Malcolm made his way out of the keep and into the yard where Callum was overseeing the fortification of the outer walls. He caught sight of Malcolm and waved him over.
“There ye are. I sent for ye over an hour ago.” Agitation creased his brother’s face. But that was quickly replaced by surprise. “Ye shaved?”
Malcolm pressed his lips together. “Aye, but now is no the time to discuss that.”
“Where were ye?” Callum asked.
“I was indisposed at the time.”
Callum said nothing. Merely raised a dark brow as if he understood what being indisposed meant.
“Will ye speak with me in private? I have news,” Malcolm said.
“Aye. Walk with me. I was about to ride out to check on the harvest.” He motioned toward the stables.
“That can wait. This cannae.”
Intrigued, Callum gave him his full attention. “Aye? What’s so urgent, then, brother?”
“The lass, Chloe…she has developed powers like yer wife.” He dropped his voice low to ensure Callum was the only one who heard.
“From the keystone?” he asked.
“Aye. The keystone. Did ye ken yer wife sliced her hand open to see if Chloe would have the same power as she?”
“Nay, I dinnae ken that.”
They arrived at the stables, then, where several stable hands were mucking stalls. Callum headed to his horse but paused outside the stall. The horse gave him a hello nudge and he patted his nose. Malcolm followed, pausing there with him.
“Did it work?” Callum asked.
“It seems it did. She can see into the past, Callum. She saw the beginning of the battle the night before the Shattering,” Malcolm said.
“How?”
“I cannae say, but when she reached for the keystone, she went rigid. If I hadna caught her, she would have hit the floor. It was a peculiar thing to watch, too. Her body was stiff. Her eyes were rolled back into her head. She turned cold, her lips turning blue. She was only that way a few moments before she finally came awake and told me about Alexander MacLeod and Padrig Sinclair.” He paused there to let that sink in.
Concern creased Callum’s face. “The battle before the Shattering. That means Brodie MacDonald was there, too.”
“Aye with his great axe. A great axe, she said, that glowed.”
Callum stared at him in stony, shocked silence. “That wasna in the tapestry images.”
“No, it wasna. But what if it is now?”
There was only one way to find out. They both knew it. They had to check the tapestry room to see if it was true.
The tapestries were strange, enchanted things. It seemed their morphing images changed at will. Perhaps it was a way for the Triple Goddess to send them messages about what they needed to know. It showed the past, the present, even the future. There were still a few that appeared to be nothing more than woven textiles, but would they remain that way? It was hard to say. One had filled in. One with Chloe and the man she called Bruce.
Malcolm was aware Bruce was still out there. Plotting his revenge, no doubt. It was only a matter of time before he would come for Chloe. He understood, as Callum did, the calamity of the situation. That the MacDonalds wanted the pieces of the keystone with a fiery desperation. But what would they do to get it? That was the question.
“We should look at the tapestries,” Malcolm said when Callum remained quiet.
A strange look passed over his brother’s face when he said it. As though Callum wasn’t interested in the tapestries. Or mayhap he didn’t believe in them even when he’d seen them with his own eyes.
“Ye dinnae think we should?” he asked.
“I dinnae ken. The tapestries are a strange thing. They cannae be explained.”
