The Mists of Tioram

[BLACK BART]

~ A scottish tale where current reality and the past myths mix...

Thank you Mckenna for joining me in this~
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



True Thomas lay on Huntlie bank,
A ferlie he spied wi' his ee,
And there he saw a lady bright,
Come riding down by the Eildon Tree.**


The tenor voice carried the ballad over the calm waters of Loch Moidart, cutting through the thick,red evening mist that shrouded the walls of the castle ruins and protected it’s secrets as did the high tide waters that came to surround it.

Her shirt was o' the grass-green silk,
Her mantle o' the velvet fine,
At ilka tett her horse's mane
Hang fifty siller bells and nine.**


Benjamin Joseph MacDonald rose and staggered away from those very walls lest the demons inside reach out to possess him as legend told they had done to so very many others. At 34 Benjamin had spent his entire life around that legend and had become a believer of the fables the ballads of Scottish past sang about.


True Thomas, he pulld aff his cap,
And louted low down to his knee:
'All hail, thou mighty Queen of Heaven!
For thy peer on earth I never did see.'**

It was for this reason his own townfolk had labeled him a crazy and a drunkard rather than face what his beliefs might very well lead to…and treated him with a contempt that sometimes bordered on shunning him.

It suited the tall and shaggy Benjamin just fine. For as a trapper and hunter in these modern times eeking out an existence was difficult enough…and dealing with the complex issues of society was in his mind indeed…insane and time wasting.

With the mists came a light rain and Benjamin staggered his way to the shelter erected for that purpose where blanket and bottle would keep him warm until the dreams passed and daylight came.

** From the 13th century ballad Thomas Rhymer Child, written by Thomas of Erceldoune, a 13th Century Scottish soothsayer.

 

[McKenna]

Anna McLeod maneuvered her rented vehicle down the narrow lane, wondering for the third or fourth time if she had managed to get herself lost.

It was dusk, the hour of the gloaming, and she imagined it would have been beautiful if the sun were not hidden behind a bank of clouds. Anna watched carefully for wild game in this less-traveled portion of Scotland as she glanced yet again at her map.

She had spent the afternoon photographing Ardnamurchan Lighthouse; a lighthouse set in a most-picturesque portion of Scotland. In fact, it was located on the westernmost point of the British Isles. She had finished early, so decided to find Tioram, a castle ruin she had heard about from her inn-keeper.

Anna was a photographer; she was lucky enough to work primarily freelance, though she took the occasional wedding and graduation photos to supplement her income. This trip to Scotland had been a dream, one she had planned for years. She had taken the necessary time off to really enjoy Scotland, and most especially the western Highlands.

The inn-keeper had warned her, however, to visit Tioram early in the day so as not to be caught on the island when the tide rolled in. Anna thought if she got to Tioram early enough, she'd at least be able to scout out the best angles for photographs in the morning, if not snap a few of the castle in the gloaming. The weather, however, was not cooperating.

A small wooden sign which perched on the side of the road at a precarious angle and etched with the single word "Tioram" indicated to Anna that she was indeed on the right road. A few minutes later as she followed a curve in the road, the castle came into sight.

Anna smiled at the sight. She had entered a small valley dominated by Loch Moidart, and there near the mouth of the loch where it eventually emptied into the sea was Tioram. It floated on an islet just large enough to house the castle and perhaps space enough for a bit of livestock. It captured her imagination immediately, not to mention her romantic sense of history.

Anna parked the car and walked around to the trunk to grab her camera. She noticed that the tide was indeed coming in, but hand't yet overtaken the broad, sandy strip of land leading out to the island. She decided she could make it to the island, snap off a few shots, and make it back before the tide stranded her there for the night.

As she thought about the possibility of being stranded, she was reminded of the inn-keepers words of warning: "Go early in the day, lass. You dinna want to be stranded on that island at night." He had looked uncomfortable when he spoke this warning, but when she pressed him for more information, he would speak no more of it.

Anna grabbed her raincoat and slipped it on over the thick, wooly sweater she had purchased in one of the small tourist shops dotting the villages in this section of Scotland. With her sturdy hiking boots on, she set off across the sand for Tioram.

She stopped a couple of times to get a few shots in the fading light of the castle. In no time, she was on the island and with one eye on the incoming tide and one on the castle, began to shoot as many pictures as she could given the light conditions. She was examing a particularly beautiful angle when she noticed a blueish-gray myst moving rapidly across the loch. It curled and billowed across the water much like a hand furling and unfurling in the coming darkness. Anna shivered, and it wasn't from the cold. She decided it was time to vacate the island when out of the corner of her eye she saw a figure standing on the rampart of the castle. She turned towards it quickly and saw the outlined figure of a man -or ghost? As she watched, the myst that she had seen moving across the loch quickly enveloped the island and the castle, cloaking the figure until she could no longer see it. Anna panicked. She had to get off the island, and now!

