Gavin found himself looking at the flame. It was shimmering with a yellow blue flame that twisted and shifted and all of a sudden he couldn’t stop looking at it. Wrenching his head, he forced his eyes to focus on Mungo even as his brain cried for him to return his attention to the candle.
Mungo’s eyes were glazed. “I stay here,” he muttered.
“Mungo?” Gavin asked, tapping him on the shoulder. “What’s happened to you?”
No reply.
Gavin turned back to the candle, leaning down to blow it out. The flame flared and grew instead of going out. “This is dark magic,” he said, picking it up and throwing it into the fire. A blast of flame flew up the chimney, blue, purple, green flashes of light melding together before fading away as if they had never been there.
The wax candle dripped onto the ashes of the logs at the foot of the fire as Mungo coughed loudly.
“What’s happening?” Mungo asked. “Gavin? What are you doing in my castle?”
“Look around you, Mungo.”
“Goodness gracious. This is your great hall. But how did I get here?”
“You were being held under a spell but it’s over now. What’s the last thing you remember?”
“Your parents were coming to talk to me about peace negotiations. I was glad, I didnae want to feud with the MacGregors. I’m getting far too old for fighting.”
“You dinnae remember them being killed. Your men imprisoning me?”
Mungo shook his head. “You’re making that up.”
“I wish I was. Do you remember anything else?”
“Only that an old woman came to see me. I thought that was strange because I’d told the guards not to let anyone through to my room. She…she said something to me. It was dark and she offered to light the candles. Then nothing until you started talking to me just now.”
Gavin refused to let his emotions control him. There would be time to grieve for his parents later, for the lost months in the Frazer dungeon.
“Did I kill your parents?” Mungo asked. “For the love of God, tell me that’s not true.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Gavin said. “It wasn’t your fault. It was hers.”
“Who?”
“The old crone. Are you well enough to stand?”
Mungo tried it, leaning on the table as he tested his legs. “I am well enough.”
“Then gather up your men. It is time to end this once and for all.”
Ten minutes later he was riding out on the back of Lairdkiller, the massed ranks of the Frazer army behind him.
He had to say one thing for them. They were loyal to their leader. Mungo had told them to attack the MacGregors, they attacked. He told them to follow Gavin. They did. No questions asked. Did any of them wonder why their enemy was now their ally? If they did, they kept such thoughts to themselves.
Gavin and Mungo rode together at the front. “Ready for this?” Gavin asked.
“Aye,” Mungo replied. “For your parents and for your people.”
Gavin corrected him. “For our people.”
Mungo nodded, his lips narrowing. “For our people, let’s get rid of that old crone before she can do any more damage to the highlands.”
