Grabbing my cane, I limped away from the fairgrounds, making my way through the growing throng. The hillsides surrounding Urquhart Bay were already packed with hundreds of people staking out their vantage for the evening's spectacle-to-come. There were blankets and chairs, sleeping bags and tents, barbecues and spits, and folding tables covered with food. Vendors hocked their wares, and musicians dressed in minstrel costumes played, their tunes in sharp contrast to the heavy metal music coming from boom boxes and CD players across the main lawn.

It was the event of the year, perhaps of the century if the guest of honor chose tonight to make her appearance, but I had other plans.

Climbing aboard my motorcycle, I gunned the engine, heading south toward Invermoriston.

* * *

Despite my father's "confession," there was still an undercurrent of lies, deceit, and secrecy surrounding the Loch Ness predator that prevented me from just walking away. And when it came to keeping secrets in the Highlands, one need look no farther than the Clans.

While the ancient Scottish lowlands were ruled by its border chiefs and lords, the Highland geography, with its mountains and glens, lochs and islands, forced populations to congregate in smaller clusters, known as Clans. Clan is a Gaelic word that translates to "children" or more appropriately, "family." Each Highland "family" was run by a chief, whose name his followers took. The chief served as supreme leader and lawgiver and all clansmen swore their allegiance as "kin." Each clan had a coat of arms and tartan, which distinguished rank, not by the plaid, but by the number of colors in the weave. In the harsh environment of the Highlands, the clan represented solidarity, a form of government, and protection against enemies.

Over the centuries, the size of the clan chief's estate grew, and he'd often sublet the land to his clansmen for farming, a practice later known as crofting.

The clans' rule came to an abrupt end in 1746 with the last Jacobite uprising and the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie at the Battle of Culloden. King George's "Disarming Act" outlawed the tartan and the clans' system of government, paving the way for a Highland central authority. Crofters, tenants of the land, lost their stability, although subsequent crofting acts were eventually established to protect the rights of rural farmers. Still, the once-powerful clans and their centuries-old ways gradually faded into the shadows.

The Black Knights of the Templar were operating in these shadows, and from what I surmised, their members had come from the most established of the old clans.

The question I needed answered: What was their objective?

* * *