Eternal Oath

by Jewel Quinlan

  While Cook moved about next to the stove, Sarah laid out trays and dishes on the counter for him. Linda had always found it odd that Cook—named Andrew—was a wiry, pale man of Irish descent. Definitely not the stereotypical cook, but he made great food.

  “What are we having tonight?” Linda asked him.

  “Spaghetti Bolognese.” He glanced up from where he was dropping pasta into boiling water. “With a fresh spring salad, garlic bread, and a dessert you would sell your firstborn for.”

  She chuckled. Her first all day. Andrew had a dry humor she had always liked. “Then there must be ice cream involved.” Andrew knew ice cream was her most favorite thing in the world, and he was a genius when it came to infusing unusual flavors and mixing them together.

  He winked at her.

  “I won’t even ask, then. Knowing you, I’ll want to eat an entire gallon of whatever it is in lieu of dinner.”

  “You’ve always been wise, Miss,” he replied with a nod. Then he looked at Sarah. “Did Jensen get the supplies I asked for?”

  “I’ve no idea.” Sarah lifted her brows and continued to pull silverware from a drawer.

  With an exaggerated sigh, Andrew went to scour the pantry and look in every cupboard. She and Sarah watched him, exchanging glances with each other. Finally, he excused himself to go and speak with the butler.

  “You can handle things while I’m gone?” he asked Sarah on his way out.

  “Of course.”

  The door swung shut behind Andrew, and Sarah turned to Linda. “Well, he’s got his panties in a bunch, hasn’t he?”

  They both laughed.

  In that instant, Linda’s mind had another flash of odd memory. But this time, the memory wasn’t scary or violent and it involved someone other than her and Falk. Sarah was in it this time. She and Sarah sat at a wooden table before a great roaring fire, talking. She looked just the same as she did today with her motherly demeanor and curled blonde hair. Even in the rough, homespun clothing she wore in the dream, she couldn’t be mistaken for anyone else.

  “I’m worried for your future, my dear,” Sarah said. “What will become of you with no husband to take care of you? I know it isn’t my place to say such things, but I think your father should concentrate more on finding you a suitable husband and less on that boy he’s taken on.”

  The dream Linda had smoother skin and a layer of baby fat in her cheeks. She smiled radiantly at Sarah, or whoever she was. “I am not worried at all. Both of them care for me so much, I know with certainty I am not being neglected. Both want what is best for me, and there is plenty of time for me to marry. Besides, Father must teach Falk what he knows. Who else would take him as an apprentice otherwise? It will all work out for the best. You will see.”

  “I hope you are right, my dear. You will make someone a fine wife. I suppose I don’t see any reason to delay it.” Sarah reached forward to embrace her.

  Linda reached for her as well, and then the dream cut off, and another one replaced it. This one was short, like seeing a picture taken as the flash goes off. The snapshot was of Sarah with a knife clutched in her hand, lunging at someone. It faded away immediately, and she found herself again sitting in her father’s kitchen, feeling stunned. She blinked a couple of times.

  “Linda, dear, are you all right?” Sarah’s white-blonde eyebrows scrunched together, forming a gathering of wrinkles in her brow. She looked as though she’d been waiting several moments for Linda to speak.

  Linda gave her head a shake and pressed her fingertip to her temple. “I’m fine. Just tired. It’s been a long day.”

  “That’s for sure,” Sarah said. “We’d better get some food in you.” She put pasta onto the plates and began spooning sauce over them. “I’m worried about you, sweetheart. I hope the doctor helped today. The Carltons recommended him.” She cast a worried glance at Linda.

  “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry. Getting Dad better is more important now than anything. I’m young. I’ll recover from whatever this is.” Linda rubbed her temples. Sarah had asked one of their neighbors to recommend a psychiatrist. There would for sure be gossip around town.

  “You’d think Falk or your father would be more concerned for you,” Sarah continued. “After all the love and care you’ve put into them…I think you deserve more.”

