He looked at her, sharply. “I’ve never lied tae ye, lass.”
“Then why not go tae The Cal?” She put her hand on his arm, imploring. “Ye filled my head full of tales of a place where men learn tae become great warriors. What if ye send us there? Me and Ewie and Ossian? We can return and teach our men tae fight, and then we can stand up tae the Lindsay. We can seek vengeance if we…!”
She stopped herself before she spilled everything, but Niall heard her. He peered at her curiously. “Seek vengeance for what, lass?”
Isadora couldn’t look her father in the eye at that point. He didn’t know whom she was grieving for, but he suspected it had something to do with someone in Netherton. They all suspected such a thing. But she wasn’t going to add fuel to that speculation.
It was her pain and her pain alone.
“Vengeance for making it seem that we raided Netherton,” she said, less agitated than she had been. “Vengeance for our clan. Do ye not want tae punish them for what they did tae us? Tae Netherton?”
Niall was fairly certain that was not what she meant, but he didn’t press her. Isadora was an ocean of secrets these days. Instead, he looked at her closely as he considered her suggestion.
“Nay, lass,” he said after a moment. “Sending ye tae the Ludus Caledonia is but a dream.”
“But what if itwasa possibility?” she said eagerly. “Havena ye been there?”
Niall hesitated. “Twice.”
She grew more excited. “Then ye know where it is,” she said. “Ye can send us there.”
He was shaking his head before she could finish her sentence. “I canna,” he said. “It would take too long for ye tae learn and then return tae teach the rest of us. But…”
She grabbed at him. “Butwhat?”
“If we get a man who has already been taught…”
He trailed off and, suddenly, the light of realization flared. Niall had been to bloody and well-attended games where men battled in a secluded arena cut into the hills of the Lowlands of Scotland and he knew that he could find a man to help them at the great and terrible Ludus Caledonia. Perhaps a man who would solve all of their problems by leading their young warriors against the Lindsay. It would be expensive, but they had the money. They could buy themselves quite a warrior.
A savior.
It wasn’t a bad idea, at that.
“Then we’ll go?” Isadora asked, jolting him from his train of thought. “We’ll go tae The Cal, Dada?”
Niall wasn’t entire sure; it was an idea he had to think over carefully. “Dunna push me, Isadora,” he said in a tone that suggested no arguing. “I’ve enough tae take in without yer nuisance. Whatever needs tae be done, I’ll do it. Ye’ll have tae trust me.”
Turning on his heel, he walked around her, his sons in tow. Isadora didn’t follow; she watched her father walk away, heading back up the footpath toward their cottage as the silver moon illuminated the landscape.
But Isadora knew that determined look in her father’s eye; she’d seen it before, many times. When her father was on to an idea he considered solid, nothing would stand in his way and she could see, in that brief moment, that her father wanted action, too.
Something told Isadora that a trip to Edinburgh would soon be in their future.
CHAPTER NINE
Edinburgh
Screaming…
Fire…
Heart pounding, Cam found himself running. Suddenly, he was back in Netherton, running toward the sounds of screams. All he could think about was getting to his grandfather, of protecting him. He was an old man, weakened in his old age, and needed help.
He had to make it home.
But he paused in his flight to look around him. Undulating fire, bright shades of orange and yellow, surreal as it burned up to the sky.
Even the sky was on fire.
