She nodded in the dim light of the lantern, looking old and worn, her face a melted candle.

“Wh—but, why? I did not…I’ll stay out of sight. No one will…no one will know I’m there. They won’t stay angry forever. It passes. It always passes! I won’t come…I won’t, not to the kitchens and I’ll do all…all my chores, Master Bannoch will never have to wonder where I am…”

“He’s dead child.”

Pocket’s mouth snapped shut. Dead? The Mumbler? He stopped himself from saying it aloud. Moragh had not liked him to use that egregious title when the man was alive and Pocket knew she would not suffer it now that he was gone.

Gone.

Coalspur. Sir Tillory. And now the Mumbler. All dead. All gone. Maybe the castle was cursed.

But not by him!

“It’s not my fault.” He meant to scream it at her and then scream it again at the walls of the tower, raising his head, spinning in place, washing the dark stones with his protestations. But all that came out was a weak mumble and his only movement was to drop the pot, the clay breaking sadly on the stones. “It’s not. What am I to do, Moragh?”

She came forward then, her expression strange, relieved. “Do you know the old sally port? Behind the northwest tower?”

Pocket nodded. No one knew the castle better than he did. “Go out there,” Moragh continued, each word more hurried than the one before. “And down the rock until you come to the trees at the base. There will be someone to meet you, but you must hurry. All has been arranged.”

“Arranged?” Pocket asked. “Who is meeting me? Moragh, what? I don’t…you want me to leave?”

“It is the only way now.”

“No…I don’t want to! Surely there is another…why do you want me to go? I don’t understand! What did I do? Are you angry? What did I do?”

She knelt down and took his hand in hers, shaking them with every word. “Listen to me, now! You must go! There is no choice left. Master Bannoch is dead and the smith’s lass is like to follow before nightfall. When that happens…” Her voice clipped in her throat and she looked away for a moment, then swallowed and looked back. “I cannot protect you anymore. I am too old and without Master Bannoch there is no one else here to help me. For your life child, you must go!”