“And how are the villagers faring?”
“Better with the dogs, I think,” Malcolm explained around a mouthful of stew. Anna looked curious — it seemed Donal hadn’t kept her up to date about what had happened that day.
“The food thefts started up again,” Malcolm explained for her benefit. “They didn’t target the houses where the dogs were staying, though, so we’ve sent the rest of the pack down to guard as many larders as possible. Nancy helped,” he added, nodding to her — she smiled.
“It was fun,” she said brightly. “It felt like leading an army, or something — riding a horse with a pack of dogs at our heels.”
Anna giggled. But there was a lingering concern on her face. “I hope that puts an end to the food thefts. With the harvest coming up soon, we can’t afford to have supplies stolen — winters get lean enough as it is around here.”
Nancy nodded. “The dogs should help. Malcolm helped the villagers organize all their food into fewer larders to make guarding the supplies easier… and if necessary, there are supplies of iron to put on the windowsill.”
“Iron? You think this could be a Faerie thing?” Maeve looked worried.
“We hope not — but the only house without a dog that wasn’t struck was John’s.”
Maeve heaved a deep sigh. It seemed she knew the blacksmith too. “What does Maggie say?”
“Curious, actually,” Malcolm said. “She said the monster says there’s something wrong with the burgh — it was more interested in telling her about that than it was about anything having slipped through. She thinks it’s possible, though. Told us not to ride at night.”
“The burgh… that’s not good,” Maeve said softly.
“Maybe we should try talking to the monster again?” Nancy suggested thoughtfully, glancing around the table to see if this was a decent idea — but her friends just looked amused. “What?”
“It doesn’t exactly come when it’s called, I’m afraid,” Donal said gently. “But you’re most welcome to try.”
Well, permission from the Laird was all she needed — and not only did she have permission, she had a handful of witnesses to that permission. Excellent. Now all she needed to do was get down to the lakeshore… she had a plan for the next morning, that was for certain.
That night, Nancy’s dreams still disturbed her — but this time they weren’t about drowning in a cave, they were about strange, dark shapes in the woods. The shapes were menacing, scaring her, but every time she tried to shine her torch toward them, they disappeared. The only source of comfort was the iron ingot in her pocket, which she clutched tightly in the palm of her hand as echoing, laughing voices mocked and taunted her from the darkness…
She sat up in bed in the morning, bleary-eyed and frustrated by a poor night’s sleep. Still, the sun was up, and she’d decided how she was going to spend this day. But first, a little bit of subterfuge. This had been recommended by someone from the castle, so it technically wasn’t that much of a crime… still, she felt a little guilty as she stole through the castle and down the spiral stairs toward the kitchens. She sidled through the door, staring around at the unfamiliar room…then jumped as an intimidating woman appeared beside her.
“Good morning, Nancy.”
“Hi, Blair. God, you startled me,” she gasped.
“Here to help with breakfast? You needn’t bother, I’m almost overstaffed.”
But there was something watchful in Blair’s eye that suggested the woman knew a lot more about what Nancy was doing there than she was letting on. She hesitated… but she didn’t think she trusted herself to even attempt to lie to Blair. Much better to try to make an ally of the woman, that was what her gut was telling her.
“No, actually. I was wondering if there’s any spare… meat, or fish, or anything. Something that wouldn’t be missed that I could take.”
“Whatever for?” Blair raised an eyebrow, her impassive face slightly quizzical.
“I was going to… see if I could lure the Loch Ness Monster a little closer to shore. I’d like to get a better look at it, is all,” she tried to explain, feeling ridiculous. It was a silly request. What on Earth had she been thinking? But Blair only nodded as though she’d asked where to find an extra pillow for her room.
“I’d been saving a leg of ham for the dogs. It was dropped in the fireplace, and a chunk of it burned — we got the worst of the soot off, but I didn’t feel comfortable serving it in case it was contaminated. And now we have no dogs, so it would’ve gone to waste. You’re welcome to feed it to Nessie.” Blair’s lip twitched in something that might have wanted to be a smile. “Send her my regards.”
