Embers (The Wings of War Book 1) (6 page)

I frowned and stared at the wooden wall.  After a moment, I took a step closer to it.  As I did, the hair on my arms went up.  I quickly stepped backwards as if I’d been physically pushed.  The hard thumping of my heart rose up uncomfortably into my throat, and I had the instinctual urge to turn and run away. 

Angus growled again and the black fur on his back stood straight up.  Cricket shifted restlessly in the trailer, making little nickering noises in obvious agitation. The rumbling sound Angus was making came from a very deep place in his belly, and it continued to vibrate louder with each passing moment.

“Are you getting the same creepy feeling I am?” I whispered to Angus as I stared at the wall that King Kong would have been hard pressed to get over. 

Angus barked once at me, the sound warming the chill in the air. 

“Maybe you sense a bear.  Is that it?” 

Angus tilted his head and whined. 

A cloud passed over the sun, darkening the roadway for a moment.  The temperature seemed to drop ten degrees.  I shivered.

“Guess we should be on our way, huh, boy?”

Angus put his head against my legs, pushing me back toward the truck as an answer.  We wasted no time jumping back into the truck.  I turned the ignition key and was relieved that the engine burst to life quickly.  The last thing I needed, on top of everything else, was to have the truck break down. 

After a couple more minutes of driving, the wall fell away from the road to allow for a driveway of sorts, and I noticed a solid wooden, vehicle-wide gate.  There were several orange and black “No Trespassing” and “Do Not Enter” signs on it, and a hand-sized shiny metal lock that would definitely keep anyone from easily entering.  Beyond the large doorway, I could just make out what appeared to be the top of a lookout tower.  I couldn’t see anyone on it, but it was hard to tell with the trees.  As we passed by the wooden entrance, my heart began pounding all over again and this time my forehead became slick with sweat. 

“Whoever lives in there must really like their privacy,” I muttered to myself.                

My eyes kept drifting to the odometer, and after I’d covered almost a mile distance, the wooden wall finally ended.  My vital signs began to return to normal as the dust the truck was kicking up obscured the wall and it disappeared from sight.    Air flowed smoothly back into my lungs and the hair on my arms settled once again.  I wiped away the moisture from my face with a napkin, glad to have the wall behind me, but at the same time wondering why I’d reacted so strongly to it in the first place.

The late afternoon sun was intense, sending sunbeams through the leaves that dappled the pitted road, making the world seem happy again.  But I didn’t forget how the world had darkened beside the strange wall, the air becoming thick and still, and how quiet that stretch had been.  The birds didn’t even want to sing there. 

Was I just flustered over my escape from home?  Perhaps my imagination was on overdrive?  Or was there really something to be feared living behind those thick, menacing boards?

I drove on for another ten minutes, pressing the gas pedal harder than I probably should have, before finally reaching the two massive white trunked Sycamore trees that Aunt Ila had described as leading to her property.  Despite their hulking size, their branches were long and delicate and they reached over the road to intertwine with each other.  Beyond the twin trees, rustic looking rock walls stretched along both sides of the road.  Even though the walls were broken in places, they were still impressive. The gaps were filled by smaller trees that had grown through the openings, and ivy scrambled over the rocks intermittently.      

For a short distance, the trees were incredibly thick, seeming to be wrestling one another for a spot along the driveway.  The oppressive darkness beneath the leafy canopy made me feel more than a little claustrophobic, but just as quickly as the tangle of nature began, the trees thinned and the shade lifted to expose a sunny, beautiful green valley.  The rock walls continued, but now on the right was a field of grass, peppered with cheerful white daisies.  On the left, the trees were older and there was a lot more space between them.   And to my amazement there was a group of deer lightly stepping between the massive trunks.  They paused to glance my way as I drove by, and then returned to their meandering, ignoring the truck and trailer all together. 

The sudden glare of a silver tin roof blinded me and I had to shield my eyes with my hand in order to see again.  The boards on the barn were old, but gave the impression of a solid and cozy structure for animals.  The rock wall went right up to the barn, and grazing not too far away was a small herd of dairy goats.  I quickly counted fourteen and they all stopped their munching to stare as we passed by.  A few of them greeted us with hearty bleats and Angus stretched out the open window to return their curious looks with a bark, “Hello.”         

There were tan and red chickens pecking the ground in the barnyard and several rabbits hopping around in the grass among them.  It was an unusual sight.  Some of the rabbits were obviously domestic types with spotted fur and long, floppy ears, while others were ordinary wild rabbits. 

I quickly forgot about the strange mixture of rabbits though when I saw the cabin.  It was facing the sunshine and all around it were flowers of every color, just as I had remembered it. 

Psalms 103:20

Bless the Lord, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word
.

Ember ~ Six

A
fter I backed Cricket out of the trailer, I stood beside my horse and dog and looked across the valley.  Anger and sadness had been a part of me for so long that the sudden feeling of contentment I was experiencing shocked me. 

“It’s your home now.” 

I jumped at her voice.  Aunt Ila looked exactly as she had ten years ago, which flitted across my mind as odd, but I quickly let the thought go.  Even though she was an old woman, she stood very straight and tall and her curly hair was a mixture of every shade of gray possible, pulled loosely back into a ponytail.  She wore a long sleeved, button up white shirt that was tucked neatly into old-fashioned brown trousers.  Her navy canvas tennis shoes were muddy and she was pulling dirt covered cotton gloves off of her slender fingers.

She regarded me with open curiosity and I straightened up under her scrutiny, thinking that there was something very regal about her.  And it wasn’t just the slight foreign accent. 