The rain started to pour as she made her way down the slippery slope. She tried looking back once or twice, but could see nothing. She wasn't even sure if she were heading in the right direction any more. She would know once she saw the strip of sand. One misplaced step had Anna tumbling to the ground, completely soaking her as she landed on the mossy ground. She didn't let it stop her, but kept going until she reached the shore of the island -but she saw no sand!

Anna started forward, but stopped herself before she plunged into the loch. What if she were in the wrong spot? What if beneath her were several feet of water instead of the sandbar leading back to her vehicle? She took off half walking, half jogging along the bank, searching for the sandbar to no avail. Whatever that was behind her on the castle wall had effectively spooked her until she was so desperate, she considered swimming to shore. But which way was the shore?

And then she heard it, heavy footfalls behind her sloshing over the moss-covered ground. Oh God! thought Anna, as she turned to face the apparition she knew was coming. And sure enough, the figure of the man, tall, broad and utterly imposing emerged from the myst and walked -floated?- directly towards Anna.

http://www.hooglanderonline.com/TioramI.jpg

http://www.hooglanderonline.com/TioramII.jpg

http://www.hooglanderonline.com/TioramIII.jpg

 

[BLACK BART]

Benjamin stood at the ruined gates of the once proud castle and trembled.

Not that he was cold...he was used to the chilled, wet nights and was dressed for it.

Not that he was scared... for what he glared at below him on the shore line didn't frighten him.

But what he felt inside did disturb him, as it did when it brought him out of the alchohol induced sleep...

"You picked the wrong Isle to be stranded on Miss"

He bellowed down the slope as he approached the tiny figure.

"There is no shelter fit for a lady...and this is not a place that welcomes strangers easily."

He could feel the disturbance more clearly now...as the effects of the drink wore off and with each step closer it grew...

And he became certain the disturbance was centered around this very woman...

"If ya know what's best for ya...leave the island NOW"

Ten foot away he stood, fists resting on his hips...and glared at the...intruder.

 

[McKenna]

Was the man before her an apparition, or was he real?! Anna stared hard at the form before her while her heart thundered in her chest. She took a hesitant step backwards, and nearly fell into the loch. She hadn't seen anyone loitering about the castle when she first arrived, but that didn't mean he wasn't already there.

Anna fought down the panic she felt as she grappled for footing along the rocky shore. "I ... I can't leave the island," her voice trembled, just a little, as she fought the fear that threatened to envelop her. "The tide has come in," she said, and pointed to the water behind her. At any moment she expected the apparition to disappear, so she kept her eyes trained on him while she waited for him to speak.

 

[BLACK BART]

Benjamin sighed. Releasing his breath and blowing a huge stream of heated air into the cooler mist, watching it turn into a vapor trail of it's own.

"Aye Lass. You can't go back and ya cannot be here. This is not the place for such a comely lass as yourself. There are ghosts that come to this place in the mist and they don't take kindly ta strangers."

The words were supposed to ease her fears. Instead it seemed they made them worse and with growing apprehension she tried to back away...

Into the loch?

"Have ya gone daft?"

Benjamin cried out and lunged forward, grabbing the womans slim waist and pulling her forward to him, stopping the backwards fall she had placed herself in.

It wasn't ALL that unpleasant. She felt NICE as her body pressed against his. Round and soft in all the right places. And she smelled good. Of Lilac's and fresh soap...and some other musky scent that made Benjamins nostrils flare.

He backed up several long steps and then looked down to his unwanted yet shapely guest...asking her name.

"What's yer name Lass?"

 

[McKenna]

Anna didn't know whether to be relieved or not that the man was no ghost; she had solid proof of the fact beneath her hands, hands that were trapped against his chest as he held her close. She hadn't meant to get trapped on the island overnight, but very probably he did. What did that mean? Was he some kind of curator? Security guard?

She was still a bit shocked at his presence and the entire thought of being trapped on the island over night. She had no answers for her own questions, but she did for his: "Anna. I'm Anna McLeod," she said, her soft American accent sounding very plain next to his Scottish one.

 

[BLACK BART]

"Anna.....Mcleod...."

Benjamin looked down into the brown eyes as he repeated her name and thought over the significance of her name.

"Aye...ya could be a Mcleod, ya got the eyes..."

Without thinking he pushed the hood of the raincoat off her head and nodded...

"And the hair"

Blond hair that threatened to turn brown when not exposed to the sun...

She was still in the curve of his arm and with a startled curse he released her, then sighed.

