Millie was just washing her hands after putting the finishing touches to pie she planned to serve for her and Arthur that evening, he was running half an hour late at this point which meant only one thing, the fellows at the tannery had pulled him into the local for a drink.

  Millie didn’t mind this much as very often she could be called upon by one of her friends to sup a gin or two. In any case he was never too late home, he was never a drunkard and his vice seemed to be a roaring fire and a pipe of ‘stinkweed’ she called it.

  She lay the pie into the oven and ran her finger over a rune stone that began to glow, its intensity increasing until she drew her hand away.

  She pottered for a few more minutes set the table and sat down at the table, pouring herself a small glass of wine.

  ‘Evening my love’ Millie announced to the opening door.

  ‘Aye, not a bad one my lady’ he came into the room leant down and gave her a kiss.

  ‘How was work?’

  ‘You know my love, same old same old’ he smiled

  ‘And the Cock and feathers?’

  ‘Yeh not to bad, popped in for one with the fellas after a long one’ he said ‘Only the one mind’

  ‘Ive gotta be back for my wonderful Millie I said to em’ He smiled a childish grin

  ‘You are so full of it Arthur’ Millie laughed ‘Anything exciting’

  ‘Aye news from one o’ the border towns, the one ran by the nasty Renwick fella’

  ‘Oh by the gods, what’s he done to those poor people now?’

  ‘That’s just it, someone’s got his guards good the way I hears it’ He said

  ‘You don’t say, what happened?’

  ‘Looks like someone set fire to the inn with the guardsmen inside’

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  ‘Oh lords what a horrible way to go’ She coiled back holding a hand to her face

  ‘That’s just the thing though’ he said drawing himself into a solemn thinking pose ‘they recons they didn’t ‘go’ ’ he said

  ‘What do you mean Arthur?’

  He squirmed uncomfortably in his chair and looked over at the oven.

  ‘They were clearing the rubble when they found the bodies, only they wasn’t dead, they was screaming, screaming bloody murder’.

  ‘That’s just folk telling tall tales’ she scoffed

  ‘Its not my love, by the way I hear of it they tried to heal em but the burns kept coming back but never enough to kill em’

  ‘Oh how awful’ she said

  ‘They ended up having to put them all to the sword in the end, just to stop the screaming the Baron had said’

  ‘How did it happen?’

  ‘the way folks tell of it that the guards had been up to no good and hurt the innkeep and his daughters something fierce, must be one of em summoned up some sort of curse on those lads’

  ‘Serves them right if that’s the way of it’ Millie said

  ‘Aye maybe’ he said glare not coming away from the oven.

  ‘They recons they saw the ghost of one of the daughters disappearing into the woods with a figure made of smoke, Summat really eerie about it all, gives me the creeps’ he said

  ‘Well don’t you worry you’ve got me to protect you, you big softie’ she smiled

  ‘ I know my love’ he pulled her down for another kiss, she lingered and gave him a long hug finished with a squeeze that felt a mighty comfort.

  ‘Anyway, what’s for dinner woman’ he said patting her on the back side.

  ‘It’ll be a venison pie which will be ready just in time’

  ‘Just in time for what?’ he queried

  ‘Just in time for you to fix that damn latch on the bedroom window’