“I dinna know what a sci-fi flick is, but aye, ye have traveled back in time.”
Anna regarded him shrewdly. “And let me guess,” she countered, tapping her lip in thought. “You’re the lord of this ‘castle’ and I’m to be your lady fair.” She swept out her arm for added dramatic effect.
“No,” he said. “I’m not the lord of the castle.” He huffed out a breath in frustration. This was getting them nowhere. It was almost dark and arguing about it in the rain was not helping matters. “Look, let’s just get to the keep. We’ll talk about this when we’re dry.”
“Good idea,” Anna agreed. She swept her arms out in a grand gesture. “Prithee, lead on then, my lord,” she said in a ridiculous approximation of his accent.
He sighed. Taking hold of the reins, he clucked to Plover and they set out towards the lights beckoning in the distance.
ANNA CLUNG TO THE SADDLE, trying her best not to fall off. She must be a comical sight. Here she was, plastered in mud, bits of god-knows-what sticking out of her hair, clinging onto the saddle like a limpet, whilst being led by a man who looked like he belonged in some medieval saga.
Yes, it must be comical all right, but Anna wasn’t laughing.
She might have shrugged off Emeric’s tales of time travel with her usual light-hearted banter, but she wasn’t so much of an idiot that she could kid herself so easily. Her stomach was tight with unease, and despite Emeric’s reassuring presence, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was walking into something she didn’t understand.
This whole thing had felt off since the moment she’d pulled up at that ruined farmhouse. But time travel? No, that was just insane.
She shifted in the saddle, trying to ease her cramping muscles. The horse snorted in protest, and Emeric looked up at her.
“Everything all right, lass?”
“Fine,” she murmured, wriggling around a little. “Except my backside has gone so numb I can’t feel it anymore.”
They journeyed on and the rhythm of the horse’s hoofbeats echoed through the rain, a steady pulse that was strangely soothing. Anna felt her eyelids drooping. She was tired. So tired.
Eventually, the soft thump of the damp ground was replaced by a hard ‘clip clop’ as if they were traveling over a paved road. The air turned crisper, its chill seeping through the fibers of Anna’s damp clothing and numbing her skin. She shivered, shrinking into herself for warmth.
She began to drowse, and only dimly registered that they were passing through an echoing tunnel and coming out into a wide area that echoed with the clip of the horse’s hooves. It wasn’t until they came to a halt that Anna raised her head and blinked, looking around groggily. They were in a square courtyard surrounded on all sides by high walls. Some of those walls had windows in them and she could see light burning inside.
“We’re here?” she murmured.
“Aye, lass,” Emeric said. “Welcome to Dun Achmore.”
In the darkness, she couldn’t make out much of the place beyond the high walls and the silhouettes of towers reaching into the sky. She couldn’t see the car park or any signs saying which way reception lay, but she was sure Emeric would know his way around.
A warm bed and sleep beckoned her. Now all she had to do was get off this damned horse. She leaned forward and managed to swing her leg over the horse’s back and groaned as she slid ungracefully to the ground. Her entire body ached with stiffness and was not helped by the numbing chill that bit through her clothing.
“This way, lass.”
Emeric flipped the reins over a post by the wall, then took Anna’s elbow and steered her across the courtyard to a set of doors. They were high and wide, made of solid oak,and looked to have seen better days. They also stood forbiddingly closed.
Wordlessly, Emeric pulled out a thong from around his neck that carried an iron key, old and heavy. There was something comfortingly solid about it as he applied it to the old door lock. With a turn and a push that challenged his strength, the doors creaked open with a groan that echoed around the courtyard.
Anna found herself being led into a shadowy hallway. A single candle burning in a sconce gave the only light.
A candle?she thought dimly.Have they had a power cut?
Before she could think about this further, something caught her eye, a flame bobbing towards them out of the gloom. As it drew closer, the flame resolved itself into another candle—this time in a holder clasped in the hand of a middle-aged woman who emerged out of the shadows.
She wore a long dress of deep burgundy, her graying hair pinned up in a knot, and her green eyes held an eerie similarity to Emeric’s. Her eyes flicked over Emeric, then Anna, then back to Emeric.
“Ye are late,” she stated flatly, her voice ringing with authority and warmth in equal measure.
Emeric broke into a boyish grin. He strode over to the woman and enveloped her in a warm hug. “Mother,” he greeted. “Ye didnae have to wait up for me.”
“Of course I did!” she replied, pushing him to arm’s length and looking him over critically. “My only son coming home after Heaven-knows-how long and I’m supposed to just go to bed when he’s late getting here? Dinna ye know how much I worry about ye?”
“Mother,” Emeric said, raising his eyebrow. “I’m not ten years old anymore.”
