Upon the Solstice

by Cathryn Ramsay

  ‘Oh marvellous,’ I said, more to myself than to anyone else. ‘Another perfect dampener for our celebrations.’ I sighed heavily, part of me still wanting to play to the audience.

  I turned and the remaining ladies were staring, transfixed at the coming storm. Then, as one they dissolved into a mist and dissipated over the moorland.

  ‘I say,’ I remarked, ‘where did they go, Ceit?’

  ‘Stop talking about Ceit!’ shouted Bella. I swear she stamped her foot which, under other circumstances I may have found amusing.

  ‘They disappeared,’ said Ceit in a low voice, only for me. ‘They know what is coming.’

  ‘Yes, it’s a bloody great storm,’ I began. Then I stopped. The rumbling was coming closer, the storm breaking out over the sea and swooping towards us on the beating of a thousand wings.

  Bella, however, seemed oblivious. She was still ranting and shouting, accusing me of so much that I simply stood with my arms folded, rolling my eyes heavenward as she shouted. And still the storm cloud raced nearer.

  Behind the wing beats there was a shrieking sound – my ears became attuned to the shrieking and I frowned. Seabirds perhaps? Gulls or something equally avian and distasteful?

  ‘What a ghastly noise,’ I said.

  Ceit, however, laughed She moved away from me and raised her arms up, her eyes bright and excited. ‘A ghastly noise. Yes. It is. But it’s more than just a noise, Charles. Tell me now – are you still not afeared of the Unseelie Court?’

  I looked at her, uncomprehending of how she had understood me, perched as she was in front of me on our journey here. And then I wondered if whatever magic had been woven about us this evening had begun then.

  But - the Unseelie Court. As the words registered fully, I spun around, looking at the gathering storm cloud and here and there within the seething mass approaching us I could make out demonic faces and clutching arms; images of beasts riding in on wild, fiery horses. This was the magic of the Damned, the souls of the unsanctified dead come back to wreak revenge on the world.

  ‘Ceit!’ I screamed, ‘watch out!’ She was standing directly in line but she appeared oblivious to the danger. More importantly, she was enjoying it. Her head was thrown back, her hair blowing wild, her gown billowing around her.

  ‘Come hither!’ She shouted into the wind. ‘I have been waiting for thy darkness. All hail thee. All hail!’

  There was a desperate moaning building up from the ground, as if the earth itself was struggling to retain power over this force. Wild winds whipped up, rain hammered down on us and beyond the edge of the cliff the waves pounded onto the rocks.

  Bella stood there, oblivious; still shouting at me.

  ‘Bella!’ I yelled over the top of her. ‘The Unseelie Court!’

  ‘It’s not real to her – she can’t see it!’ said Ceit, amused. ‘What a terrible shame.’

  ‘Bella!’ I called again. I reached out to grab her, and then the black cloud bore down on us.

  ***

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  All I was aware of was being drowned by a thousand bats. The noise was horrific, the wails and the screams reverberated around my skull. Sharp claws and nails dragged at my skin and I fought them off as best I could.

  Something entrapped me in tendrils and wrapped around me. I writhed, throwing it off. The thing shrieked and howled and grabbed onto me again. I thrust it off, pushing it away with all my might. When it bellowed one last time, I drew my dagger from the scabbard and pierced the demon and the sound dropped off over the cliff edge. I fell to my knees, crawling blindly towards the hillside and away from the mass of black which hovered above me on the cliffside.

  There was laughter and chanting all around me and the sharp scent of foul earth and rotting vegetation.

  ‘Bella, Bella, Bella,’ I repeated. ‘Bella-Beautiful, where are you? Bella, come to me...Dearest Bella, where the dear Lord are you?’

  There were yowls and screams and one long, blood-curdling wail, then all was quiet. I lay quivering on the grass, my cheek pressed against the mud, my hands over my head. When I steadied myself enough to attempt to raise my head, there was nought but darkness and an eerie silence on the hillside. I still had the hideous, bloodied dagger in my hand and now I wiped it on the wet grass, over and over again until it shone. I wanted no demon blood on my possessions.

