’Ullo, little buidseach. Come to pretty up my home, have ye?
Cam froze, heart racing.
‘You okay, Cam?’ Lachlan asked, noticing he’d startled. It didn’t seem as though he’d heard anything.
Cam took a deep breath. He wouldn’t let Lachlan see how rattled he was. ‘Yeah. I’m good.’
Don’t engage with it,he told himself.Do the job.
The voice in his head sniggered.Good luck, buidseach. That’s witch, by th’way, in case ye were wonderin’. Been many years since the last one came by. Won’t ye spare an old soul a little news of the world outside?
Cam gathered up the chains again, looking for purchase as he began to loop them round the stone.
Yer an odd shape fer a buidseach, though,the Redcap continued.What’s all this bulk, eh?
Cam felt something like a mentalprodat his sense of self. As though the Redcap was physically poking the phantom Nessie form hanging over him. He flinched instinctively, stunned and a little repulsed by the contact.
The Redcap’s voice turned sly.Bet you’d like a way to shake it off ye, aye? Imagine I could help wi’ that, if y’had a mind to bargain fer it.
‘Nice try,’ Cam said under his breath, pulling the chains tight. His skin crawled along the back of his neck. He had the insane feeling that something small was dancing over his back, sliding down his spine.
’Tis a funny thing, what a body is,the Redcap crooned.How it can be here and not here at the same time. Like me, fer instance. Ye might say I live on the same plane as yer own funny lizard body does. Look at these flippers!
Cam jerked, dropping the padlock just as he was about to clip it on. He couldfeelhis left flipper, as though it was being tugged. ‘Get off!’
‘Cam?’ Lachlan stepped to the edge of the circle, watching warily.
‘I’m fine,’ he said, rushing to grab the padlock again. ‘Redcap’s trying to get into my head.’
‘That doesn’t sound fine.’
Not yer head,the Redcap whispered, and this time it was as though the creature were right next to Cam’s ear. Again, that sensation of feet tapping over his back.Look at how big y’are. Too big fer this circle, amiright? Look at this tail…
Cam shuddered at the sensation of something swinging on his tail as he slammed the padlock into place. He jumped hurriedly out of the circle and into the haze of sage smoke. The herbal scent of it knocked him woozy for a second. He grabbed Lachlan’s shoulder to regain his balance.
‘I’ve got you.’ Lachlan steadied him, holding both Cam’s arms tight. ‘You look spooked.’
Cam shook his head, more to shake the smoke out of his nose. It seemed extra pungent, clogging up his throat. ‘Never had one talk to me before. It was just trying to distract me, so I’d make a mistake.’
He watched the Warding Stone suspiciously, half-expecting the new chains to snap apart. It remained dark and quiet.
The Redcap, too, was silent: no more cackling remarks inside his head. Cam gradually relaxed and felt Lachlan untense beside him as well.
‘Is it done?’ Lachlan asked, tugging at his leather cuffs.
Cam gave the Warding Stone and its renewed circle a final scan. The surface of the stone still shimmered pinkish purple, while the blackness of the iron chains sucked at it like a leeching void.
He nodded. ‘I think we’re good.’ Digging into his salt pouch, he threw a final fistful of salt at the stone for good measure. He was glad he wouldn’t have to deal with this Redcap again for another fifty years or so. He’d leave a warning about it in the Walker notes to remind himself—or whoever came next—about what a troublesome bugger it was.
As if to cast a seal of approval over their work, the sun re-emerged from a bank of clouds and bathed the craggy land in a wash of warm light. Lachlan slipped his hand in Cam’s, looking out over Loch Carron. The gentle lapping of waves and fresh scent of saltwater leant a peace to the scene that made it almost possible to forget the reason they’d come here in the first place.
‘This place is beautiful,’ Lachlan sighed.
Cam’s gaze didn’t move from Lachlan’s face. He smiled. ‘It is.’
He was pleased to see Lachlan finally relaxing. Maybe even enjoying himself, and enjoying the novelty of unknown surroundings. Too soon though, Lachlan’s brow creased with worry again as he glanced at Cam. ‘We should get you back to Loch Ness.’
‘There’s plenty of time,’ Cam assured—even if he did feel the pull of the loch like a distant tugging on a leash. He recognised the anxiety creeping into Lachlan’s expression, however. ‘Tell you what, we’ll get out of here. I don’t like the feeling that the Redcap might be watching us.’