"Ya can't stay in the castle...it's but ruins, ya know..."

And if she tried as the mist fully settled over the tiny isle?

He didn't want to think of it...

"Lass...you're soaked to the skin and your chilled...I've but a hole cut in the side of the hill for shelter back a ways...But there's a good draft for a fire and I've got a jug o whiskey?"

A plan began to form in his mind. His uninvited guest needed shelter...and he needed to make sure she slept through what was sure to happen this eve...

"Ya kin dry out and rest outa da rain...it's not your Hilton but it's all this wee isle kin offer?"

Anna was soaked...Her teeth were chattering on each other and her shoulders were shaking as she nodded acceptance.

He led her over the rocky shore and to the knoll behind the castle, then into the brush that covered his shelter...

It began it's life as a pit for drying and smoking fish caught in the lake...and Benjamin had expanded on it until with bracing the tiny room now measured fourteen foot square...a flap of canvas acting as the door as he brushed it aside and stepped in to light the oil lantern...

"Sit on the bed lass." He offered and trimmed the wick, then set the glass in place..."It's a might more comfy them the stool"

So said he took his own seat on the "stool", a large section of an ancient tree that had drifted to shore eons ago and he had adopted...

"Wrap yer lips around this...and I'll not take no for an answer....without it ya'll catch the death o cold...and I'll not forgive myself for it..."

Off the tiny table he lifted a heavy brown jug and a cup, pouring a large sampling into the glass before handing to her...

"I'll tend to the fire and take the chill from the room...and then give you the chance to shed those soaking clothes..."

 

[McKenna]

Anna was mesmerized by a pair of the bluest eyes she had ever seen. They were deep blue, and so beautiful they were almost painful to look at; but Anna found she couldn't look away. His actions puzzled her, however, when he spoke to her as if he knew her, or at least knew of her. When he reached out to push her hood back, she gasped, startled, but did not push him away. In fact, when he suddenly released her she felt strangely bereft.

The rain started then, soaking them both and chilling Anna with surprising speed and intensity. Her teeth started to chatter as she shivered in his embrace.

"Lass...you're soaked to the skin and your chilled...I've but a hole cut in the side of the hill for shelter back a ways...But there's a good draft for a fire and I've got a jug o whiskey?"

Anna could do no more than nod. She wrapped her arms around herself and followed the tall man's form back towards the castle. She wasn't sure if it was the rain that made his hair so dark, or if it were naturally so; either way, the darkness played a perfect foil for the blueness of his eyes. He was, quite frankly, striking.

"Sit on the bed lass. It's a might more comfy than the stool."

Perhaps it was the mesmerizing quality of the man -or his simple solicitousness- but Anna did as he bade without the slightest feeling of unease. When he handed her the cup, she drank deeply -then quickly choked and gasped for air. She thought perhaps the man was offering her water; she should have known a Scotsman would offer uisge beatha - the “water of life,” better known as whiskey. As she gasped for breath she felt certain she saw a slight twinge of a smile grace the lips of the handsome stranger, but she couldn’t be certain.

“Drink up now,” he said, his brogue rolling over her like the mist rolling familiarly over the loch. As he turned to tend the fire, Anna took another swallow -this one much more moderate than her initial gulp.

Her fear had subsided as the cold settled in. She couldn’t explain the feeling –and neither did she want to examine it too closely- but when the stranger had held her to him so intimately, she immediately felt ….safe. Protected. Comforted. There was no other way to describe it, though for all intents and purposes, it was inexplicable to her reasonable mind.

With the fire going strong now, the stranger turned once again to Anna. Finally finding her tongue, Anna posed her question: “You know my name,” she said softly, “Now how about you tell me yours?” The whiskey was already having an effect. Anna could feel it burning in her chest even as she spoke. She gazed once again into his incredible blue eyes and awaited his answer with more than a little interest.

 

[BLACK BART]

Bravery...It ran deep in the McLeod clan...The man and women made legends of themselves with it, though there were other legends of thier exploits in existence as well...Where minutes ago there was fear curiousity now reigned, and in Anna's eyes he saw a deep and unsatisfied need for knowledge.

"My name like all the men before me is Benjamin Joseph MacDonald"

He replied matching her look and holding it with his own darker one.

"I wish I could say it was a pleasure to meet you...But that will remain to be seen"

He had lost his brogue for the moment, and if she noticed later he might admit of the time spent in the United States...until his visions came and he was called back to this very place.

IF she remembered...and PERHAPS.

"Now why not tell why a comely lass like yourself finds her way to this distant Isle....and insists on visiting it right before the tide comes in?"

 

[McKenna]

"I wish I could say it was a pleasure to meet you...But that will remain to be seen."

