Tuesday Tales: From the Word WOOD.

Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Tales. Our word prompt is WOOD. I’m continuing with my Contemporary Paranormal Romance Suspense, Listen to the Stones. Did I just add suspense to the title? I did and soon you’ll see why. Enjoy!

James led the way back into the Hall’s main room. In her earlier perusal of the room, she hadn’t noticed the two chests near the fireplace. James opened both chests. One contained small pieces of wood cut in roughly two-inch by six-inch boards. He laid six of the boards flat on the fireplace grate, then used four more atop them the way a child might to build a castle. He reached into the chest once more and brought out a box.

“What’s that?”

“Firestarter blocks. We use them and the wood to get the fire going.”

She watched as he added more pieces of wood to form a crude tepee, and then removed larger blackened chunks from the second chest and laid them across the wood.

“This is the peat. It’ll catch fire from the wood.”

He grabbed four more pieces of wood, put them upright in the center and then reached for the tall matches on the mantel. He struck the match and dropped it into the center of the wood and peat.

“Watch.”

Within seconds, an orange glow appeared in the center of the fireplace. The wood caught fire and then, so did the peat.

“Do I need to use wood again? I mean when this burns through.”

“If you let it burn out, you’ll have to repeat what I did. If you feed it chunks of peat, it’ll last until you’re ready to go to bed.”

The kitten in her arms roused and wriggled her way out of the towel, settling on the sofa beside her and began to wash.

“Raven must be feeling better. You said something when we found her, gave her an odd name.”

“Odder than a cat named after a bird?” He chuckled befroe sitting on the chair across from her. “I told you she might be Cat Sith. We Scots are superstitious and animals, in particular cats, often feature in our myths. Some see the Cat Sith as a fairy creature; others consider it to be a witch who can change into its form nine times, perhaps the origin of the belief that cats have nine lives.”

“Really?” She grinned and stared down at the kitten. “No doubt this little lady used one of them to escape the storm. What else can you tell me about this Cat Sith?”

“Well, if this is one of its reincarnations, she’s a few days early. Beware Cat Sith.”

That’s it. Come back next week for more. Don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales.