~ ~ ~
Luke had no idea where he was. He woke with a terrible pain throbbing through his entire body. He was still immersed in darkness; only now he could hear the sound of heavy rain beating against a yet unseen window. He tried to sit himself up, to find the window, but found this simple task impossible. His arms and legs simply refused to cooperate. He felt so weak, in fact, he could barely open his mouth. The back of his throat felt very dry too. He was craving water badly.
He was in a bedroom of sorts. That much he was sure of. He could make out the outline of his bed and, when he squinted hard enough, he could see the outline of a large wardrobe sitting against the room’s far wall. But who had brought him here? One of the local farmers perhaps? As he closed his eyes, he could still see the tractor’s small oval lights approaching him from across the field. How long had he been here? The questions continued to fill his head.
“How are we feeling today?”
The voice was soft and unexpected. Luke glanced at a fraction to his left. A tall, slender figure hovered over him now. The figure was feminine. In her right hand she carried a candlestick. Its flame had died and Luke could see her lighting the wick once again with her free hand. Her hands were slender. They were a golden brown in colour. He tried to make out her face, but even when the candle was lit, its flame was still not strong enough to reveal its owner. She kept her distance, too, choosing to stand a few feet from the bed over her patient. She wore a long, white gown which covered almost her entire body. He could see strands of long, yellow hair lapping at her narrow shoulders too. When he looked hard enough, when the candlelight wavered just enough to reveal a portion of her face, he could see high cheekbones and a small, perfectly formed nose. She spoke with a soft midlands accent. Luke was mesmerised.
“You must rest. You had a nasty fall,” the voice continued. She walked to the edge of the bed where an old table stood. She placed the candlestick carefully onto this table and retreated to a large cabinet which sat against the far wall of the room. She opened the cabinet and from inside she pulled out two more candlesticks. She then lit them both with an old cigarette lighter and turned back to face Luke. He could see her clearly now. She was taller than he expected. He followed her across the room as she walked back to the table, noting her long blonde hair. She walked slowly and gracefully back towards the table not once looking at Luke; instead, her focus was on the candles in her hand. A slight gust of wind entered the room. The candlelight flickered. For a moment Luke was able to see her face visibly. She was pretty. Her eyes were a perfect blue too.
“Where am I?” Luke whispered.
She placed the two new candles carefully with the first. The extra light quickly pushed back the room’s shadows forcing it to reveal itself to Luke. The bedroom was large and the ceiling high and crisscrossed with several thick wooden beams. A large bay window sat to the left of Luke’s bed and a narrow door off to his right. The door was open ajar and Luke was able to see out into the beginnings of a wide landing. He was in a child’s bedroom. That much was obvious. A child’s rocking horse sat directly in front of him next to the large wardrobe and there were many toys and dolls sprawled about the floor.
“Where am I?” Luke repeated.
“Please, don’t speak. You need to rest. We have a doctor coming to see you later. You’ve had a nasty fall. We took you from the field. You are safe. That’s all you need to know for now. We can talk tomorrow and explain everything. For now I think it’s best you try and sleep. I’ve left you some water.”
“I can’t move. I mean, I feel too weak to move.”
“I’m sorry. Wait. I’ll help you.”
“Can’t I even know your name?”
“Elizabeth. My name is Elizabeth.”
She sat on the bed and began to pour him a glass of water from a jug she’d brought in earlier. She poured the water carefully and was just as measured with her movements as she brought the glass to Luke’s blistered lips. Slowly, Luke began to take small sips from the glass. She placed her hand carefully behind his head and held him up to the glass. He took several sips. The water eased his thirst. His throat felt too painful to drink the entire contents of the glass. Each sip had caused a burning sensation which had run down his gullet and into his belly. The indigestion lingered, the acid built up causing him to cough after each sip had been taken. He’d coughed so hard at one point he’d thought he was going to choke. Elizabeth had immediately sat him upright.
“No more, please,” she spoke, taking the glass away. “Your body can’t take it.”
“How long have I been here?” Luke questioned.
“Four or five hours. We called for a doctor as soon as you were brought here. He’s been trying to reach us for several hours, but the storm has blocked all the roads leading to the village. The rivers have burst their banks, you see. The roads have been flooded. There are trees which have been felled too. There’s not a lot we can do at the moment until the storm passes. We patched you up the best we could. One of my father’s friends was a medic during his time in the military. You were well looked after. We managed to stop the bleeding and the cut wasn’t so deep. You’ll need a couple of stitches, but you’ll live,” she finished smiling. Her hand was picking at the bandages which were now covering Luke’s left temple. She was checking if they were still tightly fastened, which they were.
“I can’t remember much of what happened. I remember being lost and finding an old barn, but that’s about it,” Luke now spoke. “I remember seeing the bright lights of an approaching tractor and then…And then a child’s doll. I could see the face of a child’s doll looking at me.”
“You were probably imagining things. You had a hard blow to the head. The mind can play all kinds of tricks on you.”
