Chapter 5 #3
That began a discussion about all the things they craved from their time, and what they had done to try and reproduce them at the castle.
Ava, who had sensitive skin, had refined the clan’s method for soap-making, and produced a small amount of lard-based, low-lye bars scented with lavender and roses that were gentler for bathing.
Olivia was teaching the cook a number of recipes using potatoes, which the clan had begun growing in their gardens, and had already introduced homemade mayonnaise to the clan.
Along with her failed attempts at making yogurt, Grace had begun dehydrating fruit slices to make apple and pear chips for snacking, and had even dried corn and popped it in a special pan the armorer had made for her.
“No one will touch the popcorn but us,” the supermodel admitted. “The medieval minds around here think it explodes because it’s possessed by teeny tiny demons.”
“Hey, more for us,” Esme said, winking at her. “No coffee or chocolate, huh?” When the other women sighed in unison she smiled. “Could be worse. What about visits from our monthly friend?” Hers was due in a few days, she recalled.
Ava shook her head. “Since coming here we’ve all stopped menstruating, and no living thing here has ever become pregnant. It’s the ultimate birth control.”
“That answers why there aren’t any kids around here.” She’d never planned to have children, so why was that depressing her?
“There are some baby animals who were conceived outside the spell trap but born inside it,” Olivia said, and told her about the otter’s forever tiny offspring.
“The only eggs are those that were in the cold pantry when the clan was cursed, which aren’t many.
Fortunately like the other foods we use, they’re replaced every morning, too. ”
“If nothing dies here, then you can’t butcher any of the animals,” she guessed, and saw Ava grimace and nod. “So you’re living off whatever foods were stored at the time of the curse.”
“Fortunately before the curse most of the clan’s crops had just been harvested, and their food animals processed,” the laird’s wife told her.
“The enchantment replaces everything just as it was, and removes nothing we use in cooking, so there is plenty to eat. The water that’s available from the river and the underground spring never runs dry, either. ”
She wasn’t saying something, and Esme thought for a moment about what she had been told.
“But things are changing here, and not for the better.” She scanned the other women’s faces and noted their dismay. “Okay, so if a change comes that makes the water dry up, or stops replacing the food, then everyone here will die of thirst or starve.”
“We can’t die that way,” Ava told her. “Our bodies are restored every morning no matter what damage we do to them. We just have to live long enough to go through the reset at dawn.”
Esme rested her chin on her fist. “I don’t want to doubt you, but that seems so far-fetched, even for a magical time trap. I think I’d have to see it to believe it.”
“Believe it,” Grace said, looking grim. “I jumped into a blazing fire to rescue my grandmother. There were serious burns all over my body and face. When the next dawn came I healed as if nothing had happened to me. Even my hair grew back in a matter of moments. I think if my grandmother had survived until then, the enchantment would have healed her, too.”
“Her injuries were far worse than yours, honey,” Olivia said, touching the model’s hand. “We know that a severe burning can kill us, but nothing else does.”
“That you know,” Esme tacked on. “Has anyone tried, ah…?”
“We are not encouraging suicide attempts of any kind, or experimenting in any way on humans, immortals or animals,” Ava said firmly. “Let’s instead focus on what we can do to escape the trap.”
The women had a few theories, but none of them had been attempted.
Ava thought they should try to run through the barrier between worlds the next time it opened, but no one knew when that would be.
She was also reluctant to send anyone from the twelfth century through as they would have difficulty adapting to modern world life and might even end up institutionalized.
“How many people from our time are here?” Esme asked.
“Nearly everyone who disappeared in the castle—almost a hundred.” Ava met her gaze. “You, Grace, Olivia and me are the latest arrivals.”
“I didn’t try to come here,” Alec’s wife put in. “Bodach shoved me through a hole he created that dropped me into the spell trap.”
Olivia wanted to try to find the spot where the hole she’d fallen through had appeared.
There they could test the stone to see if it had been weakened enough for them to dig through to the other side.
Since the enchantment regenerated everything as it was each day, she wasn’t too optimistic that it would be possible.
“Nothing ventured, you know,” Esme told her. “Maybe not everything is restored perfectly.”
Grace suggested sending a message out the way her grandmother had, but wasn’t sure what they could tell anyone on the other side to help them escape—assuming the message wasn’t first intercepted and destroyed.
“Bodach is still out there,” the model said. “We think he’s monitoring the spell trap somehow, and coming and going as he pleases.”
“What gave you that idea?” Esme pulled out her notebook to start taking down the details, setting aside her digital camera and her phone as she did. Then she saw how all of the other women were staring at her gear.
“They don’t work,” she told them, gesturing to the devices. “I know because I tried earlier to make a call and take pictures in the guest room. I think coming here drained the batteries.”
“May I see your phone?” Ava asked, and when she handed it to her examined it closely. “It’s remarkable that you still have these things. All of our devices were thrown out of the spell trap at dawn just after we arrived.”
“It’s part of the enchantment,” Olivia added. “No technology has ever been allowed to stay.”
“Technology wasn’t part of this world in the twelfth century,” Esme murmured, writing that down. “So people and animals can come in, but not insects or electronics.”
“Devices can come in for a while, but they’re thrown out again when the trap resets,” Grace put in. “Location doesn’t matter, either. Mine disappeared when I was trapped with Farlan in the passage that collapsed just after I came through the barrier.”
The laird’s wife gave the phone back to her. “I wish I knew why bugs can’t stay. They’re alive like the dogs and birds and otters.”
“Insects are invertebrates,” Esme said. “Skeleton on the outside.” Everyone stared at her as if she’d just explained all the secrets of the universe.
“I never liked bugs when I was little. My abuelo tried to teach me that some are useful, and gave me books to read about them. I still hate them, by the way.”
“Thank you for hating them,” Ava said. “That’s the first real lead we’ve had on how this place works.”
“This is why we need to have meetings of our own,” Grace put in. “There are things we all know from the modern world that the guys can’t even fathom.”
Esme turned her head and smiled at Elspeth, who approached their table with another maid who had damp hair. Everyone fell silent as both maids curtseyed first to Ava and then to Grace.
“If you’d permit Una to speak for a moment, my lady?” Elspeth asked Ava, who nodded.
“I’m sorry for the remarks I made about you when you were hurt, my lady,” the maid said to Grace, and knelt down on the floor. “’Twas unkind and undeserved, and never again shall I speak thus for any reason.”
“Good, because it was a horrible thing to do.” Grace nodded to Elspeth with a look of satisfaction.
“My thanks, my lady,” the dark-skinned maid said, and then regarded Ava. “I should like to ask that Una work with me as a chambermaid. She’s no’ suited to toiling in the stables, and now that we’ve a newcomer and newly-weds changing their chambers, I’m in sore need of another maid to aid me.”
The laird’s wife glanced at Olivia, whose expression had darkened. “Well, Liv? What do you think?”
“It’s fine, on one condition.” The war master’s wife scowled at Una, who was cringing. “If she steps out of line for any reason, I want her sent back to the stables permanently.”
“What that means is, you have to work hard, be nice to others, and not say anything unkind or hateful,” Grace told the maid, who nodded quickly as she got to her feet.
“Thank you for your understanding and generosity, my ladies,” Elspeth said, and ushered the other maid off the platform.
Tasgall passed by them as he came to the table, and after greeting them eyed Esme’s devices. “What’s this gadgetry?”
“Excuse me, my lord. I have to find my husband right now.” The supermodel got to her feet suddenly and rushed out of the hall.
“Sit down, my man,” Ava said, and handed him a steaming mug of brew. “Thanks to Esme, we just figured out some things.”