Chapter 4 #2
She followed Keeva up the flagstone path that led to the front of the castle.
Assembly hall or not, Lyla would always think of it as the Seven Cairns castle.
But rather than enter through the massive arched wooden doors at the front, they turned to the right and took a path that wound its way around the side of the building.
Slowing, Lyla walked backward for a few steps while studying the pair of concrete statues guarding either side of the front entrance.
The figures had the bodies of humans—sort of—and the heads of wolves.
She’d never seen those sorts of creatures.
Not only that, but it felt like they watched her, their heads slowly turning to follow her as she took the path around the building.
“Wow, traveling has never done this to me before.” She tried to shake off the eerie feeling.
“Hey, Keeva, what are those statues? I mean, what are they supposed to be?”
Keeva glanced back and smiled. “Wulvers. Dinna worry about them. They be good-natured and verra helpful creatures. Mythologically speaking, of course.”
“Of course.” Lyla forced a laugh she didn’t feel and decided that once she got settled in, she’d look those creatures up and do a little research.
As they climbed the steep, narrow stone steps that stretched to a doorway high on the tower, Keeva held up a large, bronze skeleton key.
“Ye can come and go as ye please this way from the outside, or ye can use the inside way through the practice rooms. But Mairwen is the only one who has the key to the hall’s main doors at the front, and ye dinna ken if she’ll always be around to let ye in or out.
” She nodded and tapped the key on the blocks that created a solid banister for the precarious stairway tucked against the outer wall.
“But this way will always be available to ye. Ye’ll not be tied to Mairwen’s comings and goings. ”
“That’ll be good.” Lyla preferred to be independent. “But I’ll be able to get down to the practice rooms, right? Mairwen doesn’t keep those locked up, does she?” Music not only calmed her but would help her acclimate to these new surroundings.
“Oh, aye. Anytime ye wish.” Keeva halted and unlocked the outer door that resembled the sort of barrier you’d find at the entrance to a dungeon.
“What’s the history of this place?”
With Lyla's bags on her shoulders catching in the narrow doorway, Keeva grunted as she shoved her way inside and stumbled partway down the hallway.
“Ask Mairwen. She can tell ye all about it.” Out of breath from the steep stairs and wrestling with the bags, Keeva used the same skeleton key to open the only door in the wide entryway.
“The hall is older than old, I grant ye that. I dinna ken all its history, but Mairwen does.” She pushed the door open and stepped aside for Lyla to enter first. “Welcome to yer new home, Lyla!”
Lyla passed through the door, and the strongest sense of déjà vu nearly knocked her to her knees.
The cavernous loft apartment, with its walls of whitewashed stone and exposed wooden beams across the high ceilings, embraced her like a long-lost friend—a long-lost best friend whom she’d loved dearly and was happy to see again.
“Are ye alright, hen?” Keeva caught her by the arm and led her to the overstuffed couch in the sitting area in front of a hearth wide enough to burn eight foot long tree trunks.
Thankfully, squatting directly in front of that hearth with its smokestack connected to the massive chimney, was a small, cherry-red cast iron woodstove that would be a great deal easier to manage.
Sinking into the pillows, Lyla kept her gaze locked on the cheerful little woodstove that already had a fire crackling behind its glass door.
She leaned back, resting her head against the plump cushion of the couch as she pulled in deep breaths.
What in the world was wrong with her? It had only been a couple of years since she’d traveled, and it had never affected her like this.
“All will be well, Lady Lyla. Dinna worry about a thing. All will be well.”
“Oh, shit.” She covered her eyes with her hands.
The couch shook as Keeva plopped down beside her. “What is it? Are ye about to be ill? Shall I run for a basin? The kitchen’s closer than the cludgie.”
Eyes still covered, Lyla concentrated on her breathing and tried to pretend that the deep, enigmatic voice wasn’t still echoing through her mind.
“I just need to sit here and breathe for a while. I just heard that voice again. It followed me.” She tried to focus on Keeva, on anything other than the seductive baritone that felt as intimate as a kiss. “And what is a cludgie?”
“The lavvy. Loo. Toilet.” Keeva gave her a reassuring pat. “It’s across the way. Attached to yer bedroom whereas yer kitchen is just right over there. Shall I fetch ye a glass of water?”
