Bones of the Witch

The smell of hops, smoke, and fried food hit me as I stepped inside The Blackmouth Arms. The din of laughter and conversation filled the small pub, the low ceiling and uneven flagstone floors amplifying the chaos. A fellow with a knit cap perched so high on his head it might slide off at any moment plucked at a fiddle, tuning it, alongside a fellow musician doing the same with a guitar. Several pairs of eyes glanced up at me as the door swung shut behind me. Thankfully, they were all friendly.

“Prop the door open, would you love?” hollered a rotund woman with red cheeks as she ran a rag over the bar. “There’s a stone just outside the door.”

I nodded and backed the door open, kicking the rock into place. It was a good call, as the place was as stuffy and humid as a cellar.

Scanning the heads for Jasher’s dark hair, I spotted him deep in conversation at the far wall where the bar met the plaster. His back was to me, but I’d know that tall, broad-shouldered frame anywhere. I suppressed a surge of annoyance at him. Being frustrated with him wasn’t how I wanted to start this adventure, but he’d sent a friend to pick me up at the train station rather than coming himself. If he’d been busy with work or unavailable for some good reason, I would have been fine with it, but when his friend pulled up in front of a pub and told me with a grunt and a jerk of her thumb that Jasher was inside, I had to admit, that hurt. He couldn’t pick me up because he was out drinking?

I took a bracing breath and told myself he might have an unapparent but excellent reason and to restrain my ire so that I could give him a chance to explain. Shoving my luggage under a table where it wouldn’t be underfoot, I sidled through the crowd in the direction of his back, trying not to bump my head on the incredibly low rafters.

Jasher looked to be in lively communion with a young fellow sporting an impressive foam moustache.

“Anything to drink, love?” the lady behind the bar called, raking wild curls away from her sweaty brow.

“Um.” My mind scrambled for an answer. I didn’t want to stay, but it was rude not to order something, especially since Jasher’s drink still had a lot left.

The lady was still waiting for my response.

I squeezed between the backs of two men bellied up at the bar. They projected enough heat to warm a small barn. No wonder this place was an oven. “Have you got apple cider?”

“Och, a tourist!” she bellowed with enthusiasm. “Where you from then, lass?”

“Canada, but I just arrived from Poland.”

A few others overheard and peered at me with curiosity.

“Had a cousin went ter yer cold climes.” The bar matron bustled to the other end and disappeared through a doorway that had to have given more than its fair share of goose-eggs in its lifetime. She reappeared with a glass and poured a fizzy brown liquid from a tap. “You picked a bad time o’ year to visit, lass. Nothing but dire weather and unwashed locals in these parts until spring.”

“You can count me among the number of the great unwashed. I’ve been on a train all day.” I cocked my head as her words sank in. “And, I thought March was spring.”

This statement was apparently naive enough to elicit laughter from the men on either side of me as well as the bartender.

“Come back in another six weeks if it’s spring you’re looking for.” She set a dripping pint glass in front of me.

“Thanks. I’m not here for the weather, though. I’m visiting a friend.” I picked up the glass and brought it to my lips when I caught the tang of alcohol. Whoops. I’d just made a tourist’s mistake. I’d assumed apple cider here was the same as it was back home.

I dug some money out of my pocket and slapped it on the bar. Tilting a finger toward my oblivious friend, I said, “I’ve found him. Thanks for the cider.”

She tipped me a wink and faced another patron who asked her for a Drambuie in a brogue so strong it sounded almost like a foreign language. The Scottish accent in the highlands was dramatically deeper than the lyrical lilt in Edinburgh.

Shuffling sideways through the crowd, I closed the distance between Jasher and me. In spite of my annoyance, some butterflies took flight in my stomach, brushing their soft wings against my insides. Jasher and I had had a rough start, but we’d become good friends. He’d been there when I’d inherited the earth magic, and that would always connect us. I was looking forward to being able to spend more time with him. And if I left out that he’d given me the best kiss of my young life, well, you’d be missing a piece of the story.

