Chapter XVI
Kelly brought her rental car to a stop when the road came to an end. In front of her was a large meadow surrounded and protected by the rain forest on three sides and the fourth, the mountain. In the northeast "corner of the meadow was a fairly large house with a log exterior. It had a partially covered porch, or deck, that extended the full length of the front of the dwelling, the railing made from hand cut and 'polished' manzanita trunks.
The house's most distinctive feature was the three almost floor to ceiling eight foot wide windows evenly spaced across the front of the cabin. The second eye grabbing feature was the large chimney that rose from the center of the cabin's roof, made from river boulders in a variety of shapes and sizes.
To the right and approximately sixty to seventy yards away from the cabin was a small barn, that had obviously been renovated recently. Next to it was a paddock with a shiny new aluminum fence.
The meadow was carpeted with plush wild grass and when the morning sun caressed it with warmth it came alive with a rainbow of color as the remaining Springtime wildflowers opened up to greet the day.
About fifty feet from the front steps a wooden bridge crossed a babbling brook that flowed all year long fed by a natural spring in the mountains during the summer and melting snow in the winter and Spring.
She put the car in gear and eased it over the small bridge that crossed the stream. She pulled up a few yards from the front porch of the house and turned off the engine. Cautiously. Kelly got out of the car and looked around. The meadow was completely silent except for the occasional cry of a hawk soaring lazily over head. She took in a deep breath of the clean fresh air and closed her eyes savoring the scent of the surrounding rain forest. It filled her lungs and washed over her like a comforting blanket.
She turned and looked at the house. While staring at the front door she was suddenly filled with a feeling of familiarity, warmth, safety and welcomeness as if she had been here before. But she didn't remember having ever been here and she added that feeling to the many other confusing feelings and thoughts she didn't understand.
She slowly walked up to the front porch, ascended the three steps up and stepped up to the front door. At first she just stood and stared at it. The set of double oak doors naturally stained and varnished each had a three foot tall oval, beveled glass window. The hinge side of the left door was the name "Caitlin" burned into the wood in Old English lettering. On the same part of the right door was the name "Duncan", also in Old English. Then across the middle of both doors just beneath the windows was the word "Paradise", also in Old English. Kelly realized that she had reached out and was gently tracing the name "Duncan" with her fingertips. She pulled her hand back wondering why that name seemed to spark such intense feelings in her.
Kelly took a deep breath, raised her hand and knocked on the door. When she got no answer she knocked again only a little harder. Still not getting an answer she stepped over to the first of the huge windows, placed a hand against the cool glass forming a "visor" of sorts and peered in. As far as she could tell the house was empty and had been for sometime. The furniture had been covered with white sheets and there was absolutely no sign of life.
Kelly left the front porch and wandered around the side of the house. She walked slowly towards the barn. She wasn't sure what she was looking for since it was obvious no one was around, but she seemed to be drawn here and she wanted to know why. As she came to the corner of the paddock she noticed one particular spot in the ground that seemed to be a 10' long mound of earth. At one end stood a 1"x8" piece of wood that had been stuck in the ground. She approached it and bent over to get a closer look.
The wood was badly weathered but the words that had been carved into it were still quite legible. It read: "Obsidian...companion, confidant & friend. Died 1883." Below the inscription was carved the profile of a horse's head. Kelly knelt down next to the mound and placed her hand on the top near the marker. She was suddenly overcome with a feeling of great sorrow. She yanked her hand back as if she had just touched something extremely hot and got to her feet. She backed away, still staring at the grave and a tear trickled down her cheek. She brushed it away and turned around and started walking away. She stopped suddenly feeling quite dizzy. As she tried to focus on her car here peripheral vision darkened and the darkness began to spread into her immediate vision
Flashback
A mountain meadow in the Pacific Northwest: 1883
A girl with long red hair is inside a log cabin in a meadow. She obviously has been baking as she is wearing an apron and has flour on her hands, face and in her hair. She feels the buzz of another Immortal and walks out of the kitchen, through the living room, takes her sword from next to the front door, opens the door and steps out onto the front porch. From across the meadow a rider is seen coming towards her. As the rider gets closer she sees that it is a man with long dark hair. She steps back inside the cabin and leans her sword against the wall as it had been and returns to the front porch just as the rider brings his horse to a stop in front of the cabin. She steps off the porch and walks up to the man as he dismounts and they embrace
The man removes two cloth bags from the back of his saddle and hands them to the girl then removes a piece of paper from his pocket and hands it to her also.
"I was able to get everything on your list except for these three items," he says with a hint of a Scottish accent, and he points to the list.
"That's OK," the girl smiles up at him.