Anna thought his reply was very odd, but she didn't question it. Instead, she concentrated on answering his query.

"What brings me here? Well, I'm a photographer by trade. I had heard of this castle from the inn-keeper where I'm staying," she stopped to sip the liquid fire from her cup. "He did, uh, warn me about the tide... " She tried not to look sheepish, but knew she failed. "I thought I could come out here and be back ashore before the tide came in."

She cleared her throat. "Guess I was wrong."

She flashed him a grin before continuing, "You gave me quite a scare, though. I thought for certain you were a ghost!" She tried to laugh it off, but the feeling she had of intense fear still echoed in her chest. She noticed, also, that her host didn't share in her laughter. His deep gaze disconcerted her so much she fell into silence, sipping her whiskey more quickly than before while contemplating the long night ahead.

 

[BLACK BART]

"You gave me quite a scare, though. I thought for certain you were a ghost!"

Was it coincidence or was her last statement deliberately casual?

Benjamin decided he needed to know and with his usual bluntness...

"Are you the kind that believes in ghosts or the afterlife lass? I thought all Americans were much more modern than that."

Somehow the conversation was going exactly where he didn't want it...and yet?

"Drink up lass and relax. It’s going to be a long, cold night and you need to rest so you leave at low tide."

Somehow Benjamin knew he'd miss the woman...

"I'm going to leave for a few minutes and let you disrobe in private. There's a fresh shirt there you can wear as a night robe...it'll fit you I'm sure."

What had he done?

He questioned himself as he moved outdoors and let the canvas drop in place.

The mist was thick...The sunset giving it an eerie red tint and as the last rays flickered off the water it illuminated the castle walls...

Already the changes were beginning he knew. Where the ruins once crumbled now stood the proud and almost haughty structure as it had eons ago...No longer the remnants of the fire that had destroyed it...but the castle that had been built by the first of the MacDonald clan...

It called to him. Tried to draw him to it.

And for the first time in years he resisted it.


He could hear the music, the violin flowing across the water and echoing back to him...smell the meat roasting on the open spit...and could almost taste the homemade brew served in the wooden mugs.



"Not tonight lads...I have a guest..."

He gauged the time...His guest should have had enough time...and he moved back inside the earthen shelter before her own curiosity brought her out to witness what happened when you not only believed in ghosts...

But danced with them.

 

[McKenna]

The man asked questions, but barely gave her time to answer. It was as if he fought his curiosity about her; he asked, but before answer could be given, he backed off.

Anna was a little uncomfortable with the thought of being undressed in front of this stranger, whether or not he be a good Samaritan. She was naturally withdrawn, not much of a people-person -which made her an excellent nature photographer. Still, the wet and the cold crept up on her with a swiftness she hadn't anticipated. She did not relish the thought of being wet and miserable all night, so decided to do as the man she now knew as Benjamin suggested.

It was difficult to peel off her wet jeans, but she had them off in no time. When she was stripped down to nothing but a pair of modest white cotton panties and bra, she slipped the shirt over her head. It was large and very roomy, hitting her about mid-thigh. She spread her clothes out as close to the fire as she could manage, then quickly undid her braid. If she didn't dry out her hair now, it would most-likely still be wet in the morning.

She stood illuminated before the fire methodically finger-combing out her hair so it could dry when she heard a faint, mournful whine in the distance. Its soulful cry was enough to send the hairs on the nape of her neck standing on end. She held her breath and attempted to quiet her galloping heart enough so she could hear the sound better and discern its origin. Could it be a violin? she wondered, then quickly shook her head. Impossible. Who would be playing the violin when it's raining -not to mention way out in the back of beyond?! As soon as the thought came, the sound stopped, pulling on Anna's heartstrings as it did.

Still a little fearful, Anna jumped as the canvas was flung back and the stranger again entered her life. Her eyes met his across the dim expanse; she could not read his expression, could not tell if he, too, had heard the sound or thought anything amiss. She licked her suddenly dry lips and waited for him to speak as she stood before him in his shirt, bare legs visible beneath the hem.

 

[BLACK BART]

She looked trapped.

Benjamin knew that look in the eyes of the animals he hunted.

Scared...frightened and unsure...trapped.

"Relax Miss McLeod...I'm nah gunna eat ya."

It brought a tiny laugh from the woman as she padded bare foot for his bed and the covering safety of it.

And Benjamin averted his eyes as the shirt lifted as she bent, trying NOT to stare at the shapely legs and backside as she slid under those covers.

"The wind is blowing the rain and howling through the old walls, ya better have another cup before you turn in.or yewl be tellin’ me bout the dreams you had the comin’ morn."

Or worse...Asking questions about the sounds and occurrences outside...