I set my glass of contraband on the bar just behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. The musicians in the corner were getting loud, so I raised my voice. “Sorry to interrupt.”

Jasher was just lifting his glass to his lips when he turned his head to see who had tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hello, Jasher,” I said. Nice of you to meet me at the station, I mentally added. This was the burden of every Canadian, a detrimental level of politeness.

The myriad of expressions which played out on his features as recognition sank in was fascinating. His eyes widened, his lips parted, and his brows hiked up to his hairline. The expression of shock that stole over his face was so genuine and thorough that further words were startled right out of my throat.

Jasher’s friend stared back and forth between us, his own pint forgotten in his hand.

“Georjayna!” Jasher yelled it like a victory cry and startled both myself and his drinking buddy. Setting down his drink with a clack, he yanked me into a sweaty, almost violent hug. He smelled of beer and soap and wood. His body felt as lean and corded with muscle as I remembered. He pulled back to look at me, his face bright with excitement. “What are you doing here?”

Speechlessness afflicted me for the second time fewer minutes. My mouth opened and closed a few times as his question sank in. The sound of a highland jig struck up behind me and it was a surreal addition to Jasher’s bizarre reaction.

“How much have you had to drink, Jash?”

I looked at his friend to see if there was some agreed upon ruse between them, but his companion only blinked at me with a shallow, bovine interest.

My gaze swung back to Jasher. “I told you I’d be arriving today. I thought you were going to meet me at the station. Your friend dropped me off here. My bag is over there, by the door.”

I thumbed over my shoulder, feeling strained from having to shout over the music.

This was a not so subtle hint. He’d had his fun, it was late. I was travel-weary and needed a shower and a bed.

Jasher’s smile faltered and his eyes widened again. Surprise was quickly becoming the expression of the evening.

“You did?” He spoke with that genuine shock and I found my thoughts scrambling back through the letters we’d exchanged. Yes, I was in the right country, and the right time, and he’d been here the whole time. This had been his idea.

I decided it had to be a joke. I rolled my eyes and laughed, directing another look at his friend, looking for a sign. I noted that he was blond, mid-twenties, and layered with as much muscle as Jasher. I wondered if he was a handyman too. He wore a green t-shirt boasting a clever saying––Do good, die better. I would have asked him where he bought it if I hadn’t been so tired.

“He’s such a joker,” I told his friend.

“Aye.” Green t-shirt agreed, a twinkle flashing in his eye. “That’s the first thing I realized when we started working together.” He lifted his tumbler of ice cubes and the russet liquid sloshed. “That Jasher, he’s something of a balloon.”

Why did I get the feeling Green t-shirt was being sarcastic?

“Georjie.” Jasher put a hand on my shoulder. “I don’t know what you’re on about, but this is truly an awesome surprise. I’m so glad you’ve come! How did you even know where to find me?” Earnestness. Authentic confusion.

“Jasher… your friend dropped me off here. The lady you sent to pick me up at Blackmouth’s station.” I combed for her name in my memory but was dismayed to find I couldn’t recall it. Must be exhaustion. I normally had a pretty good memory for names.

Jasher gaped, his fine ruddy face a picture of bewilderment. I could practically see the gears turning. Frankly, it was getting old.

Finally, Jasher addressed Green t-shirt. “’Scuse me a minute, will you?” He blinked over at me and changed his mind. “No, actually…I think this’ll have to be goodnight.”

He swallowed the rest of his beer in four big gulps and pushed the empty glass to the back of the bar. Getting up, he gave Green t-shirt a parting nod. “See you in the morning.”

“You going to leave without introducing me to your pretty friend?” Green t-shirt asked, then stuck out his bottom lip.

Jasher whacked his thigh, and a puff of sawdust clouded the air near his leg. Now that I was looking, his shirt was wrinkled and stained with oil spots. He must have come directly from work to the pub.

“Sorry mate.” Jasher shook his head at himself. “She’s got me all inside out and backwards. Will, this is Georjayna.” He turned to me. “Georjie, this is Will. He works with me.”

