Was this a time to joke? Obviously, Hugh thought so, to judge by his smile.
'Well, are you superstitious?'
I shook my head. 'No more than anybody else,' I said. I remembered the childhood stories that Robert and I had shared when we tried to frighten each other with tales of witches and fairies. My stories had always been more vivid than his, so that on more than one occasion he had held my hand as we ran home through the dark valley to Whitecleuch or Cardona Tower.
'Good: come with me then.'
We changed direction for the third time that night. Rather than trying to escape across the valley or joining the men who rode purposefully to their designated positions, he led me up the valley to a spur that lifted some thousand feet high. Hugh had mentioned that the Liddel Valley formed a Y sha