  Her words echoed those of the Sarah in her vision, and a creepy sense of déjà vu came over her. “I’m not sure what else there is,” Linda responded. “Father is extremely ill, and Falk insisted I see the doctor today and I saw him. I can’t even think what else to do for myself. Maybe I should take one of those pills he gave me right now and go to bed.”

  “Don’t you dare.” Sarah pointed the serving spoon at her. “Not until you’ve eaten. You’re thin as a rail.”

  Sarah often commented she was too thin.

  “Besides you are going to love this sauce Cook made. I got a fresh batch of those mushrooms you like from the Swenden farm. Been making soup out of them for your father all this time. It’s about the only way I can get him to eat anything. He loves them, too. Anyway, I still say they aren’t paying enough attention to you. You should never have been sent to boarding school. A young girl needs family and the love of her father,” Sarah continued, “Falk, God bless him, seems to always be the golden child around here. But I’ve got my eye on you, missy. I know which family I work for. Always have.” She gave a firm nod. “That’s all I’m going to say on the matter tonight.” She lifted two plates in her hands and motioned Linda toward the dining room. “It’s time for your dinner. Go on now.”

  A comforting glow filled Linda. The woman was as much of a mother as anyone could be. and it made her happy to be with her again and feel loved. She stood and moved to the other room where Falk sat waiting. He rose when they entered and pulled a chair out for her. When she saw him, she was blinded to everything, as usual, and moved forward to take her seat.

  Chapter Seven

  After dinner, Linda took one of her pills and lay down in bed, doing her best not to worry about it. Taking medication didn’t sit well with her. It was a physical reminder there really was something wrong with her when she would have rather denied it. But she couldn’t ignore it anymore and prayed it would help. But what if it didn’t? What if the visions continued to get stronger until she was just a babbling, incoherent mess all the time? Would they put her on even stronger medications? Lock her up in a psych ward? What would become of her future with Falk?

  But the circling cluster of worries soon grew transparent and evaporated as the effects of the sleeping pill slipped over Linda like a warm blanket. Soon, she sank into the fuzzy, dark depths of dreamland and down to the colorful well at its bottom. As she submerged into them, the bright shades drifted and swirled until they began to take solid shapes and make sounds, and she was pulled into their canvas.

  She flew over a vast green forest. The cool wind caressed her face and lifted her outstretched arms and body, and she glided through the sky. The sun shone on the horizon, a soft golden glow as its bottom edge met the landscape in the distance. It felt so wonderful and free to be here in the air, riding the last rays of day. Strangely, she knew she was not a bird and that she was dreaming. But it made no difference to her enjoyment of it. For the first time since this had all started, she meshed with the dream but stayed calm and observant. She could make out the shapes of the trees beneath her and the mountains in the distance with perfect clarity. She didn’t recognize the beautiful landscape, but it was somehow familiar.

  Far below, she could hear a strange noise and swooped lower so as to make it out better. A rustling and crashing sounded from over there in a cluster of bushes…but she flew over it too fast to identify it. Adjusting her course, she circled back to make another pass over it, the treetops almost scraping her belly, so she could get a better look. She felt in control of this dream and able to act, which by itself was strange. In all the past ones, she’d been a helpless victim of the imag
es pressed upon her.

  Passing over again, far below, she saw Falk! Blood trickled down his forehead to his cheeks. Two men half carried and half dragged him through the forest, but she couldn’t see their faces. They both wore hats. Each carried sharp instruments in their hands, a knife and a pick. Smeared blood coated the edge of the knife.

  Linda dived down toward one of the men in an attack, trying to save Falk. But the scene dissolved as her outstretched hands came in range of one man’s head. The writhing of her body in bed in the present day caused her mind to drift upward toward consciousness. As she glimpsed waking, she rolled to the other side of her bed and tried to call out to Falk but then was pulled back under, into sleep, by the drowsy effect of the medication.

