Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
“You have been helpful, Hadwin,” Torin said.
“I am glad I could help in some small way, my lord,” Hadwin said.
Torin took hold of his wife’s hand and kept a hasty pace.
“Why did you ask him about the monk and the monastery?” Flora asked, sensing something was wrong.
“I need you to tell me what that scroll says,” Torin said.
“Why?”
Torin shook his head. “Can you do anything without questioning it?”
“Nay, it is who I am, and I cannot change who I am, and I do not want to change who I am,” she said. “Now tell me why you need me to read the scroll to you.”
He remained silent until they reached the keep, then he called out to the servants gathered there waiting for Flora. “Lady Flora will be delayed.”
With no further explanation, many of the servants smiled as they walked toward the kitchen for another hot brew, thinking his lordship was making certain there would be an heir to the title soon enough.
Once inside the cottage, Torin explained. “I do not believe Hadwin stopped at a monastery.”
“Where do you believe he stopped?”
“I believe he came upon the home of the Lord Varrick, a legend in his own right, and I am concerned what might be in the scroll since there has been talk that a man with his immense skills could only come from the power of the devil.”
“Are you telling me that you believe the scroll is a pact he made with the devil?”
CHAPTER 10
Torin pointed to the scroll on the table. “Read just a small portion of it. If it points to an evil pact, stop reading it.”
“And what?” she asked, worried for Fia the woman in Clan Strathearn’s dungeon. Lord Varrick had laid claim to her and was on his way to retrieve her. What were his intentions?
“I will see it returned to Lord Varrick,” Torin said.
“Nay,” Flora protested. “Words hold great power and since it was discarded in secret then there must be a reason for it.”
“It could very well have brought harm and I will not have that harm brought here,” Torin argued.
“And what if someone discarded it for the opposite reason? What if it could help Lord Varrick?” Flora challenged again worried for Fia’s fate and if there was a chance she could help her, she would.
“We will not know until you read it.” Torin set a scowl on his wife that was meant to frighten. “You best speak the truth to me when you read it.”
Flora was taken aback by his accusation. “You insult me by suggesting I would lie to you. Have I given you reason to think I would lie and do not bother to mention when we met. I may have held a silent tongue out of illness, but no lie crossed my lips.”
“Then make sure it doesn’t now,” Torin ordered.
“I expect the same of you, husband,” she shot back.
He looked ready to argue then stopped. “Now that we have made it clear that we will not now or ever lie to each other, read the scroll and be done with it.”
Flora slipped off her cloak to drape over a chair and took hold of the scroll to slowly unravel it and read it as she did.
Torin came to stand beside her, staring at the Latin words but not able to read them. His intentions were to keep his wife safe, but if words were weapons, he had no defense against them.
“It speaks of demons and how they live on the edges of the world and how they try to work their way inward and inside us and unless we are careful, they will find a way in, and we will succumb to their evil ways. It warns of how easily evil can entrap us and how difficult it is to escape it and how in the end we will suffer the fires of hell if we allow it in.”
She paused too long, and Torin urged, “What else?”
“It warns to not suffer lightly the touch of a demon and how the offended spot must be burned or cut off and if it is too late then fire is the only recourse.”
“How does one tell if one is touched by a demon?” Torin asked.
“It tells of signs to watch for; almost inhuman skills, impervious to pain, knowledge beyond others, sleeps little, wicked thoughts, ruts like an animal, defies the cross.” Flora glanced at her husband standing silent beside her. “What has taken hold of your thoughts?”
“Why would someone place this in the merchant’s cart?” Torin asked.
“To be rid of it, for it not to be seen, for it not to be used against someone, to keep a demon from being discovered.” Flora shivered in fright. “This is not a pact with the devil. This is how to defend against him, and someone did not want another to know how to do that. This scroll is meant to help not harm. We should return it.”