McCann's Manor (50 page)

"Well, how long has Moira been here?"

"They were married three months before William was born, so seven years it has been now,” she said.

"That's a long time to be working magic against a person. She must really have a deep sense of vengeance to have tortured him so slowly all this time—and you must love him very much to stay here. I can't believe they have been poisoning him that long and he's still with us,” Kim said.

"I have no place else to go. As for himself, he would have died long ago had he not been such a strong man."

"And had you not been trying to keep him alive,” Kim speculated.

Melody sighed, shook her head. “I have tried me best, to be sure. Sometimes I think I have done him a great injustice prolonging his suffering thus. Something in me wouldna let him go. I am that selfish, because what will happen to little William and me after he is gone?” she asked, her eyes giving away her anguish as the tears welled in them.

"You and William will be fine, Melody. I have it on good authority that Tarrh made arrangements to take care of you after his death,” Kim comforted.

She shook her head. “What life would there be for me without him?” she asked, sobs bursting from her as the tears spilled onto her face and ran down her cheeks.

Kim put her arms around Melody, patted her on the back. “There, there. I know you are near the end of your rope, but you must stay strong. If there is
anything at all
that can be done to save Tarrh, we're going to do it. Don't give up yet,” she encouraged.

"Oh, Miss Kimberly, I
am
sorry,” she wailed. “Sometimes I just think I canna go on, but I know I must, if only for William's sake. If I canna be with himself, I have no designs on this house or his fortune."

"I understand. And I honestly believe we
can
help. You just need to dare to believe it yourself. You've already shown so much faith by keeping him going this long; you must have believed somewhere in your heart that someone would come along who could help—and here we are!” Kim said.

"Aye, and I bless Danu and Merlin to have ye here! I didna mean what I said about not needing seers,” she said.

Kim smiled, shook her head. “That's all right. I have heard that from lots of people in my life. Guess psychics never did have very good reputations, huh?"

"I do not know about that, but ye are all right in my book. Anyone who could fool Moira as you just did has to be top notch,” Melody said.

"Do you really think I fooled her, or is she just biding her time and planning on attacking me later?” Kim asked.

"Nay, she would have had the dogs feast on both of us if she had not believed ye,” Melody said with a sigh.

Kim grimaced, rolled her eyes. “Now
there
is a pleasant thought. Have you seen the dogs feast on human flesh
often
?” Kim inquired.

Melody laughed heartily. “Now you mention it, I have
never
seen them eat
anyone
, but I am sure they could,” she speculated.

"I'm sure of it, too; let's hope we
never
see it, especially close-up! Where is the potion? We should be getting it to Benjamin,” Kim concluded.

"Aye, we should. I will fetch it. You go on in to the others and I will join you presently. Tarrh is just through this panel here,” Melody assured her as she touched the wall and a panel slid soundlessly open.

Kim peered past the heavy curtain that hung in front of the open panel, found only Tarrh lying in the bed with his back to her. She wondered where Liz and Benjamin were as she stepped quietly into the room, sat in a large chair near the fire. Something wasn't quite right, but there was nothing she could put her finger on. Perhaps it was merely the near disaster in Moira's room moments before, she thought. If Moira hadn't believed Melody, she'd have never let them leave her chambers.
Or would she
?

Kim found the high-backed chair to be unusually comfortable as she sank deep into it, took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes. She was still shaken from her ordeal with Moira and the dogs, but she forced herself to relax and to think pleasant thoughts. Soon she was floating on a soft cloud of respite, feeling far from the tumult of moments before. She allowed herself to relax completely and just drift with no thoughts of Moira to disturb her, no doubts to plague her serenity. She was at peace.

Somewhere in the distance, as though very far away, she heard a voice calling to her. She listened a moment, but decided it was her imagination. Then she heard it again. It was Tarrh.

"I said, were you successful in your quest?” Tarrh was asking,

She tried to shake herself back to consciousness, opened her eyes and looked at Tarrh, who was still lying in his bed with his back to her. How long had she been resting? Where was Melody? Where were Benjamin and Liz? “Yes,” she said softly. “Yes, we were."