  This time when the colors reformed, she saw herself, as though a spotlight shone down on her. She was much younger, about ten, and wrapped in a woolen blanket. Her hair hung in two long frazzled braids with loose strands coming out of them. Dirt and twigs clung to her, and she peered into a mirror over a bowl of something from which steam rose. Because of the steam the image wasn’t super-clear, but Linda could see her younger self’s lips moving…saying something.

  Even though the girl was her, she also knew it was not her. As though she were the girl looking into the mirror, and, at the same time, an observer standing in the corner and watching. Instinctively, she knew she had to hear what words the girl spoke. She stilled and focused her sight and hearing, harnessing a tranquility that cleared and sharpened her mind. Her breaths came even and deep. And then, as if the Volume button had been pressed, the girl’s voice came to her.

  “You must remember. You must remember. You must remember,” she chanted, looking into the mirror.

  Her eyes were large and charcoal-gray, and she seemed to be concentrating with all her being on those three words. But those were all she said. After a few more moments, Linda became frustrated. Remember what? This girl knew something. She was the key to the horrible dreams, Linda could feel it. But if so, why didn’t she say more? She waited a few more moments, hoping the girl would continue. When she didn’t, Linda cried out, “Remember what? Tell me!”

  The little girl sucked in a breath and then her dark gaze shifted in the mirror from her own reflection to Linda’s. She seemed amazed to see Linda there, but she paused no longer, her words came out in a rush. “You are both in grave danger. Tonight.”

  Linda surfaced to consciousness again, unwillingly this time. As she swept away, she could see the girl’s lips moving but the sound had been turned off again. The image shattered like glass, and she woke to Falk shaking her by the shoulders.

  The frantic beat of Falk’s heart slowed once Linda was awake and in her own senses. She looked around and blinked, her gaze settling on his.

  “Are you all right?” He smoothed her tousled hair back from her face.

  “Did you…did you wake me up?”

  “Yeah, you shouted my name in your sleep, and you were moving around and mumbling, but I couldn’t make out the words.”

  “Oh no.” She pressed her fists to her mouth. And then she struck out and punched him in the shoulder. “Why did you do that?”

  “Ow!” He jumped up from the bed and rubbed at his shoulder. She packed a pretty good wallop with her little fist. “What? It looked like another nightmare. Like the one you had before.” He tucked a strand of his blond hair behind his ear.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, sitting up.

  He reached over and turned on one of her bedside lamps so they had more than just the light of the hallway. Then he sat on the bed again, this time out of punching range.

  Linda leaned forward to run her fingers down his arms to his hands. “Sorry for punching you.”

  “It’s fine. But, what the hell?”

  One corner of her mouth pulled up. “I think I was onto something this time, and you pulled me out of it at the wrong moment. I think she was the key. She knew what was going on. If only I had a couple more seconds….”

  As she rambled, he scooted closer to her. “Easy now. One thing at a time.” With his hands on her arms, he eased her back against the pillows into a resting position. Her hair fanned out against the pillow, the shade of rich coffee against the white pillowcase. The smattering of freckles on her face stood out like pixie dust on her pale skin, beautiful and intriguing. He had always wanted to take his time skimming his fingers over them. And even though he was concerned about her, he couldn’t help noticing the cherry red tank top she wore and how perfect the color went with her skin. The soft fabric molded over the gentle curves of her breasts.

  He yanked the covers up to her chin and tucked them around her. He had to focus. “Now then. Tell me what happened.”

  “I had a dream. But this time I was able to slow things down and focus. I didn’t feel so helpless somehow. Maybe it was the medication. There was a girl in my dream, but she was me. I couldn’t hear everything she said. You pulled me out of it before she could finish….” She glanced up at him, her gray eyes filled with remembrance. “But we’re in danger, Falk. It’s real.”

  He felt one of his eyebrows furrow. “From who?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. Before, I kept seeing one man, but now there’s two.”

