoot man is gone,” she replied.
“Prove it,” someone shouted.
“The proof is in the air. Can you not taste how sweet it is? Look out there and see the crops and flowers grow once again.”
“Sacrifice him!” Tor screamed. “Now!”
“If you must sacrifice anyone, make it me.”
“Very well,” Tor replied. “You can burn together. Take hold of her.”
Strong arms grabbed her and dragged her over to the fire. She fought them but they were too strong, lifting and tying her beside Cam. A silence fell over the courtyard.
Then Rachel’s cellphone rang.
The crowd looked left and right, trying to identify the strange sound emanating from her pocket.
“What is that?” Tor asked, eyeing her suspiciously, a flaming torch in his hand ready to set the wood ablaze.
“Someone must have hit the on button,” she replied. “Untie me and I can answer it.”
Tor shook his head but someone was already climbing the wood, undoing the bonds that held her hands in place. She reached at once into her pocket and brought out the cellphone, hitting the green button on the screen. The battery flashed a warning sign as she did so. “Hello?”
“Put me on speaker,” said the voice of Morag from the other end of the line. “With haste.”
Rachel did as she was asked and Morag’s voice boomed out, louder than Rachel would have thought possible. “The prophecy spoke of many things,” she said. “It spoke of a voice from a box, a voice that must be obeyed.”
A murmur spread through the crowd. More than a couple of people crossed themselves.
“Release the Laird. Release the woman. Beg their forgiveness.”
