Chapter 5
Chapter Five
I felt discombobulated, just like Alice after she tumbled down the rabbit hole. Bombarded with impossibilities and yet hungry to absorb all this new knowledge. A dragon, a selkie, Red Caps, and now…
“Nessie is real.” Be still, my beating Scottish heart.
“As if there were any doubt,” Alistair grumbled.
“It’s one thing to believe in a legend, another to find out it’s true. But why would Nessie be working with Red Caps or need treasure, for that matter? It’s not like she can spend it.”
“Are you going to tell her, or shall I?” Astaria asked, the woman ridiculously beautiful. Then again, stories had always claimed the selkies to be fair of countenance. Did I actually believe she and Alistair were truly only friends? I couldn’t have said why I burned to know for sure.
“I’ve already told Davina too much,” Alistair complained.
“And before long, she’ll be aware of even more secrets,” Astaria sang.
“Assuming I don’t eat her.”
“Would you stop with that?” I huffed. “That threat is growing old.”
“And so is all your questioning,” he offered with a stern glare, which I scoffed at.
“How else am I supposed to understand what’s going on?”
“That’s just it. I don’t want you to know,” he snarled.
Astaria laughed. “Oh my, this is even more entertaining in person than it was in my vision.”
“And pray tell, what else did you see?” Alistair snapped, his mood dark, which I sensed might be normal for him.
“You will embark on a journey,” Astaria firmly declared.
Alistair shook his head. “Like fuck I am. I’ve got work to do here.”
“You really shouldn’t argue with me. I see the future,” Astaria stated with a delicate wave of her hand.
“Possible futures,” he corrected. “And you obviously aren’t all-seeing, or you would have told me about her.” He stabbed a finger in my direction.
“I saw Davina coming to the castle; however, I chose not to mention it because you might have tried to avoid your fate.”
“And what fate would that be?” He crossed his muscled arms over his burly chest.
“It’s a terrible one, Ali, where the boredom and loneliness plaguing you vanish because you shall go on a grand adventure where you will rediscover a zest for life. Before you whine, there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”
“Don’t be so sure of that,” he muttered, apparently determined to remain miserable.
Me, though, I’d never felt more excited. “You said Nessie has the gold,” I remarked, jumping into the battle of words between the pair. “I assume it is at the bottom of her loch, making it lost forever.”
“Deep below the surface, yes, but not necessarily lost. With the right incentive, she might be convinced to show it to you.”
“Really?” I couldn’t help but squeak. “What kind of incentive?”
“That part is unclear, but there is a future where I see it splayed at your feet.”
“And the futures where it isn’t?” Alistair interjected.
“Not ones I recommend, if you enjoy being alive.”
I blinked. Had the selkie seen my death?
“What happens to Davina if she doesn’t do something stupid, like visit Nessie?” Alistair inquired.
Astaria giggled. “Oh, she’s going, and as I mentioned, you’ll be joining her.”
“No, I’m not,” he exclaimed with annoyance. “I have better things to do than hare off on a fool’s errand.”
“I wouldn’t want you along, anyhow. With your attitude, Nessie’s Red Caps will murder me for sure.” A comment that earned me a glare. The man did have an impressive scowl, and how did I respond? With a bright smile.
Alistair shook his head. “Once more I am baffled as to how your kind have managed to flourish.”
“If dragons are so much smarter, how come there aren’t more of you?” was my cheeky reply.
“Because we are our own worst enemy.” His lips turned down. “Some became power hungry and turned on each other. However, the true nail in our proverbial coffin came about because the humans hunted us to extinction.”
“You must be the king of hiding then, if you’re still around.”
“Because I know better than to risk my life on foolish endeavors.” He turned from me and headed for his fridge, pulling out a hunk of meat, some potatoes, green onions, and more. Wait, was the dragon about to cook?
“What’s for supper?” I asked.
“As seen in my vision, one of his yummy pot roasts.” Astaria plopped herself onto a stool.
“Should have known that’s why you showed up,” he replied. “But you came a tad bit too early. It will be a few hours before it’s ready.”
Eyeing the amount of food, I imagined it divided in three but remained baffled. “How is a tiny portion like that enough to feed your dragon?”
“It isn’t. It fuels my human shell. When my dragon hungers, I hunt larger prey.”