  I listened again to the stillness around me. ‘Ceit?’ I whispered her name, and she did not answer.

  Perhaps she was silenced again, I thought, strangely hopeful. Perhaps she would be sitting there, huddled by the ruins, hugging her knees and terrified at whatever we had just witnessed.

  But somehow, deep down, I understood that would not be the case.

  Her voice, however, came to me in my mind as it had done so frequently:

  She had to go.

  And with those four, chilling words, I scrambled to my feet and stared about me.

  ‘Bella! Bella! BELLA!’

  I need not detail how I felt, to you, dear reader – but I was alone on that hillside.

  ***

  Chapter Thirty

  I stood by the ruins and stared about me. The rain had softened now, although it still fell relentlessly. My hair stuck to my scalp and water dripped down between my collar and my neck. I was cold, but the physical discomforts meant nothing to me.

  ‘Bella?’ I tried again; but the eerie silence told me what I already knew. ‘Ceit?’ No answer.

  Had either of them been on that hillside with me? My mind tried to fit the pieces together but nothing seemed to match. I could recall riding out to Tarbert and still saw in my mind’s eye the yellow pathway spread out before us. I could still feel Ceit, the gentle weight of her leaning in against me as we rode. But there were no signs of any festivities on the deserted mound I now stood on.

  From far in the night, I heard the whinny of a horse, followed by an answering snort. Two horses were tethered somewhere nearby. I forced myself to think rationally. I had come on one – had Bella travelled here on the other?

  I turned and ran down the hillside. Perhaps she was even now mounting it and racing back to Howard House, deeply annoyed with me.

  ‘Bella!’ I cried. ‘Wait! Wait for me!’

  As I approached the bottom of the hill, I began to stumble and weaken. My head was spinning and it was all I could do to weave my way to where I had left my horse earlier that evening.

  My stomach somersaulted as I saw our other Howard horse tethered next to mine. They were nuzzling each other, as if congratulating one another on finding a friend out here in the middle of the night.

  I leaned against my horse, resting my head on his flanks, breathing deeply to steady myself. His coat was rough and scratchy, a faint odour of horse-sweat still clinging to him. I felt guilty for not brushing him down when we arrived here.

  ‘Where is Bella? Where is she?’ I asked him uselessly.

  I think I had hoped that Bella would answer; that she would appear out of nowhere and berate me for shouting at her on the hillside. But the night was still and no Bella was to be seen or heard.

  I deliberated whether to take both the horses back to Howard House or leave one here for her. I half-decided on the latter. The horse was not stupid. Surely, it would wait and return home of its own accord if it sensed she was not coming back? I noticed with a lurch in my heart that Bella had used a Highwayman’s Hitch to keep him tied to the fencepost. It was her favourite way of tethering a beast – she said it was romantic and fun, and liked to pretend she was a wily highwayman when she pulled the end of the tether and the knot magically fell away.

  I mounted my horse and sat upon it, staring at the other beast. I severed my own tether with the dagger and tucked it into the bridle. Then I leaned over and pulled Bella’s hitch away. Wrapping the end of the reins securely between my fingers, I rode away from Tarbert Castle, trailing Bella’s horse behind me on our lonely journey.

  ***

  Chapter Thirty One

&nb
sp; I don’t know if I passed out with exhaustion on that journey home, but I started awake to find myself slumped across the neck of the horse whilst it stood patiently outside the stables.

  I slid off his back and managed to open the door. Both animals trotted patiently into their stalls and began to pull at the hay that hung in wrought iron baskets on the wall.

  The world wavered before me and I collapsed on the ground, still hanging onto the stable door.

  And that was where the Groom found me in the morning.

  I was first aware of fingers grasping at me, and hands shaking my shoulders and I know I began to rant about demons and the Unseelie Court while trying desperately to fight the shocked Scotsman off.

  ‘Tell Bella I’m sorry,’ I remember shouting at him. ‘Tell her I’m sorry.’

