by Nancy M Bell
Bella’s breath caught in her throat and she fought to control it. Whoever was coming down to the cave entrance could surely hear her panicked gasping. Raven shifted again, blocking Bella’s line of sight. Her hand flew to her mouth, boots crunched on the sand and rocks at the very entrance to the cave. Bella pressed herself as far back into the split in the rock as she could. What if it was Da? Please God, don’t let it be Daniel come to find her all by himself. She would jump from the cave into the cove below if it was Daniel. She would rather risk life and limb than have him touch her with his filthy hands again. A shudder of revulsion ran through her at the memory of his pawing. Her thoughts skipped to the unspeakable things he would do to her if he found her alone her. Bella would have no one to call for help. There was no way to fight Daniel off, not when he was a good two stone heavier than her and full of muscle from working the boats and helping Brian with the carpentry business.
Raven seemed to be relaxed though and only mildly interested in who was slowly walking across the deep sand toward where she was tied at the back of the cave. Bella allowed herself to breathe a little; at worst it must be Da. Raven knew him. That would be horrible enough, but so much better than the thought of Daniel being only feet from where she was hidden. A pair of boots came into Bella’s line of vision and the bottoms of blue denim trousers; wet halfway to the knees from the walk down from the top of the cliff. Bella’s mind spun in circles; how could he know where she was hidden, the light from the fire didn’t reach this far back. Suddenly, Bella forgot to breathe altogether. Oh my Lord, it must be a smuggler who was familiar with the cave and knew about the hiding place! She was trapped by her own stupidity. She and Sarie should have figured out an escape plan from day one. Now it was too late and there was no telling what was going to happen to her.
Bella stuck a fist up to her mouth to keep a wail of panic from escaping her lips. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, maybe if she couldn’t see who it was they wouldn’t find her. Bella nearly jumped out of her skin and swallowed her tongue as a large rough hand closed over her forearm. She tried to struggle but her arms and legs wouldn’t work. She kept her eyes screwed tightly shut as her assailant pulled her out of the hiding place and around the warm comforting bulk of Raven. Raven! Why wasn’t the mare trying to protect her? Raven, her best friend and the one had put her hooves to work on more than one person who thought that a girl riding alone on the moors was fair game for a bit of fun. As long as she stayed on Raven’s broad back, the horse’s hooves and teeth always kept Bella safe. The light of the fire shone red through Bella closed eyelids and its heat was warm on her face. She flinched and flung her head back as far as she could as a rough hand caressed her cheek. To Bella’s dismay tears escaped from under her lashes and slid down her cheeks.
“Ah, Bella,” a soft voice crooned. “Don’t cry, aren’t you going to at least open your eyes before you give up all hope?”
Startled Bella opened her eyes quickly and blinked in the glare from the fire. A tall man with a shock of dark hair stood facing her with his back to fire. The fire’s brightness made it difficult to see the man’s features.
“Have you forgotten me already, Bella?” The man’s voice was gentle with laughter. “I know we weren’t planning to meet until Saturday, but I saw the light from your fire and thought I would bring you some company on this stormy night.”
“Vear?” Bella could hardly believe that he was standing right in front of her.
“The same!” Vear laughed and wiped the tears from her face with his thumbs as his hands encircled her face.
“How did you know it was my fire?” Bella worried someone else would figure it out as well.
“It’s all over the village, my girl. You disappearin’, and your da over to the Waters’ railing at the woman of the house and her daughter for aiding and abetting a minor in running away from her duties,” Vear informed her.
“And you just knew that it was this cave I was hiding in?” Bella was suspicious.
“Erm, well no. I saw you and Sarie early the other morning on the headland, and then I saw Sarie heading off across country to return home from an entirely different direction. I put two and two together and got four.” Vear smiled at Bella.
“You didn’t tell anyone, did you?” Bella asked anxiously.
“Course I didn’t. You’re my friend and if you feel you need to hide then I will keep your secret and help you hide,” Vear said simply.
Bella collapsed on the sand in relief. Vear settled his long frame beside her and poked at the logs in the fire pit. He pulled a pipe from the breast pocket of his shirt and tamped some tobacco into it with his thumb. The smell of the pipe tobacco filled the cave and made Raven snort. Bella inhaled deeply, the scent made the place smell nice and homey. Maybe Vear would stick around and keep her company for a while. The wind wailing and howling past the front of the cave was giving her the willies.
Vear noticed Bella was shivering and handed her the blanket that was lying near the fire. Bella smiled at him in appreciation as she pulled the cover up around her shoulders and folded her arms around her knees so that the blanket blocked the wind that found its way to the back of the cave. Vear stretched himself out on the sand by the fire and rested his head on his bent arm. His eyes followed the dance of the flames in the fire pit.
“So are you going to tell me why you’ve got yourself tucked away in this bolt hole?” Vear asked casually.
“Because I refuse to marry Daniel Treliving and Da has promised that I will,” Bella said mutinously.
“But surely your da would take your feelings into consideration?” Vear said calmly.