The man lifts his head and sniffs the air then looks down at the girl with a wide grin. "Someone's been baking again," he says as he smells the familiar aroma of fresh baked bread.
The girl smiles proudly as she walks toward the cabin with the bags of supplies. "Uh huh. Your favorite."
The man's eyes light up as he asks, "Wild strawberry bread?'
From the front porch the girl turns around and smiles mischievously "Is that your favorite?"
The man strides up to the porch and reaches out grabbing her on both sides, proceeding to tickle her. "You know it is." She giggles and scurries into the cabin with the two bags.
While she is in the cabin putting away the supplies, the man gets back on his horse and rides across the meadow to the place her entered the meadow from. The girl hears him ride away from inside the kitchen but assumes he is going hunting. Then she hears the sound of horse hooves returning.
"Must have dropped something," she says aloud to the empty kitchen. She hears the horse come to a stop and hears the man's boots as he steps onto the porch and enters the cabin. She turns to smile at him as he comes into the kitchen. He is wearing the grin of a Cheshire cat as he walks up and takes her in his arms.
"Do you know what day this is?" He asks.
The girl thinks for a moment then answers, "Wednesday?"
The man laughs and says, "well...yes...but it's something else, too."
Puzzled the girl asks, "what?"
From behind his back he produces a small bouquet of flowers that he has obviously picked from the meadow and holds them out to her. She takes them, blushing, and looks up at him quizzically
"Happy anniversary, sweetheart," he says.
"Anniversary?" she asks.
The man nods. "We've been together four months today," he states.
The girl is amazed that he has been kept track of their time together and is so romantic that he wants to celebrate each month. She smiles up at him and says, "I love you."
He takes her in his arms and kisses her passionately then lets her go. "And I love you," he says. Then he takes the flowers from her hand and sets them on the table. He places a steps up behind her, places one hand on her shoulder and covers her eyes with the other.
"What are you doing?" She asks.
"Trust me," he says mysteriously. He guides her through the living room of the cabin to the front porch, down the steps and has her take a few steps more.
She feels him take her hand and raise it upward in front of her. Then her palm is touching something. She tries to identify the object from her touch but is baffled The man removes his hand from her eyes as he says, "Happy Anniversary, my love."
The girl opens her eyes. She is staring at the most beautiful jet black horse she has ever seen. She looks at the man in shock. The man nods, "he's all yours, " he says proudly.
Speechless, the girl proceeds to walk around the magnificent stallion, never removing her hand that the man had placed on the horse's cheek. "My God," she says. "He's magnificent."
The horse's jet black coat shines in the sunlight as if it were glass. His long, lush mane and tail looks as though someone has styled waves into it. His eyes are bright and full of intelligence as he watches the girl move around him, inspecting every inch of him. When she gets back to his head on the other side from where she started she places her hand on the soft muzzle of his nose and gently caresses it. She looks into his eyes and says, "Simply magnificent," and the stallion sneezes as if to say, "Thank you."
The girl steps back and looks at her new horse. "Obsidian," she says simply.
"What?" The man asks.
The girl walks over to him and puts her arms around his neck and kisses him then slips her arm around his waist and turns to look back at the horse. "Obsidian. That's his name."
The man contemplates this for a minute then says, "Obsidian." He pictures the shiny black gem stone, obsidian and smiles, knowingly. "Obsidian," he repeats. "It fits."
"The perfect name for the perfect horse given to me by the perfect man," she says and turns to face him. "I love you Duncan MacLeod, of the Clan MacLeod."
The man looks down at the girl and smiles. "And I love you Caitlin O'Dell."
Present Day
As Kelly's vision returned to her she realized that she was leaning on the hood of the rental car. "What is going on with me?" She asked out loud. Feeling a bit shaky and afraid to drive at that moment she decided to take a walk and clear her head before attempting to drive a car. She wandered towards the north side of the meadow following the stream that flowed through it.
When she reached the tree line she noticed a path that led into the forest along side of the stream. Shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans, she proceeded up the path. It led her into the most beautiful rain forests she had ever seen. Moss hung from the limbs of the trees. There were so many variety of trees here that the forest was a myriad of shades of green. She could smell the scent of pine in the air. The only sounds were those of a few birds chirping, an occasional bark of a squirrel and off in the distance the tapping of a woodpecker echoed through the forest. Above her the giant pines reached upward almost disappearing into the blue sky and a soft breeze whispered through their pine needles.
Soon, Kelly heard another sound. It was water cascading over rocks somewhere ahead of her. Taking her hands out of her pockets she walked up the path towards the almost hypnotic sound.
