Chapter Four #2
How odd was that? Must be some strange Scottish thing that had gone right over Evie’s head.
She shook off the feeling. “Does the grocery have any fresh fish?” She wondered if the cat would eat anything other than filet of sole.
She’d thought about picking up a few cans of cat food to keep on hand, but apparently, that wouldn’t work for this finicky feline.
“We can check after our ride.” Morganna looped her arm through Evie’s and tugged, walking them down the road at a faster pace.
Evie struggled to keep up, her short legs taking two steps to match Morganna’s long-legged stride. “Whew! Where’s the fire?”
Morganna halted. “What?”
“Sorry—figure of speech for why are we running to the stable instead of walking?”
Forestor chuckled, and Morganna glared at him. “Forgive me,” she said, turning back to Evie. “I dinna ken what came over me.”
“No worries.” Evie shoved her hands into the pockets of her denim jacket.
Lined with sherpa, it was perfect for a crisp fall day, but if they were going to run a marathon, it would get a little on the warmish side.
“I’m used to having to quick-step it around tall people.
” She nodded at the fenced-in dirt lot to their left, which was attached to a building constructed of varying shades of rounded gray stones mortared into place.
It was the prettiest and sturdiest barn she’d ever seen.
“This is really nice. Who keeps their horses here?”
“Anyone who wishes to,” Forestor said as he led them inside. He motioned to the aisle on the right. “This way. I’ve the perfect horse in mind for ye. Our Mercury is a good-natured beast who’ll help ye remember how to ride.”
“Not Mercury,” Morganna said with an odd sharpness. She sounded as though she were about to panic.
Forestor gave her a bewildered frown. “Why not our Mercury? He’s a good lad and just came in from a long run. He’ll be ready for a nice, easy ride.”
“If he’s just come in from a long run, he’ll be too winded.” Morgana caught hold of Evie’s arm and tugged, trying to turn her down a different aisle. “Let’s have a look at these fine beasties over here. I’m sure one of them will do.”
But a loud, angry squeal and the sharp bang of hooves hitting wood came from farther down the path they’d already taken.
“Someone’s not happy,” Evie told Forestor. “Do you need to go see about them before they kick their way out of the stall?” Granddaddy had owned temperamental horses now and then, and she recognized a horsey tantrum when she heard one.
“That be Mercury,” Forestor said, aiming a pointed look at Morganna.
Morganna threw up her hands in defeat. “Fine. Take her to Mercury.”
“Is Mercury dangerous or something?” For the life of her, Evie couldn’t figure out what silent disagreement was going on between these two.
“Nay,” Forestor said. “Mercury be a fine lad. Ye’ll fair swoon for him.” He waved them forward, leading them to the last and largest stall at the end of the aisle.
Within it waited not only the largest but the most gorgeous horse Evie had ever met.
“What a handsome fella.” She moved in closer, unable to keep from smiling as the animal stuck its head over the gate as though eager to reach her.
“Well, hello. Are you a Shire? Your coloring is beautiful. It’s like you’re sprinkled with stardust.” The stallion’s white coat had an almost silvery sheen to it. “Were you a unicorn in a past life?”
Forestor started coughing and choking once more, but Morganna didn’t beat on his back this time. She just stood there glaring at him with her arms crossed over her chest.
“You all right, Forestor?” Evie asked while rubbing and patting Mercury’s muscular neck. “Maybe you have allergies or something.”
“Aye…allergies.” The Scot turned away and coughed some more.
Mercury grumbled and hooked his nose over Evie’s shoulder when she went to step away. She laughed and went back to giving the animal friendly pats and hugs. “You just wanted some attention, didn’t you?”
“Ye have no idea,” Morganna said with a sad shake of her head. “Ye’ll be hard-pressed to be rid of that one now.”
“Oh, I’d never want to be rid of Mercury.” Evie hugged the horse again, then opened the gate and led him down the aisle. “Let’s go for a ride, new friend. I might be a little rusty, so be patient with me.”
The mighty beast softly whickered and pressed his head against hers as if promising that he would.
Soon enough, and with Forestor’s help, she and Morganna had their mounts saddled and ready to ride. Morganna’s steed was a stunning black mare, just as large as Mercury and possessing an extraordinarily long mane and feathering on its feet.
“Who do these horses belong to?” Evie asked. “The owners won’t mind my riding Mercury, will they?”