Grinning to herself, Nancy walked triumphantly out of the kitchens with a ham clutched in her hands, wrapped in brown paper. A perfect gift for the Loch Ness Monster. Or at least, she hoped it would be — it was likely that the creature ate fish. But then she remembered what Anna had told her about the night that men had tried to attack by boat. Perhaps it eats a range of meats, she thought with a gentle shudder. Hopefully it only ate people who were trying to attack the castle. Should she be worried about going to interact with a creature like this? Surely not — she’d encountered it once before, anyway, when she’d been swimming up from the bottom of the Loch. If it had wanted to eat her, it could have eaten her then and there. Instead, it had just looked at her, then swum away.
She waved to the guards as she headed for the gate, glad of the coat she was bundled up in — it was still rather chilly, the sun only just up and yet to chase the cold night air away completely. She got a few curious looks from the men on the top of the walls, but they let her through the gate anyway, waving at her as she headed down the bridge. She’d considered taking a horse, but she didn’t want to push her luck… besides, it was likely they were in short supply, with Donal having sent messengers away the night before to request some dogs be lent to them by his kinsmen. Besides, it was a nice morning for a walk. She knew winter was coming, and it made sense to make as much use of the summer weather as she could while it lasted.
Strange to think I’ll be here when winter comes, she thought to herself as she headed down the coastline, enjoying the cool, fresh air on her skin and in her lungs. Some part of it still didn’t feel real, no matter how much time she spent reminding herself that she was here, that this was home for now. She still missed her dad, still wanted to find a way back to him… but for the time being, she’d make the best of her situation. That had been what her mother had taught her. A philosophy she’d maintained even to the end, when her long illness had sapped all her strength and all she could do was lay in her bed, gazing at the sunflowers that Nancy’s father had planted by the window early in her convalescence.
“See, Nancy? If I hadn’t gotten sick,” she’d said softly, “I wouldn’t have so much time to lay here and appreciate those beautiful flowers.”
Nancy reached Maggie’s house. Figuring the woman wouldn’t mind, she walked down the little jetty that stood opposite, reaching out some distance into the cold waters of the Loch. She looked down at it, choppy and dark, then out across the whole expanse of the water. She had to admit, she hadn’t thought this far ahead. Should she dangle the ham in the water? Would the creature sense, somehow, that she had food for it? Or should she call its name? Could it even hear above the water?
“Nessie,” she called, feeling a little bit silly as she stood at the end of the jetty with a ham. Still, if a thing was worth doing… “Nessie!” she tried, louder, holding the ham aloft, unwrapped from its paper wrapping. “I’ve brought you a thank-you present!”
Nothing. Just cold, inky waters, the gentle sound of water lapping against the shore. Still feeling ridiculous, Nancy sat on the edge of the jetty. It was built high enough in the water that she could dangle her feet from the end without any chance of the dark waters of the Loch sloshing onto her boots. She pulled a piece of the ham off and threw it into the water, hopeful that the monster would somehow smell it, or sense it, and come t
o investigate whether there was any more. The piece of ham floated, bobbing a little on the current, slowly drifting out toward the centre of the Loch.
“What in heaven’s name are you doing?”
Nancy jumped so hard at the voice that she almost overbalanced and fell straight off the edge of the Jetty.
Chapter 26
A pair of strong, small hands grabbed her by the shoulders and yanked her back to safety — Nancy yelped in shock as she nearly hit the surface of the water, then took a shaky breath to steady herself as the identity of her assailant became clear.
“Kaitlyn! You startled me…”
“Sorry, sorry!” The girl’s big blue eyes were contrite, but there was a lot of laughter dancing in their depths, too. “I thought you heard me coming…”
“I was miles away. Sorry.”
“Looks like a hearty breakfast,” Kaitlyn said solemnly, giving the ham in her lap a nod.
Nancy laughed despite herself, picturing what she must look like here, perched at the end of the jetty with a full meal’s worth of ham in her lap.