"Ah, very good. You surely are a miracle worker,” he said.

"Not really,” she said. “I only did what Melody told me to do. She's the one who is miraculous."

"Is
that
right?” another voice said. It was Moira's voice, coming from behind Kim's chair.

Kim caught her breath, turned to face the woman behind her, but found herself inches from the head of the larger of Moira's two dogs, his great fangs bared in a rabid display, inches from her face. She froze and stared into the eyes which seemed to glow red as they glared back at her.

Moira shoved Melody from behind the chair into the floor in front of Kim. Melody was crying as she looked apologetically up at Kim. “I am sorry, Kim. I didna think they would know we tried to deceive them,” she said. “I was wrong."

"So, the innocent, deaf and dumb
cousin
is an impostor, is she?” Tarrh said. Kim watched as the man lying with his back to her slowly turned and rose from the bed. It wasn't Tarrh after all, but Sean, Kim surmised. They had laid a trap for her and she had easily fallen into it. She looked at Melody in utter despair. “Don't apologize, Melody. I'm the one who blew it. I should have been more aware,” Kim said. Then she turned her eyes to Sean. “Where's Tarrh? What have you done with him?"

The man towered in front of her, his laugh echoing in her ears. “It is none of your concern what we have done with him. I should think your own fate would be much more disturbing to you, my dear. We know who you are and what you are doing here. We have your two friends locked away where they can do no damage and you will soon join them. What have you to say for yourself?"

Kim stared at him defiantly, said nothing.

Sean leaned down to face her, his hands resting on the arms of the chair in which she now found herself imprisoned. “What? No plea for mercy? Aren't you the brave one, though?"

"Any pleas I might have would fall on deaf ears here, so why bother?” she spat at him.

A slow smile curled his lips as he pushed his face closer yet to hers. “Very well,” he said in a low, menacing tone, “you prefer to meet your fate at once, do you? I
can
grant you that much, little one!"

Having said those words, he grabbed Kim by the wrist with one big hand and Melody with the other, dragged them to their feet and out the door of Tarrh's bed chamber. He swiftly crossed the length of the corridor that led to the center of the house and the void that was the library in McCann's manor at the Actor's Guild, but which loomed as only a seemingly bottomless pit here in the house Tarrh had built.

Kim and Melody struggled in vain to pull from his grasp, not really knowing which fate they preferred—falling to their deaths into the blackness of Tarrh's pit, or succumbing to the fangs of the two snarling beasts that had followed Sean and Moira down the corridor. Sean stopped just inches from the edge of the precipice, his hold on them ever tightening as he inched them closer to the brink of the pit and their certain demise.

He seemed to be taking a fiendish delight in watching them squirm helplessly before him. “Any last words?” he asked.

"Don't do this,” Kim breathed in a whisper.

He laughed long and hard before replying. “Give me one reason not to kill you both right now,” he demanded.

Kim struggled to think of something she could say that would stop him from tossing them like small bags of trash over the edge and into the void. “It really isn't your style of murder, is it? I mean, just to kill us outright, without magic or poison? Won't it mar your record?” she asked sarcastically.

"You think you would be the first I have thrown into the pit?” he asked.

"Do you really enjoy the act of killing that much?” Kim asked.

"I shall enjoy killing
you
that much,” he retorted, pushing them closer still to the edge.

"No! No, please,” Melody pleaded. “What about my William? Who will see to him if ye kill me?"

"Don't worry about William, Melody,” Moira said with a cruel chuckle. “I shall see to him
personally
. It is the least I can do for all the years of loyal service you have given me. Finish them, Sean. I grow weary of their pathetic whining."

Sean inched still nearer the edge, but he held them firmly. He looked down into the blackness, then at each of them, his eyes searching theirs.
What is he waiting for
, Kim wondered. There was no doubt he could easily be done with the task at hand, but still he paused.

"What are you waiting for?” Moira demanded, parroting Kim's unspoken question. “Finish it!"

