by Olivia Swift
“Don’t lose your temper, Magda,” Sam said as he held her hand. “Maybe we can try asking him what he wants.” Merle nodded and thought it was worth doing.
“Hello,” Merle started gently, “Are you there, Viking warrior? We are sorry that you are upset. If you are there, please come and talk to us.” There was no response, but Branston said that he felt a slight breeze across his face. Merle said that she thought he was listening.
“Please come and tell us what you want. We are really sorry. Please come and talk to us.”
“I am sorry that I brought you all the way from Scotland to a strange place. I’ll put it right if I can,” Magda added. There was a stronger gust of air around the shop.
“Can you tell me your name?” Merle asked. “I can see what you look like. Did you sail in a longboat?”
The wind swirled a little more but it didn’t feel angry.
“Were you the leader?” Sam asked and was rewarded with a warm touch of breeze on his cheek.
“You like to be in charge,” Merle added and the wind in the room was definitely warmer and more peaceful. “Tell me your name please.” She sat with closed eyes and tried to get an answer from inside her head and then she smiled. “Is it Utric?”
“Hello, Utric. I am Merle. I’ll try and help you.”
“Utric,” Magda said. “Do you want to go back home?”
“No, he doesn’t,” Merle said with surprise and opened her eyes to look at the others. “He doesn’t want that.”
“But what does he want?” Sam asked.
“I can ask but I think he’s fading away now.” Merle closed her eyes and tried to connect with the spirit that was rapidly moving away, but it was too late.
“There’s a sadness there as well as anger,” she said when she opened her eyes, “but I couldn’t get anything else.”
“We are a bit further forward though,” Sam told her. “We know that he reacts better to trying to help. We know his name.”
Branston wondered if they should try the same system in the camping shop and Merle agreed.
“We might get something more if we find out why he’s in there as well.”
Magda and Sam said they would call after talking to Mikey. They then drove back to Magda’s to find four very hungry and demanding cats.
“Okay, okay.” Magda said to them. “Here it is.” Finally, there was no more complaining as the four of them devoured their plates of food. “I stopped buying the fish flavor because Pushkin will just not eat it.”
“You would think all cats liked fish,” Sam replied.
“Not finicky Pushkin apparently,” Magda told him and they settled for a microwave meal out of the freezer. “I have cheesecake,” Magda added and saw Sam’s smile.
“Raspberry and white chocolate?” he asked, and she nodded.
“This wedding . . .” she started as they sat with the cheesecake.
“That is an unfair advantage to give me cheesecake and then ask about the wedding,” he said through his dessert.
“Mmm.” Smiling, she said, “The girls think traditional. What about you?”
“Well, you like that sort of thing too. It’s your call, Magda. I’ll go along with what you decide.”
“You are one wonderful man,” she said and put her plate to one side to snuggle against him. “White lace for me and Rula would like a darker-colored dress. You could match cravats to the dress she chooses or vests or shirts or whatever. What do you think?”
“Shirts would look good, I think. Let her decide and then we’ll plan the rest.”
“The other thing is that it is now definite. I called the chapel and Michele, and the date is fine. August twenty-first at eleven in the morning. Then lunch at Michele’s restaurant.”
“ Sounds perfect,” he told her and kissed the top of her head.
“Does Declan know he will have to make a speech?” Magda grinned.
“Let’s get the tree house mocked up and organized before I give him that news,” Sam laughed.
The cats had finished their meal and rearranged themselves on the couch. Crystal, as usual, had managed to get up on Sam’s knee. She suddenly looked up and Magda’s phone rang. There was no one on the other end and Magda looked suspiciously at the cat.
Crystal shook herself and knocked the phone onto the floor, and then she stalked away to another seat.
“Little minx,” Magda said, and the screen showed the cliffs of northern Scotland.
7
“You don’t suppose she’s trying to tell us something?” Sam suggested. “She has been right in the past.”
“Hey”—Magda looked suspiciously at the Birman—“are you just being naughty?” In response, the little cat came over and knocked the cell phone out of Magda’s hand then stalked away with tail held high and a very disdainful look at her.
“Oh no,” Magda said and passed the phone to Sam. He looked at the screen and saw another view of the cliffs. Then he swiped the screen and found four more views of cliffs.
“How many of these views have you got on here?” he asked, and Magda said there were just two. He shook his head and handed her the cell phone.
“At least four.”
“Oh, this is getting really spooky.”
“Send them to everybody with an explanation and see what they think,” Sam suggested. She immediately shared the views with the rest and told them why.
“Do you think that there is a link to cliffs in Scotland and Mikey climbing a cliff at the café?” Katie wrote back.
“Well at least it is a link of some sort. I wish we could figure him out and have some peace,” Magda said as she hung up. Sam wrapped her in a comforting hug. She leaned into him and let out a sigh of contentment.
“I might give up the whisky idea and just go with the raspberry brandy,” she said as they settled on the couch.
“Well, you know that it’s possible if you wanted to go back to it,” Sam told her. “We have the two days in the forest and the wedding to plan. Might be a good idea to leave it anyway.”
“You are so good for me,” she told him. “Why did we fight all those years?”
