"Like Angus's Guivre?"

"I don't know, but I know someone who does."

"Zack, please, dinnae start in again on my auld man."

"Just listen. This morning I saw three men, all cloaked in dark tunics, and they were carrying something in a burlap sack, something that was bleeding. I collected swaths of the blood, the sheriff's having them analyzed."

"Good. Then we can ease yer suspicions aboot my faither, once an' for a'."

The sound of a boat's horn drifted up to us from below.

"That'll be Brandy. How aboot I talk her intae picking ye up on the return trip. If ye ask me, I think it's yer destiny tae get back intae her guid graces."

"I hope I live that long."

"She usually circles back past Tor Point around dusk. Try tae make it there by then."

He waved, then bounded down the path.

I watched him disappear into the forest, my mind drifting back to the image of Justin Wagner's remains.

Seventeen years ago I had survived a similar attack. Had I done something to lure the creature up from the depths? And what had I done, consciously or unconsciously, to prevent it from devouring me?

Alban MacDonald had rescued me, perhaps he knew. But old Crabbit was concealing his own secrets.

Who were the Black Knights? What were they doing out at night? And what, if anything, did all this have to do with the attacks on the Loch?

I gathered my belongings and headed down the mountain path, determined to find out.

The Diary of Sir Adam Wallace

Translated by Logan W. Wallace

Entry: 25 October 1330

I scrawl these words by ember's glow, as hours pass like days, an' my sanity remains lost in this hellhole.

At some point sleep must have taken me, for when next I opened my eyes, the gate was nearly finished. Tis an enormous structure, weighin' no less than fifty stone, its width conformin' tae the size o' the river narrow that allows the Loch tae escape tae the sea. Sir Iain has sharpened the bottom flanges intae fierce points. They are meant tae be driven intae the river's bed, an' once set afore the openin', MacDonald claims the current alone should keep the gate frae movin'.

When the last bolts were tightened, MacDonald gathered us in a circle, then brought me taae its center. "Ecce quam bonum et quam lucundum habitare fratres in unum—Behold how good an' how pleasant it is for brethren tae dwell together in unity. Adam Zachary Wallace, dae ye believe in God, who hasnae died an' will never die?"

"Aye."

"Dae ye, through fear o' the flames of Hell, swear total obedience tae oor Master, Jesus Christ?"

"Aye."

"Dae ye gie up yer ain free will as a soldier o' Christ?"

"Aye."