Highland Magic

I walked downstairs slowly. I had taken a long hot shower and taken my time getting dressed all the while pondering my dream. It had been a dream. Wasn't it? It felt so real. I shivered as I thought about how he had touched my skin, how he had kissed me. I was rubbing vigorously as I walked into the dinning room.

Henry was seated at the head of a long table with a newspaper held up to his face, blocking my view. Iris was no where to be found, but by the smells of bacon and eggs cooking, I could tell she must have been in the kitchen. I forced myself to stop rubbing my arms and slapped a smile on my pale face.

"Good morning, Mr. Fraser." Henry slapped the paper down quickly and smiled brightly at me.

"Ah, there ye are, lassie." He stood as I approached the table. When I pulled out a chair a few away from him, he stopped me. "Nay, come, sit by me, lass." I gave my first real smile of the day and moved to sit on his left side. "That jet lag had ye asleep in no time, eh?" I nodded as I watched him take his seat. "And how did ye fare in our bed last night?"

"Oh," I said. " I slept wonderfully. But I had some questions."

"Oh," Henry said, his face knotting, "What kind of questions?"

"Well, I had this dream-" I began as Iris burst through the door carrying several plates in her hands and on her arms.

"Break yer fast, lassie. Much to be seen in these here Highlands." I smiled at Iris as she spoke and set down the plates. There were plates of eggs, bacon, sausage, something that looked like portage or maybe grits, fried potatoes, and kidneys. After setting them down on the table, she began to heap a great amount of all on to my plate.

I didn't really mind. I wasn't going to eat all of it, no matter how famished I was, but when she got to the kidneys, I put my hand over my plate. "I'm really not a kidney girl," I said smiling.

Iris blushed. "Of course yer not. Yer American after all." She said as if that explained everything. I laughed and turned to look at my plate. It looked like a mini version of Mount Everest.

"Hush yer yappin old woman," Henry said as he took a large scoop of kidneys. "She said she had herself a dream she wanted to talk about." Iris quickly took her seat across from me at Henry's right side.

"Do go on." She said, picking up where Henry left off on the kidneys. "I do love to hear 'bout dreams and the like."

I smiled at the elderly couple. "Well, I actually had a few questions about the castle on the rise." Henry nodded as he chewed. "What is the name of it? And, were there any famous people who lived there in history?" I paused. "Or could you just give me a history of the castle?"

Iris smiled. "That there be Castle Inverlochy. And a bloody history, does it have. A might bit mysterious too." She took a bite of kidney, and I was surprised that I couldn't watch anyone else eat what I found disgusting. Looking away, I picked up a piece of bacon and began to nibble.

"Go on."

"It was built in the thriteenth century." Henry answered for her. "Bonny Prince Charlie faught the bloody English there, before being chased out of Scotland after Colldeun. Then later hundreds of years between the seventeen and nineteenth century, it was burned to protect it from the dastardly English." Henry waved his arm in what apperared to be anger. " 'Tis nothing but a tourists attraction now, Lass. For they built a new Inverlochy Castle a few kilometers to the south. 'Tis a frilly fancy hotel, 'tis. Must have coffers built of pure gold by now." He grumbled.

I thought about that for a minute. I knew the Highlands hadn't come out unscathed in the Wars for Independence, but I hadn't actually thought I would be staying so close to something that historical. I realized I had been pushing the food around my plate with my fork, and quickly took a few bites.

I glanced up and saw Iris watching me with a smile on her face. Then I remembered what else she had said. "What is so mysterious about it?"

Henry threw up his hands and shook his head. "Bloody hell. Ye women will kill me. All yer talk of love and mystery and romance." He pushed back from the table and tucking his paper under his arm, walked out of the room. Glancing at Iris, she shook her head.

"Don't let that bugger bother ye none." Leaning closer over the table, she continued. "Was hundreds of years ago. The second Earl of Inverlochy in fact. The line died out when he died. 'Twas a great loss." She paused and flicked a piece of fuzz off the cloth. "Lord Cien was his name."

At the name I felt all the blood drain out of my face.

"He was a great warrior, he was. Treated the serfs and noble alike, he did, or so 'tis said." She shrugged her shoulders as if it didn't really matter. " 'Tis said that one day a beautiful woman rode into the castle and he instantly fell in love with the stranger. She was the daughter of a noble Scotsman in the lowlands, and had been sent there for her father's fear of being attacked by the English."