“I hope I didn’t startle you,” Aunt Ila said, the corners of her lips rising in a smile.

I bristled with the realization that she was mocking me.  The woman might have a grandmotherly look about her, but I wasn’t fooled.  She definitely had a twisted sense of humor.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about it either.

She knelt to the ground and rubbed Angus’ face, quietly talking to him.  The dog didn’t have a problem with her.  In fact, he licked her face and thumped his tail.

Traitor,
I thought.   

“His name is Angus,” I told her before she had a chance to ask.

“A fine Irish name for a brave and intelligent dog.”  She stood and walked over to Cricket, placing her hand in front of the mare’s face.

“That’s Cricket,” I said briskly.

Cricket breathed in Aunt Ila’s scent and then pressed her head to the woman’s chest, just as she’d done five years ago when she’d first met me. 

“This is a bonny mare and she has a strong spirit.” She eyed me over her shoulder. “You must be tired and hungry.  Let’s get your horse into the field and you settled in for the night.”

I followed her on a well-worn dirt path through the grass, leading both Cricket and Angus.  She walked fast for an elderly woman and I had to stretch my legs just to keep up with her. 

“You can turn Angus loose,” Aunt Ila told me as she unlatched the gate. 

“Uh, do you think that’s a good idea with all the rabbits around?”  The words had barely left my mouth when I noticed a ginger colored cat lounging on the wall.  Her tail twitched in agitation at our approach.  A glance down explained the cat’s distress. There were three fluffy kittens sleeping in a clump of clover at the base of the rocks. One looked the same as the mama, the other two were black.  Angus got along with cats, but I would bet that he’d consider the rabbits as floppy-eared snacks.      

“He’ll be fine, my girl.  Angus is smarter than you give him credit for.  I’ve already told him that the rabbits and the other animals are my friends.” 

She told him that the rabbits were her friends.
Was she playing with me? She sounded serious, but that would make her, putting it politely, completely insane. 

When I hesitated, she came back and took the leash from my hands.  She unsnapped Angus.  He immediately bounded off in the direction of the cabin, completely ignoring the rabbits.

It seemed that Aunt Ila knew my dog better than I did.  I was both annoyed and impressed at the same time.  Maybe she wasn’t crazy at all, just very intuitive. 

I took a deep breath.  The thick grass, tiny blossoms and pine trees at the edge of the field mingled to create the perfect fragrance. It was intoxicating.  I decided in that instant that it didn’t matter whether Aunt Ila was a crazy woman with an odd sense of humor.  She’d been kind enough to allow me to stay with her, saving my dog, even though she didn’t know it.  And I was away from Marshall.  Aunt Ila had not only rescued Angus, but me, also. 

Quickly, I shut out the sickening memories that tried to push their way in.  The horrible man was far away now.  He couldn’t hurt me or my dog.

And the priest was far away, too.  The sensible part of me thought he was mad, but the girl who’d stood in the raging inferno and watched her parents be incinerated, somehow knew better. 

Maybe the world
was
coming to an end.

I opened my mouth to question Aunt Ila, but her eyes were closed and her chin was lifted to the sunshine. 

After glancing at her serene face, I decided that nothing I might say would make any sense to her.  The hopefulness I had felt earlier that there was something special about Aunt Ila evaporated.  She was just an ordinary person, maybe a little off her rocker mentally, but clearly not a supernatural being who could answer all my questions.  If I told her about my encounter with Father Palano, she’d think I was the crazy one.  She might even want me to leave.   

I had a chance for a new beginning.  Why blow it by speaking about things that were impossible?

It was pleasantly warm in the valley.  The slight breeze blew strands of hair across my face.  I pulled the loose hairs back, allowing the teasing air to dry the sweat from my neck.   We stood silently for a while, neither of us needing to make conversation, the same as it was with Piper.  When I was around anyone else I felt the need to chatter away about something not important, but not with my best friend, or this woman it seemed.

“All right, my girl, let’s fix supper,” the wonderful silence was broken by Aunt Ila’s commanding tone.

With mixed emotions, I followed her along the hard-packed dirt path to the cabin, only this time, she walked more leisurely.  We meandered between blooms with large, vibrant petals and dainty little ones. In places the flowers spilled right into the pathway and brushed against my legs.  Angus was right behind me, and I reached out until his tongue found my fingertips. 

A twinge of apprehension fluttered at the back of my mind, keeping me alert.  Just before I stepped onto the wooden steps of the front porch, I was compelled to turn around.  I scanned the shadows of the tree line, looking for nothing in particular.

I remembered the wooden enclosure and a chill passed over me that made me catch my breath. 

What
was
hidden beyond its walls? 

Psalms 91:11

For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.

Ember ~ Seven

A
stirring of air through the opened window of the cabin carried with it the perfumed scents from the blossoms outside.  Colorful quilts were draped on the furniture and bright red curtains adorned the windows.  Even though the exposed logs were rustic, I was impressed with the modern refrigerator and the thickly cushioned couch and chairs that were in front of the fireplace.  The woodsy smell from the charred remnants of a fire hung lightly in the air and the late afternoon sun spilled warmly into the room from the western facing windows.     

There was a door at the back of the kitchen that was open to what appeared to be a large storeroom.  Craning my neck, I got a peek at dried plants hanging from the ceiling and jars crammed on shelves.  Near the fireplace was another door and I figured it led to the bedroom and bathroom.  Aunt Ila had warned me on the phone that we’d be sharing the one bedroom in the small cabin.  I didn’t mind much. It went with the whole roughing-it-in-the-wilderness thing.