“Because you were stubborn and wouldn’t admit that you wanted to go out with me.” She gave him a mock slap on the wrist.
“I suppose we had to grow up. I am keen to see this tree house you’ve designed.”
“We should maybe see if the others want to meet up at Mikey’s and see if Utric appears,” Magda mused. She settled into the curve of his am. “Stay here again tonight. The Viking makes me a bit frightened.”
“It’s not like you to be scared,” he told her. “You were never really worried when we were setting up the café.”
“That felt like just something to be solved, but this is a fierce man who breaks sheds and blows up a storm.” She hesitated, adding, “And puts photos on my cell phone. It feels like it could easily get out of control.”
“He responds to softer treatment and reacts with hostility to any sort of anger,” Sam said and stroked her hair. “You know I won’t leave if you want me to stay.”
“This wedding”—she changed the subject—“should we have your house ready to move into and call that a honeymoon?”
“Yes, if that is what you want. We can go away if you would rather.”
She shook her head. “Don’t want to take time off work apart from maybe a day. I have to start preparing for Christmas.” She paused. “Anyway, I am looking forward to moving to the bungalow. If you could move the little chocolate vat from here, it would be a big help.”
“The cats can move the day before, and I’ll stay there myself the night before the wedding,” Sam added. “Actually, it sounds like a good plan.”
“We’ll do that,” she said. “I’ll put away the whisky truffles and go to see the brandy man. I’ve spoken to him on the phone and he’s interested in the raspberry brandy syrup.” She paused. “Then there is a Christmas pudding truffle and Katie wants to make chocolate stars and Santas filled
with jelly for some reason.”
“Mmm, that is something to send me to sleep a happy man. Christmas pudding truffles.”
There were no more messages on the phone, no trouble with Crystal, and in the morning they set off in separate vehicles to work. Sam still had the truck, and the wood from the castle was still in the trunk of his car at the yard.
Halfway through the morning, Branston and Merle arrived to find out if anything else had happened, and Magda asked Rula to go and see if Mikey was up for a séance in his shop. He came in with Rula and asked what they wanted to do.
“Merle’s the expert,” Magda said, looking at the ranch owner.
“After you close, we could meet up and see if the Viking comes when we call. I would like to find out why he’s sad as well as angry and why he doesn’t want to go back to Scotland.”
“We can take chairs in from here,” Magda told them, and they agreed to meet at seven in the evening. Rula handed Mikey his usual hot chocolate in a take-out mug. Merle asked Josh how he liked the job, and he said it was good.
“Have you felt a spirit around the place?” she asked him. The others all looked at her in surprise.
“I sometimes feel things like Aunt Merle does,” he said apologetically. “I don’t want to interfere with anything in the café.”
“Well, have you felt anything?” Magda asked and he looked at his aunt. She nodded at him to go on.
“It’s outside, not inside where there is activity, but I don’t know anything more than that,” he said.
“Can he come outside with me?” Merle asked Magda.
“Sure, I’ll go too” she said. In fact, Rita was left zooming around on her own as the rest of them trooped around the back.
“I hadn’t looked around here since Mikey started to make the climbing wall. He’s done it in the evenings when the customers have gone,” Magda said.
“It actually looks quite natural even though it’s not really rock,” Katie said and ran her hand over it.
“The mechanism for lowering down is hidden at the side,” Mikey added. He grinned at them, and with the agility of a gymnast, swung himself up to the top in seconds before coming down smoothly at the side.
“Wow,” Rula said. “That looked easy, but I bet it takes years of practice.”
Merle had stood with her hand on the rock and told them that she knew the Viking had been there but wasn’t around anymore.
“Maybe he’ll arrive tonight,” Magda remarked, and asked Josh if he wanted to be there as well. The newest staff member shook his head and grinned.
“Got a hot date, sorry.”
“I’ve never done anything like a seance before,” Mikey told them. “You’ll have to keep me on course.”
“We basically make it up as we go along,” Merle answered and gave a mischievous smile. “Rula can hold your hand.”
“Now that sounds more like it,” Mikey said and gave Rula a friendly push causing her to look vaguely embarrassed. “Best get back to the shop. See you tonight.”
The rest of them went back into the café and Magda told Rita to take a break after holding the fort.
“We’ll see you later,” Merle said. “I had best do some work as well. I wish I knew what this warrior was sad about.”
“Maybe we will find out tonight,” Magda added as Branston and Merle left for the ranch. She called Sam and brought him up to date about the rock face and Josh. Then the café and the truffle making took up all their time and energy. Even if Utric had stood in the kitchen, they wouldn’t have had time to look at him.
Magda picked up some food on the way home, fed the cats, and tidied the place up by the time Sam arrived. He picked her up and swung her around, and then when she was safely back on the ground, he wrapped her in his arms and claimed her lips with his own. When she was finally allowed to breathe, Magda asked why he was so cheerful.
Sam laughed and said that it had been a hard day on the building site, and it was just knowing that she was waiting that made the day brighter.