  ‘Miss Bella?’ the man asked. ‘What of her? I hear tell she came to visit. Frank McLeod brought her did her not? Where is she? Must I go into the house and find her for ye?’

  ‘She did. She came but she’s gone away. She’s by the castle. She’s still there,’ I cried. ‘I had to bring the horse back and leave her. Tell her I’m sorry. The demons, they came...I tried to protect her.’

  I’m not quite sure what happened after that. I must have somehow summoned enough energy to get up, terrify the Groom into leaving me alone and thus find my way back to Howard House. I tumbled into the hallway and staggered through to the drawing room where my work lay scattered on every surface.

  I threw myself onto the chaise longue and shook uncontrollably, reliving the night on the hill. I moaned for Ceit to come back to me, but there was no sign of her. I wracked my brains, trying to think back to the previous night, but already it seemed like a dream. I worried about the fact she was gone. Where was she? What was she? What had she meant? Had any of it happened?

  A book. Bella had said something about a book. I sat bolt upright, staring around the room. How the hell could I find a book in this mess?

  From somewhere I heard a violent howl and I didn’t know if it had come from me or from Ceit – I half expected her to appear at the end of the chaise longue and soothe my fears.

  ‘Ceit?’ I shouted, rising to my feet. ‘Is that you?’ I spun around but the room was deserted. I dashed to the door and flung it open, looking out into the hallway, searching along the corridors, hoping to see her drifting along humming or dancing barefoot down the staircase.

  But those remembered images of her were fading with the growing daylight. In my mind, I saw her standing on the edge of the cliff, welcoming a black storm cloud with her arms out flung. And I heard again those four terrifying words: She had to go.

  ‘Bella?’ Her name echoed around the empty house. I held onto the door, waiting for someone, something to answer me. ‘Ceit?’ Nothing.

  The wave of borrowed strength was draining again and I threw myself back into the drawing room, clutching at the back of the chaise longue and feeling my way around to my desk.

  ‘Think rationally,’ I told myself. ‘If I was Bella and had a book, where would it be?’ I sat down at my desk and stared at the papers.

  Out of nowhere, I felt two hands press down on my shoulders and a face nuzzle into my neck. I jumped, but the hands held me firmly in place.

  Hot breath on my neck followed by the tickling of tiny kisses announced that I had company. I twisted around and saw a lock of long, raven-black hair. Ceit.

  Good morning.

  I blinked and turned around fully. She was there, smiling and relaxed.

  She pulled away and carefully spelled it out: You didn’t come to bed last night. Were you working?

  ‘Bed?’ I asked, thrown by the conversation. ‘Neither of us went to bed. We were out celebrating Beltane.’

  Silly Charles! That didn’t take all night. The little fire in the garden, remember? It was so pretty.

  She pointed towards the window and sure enough I saw a mound of burned ash in the centre of the garden, exactly where Ruairí always designated we should have the fire.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ I said. ‘We were at Tarbert Castle. We took the horse.’

  Ceit looked confused.

  She shook her head. No, you didn’t go there with me.

  ‘But we rode out there,’ I said.

  Not with me. Did you go with Bella?

  Ceit looked concerned.

  I stared at her. ‘I don’t know,’ I said honestly. ‘I just don’t know.’

  ***

  Chapter Thirty Two

  I knew I should have spent the time working on my novel, but the memories of the evening were fading and part of me wanted to record them before they slipped away permanently.

  I wrote down everything I could recall of the ride to the castle and the party which I was sure I had attended. As I read it back, it certainly did seem as if it was a dream and anything but real. I found myself jotting down the images I remembered of Bella that evening as well.

  Bella. She still hadn’t come home and a worm of doubt was niggling at me. What if she was still at Tarbert, trying to get back? It was a long walk, especially for someone dressed in their nightwear. Bella would not be happy if she was caught indecently wandering around the countryside dressed like that.

  I left my work at lunchtime and walked to the stable block.

  I caught the Groom smoking a pipe outside and hailed him. ‘Were the horses both bridled this morning?’ I asked him.

