Angus took a look at the animal. It blinked its great eyes and followed the woman in docile obedience. It paid no attention to the monster in the streambed. The dragon’s bellowing screeches didn’t disturb the cow. She must have heard it all the time.
Neither did the cow care for the woman’s looks. That cow convinced Angus more than anything he should follow where the woman wanted to lead him. The cow’s coat shone smooth and shiny black. Its soft black eyes blinked at everything around it. Angus never saw a happier, more contented, better tended cow in his life. Whoever that woman was, she wanted to help him.
He stepped into the trees, and the dragon’s screeches faded to nothing. The old woman and her cow consumed all his attention. Could this be the witch he sought? Not likely. She led the way to the little cottage Callum pointed out.
She tied the cow by the front door and stooped inside. The cow turned around and flared its nostrils at Angus. He never felt safer in his life. He could be entering any cottage back home.
He sheathed his saber and took a step forward when Robbie caught him by the arm. “Ye’re no goin’ in there, mon.”
“I got to, Rob. Whate’er that woman is, she kens summat. I got to find it out. We cinnae get across the river wi’out her help.”
Robbie shook his head. “Nae, mon. I cinnae allow it.”
“Ye! Ye cinnae allow it? Since when do ye allow me tae do ought I’ve a mind tae do?”
Robbie wouldn’t let go of his sleeve. “I let ye do ought ye wanted tae do all’us time, brother. I mun’ put me foot down now. Ye’re no goin’ in there. She could be the witch. What would we do wi’out ye then?”
Angus shook his hand off. “If ye’re telling me what I ken and cinnae do wi’ me ownself, then I suppose ye’ll tak’ o’er after I’m gone. Ye’ll do ought yer own way wi’ no concern tae me. I’m goin’ in. If I dinnae come out in time fer tea, ye ken what tae do.”
Robbie compressed his lips, but he made no further move to stop Angus. Angus stepped forward. He laid a hand on the cow’s back. She was just as warm and comfortable as a cow should be, and very accustomed to being touched by human hands. No witch could take such good care of a cow.
He bent forward and ducked through the door. He found himself in a simple one room cottage like any other. The flagged floor echoed under his heels, and the grey-clad figure rocked in a rocking chair in front of the smoldering peat fire.
Angus moved into the room. The whole place smelled fresh and welcoming, but he didn’t see another chair. She must live here alone, whoever she was. At the sound of his footsteps, she rose from her chair turned around. Angus gasped out loud. “What the de’il?”
She threw back her hood. Her skin stretched flawless and pale ivory white over her high cheekbones. Her slender aquiline nose set off her wide-set black eyes, and shiny straight chestnut tresses cascaded her shoulders.
Angus stared down into her smiling face, but he couldn’t speak. Her beauty radiated out of her eyes and skin and mouth. She extended her slender hand to him. “Welcome, Chieftain Cameron, Heir to the Phoenix Throne.”
“The Phoenix Throne! What’s that?” He didn’t think to tell her he wasn’t chieftain of anything, especially not Clan Cameron.
She put her hand inside her cloak and drew out a small leather-bound book. She handed it to him. “Take this. It will tell you everything you need to know.”
He looked down at the book. A round imprint of three intertwined heads emblazoned the cover. A fierce bird, a dragon, and a man wove through each other on the smooth brown surface. Extreme age discolored the page margins, and a tattered piece of string held the cover closed.
“This is the Fire Trilogy,” the woman told him. “It contains all the lineages for the Kings who sit on the Phoenix Throne. That is why Gakhra wishes to stop you from attaining it. You must beware, though. The Fire Trilogy also contains all the Laws related to a new King ascending the Throne. If you break even one of these Laws, Gakhra will destroy you and ascend the Throne in your place. That would be a disaster for the whole realm. Whatever you do, you must prevent that from happening, even if you cannot ascend the throne yourself.”
