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“Thousands?” Brodie echoed.
“I only saw a few hundred.” He paused as if sifting through memories. “Their call—the way they speak to each other—is like nothing I’d ever heard before. Eerie, but cool.” He peered up at the elk head. “The first time I heard their bugle was early one morning near our campsite. The sounds echoed through the ravine. Gave me chills.”
“Were you scared?” Brodie shifted out of the protection of Liv’s side, his attention fixed on Zeke.
“At first, but my curiosity got the better of me. I crept through the trees until I reached the bluff’s edge, then searched the valley below.”
Brodie moved closer to Zeke. “Did you see him?”
“Not at first. A light fog filled the area. I was just about to give up and go back to my warm sleeping bag when a breeze pushed through the ravine until the creek came into view.”
Retrieving his phone, he tapped the screen several times, then looked at Brodie. “A bull elk, larger than this one,” he nodded toward the fireplace, “lifted its head after getting a drink of water. He seemed to look right at me as he extended his neck and released another …”
Zeke hit a button on his phone and a high-pitched, keening bugle filled the Great Hall.
Brodie’s eyes rounded once again. “An elk makes that sound?”
“Yep.”
“Who shot that animal?” Brodie asked, pointing at the mounted elk.
Zeke stopped the audio replay. “No one knows. It came with the Friary.”
“His mama believes the trophy adds to the Hall’s ambiance,” a new, amused female voice said.
Liv turned to find two women and a girl with dark brown ringlets standing at the mouth of the foyer. The fifty-something woman on the left stood at least six feet tall and styled her gray-shot blond hair in two-inch spikes around her head. She wore a bright floral jumpsuit, a studded leather bracelet, and pink On tennis shoes.
The much-shorter and fashionably subdued woman next to her wore her shoulder-length brown hair in a low ponytail. Her slender frame was outfitted in a short-sleeved sage-green top, white pants, and sandals. One arm wrapped around the young girl’s shoulders.
Zeke’s face split into a broad smile. “Hello, ladies. And Sadie.”
The girl’s eyes narrowed, and she shoved her hands on her nonexistent hips.
Zeke winked.
The girl grinned and launched herself at the half-naked man. He caught her up in his arms and dug his fingers into her ribs, making her shriek with laughter. “You know you’re my favorite lady.”
“Stop! Stop! Mama, make him stop!”
The shorter woman smiled. “You got yourself into that hot mess, you can get yourself out.”
“You’re all sticky. Yuck!”
Chuckling, Zeke stopped tickling her and lowered her to the floor. “Henri, Clara, and”—he squeezed the girl’s shoulders—“Sadie, I’d like you to meet my new friends Olivia and Brodie.”
Sadie bounced on her toes. “Hi.”
“Hi.” Brodie gave her a tentative smile.
Zeke waved toward the tall blonde. “Henri takes care of anything and everything to do with the house and gardens.”
“Except for Johona’s herb garden. That’s all hers,” Henri said. “If you need anything while you’re here, give me a holler.”
“Thank you,” Liv said.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a crabby toilet in the east wing, then I need to figure out what to feed these giants tonight.”
The other woman shook her head as Henri marched away, then came down to round out their small circle. Bending at the waist, she shook Brodie’s hand. “Hello, Brodie. I’m Clara. Would you like to hang out with Sadie and me tomorrow while your mama is at work?”
