“Makesure the cleric is clean of drink,” Torin ordered, sitting at a campfire with Kinnell. “I want the keep and village blessed.”
“Aye, I will see it done, but tell me… you have a warm cottage with a wife snug in your bed and you sit here with me in the cold each night, well into the evening, since arriving home. You obviously wait for her to fall asleep before you join her, and I must ask why. She is a beauty who you should not only be enjoying but also seeing to your duty in producing an heir.”
“Worry not it will be done.”
Kinnell’s brow shot up. “So, your vows are yet to be sealed?”
“I am allowing her time to adapt to her life here.”
Kinnell laughed. “She is not adapting, she is adjusting everyone around her to her outspoken and inquisitive nature. Everyone talks about how she chatters endlessly, asks questions, and mostly answers them herself, and how kind she is to them, often requesting instead of demanding and offering her gratitude when they accomplish an assigned task. They do not know what to make of her.”
“She is a bit of a puzzle.”
“Trying to get all the pieces to fit, are you?” Kinnell said with a chuckle. “And why all of a sudden are you in a hurry to see the keep blessed when your wife seems to have discovered a reasonable explanation for the moaning and heavy-breathing ghost?”
Torin glanced around.
“Only the foolish would be sitting out in the cold tonight. No one is about and the sentinels are too far off to hear anything. Tell me what disturbs you.”
“So, you think me foolish,” Torin accused.
“Aye, seal your vows and be done with it and give yourself and the clan a good life, something your da never did,” Kinnell said, keeping his voice low just to be certain no one could hear him.
“It is not my wife that troubles me,” Torin admitted, though Kinnell’s words did ring true. He wanted to be a better man than his da and to see his clan treated well so they could all prosper.”
“What is it then?” Kinnell asked. “Has it anything to do with that scroll the merchant gifted your wife? People are curious to know what it reads.”
“Their curiosity will not be satisfied,” Torin whispered and lowered his voice even more. “Part of it talks of how ghosts are demon souls who can find no rest and how they bring their torment to the living.”
Kinnell stared at him in silence for a moment before asking, “Does it say how to get rid of them?”
“The area the ghost haunts needs to be cleansed well, then blessed by a cleric.”
“You sound doubtful that it will work.”
“I am since it also states that if the ghost is left too long in residence, it may never leave and will cause much chaos, destroying all who reside with it.” Torin shook his head. “I ignored the problem too long. I should have seen to it sooner.”
“Nonsense,” Kinnell argued. “You did not ignore it. You did what you could and even went in search of a cleric willing to travel here. And I know you well enough to know you will not surrender to the ghost.”
“You’re right, I won’t. One way or another I will see him ousted from not only the isle but the keep as well. I but worry what damage he may cause before I am able to do that.” Torin looked to the flames that flickered wildly from a sudden breath of wind.
Kinnell gave a quick glance around to see if someone or something had caused it and shivered when he saw nothing but the darkness around them.
“Your wife read it. What was her thought on it?” Kinnell asked.
“She agreed that having the cleric bless the keep was a wise decision, but she has yet to agree that a ghost actually resides in the keep.” His voice grew lower, thinking he heard someone approach. “She feels more proof is needed. Though, she says that if the ghost is not heard from after the blessing, then the problem is solved.”
Kinnell did not bother to keep his voice to a whisper. “You both seem to have it well in hand.”
“What does Lord Torin and his wife have well in hand?”
Kinnell jumped startled, not so Torin.
“You need to listen more closely, Kinnell,” Iona scolded. “I frightened you but not so Lord Torin. He heard my footfalls.”
“You tread far too softly,” Kinnell scolded.
“Nonsense,” Iona shot back. “You fail to listen well enough.”