Will poked a finger into the brim of his baseball cap, making it sit a little higher on his head. “Family, are ye?” He looked hopeful.

“Not technically,” Jasher and I replied at the same time, then laughed.

“Her mum and my adopted mum are sisters,” Jasher explained as he liberated his wallet from a rear pocket and fished out some money. “We only met for the first time this past June, but we got on like a brushfire. Didn’t we, Georjie?”

He winked at me and the dimples I had grown to love appeared. Bloody Jasher and his good looks. If I haven’t made it clear enough, then let me clarify now. Jasher is gorgeous.

“Adopted cousins, then.” Will set his tumbler on the bar to shake my hand. “Welcome to the highlands.”

“Smarter than you look,” Jasher teased, tucking his wallet away again.

“Funny,” Will said to me, jabbing a finger in Jasher’s direction.

“He’s a little crusty, but we like him,” I replied. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too. See you round.” Will smiled and picked up his drink. He settled his back against the wall and bobbed his head in time to the music.

As Jasher and I squeezed our way toward the door, one of the musicians yelled over the music. “Are we that bad?”

“Aye, ye scare the only tourist away we’ve seen since October,” crowed the woman behind the bar.

My cheeks warmed as the patrons watched us. I felt like we were bad kids sneaking out of class early. At the door, I bent to retrieve my bag.

“I’ll get that.” Jasher pulled the bag outside while I held the door for him. He began to head downhill, the bag’s tires making a racket on the cobbles. He stopped abruptly and looked around like he was lost. Sheepishly, he steered the bag around and headed uphill instead. “This way.”

“Haven’t you been here since the new year, Jasher? Blackmouth is even smaller than Anacullough. You expect me to believe you still don’t know your way from the pub to the castle?”

In response, he shushed me.

“Uh huh.” I kept pace with him as we climbed the narrow road, on which there was absolutely no traffic. The sky was a starless layer of black velvet over our heads and tall stone walls divided a thick forest from the road. Pools of streetlight offered the only illumination leading up a hill so steep that whatever was beyond it was invisible. “So, who was the lady you sent to pick me up? Friend of yours?”

When I’d stepped off the train, a middle-aged woman in a house-dress and a vacant smile had been waiting with my name scrawled on a piece of cardboard. She’d told me she was to pick me up because Jasher wasn’t able to, and bundled me into a small Fiat. Surprised because Jasher hadn’t warned me ahead of time, and unable to call him because he’d long ago vowed never to own a cell phone, I elected to trust her. I’d gotten in the car and enjoyed the short, quiet drive through the village of Blackmouth.

Jasher glanced at me. “Our wires got crossed somewhere along the line. I didn’t send anyone to pick you up, Georjie. Honest. I’m still gobsmacked that you’re even here.”

I stopped walking at once and stared at him, well beyond laughing about it by now.

Jasher stopped walking as well. “Seriously. I’ve no idea what you’re doing here, Georjie. But I’m so happy you came. What a great surprise!”

“Jasher.” I closed my eyes briefly, asking for patience. “I’ll speak slowly to you won’t misunderstand. You wrote me a letter telling me all about your job at Blackmouth Castle and inviting me to come and stay for a while…”

The words died in my throat at his deer-in-the-headlights look.

Silence stretched out and a chill swept over me. Something very strange was going on here. Jasher didn’t seem drunk, just a little tipsy, there was no way he’d had enough alcohol to have forgotten completely about the letter he’d written me.

“No, I didn’t,” he finally replied. “I mean… I did write you a letter, telling you about the job and everything, but I didn’t invite you to come.” His face flushed. “Don’t get me wrong, I totally would have, but it never occurred to me.”

“But…you invited me.” I was certain he had. There had been a line in the letter welcoming me to Blackmouth since they were closed for the season and had plenty of spare rooms. Wasn’t there? Jasher had to have forgotten. He simply had to. Either that or I was losing my mind.