Dropping her hands to her lap, Lyla stared straight ahead.
“That would be great.” Not that she really wanted water.
She just needed Keeva to stop fussing and flitting over her.
A hard shiver stole across her, making her hug herself and rub her arms. This place was cold.
Or maybe it was just spooky. She hadn’t fully decided.
Pushing up from the couch, she went to the buckets on either side of the wood stove.
One held chunks of wood, and one held what looked like dried, compressed hunks of somebody’s muddy lawn.
She assumed the mud bricks were peat since she’d come across those in, of all places, a gift shop.
Whatever they were, they looked like they’d burn and make the fire hotter.
She chucked a couple of them and a couple pieces of wood into the stove, then backed up to it.
If this little box of cast iron was supposed to heat the entire apartment, she was in for a cold couple of months and should’ve brought more sweaters and her merino wool leggings.
Keeva returned with a glass of water. “Here, lass. Water straight from the healing springs of Seven Cairns. Sweet to the taste and balm to the soul.”
“Thank you.” It was the best-tasting water she’d ever drunk. With a nod at the wood stove, she wrinkled her nose. “Is this my only source of heat?”
“Och, no!” Keeva made her feel better by looking suitably shocked. “Radiators keep the place warm and toasty. Are ye cold, then? Shall I adjust the thermostat for the one in here? When I put yer bags in yer room, it seemed plenty warm enough, but ye may not feel the same.”
Lyla rubbed her arms. “It just seems a lot colder in here. Cold enough to seep into your bones. Are you not cold?”
“Nay, lass, I’m fine. But then again, I dinna seem to be struggling like ye are. I hope ye’re not coming down with something ye picked up during our travels.”
“Yeah, me too. There’s no telling the germs I’ve touched between here and Cincinnati.
” Lyla shuddered. Maybe that was why she’d hallucinated the voice again.
She tried to play it off as a simple remembering of what she’d heard before, but this time, the words had been different.
She clamped a hand to her forehead. “I’m not warm, so that’s good. No fever.”
“Ye probably just need a good long sleep in a bed rather than propped up in a seat.” Keeva pointed across the spacious room at the efficient kitchen in the corner.
“Yer pantry is well stocked, but tomorrow, after ye’ve rested, I’ll take ye to Boyd’s and Innis’s.
Anything else ye might need can be found at either of their places.
Innis’s bakery makes the best sticky buns and shortbreads ye’ve ever tasted, and Boyd’s shop has every necessity anyone in the world ever thought about needing.
” With a laugh, she added, “And old Boyd will do his best to convince ye that ye need to buy every single one of them if ye dinna watch him close.” She sidled a few steps back toward the kitchen.
“How about I put the kettle on for a nice cup of tea? That’ll help warm ye. ”
“I am watching over ye, my lady. Never ye fear. I’ll not allow anything or anyone to harm ye.”
Lyla looked all around, searching for cameras tucked away somewhere, or speakers, or anything out of the ordinary that might explain why the voice sounded so much closer and clearer here.
“Lyla?” Keeva stood there, looking ready to start overly-flitting around her again. “What is it?”
Not finding anything questionable on the pristine white-washed ceiling or the dark wooden beams crossing it, Lyla surrendered, throwing up her hands.
“He says he’s watching over me, and that he’ll not allow anything or anyone to harm me.
” She wondered if the village had a medical doctor willing to prescribe something strong enough to silence the man in her head—if such a drug existed.
“Is there a doctor here? A medical doctor. Not some holistic guru.”
“Inverness has physicians and a hospital.” Keeva appeared slightly insulted.
“And perhaps if ye embraced the peace of Seven Cairns rather than mock its natural healing, it might help ye more than ye think. Ye said ye believe music soothes and heals. Why can other things like massage, meditation, and connecting with the blessed land not work as well?”
A wave of guilt swept across Lyla. After all, she had accepted the job of music therapist. “I’m sorry.
Look, I’m just tired—physically, emotionally, and mentally—and imagining that I’m hearing things is really getting old.
I’m going to settle in, have a shower, listen to some calming music, and I’m sure I’ll be a new person with a better perspective by morning.