  “Do you know who they are?”

  “No. But I’m sure of it, Falk. As sure of anything I will ever be in my life. We have to leave. Tonight.” Her tone rose from a level pace to a frightened one. “Something is going to happen. I can feel it.” She knocked the covers away and grasped his forearms.

  The tiny trembling of her bottom lip detracted from the seriousness in her eyes. Was she having a reaction to the medicine the doctor had given to her? He couldn’t leave her so anxious and upset. He decided to use logic to make her see reason.

  “But, Linda, who would want to harm us? Why now? Tonight? This isn’t making any sense.”

  She clutched at his shoulders and took a deep breath. “I know. I know it isn’t, Falk. But you have to believe me. We have to leave. The sooner the better.”

  He sighed, wishing he could turn to Dad for help. The thought of waking Sarah or Jensen crossed his mind, but he decided against it. Linda would be all right. She just needed more sleep. He glanced at the clock on her bedside table.

  “It’s two o’clock in the morning, Linda. I’m not sure where we would even go right now. Is morning soon enough for you? What if we talk about this in a couple hours when the sun is up and after you sleep some more? I mean, there hasn’t been any hint of anyone wanting to harm us, so it can’t hurt to wait a couple more hours.”

  “No.” Her fingers tightened on his arms. “I’m really scared, Falk.”

  He could see she was. She looked as though she were seeing beyond him to something he couldn’t see, and it terrified him. Linda has always been the calm one. Rational and unflappable had always been her way. Though shy, she had an inner strength he gravitated toward, and this was not her. He needed to get her back to the doctor as soon as possible, but that wasn’t happening until eight at the earliest. He couldn’t stand to see her suffer so long, but the only thing he could do right now was help her hang on until then. Whatever it took he would do it for the woman he loved.

  “I’m here. It’s going to be okay.” He rose from the bed, went out to the sitting room, and shut the door then turned the key in the lock. For good measure, he pushed a chair against it and then checked all the windows there and in her bedroom to make sure they were locked, knowing she watched him. Then he returned to the bed and slipped in beside her, pulling her against him. “I won’t leave you.” He stroked his hand over her back. “Never.”

  As he said the words something warm and strong like molten gold resonated within him. His feelings rang like the sharp sound of the sword of truth being drawn from its scabbard, and he knew he meant it with all his being. No matter what obligations were thrown in his path he would make arrangements so they were apart no longer.

 
She wrapped her arm around his chest and snuggled her face into his neck. “I love you, Falk.”

  “And I you.” He tightened his arms around her. With the way his heart glowed, he was surprised it didn’t burn its way out of his chest. He would see her through this, whatever it was. She was his Linda and nothing would ever change that. He continued to rub his hand up and down her back in a consoling way. “Now, you said something about a girl being the key, right?”

  She nodded against his chest. “But I couldn’t hear the rest of what she was saying.”

  “Right. Well, since we have a couple of hours until the sun comes up, why don’t I stand watch and you try going back to sleep and finding her again? This time, make sure you get her to speak up. We need to get to the bottom of this.”

  Linda giggled. “I will. Sounds like a good plan.”

  “Of course it is. I made it up.”

  She laughed some more. The sound relieved him. It was a sign she wasn’t all gone. “Now, go to sleep and report back to me in the morning. I’ll wake you if anything happens here,” he said in his best military tone. She had always played his second in command when they were children, and had always been an impertinent one. Which had only made their games more fun.

  “Yes, sir,” she said in her best soldier voice.

  He squeezed her in response and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Soon, their breathing patterns matched up, and Linda drifted off once again into a deep sleep while Falk watched the shadows on the wall as he kept his hearing alert, good as his word.

  Chapter Eight

  Finding herself again turned out to be harder than Linda thought it would be. Rather than returning to where the dream had left off, she found herself floating in a land of inconstant shadow. She moved through it, taking care as she sifted through the various images so she wouldn’t miss the younger version of herself.