The Mistresses of Wistmere: A Neo-Gothic Novel

by Rachel Secor

  Halfway down the passage, a draft extinguished her flame. She paused, no longer sure of what she would find in the cellar. How foolish, she thought, to continue without a light or even a weapon of some kind. But it would be a precious waste of time to return to the upper level to secure either. Urgency struggled with common sense as her mind raced between returning to May-Jewel and continuing down to the wine cellar to find Brice. She had to find out what he was up to. Feeling her way along the damp wall, she continued down the corridor. Suddenly Katherine was aware of the familiar putrid odor. As before, it offended her nostrils and caught in her throat. She had reached the steps and saw lights flicker below her. She recalled that the steps were slick with dampness and advanced carefully. The door yawned open at the bottom. The light of several lanterns haphazardly placed across the cellar floor lit the entire chamber. The light did little to comfort Katherine. Before her were more freshly dug holes. They looked like small empty graves. All of a sudden, a form stepped forth from the shadows, and Katherine’s heart leapt to her throat.

  “Alex!” she gasped.

  He stood across the pitted floor and stared at her. His stance was defensive, his mouth tight and grim. “I had hoped,” he said flatly, “that it wouldn’t be you who would come looking for me.”

  “I—I haven’t come looking for you,” Katherine stammered. “I thought you had left the manor.”

  From the shadows of the wine racks came another voice. “Aye, he were gone from the manor, but he coom back for the treasure.”

  “Brice!” Katherine cried, seeing him move toward her carrying a shovel.

  His elongated shadow preceded him over the piles of dirt that edged the shallow holes. “Who did ye coom in search o’ lassie?” he snarled.

  An arctic coldness seized her, and her mouth grew dry. Startled by his aggressive tone, fear quivered through her. “Selina.” She whispered, her voice quaking under his baleful stare. “She’s tried to kill me and now my sister.”

  “May-Jewel? Is she all right?” Alex demanded, taking a step closer to her.

  Katherine looked at him and slowly nodded. His concern sounded sincere. Confusion filled her mind. Could he be innocent after all? She had thought he might be the one who killed Charles. Thought he and Brice were involved. Thought they might be partners in their search for the emeralds. She grew braver and demanded of Brice in her most commanding voice, “Why are you here? No one summoned you to the house. Get back to the stable.”

  As Brice shifted his attention fully onto Katherine, Alex suddenly charged at him, yelling, “He’s got my gun! Run!”

  Alex’s warning took both Brice and Katherine by surprise, and she was slow to respond. Dropping the shovel, the stableman swung his other hand up and, with the butt of the gun, caught Alex on the jaw. He crumbled to the floor.

  But it was too late for Katherine to make an attempt toward the door. Imprisoned by terror, her feet, like stone, remained fixed to the earth as Brice pointed the weapon at her.

  “Ye wonna be tellin’ me what to do now.” He glared at her. “Ye be wantin’ to know of Selina? She be me little benefactress. We be sharin’ all the treasure when we find it.” Holding the gun level, he bent and picked up the shovel.

  “You and Selina! But why?” She stared at him transfixed by his words.

  His laugh chilled her.

  “Why? Why be a servant when ye can be the master!”

  “But Selina’s mad! She’s trying to kill us!” Her eyes widened in fear as he moved closer to her.

  “Aye, mad like a fox! She be the mistress an’ I’ll be the master, once I find those blasted gems!”

  Katherine’s eyes moved over to Alex in a silent plea for him to regain consciousness. How wrong she had been about him! It had been Brice all along, Brice and Selina!

  Brice, motioning her away from the doorway with the gun, growled, “Mister Fleming canna finish his job o’ diggin’ now, so ye can do it for him. Get over there, an’ dunna think to try to get away. A hunk o’ lead be swifter than yer feet.”

  Shaking all over, Katherine received the implement as it was thrown to her. What could she do now? How would she get out of this situation? A glance at Alex told her that help wouldn’t be coming from him. Would David come to her rescue? Would he return and, finding her missing, come looking for her? But what would ever lead him down here? Then she knew that salvation was in her own hands and feverishly sought a means to escape.

  “O’er here,” Brice barked, pointing to a patch of earth that hadn’t been dug into yet.

