"Where it is guarded night and day."
"Oh."
"Held in the tallest tower and watched over by incantations of a most diabolical nature."
"Maybe not that simple after all."
"Do not worry. You can just use your silver tongue as you did with the scouts just now."
"On an entire castle? Yeah, sure, that’ll work."
6
The horse made its way slowly down the mountain. A recent rockfall littered the path. Lennox climbed down to make the horse’s life easier. "You stay up there," he said to Rose when she tried to follow him.
"All right moody. Why have you got such a scowl on your face?"
"I fear the men we let live. Perhaps I should have killed the three of them."
"So you’d rather murder three people than let them live? And you’re supposed to be noble."
"Dead men dinnae come back to bite you."
"And if they’d killed you? What then for your clan?"
"I could have sneaked up on them and cut their throats before they even knew what was happening."
"Then why didn’t you?"
He didn’t have an answer. Why hadn’t he ignored her and done it anyway? Maybe there was something of the witch to her after all.
When they’d been traveling for a few hours he stopped at a stream so the horse could drink. He kneeled beside it, scooping ice cold water into his cupped hands. "Drink," he said. "I do not ken when we will have another chance."
She lowered herself to the ground beside him, leaning over the water. "It’s cold," she said as she drank.
He turned and looked at her. She had a startled look about her that reminded him of a rabbit disturbed in the bushes. The thought made him smile.
"Marion has let you wear our tartan," he said as he got to his feet. "She never lets anyone do that. Come on, we need to get moving if we’re going to get to Southdean by nightfall."
"What’s at Southdean? The staff?"
"It is the nearest village to Tynemouth Priory. There we will find the staff waiting for us."
"What is this staff anyway? Why’s it so important?"
He helped her onto the horse, trying not to think about how touching her hands made him feel. "It belonged to St. Oswin. Do you ken him?"
"Nope."
"He ruled England long before it was England. His staff was the one that the druids created to defeat the great darkness. He struck the final blow, the one that stunned the darkness long enough to lock him away. When Oswin died the staff was buried with him and Tynemouth Priory was built over his grave."
"So you need to dig up a grave to get it?"
"Not quite. The druids told the monks the tale of the battle between good and evil. The monks believed the staff to be a holy relic. They vowed to protect it for all time."
"And did they?"
"When they were attacked by Vikings, they remembered the words of the druids. They dug up Oswin’s grave and found his body uncorrupted, the evil one’s blood still wet upon his staff, while the Vikings clambered over their walls and plundered their treasury."
