She sighed, turning away from him and muttering to herself. When she turned back, she looked worried.
“What is it?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m going to tell you something now but please don’t say anything until I’m done. Can you do that?”
“I think so.”
“This key brought me back to this time so that I could steal your knife.”
“My knife? Why?”
“Please, let me finish.”
“Go on.”
“In a couple of weeks you sue for peace with Mungo Frazer. At the negotiations you stab him with the knife and that event sparks a war that spreads through the highlands and lasts for generations. Countless people die in that war.” She paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. “I’m supposed to take the knife and go back to my time with it. That way the war doesn’t happen and innocent people will not die.”
“I don’t believe it,” Gavin said quietly. “I have no plan to kill Mungo. Why would I risk war like that?”
“It happens. It’s in the history books.”
He shook his head. “I cannot believe it. I would never do such a thing.”
“You do. I’m sorry, Gavin.”
He shook his head more vehemently. “This is nonsense. You are a Frazer spy. You’re trying to trick me somehow. I would never kill someone during peace talks.”
“I’m not a spy. I used that key to come to the past to get your knife to save the highlands.”
“I refuse to believe it.”
“Fine. I’ll prove it.” She grabbed his hand, pulling him over to the door that led into the corridor outside the great hall. “See this door?” she asked, pressing his palm to the wood. “Watch.”
She slid the silver key into the lock, turning it once to the right. The door locked at once. “What are you doing?” Gavin asked.
“Proving it,” she said, unlocking the door once again. She pushed it open and Gavin’s jaw dropped at the sight of what appeared on the other side.
The corridor that led outside to the courtyard was gone. What there was instead was impossible. Three men in long white cloaks stood in front of square screens with flickering images upon them. The men spun around at the sight of the open door, running toward them, calling Heather’s name as they came.
Heather slammed the door shut just in time, locking it swiftly before turning to face Gavin. “Now do you believe me?”
“What was that?”
“The scientists who were guarding the door I came through.”
“The things they were standing by. What were they?”
“What, the computers? That’s a bit hard to explain. Think of them as complicated books.”
“That ken I kill Mungo.”
“Afraid so.”
Gavin pulled out his sword.
“What are you doing?” she asked, hands stretched out in front of her. “Please don’t kill me.”
“What you say is true. I have no control over my fate. I have control over my actions now though. I swear I would never kill Mungo but you’ve shown me you speak the truth. The only way I can prevent war is to end my own life. That way I prevent fate from charting such a dark course.”