The path seemed to end at the sound's origin. In front of her was a waterfall that emptied into a small pool. The pool was surrounded by what appeared to be one huge boulder of granite that had been carved and polished by years of water rushing over it on it's way to some lake somewhere south of the mountains. The path actually ended at a large piece of the giant boulder which was flat across and smooth as marble. It jutted out over the pool of water creating what looked like a patio of sorts.
Kelly stepped up onto the granite "slab" and walked to its edge. She looked down into the pool of clear water and she could see trout swimming unthreatened around the pool. A fine mist sprayed up from where the waterfall met the pool, cooling her skin and the sound of the cascading water seemed to have a magically calming effect on her.
Kelly sat down on the rock and dangled her feet over the edge. She placed her hands on the rock behind her, leaning her weight on them and raised her face toward the sky, closed her eyes and allowed her sense of smell and hearing absorb everything around her. If it was possible to fall in love with a place...then this was it...and she had fallen.
Suddenly Kelly is reminded of the dream she had of the red haired girl and the man with the long dark hair making love under the waterfall and she sits up and looks at the veil of water in front of her. There, behind the waterfall she saw the ledge. The exact same ledge that was in her dream. She got to her feet and backed away almost falling off of the rock.
"What the hell?" She said allowed. She turned and ran back down the path and into the meadow. She ran all the way to the front of the house where she stopped. She turned and looked at the front of the house. It was definitely not the same as the log cabin in the vision she had just had about the horse. She looked around the meadow. However, this was definitely the same meadow. Her Irish curiosity took over and she walked up onto the deck and up to the front door. As if in some kind of trance, she reached out and tried the door nob on one of the front doors. It didn't move. She tried the other one and was surprised when it turned in her hand. She gave the door a slight push and it opened with a faint squeak of the hinges. She stepped across the threshold and closed the door behind her.
Kelly's attention was immediately drawn to the massive double sided fireplace and hearth directly in the center of the house dividing the living room and what appeared to be a combination dining room and study. The fireplace was constructed with the same kind of large river rocks as the chimney, as was the base of the two foot high hearth. The top of the hearth on the living room side was a three inch thick, six foot by three foot polished black granite slab. The mantle was a five foot by two foot polished manzanita plank.
The covered furniture sat on large area rugs over highly polished mahogany floors.
On the far wall to the left of the entry way was a built in book case that spanned from floor to ceiling and the full length of the wall from the front of the house to the rear and was filled with books.
To the right there was a small built in desk in the corner and another bookcase above it. And further along the wall to the right was the arched doorway that led to the spacious kitchen and small breakfast nook.
On the other side of the fireplace, built into the back wall of the house and directly across from the rock hearth was an antique desk that looked like something an old sea captain would have on a clipper ship from the 1800s.
In the far left corner was an iron spiral stairway that led to the one loft bedroom upstairs.
The kitchen was large. It had long granite counter-tops and an abundance of cupboards and drawers. On the back wall was a rather large double sided sink. On the wall directly across from the doorway was a very large six burner built in stove and oven with another oven overhead. Next to it was a very large double door refrigerator.
To the left was an alcove about four feet by eight feet almost completely glassed in that served as a breakfast nook.
Near the corner, between the breakfast nook and the refrigerator was a short 'hallway' with a double Dutch door at the end that led outside. In the "hallway a small door on the left led to the bathroom.
Throughout the house the walls and floors are naturally stained mahogany varnished to a high gloss shine.
Under the stairway was an arched doorway with louvered swing doors (much like the saloon doors of the old west) that led to a den with a pool table, entertainment center and gaming table for playing cards.
Kelly wandered through the house running her hands across the polished mahogany and manzanita, marveling at the craftsmanship of the book cases, reading the titles of the books...and finally deciding to investigate the room upstairs. She started up the stairs and stopped halfway up and looked back down at the rooms below. As lovely as they were...they were totally unfamiliar to her. She shook her head and walked the rest of the way up the stairway.
The room upstairs turned out to be the only bedroom in the house. It was a large loft style room that over looked both main rooms downstairs and had a clear view of the "back side" of the massive fireplace. There were three windows in the room; two on the back wall on either side of the bed and one large bay window on the north wall with a built in bench for sitting and gazing at the stars. Three quarters of the west wall was a closet with mirrored sliding doors.
The most impressive things about the bedroom were the queen sized 16th century canopy bed with its four mahogany scrolled posts and canopy frame and velvet drapes tied back at each post, and the skylight (same dimensions as the bed) directly above the bed.
Kelly walked over to the closet and slid open one side. It was filled with a man's clothes. She closed it and went to the other door and opened it. This side was filled with a woman's clothes. She methodically filed through the hangers of jeans, bib overalls, dress pants, blouses, western style shirts and a few pantsuits. There were a only a few skirts, broomstick style, and about as many dresses, and there were at least three formal gowns. All were small sizes.
