Flame Read Online Free PDF Page B

satisfaction as the panel which he had
been standing before only a moment earlier snapped opened a
crack.
    “M’lord. You don’t plan to go in there
alone,” Edmund said with alarm.
    “Once you are beneath the castle, there is no
rhyme or reason to the paths,” Allan agreed. “In fact, one of the
builder’s apprentices disappeared in those tunnels. ‘Tis dangerous,
even for those who know the passages. There are chasms that have no
bottom. The lad was never found, m’lord, and he was not the only
one!”
    Gavin moved toward the panel and pushed it
open wide.
    “Pray, m’lord,” Edmund’s voice was the more
persistent. “Allow me, at least, to come with you. I’ve never seen
a...”
    “Find a way to get your rump up to the
hearth.” The Lowlander glanced over his shoulder at the red-headed
warrior. With his eyes he motioned toward the portrait of Joanna
MacInnes above the fireplace. “Take the painting to the Old Keep.
Put it in my chamber.”
    Without another word, Gavin squeezed through
the panel and disappeared into the darkness of the passage.
     
    ***

    The slender back of the old woman bowed under
the weight of the heavy satchels she carried. Dragging her feet
another few steps through the mud, she spotted more herbs by a
protruding boulder. Leaning one gnarled hand on the rock, she
grasped the top of the plant and pulled. The stubborn root wouldn’t
let go.
    Though the sun had broken through the heavy
clouds, the air was thick with moisture from the rains. Tugging at
the plant again, the woman wiped the dripping sweat from her eyes
with the other hand, leaving a smudge of dirt on the fan of
wrinkles by the exposed white hair at her temple. She gave a sigh
of relief when the root let go at last. Wiping the dirt from the
greens with one callused hand, she placed it carefully in one of
the satchels before painfully straightening under their weight.
    “Och, Mater,” the low voice scolded from
behind. “Why must you carry both bags in this sun. Let me give you
a hand.”
    The old woman waved a hand dismissively in
the air while continuing with her search. But she didn’t fight
when, a moment later, the younger woman reached her and silently
took one of the satchels, swinging it over her shoulder.
    “The rest of us could do more of this. There
is no reason for you, at your age, to always do so much to take
care of so many.”
    “There is,” Mater said plainly as she bent
down to tug at another root. “What news have you from the
castle?”
    “Molly has come to visit her sisters. She
brought word. There was an accident this morning. The laird
insisted that Allan show him the fire damage in the south
wing.”
    “I knew he wouldn’t be able to stay away from
there. What happened?”
    “One of the floors collapsed beneath him. But
he was not hurt.”
    Mater paused for a moment, nodded, and turned
her steps down the valley toward the ruined abbey. “Anything
else?”
    The younger woman fell in step. “Just as his
man told you yesterday, Molly says that the laird plans to pay the
abbey a visit.” The woman stared at the aging leader. “Will you see
him, Mater?”
    Mater stopped and looked up at the sky. “I
have no choice. I will see him...if he still lives!”
     
    ***
     
    The chapel perched, squat and ancient, on the
edge of the cliff in the southeastern corner of the castle, with
the gray waters of the loch below. Except for a low archway that
had been built to give access to the small kirkyard, the
construction of the south wing had completely cut off the little
church from the castle’s courtyard.
    “‘Tis a miserable place,” the pasty-faced
little priest spat out, glaring at the building. “Hotter than hell
in the summer, and windier than Luther’s arse in the winter. ‘Tis
no wonder the peasants of the holding want nothing to do with
it.”
    Aye, Gavin thought, glancing at the man’s
sour expression. No wonder.
    “They have little faith in these hills, you
know. ‘Tis comfort