The Black Amulet

THE BLACK AMULET

belonged to Allic, son of Brude, King of the Picts. He had found it, as a child, in the ruin of the Old Tower. And he always wore the flat oval stone---glistening black and intricately carved with ancient writing---on a leather thong about his neck>

Allic believed that the talisman controlled his fate, and that of his people, by assuring the birth of a male heir who would inherit the throne.

But in the end it was not Allic but Bridda, the mysterious slave girl, who having gained the amulet altered the course of Pictish history.