  Stepping over the fresh dug holes, Katherine raised the shovel and tried to dig. But due to her fear and having just pulled May-Jewel from the well, her arms had little strength, and she was unable to dig fast enough to satisfy Brice.

  “Ye useless creature!” He cursed, shoving her away. He returned the gun to his belt. Keenly watching her, he threatened, “I can draw an’ fire the weapon afore ye can make it past me, so see that ye stay were ye be.”

  With his eye on Katherine, the stableman thrust the shovel into the packed dirt. His breathing became labored and the faster he dug, the more desperate Katherine became to think of a way to escape him. But he stood between her and the door.

  Then at last a dull thud sounded through the chamber. Brice dropped to his knees and feverishly pried a small bundle from its earthy socket. With his mouth drawn tight and his eyes ablaze with greed, he moved into the lantern light and began to undo the outer covering of his prize.

  Katherine watched in abhorrence as Brice unwrapped the moldy cloth. She stifled a small cry as the bundle suddenly fell apart and tiny bones and the miniature skull of an infant fell at his feet.

  “Lady Edythe’s baby!” Katherine uttered, trying not to cry from the horror of it.

  “Auggghh!” Brice raged and kicked the remains, scattering them back into the unhallowed ground before him. His eyes were wide and seemed to sear through Katherine as he spun around to face her. He grabbed her violently and shoved her beyond the grave to another patch of ground, always further away from the door.

  “That Papist,” he snarled, waving the shovel at Alex, “were a wantin’ the emeralds for Rome. I be havin’ no such grand plans.” Brice then pinned his sinister black eyes on Katherine. “But,” he continued, “as Mistress o’ the manor ye know where they be, don’t ye? I’ll not waste a bullet on ye. Show me where they be or I’ll cleave yer head from yer shoulders!”

  His words thundered in her ears as he picked up the shovel and twirled it in his hands. Filled with desperation, Katherine sidled toward Alex’s unconscious form and scurried around him. Brice, his breathing heavy and his eyes bulging with rage, slowly inched toward her.

  “Alex!” she screamed, shaking him. “Alex, get up!”

  But the limp figure didn’t move. From the corner of her eye, Katherine caught sight of the shovel as it swiftly sliced the air and whizzed past her head. The shovel barely missed her shoulder and plunged deep into the dirt. She heard Brice curse as she darted into the darkened shadows behind one of the wine racks. There she awaited the blast of the firearm, figuring that once he had fired the weapon and before he could reload, she could run for the door and make her escape. But the shot never came. So her only other choice was to hide in the darkness of the cellar. With her skirt tightly wrapped about her, Katherine crawled beneath a wine-rack where she waited for Brice’s voice to fill the eerie silence before trying to move again.

  The wait wasn’t long. A harsh demented laugh broke the uneasy stillness and raised the hairs on the back of her neck.

  “’Tis useless ta hide. Ye have nowhere ta go. Ye know o’ the fortune that I be seekin’. It be Lady Edythe’s emeralds. I were here workin’ twenty year ago as stable boy when the mistress died.” He continued to speak as he moved stealthily along the aisles between the wine racks looking for her. “Everyone knew aboot the emeralds, but when she died, they werena’ found. I been searchin’ for ‘um ever since. Emeralds there be, the size o’ yer e
ye and worth more than the life o’ that old fool Charles, or the life o’ a laird an’ his harlots.”

  His voice echoed around the room and drowned out the unsteady thump of Katherine’s heart. When she realized that his booted foot stepped on the edge of her skirt, a scream pushed to her throat, and she bit her lips to stop it from coming forth.

  Brice moved on past her.

  “’Twere I who killed old Charles.” He spoke slower as if listening between his words for any movement she might make. “The old fool said he dinna have Selina’s papers, papers that proved her the rightful mistress o’ this manor an’ owner of the stones. Charles said she run away from him an’ dinna deserve to be mistress. But ‘twas I that hid her. Found her oot in the rain that first night an’ she swore I’d be master o’ this manor if I helped her. She give me the poison an’ I helped her right enough. I had given up hope o’ findin’ the jewels ‘til she coom along. She be wantin’ the treasure, too, an’ got me heart afired agin to search for the wealth of Wistmere.”

