Chapter 20

Each long-legged stride of Cal's was equal to two of her own and she was having a hard time keeping up with him. He looked back, grinned, then held his hand behind him for her to grasp. She ignored this until she tripped over a root, then grabbed the proffered hand. It felt quite nice, holding his hand, his long fingers curling round hers, him looking after her...

‘Come on short–' he shouted back to her. She missed the last word, but she didn't have to guess very hard. ‘If I'd known you were going to be this slow, I'd have put Fury's saddle on Finn and he could have carried you.'

‘I am not short. I'm five feet ten inches which is tall for a woman.'

He laughed, knowing he'd got a rise out of her. She let go of his hand.

‘I can manage, thank you. Just slacken your pace a little, we're not in a race.'

‘I can't help it. I'm a moor-dweller now. I know the terrain so it's second nature.' He sighed. ‘Okay, is this better?'

He slowed down to a stop so suddenly that Flora nearly crashed into him. Then she realised he was still walking but at a snail's pace.

‘Oh, very funny. Go on ahead and I'll tread in your moor-dwelling footsteps' she said, trying not to smile.

Instead of concentrating on the ground. She watched Cal as he resumed his long strides. His slim body was muscly and firm. His shoulders were broad and his hair fell over his collar as he turned to check on her progress. He flashed a smile of perfect teeth. His dark eyes crinkled up with amusement as she stumbled again under his gaze. He held out his hand again and this time she kept hold.

*

‘What I can't understand' said Jen is why you're making such a big fuss about it. What's wrong with Flora getting together with Cal? Doesn't she deserve a little happiness?'

‘You don't understand because you weren't at the gatherings where Sybil discussed this very thing. Remember you used to be absent for quite a few of the meets?' answered Peggy.

‘Well tell me now' replied Jen reasonably.

‘Bianca?'

‘No, you tell her you're better at remembering these things than I am.'

‘Alright' said Peggy, ‘You will have heard the story that Culhain tells. One of only three he relates in this village.'

‘The one about Belle, the simple-minded woman who gave birth to a fairy child branded with the mark of the stag?' Jen smiled recalling the strange old man who appeared at the inn and disappeared just as suddenly when he had told his story.

‘That's the one - but did you know it was a true story?'

‘Well, how does anyone know it's true from all that time ago?' Jen laughed.

‘Ah. There's the thing. It wasn't a long time ago. It was when you were about six years old.'

Jen sat forward

‘Here? In this village? How come I've never heard anything about it?'

‘ Because, like Flora's ‘adoption', the whole thing was hushed up. The women in question lived in a farmhouse on the moor. Belle's mother in the story was really her Aunt Ursula, as Belle's mother had died. She took the baby down to the South Coast where she brought it up as her own. The midwife was Sybil so that is how we know about it. Belle's real name was Dorcas Hythe - Cal's mother.'

*

‘We're going in completely the wrong direction, away from where I saw the Faestone' Flora complained, ‘It's way over that way.'

She pointed with one hand while Cal led her by the other over to a large flat boulder which had somehow deposited itself on the moors. They sat down as he produced two bars of chocolate from his pocket. She was liking this man more by the minute.

‘The way I see it' he began, ‘is that it isn't a fixed structure. Your great, many times, Aunt Sybil had said she'd seen it somewhere over this direction, to the left with your back to the farmhouse. When you saw it, it was over to the right from the same place.'

‘Sybil told you she'd seen the Faestone? I'm surprised seeing as she didn't want to talk about the witches.'

‘No, she didn't tell me personally, it was just accepted wisdom around here. Perhaps she did, perhaps she didn't. Maybe she thought talking about the witches of Farstone for my book was too intrusive, too personal? It has happened and is still happening. The stone is just a legend for most people, not personal at all.'

Flora was puzzled over this. ‘But you don't think it's a legend, do you? You're quite serious about it. Can I even say obsessed?'

‘You can if you want me to take that chocolate back?' he said reaching towards her, she held the remains of the chocolate away from him.

‘I suppose I am a bit obsessed with finding the stone. I'm a little obsessed with this village. I first came here when I was studying for my MA in Folklore at Hertfordshire uni. It fascinated me. I felt I had found my spiritual home. It's how you told me you felt when you came here. You felt it was somewhere you belonged.'

‘Yes, I remember it dawning on me gradually.'

‘That's it. It was a gradual thing with me too. What really clinched it was finding out my family had owned this farmhouse before I was born. Nobody from the village remembers much about them as they kept to themselves but I found out a few things. My mother Ursula was born there. I think her parents were old Yorkshire farming stock, eking a living with sheep on the moors, selling their wool to exist.

‘They weren't the type to abide by rules and were remembered for being truculent. They didn't register births or fill in censuses, so I can't discover much. The deeds to the house were lost in a fire. Fate seems to be conspiring against me. Apparently, my mother had a younger sister who died young but there's no record.' he shrugged in resignation.

‘Where did you find all this out then?'

Some, like I said, from the few that remembered them, Peggy, mostly. ‘My mother, when she knew she was dying, told me disjointed stories. She was on strong medication and was rambling most of the time, so I didn't take much notice. When she was coherent, she denied ever saying those things about the farmhouse on these moors but somehow, it tied in with how I felt about Farstone Moor.

‘So, without any evidence about the truth of what she'd said, I came up here and it seemed like fate that the farmhouse was up for sale. It was in a terrible state but luckily I had more than enough money to put it right. It wasn't just the state of it – it was the feel of it…'

He paused and an ironic smile appeared on his face.

‘Don't laugh at this – but I actually asked Sybil when I first came here to bless the house, to rid it of evil spirits' He looked embarrassed.

‘And did she?'