He threw an arm over my shoulder and we continued walking up the hill. My mind raced like fingers over an old-fashioned rolodex. Had I misunderstood? No, I was sure I hadn’t. The doubts stalled as we crested the hill and a huge roundabout led to a parking lot overlooked by a hulking black shape. The silhouettes of numerous turrets reached toward the clouds and I strained my eyes for a better look, wondering why there weren’t more lights on.

Jasher was saying, “…important thing is that you’re here now. Whatever’s happened, it’s a happy happening, and I hope you stay for a good long shift.”

With this sweet but clumsy speech, he bumped against my hip and knocked me off course. I took him by the elbow and corrected his trajectory so we didn’t walk into a mailbox. Okay, so maybe he’d had more than one too many.

“So, you haven’t told Bonnie and Gavin that I’m coming.” I could already feel the heat of embarrassment burning in my cheeks. If Jasher hadn’t warned the castle’s owners I was coming, I was going to feel like a rude imposter.

“No, but don’t worry. They are the most hospitable folks you’ll meet,” Jasher replied with a squeeze around my shoulders. “I couldn’t have found better people to work for.”

I gave him a feeble smile as Blackmouth Castle loomed, blocking out the rest of the night sky.

Two motion lights bracketed the huge set of front doors, illuminating two brass knockers, one a stag’s head and the other a boar’s head. Cold condensation beaded on the glossy black lacquer. I instinctively headed for these massive doors, but Jasher led me to the side of the castle instead.

Gravel crunched under our feet as we passed by dark windows and leafless hedges. As we turned the corner, another motion light illuminated a pathway of broad stone steps leading down another level. I caught a glimpse in the distance of yard lights in the rear of the castle as a dim glow around the corner, but we stopped at a side door before I got to see the source. A whiff of roses drifted by my nose and I guessed a window must be open nearby, allowing some room fragrance to come outside. The scent was fresh and authentic and I took a big inhale, letting some of the day’s tension drain out of my body.

I had Jasher’s letter somewhere in my bag. I’d dig it out and show him just how forgetful beer made him. When his memory was refreshed, he’d tell Bonnie and Gavin of his mistake. A huge yawn stole over me, the jaw-cracking kind Saxony called a ‘cat-yawn.’ Tomorrow. I’d dig the letter out tomorrow.

Jasher opened the side entrance and gestured for me to go in ahead of him. He pulled my bag inside and closed the door behind us. Flicking on the lights illuminated a pristinely kept hallway with clean white walls and a plaid carpet-runner. A narrow spiral staircase disappeared off to the left, and it was up these stairs Jasher heaved my bag. At the next level up, he pushed through a doorway into another hallway lined with doors. It was chilly and painted in shades of gray, but a warm yellow light flickered from a sconce on the wall. There were too many closed doors to count. I admired paintings of horses, dogs, and highland landscapes and seascapes along the way, until Jasher tapped on a doorway as we passed it.

“I’m in here if you need me.” He stopped at the next door over and opened it on darkness. The smell of old wood and artificially fragranced drawer liners drifted out. So this hadn’t been the source of the lovely rose scent, then. “This room’s free, but we can move you into a bigger room tomorrow if you like. I can ask Bonnie…”

I almost jumped down Jasher’s throat for that. “No! I mean, please don’t bother them, this room is great. It’ll do fine.” I grabbed my bag and wheeled it inside as Jasher flicked on the light.

Two single unmade beds in antique frames faced one another from opposite walls. The outer wall was stone while the side walls were papered with peach and mint colored flowers. A long set of double drawers served as bedside tables for the beds, and the only dressers in the room. A paint-chipped wardrobe against the wall opposite stood ajar, and a window with diamond-panes peeked from behind green paisley curtains. The space was both sparse and old-fashioned kitsch.

“There will be bedding in here, I think,” Jasher said in a low voice as he hooked a finger in the wardrobe’s door. He pulled out folded white sheets and set them on the bed while I pulled down a thick duvet.

A narrow door on the far side of the wardrobe caught my eye. “Is that a closet?”

“That’ll be the loo.” Jasher unfolded the sheets and set to making up one of the beds.

“There’s a bathroom?” I dumped the duvet on the other bed and went to take a peek. “Do all these rooms have their own bathrooms?”