“Such as?”
He sighed as he began chopping potatoes. “Deer, wild pigs, cows, sheep, goats.”
“Aren’t the latter missed by the farmers?”
“One here and there from a herd is considered the hazard of the profession. I am not so greedy as to massacre an entire stock.”
“What about fish? You live right by the ocean.”
“I’ve been known to partake in sharks and whale, although, if given a choice, my dragon prefers land-based meat.”
“Are you married?” Despite his reluctance and roll of the eyes, I couldn’t help asking questions. I mean, come on, the man could change into a dragon, had lived centuries, curiosity went without saying.
“No.”
“Alistair isn’t one for permanent commitments, but I do see a future where that changes.”
“Not bloody likely,” he muttered. “I don’t date.”
“He had an old flame betray him,” Astaria confided in an aside. “He’s been love-shy since.”
“Please do not discuss my private matters, Astaria.”
“It was ages ago, Ali.”
“Doesn’t matter.” He threw the potatoes into the pot with the beef and layered some green onion atop, along with some seasoning. As he went to pop it into the oven, I remarked, “No carrots? My mum always added carrots to her roast.”
“I hate carrots. Bloody rabbit food.”
For some reason, this made me laugh, and to my surprise, when he turned from the oven, a hint of a smile hovered around his lips, too.
He suddenly went from forbidding and gloomy to handsome.
Actually, he was always good-looking, what with that square jaw and bright blue eyes, but I usually found myself attracted to men of good humor. Did a friendly sort hide inside?
Not that I’d be around long enough to find out. Once the ferry returned in the morning, I’d hightail it to the dock and get myself back to the mainland. I had Loch Ness to visit and a monster to charm. Hopefully my sunny disposition would work better on Nessie than it had Alistair.
While dinner cooked, Alistair grudgingly gave me a tour of the castle. It truly was remarkable, although its state of disrepair saddened. So many beautiful historic sites lacked the funds to be maintained, and let’s be honest, today’s builders didn’t put in the same level of care and craftmanship.
For a dragon, Alistair seemed surprisingly well-informed on restoration. Indeed, the work he’d done so far appeared impeccable. It led to me asking, “How did you become so handy with tools?”
Astaria snorted. “Aren’t all men?”
The remark made me blush, and Alistair grunted. “When you’ve lived as long as me, you need hobbies lest you go mad.”
“Do you ever get lonely?”
“No.”
“Ali, why are you lying?” Astaria murmured. “When we met, he was quite grumpy and antisocial.”
“Doesn’t seem like he’s changed,” I remarked.
“He most definitely has. The old Ali would have likely let you fall from the cliff. He went through a time where he couldn’t be bothered to care about anyone. But then, he found me washed ashore, injured in a shark attack. I would have died if it weren’t for him. We’ve been fast friends since.”
“Because you don’t give me a choice,” he complained, but I noted the fondness in his tone.
“How does someone who sees the future not avoid an attack?” I blurted out and quickly apologized, “Sorry, that was rude.”
“It’s a valid question. Unfortunately, selkies don’t always see what we want, and even more rarely do we perceive our own fate.”
“You knew we’d meet,” I pointed out.
“I’ve had many visions of you in the past few months, with numerous repeats of you sitting in Ali’s kitchen during a storm. Given today’s weather, I thought I’d pop in to see if today was the day.”
“Hold on, is this vision of Davina why you’ve been coming by more often?” Alistair asked with a frown.
“Surely you didn’t think I came for the witty repartee?”
“I assumed it was because you were missing Fiona.” He glanced at me. “Her sister left the ocean a few months ago for Nessie’s loch.”
“And had the gall to only tell me in a note because she knew I’d have tried to stop her. Nessie’s last selkie seer didn’t fare so well.” Astaria’s lips turned down.
Me, I couldn’t help a crinkle of my brow. “None of the legends mention Nessie being violent.”
“Because she didn’t use to be,” Alistair muttered. “She’s changed, and those who noticed haven’t lived to tell.”
“Wait, are you saying Nessie has been killing people?” I couldn’t help my shock.
“Depends on the person. Sometimes she likes to keep them for entertainment,” Alistair replied.
I probably didn’t want to know what that meant. “What of the Red Caps taking orders from her? What does she use them for?”