Still he saw that look...In a way it angered him. For a lass to fear him and what he might do to her...

But in another way he understood...it was as much acceptance as it was fear of rejection...

"You're a comely lass Anna...But I will naught be found takin’ advantage of ya for fear my father would turn over in his grave..."

It seemed to settle her...She propped herself up in the bed with the covers pulled to her waist and accepted the cup he had filled...

"Tell me lass if you know where your grandparents come from?"

 

[McKenna]

"Scotland, actually," Anna said before sipping from the cup. After another healthy swallow of the potent liquid, she continued. "I barely remember my grandfather, he passed away when I was still young, but he and my grandmother both spoke with thick Scottish brogues." She smiled at Benjamin across the rim of the cup. She knew the alcohol was going to her head, but that didn't seem to stop her from drinking. Normally Anna would show more caution around strangers -she could only attribute her relaxation to the whiskey. She was unused to drinking strong alcohol of any kind, so this little bit was certainly causing a strong and quick reaction within.

"Those were my grandparents on my father's side, of course. My mother's family were farmers in eastern Montana." Her thoughts were fuzzy and she felt a warm glow from within that had more to do with the whiskey than the fire. Silence crept up between them as the fire crackled and hissed companionably.

"Tell me Benjamin Joseph MacDonald," she began again, her words slightly slurred from drink and her tone playful, "Why would a Scotsman familiar with his country allow himself to be caught out here on this island at high tide? Surely you must have known better," she scolded lightly, lifting an eyebrow in question.

 

[BLACK BART]

Benjamin mentally cursed himself as he poured his guest another glass of whiskey and watched her drink.

"Why indeed lass?"

He replied and gauged how long it would be before his guest passed out.

"You might sat this is my home...as it was my fathers and his fathers before him...And with the mists comes a duty you might say...to dance in those mists and honor those that have passed before me."

He rambled on about the age old "Scots" and to what extents they'd carry tradition and honor...

And watched her eyes droop further and further with each word...

Two minutes later he caught the cup as her hand dropped and pulled the heavy cover over her as she rolled.

"Aye lass...If I'm lucky in the morning you'll have a throbbing headache and never come back..."

Carrying the cup he stepped outside and leaned against the beam that supported the structure, closing his eyes and humming to the tune that wafted down from the castle...then lifted the cup.

"To the MacDonald Clan...long may we carry our memories...and long may we stay free of the Mcleod's that nearly destroyed us..."

With the toast given he returned to the warmth inside and the very woman he believed represented the clan that was responsible for the state the castle and his family was in...

Propping himself in the corner and on the stool he drew his heavy coat about him and settled back for the evening....

"Aye Lass, rest well so you can leave in the morn..."

 

[McKenna]

Anna rested fitfully. The alcohol and the warmth from the fire combined to make her sweat uncomfortably beneath the woolen blanket. She twisted and turned, kicking at the blanket when it became entwined in her legs until it lay in a heap at her bare feet.

Her dreams were strange, unlike any other she had ever dreamed before. She stood on a hilltop, the wind lifting the ends of her blonde hair as she stared in the distance at a perfectly restored castle Tioram.

In the next dream, she saw Benjamin dressed in full Highland regalia carrying a weapon while looking fierce and frightening. She called out in her sleep at the angry ook in his eyes. He turned to her in the dream and held out a hand, his features immediately softening. The dream left Anna confused...

And throughout them all, the mysterious strains of violin could be heard, as well as voices she didn't recognize speaking a mixture of English and what she guessed to be Gaelic. It got to be too much for her mind to handle; she awoke with a start, Benjamin's name familiarly tripping from her lips.

 

[BLACK BART]

Benjamin relaxed and enjoyed the warmth of the fire…his mind wandering as his eyelids became heavy and drooped…

He woke with a smile to a familiar place and time…



A time where the grass grew greener...Where the air was pure...the only thing that contaminated it being the smoke of the campfires that brought them the food their ladies cooked...

He was strong...he was free...with the air blowing through his shoulder length hair and making him laugh as he stood on the crosswalk of his families castle...

The Castle...

For hundreds of years it stood mute and proud. Giving shelter in the worst of summer storm and the coldest of winter night...

And letting Benjamin see over the fields that his family controlled as he did this spring...

For everything was growing again...the trees filled with sweet blossom...the fields with fresh grass...and Bens' heart with love...

He had met a Lady...she had confessed her love but a fortnight ago...and as he tasted her sweet lips he knew it was so...

And would be worth the ire his family would reap upon him...

For he was a MacDonald.... of the CLAN McDonald...and with his family and this castle they were strong...

And when his father passed on to the higher land...Benjamin would rule...and need a wife to rule with him at his side...

