Free Storm on the Horizon (Fated For Love) by Ella J. Quince Page B

Oh.” Olivia took the chicken. She had never held a chicken before. “Thank you?”
    “ She will keep ye warm.” The man nodded and smiled.
    Olivia smiled in return and relaxed just a little. The man was missing two of his front teeth and looked old enough to be her grandfather. She slowly sat on the stool and hugged the chicken to her chest. Around her, the other men sat , and a great big red haired man cleared his throat.
    “ Did I ever tell ye lads of the Banshee of Rhone Isle?”
    They all nodded, already hushed, and in awe of whatever this man might say. Olivia deduced that this must be Calvin and that he must be a great storyteller indeed, to so easily entrance them. His voice was low and gruff with a thick Irish accent.
    “ They say she searches for the man who broke her heart, a married man who plied her with lies and promises. But when she heard tell about ‘is wife, she took her own life. She jumped into the Keegan River crying his name, wailing for the pain of her broken heart until the waters swept her away, never to be seen again. But every night when there’s a full moon and the fog is thicker than cotton, her wail carries over the island like an evil wind. She searches for a man, any young man, to lure to the river’s edge. Many men have been lost to her, always deep in their cups and lured by her sad aching voice, nary one of them will be seen again.”
    “ Has she ever been seen?” Willy asked in terrified awe.
    “ Aye,” Calvin nodded. “I’ve seen her. When I was a lad of two and twenty, I was walking home from the pub. Good ol’ Molly McCreedy had the best—” His eyes darted to Olivia. “Uh, pies in town, and I had me a slice after finishing a few pints.”
    Olivia looked around in confusion as the men around her snickered.
    “I was mindin’ me own business and whistling a merry tune when I heard it.”
    Every one leaned in, including Olivia. The chicken she held was quiet and nestled tightly against her, which was somehow soothing. It was oddly cozy here in the underbelly of the ship. The air was warm and musky, the walls and roof above her creaked and moaned with the rocking of the ship like her father when he tried to get up from the overly plush settee in the west parlor. The animals answered in a low chorus of mews and coo’s from time to time to express their displeasure.
    “ A sultry moaning cry came from the wood. I thought to me self, someone else was having pie too, but then I heard it. A woman’s soft voice cried ‘help me’. So I turned off from the path and entered the wood, and called out to her. At first, I heard nothing and could see nothing. The fog was growing thick, like a river of white overflowing its banks and creeping through the wood. I called out again, ready to turn tail for home but then I saw her. A shadow in the fog was moving towards me, a soft voice singing... ‘Come to me in the full moon light, follow my voice, twill lead to delight. I’ve waited for you, my sailor bold. Give me your heart and I will give you my own.’” Calvin sang in his deep raspy voice.
    “ I knew there were no bonnie lass to be found in such wicked woods, but I waited. The shadow moved closer and became a woman. Her hair whipped in the wind, her eyes glowed red with the wrath of a scorned woman. I turned to flee, and as I did, she lashed out at me with fingernails like claws and scratched me down me back. She screamed a wicked scream so loud it made me ears ring and bleed. I ran as fast I could, I ran until I had no breath in me lungs and me legs felt like mud. You can call me a coward, but I’ll never walk paths again, and you better believe that when the full moon sits high and the fog grows thick, you’ll see nary a soul by the Keegan River.”
    Olivia shivered. She had never seen nor heard of Rhone Isle or Keegan River, but she would never go there now, or any river on a foggy night during the full moon, for that matter. “What song is that?”
    “ Full Moon