Angus looked up to ask her a question and found himself face to face with the revolting crone he saw outside. She gave him her toothless grin, and when she spoke again, she babbled some foreign language he didn’t understand. He could never believe the two women were the same person.
He scurried out of the cottage, but when he looked around, he could see no sign of his friends. Robbie must have taken them somewhere safe. So much the better. He didn’t want to see them or have to explain what that woman said.
He glanced back over his shoulder, but there was nothing to see but the cow.
Chapter 9
Carmen hesitated at the drawbridge in front of the huge white castle. She gazed across it, under the raised portcullis, into the inner courtyard, but she didn’t enter. Something wasn’t right here, either. The whole scene was too perfect, just like when she met Sadie in the forest.
She hadn’t met a single person since she crossed the river. No guards stood at attention near the entrance gate. No people or animals inhabited that castle. No kitchen servants swept the inner courtyard. What kind of castle had no people living in it?
This castle must be under a curse, too. The witch herself must control the whole place with her magic. The place reminded Carmen of the enchanted castle in Sleeping Beauty, except everyone wasn’t asleep. They were invisible, or maybe she enchanted them out of existence altogether.
Carmen cast a backward glance into the woods from whence she came. Angus and the other Highlanders were out there somewhere. Did Ross tell them where she was? She hoped they weren’t in danger, or that Angus was worried about her. Hopefully he wouldn’t do anything rash, like trying to follow her into the castle.
She had to go in there. She understood that now, but she didn’t like to cross that drawbridge. If she went inside the castle, an insurmountable barrier would separate her from him—from them. She would never get back to the life she experienced on the road with them.
For a moment, all their rough faces flashed before her eyes. She saw the twins and Ewan, Robbie and Brody striding side by side through the fields, Callum and Fergus and Jamie. Most of all, though, she thought about Angus. She never wanted to leave him behind, but somehow, destiny decreed that she had to.
She had one last gift to give him, and that gift lay inside this castle. She squared her shoulders and walked across the drawbridge. Her boots thumped on the thick timbers. She crossed into the courtyard when the telltale creak of metal rubbing against wood startled her from behind. She spun around to see the drawbridge closing behind her to lock her in.
Her heart quailed, but she made her choice. She was inside the castle, so she better find out where she had to go and what she had to do. The witch waited for her somewhere in this castle. Carmen just had to find her.
She headed for the first door she saw. It led her into a hall lined all over with polished wood. She passed through many other similar halls and rooms, all hung with decorated tapestries and ornate carpets. Carved figurines covered all the wooden furniture. Fancy metalwork wound around all the metal fixtures of door handles, railings, and candleholders.
No matter where she turned, she found organic patterns embedded in every surface. Whoever constructed this castle left not one inch of space blank. Animals, people, flowering plants, and natural designs flowed and wrapped around everything until the whole place appeared alive.
It appeared alive, but it wasn’t alive. Not one person lived in that castle. Not a single fly buzzed in the kitchen, though Carmen found a cauldron of savory soup boiling over the fire. Not a dog loped through the courtyards or a horse stamped in the stables. Carmen searched one room after another, but she found the whole castle deserted.
She came to a grand hall bigger than all the others. Instead of wood, chiseled stone lined every wall, the floor, and even the towering roof overhead. St
ained glass windows let sunshine glow against the ceiling where curved arches met to form star patterns high above.
Carmen stood still and admired the glorious hall. A long crimson carpet stretched from the oval door all the way to the far end, where a throne sat on a raised dais. Huge expanses of flagstone floor spread on either side of the carpet. Hundreds of people should pack that hall to pay honor to the throne, but the place echoed in silence.
Carmen’s footsteps rang out through the stillness. She hated to disturb the quiet by walking down the long carpet, but something drew her to that throne. She had to approach it, to see it and feel it for herself, if only just this once.
