Page 108 of Lord of Fortune
Chapter 20
“What?” Penn swung around and looked at where she pointed. There on the rock was a pattern of lichen that looked suspiciously like…a drawing. He stalked to the rock and stared at the pattern.
Amelia stood beside him. “It looks like several waterfalls. Why draw a picture of waterfalls beneath a waterfall?”
Penn opened his bag and found the small cleaning brush. Lifting it to the rock, he gently scrubbed the lichen away. In so doing, things became much clearer. The lichen collected at the bottom of the drawing fell away to reveal letters.
“Amelia, hand me the paper.” He’d been sure to bring that just in case the code from the White Book would be necessary to find the heart.
She handed him the code. “You were smart to bring this, but then you are the smartest man I know.”
He shot her a look of amusement. “Your flattery will not go unremarked.” Quickly deciphering the letters, he looked down at what he’d written. “Sgwd Clun Gwyn. Fall of the White Meadow.”
“Another waterfall?” she asked.
“Two, actually. There’s a lower and an upper falls.” He looked at the drawing again. “That is definitely the lower falls. They’re four smaller falls and pools between them. Excellent for a swim on a summer’s day. The upper falls are far more majestic—a single fall of water at least forty feet tall.”
“So this is pointing us to the lower falls?”
“That’s my guess.” He felt vaguely unsatisfied, as if he were missing something. He brushed his hand over the rock, feeling the grooves. With a curse, he gave the paper back to Amelia. “Hand me a fresh piece of parchment and a scrap of charcoal.”
She dug around for what he needed and gave them over one at a time.
Flattening the paper over the rock, he used the charcoal to make a relief of the carving.
Amelia leaned in close to him. “A rubbing?”
“A trick I use quite often.” He finished and stared at the paper. But it was Amelia who saw it first.
She pointed to the top of the falls. “There! It looks like a tiny heart.”
He turned with the paper, holding it to the light filtering through the falls. Excitement swelled in his chest. “Yes, that’s a heart.”
She grinned widely, mirroring his elation. “Theheart. We know where to go.”
“Indeed we do, back out to the River Mellte and then north.”
She hugged him with glee. “We almost have it!”
They turned on the path and started back along the waterfall, walking quickly in their excitement. As soon as they emerged from behind the fall, Penn stopped short.
Standing above them on the path was Amelia’s husband and four other, larger men. One of them Penn recognized from outside Forrest’s cottage. All of them drew pistols, and Penn rushed to do the same.
Trailed by the henchmen, Forrest came down the path, his pistol trained on Penn. “I wouldn’t try that. If you shoot me, the others will take you down faster than you can say, ‘Please, don’t shoot.’” He slid his gaze toward Amelia. “Don’t bother with your pistol either, you Amazon. One of you disarm them!” he yelled over his shoulder.
One of the henchmen rushed forward and relieved both Penn and Amelia of their pistols, tucking one into his belt and handing the other to another of the men.
“You were a bit difficult to track, but not impossible, as you can see,” Forrest said smugly. His eyes narrowed at Penn’s hand, and he took a step forward. “What’s that?”
Penn wadded the parchment and threw it into the center of the river, where it rushed downstream.
“Goddammit!” Forrest cocked his pistol and aimed it directly at Penn’s heart. “Whatwasthat?”
“Nothing,” Penn said calmly, aching to throw the man into the river after the paper. In fact… “Would you like to go after it? I’d be happy to help.” He gave the man a malevolent smile.
Forrest sneered. “I ought to shoot you. I think I will.”
Amelia leapt in front of Penn, putting herself between him and Forrest’s weapon. “No! You can’t shoot him. He’s an earl.”