“Whatever dirty work she needs done. Since Nessie can’t leave the loch, she requires others to accomplish that task for her.
If someone gets too nosy, her Red Caps make them disappear.
She also uses them to steal treasure for her collection.
You’ll find many unsolved thefts can be lain at her beach. ”
A timer went off, and Alistair rushed to the kitchen and, a moment later, bellowed, “Dinner!”
The roast proved tender and tasty, the potatoes soft and flavorful. While I watched Alistair throughout the meal, he ate only slightly more than me and Astaria.
After dinner, Astaria left with a wave and a tease that she’d see me again. I took that as promising, given her gift of foresight. Her departure, however, left me alone with Alistair, who didn’t argue when I offered to help with the dishes.
As I dried, I couldn’t help myself from asking more questions. “Seeing as how you’ve been around a long time, you must have seen and experienced things that differ from the history texts we have today.”
“I have. The inaccuracies are annoying, hence why I avoid those types of books.”
“What kind of inaccuracies?” I prodded.
“History is written by victors from their perspective, painting them in a heroic light, but the truth is, both sides usually had valid reasons for fighting.”
“I’d say the Scots had the more noble reason in the battle for their independence.”
“They did, but at the same time, the level of lives lost was unnecessary. Many of those skirmishes didn’t accomplish anything. Look at what eventually happened. Scotland became a part of England. Oh, and before you ask, William Wallace? Much nicer man in the movies than in person.”
“You met him?” The historian in me practically orgasmed.
“Yes. Couldn’t stand the man, and I don’t just mean because of the smell.”
“Is that why you didn’t eat him?” I teased.
“Back then, I rarely wore my dragon. It was a superstitious time where dragons were hunted as being automatically evil, and the people believed everything good or bad that happened was because of the gods.”
“Were you ever worshipped as one?”
He snorted. “Yes. In my younger years, when I erroneously believed dragons were supreme creatures. Smarter, more evolved, and deserving of veneration. I had more than a dozen servants catering to my needs. Numerous villages that made offerings of food and treasure for my blessing. At the time, I reveled in the foolish pageantry and false idolatry.”
“What made you change your mind about it?”
“A drought hit, a bad one that lasted years. Crops refused to grow. People began to starve. Some began claiming I’d caused it because I wasn’t pleased.”
“They tried to kill you?” I gasped.
“No. That I could have handled. They did something worse. They began sacrificing their children to me.”
“Oh dear.”
“It horrified me that they thought I would want them to do so. Worse, the scent of their spilled blood didn’t repulse.”
“You ate them?” I squeaked.
“No!” he barked. “But the mere fact I’d been tempted filled me with self-loathing, and I could no longer, in good conscience, accept their obeisance. I left and spent more than a century as a hermit on what you know today as Mount Fury in the Cascades National Park.”
“What brought you out of isolation?”
“Another dragon.”
“A female, I assume.”
His lips flattened. “Yes. I should have stayed in my cave, as it did not end well.”
“What happened?”
“I think it’s time for bed.” He wouldn’t answer, and I thought of Astaria’s mention of a betrayal. Must have been bad if the memory of it still stung.
“Do you even have a bed?” I’d seen little furniture thus far, the stools in the kitchen actually the only items, other than tools.
“I do.”
I soon realized he meant his. A mattress on the floor, in a room that, while clean, showed its age.
“Um, I don’t know if we should be sleeping together,” I said, suddenly very much aware I was alone with a man. A man who’d mentioned killing me a few times. A man who could easily overpower me. It shouldn’t have given me a titillating shiver.
He soon deflated any notion I had of him forcefully seducing—and me swooning in capitulation--as he snorted. “Your virtue is safe. I am going out.”
“Where? It’s raining, and I didn’t get the impression much remained open on the isle once the ferry leaves.”
“I’m going to hunt. There’s a Red Cap that needs handling before it harms the folks that live here.”
With that ominous statement, Alistair, without a hint of embarrassment—then again, why should he have any with that body?—ditched his clothes, opened the window, and jumped.
I ran and leaned out in time to see a dragon winging off in the night sky. How beautiful. Majestic. Mysterious.
Knowing that same beast was also a very handsome man almost made me want to write a gothic romance—with dirty bits.