“It’s not for me. It’s for the Loch Ness Monster. I thought I might be able to… you know, try to coax her out to say hello.”
“Have you seen her before?”
“Yes! I met her — well, I suppose I sort of met her — when I first came here. I was swimming up from the burgh, very confused about where I was, and there she was. She swam away when I shined my light on her, though. I think I startled her.”
“You must have,” Kaitlyn said, grinning as she took a seat next to Nancy on the end of the jetty. “I doubt she’s used to seeing people with magic torches. I had a look at some of your things,” she admitted apologetically. “Just to see. What’s the big tube for?”
“Air.”
“And the weird thing with a round disc on it?”
“Oh, that’s the regulator. Helps turn the air in the tank into something I can breathe.” To Nancy’s surprise, she wasn’t annoyed to find that Kaitlyn had looked through her scuba gear. The girl reminded her a little of herself at that age… plucky, inquisitive and headstrong. The least she could do for her was teach her about scuba diving. It was a shame she would never be able to share the actual hobby with her, like she had with so many students back home…
“Interesting. Well, Nessie’s great, but she’s not a bloody duck in a pond,” Kaitlyn told her, grinning as she elbowed her in the ribs. “She’ll come see you when she’s good and ready. You can’t lure her in with food.”
“It was just a thought,” Nancy admitted, feeling a little foolish. Why had she thought the creature would somehow sense her presence, in such a vast lake? Like Kaitlyn said, it wasn’t a duck that would come running at the sight of bread.
“Nancy!”
She turned around, surprised to hear Malcolm’s voice on the cold morning air — to her surprise, he was striding down the jetty, a look of concern on his face.
“There you are! I was worried about you.”
“You were?” she said blankly.
“Aye! I got up, didn’t see you at breakfast, Blair said you’d taken a ham and disappeared… I was worried…”
“Worried about what? That I’d left?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted, suddenly looking sheepish. “Anyway. Glad to see you’re here. What in the heavens are you doing?”
“I wanted to see the Loch Ness Monster and Blair had this spare ham she was going to give to the dogs… don’t laugh at me,” Nancy scolded as Malcolm started fighting to suppress a smile. “Kaitlyn’s already made fun of me quite enough, thank you very much —”
“Oh, I’m not laughing at you,” Malcolm said solemnly, but his eyes looked like they were going to burst. Kaitlyn was giggling behind her hand. “Shall we stop in and see Maggie, if you’re quite done… ah, fishing?”
“I would love to see Maggie,” Nancy said with dignity, rising to her feet. “Maggie doesn’t mock an enquiring mind.”
“She mocks my enquiring mind all the time,” Kaitlyn said under her breath, but she rose to her feet too and followed them up the jetty and across the road that led to the castle. There was smoke coming from Maggie’s chimney — the woman must have been up and about already. But something told Nancy to turn around — and just before Malcolm knocked on the door, she saw it, her mouth dropping open.
“Look!”
There, unmistakably proud and enormous, rose a great head above the surface of the water — like the periscope of a submarine. It was the creature she’d seen that night under the water. Nancy uttered a whoop of pure joy and took off running across the road and down the jetty, where the creature’s great head was peeking. Kaitlyn was laughing behind her, but she only had eyes for the monster. Some part of her had thought she’d imagined it, or hallucinated it, or made it up — but there it was, peering at her from the edge of the jetty.
“Hello,” she breathed as she reached the end of the jetty. The creature’s head was on eye level with her, its great sinuous neck descending down into the dark water — where she could just make out more neck, and then the beginnings of its great chest. Any more than that was impossible to make out in the dark water, not without a torch — but this was enough. This was more than enough, to see the creature’s soft, light gray head, its beady brown eyes fixed on her, the slits of its nostrils widening and dilating in the morning air as it sniffed at the ham. “Aren’t you beautiful?”
It huffed — a wet gust of air hit her in the face.
