Page 80 of Once Upon A Haunted Castle
Darkness overcame what daylight there was soon after they found a place and Alex laid out some blankets in a makeshift pallet for them. He built a fire for a bit of added warmth, but the dampness did not favor keeping it burning without constant care.
“Leave it,” she said, holding out the thick, woolen length of tartan she had wrapped around her. “You will keep me warm enough.”
It took only a second for him to accept her invitation and soon they sat, huddled together, eating what was almost the last of their bannocks. Alex had managed to heat the last bit of wine before the flames sputtered out and it warmed her as she swallowed some.
Isabel first noticed the woman when the sounds around them stopped. Complete and utter silence surrounded them and neither the sounds of the sea and birds nor the winds disturbed it.
She did not walk towards them so much as she seemed to glide. At first, Isabel thought her old and wizened, but, as she grew closer, her appearance grew much younger until she seemed no older than Isabel was herself.
“Do ye seek shelter for the night?” she asked in a soft crooning voice that echoed around them. “From the cold and coming storm?”
Isabel felt Alex tense as he saw and heard the woman. He slid his hand onto hissgian dubhin an instant, a protective gesture that somehow Isabel knew was not needed. He stood and helped Isabel to her feet, wrapping the tartan around her shoulders first. Isabel noticed the woman’s sad smile as she witnessed Alex seeing to her comfort.
“Aye, mistress,” Alex said. “But we are strangers here and ken not where to find a place to rest.”
The woman turned her head towards the sea and stared off in silence for a long moment. When she faced them once more, Isabel could see terrible loss and pain in her gaze.
“Would you share our meal, mistress? ’Tis not much to offer but we would share it with you if you are in need.” Alex’s brow furrowed but he did not naysay Isabel’s offer. Instead, he reached over and poured some of the warmed wine into a battered cup they had brought and held it out to her.
“’Twill warm you on the chill night.”
The woman did not speak then, but only shook her head, declining their meager hospitality. There was a restlessness to this woman, as though she fought some battle to stay here or to go elsewhere.
“Do you live nearby, mistress?” Isabel asked. “Have you lost your way?”
Isabel could not figure out what or how she knew, but this woman had lost everything. She doubted there was a cottage or farm she claimed as hers. She wanted to reach out and offer comfort to this... lost soul.
The woman turned sharply and stared in the direction to where they would go then. She gasped and became agitated.
“Follow this path towards the sea. Seek comfort there,” she said. “Take yer things, yer horses and shelter amongst the ruins. Go now, I pray ye.”
“Ruins?” Isabel asked.
“Is that not Duntulm?” Alex stared into the swirling mists but neither of them could see past the woman. Isabel turned in shock as she waited for the woman’s reply.
“Aye,” she said. “Duntulm.”
For a moment, Isabel thought the woman’s form shifted and she was harder to see. The strange, thick fog was playing its tricks on them. Then the woman turned her gaze on Isabel and she could not breathe.
Eyes like the rippling and strange color of the iridescent lights in the winter’s sky to the north met Isabel’s stare. Then, the woman seemed to disappear and reappear several times. All the while, Isabel could not move.
“Ye must go there now,” the woman said.
The woman reached out to touch Isabel yet ’twas not a hand Isabel saw. A band of swirling mist encircled Isabel’s wrist. She could feel it as though it were someone’s hand, but no hand sat there. Then, a moment later, Isabel felt nothing.
“Isabel.”
Alex’s voice was a whisper though she heard the alarm in it. Turning around, she saw the woman once more standing now before Alex, reaching towards him. The same mist encircled his arm then and he stumbled, as it seemed to pull him from his place.
“Ye must protect the wee bairn,” the woman said. Her voice raised to a wail now, one that blended into the returning sounds of the sea and approaching storm. “Protect the bairn there.”
Isabel’s hand dropped protectively over her belly.
Did this woman ken she carried? How could she? Then, what began as a raised hand, pointing in the direction of the sea, became a bright swirl of fog that drifted against the winds. Alex strode to Isabel’s side as she tried to understand it all.
“What does she mean, Isabel? What bairn?” he asked.
“I was not certain, Alex, so I did not tell you. I carry your child.” Joy filled her at the sudden revelation. But how had this woman known?