So it had been for his father...and his father's father before...

And as he looked out over the fields and spied a flash of white dress his heart leaped...and quickly after so did Benjamin...off the lower rampart and to the ground...towards the woman he would marry...



"Bennnnn!"

With a start Benjamin rose from his stool...

Two strides and he held Anna in his arms and brushed her hair back before clasping her to his breast...and felt her own crush against...

"Aye Anna you're safe now" He murmurred as he had a hundred times before..."With me you're always safe"

But that was THEN...and this was now...the present...and as Anna opened her eyes Benjamin realized with a lurch in his heart she didn't know him as HER Ben...

And as Anna pushed away from him and swung her bare legs out of his bed and demanded to know "WHAT in Hades" he was doing..

He knew it was only...

a dream.

 

[McKenna]

In her drunken-sleepy haze, Anna had no idea why she called out for Ben so instinctively, or why she clung to him while her fear subsided. It was an odd feeling that crept over her, a mixture of affection, attraction and trust -as if she had known this man for years instead of hours. The feeling disconerted her so much she began to push away from Ben in an attempt to break the strange spell that had fallen over her.

"What in Hades are you doing?!" The words tripped from her mouth before she could stop them. And though they were directed at Ben, she could just as easily asked them of herself. Just what in Hades was she doing?!

But it had felt so good ...the warm protection of his arms around her, the feeling of security and that of being loved which enveloped her with such strength it left her breathless. She realized her accusing tone was unnecessary and felt immediately chagrined.

"I'm sorry Ben," she began and pulled a hand through her tumbled hair in agitation. "It must have been a bad dream..." Without Ben's arms around her, she felt bereft and cold. She shivered slightly, as a cool, damp breeze scurried up the hem of the shirt she was wearing.

"It's just that it seemed so real," she continued, still trying to make sense of the dream. Anna turned her head towards the opening and lifted a puzzled brow. There was real fear in her eyes as she heard again the voices she had heard in her dream. I'm going crazy, she thought, and swallowed hard. The voices were faint, like echoes across the water, but still distinct to Anna. She shivered again, only this time it had nothing to do with the cold but rather with the strange feelings swirling around her.

She took an instinctive step nearer to Ben, seeking the solace and security she had found in his arms only moments before. "B...Ben?" she stuttered, fighting back the fear again. "Is this place... haunted?"

 

[BLACK BART]

Benjamin had been called a good many things in his life.

A drunkard...a scoundrel...a vile tempered demon even...and a dreamer...

But none who ever met him had ever called him dishonest...

"Touched in the head" perhaps for if the subject of the Isle was brought up he could and had lectured for a solid half hour on the history and meaning of each and every stone.

No.To a fault he was an honest man.

His will wouldn't let him even consider lying to the woman...

His understanding of her being able to "see" the "ghosts" shook him to his very core...

He couldn't lie...But he knew as well this was no place for a lady...even one that was over a thousand years in arriving...

"Aye Lass, there are ghosts...It's taken me a lifetime to understand them...but I do, and I can promise you they mean you no harm..."

The words were meant to relieve her of her fears... but instead it only made them grow...as did the size of her eyes as she took in his words and refused to accept them...

Ben looked down and was surprised to see Anna's hands in his, for the life of him he couldn't remember her putting them there or his hands closing around them...

"Anna the tide is down...you can walk from this isle and take your pictures with you...it will be a good story to tell your friends over a glass of burgundy.... and you'll never have to feel the chill this isle brings you...again."

So there it hung...Her way out...everything he had spoken was the bare and honest truth...leave the island, the castle and Benjamin behind…and never have to look back in fear.

“I’ll walk you to your car lass, and see you off…”

 

[McKenna]

“I’ll walk you to your car lass, and see you off…”

"Ben, wait," Anna said softly. Her hands were still entwined with his. "I don't understand." She glanced away from his penetrating gaze, unsure if she should follow through with her next question.

"Ben, I heard things, voices..." she looked back at him, brown eyes meeting startling blue. "Are you telling me ...your hear them too?" Her voice was incredulous; her heart beat fast in her breast. The thought of leaving the isle without answers never entered her mind.

Never before had she believed in magic or spirits or paranormal activities, never before had she experienced it. So why now? Here? In a foreign country while she was stranded on a mysterious isle with an even more mysterious man?

She could see the tenseness around his mouth, his hesitancy to speak about what was going on. She wondered if she could cajole an answer out of him, then wondered if she could believe anything he wished to share with her. "Please Ben," she said softly, "Nothing like this has happened to me before. Please tell me what's going on."

And as she looked into his eyes, that strange sense of familiarity washed over her again. "Ben ...do I.... have we met ...before?"

