The red-haired lass was studying him again. It seemed that all she did was stare at him when she wasn’t making demands. She had eyes the color of a cat’s-eye stone, a shade of brown that was both warm and mysterious.
But there was a great deal of curiosity there.
“Ye say ye canna fight?” she asked. “Why not?”
He shook his head. “I’m a smithy, like my grandfather. Not a warrior.”
The lass had a hint of humor in her eyes. “Ye’re big enough tae fight,” she said. “Ye must learn.”
“Why?”
“What if theSassenachattacks yer village? What then?”
His brow furrowed as he thought on that. “Then I would take my grandfather tae the hills and we would hide,” he said. “I wouldna fight them. ’Twould be foolish.”
“Why?”
“Because they have swords and I dunna. They would kill me.”
The lass marched over to him, through the smashed foliage, and poked at his arms. They were muscular arms, even at his young age. He was not a boy any longer, but not quite a man. He was big and handsome. Crouching down, she looked him in the eyes.
“Allgàidhealshould fight,” she said frankly. “’Tis in yer blood. I’ve heard my da say so. Are there no men in Netherton tae teach ye?”
He shrugged. “Who? Farmers?”
The lass cocked her head. “What of yer laird?”
Suspecting these children were of a rival clan, he couldn’t be sure that she wasn’t testing him so he wisely kept his loyalties to himself.
“There is no one,” he reiterated. “If theSassenachcome, then I shall take my grandfather and hide.”
That wasn’t good enough for the lass. “There are places that will teach ye tae fight,” she said. “A fight guild, mayhap.”
Cam looked at her strangely. “A fight guild? What is that?”
“I told ye—where they teach ye tae fight. I’ve heard my father speak of one that is the best in all the land. They’ll teach ye tae fight like a true warrior.”
“What place is this?”
Standing behind the lass, one of the older children spoke up. “A mystical place,” he said. “Only the bravest men go there.Imay go there some day.”
“I’ve not heard of such a place.”
There was some hissing going on as some of the children opened their mouths to tell him what they knew, but the older boy shushed them. This washisconversation, after all.
“’Tis called the Ludus Caledonia,” he said. “Have ye not heard that name?”
Cam shook his head. “Nay,” he replied. “A fight guild, ye say?”
The older youth was confident as he spoke. “They teach ye tae fight against monsters,” he said. “My da says men go in, but few come out.”
Cam thought it all sounded rather strange. Strange and frightening. A place to learn to fight where they pitted men against monsters? He couldn’t tell if they were jesting or not, playing on the gullibility of a village lad who had lived a rather peaceful life. He thought it might be a trick of some kind. But considering he wanted to leave in the worst way, he simply went along with it.
“If I ever want tae learn tae fight, I’ll go there,” he said.
“Ye canna find it,” the older boy said. “Mayhap in Edinburgh, they say, but no one knows for certain. Even tae speak of it in Edinburgh can bring ye death. They’ll send the monsters for ye.”
It was all quite odd. Cam wasn’t sure how they’d veered onto this subject of a fight guild filled with monsters, but he wanted out. He looked at the red-haired lass, who was still looking at him intently.
