| A visit through time | ||
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The road is small and narrow, and luckily we haven't meet a car yet. The excitement is in the air; it fills the car and makes us both egar. I can't take my eyes of the road. I have been here before; I can feel it so strongly. There it is, the sign that tells us to go left. As you steer the car into the small road, the past surround the car and us. You slow down and stop the car in the middle of the road, just starring at the building ahead. I see it too and my heart starts to pound. You put you hand on mine, squeeze it without taking your eyes of the castle. "It is just as I dreamt", you say silently. Not a word can describe the beauty we see; not any joy can match what we feel. "Yes", I answer just as silently as you do. You step out of the car. I look at you as you sit down on the hood of the car. I come up in front of you and you turn me around and pull me into your arms. As I lean back against you, you kiss me gently on my neck, holding me closer and whisper: "We are home now, we are home." My horse has stopped on the top of the hill. He is anxious to get home but I just want to sit here for a moment and let my heart fill with joy. There it is, my home. The huge stone castle lays there, surrounded by green grass, a few trees and a stream just by the east wall. The happiness and joy my body fills with, makes me feel like I am invincible. My horse wants to go home, back to his warm and safe stable. After a while I let him. My heart is pounding; everybody must hear the echo off it in the hallway. I am excited, I am scared all at once. "Finally!" You smile and put your hand on my back to lead me forward. "Can you feel it?" I whisper and you nod. "Aye, I can feel it!" The mistress of the hotel directs us up the huge stairs and further on into a long corridor at our left. On both sides there are paintings on the walls, showing the people who once lived in the castle. The portraits show the men from the clanfamily several hundred years' back in time. They are all painted in their clancolored clothes, their faces are serious and the weapon they used in battles ready in their hands. On each painting there is a metalplatter at the bottom of the frame with name and birthdate. As we pass several doors I see candlelight placed high up on each side of the doorframe. The light they reflect gives the corridor it's light. An old red carpet is laying on the floor, worn out by age. We both look fascinated at all the history that surrounds us. "If these walls could talk" I whisper. "Yeah", you answer. "Many stories would be told. " I put my hand safely in yours. "Maybe someday the walls will talk and tell someone about us", you continue. "Do we have a story to tell?" I ask. "We will sweetheart!" The lady stops in front of a huge door, opens it and steps aside to let us enter. "This will be your room. I hope you will have a pleasant stay. Dinner will be served in two hours." She leaves us. You enter the room, walk slowly to the windows to look at the view. A fireplace is on the right wall and a nice fire keeps the room warm. On the opposite side there is a huge bed. The room contains very little furniture but it is yet so beautiful and perfect. "Come" you say. "Look at this view." I walk up beside you and look out. I take a deep breath and my heart stops for a second. "It's just like I thought it would be", I whisper. " I have been here before." "I know. Just behind that hill is a stream. You can see the top of the trees, you remember?" I look into your eyes, put my hand gently on your cheek and smile. "I do remember!" "We will go there tomorrow", you say and then you give me a kiss on the lips. There are twenty of us that arrive back home. As we enter the great hall, a warm and nice fire light ups the room. There are a lovely sent of food lingering in the air. We are all hungry and tired. As I sit down by the table I feel how tired I really am. The food will surely make me more alert. There is an atmosphere of gaiety among us. We are all good friends who had fought together many times during these past five years. We know each other well, both the bad sides as well as the good sides. Times are hard and we have to make a living. There are many people we have to feed and the only thing that brings us money and food are to rob others on the road. You could call us pirates, we see ourselves as survivors. This hunt has been successful; we have been lucky. The next day we decide to explore the castle and its surroundings. All the time I feel as if we went back in time, far away from this time of age. And the feeling grow stronger and stronger as we seek out the older parts of the castle. You walk ahead and lead the way. I follow you; amazed by all the things I see and feel. The staircase, the hall and the great hall with the kitchen behind it are all recited in the Keep. Our bedroom on the second floor is called the West Chamber. As we get closer to the East Chamber, we see that both time and battles have taken a piece from the room. A big hole in the wall tells us about the battles the castle had been exposed to. This side of the castle is more like a ruin. You look out the hole in the wall and see the trees. You decide that we shall go there at once. We go hand in hand out into the garden of the castle. The people who are responsible for the well being of the surroundings have created an amazing flower garden in the backyard of the castle. We stroll trough the garden and look at the flowers, feeling the sent of them and enjoy. You take me to the east hill further down to the trees. The trees we both remember so well, and have so close in our hearts. You let go of my hand and run down to the tree next to the stream. You hide behind it and wait for me. I slowly walk down there to look for you but you are gone. "Hey, where are you?" I whisper. You say nothing. I start to walk around the tree, you move away from me, one step at the time. I turn around and look at the surrounding, trying to find you. After a short while you sneak up behind me and grab me from behind. I laugh and turn around in your arms. "What did I tell you?" you say and kiss me. "Did I not tell you that this is the place?" "Yes you did. I feel so...happy. I don't know. There is something about this place that makes me feel all these feelings that I had forgotten. You know, somewhere inside me, there are this ancient sense of warmth, a security of knowledge." "I know", you say. "I got the same feelings. This is everything I dreamt of. It really feels like I have come home. Like I don't have to search no more." The castle gets really cold in the evenings. There is nothing that keeps the rooms from getting damp, the moist that seeks itself into the castle through the walls, the air that gets thin and makes it easier but cold to breath. Even the fire doesn't give the same kind of warmth as it did a few hours ago. The glass in the windows should keep the coldness outside, but it is an old building with no heatingsystem. As the moor are open and gives the wind time to accelerate the coldness will get stronger every second. There are not enough trees to keep the wind from blowing as it pleases. When the wind hits the lancets it makes a sound like a crying baby. A sort of howling that goes right through your marrow. Some would say that it is the ghosts that play with you, but if you where brought up in a castle like this, you knew that is was not, or was it? Every time the wind howled in the building, that noise brought back memories. It was the same sound as from a woman that was burned on a stake for being a witch. She would cry out the fear and the pain with a scream that echoed between the hills and that would haunt you for the rest of your life. Maybe the wind still carried her scream, year after year to remind us of what she went through. The lancets are way to narrow to climb through, but just by the wall, to reach out to the wall-walk the lancets are wider. You can walk along the wall all the way to the other side of the bailey. For easy access to defend the castle there are a wall-stair just beside the gatehouse. This castle doesn't have a moat, but to keep it safe from enemies we have created a barbican around the back of the castlewall. As we sit down by the stream looking at the water as it makes it's way past us; I feel the peace inside me. You let yourself go back in time. The feeling you got when you saw me getting closer to the trees, the worry you felt when you looked behind me, waiting for some of my relatives coming after me. That they had discovered us and our secret meeting place under the trees just by the stream. And the joy when none came except for me. You never had to say that you loved me. The way you held me in your arms, the way you kissed me, the way you looked at me told me you did in a much stronger way than any words ever could. When I felt you arms around me it was like I could not tell what was I and what was you. We were as one. When you kisses me all good intentions disappeared in an instant. When you looked at me I drowned in you eyes, unable to turn my head away, unable to say no to you. The ground is warm from the sun. The grass tickles me as I lean back against it. With you beside me I feel like I never want to leave this place. You feel the same. This evening we have decided to spend by the fireplace in our room. As we have talked about so many times, we now want to do it. Sit in front of the fire, telling stories, listen to the sounds around us, cuddle and make a toast with a glass of red wine. But for now...we will spend the entire afternoon here, by the trees, just listening to the nature, breath the air from the moors of Scotland and enjoy each others company. The end ©1999 Em Co® |