“Darkstar is mine,” Morganna said, her reply soft and thoughtful. “Mercury has no owner. He roams the Highlands as he pleases, and most of the time, Craig Durness pleases him as a shelter when he needs one.”
While she found that concept a bit odd, Evie admitted it was fitting. Mercury was too fine an animal to be anything less than free to wander as he would. “Thank you for letting me ride you,” she told the horse. “I consider it an honor.”
Mercury tossed his head and stepped higher, prancing like a show horse.
“Aye, ye’ll give the beast the big head, ye will.” Morganna led the way out of the village and toward a gently rolling valley bordered by impressive mountains of jagged rocks and crags. “Dinna give him his head, or ye’ll find yerself halfway across the Highlands afore ye know it.”
Evie tightened her grip on the reins. “Let’s stay close to Morganna and Darkstar, Mercury. I don’t want to get lost.”
The horse snorted and tossed his head as though laughing at that prospect.
Last night’s tension and worries melting away, she relaxed in the saddle and remembered all the happy times she’d helped Granddaddy with the horses.
Maybe coming to Scotland wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
A month of pampering and enjoying the sights would be a nice memory to revisit once she returned to Nashville and job hunting.
She pulled in a deep breath and smiled. Everything was so clean and untouched here. It was as though this place had been sheltered, a regular Scottish Eden in the Highlands.
“The hill is just up ahead.” Morganna pointed at the part of the valley that narrowed into a small pass between the mountains. “We go through there, and then it opens up again. If Callum is still there, we should be able to ask him about the man ye saw.”
“Did you happen to mention it to him last night?” Morganna had made it pretty clear that she and Callum lived together. Evie wouldn’t pry into personal things, but the question about her mystery man seemed harmless enough.
“I did mention it.” Morganna’s eyes narrowed as she squinted at something off in the distance. “But since I’d not seen the lad, I couldn’t verra well describe him.”
“But he didn’t have any hunches about who it might be?” Evie really needed to know more about the man in the fog. Mainly, that he was real, so she’d know for sure that long trips didn’t make her lose her mind.
Morganna frowned and took an unusual length of time to answer. “He had a few ideas. We’ll know more once we speak with him, and ye’re able to give him more details.” She flipped her reins and urged her horse to a faster trot, speeding into the lead by quite a bit.
Well, all right, then. Evie took that as a clear I-don’t-want-to-talk-about-it-anymore response. Morganna was a strange lady. Nice. But odd. She shrugged it off. Maybe Morganna felt the same way about her. Maybe it was a difference in cultures or something.
As they neared the pass leading out of the valley, she urged Mercury to catch up and close the distance between them.
The towering walls of rock on either side blocked most of the sunlight, giving the impression that it was much later in the day.
Even though there was no wind, it also seemed much colder, making her button her jacket and tug her collar up around her ears.
“Not much farther,” Morganna called back over her shoulder.
Evie was glad because she felt like a child in the back seat of the car, itching to ask their parent one more time, Are we there yet?
It was then that she noticed Mercury had taken on an eerie glow—like one of those phosphorescent worms in a cave documentary she’d watched when nothing else was on television.
She blinked to make sure she wasn’t imagining it.
No. The horse was most definitely glowing like a soft night-light on a child’s bedside table. “Morganna?”
“Aye?” Morganna didn’t slow, nor did she look around.
“Mercury is glowing,” Evie called out, trying to sound as if that were the most normal thing in the world.
Morganna laughed, but it sounded strained. “’Tis just the angle of the light. Horses canna glow.”
“Angle of the light, my ass.” Evie pulled an old receipt out of her jacket pocket, held it up against Mercury’s coat, and could clearly read it by the animal’s illumination. What had they called that in the documentary? Bioluminescence?
“Did ye say something?” Morganna shouted back to her.
“This horse is glowing like a cave worm. I swear. Turn around and look.”
“A cave worm?” Morganna finally reined in her animal and wheeled it about. Darkstar didn’t glow. In fact, Darkstar was harder to see. He blended into the shadows so much that it made it seem as though Morganna were floating through the air.
Evie caught up a handful of Mercury’s silvery mane and let the strands run through her fingers. They looked like the fiber-optic lights she put on her Christmas tree last year. “See? Glowing like one of those cave worms in New Zealand.”
“I dinna ken a thing about cave worms in New Zealand.”
“But you agree this horse is emitting a light, right?”
Morganna didn’t respond, and in the shadows, Evie couldn’t read her expression.
“Morganna?”