Bella shook her head and drew the blanket closer around her. Tears of betrayal blurred the firelight, and no matter how hard she tried to will them away, the tears persisted and dripped down her face. Vear folded himself back up into a sitting position and moved nearer to her. Hesitantly, he put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. Vear was totally unprepared for Bella to hurl herself into his arms and bury her face in the crook of his neck. Bella threw her arms around Vear’s strong neck and held on as if he was the only solid thing in her world. Vear sighed and gently stroked the girl’s bright hair, presently he drew the blanket up over Bella’s shoulders to keep off the draft.
“How could Da just promise me away without even talking to me about it?” Bella hiccupped.
“I don’t know, my rose. He must think it’s in your best interests,” Vear said dubiously.
“He just doesn’t want me to go up England to London. He thinks that I’ll be just like my mother!” Bella snorted.
“Why is it you want to go to London so badly, then?” Vear asked, his breath warm on her ear.
“I want to train as a nurse at the King’s College School of Nursing. I don’t want to stay in Penzance all my life with everyone knowing what I’m going to do before I do,” Bella told him.
“Oh, well then,” Vear said simply and let the subject drop and the silence take over.
The fire warmed and comforted her. Bella snuggled closer to the big man who held her so gently. Suddenly Raven threw up her head and snorted loudly. Bella heard Vear chuckle against her ear.
“So you’ve found me then, you,” Vear said good-naturedly.
Bella pushed herself upright in a hurry and turned to see who Vear was talking to. She wondered for an instant if it was Sarie, and then rejected that idea. There was no way Sarie would come all this way in the rain, especially this late at night. Bella’s gaze raked the cave entrance but couldn’t see who Vear was talking to.
With a start, she realized that he had his head turned towards the back of the cave where Raven was stabled. Bella’s breath stopped in her chest and she clutched the wool blanket. Sitting on Raven’s broad back was a small sticklike figure of a man. He had a thin frame and his tattered brown clothing fluttered around him, the buckles on his small black boots shone in the firelight. On his head, he had an old brown cloth cap like the one her da liked to wear. The
small man realized Bella had noticed his presence. He stood up on Raven’s back as if he was standing on solid ground and tipped his hat in her direction. His long hair fell forward over his face and almost hid the fact that his nose was inordinately long and thin and his ears were slightly pointy. Bella tore her gaze from the little man and looked at Vear for an answer. Vear smiled back at her with his big lopsided grin, and his laughing eyes were so black that Bella wasn’t sure that he even had irises around his pupils.
“Who is that?” Bella whispered.
“This is Gwin Scawen, Bella.” Vear’s smile widened slightly.
“And you are Bella, the Bella that this one cannot stop talking about since he met her.” Gwin Scawen slid down Raven’s tail and capered across the sand to stand in front of Bella.
“Here you! Do not be telling all my secrets!” Vear admonished the little brown man.
“But you’re a piskie!” Bella blurted out and then clapped her hand over her mouth.
“I am that,” Gwin agreed as he pulled a piece of driftwood closer to the fire to sit on.
“How do you have a piskie for a friend?” Bella asked Vear.
“Why shouldn’t he have a piskie for a friend? We are related in a way, both of us born from the spirit of the land,” Gwin said before Vear could answer.
“What does he mean?” Bella demanded of Vear.
Vear coughed, looked very uncomfortable and scowled at Gwin Scawen.
“Ahh! You have not yet told Miss Bella your secret I see,” Gwin Scawen said with more than a little amusement.
“Told me what?” Bella scrambled to her feet and backed toward where Raven stood.
“Bella, come sit down again,” Vear coaxed.
“Tell me what secret?” Bella persevered.
“Come and sit, Bella. It’s a long and complicated story,” Vear said with a sigh.
Slowly, Bella crossed the sand and perched on a big driftwood log on the other side of the fire from Vear and Gwin Scawen. She gauged the distance between her and the cave entrance. If she needed to, she could make a run for it. Lord only knew what she would do once she was out in the dark blustery night, but she figured she would cross that bridge when she came to it.
“Well?” Bella challenged Vear.
“Yes, yes. Well, Vear Du what will you tell Mistress Bella?” Gwin Scawen was enjoying himself immensely at Vear Du’s expense. This was better than he had hoped, he was sure that the big idiot would have told Bella his secret by now. Gwin settled down and waited to see what would happen next.
“Bella, you’ve lived all your life in Cornwall, surely you must know that there is more to the living than what meets the eye. You’ll have heard the stories about the piskies, and the seahorse, and the talking dolphins, and the selkies, I’m sure,” Vear began.
“Mrs. Waters tells stories about them by the fire at night,” Bella agreed with a nod of her head. Where the hell was he going with this?
“Well,” Vear hesitated. “Well, I am not what I seem either.”
“You are a smuggler!” Bella bolted to her feet and raced for the entrance of the cave.
Bella almost made it to the ledge when she was sent flying into the soft sand floor. She struggled to get up and disentangle whatever it was she had tripped over. Bella blinked sand out of her eyes and spit it out of her mouth. She wiped her face with the back of her hand and then started violently as Gwin Scawen unwrapped himself from around her ankles. He gallantly handed Bella his handkerchief to wipe her face and hands with.