 

[BLACK BART]

"Ben ...do I.... have we met ...before?"

Ben was ready for almost anything. A good stout fight perhaps, a fiery woman slapping him and storming away, even insults tossed as he dragged her off the isle...

But not for the look in her eyes as she asked him that.

Not the feeling those eyes were slowly reaching inside him to seek the truth.

He sighed. Then squeezed her hands gently and smiled.

How could he tell Anna what she was getting herself into?

"Walk with me lass to the castle and listen to a story I have to share with you..."

Hand in hand they left the tiny shelter and moved towards the more imposing though decayed one of the castle...

"You've heard of the castle fore sure that's what's brought you here...You know it was near destroyed in a fire and perhaps even of the rumor it was set by one of the clans own kin. But what you don't know is what happened before that fire that prompted all those events...or the promise that was made by my own kin to never let the castle and all that it protected to die."

It wasn't a large isle. As Ben gently spoke they covered the distance and now stood in the remnants of what might have once been a grand structure...

"I am the last of my kin lass...for years I put off that promise made so long ago for fear of it's responsibility...and it's burden. I went to your America to study...came home an educated man...and the first time I revisited this place knew I was a fool. For there is no explaining the "what is" of this Isle...to try to do so brands you as one of the crazy people...you can either accept it...or walk away from it and not look back."

As Ben had tried to do and failed...and in his failure he had found something to believe in...

"Aye...I was in the dream you had last night...I was the man that called out your name and leaped off the rampart to come to you...I saw your white linen dress...the smile you held on your face for me...and as you ran through the fresh growing field..."

It startled Anna. Her hand pulling away from his own and moving to cover her mouth. She remembered the dream clearly now...and knew he did as well. He could see it in her eyes…

"Then we have met?"

Anna persisted gently looking for the truth...

"Aye lass...hundreds of years ago...when the castle stood tall and strong"

And once again Ben answered with the truth...or at least another part of it...

For this was the Anna of the 21st century.... not the one of the 18th... and certainly not the one that used to be HIS Anna...

"NOW you can call me crazy and run away screaming..."

Ben spoke the words sincerely...believing that was exactly what Anna would do in the next few seconds...

 

[McKenna]

Anna didn’t know what to think; she felt confused and disoriented.

Did this man really believe what he was telling her? Did she?!

Of course, reason tells her that what Ben said could not possibly be true, but her heart... her heart told her something different. Not necessarily that she should believe him, perhaps, but that something of what he spoke seemed right.

"Ben, I don't know what to think," Anna said honestly. "I've never believed in the paranormal or anything remotely mystic -and yet, I feel... “Anna sighed in frustration. "I don't know what I feel."

She turned her back on Ben then to study the castle. When the inn-keeper had mentioned the castle, Anna thought nothing of it other than it was an interesting-sounding name like a lot of the Scots-Gaelic names in the area were. Her heart didn’t stir, her emotions didn’t become uncontrollable …in fact, even her first glimpse of the castle did none of those things. On reflection, Anna realized it was Ben who brought out the emotion and fluttering of her heart, it was Ben who brought out her desire to believe in fairytales, it was Ben who embodied the magic of this island and the magic her heritage promised.

She turned to look at him then and was startled to see in the split-second before she blinked her eyes a version of Ben that was exactly like that of her dream: Ben dressed in full Highland regalia, his blue eyes full of energy and emotion. Anna blinked, and the image was gone; in its place stood Ben of the 21st century. Anna frowned when she noticed the spark of energy and emotion she’d seen in his earlier self had disappeared from his eyes. She was struck immediately with the urge soothe his brow and try to cajole the look back into their blue depths. The urge unnerved her –as had everything else that had happened that night.

Suddenly a thought popped into Anna’s mind. “Ben?” she asked, making no move to close the distance between them. “If what you say is true and we did know each other in another place and time … what was our relationship to one another?” Anna anxiously awaited his answer, wondering if her suspicions would be confirmed.

 

[BLACK BART]

Anna confessed her disbelief and then spun to face the castle ruins.

The move was overtly familiar to Ben and he felt himself pulled back in time to a happier memory...

He had confessed his love to the maiden. Finally broke free of the fear he faced over the wrath of his own family...And asked the woman to be his wife...

She had accepted. Her face and eyes alight with joy...and then in a trademark minkish manuever had teased him with her words as she spun and ran...



"If you can catch me I'll be yours..."

Benjamin had chased her...and in the end he found her in his arms, her back pressed against a tree as he kissed her for the very first time...and felt her respond...

So deep Ben was in the memory and it's feelings...He heard Anna's voice as if from a distance...and then she repeated herself a second time and he returned to the present...


....what was our relationship to one another?”


