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location. “What is it?”
    “We need to get ye home.” Gone was the ever-present laughter in Tavish’s voice. He scanned the woods and the horizon, searching for a route home.
    Elyne stared hard at the forest and then she saw it. Movement. Sunlight was reflecting off of armor. The armor of hundreds of men.
    “English!” Elyne instinctively grabbed Tavish’s arm and pulled at him to leave. “We need to get back to the castle. We need to warn my brother. We have to warn them all!”
    Despite her pulling on his arm, Tavish did not move an inch. He was a lean man but solid. “They have cut us off. We canna go back the way we came.”
    “We must do something!”
    “Aye.” Tavish gripped the stones on the battlements, scanning the horizon. “If I move fast, I can work my way to the back side of the castle and scale down the cliffs.”
    Elyne frowned. “There is no path down. The cliffs are too steep. Ye will break yer neck.”
    “Nay, I…” He turned to her and his voice trailed off. “Aye, ye’re right. We canna go that way.”
    Elyne studied Tavish, the warm sun on her cheeks a contrast to the deadly game unfolding before her. “Ye dinna wish to bring me.”
    “Ye could be hurt.”
    “So go. Warn my brother if ye can.”
    Tavish shook his head. “Canna leave ye.”
    “Ye must do what ye can to warn the castle.”
    “I canna leave ye alone out here wi’ no way to return.” Tavish shook his head, his eyes solemn.
    “People’s lives hold in the balance. I can be by myself for a while. Besides, I have Fred to keep me company.”
    “’Tis a nice bird t’be sure. But I warrant it is only a matter of time before a squadron of soldiers comes up to investigate. I canna leave ye alone.”
    Once again, steel glinted in Tavish’s eye, and Elyne knew he would not back down. He would never leave her alone while danger crept closer.
    “But we must do something. We must warn them before the enemy is knocking down their gate. People must be brought inside.” She should be inside as well. She pushed aside the thought of what David would do when he could not find her.
    “Agreed. We must warn them, but how? They have cut us off nicely. The only way to get past them would be to walk through them or fly over them.”
    “Fred!” Elyne ran her hand down Fred’s silky back. “She can deliver a message before any of the soldiers can step foot in the valley.”
    “Aye, that’s perfect!” The smile returned to his face.
    “But we need something to write on.”
    “Let me see what I have.” Tavish ran down the circular stone stairs with Elyne right behind. He ran through the main hall and out into the courtyard, where his horse was tied. He rummaged through his saddlebag and pulled out a small book.
    “Ye have a book wi’ ye?” Elyne was astonished. Truly.
    “Aye. This was the prayer book o’ my mither. ’Tis a small one, not wi’ the illustrations ye find in a larger work. I found I enjoy reading it—what I can that is. I am trying to teach myself the Latin. If I can get to university, it should come in handy.”
    “Ye were serious about the university?” She should not have expressed her disbelief so readily, but she could not help being surprised that the man she saw the night before jumping into a group of drunken revelers had honest intentions toward academia.
    “Aye. If they will let in the village idiot,” he said with a wry tone.
    “I dinna mean to give insult.”
    Fortunately, he did not care to dwell since they had other pressing concerns. “Here, we can use this.” He pulled a blank page of vellum from the back of the book.
    For ink they made a crude mixture of charcoal found in the fireplace and gallberries. Elyne sharpened a stick with her table knife to form a crude quill. “Would ye like to write it?” she asked.
    Tavish shook his head. “Nay, I’m sure ye have a neater hand. My letters have a tendency to wobble, even with a regular quill.”
    So Elyne took to writing the missive