  The man looked at me curiously. ‘Yes sir. Just after I found ye, I went in and took them reins off the beasts. I do not ken who would have taken them out unsaddled last night. I suppose you know nothing, sir? You look slightly better than ye did afore, though, if I may say so.’

  I flushed, embarrassed at the reference to my state this morning. ‘Yes, well. I had not had much sleep. I may even have been sleepwalking. The mind can play tricks on a person.’

  ‘Yes sir,’ said the Groom. We stared at each other silently for a few moments, then he shifted from one foot to the other. ‘Will that be it, Mr Howard?’

  ‘Yes. Yes, thank you,’ I replied, giving myself a mental shake. ‘Oh – and if Miss Howard returns from Tarbert, and you see her before me, will you send her straight into the drawing room please?’

  ‘Certainly sir,’ replied the Groom. He looked at me askance, then returned to his pipe, sucking it almost dry.

  I walked back to the house, my hands clasped behind my back, pondering Bella’s whereabouts. She was many things, but she was never absent without letting me know where she was. And the idea of this book she had mentioned. Having said that - I paused and stared at the garden, at the mound of ash which was blowing away now in the wind – had she even been at Tarbert and had there even been talk of a book?

  I did not think so. I shrugged and continued into the house where Ceit and my work awaited me.

  ***

  The rest of that day passed and I gave very little thought to my sister, if I’m honest.

  I found myself carried away by my novel, but it came to the evening and I realised that time had flown and Bella was still missing.

  ‘Ceit, have you seen Bella at all?’ I asked, when Ceit drifted in to see me.

  She shook her head and came over to my desk, moving the papers around. I saw she was reading my description of the Beltane festival we had allegedly attended.

  You have a wonderful imagination, she told me. I wish it had been true.

  I did not answer. To be honest, it all seemed silly now.

  I shrugged. ‘It’s all made up,’ I said. ‘But the fact remains that my sister is absent. She can be very petulant and I wonder if this is her way of making me suffer for some imagined sleight.’

  A sharp rap on the front door, followed by a bellowed ‘Halllllo!’ made me jump.

  I swore and got to my feet. Ceit melted away into the shadows as she had a wont to do when she didn’t wish to meet anyone.

  I left her there and shouted back, quite angrily, ‘Who is this? Why on earth do you need to disturb me
this fine evening?’

  ‘’Tis the police, Mr Howard. We need to speak to you.’

  My stomach churned and the bile rose in my throat. What had that silly girl done now? For it made sense to me to think that the reason the Tarbert police had come knocking at my door, was because Bella had got herself into trouble and I needed to extricate her from it as soon as possible.

  ‘I’m coming, sir,’ I said. And even to myself, my voice sounded thin and unsure.

  ***

  Chapter Thirty Three

  I was correct. But this was trouble I could not extricate my sister from.

  ‘There’s a body been washed ashore, Mr Howard,’ said the policeman. ‘We have reason to believe it is Miss Bella Howard. The driver who brought her in town a few days ago recognised the green coat she was wearing. He was one of the first on the scene. Mr Frank McLeod—’

  ‘Yes, yes, I’m aware of his name,’ I snapped. I sat down on the bottom stair where I had witnessed Bella dragging her trunk into the house only a day or two ago. It was still there, that trunk. I could see the latch was open and a few of her garments spilled out of it. She must have taken what she required upstairs and left the rest down here– probably for me to assist her with carrying it upstairs.

  Tears sprang into my eyes. The trunk looked pathetic and lonely. Those clothes would never be worn again by my sister. Unless of course…

  ‘Are you entirely sure, that the person discovered was my Bella?’ I asked, choking the words out.

  ‘We are,’ said the policeman in what was probably supposed to be a caring voice. ‘Mrs Mackie identified the girl as well. We think she must have fallen from the cliffs near Tarbert Castle.’

  I put my head in my hands. ‘How can this have happened?’ I whispered. ‘What reason did she have to throw herself over the cliffs?’

  ‘That we cannot tell, Mr Howard,’ said the policeman. ‘We were hoping you would be able to help us with that.’