Curiosity Always Leads the Way to Adventure…and Danger…

R hona knew the upper meadow.

She knew it well from early springs spent enjoying the flowers after a long, cold winter. She also knew it from warm summer nights when the moon was bright, and her mother had made good on her promise to frolic and dance so Rhona's father saw them happy.

They had lived a good life. And the meadow was a treasured place. Tears prickled her eyes, but Rhona smiled because the air was so warm. The wind blew and the clouds parted once more. She stopped, staring at something she had never seen before. Illuminated by the silvery light was a hole in the ground. Rhona expected to see the dirt piled nearby, yet there was nothing but the dried-out flowers.

Was it an illusion?

She hunkered down next to the edge of it, reaching out to touch the place where the dried-out stalks of summer's plants were and the dark, exposed earth. She felt the moistness on her fingertips, proving that it wasn't an illusion.

So the man had been real.

Rhona stood. The wind whipped her clothing around, flattening it against her body. She turned in a circle, looking at the edge of the forest.

And there he was.

Watching her.

That same jolt of sensation went through her like a bolt of lightning cracking open the sky during a storm just as it had when she'd first arrived here. And inside, she felt as though she was just as turbulent as that thunderstorm.

She should dismiss it as illogical but returning to reality with its harsh edges wasn't appealing. So she continued to look at him while her heart pounded hard, and the wind pressed the fabric of her clothing against her body again.

He was watching her, and she discovered it felt very different from the way other men had looked at her.

"Are ye not afraid of the darkness, lassie?" His voice was deep and paired well with the night.

"What is to fear?" She replied. "There is nothing here now that was not here in the light of day."

"I am here," he answered seriously. There was a soft crunch as he stepped out from the edge of the forest toward her. "I know ye saw me."

Should she confess that she'd come just to meet him? Rhona pondered doing precisely that.

"You will not harm me." Rhona wasn't sure where her confidence came from, only that she was firm in her thinking.

"Lassie, ye should not take such chances." His voice had turned into a stern sound of warning. "Some men would take advantage of ye."

"Not you." Rhona decided to simply say what she felt.

He tilted his head to one side. "How can ye be certain of that?"

Rhona looked around the meadow. "This is a place I have always come to for merriment and adventure." When she brought her attention back to him, it was to discover that he'd emerged from the edge of the thicket.

Her heart accelerated.

"My name is Rhona. Why are you digging a well at night?" she asked.

Rhona sounded nervous. No, that wasn't quite the correct word. She pondered for a moment before she realized that she sounded like she was breathless.

"It would be best for ye not to ask about it."

Rhona offered him a soft sound of amusement. "You can hardly expect to have a well go unnoticed."

He smiled in response. "Aye, well, as to that…ye are correct."

"So why do you dig at night?" Rhona pressed him for an answer.

"My countrymen need the well, for we cross this land, as our ancestors have for centuries, and we need the English to stay away from it," he answered her.

"What a clever idea," Rhona remarked.

"Me Chief and the woman who owns that house there." He pointed back down the meadow. "They have an understanding. She will tell one and all that the well just appeared and is enchanted."

Rhona felt her joy dissipate. Reality came crashing down on her like a landslide. "My mother has died."

"Yer mother, lass?"

Rhona nodded. "We buried her today and the Church says my half-brother has promised the house—and me—to them. I am sorry, but you will have to dig your well in another spot."

It was a terrible ending to her adventure. Reality with its sharp claws shredded the bubble in which she'd been encased. The wind was suddenly too cold to endure, and the sky crowded with clouds so that no moonlight illuminated their encounter. Above her, there was a rumble. Rhona could smell the rain coming.

"Goodbye, lass."

Whoever he was, he left her without even giving her his name. The first fat drops of rain began to hit her back while she watched him disappear into the thicket, leaving her with nothing to do but return to the house, and the harsh reality her half-brother had planned for her.