‘No, she said Peggy was the one for that. She was the one more in touch with the supernatural, and could see through the veil between the two worlds. And yes, I was that desperate. Whatever she did, it worked. It had a completely different feel when I went in after her visit. No malevolent spirits of my ancestors remained, thank god. That's why the place is completely modernised, only the outer shell remains. I'm happy enough there now though, with Fury – and that daft wolfhound.'

Finn, after galumphing ahead of them for miles, was now laid on his back with all four legs in the air.

She smiled across at him.

‘I can see you are – and for what it's worth, although I didn't get any warm fluffy feelings, I didn't get any bad feelings either. The only supernatural thing I saw was you, towering over me with the lantern distorting your features. And of course, the creatures from hell that you keep in your stable and your broom cupboard.'

Cal laughed.

‘That was fate though, the place being for sale, wasn't it?'

*

Jen look shocked.

‘All that time and I had no idea that story was based on recent events. Or that Calum Hythe was the baby.'

‘He's a nice boy though, isn't he?' Binky thought about how polite he'd been when he carried her groceries out to the car for her. She didn't see him in the village much. Being a writer he mostly hid himself from the world, working in isolation on his books.'

‘That's what I mean' stated Jen. ‘He doesn't seem like an evil fairy - though he has got the good looks of Cernunnos... without the antlers.'

‘Certainly has' agreed Binky, a faraway look in her eyes.

‘Will you two stop it and concentrate?' Peggy called the meeting to order.

‘ But' repeated Jen,' even if it's true and he is that baby–'

‘Sybil said he was.' Sybil's word was law.

‘Has he got the stag mark?'

‘No one has been in a position to know.' replied Peggy. ‘It may not be in a place that is in general view.'

At this, Binky started to drift off again with a smile on her face until Jen's voice brought her back to reality.

‘Well then, he's existed on this world for what, almost twenty-nine – thirty years now, without displaying any supernatural behaviour. What makes you think he's going to start now? I mean, Belle or Dorcas or whoever, didn't seem in touch with reality, for whatever reason. I doubt very much that any of what she said is true.'

‘Sybil seemed to be worried that if, when Flora came here, there would be an attraction.'

‘Not hard to imagine, there aren't that many people of their ages living here.'

‘She just seemed to be worried about any of their offspring having Fae blood.' Peggy replied stung by Jen's attitude.

‘What the great Gardwicke heredity diluted by the blood of the despicable Fae?' said Jen, who still felt like an outsider in the Gardwicke family, as she didn't have the strong healing nature of the others.

Peggy drummed her fingers on the table, as Jen collapsed back in her chair, pressing her brow with her hands.

‘I'm sorry Peggy.'

‘It's fine Jennet. For what it's worth, I agree that the story about the baby Calum, may all have been a figment of a dark and troubled mind. He probably hasn't got even a drop of Fae blood' Peggy tried not to think of Culhain asking about him – or what she herself felt when she was around the lad... ‘But one thing I am sure of, he has a lot of good in him and, everyone deserves a chance. So as you say, Jen, whether or not the story is true, they should be allowed to be together if they so wish.'

Peggy thought there may be something in Jen's words about Sybil being over-protective of the Gardwicke blood. It had been diluted many times but the thread of healing and empathy still ran strongly in their veins.

Again, she thought of Culhain's words when they met outside the inn. He seemed to know, just as much as Sybil, that fate had a hand in this anyway and it was best just to let it unfold. You couldn't go against fate.

‘It may even be predestined' she told them and they nodded in agreement.

‘I have to go to take over at the bookshop' said Jen standing up ‘but I do know this. We should trust Flora. Her understanding of the mind is remarkable. She will know if there is a need to worry. She will draw back because she will feel that it's the right thing to do. She will also know if there's nothing to worry about. Her powers are strong. We must trust in her intuition and know that she will do the right thing.'

Jen kissed them both on top of their heads, the first time she had ever done so and left the Folly. ‘Well, I have quite rightly been put firmly in my place by Jennet Cayley. When did she become so aware of situations as to see things this clearly?'

‘Flora has been a force for good in her life' acknowledged Binky ‘and perhaps after all this time she is finding her true place in the Gardwicke family. Though she wouldn't thank us for telling her that.'

*

Flora watched as Cal and Finn wrestled on the heath or rather, watched as Finn stood with an enormous paw on Cal's chest while slavering all over his face.

‘Oh God Finn! It's like Niagara Falls every time you dribble. Go away and find some rabbits to play with.'

‘He chases rabbits?' asked Flora thinking of Finn's gentle nature.

‘No, they chase him.' Cal laughed.

As he got up the back of his tee shirt rode up, revealing what Flora thought was a tattoo.

‘What's that?' she asked ‘on your back.'

‘Oh, it's a birthmark' he said, lifting it up again so that she could take another look. Flora did. It looked like one of those ancient cave drawings of animals. Just a few small lines that made it look like a stag with antlers

‘Impressive' she said.

‘The only impressive thing about me, I'm afraid.'

‘Is that false modesty?' she grinned.

‘Of course, I just didn't want to bore you by naming all my more impressive traits.'

He pulled her up and they started to make their way back to the farmhouse. He held her hand even though he was going at a slower pace.

It's funny, thought Flora. When she'd first come across him in demon mode, complete with lantern, she'd thought he was someone to avoid at all costs. She had started to thaw out over his gentlemanly manners on the night she had spent in his farmhouse.

She could see he had a bit of a temper but then so did she. They shared the same sense of humour. They had a lot in common and they got on well. Yet, none of this would matter too much if it hadn't been for Fury and Finn. No person who could take in and win the trust and love of abused and terrified animals like he had, could ever be bad.

From an unpromising start, where she had her doubts about him, she now felt deep within her that she could trust him. Despite his efforts to prove otherwise, she knew he was a good person.