Page 2 of Time of the Warlord (Stones of Scotland #5)

H efting her shovel in her hands, Sadie stared out over the stone circle. This was the place - she felt it in her bones. It was an outrage that the police hadn’t examined the place more closely. After all, this was the last place Norah had been seen alive. The CCTV camera in the car park had captured her taking the path up to the stone circle, but she had never returned. An unsolved case, the police called it. But Sadie was pretty sure she knew what had happened, and she was going to prove it. She might never be able to bring her sister back, but at least she could give her justice.

But where to start? The stone circle was bigger than it had looked in the pictures. If Sadie tried to dig all of it up, she’d be here for days - and someone would almost definitely catch her. The long summer twilight gave her a few hours, but no more.

Sadie paced the full width of the circle, eying the ground for anything different.

This is stupid , a little voice whispered at the back of her mind. Norah had been gone for over a year. What would be left to see? Any evidence would have been long ago washed away by Scotland’s rains and snow. As Sadie scanned the grass, already growing darker with evening shadows, her heart sank.

No giving up now .

All her research had brought her here. Every sign pointed to this ancient circle of stones, high in the hills of this remote western island of Arran. It had been a long drive from Glasgow, not to mention that ferry trip and the hike from the bed and breakfast. There was no way Sadie would turn around and go home now.

There. The grass was a little shorter, a little different in color. Perhaps someone had dug it up recently. Sadie stepped closer to it, her heart pounding. This might be it. The moment she finally learned the truth. She just needed to muster up the courage to dig. Her fingers trembled.

“Where the hell have you been, Norah?”

The voice cut through the still air and Sadie froze.

Norah ?

The two of them were identical, and often confused for each other. But Norah was missing, presumed dead. Her disappearance had been all over the news.

Slowly, Sadie turned.

A huge, burly man stood between two stones on the opposite side of the stone circle, glaring at her.

“What are you doing in this time at all?” he growled. “And with a shovel? Bloody hell, Norah. You’ve got a job to do.”

Sadie opened her mouth to ask what was going on, but he cut her off.

“And dressed like that? You better have a clothing stash waiting on the other side. Do you even have a language chip?”

Sadie shook her head mutely. What was going on? She’d never seen or heard the man approach. He was just suddenly… there.

He strode towards her, thrusting a hand out. Sadie shrank away, but he didn’t touch her. Instead, he held out some sort of small metal object. Bemused, Sadie took it.

“Don’t you dare lose that,” he warned her. “We can’t spare you a third. They’re damn expensive. Now, follow me.”

He turned away, as if he was going to cross the circle again. Sadie took another step backwards, clutching the strange lump of metal in one hand, and the shovel in the other. Could she sneak away before he noticed her? Make a run for it and reach the car in time?

He paused and turned to look at her. Dusk had almost fallen, and Sadie could barely make out his face.

“Come on, then - wait, no! Don’t move!” he shouted.

Too late. Sadie had taken one more step backwards, and stumbled on a patch of uneven ground. The weight of her backpack tugged her backwards, and her ankle twisted under her weight. She fell against one of the tall stones, fighting for balance with her hands full.

“Norah!” the man shouted, but his voice sounded a long way away.

Sadie tried to look up, but she couldn’t move. The grass beneath her feet pulsed with waves of light and began to spin, whirling faster and faster. Sadie squeezed her eyes shut, but the feeling did not stop. What was happening to her? Strange screaming noises rushed around her, like speeding cars. When she dared peel her eyes open, streaks of light darted in every direction, along with - were those ghostly figures, transparent people? Sadie closed her eyes again, the handle of the shovel digging into her palm.

Then it all stopped, as suddenly as it had begun. Sadie dropped the shovel and collapsed onto her hands and knees, retching onto the grass. Her head still felt like it was spinning.

When she finally looked up, the man was gone. Not even his footprints marred the damp grass.

Sadie frowned. Damp? The grass had been dry just a moment ago. Had she been slumped unconscious against the stone? She shivered. The sky still looked like the final glow of evening, but the twilights were long and drawn-out this far north. Any length of time could have passed.

Whatever was going on, she was clearly in no fit state to dig anything up. She would have to come back tomorrow. For now, it was time to go home. She’d been stupid to attempt this on her own. The bed and breakfast wasn’t far away. If she explained everything to Ian and Mara, perhaps they would help her. Mara might, at least.

That was the thought that got Sadie straightening up and testing her weight on unsteady feet. Her ankle almost buckled again and she swore under her breath. She must have sprained it or something. At least the road wasn’t too far away. She could make it, even with a bad ankle. There had been plenty of cars about - someone would find her soon.

That strange little metal object was still in her hand, but she didn’t have any time to examine it now. She shoved it in her pocket - a mystery to return to later, once she was warm and dry. Pushing away from the stone, Sadie took one careful step into the center of the circle, then another. It was foggy, she realized. How had a fog this thick come on so quickly? She shook her head furiously, trying to clear her thoughts.

Come on, Sadie. Just get back to the road.

One more step. Another step. Her ankle burned, but she kept going.

Someone shouted, the unintelligible words cutting through the mist.

Sadie froze. Had the man come back? She peered ahead into the thickening fog, trying to see who was there. But the voice had come from behind her. She spun around, cursing as the sudden movement jolted her ankle.

And then she screamed.

A man stood just a few feet away, staring down at her. This was most definitely not the man from before. He was tall, yes, but wiry rather than broad, and his hair was a muddy auburn instead of close-cropped.

What caught Sadie’s attention most, though, was the sword in his hand. The sharp, silvery sword that he pointed straight at her.