“No. I can remember the doll clearly. She was looking directly at me. There was something else too. I can remember a pattern in the soil. A triangle of sorts.” Luke continued, the image of the doll suddenly very clear to him. He could see the strange pattern too. “I’d like to try to stand if that’s okay?” he continued, trying to pull back the bed’s covers. He managed to drag back a few inches of bed cloth before Elizabeth acted. She placed the palm of her hand firmly across his chest and said, “You just stay where you are, please. You’re too weak to move just yet. Please, try to get some more rest. It’s very late now. We can talk tomorrow. Father is keen to speak with you too. You’ll appreciate one more night of sleep. Hopefully the storm will have cleared by tomorrow and we can have the doctor look at you.”
“I don’t think I need a doctor if it’s all the same,” Luke spoke.
“You could be right. But I think it’s only wise we have you looked over.”
“I appreciate the concern, but I’m not the sort of chap who likes to play patient.”
“I’d like the doctor to make that call if it’s all the same with you?”
Luke smiled.
“I was looking for a village called Chatterton. Is that where I am now?”
Elizabeth pulled the covers gently back across Luke.
“You did better than that. You’re at Chatterton Hall.”
Luke raised his eyebrows in mock surprise.
“Are you okay? Did I say something to startle you?”
“Would Lord Chatterton be your Father?”
“You are correct. Is there something you want to tell me? I’m not sure I like all your questions.”
She looked at him curiously.
“Do you know my Father?”
“If it’s all the same, Elizabeth, I’d like it if we did talk tomorrow. Like you said, I’m very weak and the sleep would do me a world of good.”
She paused. She was about to fire off a second question but stopped herself. She then said, “Very well. That sounds sensible to me. We’ll take you to see Father in the afternoon. If you’re feeling well enough of course.”
“Of course,” Luke replied, making himself comfortable in the bed. Elizabeth stood and walked towards the bedroo
m door. She was still looking curiously at Luke.
“Well, I hope you have pleasant dreams. If you need anything during the night, don’t hesitate to pull on the bell strap.”
“Strap?”
She pointed towards the long piece of cloth which hung from the ceiling next to the bed, its tassels almost kissing Luke’s pillow.
“Just give it a pull and our maid will be up shortly to see you. She’s been told about you.”
“You know my name?”
“Of course. We found your driving licence. Don’t worry. You’ll find all your possessions in order. We had your clothes washed. You’ll find all your belongings in the top drawer of that cabinet,” she went on now pointing to a large, oak cabinet which sat beneath the room’s sole window. “Will there be anything else?”
“Not that I can think of.”
“Good. Well, get some rest. I’ll come and see you in the morning.”
“Sweet dreams,” Luke quipped.
Elizabeth smiled and stepped outside. As the door closed, Luke glanced back towards the window. He could see that the curtain had been left slightly open. He then looked towards the cabinet and half toyed with the idea of getting up to have a look inside. He felt lost without his mobile and reasoned Elizabeth would have placed it inside the cabinet as she’d promised. He lay in bed restless for several hours. He made a promise to himself to call Lena first thing in the morning and to be up and walking about by no later than the afternoon. A little after three in the morning, still feeling restless, he somehow managed to force himself from bed and stumble over towards the window. The storm was showing no sign of subsiding. The rain lashed violently against the window pane causing its brittle wooden frame to rattle with each new assault. At one point it looked as though the window would fly open such was the ferocity of the storm outside. Flashes of lightning would occasionally strike the night’s sky and far down below, as he peered through the half drawn curtains, he could make out the beginnings of a vast lawn. The lawn itself ran for almost a mile. In the distance, as the lawn merged with woodland at its furthest perimeters, Luke could see a large maze built from tall hedgerow. At the very centre of this maze there stood a white marble building, the wide dome of its roof appearing just above the tops of hedgerow. Beneath its dome, Luke counted four or five white marble pillars. It was, Luke mused, some kind of late Victorian folly. He pulled the curtains wider wanting to get a better view. The rain continued to spit against the glass making it difficult to see the outside. Despite this, he could see a number of white marble statues, perhaps a dozen or more, radiating out from the maze. He pressed his face closer to the glass trying to make out more detail. The statues themselves appeared to depict different characters. One of them, the closest of the group, depicted a dragon or serpent of some kind. The others were too far away to decipher. Gradually, the rain began to fall harder against the glass. Quite soon, even the maze and her folly became a distant blur. Both frustrated and tired, he pulled the curtains together. Tomorrow, he promised himself, he would explore his new country retreat in more detail. With this in mind, he crawled back into bed. Sleep came quickly.
6 - Lord Chatterton
Luke had slept for four hours in total. It had been a restless sleep too. Although he didn’t feel refreshed, his body at least had benefited from it. His muscles felt strong, certainly stronger than they had the previous day. He stumbled into the adjacent bathroom and ran the washbasin’s hot tap. He then looked into the mirror to find his right eye had been blackened as the result of his previous fall, and when he placed his hands into the basin’s hot water a stinging pain ran through his forefinger where a deep cut had occurred just below the knuckle. His primary wound, the cut to his head, had been neatly bandaged. A small amount of blood had dried on the cloth. He touched the spot where he thought the cut was and winced in pain. It was deep. That much he was sure of. Still, he’d been lucky in a sense. If the cut had been a few inches further down he could have easily lost an eye. He continued to dab his face in hot water checking his body for any other sign of wounds. There were none to be found except for the occasional bruise. He finished off washing his face and headed back into the bedroom. He was about to open the cabinet to retrieve his belongings when someone knocked at the bedroom door. Grabbing a towel from the bed to cover himself with, he walked to the door.