“Quite a few. The castle got plumbed and reno’ed in the sixties.”

That explained the decor.

The bathroom was tiny and dated but sparkling clean. Pastel green porcelain and green candy-striped wallpaper greeted my eye. A pale peach shower curtain hid a box shower with a showerhead I’d be sure to hit my head on. I didn’t care. It was utterly quaint. Tiny wrapped soaps on the back of the toilet, clean fluffy towels in a matching shade of peach, and toilet paper dotted with peach colored roses.

Jasher’s head appeared in the doorway. “It looks like Martha Stewart circa nineteen-sixty-five threw up in here.” He shrugged and gave a crooked smile. “They had good intentions.”

“I love it.” I turned off the light. “How many people can say they’ve stayed in a medieval castle in the highlands? Even if the bathroom had peach and green stripes?”

We finished making the bed together and I put my bag on the unmade bed and opened it, digging for my toiletries.

“See you in the morning, Georjie,” Jasher said, holding his arms open for a hug.

I stepped into them and closed my eyes, letting the relief of being finished with a long day of traveling wash over me.

“I’m up early for work,” Jasher said as he released me, “but I’ll let Ainslie, the housekeeper, know to expect you for breakfast around…eight?”

“Thanks. Will the owners be around?” The sooner I met them and cleared up how I ended up in their home without an invitation, the sooner my anxiety would go down.

Jasher pinched my cheek between his knuckles. “Stop worrying. I’ll introduce you. They’ll be happy to have you, especially as you’re a Sutherland. Gavin’s a nut for the whole ancestry thing.”

My brows pinched as I followed him to the door. “What difference does my last name make?”

“You’re in the Sutherland region of Scotland, Georjie.” He chuckled at my look of surprise. “I know. I didn’t realize the Sutherlands were from Scotland either.”

“We’re not,” I replied. “We’re Irish.”

Jasher waved a brown hand and shrugged. “Gavin will be more than happy to debate with you on that. Count me out of it. I need to organize a demo, so I’ll have my hands full.”

“A demo…lition?”

He nodded.

“What’s getting destroyed?”

“I don’t know what it is, to be honest. Some ruin that hasn’t served a purpose for God knows how many centuries. Gavin wants to build a cottage in its place, a kind of honeymooners’ accommodation. You can see it tomorrow if you’d like.”

“I’d love to.” My eyes began to leak and I had another cat-yawn.

Jasher slipped out into the hall and looked back just before I closed the door. “I’m happy you came.”

I gave him a smile and went to rummage in my bag for my toothbrush and pajamas. After I got ready for bed, I slipped between clean sheets with the deep sigh of the bone-weary. My eyes closed and my body relaxed.

After several long seconds, my eyes popped open again.

Distantly, there was the almost imperceptible sound of rhythmic drumming. Or was I imagining it?

I sat up and cocked my head, straining my ears. No, I definitely wasn’t imagining it. Someone was drumming, and if I wasn’t mistaken, there were flutes, too. Who would be making music at this time of night?

I went to the door to listen, peeking into the hall. The hallway was in gloom once more. Distant moonlight threw diffused shadows across the carpet and walls from the small windows at the end.

The drumming sound was no louder in the hallway, but no quieter either. It was impossible to pinpoint where it was coming from. I glanced at Jasher’s closed door, eyeing the crack at the floor. No light came from underneath. He was probably already unconscious in a haze of beer-fog.

I padded down to the far end of the hall, peering through the darkness where the hall turned to the right. Another dark tunnel lined with doors, and still the drumming was no louder.

I stood there in my sleep shorts and t-shirt, bare toes curling into the carpet, head cocked like a spaniel. I debated going farther down the halls in search of the source of the distant music, but I was too tired to go snooping. What if I ran into Gavin or Bonnie or one of the staff?

Shrugging, I relegated the drumming to someone in a distant suite listening to a recording and padded back to my room. It was barely audible, really. Nothing that would keep me awake. I returned to bed and burrowed under the covers like a denning animal.