Chapter 6

         

“No!” Marie screamed. “You must not!”

“I understand your concern, dear lady, but your fears are misplaced. The orb is made of stone. It shall survive the fire. We will sift through the ashes to find it.”

“But the people! They will never survive the winter.”

“Ah, again you underestimate yourself. I am certain the hardy will survive. Begin.”

Prince Hadwyn motioned towards his men. They took some of the branches that Mirabel kept near her cauldron and stuck one end into the fire. After a few moments, they pulled out their makeshift torches and the leader assigned each a section of StagsEnd to burn.

“You canot do this!” Nathaniel screamed as he flailed his arms at Prince Hadwyn.

The Prince merely slapped him away with one gloved hand.

“Never, ever, touch me again, young man. People have died for less. I understand this is difficult for you so I will forgive you your outburst, but learn to control your emotions. Proceed,” he called to his men.

Marie was wishing she had slit his throat years ago. Nathaniel was fuming but Marie held him back. Savannah was in a state of shock. One of the men bowed to his Prince and turned to set their cottage alight.

“Caw!” the raven cried.

Baldric held his arm outstretched and the bird flew to perch upon it.

“Wait, my Lord,” Baldric said and the Prince ordered his men to halt. Baldric walked away to speak with the bird in private.

Nathaniel and Savannah strained their hearing but heard no sound from either bird or man. The children assumed it would take a long time for the bird to give its master news but perhaps Baldric was better at asking the right questions. Or perhaps the bird truly could speak because Baldric returned after only a minute.

“Saphrasus knows the location of the orb. It is not in the village. It is buried in Kesselring Forest,” Baldric explained.

“Ah! That is good news indeed. Men, return your torches to the fire. Do not touch the village. My good lady, this has been a most fortunate turn of events. First your daughter is found with no lasting injury, your son has amused his Prince, that which is rightfully mine has been found and your village has been spared. I am sure we will meet again. But in the meantime, enjoy this winter.”

And with that the Prince and his men rode away, following the raven which flew ahead of the pack.

Nathaniel turned on Savannah. “Is that true? Did you bury it in the woods? And did that raven see you?”

Savannah choked back her tears and nodded her head.

“What are you talking about?” Now it was Marie who turned on her children. “Are you saying you had this orb?”

“Yes,” Nathaniel said. “It was that raven, Saphrasus, who showed us where it was hidden.”

“And he made us promise not to tell you, Mother. I am so sorry. Nathaniel wanted to, but I trusted the bird,” Savannah said.

“Ravens are not to be trusted!” Marie snapped. “Now tell me everything. There have been too many secrets and these secrets have come home to our village.”

And so the children told their mother everything. They recounted that strange day when the raven led them deep into the forest, the strange marking on the tree, how Savannah somehow knew where to dig and how the raven flew away before the children could decide whether to give it the orb.

Nathaniel told their mother what really happened this morning; that Baldric was going to find their book and the orb and so they came up with their deception that Savannah was hurt. Then Savannah continued the story, explaining how she hid the book and buried the orb again. And how the raven attacked her when she was going to draw blood from her throat.

“Oh Savannah! You must never cut your throat. We would never be able to stop the bleeding.” She pulled her daughter close and held her tightly. Then she looked over Savannah’s shoulder, into the distance, where the raven had disappeared with the men.

“We better get the book and hide it again,” Nathaniel said.

“No,” Marie said, “we must burn it.”

“So they will not doubt that we are peasants,” Savannah said.

“That is right, my loves.”

“But we are not peasants, are we Mother?” Nathaniel asked.

Marie looked at the two of them. My, they have grown. Their diversion this morning showed that they were no longer children. Perhaps it was time.

“No we are not. Help your sister get the book and I will tell you another story.”

 

It pained her to destroy such a work of art but Marie tore the cover off the book and fed it to the fire. Then she let the children admire the artwork one last time. Each took turns tearing out a page and burning it in the fire.

