Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 114917 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114917 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
“But if so, do you think it could truly bring the curse to an end?”
“I want to believe it, hope it would be true, yet fear it to be true,” Brogan said.
Rannick nodded, feeling the same. “It is a secret that once learned must be kept at all costs.”
Brogan grinned. “We’ll have to get the witch to put a spell on all those who know… to forget.”
Rannick scowled. “That witch better watch her step with my wife.”
“Hold your temper with her, Rannick. She commands the crows and wolves,” Brogan warned.
“But she does not command me,” Rannick snapped.
“Fair warning, my friend. She has the power to do more harm than you,” Brogan cautioned.
“I know,” Rannick snapped again and forced himself to hold his temper. “I have fought a witch before but seeing this witch command the ravens and especially the wolves, I realize the one I conquered had little power or she was not a witch at all, and it was not an easy victory.”
“Then befriend this one before it is too late,” Brogan warned.
The squawk of a raven brought them to a halt to see the large, black bird sitting on the roof of a nearby cottage. The bird looked from one man to the other, issued another squawk then took flight.
“This is not going to be an easy task,” Brogan said.
“On that, my friend, we agree,” Rannick said.
“I fear the foundation we intend to build our plan on will not be firm enough and will soon crumble,” Annis said, after retiring to the solar with her husband, Bliss, and Rannick once supper was done. “This person who hunts us has proven difficult to find.” She looked to Rannick. “From what you have told us, no matter how many men you and your father send out to see what can be found about the man, they return with little information. And while the men you have kept prisoners dwindle down, they have little to offer us. The person behind it all hides his involvement well.” She shook her head. “And what truly disturbs me is that there have been no attempts on our lives lately? Surely with me and Brogan here, it would have been a good time to attack.”
Rannick offered a possibility. “The warriors keep the village secure.”
“There is something else I have noticed,” Brogan said. “Things are much different than my last visit here. I see countless smiles and hear more laughter from the clan than I can recall. I hear people talking about how hunting goes well, that food is plentiful, and that bairns are being born with no difficulty,” —he gave a nod to Bliss— “because of your skills so the women say, and for the first time in a long while I have seen that no one turns their head away when Rannick passes by them.”
“We see the same contentment in our thriving village,” Annis said.
“Can we dare believe the curse has been broken?” Bliss said, her voice low as if fearful of suggesting such a thing.
“If not broken, perhaps at least halted,” Rannick said.
“Halted for what?” Brogan asked.
They all gave thought while Rannick offered his. “For the very last thing that will break the curse for good—whatever that might be.”
The thought slipped into Annis’s head and from her mouth. “It must be a bairn… a MacWilliam bairn waiting to be born so that the bloodline lives again. It is the most likely thing.”
Rannick looked quick at his wife. “That would mean you or your sister Elysia, one of you, is the MacWilliam descendent.” He turned a hasty look on Annis. “Unless—”
“Nay, I am not with child nor am I ready to be just yet,” Annis said, shaking her head. “If only the person who hunts us was aware of this information, he would stop since he would get what he wants… the curse to end. But such news cannot be shared.”
“What if it could be? Not news about the MacWilliam bairn having lived and the bloodline carried on, but news that the curse has ended,” Rannick suggested.
“How could that possibly be done? The curse just suddenly ending like that?” Bliss asked, though the idea did intrigue her.
“The witch did it,” Rannick said with a grin. “We can start a rumor that the witch broke the curse. Word has already spread that the crows brought the witch here. All wonder why she was here. With no attempts being made on our lives and things going well, many will begin to believe it.”
Brogan smiled and pointed to Rannick. “And with you not executing those men imprisoned that surrender to you, it would prove that evil lives no more in you, so the curse must have been broken.”
“That would give us a firm foundation to build on,” Annis said with glee. “No evil, no reason for any of us to die.”