Page 7 of Once Upon A Haunted Castle
But, Erik…
Her brother, so much younger, was unable to defend himself. She’d quickly grabbed his hand and ran down to the cellars. She’d stripped him down and forced him to dress as a peasant. Told him never to tell their relation who he was and that she’d come back for him. Hopefully, he’d listened. Hopefully he’d forgive her if she was never able to return to him.
Elle’s eyes slowly blinked closed and then back open, the room fading in an out.
She startled at seeing a shadowy figure looming over her.
Outside, the battle still raged.
Who was this? Someone sent by the new laird to finish her off? In her weary state, she’d not even heard him enter.
“Who are ye?” she croaked, squinting trying to get a better view.
“Laird MacDougall.” His voice was different from Beiste MacDougall. Deeper, scratchier, more familiar. The old laird.
Her vision came slightly back into focus and she could see that it was, indeed, the old laird, long, gray beard and matching brows. He stood tall and strong over her. Whatever wounds he’d succumbed to were gone.
“But ye’re dead…” Her lips barely moved as she spoke. Words felt more like a slow exhale.
He floated closer. “Be strong, lass. Be strong and I will protect ye.”
Elle shook her head, her fingers curling around her middle. “But ye’re gone.”
“Nay, I am right here.” There was something soothing about his voice now, as though he’d changed his tone to calm her, beckon her. Well, she couldn’t let him!
She had to remain forthright, to push this demonical vision from her eyes. “I saw your dead body. Be gone with ye!”
The vision darkened, coming more into focus. “What is death? Death canna break an oath I made. Ye know the one of which I speak.”
“How?” Elle rubbed at her eyes, the vision not leaving. Was this real? Was she already asleep and this a night terror?
“The fairies, the gods, they are not done with me yet.”
He sounded so real… Elle pinched her thigh, hard, wincing at the pain. ’Twould appear she was fully awake. Could what he was saying about fairies and gods actually be true? “Did they breathe life back into ye? Can they help my family? Will they?”
“I canna answer to the fate of your parents, lass. But I do know that I have a task to complete and it requires help from ye.”
Her parents.He did not mention her brother. That must mean that Erik was still alive. “Am I going to die?”
“Not if I can help it.”
And how much promise could she believe from a ghost? “I am here, for a little while longer, to help save my son’s soul. To protect ye. And ye can save your family. But ye have to make a sacrifice of your own.”
His son’s soul. But which one? Elle opened her mouth to speak but found no words were able to make their way out.
“Do ye know what aglaistigis?”
Elle’s head rolled from side to side. Her tongue was thick and she found words didn’t want to come. She was so sleepy. She needed a nap. Would the figure mind if she simply fell asleep?
“Aglaistigis a ghost, gifted by the fairies with immortality and tasked with protecting a house, looking after the weak, avenging those who are harmed.”
Elle worked around the thickness of her tongue. “Are ye… a…Glaistig?”
“Nay, lass. The fairies… they want ye to be one. To live this life to your fullest and in exchange for their help, that when ye pass from this earth, ye join them, become their green maiden. Protect future clans from their enemies. Protect the weak. Warn them of impending doom.”
The old laird’s visage faded into nothing, then shimmied back.
Elle blinked, certain she was having some sort of hallucination. She could not have heard correctly. That almost made her laugh. But was she more willing to believe that she’d heard the ghost wrong than to believe she wasn’t conversing with a spirit at all? This was utter nonsense.
