The Wellspring (Kaitlyn and the Highlander #12) - Diana Knightley Page 0,57
riddle.”
“Aye, I am a riddle. I have lived the longest of anyone here, but tis only now after our plane flight that I understand the lines of clouds across the sky.” He pointed, and traced the white lines of the jet steams. “Ye will be m’son but ye will also be wiser than me and you will be a riddle someday as well, Archie. Ye will be a king of the future but ye will want tae nae forget what lies in yer past.”
Archie said, “Like this beith tree.”
“Aye, like this beith, here on the shore of yer family’s castle.”
Magnus sat up and watched me playing with Isla, then he lumbered up, brushed off his pants, and trudged up the river bank to higher ground, to a big tall pine tree. He looked it up and down. “If ye remember the trees, Archie, ye will be able tae remember where ye put yer buried treasure. Come and help yer da dig.”
Isla and I watched Magnus and then Magnus and Archie dig. Isla and I helped a little too, digging into the dirt with our hands. Until about a foot down, Magnus knocked on a wooden lid. We all peered down at it, just a corner exposed. “What is it?” I asked.
“Inside is a broadsword and some other weapons, buried here in the year 1697 by one Young Magnus, the nephew of the Earl of Breadalbane. I buried this chest here in case I needed it and I dinna want m’brother Sean tae ken.”
His hands were filthy, and he was crouched beside it, looking up at me with a grin. “Since then I hae buried weapons all around this castle. Want me tae shew ye some of the places?” He pushed the dirt back over the broadsword box.
Archie said, “You no going to take it?”
“Nae, ye never ken when ye might need a weapon, tae take it now would be stealin’ it from myself in another time. I might need it.” He patted the dirt down and added some vegetation so the hole wouldn’t be noticed.
“Or me,” said Archie.
“Aye.”
We followed Magnus out onto the wide mowed lawn of the golf course and stood with a view of the castle. This was the area where the war with Roderick had played out in the early eighteenth century. I looked back at the walls, long rebuilt and improved from having been almost destroyed by Donnan’s drone army.
Magnus said, “See over there, that crooked giubhas? There is a sword buried under it. See that darach? A chest of swords. See over there, that tree? Also a cask of weapons. And dost ye want tae see the best one?”
I said, “Definitely.”
“Tis a bit of a walk.”
“We can do it, right Archie?”
We headed east across the grounds and then through the woods and wound along the bank of the river for about twenty minutes until we came to the main road across from a farm.
Magnus said, “Och, someone has built a farm on the land, but over there is the Croft Moraig circle.”
I said, “Yes! That’s the stone circle in the future with the tunnel into our castle.”
“Aye, now see the stones, Archie? I want ye tae really look and tell me which one is the north stone.”
Archie looked like he was really concentrating, then he said, “That one.”
“Aye, now draw a line tae the tree ye might call the guardian tree.”
Archie looked around the space. Isla pointed, “Twee!”
Magnus chuckled, “That is yer choice, bairn? How about ye, Archie, tis the tree ye think of as the guardian?”
Archie continued to scan the horizon and said, “Aye,” all seriousness.
“Give me a reason for it.”
“It’s big. It is bent, it is old.”
“All true, and yes, tis the guardian tree. Dost ye ken who planted it?”
We all turned to Magnus with our eyes wide. I said, “You?”
“Aye, twas a seedling in the year 1704, I buried a chest under its roots and it has grown verra large in the kingdom of Riaghalbane. It guards over this stone circle, and the secret entrance tae m’castle.”
He led us across the field to the stones and I placed Isla down in the middle of the circle so she could toddle around. Magnus went up to the tree and patted its trunk. “On the north side, about a foot down, there is a chest, and tis full of weapons and most importantly, a vessel. If ye ever hae an emergency, ye can find it.”