She continued. "Lord Cien was sworn to protect her at all costs as was the alliance between her father and him. Now, no one knows what exactly happened. Some believe Lord Cien killed the beautiful woman for she refused to love him. Others say that she loved him so that when she learned she could not marry him, she drown herself in the loch." Iris shrugged her shoulders again. "Either way, the beautiful Countess was lost to him, her body never found. Lord Cien denied he had killed the beauty, and the father believed him, but alas, no one else in the country did. He became a black wolf, and no one would have him. 'Tis said that was just fine with the Lord. He did not want any but the woman he called his Rose. He died a few years later. Again, some say of a broken heart, while others say it was his drunken stupidness that got him slain down by a sword." Her eyes began to sparkle. " 'Tis said that until his Rose comes back to him, he will walk the castle floors and walls, for he can have no peace with his rose lost to him."

I sat back in the chair and looked down at my hands. I was clutching them together so tightly that they were white. I relaxed them and stretched my fingers out in my lap.

"Come back to me, my rose, come back to me...." His voice flowed through my ears, and I closed my eyes. It seemed so real, so incredibly real. The touch of his hands... I could almost still feel them on my body, smoothing the skin where ever they touched. I could almost still feel the heat of his breath on my face.

"Are ye all right, Lassie?" Iris stood and came to stand next to me.

I looked up at her, and knew I must have looked as stricken as I felt. "How far is that castle?"

"Within walking distance. A few kilometers at most." She said as she watched my face. "This is what you need to do." Iris said, sitting in the chair next to me. "Walk out the door in the kitchen, and you'll see a path that leads ye through the forest. It hasn't been traveled in a long while, but it is still there. When ye come to the fork, go left. Do not at all go right. Tis said to the right is where the fey hold court and none of their magics can be trusted." She paused looking at my face. "The castle will only be a few minutes away from there." Standing she looked down at me. "Ye let me fix ye a small meal to take with ye." And with that she turned to the door and vanished through it.

I stood slowly and walked up the stairs to my room. If Henry spoke to me as I passed, I didn't hear him. When I got to the room, I went to my backpack I used as a carry on and emptied it out. Turning I left the room and went directly to the kitchen. Iris already had everything ready.

I loaded the 'small' meal that had to be at least four courses in my backpack, and then she handed me a flashlight. "The forest can be so dense, as no light can get in." I thanked her and walked out the door of the kitchen into the morning sun.

I saw the forest a few paces in front of me, and immediately spotted the path Iris had spoken of. Slinging the backpack on, I checked to make sure the flash light worked, and then headed into the woods.

I became absorbed in the beautiful plants and trees in the forest as soon as I began my walk. It didn't seem at all long before I was at the fork in the road. At the right the forest seemed to open up, and let the sun in. On the left, the forest seemed to swallow the path up in darkness. I stopped and tried to remember what Iris said about the fork in the road.

Hard as I tried I couldn't remember what she said. I had been reeling from the story she told that I really hadn't been paying to closely attention. I sighed. Well... what was that old saying? Righty tighty, lefty loosy. I turned to the right and started down they way.

Glancing at my watch a little while later, I realized twenty minutes had passed, and I was still in the forest. I thought Iris said that the forest would open up and I would be able to see the castle after a few more minutes? I shrugged. Maybe she walked faster than I did. Picking up the pace, I forced myself to keep going.

After another ten minutes I stopped. It was an open field, with little specks of houses dotted around it. Not seeing the castle, I sighed. I must have taken the wrong way. Cursing my stupidness, I turned to walk back down the path to the fork and then go left.

But the path wasn't there. I blinked and looked all around me in hope of seeing it. "What the..." I said as I walked down the slope a bit looking at the edge of the forest hoping to see the path. "This is insane." I said, dropping my backpack on to the ground, and plopping my self on to a large rock. I leaned forward resting my elbows on my knees and burying my face in my hands.

"Perfect," I groaned. Lost in Scotland. Just what I was hoping for. Just was I was about to give into my self pity and cry, I heard thunder. Glancing up at the sky, I wanted to cry even more. The sky was crystal clear blue. "Great, now I'm hearing things." But the sound became louder and closer. I kept eyeing the sky, waiting for the invisible clouds to open up and pour on just me.

Dropping my face back in to my hands I groaned. "Okay God. You've had your fun. Now just let me get back to the Inn. Please..." I stopped as the ground began to shake. I stood up, watching the ground. Oh God, now an earthquake? When was this going to stop. Suddenly it stopped and I heard some sort of heavy breathing next to the back of my head. Turning quickly, I screamed.

A huge black horse stood right behind me, breathing on my shoulder. I tried to turn around and found myself on my butt, my backpack straps tangled around my feet. From the ground, the horse looked even bigger.

I felt my head begin to swim, and the edges of everything going black. Giving in to my faint, I let myself fall to the ground. Just as everything was going black, I saw a man jump down from the horse and come to my aid. But as I was looking toward his face, everything went black and I was gone.

To be continued...