Page 7 of Return to Wildsyde

I had the strangest dream last night. I was in a huge, crumbling castle and the land outside wreathed in mist. It was dark, so dark that the candle I held barely illuminated a foot in front of me, as though the night ate up all the light. I was running, running away from something that pursued me and I was afraid. My bare feet were cold, the stone beneath them freezing, but I kept on running for fear it would catch me. I could feel it getting closer, but still I kept on running.

No doubt it is the result of eating cheese before bedtime, but we have no more money left. We will reach Wildsyde tomorrow and for the next three years be at the mercy of Lord Buchanan. The moment I can get my hands on that inheritance, we will be gone from his clutches, no matter if Jack is still his ward. We will escape and make our own way. Good heavens, but it sounds like some romantic gothic tale. All we need is a mad monk and an ancient prophecy or buried treasure, and we should have everything required.

I can only imagine that he is as dismayed by our arrival in his life as we are, so perhaps I could persuade him to give up the inheritance early so we might go our separate ways. For we certainly would tell no one.

It is worth a try.

―Excerpt of a diary entry by Miss Luella Fulbright.

13th May 1845, Wildsyde Castle, The Highlands of Scotland.

“Luella!”

Luella jolted from another peculiar dream as her brother shook her roughly.

“What! What’s wrong?” she demanded, blinking and forcing herself awake in alarm.

“Look,” he said, his hand still grasping her arm.

Luella followed his gaze out of the grimy carriage window, blinking against the glare of spring sunshine, and could say nothing at all.

There stood Wildsyde. It was as harsh and rugged and wild as the mist-wreathed castle in her peculiar dreams, and utterly breathtaking. An uncompromising landscape stretched out for miles in all directions, with no other signs of civilization. On the horizon, low hills rose like the backs of some giant, ancient creatures burrowed into the ground. It was every bit as remote and windswept as Mr Burke had warned her, but he had not told her how beautiful it was. Luella gazed in awe, feeling as though this journey had taken her to another planet, or back in time, for it could not be the same world she had inhabited for all her life.

Swathes of yellow swept the landscape and overhead birds cried and shrieked, buffeted by the wind that rocked the carriage and bent the wildflowers and grasses low around them.

“How enchanting,” Luella said, her voice faint. She tore her gaze from the scenery to look at Jack, who was white-faced and anxious.

“We’re to live in that castle… with not another soul around?” he asked, his voice none too steady. “There are no shops, no neighbours, no people.”

“Of course there will be people. Do you think an enormous place like that runs itself?” she said bracingly. “And I told you it would be different, but different is good. It will be a grand adventure, you’ll see.”

Jack gave her a sceptical look. “I’m not a baby, Lulu. I know you’re as scared as I am. Lilith made this fellow look a right fool, and he’s not going to be giving us a warm welcome.”

“I never made a secret of that,” Luella protested. “And I know you’re not a baby, as if I ever treat you as one! But we have no choice, Jack.”

“For now, perhaps, but we need to get out of here, back to London. We can look after ourselves, you and I. Pa taught us how, and—”

“And we are not living the life Pa did,” Luella said firmly. “So you can just put that out of your head right now. There will be no tricks, no stealing and conniving. We are going to be honest, decent people and not spend the rest of our days looking over our shoulders. Is that clear?”

Jack’s chin jutted as he returned a mutinous scowl, but he gave a taut nod.

Luella sighed, knowing how hard this was for him. Their Pa might not have been much of a parent but, after Ma had gone, he’d done his best in his own haphazard way. It was hard on Jack to have lost both parents so young.

“Just look, though, Jack. Look at how beautiful it is. Have you ever seen anything so lovely in all your days?”

“I suppose not,” Jack said grudgingly. “But it’s not like I can go out on the street and play with the lads, is it?”

“Well, considering the lads you were hanging around with, I should say that was a good thing,” Luella retorted. “I mean what I say. No tricks, no lies, and certainly no pickpocketing.”

“I never did!” he exclaimed, getting red in the face.

“No, but the others did, and they were teaching you, I know.”

Jack’s chin jutted once more, but he did not deny it. At least that danger was behind them, Luella thought with a sigh. If this turn of events could see Jack learn an honest trade, then she would consider it worth any trial, for he was tempted to follow in his father’s footsteps, and she needed to do all in her power to keep him on the straight and narrow.

Luella returned her attention to the castle before her and prayed, for she could only speculate on the new dangers that littered their paths now.

“Lyall, don’t be too hard on them,” his mother pleaded.