“Mr McGowan?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve bought you your clothes, Mr McGowan,” the old lady spoke, waiting patiently for Luke to invite her in. Without replying, Luke stepped to one side.
“Thank you,” she continued, bustling inside and placing the pile of ironed clothes at the foot of the bed. Without uttering another word she then scuttled towards the curtains ripping them wide open with one wild tug. A sharp blast of early morning sun struck Luke square in the eye. He covered his eyes with the back of his hand and looked away.
“The sun will do you no harm Mr McGowan. She’s a positive energy,” his new visitor then spoke. She stood herself beside the bed, her hands gently patting at the pile of clothes as if a crease had been missed in her hurry to get the work done. She was no taller than five foot. Her hair was short, bobbed and a perfect silver grey. She spoke in small, nervous bursts. “My name is Margaret Harrison. I’m the Hall’s housekeeper. I understand you had a bit of a fall last night? How are we feeling now?”
Luke took a step to his right, freeing himself from the sun’s glare.
“I feel a lot stronger. Thank you for asking.”
“That’s quite alright. We can’t have a man down, now can we? That wouldn’t do at all. Lord Chatterton is keen to meet with you after breakfast and he’s not a man to be kept waiting.”
“I’m pretty keen to meet with Lord Chatterton too.”
“Well, then you had better get changed. We can’t have you eating breakfast in a towel. That wouldn’t do either,” Margaret went on, stepping quickly past Luke and back into the corridor. “We’ll expect you downstairs by ten then, shall we?”
“Ten it is,” Luke replied.
“Good. I’ll inform the cook you’ll be on your way. Now chop chop, young man. I’m not one to be kept waiting either,” she finished briskly closing the door behind her. Luke listened to the sound of her feet shuffling away and then sat on the edge of the bed. He wouldn’t, he thought, get a moment’s peace if Mrs Harrison had anything to do with it. He hoped that Lord Chatterton would be a little more laid back. Reaching over, he picked up the pile of neatly ironed clothes and then slipped off his towel. Already it was nine thirty. As quick as his battered body allowed him, he began to dress himself.
“Did you have a safe journey?” Lena asked.
Luke was peering over the landing bannister as he spoke to Lena on his mobile. Down below, he watched as Mrs Harrison scurried across the mansion’s tiled entrance hall first darting into the dining room, her left arm balancing both plates and cutlery. She would then reappear a few moments later scurrying back across the entrance hall and into the kitchen. This process occurred three times whilst Luke spoke to Lena.
“It’s a long story. I had a little trouble, but everything’s fine now.”
“How is your leg?”
“It’s healing. Nothing to worry about.”
“I’ll be with you in two days, Luke. I want you to know I haven’t stopped thinking about you all this time.”
“I’m flattered,” Luke replied. He heard Lena sigh from the other end. She then said, “I had other business to tend to, Luke. Please don’t worry. I’ll be with you soon. Have you managed to track down Elizabeth?”
“Yes. I’m on it. Don’t worry.”
“That’s great. You work fast.”
“Let’s just say fate brought me to her doorstep.”
“I’m sorry? What do you mean? I don’t follow you,” Lena replied. The line was beginning to break up. Luke could only hear small bits of Lena’s voice as she spoke. He tried walking up and down the landing, but it was useless. The reception was poor i
n whichever direction he went.
“Listen Lena. I have to grab something to eat. We’ll catch up later, okay?”
“Okay. Did you find the cottage alright?”
“Yes. I found it easily enough. Don’t worry,” Luke lied, glancing back over the bannisters. Mrs Harrison was nowhere to be seen. He could hear the clink of cutlery coming from inside the dining room and reasoned breakfast had already been served.
“Speak soon Lena, okay?”
The line had already died. Only a thin crackling noise remained. Stuffing the mobile in his pocket, Luke made his way downstairs.
~ ~ ~
As expected, breakfast had already been served by the time he’d reached the large dining room. The room itself was long and narrow. A set of large patio doors led out onto a wide back lawn. There was little furniture to be seen. A dining table hugged the right wall almost spanning the entire length of the room itself. Behind the table, a door led into a narrow corridor. To the right of this corridor, a chest of drawers sat against the far wall. A total of five portrait paintings hung across this far wall, above the chest of drawers. Luke walked towards the first of these paintings. The elderly gent in the frame stared nonchalantly back down at him, his features stern, cold and aloof. The remaining four portraits contained similar looking gentlemen, each one a generation older than the first. There was something odd about them too. Luke took a step closer to the first portrait. He was looking into the gentleman’s eyes now. The fellow’s brow was thick and his eyes, almost a total black, were extremely deep set. They showed little emotion, and as Luke peered even closer he could see that the pupils themselves were strangely shaped. They were rectangular in shape; in fact, they were almost snake like in appearance.
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