Sean nodded in agreement, shoved them out in front of him and simply released them. Melody fell screaming into the darkness, but Kim grabbed with her free hand for his arm as she felt her feet dangling beneath her. Sean gave her an evil glare and used his other hand to wrench her hold loose, then dropped her into the void. She felt herself falling and groping for something, anything to grab hold of that would stop her descent into blackness. She found nothing.

Kim awoke with a start and a hand full of Tarrh's nightshirt. “Are you all right, Lass?” Tarrh asked as he struggled to keep his balance.

Kim drew in a sharp breath as she realized the scenario she had just participated in was only a dream. “Tarrh! You are here! I thought they had finished you off and they were throwing Melody and me into the pit,” she exclaimed.

Tarrh sank onto the foot of his wide bed, more than a little exhausted by the effort it had taken him to climb out of the bed and cross to Kim's side. “'Twas a dream, then? I thought you were dying for real,” he said breathlessly.

"So did I,” she said, “it all
seemed
so real. One minute I was just relaxing here and the next, Sean and Moira were here and knew Melody and I had stolen the potion. It was horrible. I was totally helpless."

"Aye, that is the way they work, all right,” he agreed. “Perhaps it was a spell to test you."

"Well, if it was, I failed, big time!” Kim said. “Speaking of which, Melody was going back to get the potion from wherever she hid it. She said it would only take a minute and she still isn't back. And where are Liz and Benjamin?"

"There, there, relax a bit,” Tarrh encouraged. “Melody came with the potion and she went to my workroom with it and the others to see what they could do with it. You slept right through everything, lass."

Kim took a deep breath, smiled. “Well, I'm not usually that sound a sleeper. Where is this workroom of yours?"

Tarrh edged his way around the bed and back under his covers. “Through that door and down the hall. Last door on your right,” he said.

"Is there anything I can do for you before I go? Do you need anything?"

"Nay, I am comfortable enough. Tell me, though, what happened in Moira's chambers that disturbed you so?” he asked.

Kim shook her head, shrugged. “Nothing really
happened
, except that the potion made Melody ill when she tucked it into her dress and she went to hide it while I was feeding the dogs. Then Moira came back prematurely and was upset to see me there alone with the dogs."

"Aye,” he said with a chuckle, “that would be more than a bit upsetting, for the
both
of you. How did you handle it?"

"Melody told me not to speak in front of the dogs because of my accent and that I should pretend I was her deaf and dumb cousin, Callie,” Kim explained.

"Ah, Callie!” he said, quite unsurprised. “Yes, I have met Callie, but I must say you are much more personable than she, though she does look something like you."

"You mean Callie
exists
?” Kim asked.

"Aye, she exists,” he affirmed, “and she
is
deaf and dumb. I should have liked to have seen your little act. Fooling Moira is no easy task, you know."

"Yes, I surmised as much,” Kim said. “Melody seems to be quite adept at it, though. She even made a believer of me and I knew the difference."

"Melody is a survivor,” he said thoughtfully. “She would do anything to make sure her position here is safe."

"She is very good at what she does,” Kim commented.

"Aye, that she is, that she is,” he agreed. “She is a remarkable woman, to be sure."

"She certainly earned my respect in Moira's chambers, I'll tell you that much,” Kim said.

"Aye. She is quite good at managing Moira. Uses Moira's own vanity against her, I think,” he said.

Kim nodded thoughtfully. She could only imagine what it must have been like for Melody, living in this situation and having to survive by her wits in order not to be thrown out of the manor. “She is a brave woman and quite brilliant,” Kim said.

"Aye, it does me proud to have her here. Where would I be without her?"

"May you never learn the answer to that question,” Kim said.

"Aye, may I never learn the answer, and may she never regret giving me her love,” he said with a smile as he settled back into his pillow. “Go to the others, lass, and may the goddess bless your efforts. My strength is leaving me for the last time. We will need a great deal of magic if we are to succeed now,” he said wearily. “I will hold on as best I can for as long as I can."

"I'm sure Benjamin will have an antidote soon, Tarrh. Rest and peace be yours,” she said as she tiptoed from the room.