Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
She stepped softly toward the door, planning to stand behind it and surprise whoever was there. Before she reached it, it swung open, a powerful moan sweeping in on the wind blowing all the candles out in the room and sending the fire’s flames dancing wildly.
A chill ran over her turning her skin to gooseflesh and she hugged herself. Was it a ghost who moaned or was it nothing more than the wind making its way through the castle? What would her da do in such a situation? Examine both possibilities.
She called out, “How can I help you?”
The wind along with the moan drifted out of the room and she followed after it.
“We should camp. It grows dark and this snow could turn heavy,” Kinnell said.
“All the more reason to return home,” Torin said. “Besides, it concerns me greatly that not one, but two campsites were found and from what we saw more than two men had camped there. Someone intends to see my wife dead and I have no idea who or why. What benefit would my wife’s death be to anyone?”
“We find out that, then we find out who it is,” Kinnell said.
“Make sure the men keep a keen eye on Walsh,” Torin ordered. “He could have purposely killed that other mercenary so he could not tell us anything. He also could be waiting for the right time to carry out his mission and make his escape. See he is kept away from my wife.”
“The men keep an eye on him,” Kinnell assured him.
Torin heard the crack of a branch followed by another, then it grew quiet, much too quiet. He let out a roar as he pulled his sword from its sheath just as several warriors emerged from the woods their battle roars echoing through the trees as they charged at Torin and his small troop.
The battle did not last long to Torin’s surprise and suspicion, the men who attacked running off, not finishing the fight.
“Bloody hell,” Torin said, wiping his blood-stained sword on a dead man’s chest as he surveyed the damage.
Only two men lay dead, and neither were his men. All his men were unharmed.
“Why attack and run?” Kinnell asked, shaking his head.
Torin’s eyes sparked with anger, and he called out, “Get to your horses, we head home.” He threw Kinnell a quick look. “It was meant to delay us, giving someone time to breach the bridge.”
He need not say anymore, Kinnell and the others understood… someone was trying to make it to the keep knowing Lord Torin was not there. Torches were quickly lit, and a quick pace set for home.
Fear twisted at Torin’s stomach that he would be too late. That somehow a man would make his way unnoticed into the village, the dark night his cover, then into the keep to find his wife and kill her. The thought sent a fury racing through him, and he raised his torch to cast a wider light and picked up his pace.
When he finally spotted the bridge, his heart pounded against his chest seeing far too many torches not only at the start of the bridge but at the end as well. Something was not right, and he prayed he was not too late.
Flora felt the wind at her bare feet as if urging her up the stairs and she followed slowly, cautiously, worried what might await her around each curve in the staircase, though she knew in her heart where it was taking her… to the tower room.
A torch burned low in the sconce there, and she did not recall having ordered it lit, though her husband could have, a more plausible conclusion.
The wind turned soft and moved up around her ankles as if shackling her there. She shook her head. It was nothing more than a wind that ran through the keep, coming somewhere from within the tower room. No doubt after all these years the windows’ shutters had decayed and fallen off the windows leaving the wind to rip through the windows and along the stone and down through the keep making it sound like a moan.
It was a reasonable explanation and if the shutters were restored, she believed it just might solve the ghost problem.
In case she was wrong, she decided to continue her one-sided communication with the supposed ghost.
“I will help you however I can if only I knew what you wanted me to do,” she said.
After a few minutes of silence, she shook her head at her own foolishness and turned to go. That was when she heard the strange noise. She was not sure what it was, so she listened more closely and that’s when it caught her eye.
She looked closer to see that a corner of one of the stones, about her height, which sealed the door was crumbling, the pieces falling to the floor. She stared in disbelief, to her the answer was clear.