Tuesday Tales: From the Word SKIN

Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Tales. This week, our word prompt is SKIN. The story is moving ahead quickly and I’m continuing with Listen to the Stones with a milder scene than the last two.

Jerome stood and paced. “There’s no easy way to say this. I knew you were arriving on the nineteenth, or at least I suspected you were. Someone in Ewen’s office related to Nathan told him, and he passed the information on to me.” He stopped and faced her. “I came to Lewis a couple of days earlier to arrange to store my furniture and visited the stones. MacIsaac was there. He mentioned you were expected on the twentieth. I wasn’t sure who was right, but I worried about you. There had been inquiries into ancestral claims against the land. I was afraid someone might try to force you to leave. You know I want access to the stones. I’ve been open about that—well, maybe not at first—but I meant you no harm. If someone scared you away, then they might not be willing to let me buy the land near the stones, preferring to sell them to the highest bidder, who might be more interested in the Lewisian gneiss than their historic value. The Isle of Lewis and Harris is grand and beautiful, but it can be harsh and dangerous to the unsuspecting. When I realized you were alone and childless … well, I wanted to protect you. That was before I even realized who you were, that you were the woman in my dreams.”

“You thought someone might try to do more than scare me—that they might try to what? Kill me? Make me disappear? I sincerely hope you’re wrong. Jerome, believe me when I say I didn’t ask for any of this. I suspected my arrival wouldn’t please everyone, but I never considered the date would be the issue. Tell me the rest.”

He nodded. “While the snake that walks upright could be the demon parasite I saw, the one somehow released in Bronagh’s cottage. A nuckelavee is the most feared of all the evil fey creatures who live in the sea. Like a selkie, it can leave the sea and walk on land, but it does so as a demon horse. Descriptions vary when it comes to size and gender, but essentially, it’s part horse, with the torso and head of a man on its back, and flipper-like protrusions on its leg. The creature embodies all of Mother Nature’s rage but none of her kinder qualities. Very few people have seen one up close and lived to tell the tale, so if Patrick Sykes did see one, he’s bloody fortunate to have escaped with his skin intact.”

“So you’ve never seen one, not even in your time at the stones?”

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