“We are from the north, like Prince John and Prince Alexander in the book. The land is called Caledonia and Derek is our King. We are an ancient tribe. We keep to our highlands and lochs and try to avoid all of the fighting in this world. But riders came with word that King Freiderich was expanding his Empire and that the Kesselring King had a weapon that could stop him if all kingdoms united.

“And so King Derek sent his two eldest sons, John and Alexander, with instructions to report back to him. If the weapon was real then King Derek was prepared to weaken his defences by sending hundreds of his best men to fight this English war.”

“How would they report back?” Nathaniel asked.

Marie smiled. “Prince John had a raven, Duff, who flew behind them and would be the messenger to King Derek. But Duff never returned. And neither did John or Alexander.”

“Perhaps Duff was killed?” Nathaniel suggested.

“No,” Marie said, not believing that explanation. “Duff is too clever to be killed. And why would men think to kill a raven anyway? No, Duff was afraid to tell us what happened.”

“And that is why you do not trust ravens, Mother?” Savannah asked.

“And that is why I do not trust ravens.” Marie tore a page from the book, balled it up in her fists and threw it into the fire. “I begged him not to go. I did not like the sound of this “weapon” but your father would not listen. How could he, when his father commanded him to go?”

“You mean our grandfather is King Derek?” Nathaniel asked.

“Yes.”

“And father is?” Savannah asked.

“Prince John.”

The children were silent, absorbing this news. But something was troubling Nathaniel. He had to know. “So why have we come here?”

Marie took the last page, the one that told of the hunt in the night, tore it into pieces and flung them into the fire. “To kill Prince Hadwyn.”

Nathaniel’s heart skipped a beat. “But why mother? Surely you would be killed.”

“Yes, but someone has to avenge your father’s death,” Marie explained. Then she turned to Savannah. “Savannah, those dreams you have in the night, those, those are not dreams.”

“What do you mean?”

“Dear child, those are memories. The hunting lodge near Loch Ness, the hikes we would take through the highlands, magnificent feasts, the public hangings that terrified you …  those things really did happen. Father is awakening in you. You must let him in, Savannah. I need his help.”

Savannah fell silent. She was both thrilled and terrified. She sat down by the edge of the fire pit, closed her eyes, stretched out her arms and welcomed him in.

Nathaniel came beside his mother and wrapped a strong arm around her waist. They waited and watched and prayed for strength for Savannah.

Savannah shook her head violently, opened her eyes and spoke. “It is not Father.”
          “No?” Marie asked. “Then who?”

Savannah looked up at her mother. “It is Alexander.”

Marie would have fallen to the ground had Nathaniel not been holding her.

“No. All these years? Then is he alive or dead? If he is alive then why has he not sent word? Why would Duff not seek me? Father knew I was going to the convent to bear you, dear child. Why would he not send Duff? Surely John is dead?”

“But the book, Mother! The book is different from the stories we hear in the village. Everyone knows that King Wadnhyll killed both Northerners because Northerners are traitors. But the book, it,” Nathaniel broke off as he reached beside the fire pit to retrieve the last page that was poorly thrown and missed the flames. “See Mother, King Wadnhyll says, ‘This one we keep.’ If this story is true?”

“Then Father is locked in the castle keep!” Marie exclaimed. She practically danced into the fire. Soon Nathaniel and Savannah were dancing too.

“Wait! We must make a plan. Oh this great news!”

“It is Mother,” Nathaniel agreed, “but it would be better if we had the orb. Then we might be strong enough to overpower the guards. But now Prince Hadwyn has it again.”

Nathaniel was right and that realization was sobering.

“Yes, but we have three strong minds, four if we count Alexander, and a goal. We are so close. We cannot fail now. It is all good, Nathaniel.”

Nathaniel agreed. Of course Mother was right. His spirit was lighter with the thought of seeing his father.

“Nathaniel,” Savannah said, recovering from the shock of realizing that her old soul was Alexander, “why did Saphrasus fly north?”

“What do you mean?” he replied.

“North is where we found the orb, months ago, but today I buried the orb in the western woods, near where you found me. Over there,” she added, pointing to the path where she entered the woods.

“Hurry!” her mother cried, tugging at Savannah, “as fast as you can. Duff may have bought us some time!”