  The earth’s dampness filtered through Katherine’s thin blouse. Her teeth chattered. She bit into her hand to stay the noise. The stableman walked up the other aisle beside her. It seemed to her that he was taking delight from his torment of her, knowing that she couldn’t escape him for long.

  “Ta think that she be wed to Sir Robert! Wha’ would he be sayin’ if he knew I be beddin’ his wife? That his babe be buried among the heather? Charles saw to that an’ I saw to Charles!”

  Bile rose in Katherine’s throat. Panic tried to push her into action. But she knew if she moved too soon that all would be lost. She prayed that Alex would awaken.

  “And ‘twere easy to win Selina o’er, a wee, foreign thing like she. But smart, oh aye, that she be. We had ta kill the old man for he knew too much. A bit o’ poison an’ the job be done.”

  Katherine heard the pride in his voice, and it sickened her.

  “But I dinna need poison for Sir Robert ta go to his grave.”

  Katherine fought to stave the blackness that nudged her toward unconsciousness as his words filtered through her mind. Suddenly she was fully aware of what he had just confessed. Brice had killed her father! Even Mr. Jameson thought it had been an accident. How did Brice manage it with the ship having a full crew and someone always about keeping watch? Her mind was in turmoil as she lay shivering. Brice continued to taunt her as he moved softly never far from where she lay hidden.

  “Aye, ‘twere I,” he said proudly, as if reading her mind. “What were I ta do after he found me in the colonies when he thought I were here watchin’ Wistmere in his stead? I be thinkin’ he had given the jewels ta his whore in America an’ I set fire ta her room to drive her to their hidin’ place. She dinna have them though. More’s the pity. On the return voyage, Sir Robert came at me like a mad man when he heard what I had done. But he were a beakless old peacock without much thrust. The captain thought t’were the rough seas that made Sir Robert fall an’ hit his head. ‘Twas I that clouted him! They packed him in a barrel o’ rum ta keep him fine and proper then.” His laughter, empty and cruel, invaded the racks. “They couldna’ throw a man o’ his title ta the sharks, now could they? No, they had to bring his carcass ta home.” He moved closer once more.

  Terror rose to Katherine’s mouth, sour and powerful as she thought of Sir Robert’s horrible end. She fought to control the retching spasms of nausea that threatened to overcome her.

  Brice’s hand suddenly stabbed through the darkness and savagely pulled Katherine from her hiding place. Then he dragged her kicking and struggling to the center of the cavern and threw her down in the dirt. With agonizing slowness, he raised the shovel.

  Katherine, her eyes clouded with tears and her heart wildly beating with terror, looked to Alex. But he remained motionless just as he had fallen.

  Brice snickered and raised the shovel higher, delaying the death blow for the pleasure of it. He didn’t hear the silent prayer that tumbled from Katherine’s lips nor did he see Alex’s hand move.

  But Katherine did, and her heart surged with hope. She stalled for the time Alex needed to regain his full senses. “Don’t do this!” she screamed, striving to rise to her feet. “There’s no reason to kill me! I don’t know where the jewels are!”

  “What? The mistress o’ this fine manor whimperin’ like a snared animal?”

  But as Katherine stood and attempted to step backwards, her dress became wrapped around her legs, binding them so she couldn’t move, and she fell again to the ground.

  Brice roared, his laughter concealing the noise of Alex’s movements as he rose to his knees.

  Scrambling to her feet, Katherine scooped up a handful of the loose dirt and, with a vengeance, flung it into Brice’s face. She lurched at the blinded stableman with all her strength, shoving him backwards into a shallow hole. As he fell to the ground, the shovel flew from his hand and the gun from his belt, discharging its single shot into the wall.

  Alex became fully conscious now. Rising, he yelled, “Katherine, by your feet! The shovel!”

  Katherine tossed the implement toward him and, lifting her skirt high, raced across the chamber. Turning briefly, she watched as both Alex and Brice grappled for the shovel. Then she dashed up the stairs. She tried to think what she could do to save herself and Alex, but there wasn’t anyone that she could go to for help. Suddenly, she heard footsteps tearing up the stairs after her. Was it Alex or Brice? There wasn’t any way of knowing without stopping, and that she wasn’t about to do. Reaching the corridor, Katherine didn’t slow but flew through the gallery and into the great hall.