“You sure know how to charm a girl,” she laughed, “but you do need a shower. Half the building site is on your clothes.” Then she added that the food would get cold, so he sat and ate with her before going for the shower. During the meal, she told him again about Josh and Mikey going up the rock wall.
“He climbed up there as if it were a stairway and not a sheer face,” she said. “Then slid down on the sort of pulley thing to get to the ground. I can see why people who climb would enjoy it.”
“And they’ll be thirsty when they finish and might fancy a chocolate boost.”
“Might be good for both businesses. I am going to go out and see the brandy man tomorrow.”
“It never stops,” Sam grinned. “I want to finish this extension we are doing and then make the tree house.”
“And we will see if Utric appears tonight,” she added as she cleared away the dishes and made sure the cats were safely in the living room. They set off in Magda’s car because Sam was still using the truck, and he said that the wood was still in the trunk of the car at the builder’s yard.
“No harm to the car and nothing disturbed.”
They walked into the hiking shop and found most of the others already there.
“Chairs,” Merle said, and Branston went with Sam to collect some from the café. They arranged them in a circle, and the last to arrive was Declan.
“Sorry I’m a bit late,” he said. “What are we going to do here?” Mikey wanted to know that as well, and Merle explained about the reaction they got when they were kinder to the Viking. She made them all sit quietly and then called out to Utric to come and talk to them. There was no response but she told them to wait and tried again. Declan said quietly that he was behind Mikey. Mikey visibly jumped and looked over his shoulder.
“What can you see?” Katie asked Declan and he described the man again but said that he looked calmer.
“He likes Mikey,” Merle said. “And it is to do with that wall outside.”
“I can take it down again,” Mikey offered very quickly, and as he said that, the wind whipped around the room and disturbed papers that were lying on the counter surface.
“No. No. He likes the wall,” Merle said.
“Like the cliffs of Scotland,” Magda added and asked out loud if Utric had sent the photos. Merle shook her head.
“He doesn’t know what you mean,” Merle explained. Magda opened her phone and brought up a photo of the cliffs. “He can see it, but there is something troubling about it. I cannot figure out what.”
“Should we go outside next to the wall?” Sam wondered.
“He reacted to that,” Declan observed. “I don’t get thoughts or anything but I can see him quite clearly. He sort of nodded when you mentioned that.”
“Let’s try,” Branston suggested, and led the way out of the shop and down the alley to the café. Declan laughed when they arrived at the wall and said that Utric was already there.
“He’s halfway up the wall and looks happy for the first time,” Declan added.
They stood around in a rough circle and Merle started to ask questions again.
“I can feel in my head that he loves showing off how good he is at climbing cliffs and walls.”
“If he went on raiding parties, it would be a useful skill,” Sam observed. “Can some people scale castle walls, Mikey?”
“One or two could. It’s not easy, but possible. Whereabouts is he, Declan?” Declan pointed to a spot about two-thirds of the way up, and Mikey looked at Merle. “Should I climb up there?”
“Do you feel okay about it?” she questioned, and he said he was at home on a rock face.
“Just be careful,” Rula warned. “We don’t know what he might do.”
8
Mikey flashed her a quick smile and grabbed handholds on the climbing wall. He moved very quickly up the face of the wall and stopped roughly where he thought that Declan had pointed. Declan called that Utric was just to his left
and watching him. Mikey moved along to the end and slid down the rope that was there for the purpose. Declan laughed and said that the expression on Utric’s face was a picture.
Mikey repeated the maneuver, but the Viking climbed to the very top and stood watching as Mikey descended again then stood back to see what everybody thought.
Merle had closed her eyes for a lot of the time. She told them that the feeling she was getting was much more settled.
“If he’s happy, we can leave him there,” Magda said. “I don’t suppose anyone using the wall would know they were sharing it with a ghost.”
“There is a bit more to add on to the wall and I’ll do that over the next few days. It means that three or four people could climb at the same time.”
“Let’s have a coffee and see if he comes inside,” Sam suggested, and they headed to the beautiful double doors that had been the original ones. They had been sandblasted and restored and looked absolutely wonderful.
“I still cannot believe this place is a reality, you know,” Magda remarked. They walked in and she headed for the kitchen to turn on the coffee machine. Rula worked her magic on the machine and Katie handed around the drinks.
“I am seeing the brandy distiller tomorrow. I think he might be interested in making the raspberry brandy for me,” Magda told them. “I might just forget the whisky for the time being and we can do the Christmas pudding ones instead.” She touched her hand to her forehead as the warm breeze made itself felt.
“He’s come inside,” Merle said as she saw the movement. “Did you feel that, Magda?”
“Yes, and he isn’t angry,” Magda replied.
“Apart from giving him a climbing companion in Mikey,” Rula said with a smile. “Do you think—but maybe this is just in my head—he knows that you are not going to use the whisky? Is that part of it?”
“Shall I see if he reacts if I say I’ll use the whisky?” Magda whispered, and Merle nodded.
“Maybe I’ll make those whisky truffles after all. It’s a shame to waste the good Scotch whisky,” she said loudly. There was a definite swoosh of a wind rather than a breeze and Magda added that it was Henderson whisky and tartan. The wind swirled around the room and disturbed paper napkins.