"Not much of a clothes horse are you?" Kelly asked out loud. "Or into shoes," she said noticing that the lady of the house seemed to have only the basics for shoes There were two pair of cowboy boots; one dress and one pair that seemed to have been around forever and just as beat up, two pair of athletic shoes, a pair of moccasins and squaw boots and a pair of black, white and bone colored high heel pumps and two pair of sandals
Kelly's eyes drifted to the back of the closet where she spotted an opaque garment bag. She reached into the back of the closet and took the bag out, walked over to the bed and laid it down. She unzipped the bag and pulled out the dress it held. Her eyes widened as she looked at the 16th century, antique lace gown trimmed in a brightly plaid ribbon. "Tartan," she heard herself say and wondered how she knew that. Pinned to the bodice of the gown was a swatch of dark green and blue Tartan plaid material. She held the dress up to her and looked in the mirrored closet door at herself. The dress would have fit her like it had been made for her. A chill ran up her spine, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She shook it off and laid the dress on the bed next to the garment bag. She opened the bag and saw that there was another smaller bag inside. She removed the second bag and laid it on top of the first and unzipped it.
Inside was a veil made of the same lace as the dress. Kelly removed it from the bag and held it up for inspection The veil would have covered her head and cascaded down her back and created a three foot train behind her.
"Her wedding gown," Kelly whispered. She looked at her reflection in the mirror but instead of seeing herself she saw the girl with the long red hair. She shook her head in an attempt to clear her vision. It worked, for standing in front of her was the reflection of a weary, pale and shaken Kelly McKinney She quickly turned and replaced the veil in its bag and replaced that in the larger one. As she started to lift the dress off of the bed to replace it her fingers touched the swatch of Tartan pinned to the dress's bodice. Absentmindedly, Kelly gently caressed the material She was overcome with strange images of the man with the long dark hair. His dark and expressive eyes looking at her lovingly and she could hear him calling out to her. But it wasn't her name he called. The name he called out while looking at her...seemingly through her...was the name of Caitlin.
With another shake of her head, Kelly returned the dress to the garment bag, zipped the bag shut and returned it to the closet. She felt cold, as if she were standing in a snow bank, and she shivered. That's when she saw the chest at the foot of the bed. With no conscious thought she knelt in front of it and lifted the lid. It was filled with various memorabilia. Items collected throughout the years, and as Kelly scanned the contents her eyes widened as she realized the time line to some of the items.
"Oh my God!" She exclaimed. "She's an Immortal...or THEY are." She nervously started to close the lid intending to get the hell out of there when a zip lock baggie with some photographs in it caught her attention. She reached in and picked it up. She looked at the photograph on the top of the stack through the clear plastic of the baggie and her hand started to tremble. It was a picture of the girl with the long red hair dressed in the wedding gown Kelly had just put away. She looked radiantly happy. Standing next to her in a kilt made of the same Tartan as the swatch pinned to the dress was the man who had been in every dream, nightmare and "vision" Kelly had been haunted by for the past several months. The man with the long dark hair. The man who looked lovingly into her eyes and called her Caitlin.
She dropped the baggie of photographs as if it was a hot piece of metal and closed the lid of the chest. She stood up and backed away from the chest. Her legs felt heavy and the room seemed to spin around her. Although she felt cold she broke out in a sweat and she began to shake uncontrollably. Kelly found her way through clouded vision to the bed and she sat on the edge, taking deep breaths, trying to calm the wave of dizziness that had washed over her. She leaned forward, placing her elbows on her knees and covering her face with her hands.
Suddenly her mind was filled with images of the red haired girl riding a sleek black horse in the meadow; the girl battling an older man, their swords flashing in the moonlight; the girl taking the head of a dark skinned man and the Quickening that followed; the girl and the man with the long dark hair standing at an alter under a canopy saying their vows to one another; the girl, the bride and groom on the very bed she was sitting on making passionate love to one another...but that image suddenly changed. It became her that the groom was making love to and she was making love back to him.
Kelly sat up straight and screamed at the top of her lungs, "Stop!" Her head began to throb with pain and nausea gripped her. She couldn't remember ever feeling such consuming panic in her life...but then she couldn't remember anything before she had awakened in the hospital in Greece.
Kelly fell back on the bed and her hands raised to the sides of her head. Tears spilled from her eyes. She rolled onto her side and pulled one of the bed pillows to her and clung to it as though it were a life preserver. She buried her face in it and screamed again. Then completely exhausted she let go of the emotions that had been welling up inside of her and sobbed openly into the pillow. Kelly sobbed until her voice was gone and the tears dried and then she fell into a deep sleep completely exhausted both physically and emotionally drained.
TO BE CONTINUED