There was no sign of Rose but there was a monk seated at the base of the trunk, a blanket laid out before him. "Come," he said as he looked out of his cowl at Lennox. "Join a fellow traveler. You look weary and in need of sustenance."
Lennox walked over, "I will not tarry," he said, looking down but unable to see who it was hiding under the cowl. "I believe I know you."
"I think perhaps you do. If you would not dine with me, perhaps you would do me the honor of explaining why you have not yet paid me for my services?"
"It is you! I knew it."
The monk’s voice grew colder. "I sent word to Robert de Ros as we agreed, the letter was signed Walter Espec. He may not have written it but it is his signature and none could spot the difference between his and my forgery. I ended your siege, and in return, you were supposed to bring your woman to me. Yet here you are alone. Now why is that?"
"What do you want with her?"
There was the sound of a twig snapping behind him. Lennox turned in time to see Rose walking toward the clearing.
He waved to her and was about to call out when the monk suddenly grabbed him from behind, pouring the contents of a vial into his mouth.
"Wormwood," the monk hissed in his ear as he tried to spit it back out. "Induces sleep in seconds."
Lennox slumped into the monk's arms. He was already unconscious.
17
Rose stumbled into the clearing in time to find a monk emerging from the other side.
"Greetings," the monk said as he sat cross-legged on his blanket. "Won’t you join a weary man of God for some victuals?"
The food laid out in front of him did look delicious. He had roasted meat, fresh fruit, lettuce that looked as if it had just been picked and bread that was golden on top and almost pure white down the sides.
"I assure you I mean you no harm," he said, holding out an apple. "Take it."
Rose looked around her before taking the apple he offered.
"What brings you to the Wildwood?" the monk asked, picking up a hunk of meat and tearing a strip from it.
"I got lost. I’m trying to find someone."
"You seek a key."
Rose sat upright, the apple almost falling from her hand. "What makes you say that?"
"I seek a key also. Perhaps we could work together, Rose Winter."
"Who are you?"
"You do not know me?" He threw back his cowl, revealing his bald head and skeletal features. "How soon mankind forgets my likeness."
Rose was stunned by the sight before her. He looked just like he did in her mind’s eye when she’d been writing. "You're the barefoot man."
"I am he. Now, shall I tell you a story about your Highlander friend?"
"What about him?"
The barefoot man chewed his food, smiling as he did so though the smile did not reach his eyes. "He made a deal with me not so long ago. Begged me to end the siege of MacGregor Castle, and in return, he would pay me most handsomely. The payment is in front of me and very attractive it is too."
"What?" She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
"Now give me the key and I’ll give you Lennox back."
"What did you say?"
