“May I?” she asked Walter. Inside, in the candlelight, the old merchant had soft-looking pudgy pink skin and white hair. He nodded, giving her permission to touch it.
“That one was made in the year eight hundred and eighty-three, in the Han Dynasty.”
Kes picked it up and examined it as best she could in the low, golden light. She was no archeologist like her father, but it appeared quite old.
Where would a cute little man like Water get his hands on an eighth century compass?
“The earl has told me you have quite the collection of artifacts. Perhaps while we look for the brooch, you would show me some items.”
“Of course, dear lady. Anything you would like.”
“Eh, just the brooch for now, Walt,” Nicholas let him know. “Do you know of one?”
“Only one,” Walter told them in a low voice. “’Tis said to be very powerful. Only one exists and his men are whispered to have it.”
“Slow down,” Nicholas said. “You’re going too fast. What kind of power is it said to possess? And whose men have it?”
“Power too strong for mortal men to play with. And Arthur Pendragon’s men are rumored to have it.”
“But I thought they were myth,” Kes said. “Arthur Pendragon isn’t real.”
“Now how do you know that, Miss Locksley?” asked Walter. “’Tis said he lived in a very ancient time. A time when some men practiced magic.”
She remembered how the brooch glowed and appeared new, and how looking at the name Pendragon made her want to say it.
“Where did you say you saw it, Miss Locksley of Bridlington? ’Twas a man who had it, aye?”
She nodded.
“His name?”
“Mr. Green.”
Walt smiled like any jolly old man would, but there was more wisdom in his smile than fancy. “You met Sir Gawaine. Then, you are not from around here.”
“She is from Bridlington, Walt. Get it straight, aye?” Nicholas warned.
She’d met Sir Gawaine?TheSir Gawaine? Of Arthur’s round table knights? No! It was impossible! Oh—wait a minute. She looked at Walt. It seemed the merchant knew more than he was letting on.
“How do you know him?” she asked, hope rising like waves before a storm. “Please, if you know him—tell me—” What was she doing? Walt was looking at her as if a curtain had just come up around her, revealing things she’d tried to keep hidden.
“Miss Locksley, how doyouknow him?”
“I don’t…I—”
“Walt,” Nicholas said on a low warning breath. But the old man held up his palm to quiet the earl.
“My lord,” he said softly with a reassuring smile. “Mayhap I can help her.”
Nicholas allowed him to continue.
He bowed his head and turned his kind smile on Kes. “When are you from, Child?”
Kes looked nervously at Nicholas. Walt knew? How should she reply? She’d looked to Nicholas because this was his time. But it was her life.
“I don’t understand your question, good sir.” Walt knew things. What if he knew she was a threat to history? He could have her stopped. “I was born in Bridlington twenty-five years ago. Delivered by my Aunt Lori and two maids.”
“Very well,” Walt said, his smile faded, letting her have her way. “You may look but I’m sure I do not have the brooch you are looking for.”