She came to a halt at the foot of the steps. She couldn’t rise any further. Something wouldn’t let her. She didn’t belong on that platform. The throne captivated her imagination like nothing else. Four carved seats stood on either hand. These seats carried the same intricate patterns scored into their black wood, but they couldn’t hold a candle to the throne itself.
Two enormous wings carved out of black wood curved around the throne, and a wicked reptilian head hovered over the seat back. Two clawed talons draped down the chair’s arms, and a long, scaled body wrapped itself around the back to form the seat. Two burning slit eyes glared down at Carmen. A huge dragon etched in black wood hunched over the throne and stared down at anybody standing at its foot.
Whoever sat on that throne must embody the dragon’s spirit. She sensed that in her deepest being. The dragon gave his power to the person who dared to sit on that throne. Who could possess such power? She couldn’t think.
The dragon’s eyes followed her when she moved off to one side. A low door communicated off the main throne room, and Carmen ducked through. Her heart pounded, and the dragon’s haunting presence followed her, even when she left the room. She couldn’t get that throne out of her head.
She distracted herself by searching the castle whole lower level without finding a single living thing. Just like the story of Sleeping Beauty, though, everything went on as if the people just stepped out that minute. Fires blazed in the fireplaces, A glass of wine and a plate of food sat ready to eat on the dining room table. A bucket of hot soapy water waited next to the mop near the pantry where someone stood the mop against the wall until they got back.
Carmen heard enough fairy stories in her long-lost childhood to know better than to touch a speck of that food or drink. She smelled it, though, and it aroused her appetite. What was going on here? Magic pervaded the whole castle. She was certain of that now.
Behind the throne room, she found an entrance hall she didn’t know was there. Large wooden doors opened into the courtyard where she crossed the drawbridge, and two curving staircases swooped to the castle’s upper levels.
Carmen climbed them, but she already knew she wouldn’t find anything. The upper landing curved around the entrance hall into four wings extended through the castle. Rooms cut off in all directions, along with more halls leading to still more staircases rising into the castle’s highest Keeps.
Carmen strolled down the halls. She didn’t bother to check the rooms. Maybe Ross made a mistake. Maybe the witch wasn’t here after all. Carmen would find a way out of here and get back to the men. They would have to figure out another way to defeat the witch—if that was possible.
She was just about to turn back when, on a whim, she threw back one of the many doors surrounding her. A blast of furious roaring knocked her back on her heels. Before she could yank the door closed, a monster too big to fit in that room lurched toward her. The biggest head she ever saw darted at her. Huge eyes, a massive nose, and snarling lips and teeth drove for her face.
The head would have collided with her if the monster hadn’t banged its enormous face against the wall around the door. The force pushed Carmen out of the room and slammed the door on her before she could do it herself.
Her heart thundered against her ribs, and she fought to breathe. After searching the silent, empty castle so long, the monster startled her out of a peaceful reverie. It destroyed her complacency in one blow. So there was something here, something magic.
Her knees knocked walking down that landing. She cast a suspicious eye over the doors on either side. What would she find if she looked through them? She dared not open another one for fear of what she would find.
She made it all the way back to the stairs before she got hold of herself. She reined herself in and made herself stop. If Ross was right and the witch was here, she must be in the upper levels. She left the lower level empty to throw people off her trail. People! What people? Why, Carmen herself, of course.
Carmen cast a rueful glance over her shoulder. She didn’t want to go back into those halls and passages. She didn’t want to search those rooms. She didn’t want to face any witch that could create or imprison a monster like that. What chance did Carmen have of defeating such a powerful force?
She couldn’t descend those stairs, though. If the witch was here, Carmen had to find her. She committed to crossing that drawbridge, and it closed behind her. That told her all she needed to know. She wouldn’t be able to get out of here until she defeated the witch. Even then, she wouldn’t go back to Angus and his party. She would go back to Hazel’s house and her old life on the Force.
