Page 28 of Highlander Redeemed
“I do not ken exactly. They seem to be a variation of the symbols associated with the Targe, but different, like they were carved one over the other.” It was only then that she realized the circle with three swirls was carved below, but very close to, the superimposed Guardian symbols. It was much smaller, but clearly meant to be the same as the symbol at the top of the stone. “Perhaps that is the story the stone is named for?”
He stared at the symbols, his eyes squinting against the glare of the sun. “Have you ever heard what that story is?”
“Never.”
“Neither have I. We must tell Jeanette of this. If they tell a story of the Guardians they might be important,” Duncan said.
Scotia was about to agree with him when her heart started hammering. “Nay, we cannot say anything about this to anyone. If we tell her, or anyone, of these symbols they will want to know how we ken this and why we came here today. How can we explain why we were here without giving away our secret? I am not ready to reveal my plans to anyone else.”
Duncan looked back at the stone. “We cannot keep this discovery from the Guardians, Scotia.”
“We can. You promised.”
“I did, but this—”
“We will tell them together, if and when there is reason to,” she said, trying to think quickly. “For now, there is naught good for either of us that will come of telling anyone we were here.”
He considered her words for a moment, and that alone made her feel he was remaining true to his word. “I would like to tell the Guardians and the chief that I brought you here today to teach you a lesson, to remind you of what can happen when you go off alone.” He turned to face her, capturing her gaze with his. “’Tis the truth, and it will allow me to report that we have seen no English in the area as of yet, which is important news. I will not mention the search for a sword that brought us out to the stone, but I think we must tell Jeanette of these symbols. She might understand what they mean, or at least ’twill give her something else to search for in those Chronicles.”
Scotia balked at the idea, but deep in her gut she knew he was right. If this new discovery was important, withholding it could bring more harm to the clan, and that she could not do.
“We will tell them only that this was a lesson for you,” he said again, “to remind you of what happens—”
“The lesson is well taught,” she snapped, then closed her eyes and shook her head at her own temper. “It is well taught,” she said more calmly. “I agree that we must tell Nicholas and the Guardians what we have learned and seen.” She looked up at him and found him staring down at her from his greater height. “’Tis also the truth. I did not realize how much I did not remember until I stood here.”
“Will you remember all the symbols when we leave?” he asked.
She looked back at the stone, studying each symbol for a long moment until she was sure she could draw them in the dirt or on one of Jeanette’s scrolls if she needed to.
“Aye, I will remember them,” she said, though she did not relish revealing yet another failure on her part to become a Guardian, for both Rowan and Jeanette would recognize the similarities to the grotto stone. At least Duncan did not understand that part of what she had learned this day.
“We should head back to the glen,” he said. As they left the hillock to make their way back to the nearest part of the wood, Duncan shook his head.
“What?” she demanded.
He sighed. “Did youknowthere was a sword out here? Or did you just hope ’twas so?”
She stopped and realized she had once more forgotten all about finding a sword. “Iknew.”
She closed her eyes and concentrated on theknowing. She turned a little to the left, opened her eyes, and walked away from her companion. Not ten paces from Duncan, she squatted down and brushed dirt and dead leaves away from something that had caught her eye, glinting in the afternoon sun that was beginning to break through the thinning clouds. There, lying in wait for her just where sheknewit would be, was an English arming sword.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ROWAN WATCHED ASDuncan made his way to his place near the fire at the mouth of the main cave where he typically slept. Scotia had gone to bed as soon as she had devoured her meal and startled the Guardians with her news of the symbols on the Story Stone.
“There is something he is not telling us,” Rowan said with a glance over her shoulder at Jeanette.
Jeanette nodded. “I agree, and yet he and Scotia have told us much this evening.”
Rowan rubbed the spot between her brows with the heel of her hand and sighed. She turned back to her cousin. “They have. Do you think the Story Stone is another place the Targe draws power from, like the grotto stone?”
Jeanette cocked her head. Her eyes narrowed, and Rowan knew to give her time to consider the question and all the lore she knew.
“We were able to create a barrier there during the battle, though I thought the power simply came from the Targe stone at the time. ’Tis possible it is another place of power for the Targe, like the grotto. Perhaps that is what the symbols Scotia found will tell us. Can you fetch a light?” Jeanette asked as she moved to the council circle where Scotia had drawn the series of symbols she had seen on the Story Stone. Rowan grabbed a lantern that sat near the mouth of the main cave, a single stub of a candle burning in it, and followed Jeanette.
They both stopped, one on either side of the drawings scratched into the dirt. Rowan held the lantern close to the first symbol, the triple swirl that was so familiar, then slowly moved it down over the broken arrow, then over the muddle of shapes that Scotia said were the three symbols superimposed on each other, and finally to the smaller triple swirl.
“Do you think the broken arrow is for Scotia?” Rowan asked, deferring as always to Jeanette when it came to matters of Guardian lore.
