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“Aye, like us, could nae one get tae him and why nae? I daena like tae think of it being like that.” He added, “But from Niall’s story he wasna trying tae return home, he had accepted his fate, and lived alone. Did he leave home on purpose?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, but it does sound sad.”

“On his deathbed he wanted tae send a message home. Are people worried on him? Do they miss him? It seems verra important that we get the casket somewhere safe so they might find it. Tis the dying wish of a prince.”

I asked, “Do you think we’re lost like he was? Is there no hope?”

He pulled away to look down on my face in the darkness. “There is hope, mo leannan, of course there is.”

“How?”

“Max is comin’ for me, because if he has a last breath in him, he is coming for his sister. He is singularly set on one thing — keeping Princess Alexandria safe. As long as I am with ye, he is coming for me as well.”

“And if he has taken his last breath?”

“I canna think on it, twould be terrible.”

“Yeah, I agree, so you just have to stay close.”

“Aye, I daena want tae stray and get left behind, the food here is terrible.”

“How much longer before dawn?”

“Twill be here shortly, try tae sleep some more.”

33

ALEXANDRIA

1308 - WE ARRIVE AT CLACKMANNAN

We came intae Clackmannanshire in the morning. Torin said, “This part is familiar tae me: the Ochil hills standing along the sky like a wall.” He shifted in the saddle, looking north. “Tis familiar, but verra different.”

I followed his eyes to the hills, a long dark ridge above the low ground. “What are you looking at?”

“The differences in the glen, dost ye see the steep green mound between two burns? That is the stone of m’home. Beyond that is the place where the castle will stand, someday.” He pointed. “But not yet.”

Torin looked at the mountains for a long time. “Tis difficult tae describe the feelin’ I hae. I ken those hills. I hae lived on them. Yet there is nae castle nestled in the hills. The people come and go, the castles are built and are ruined, the stone falls, the people pass, but the mountains remain.”

He shook his head. “I am relieved I canna see the castle. It inna my home, nae one would recognize me, twould be disheartenin’.”

He drew his eyes away from the hills and directed Cathbarr toward the village. “We must hae food first, then the kirk.”

“The kirk, why the kirk?”

“Twill be a surprise.”

Clackmannan sat on its own rise, houses and kitchen gardens gathered below the church. As we rode into the village Torin’s eyes swept the path, I looked all around too: for Max, for the uncles, for anyone who might be waiting for us.

“Do you see them?”

Torin shifted and turned. “Nae, they arna here.”

He glanced at my pout.

“This is disappointing, maybe they’re in the inn, or something.”

“Aye, perhaps. Or they might come later in the day.”