She marched all the way back the way she came. She didn’t bother to open any of the doors she passed. She found a hall with a long winding staircase climbing higher into the towers. She had to go up. The witch would be up there, at or near the top tower.
Carmen paused to catch her breath on the way up before she started climbing again. The stairs ended in another, smaller hall, this time floored in the grey flagstone she noticed in the castle’s poorer parts like the kitchen and pantries. No carpet lined these passages like those lower down. Rough wooden doors without decorative carving stood close at hand.
Carmen hesitated. Should she check these doors? Could she handle confronting another monster like the one downstairs? She rallied to try one of them. It creaked open, and she found herself in a bare room utterly devoid of ornament or furniture. A window stood open across the room, and she went to look out on the mountains and forests beyond. Angus and the others were out there somewhere.
She couldn’t go pining for Angus at a time like this. At least this room didn’t contain any dreaded giants out to attack her. She turned around to leave and venture on her way when her eye fell on a painting. It hung on the wall next to the door. That’s why she didn’t see it when she walked in.
A gilded frame surrounded it in luxurious shining opulence, but the painting itself struck her cold. It depicted a man standing in front of that dragon throne downstairs. He wore a magnificent golden crown and costly robes trailing all over the floor at his feet. A beautiful queen stood at his side, and men in crowns bowed on bended knee at the foot of the steps. The dragon head bent over him to give him a powerful, regal aura.
Carmen gasped out loud. She couldn’t take her eyes off that king’s face. He looked just like Angus, except for a saber cut across his face that disfigured one eye. Besides, he had brown eyes instead of grey like Angus. Other than that, it could have been the same man.
Carmen took a long time to tear herself away from that picture. What did Angus have to do with that throne?
Chapter 10
Jamie elbowed Fergus and snorted to suppress laughter. Brody rolled his eyes, and Ewan scratched his head.
Robbie cleared his throat. “Is there ought in there we might use?”
Angus rifled the pages of the book the woman gave him. He frowned. “I cinnae understand half o’ it.”
“That’s hardly surprising,” Jamie added. “Ye been ponderin’ o’er it fer four hours if a’tall.”
Angus didn’t look up. He knew they would react like this. He couldn’t let them distract him. He turned another page and read.
Beyond the Phoenix Throne lies the King asleep in his grave.
Around him dwell the ten maidens clad all in white.
Daisies, roses, asters, paperwhites,
The thistle grows wild and free far away,
Never taken or plucked for the long feast table.
Only the King can command her to grow in the hallowed halls….
None of it made any sense. Angus turned to another page.
The Law surrounds the Knights on their Quest.
The Law binds the King on his throne.
The Law forbids the Errant from entering the Sacred Chamber.
The Law requires the King pay the Phoenix Tribute
To find the thistle growing alone and sturdy on the distant hillside….
On and on it went about the Law and the King and whatnot.
Angus shoved the book into his sporran, but he didn’t look around at his companions. What did the book mean by the thistle the King had to find? It listed ten maidens, and in the next line, it related the names of other flowers, one of which was the thistle. Was the thistle another flower symbol for a maiden?
No matter what he did, his mind kept revolving on Carmen. Why did he keep thinking about her whenever he remembered those lines about the maidens? She was certainly his idea of a thistle—tough and protective, not at all wispy or willowy like the daisy or the paperwhite. She could take care of herself when the going got rough. He could trust her to keep on growing no matter what life threw at her.
Thinking about her eased his mind. Wherever she was, she would be okay. She would handle whatever she came across, and she would keep growing. She would sink her tap root into the soil and throw out her prickles to the four winds. Fate could tear her up and throw her aside. She would grow back. He knew that now.
He shook all those thoughts out of his head. Carmen wasn’t a thistle. That was just stupid. She was something alien, some ridiculous cross between a woman and a man with her short hair and her bizarre clothes. He smiled to himself when he remembered her, but still, the memory of her gave him comfort.
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