"The Anna that Benjamin knew was his bethrothed..."

Ben spoke slowly and watched the current days Anna's face flush bright red...

"The passion they felt for each other was legendary...it overcame the differences in family...the strife of great distances seperating them at times...and if you follow the legend...it overcame the span of time."

Or so legend said it one day would...But that remained to be seen.

The color had spread nicely over Anna's face and neck...and Eric smiled at the thoughts of where else it might have moved to...then frowned for letting his mind wander so much...

"But as you've said Lass...you're not interested in the mystic, only what you can place your hands on...so perhaps it's time we got you on your way safely?"

 

[McKenna]

"The Anna that Benjamin knew was his bethrothed..."

Anna felt a strange quiver in her abdomen at her words. Her heart palpitated heavily in her chest even as hot color flooded her cheeks.

She was his betrothed? His ...lover?! The thought had Anna glancing at Ben's lips, wondering curiously how they would feel pressed against her own. She glanced away quickly, lest the Scotsman discern her thoughts. Would he take her curiosity as an invitation? Anna was unprepared to find out.

"But as you've said Lass...you're not interested in the mystic, only what you can place your hands on...so perhaps it's time we got you on your way safely?" Benjamin asked.

Anna cleared her throat against the strange rush of emotion and longing that engulfed her. She felt loathe to leave the island, and that frightened her.

"Yes," she said at last, "It's time for me to go." And so it was. It had been a curious night spent in this stranger's presence. She had felt some powerful emotions her rational mind argued against. She could not possibly be connected to a little bit of land she'd never previously set foot on, could she?

Or had she actually been there before, in another time?

It was all too much for Anna to take in at once. She was suddenly very fatigued and anxious to get off the island. She wanted to examine her emotions and all that she had experienced here from a distance; she wanted to sift through what was real and what was imagined; she wanted to give her rational mind a chance to be heard rather than be stifled by her powerful emotions.

Still, as she left the island and started off across the sand beside the tall Scotsman, she felt saddened and oddly bereft, as if she'd left something very important behind her. She double-checked her camera bag and could find no missing items, but the feeling would not go away.

Once they'd reached her rented vehicle, she turned to the Scotsman and held out her hand awkwardly. If what he'd said about their being betrothed in another life were true, this handshake seemed like an odd gesture, indeed. But it couldn't be true, could it? It was a question for which Anna had no answer.

"Thank you for taking care of me last night and giving me a warm place to wait out the tide," she said, staring earnestly into his eyes. It was as if she wanted to see the truth of all that had happened reflected there, but his face was a mask and utterly unreadable.

"I ..." she felt the need to say something to this man she felt oddly connected to, but she couldn't think what to say. "Goodbye Benjamin. It's been an unforgettable night."

 

[BLACK BART]

Benjamin

* He was wrong *

That was what Ben told himself as he stared down the gravel path long after Anna had driven out of sight.

* He had to be, for if he was then THIS Anna wasn’t THE Anna and there was hope. *

Shrugging his shoulders he turned and walked along side the shore line, refusing to ponder on the possibilities and instead to accept the disappointment of the present.

He was used to that kind of emotion. Resolved to it. Knew it as part of his life and NOT as the tiny spark this Anna had kindled when he held her in the shelter.

The path he took led him several miles. To a sedate one-story cabin that he entered, a four-room house he called home…

He made a meal and took his time eating it.

Cleaned the dishes and then took a bath.

Then redressed into a heavier jacket and pants and moved outside to walk another path, checking the traps as he always did each day.

Each action was familiar and reassuring. The heavy woods he walked felt good, as well as the crisp, clean air and how it burned his face. He passed the day doing what came natural from past habits…and by the time the sun had moved into the afternoon setting he had convinced himself nothing had changed.

He returned to the cabin and stored the days efforts in the cold room, lifting a heavy jug and taking it with him across to the isle…

Then watched the tide come in as he had hundreds of times as he opened the jug and drank deeply from it, the water barring him from the shore and outsiders from his family…

A family that was beginning to make noises as the mist wrapped itself around the Isle…and Benjamin grinned, moving to the castle and the campfires that shined brightly inside…

“Aye Mary…Sing us one of yourn ballads that will make us weep and laugh at the same time!”

Benjamin called out to a red headed woman who smiled as he approached…

“And let Will join you with that screeching thing he cares so very much for?”

He had been wrong…Benjamin convinced himself as he joined the group of dancers that circled the fires and joined hands…Each face so familiar to him and feeling so right as they laughed and dance kicked towards the center of the growing ring of people…

Whiskey flowed and the voices grew louder…the party had begun again…Benjamin dancing with his kin and repeating to himself he indeed had been wrong…and hoping he was right the entire time…