“Amazing. So you breathe air?” She pulled a piece of ham off the piece in her hand and extended it carefully for the creature’s consideration. It sniffed at it carefully — then opened its great jaws and with a wet, sinuous tongue, licked the ham from the palm of her hand and swallowed it. Her eyes widened, tears of astonishment filling them. It was so gentle — so kind! Was this really the creature that had eaten the men who’d attacked the castle?
“You’re magnificent,” she whispered to it, holding out the rest of the ham. “Thank you for coming to see me.”
Gently, it opened its great jaws to take the ham from her, and she looked with wonder at its teeth — not the serrated, sharp teeth of a predator, but definitely teeth. What did it feed on — plants or animals? Or both, perhaps? An omnivore? She wished she knew a little more about dinosaurs… if that was what this creature truly was. It may also have just been a faerie. How many strange creatures from recorded history were Fae in origin, she wondered?
The creature crunched up the ham with evident enjoyment, clearly not bothered by the bone at its centre. It peered at her for a long moment once it had swallowed, its intelligent, eyes resting on her face. Hesitantly, hardly daring to believe it might allow her to touch it, Nancy raised one hand, very slowly, toward its face — then stopped. And just as she’d hoped, for all the world like a domestic cat, the creature lowered its head — and pressed its snout into her hand. It was cool, and damp — a little like the skin of a dolphin — she’d once patted one at an aquarium as a girl, and the feeling of its skin was something she’d never forgotten.
The creature huffed once more, then turned away, moving rapidly out across the water. As it went, its neck seemed to shrink as it moved lower and lower in the water — the last she saw of it was the very top of its head, blurring seamlessly with the water of the Loch. What a perfect environment for it, she thought, watching breathlessly as it swam away from her. It was camouflaged perfectly against the shade of the water… no wonder there had been so many sighting, but no confirmed cases. She thought of the photo of the creature, the so-called ‘authentic’ image of its neck sticking out of the water, trying to compare it to what she’d seen… no, that photo had to have been staged. The neck was too thin, the head too small.
She’d met the Loch Ness Monster. How could this day get any better?
Kaitlyn was standing at the end of the jetty, a huge smile on her pretty face and her blue eyes alight with wonder. “I can’t believe that worked!” she said, exultant
. “I can’t believe she came to see you! I bet she likes you now,” she added enviously. “I’m so jealous.”
“Well, I’d say the experiment was a success,” Malcolm said, raising an amused eyebrow.
She grinned broadly.
“She’s beautiful! I can’t believe I got to see her. Do you think I should bring her another ham tomorrow?”
“Aye,” called a familiar voice from the porch of Maggie’s house. “The old glutton’ll be expecting one every time she sees you now. Have you ever given a dog food from your plate? It’s the same.”
“Good morning, Maggie,” Malcolm said happily. “I thought I’d stop by to keep you in the loop about what’s happening with the food thefts.”
“Good, good. Come in, then. Breakfast, I think, after all this excitement. Goodness me, spoiling that old monster rotten.” Maggie chuckled to herself, and Nancy could tell the old woman was pleased that the creature had come to visit.
When Maggie opened the door to the little cottage, there was a blast of heat — a fire crackled in the fireplace, stoked up and blazing. Nancy shrugged off her jacket and left it on the porch, figuring there wasn’t much spare space in Maggie’s tiny cottage, especially with four of them in there. Somehow, it seemed that Maggie had been expecting all of them. There were four places set at the table, and to Nancy’s delight, a pot of porridge bubbling on the fire — she could smell the rich, hearty smell from the doorway. There was a jar of honey on the table, as well as some other preserves, and Nancy paused to inspect the little bottle as the others took their seats, chattering happily about Nessie.
“I keep a hive out the back,” Maggie explained when she saw Nancy looking at the jar. “They make more honey than they need, so I take it for my breakfast. Send some to the castle, too, and sell what’s left at the market.”
Stranded By The Highlander: A Scottish Time Travel Romance-Highlander Forever Book 2 Page 16