Page 7 of Her Highland Prophecy
She walked through the quiet camp in turmoil. The whirlwind of emotions that she had experienced in the tent still affecting her. What had the woman meant? She would travel, but not? And time would pass, but she would be trapped.
What does it all mean?
Worst of all, if the gypsy was to be believed, someone would try to kill her. A ripple of dread flowed through her as she shook herself out of it.
It’s all nonsense,she decided,I don’t believe any of it.
She was a well-educated woman and refused to be frightened by some fortuneteller who only wanted to scare her.
Then why did the woman’s words ring with a truth she was loath to acknowledge? Diana pulled her arms closer to ward off the chill and walked quickly toward the hotel.
“Di!” her sister’s voice called to her as she approached the hotel. “Louisa, she’s here!” she called out.
Moments later, Louisa and Peggy surrounded them.
“What happened? You just disappeared,” Grace asked her. Her blonde hair, similar to Diana’s own curls, was sticking up oddly on one side. It was a mark of how anxious her sister was that she had not bothered to fix it. Normally, Grace was very careful with her appearance.
“I’m sorry,” Diana said. “I was distracted by one of the booths. I didn’t mean to worry you.”
She wasn’t sure why she had lied. She just felt like they wouldn’t understand if she tried to explain what had occurred in the fortuneteller’s tent.
She would do it the next morning, she decided. Maybe in the light of day, it would be less sinister and funnier. She allowed herself to be pulled back to their room, listening to her sister and friends’ chattering. She quickly changed and laid down, exhausted from the long day.
Only sleep wouldn’t come. The old woman’s words echoed around her head over and over as she twisted restlessly in her sheets.
“It will unlock yer destiny,” the gypsy had said, but was that a good thing? There were many negative things in the destiny she had described.
Someone will try to kill me, but it also sounds like I will travel and meet many new people.
Her thoughts went round and round in circles all night. When the sky outside her window started lightening from black to a deep blue, she knew she was out of time. If what the gypsy said was correct, she needed to be in the cave at dawn to unlock her supposed fate.
I can at least go see if the cave exists.
Decision made, she got up silently and changed into her favorite blue dress. She left a note for her sleeping sister on her way out and hurriedly dashed out of the hotel. The sky above her was even lighter, and she quickened her steps. She only had a few minutes before dawn.
She was now practically sprinting across the fairgrounds, evading a couple of early morning vendors on the way. The main tent loomed large in the distance, and she quickly ran around to the back of it.
Behind the tent was a long valley with hilled slopes as far as the eye could see. It was the same beautiful landscape that had surrounded them for hours as they drove toward Ballachulish. Bright green forest as far as the eye could see with imposing mountains, their peaks bare from the harsh winds in the backdrop.
Elderberries, she reminded herself,look for the elderberries.
She frantically searched for the bushy trees where the small, dark berries grew, but it was hard to do so in the dim light. As she wandered further and further from the fair, walking up the green covered hills, she resigned herself to not being able to find them when she spotted it.
A lone elderberry tree, nearly hidden behind a copse of pines.
Elated at her discovery, she rushed to it and started looking for the entrance of the cave. She pushed away at the dense foliage, the branches scratching her arms lightly until she saw the dark crack in the rock behind it. Without hesitating, she walked through the square opening and into a dark, cavernous space. The temperature dropped. Fear was crawling up her back again, but she was determined to see it through.
She looked around her. The dark space was dimly lit, the far corners lost in shadows. She wondered how she was supposed to find the place to put the medallion in the gloom.
She shuffled forward carefully, her feet sliding a little on the lichen-covered floors. Her right shoe caught on an uneven rock making her lurch slightly, quickly compensating to save her balance. She placed her hand on the wall, cringing at the damp wetness of it, and started tracing her fingers over it.
It was nearly impossible to do in the dark, and she cursed herself mentally for not thinking to bring a torch.
It was a slow process. The cave was old, and its walls pitted with small holes and imperfections. After a while, Diana realized that she was feeling the remains of an ancient wall, stone upon stone holding the structure up.
Finally, her fingers stumbled on a hole that was slightly sharper than the rest. She traced the outline in the wall that precisely matched the medallion she held in her hand with amazement. She had not truly expected to find it there.
She heard a rush of whispers echoing from the walls around her.