  “Here, Mistress, here!” A woman’s voice called urgently from the shadows atop the stairwell.

  “Molly?” Katherine cried, running up the stairs toward the voice.

  The sound of the footfalls behind her grew louder as the distance closed between her and whoever was following her.

  “This way, Mistress!”

  Katherine followed the urgent call to the little used hall in the back of the manor.

  “I found the maid you have been seeking,” the voice continued.

  These compelling words drew Katherine toward a narrow room. Wariness coursed through her mind, and her heart quickened its beat. As if some wordless entity tried to warn her off, she paused for a moment, trying to place the room in her memory. But she and May-Jewel hadn’t investigated this particular one.

  Her indecisiveness to enter gave way when she heard the voice again, calling, “Hurry, Mistress!”

  But now the tone of Molly’s words didn’t sound right. Katherine couldn’t distinguish her accent. She thought that perhaps it was due to the fear that raced through her, and she moved forward.

  Feeling uneasy and wary, she entered the room. The dim light from the hall window allowed her only to see that the room was empty except for a scant set of decaying stairs against the far wall leading to the top floor. Above the steps was a small door.

  Thunderous footfalls came from down the hall toward her. Forced to close the door behind her, Katherine sank back into the furthest corner and awaited the inevitable in total darkness. But the steps raced past the door and, a moment later, the sound faded. She heaved a heavy sigh and felt her way along the wall back toward the door. Before she could find the knob and flee the room, the door atop the stairs creaked open, the small area becoming aglow with the flickering and swelling of candlelight. Katherine strained to see who was there.

  “Molly, is that you?”

  Out of the mute grayness appeared a small face. For a moment, terror overcame Katherine, and her knees threatened to buckle. Wild with despair, she pressed back against the wall.

  “No, Mistress, it is I.” A wiry form stepped from the garret and paused on the top stair of the frail structure.

  “Selina!” Katherine gasped. “This is where you’ve been hiding!”

  Selina moved down on the next step and stood immobile, raising and lowering the candle as if to see all of Katherine. �
��What? No weapon?” She sneered. “No way to protect yourself from Selina? What were you going to do if you found me? Slap my face? Warn me away from this place? Wistmere is not yours! I am the legal wife of Robert. This place is mine!” She descended the next step.

  Not daring to take her eyes off Selina and sliding her hand behind her, Katherine feverishly searched for the door knob. But it wasn’t within her reach. Panic muddled her senses, and she couldn’t remember how far away the door was from the corner of the room. Having finally come face to face with her nemesis, Katherine couldn’t form an answer for the dread that threatened to consume her. The creaking of the stairs as Selina moved down yet another step brought Katherine close to the edge of hysteria.

  “Don’t bother. Should you reach the door, my man is on the other side. There is no escaping Selina this time.”

  Freezing against the wall, Katherine almost stopped breathing. She assumed those were Brice’s steps running past the door a moment ago and that he was now searching for her in another part of the manor. Was she wrong? Selina sounded so sure. Were the fading footsteps actually Alex’s and was Selina playing another mental game to frighten her? Katherine’s mind frantically raced for a way to escape. She prayed for someone to rescue her. Surely David must have returned by now. Molly would have told him about Brice, and he would be looking for her. She held onto that hope, and knew she must stall for time. She had to distract Selina. Her throat was tense with fear, so her words didn’t come out as strong as she would have wanted them to. Barely above a whisper, she asked, “Why are you trying to harm me? Why have you done this to us? To my sister?”

  “You both are a threat to my inheritance, to Wistmere. My Wistmere! I did not know of the other daughter. Robert only spoke of you. When I found out that she, too, was Robert’s daughter, she had to be eliminated as well.”

  Her cold words and thin voice sent shivers down Katherine’s spine.

  “It is good that I found help from the simple man who cares for the horses. And now there is but you for my pins have worked their poison on the other daughter of Robert. You shall not prevent me from having what is mine. Soon I shall have everything, the emeralds and this place.” Her acidic laughter filled the chamber.