Chapter Three: Amulet

“What are you doing here?” Siannon asked. “You were supposed to be in Alexandria until the end of the year.”

“One of Uncle Kane’s ships came through, and I got homesick all of a sudden,” Malcolm said. “Too much sand and sun. I needed to see clouds and cold seas.”

“How is the Rabbi?”

“He sends you, in his words, ‘his deepest love and compassion.’ He was as sad to hear of father’s passing as the rest of Macnylleth,” Malcolm said.

Malcolm was Siannon and Dylan’s youngest son, born two years after their victory over Penwik and the demons he released in Babylon. Named after Dylan’s father, the late King Malcolm, he was a brilliant scholar who spent his adult years travelling to all the great learning centers around the world, including The Treasury at Alexandria.

“Beth and Alenna have been writing me,” Malcolm said. “They’re worried about you, Mama.”

“I’m fine,” she said. “None of you need to worry.”

“I’ve also spoken to Clyde and Gwen,” he said.

“Your father is present in every stone and crack in this castle,” Siannon said. “I need time to accept that he’s gone.”

“I understand,” Malcolm said. “It’s not much, but I brought you a gift. Maybe it will lift your spirits a bit.”

He handed her a small box. Inside was an antique amulet, a sapphire surrounded by diamonds on a white gold chain. She smiled with joy and asked him to attach it around her neck.

“It’s beautiful,” she said.