“Please don’t run away, Mistress Bella. The big one is not a smuggler, he wouldn’t know what to do with treasure if he had it.” Gwin waved his hand dismissively in Vear’s direction.
“Then what is he? How does he know about this cave?” Bella still sat in a heap on the sand.
“Come back to the fire. Don’t be running out into the wild night where you might come to harm. Nothing will harm you here.” Gwin pulled at Bella’s hand and smiled imploringly at her.
Bella allowed herself to be led back to the fire, wondering if she had taken leave of her senses and wishing with all her heart that Sarie was there to help her make some sense out of all this nonsense.
“I am a creature from the Otherworld. I am a selkie.” Vear spoke thickly and looked intently into the fire never meeting Bella’s eyes.
“You’re a what? You’re one of those immortals that Mrs. Waters talks about, the one who can change from a man to seal?” Bella was incredulous.
“I am.” Vear turned his large luminous black eyes on Bella.
“So, you’re not a smuggler,” Bella made the question a statement.
“I am not a smuggler,” Vear affirmed with a smile of relief.
“What do you want with me, then?” Bella asked him.
“That is the question, is it not, Vear Du?” Gwin Scawen broke in giggling with glee.
“Company, human company. I yearn for the contact with the mortals of this countryside. It makes me feel more connected to the land and gives me a sense of time passing. Humans feel things so strongly because they have such a short time to experience life and they spend their emotions so extravagantly. It is most attractive to me,” Vear said humbly.
“You just want to be my friend?” Bella found that revelation somewhat disappointing.
“Do you object to that?” Vear held up his hand.
“Not really, I guess. I just kind of hoped that you liked me in a different way, you know,” Bella said truthfully.
Gwin Scawen snickered behind his hands. This was too good, the young Mistress Bella calling Vear Du’s bluff and challenging his gentlemanly effort to take their relationship down a different path.
“Ah, Bella. If only you knew,” Vear said in defeat and lowered his head.
“Knew what?” Bella spoke softly as she scooted around the fire pit on her knees and rested her hand on Vear’s large thigh.
“I like you more than one of my kind should like a human. It only leads to heartbreak and disaster,” Vear said without raising his head.
“Why is that?” Bella asked gently.
“If I let myself love you, I will burn with all your human passion and desire. You will grow old and eventually leave me, and I, I will be left to grieve for you for all eternity. To actually hold the flame of your human heart and warm my soul in its light and then lose it … it would be more than I could bear.” The flames of the fire reflected in Vear’s dark eyes as he looked at her.
“Have you loved a human before?” Bella wanted to know.
“No, but I have seen those who have. They carry the sadness forever,” Vear stated harshly.
“But do they not also carry the joy and the love forever as well, my friend.” Gwin Scawen smiled at Vear’s dark face.
“You forget that it was me who held you together when you lost your human lover,” Vear snarled.
“You did and I owe you a great debt. But I wouldn’t trade my memories for anything. Nor would I chose a different path if I had it to walk over again,” Gwin said solemnly.
“Why don’t we just be friends then and see where it goes?” Bella said.
“You will be content with that, Bella? You are all passion and fire.” Vear looked at her hopefully.
“You forget that I am going up England to study as a nurse. I am going to marry a doctor,” Bella said confidently.
“So you are. Then let us be friends.” Vear’s smile chased away the dark shadows from his face. “It is late, and I should be going.” Vear rose to his feet.
“You’re not staying to keep me company. It’s still pouring out there!” Bella spoke quickly. She really didn’t want to stay alone in the cave all night.
“Don’t tempt fate, Bella. It is best if I leave you now,” Vear said while dark lights flickered in his eyes.
“I will stay and keep you company, Mistress Bella!” Gwin Scawen offered. “Your virtue is safe with me, not like with yon big one.” Gwin indicated Vear with a flick of his long fingers.
“I will come tomorrow, or if not then, the next day for sure,” Vear promised as he disappeared into the storm.
Gwin made himself a nest in the straw at Raven’s feet and was soon snoring gently. Bella put some more wood on the fire and snuggled down in the pile of blankets and quilts that she had brought. Before too long the only one remaining awake was Raven.
Gwin Scawen was gone when Bella woke up the next morning, but he had left a bowl of porridge warming in the coals of the fire for her. She sat up and wrapped her hands around the warm pottery bowl. Bella set the bowl down and stirred up the fire to boil some water for tea. Then she sat cross legged and spooned the porridge into her mouth. Sarie appeared in the entrance of the cave just as Bella was scraping the last of the porridge from the bowl. Tristan followed closely on Sarie’s heels and Raven whinnied in welcome. Bella was glad to see that the weather had broken and the sun was shining strongly on the blue sea outside her hiding place.
“Morning, Bella!” Sarie greeted her.
“Sarie! I’m ever so glad to see you!” Bella jumped to her feet and hugged her friend tightly.