CursedLaird Read Free Page B

once stood almost
exactly where Taymouth Castle now stood. According to the dates she found, it
was torn down around 1805.
    Funny, she’d lived here her whole life and never paid much
attention to its history. For years she’d worked to dissect tidbits of history
pertaining to sunken ships around the world in order to locate them. But she’d
never thought to read about her native area. Was there a sunken treasure in
Loch Tay? She leaned against the headboard and closed her eyes. Line by line
she deciphered the poem inside her head.
     
    Thy mighty Ben Lawers surrounds thee
     
    She knew Ben Lawers was the mountain range surrounding Loch
Tay. Its beauty added to the perfect backdrop for a loch. The phenomenal
network of hiking and winding bike paths through its rolling hills helped
attract tourists. Not to mention the crannogs. The second and third sentences,
she easily dissected.
     
    Four rounded forts protect thy sleeping bairn
    Chained within the center floats thy fourth
     
    The remnants of every crannog found so far were round. She
sat upright and gathered her notepad. What if these two lines pertained to
crannogs in the loch? She drew a diagram of her thoughts, placing four round
crannogs in a circle with a fifth in the middle. Could it possibly be some sort
of fortification guarding something? But what? Caledonia grabbed her map of the
loch and compared the locations of where known crannogs existed with the spot
she intended to dive in the morning. Her heartbeat increased. It sat dead
center of where four crannogs had been located.
    She lifted the parchment and reread the second line to make
sure she wasn’t remembering it incorrectly. A sleeping bairn? What did a
sleeping child have to do with this? Caledonia sat back, perplexed for a
moment. That part confused her so she shook it off and continued.
     
    Safe beneath thy watchful eye of Breadalbane
     
    According to the history book, the Campbells of Breadalbane
owned the vast majority of land holdings in the area, including Balloch Castle.
Could it be that this particular clan watched over something—something they hid
within a crannog in the center of the loch? Caledonia’s brain clicked, trying
to piece the puzzle together.
     
    Rest ye weary one fer yer day of release shall come
     
    Rest, weary one, for your day of release shall come? Her
brow bunched. Had they placed a child inside a crannog for some particular
reason? Was this poem not about a treasure, but the death of a child and the
spot they buried him? Her heart sank. Was she about to plunder a child’s grave?
She stared at the last line of the poem and confusion swirled again.
     
    Lest nay be the month of one when thy favored fish of
Balloch run
     
    The favored fish of Balloch was the salmon, which ran every
January. Fishermen from all over still visited Loch Tay in January for the best
salmon fishing around.
    “Okay,” she whispered aloud as she gathered her thoughts.
Maybe this poem didn’t mean anything. Maybe a distraught mother, who lost her
son, wrote it and they placed him in a crannog as his tomb. Great. She sighed.
She’d been hooked on a death poem thinking it meant something phenomenal lay
hidden in the bottom of the loch.
    Caledonia got out of bed and paced. She walked over to the
window and opened it, hoping the fresh air would clear her head. From her room,
she had the best view of the loch. Moonlight glittered across its surface
giving it a romantic appeal, which made her smile.
    Breathing deep, she took in the soothing coolness of the
night and sighed her exhalation. Silence filled the air. Nothing moved except
the breeze. All was peaceful for as far as she could see, so she knew the quiet
fishing village rested for the night.
    A yawn overtook her and she decided she needed to sleep.
When she reached to close the window, the breeze gave her one last gift, but
not a peaceful one. A whisper in the form of a sweet, feminine voice rode on
its wings and taunted her tired