Page 14 of Once Upon a Haunted Horn and Hoof

Chapter Five

“Ye are insane, Keithen. Ye canna trick a ghost!” Later that day, Cam sat scowling at Keithen from the stool pushed up to the drink board in the Horn and Hoof. Gavin was with him. Keithen stood behind the drink board.

“Shhhh.” Keithen’s eyes scanned the room. “Lennox might hear ye.”

“What does Callum have to say about this?” asked Gavin.

“He says he’ll never give the ghost his real recipe for makin’ Mountain Magic, but he’s willin’ to write down a fake one.”

From across the room, Lorna headed over. “This is dangerous, and I’m no’ sure it’s a good idea, Keithen.”

“Lorna, it’s fine.” Keithen took his betrothed’s hands in his, looking deeply into her eyes. He decided he was going to like being married to the beautiful lass after all. “Just have faith in me. I’ll fix this, I swear I will.”

“Well, all right,” she said, looking up at him shyly. A blush colored her face. “After all, it’s for the best.”

“Ye’re damned right it is.” Keithen boldly leaned over and kissed her on the mouth. If there had actually been patrons in the tavern, he wasn’t sure he would have done this. And certainly not if her father was present.

“Oooh, I think I saw him up at the top of the stairs,” Lorna said in a low voice.

“Get Callum, quickly.” Keithen pretended to be wiping off the drink board.

“I’ll get him.” Lorna ran off to the kitchen, and returned with old Callum limping along behind her. “We’re ready,” she whispered.

“Callum, where are ye off to?” Keithen spoke the rehearsed words loudly.

Callum scowled at him. “Ye already forgot?”

“Just go with it,” said Keithen from the side of his mouth. “Do exactly as planned.”

“Och, aye. Of course.” Callum cleared his throat and almost shouted, “I’m off to work at my still. Now, where did I put that secret recipe I wrote down? I’m always forgettin’ it, so that is why I wrote it on a piece of parchment.” He dug into his pouch, really not able to find it.

“Try inside yer tunic,” said Keithen, his eyes flashing up to the top of the stairs where he saw the ghost of Lennox peeking around a corner.

“Ah, here it is.” Callum pulled a piece of parchment out from under his tunic and held it in the air. “I’ll just go use this now. But it’s a secret, so no one can see it.” He over-acted, and in Keithen’s opinion it wasn’t believable in the least. Hopefully, the ghost wouldn’t notice. Callum opened his mouth to say more, but Keithen stopped him.

“That’s enough,” he said in a low voice. “Ye’ve got his attention, now go!”

Callum hobbled to the front door, purposely dropping the parchment. Keithen watched as the ghost of Lennox slowly floated down the stairs toward it.

Just as Callum reached out to open the door, someone opened it from the other side. A breeze blew in, and the parchment fluttered across the floor.

“Chieftain! What the hell are ye doin’ here? Ye’re goin’ to ruin everythin’,” spat Callum.

“Oh, hell,” mumbled Gavin from his stool.

“This canna be good,” said Cam.

“My da is here?” Lorna spun around to see.

Keithen groaned. Sure enough, Chieftain MacNeil marched into the tavern with several of his men right behind him. Then, a woman walked into the tavern as well.

“Mathair is here too?” whined Lorna.

“Bloody hell.” Keithen could see that things were going from bad to worse.

“This is my wife, Anna,” announced Bhaltair. “Anna, this is Callum MacKeefe, who owns the tavern.”

“Hello,” said the woman, seeing the piece of parchment on the floor. “Oh, I think ye dropped somethin’.”