and you've come all this way to be here… The Curse is the reason why so few have
come to pay their respects, even with the reading of the will to tempt them.
It's why the servants ran away, and why the Quality no longer accept invitations
to Tower MacNeil. Please, be seated, all of you, and I'll tell you of the secret
Shame of the MacNeils, and how it has come back to haunt us. I think it's time
for the truth.'
Everyone found themselves chairs, and drew them up in a semicircle facing the
fireplace. Jamie stayed where he was, with his back to the fire, standing almost
to attention, with his hands clasped behind his back, so the others wouldn't see
them shaking. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and even and very
controlled.
'Most people have heard something about the Curse of the MacNeils. That there is
a monster which haunts us, and has done for generations. There have been many
songs about it, and even one or two plays. Romantic fictions, all of them. We
don't object; they help conceal the reality behind the myth. There is a Secret
in our Family, handed down from father to eldest son alone, from generation to
generation.
'Long ago, in the days before proper records were kept, a child was born to the
MacNeils, to the head of the Family at that time. That child was the eldest son,
destined to continue the Family bloodline. Unfortunately, he was also horribly
deformed. He should have been killed at birth, but the MacNeil was a kind and
tender-hearted man. The creature was, after all, his son. Perhaps a cure could
be found. The MacNeil all but bankrupted the Family trying to find it, paying
for doctors and sorcerers and healers of all kinds, but no cure was ever found.
'The creature became increasingly violent, and eventually had to be put away,
for everyone's safety. The MacNeil took full responsibility for his awful son,
and none of the Family or servants ever saw it again. Finally, some years later,
the creature died, and everyone heaved a sigh of relief. The normal second son
became the eldest son, the bloodline continued through him, and everything
returned to normal.
'That is not the Secret. The songs and the romances and the plays are based
loosely on what I have just told you, and from those distorted stories come the
vague rumors that most people mean when they refer to the Curse of the MacNeils.
The Secret, handed down from father to eldest son, is very simple. The creature
did not die.
'The MacNeil had finally despaired of his monstrous son, and decided it should
die, to free the Family of its burden. He gave the creature poison to drink, and
walled up its room. He and the second son did the job themselves, rather than
risk bringing in workmen or servants who might have talked. And all the time
they labored with bricks and mortar, they could hear the creature pacing
restlessly back and forth in its cell. The poison did not kill it. Time and
again the MacNeil and his son returned to listen at the wall they'd built, but
though the creature had no access to food or water, still it lived. They could
hear it moving about in its cell, and sometimes scratching at the walls.
'Years passed. The MacNeil died, and later so did his son, but the creature
lived on. No one ever knew of its existence save the head of the Family and the
eldest son, the Secret passing from generation to generation to generation when
the son reached his majority. And so it went, down all the many years.
'Only this time, something went wrong. My father passed on the Secret to his
eldest son, my brother William. But William died just three weeks ago, in a
riding accident, and then my father was killed in a border clash, before he
could pass on the details of the Secret to me. I was able to piece together what
I've just told you from studying his papers after his death, but that's as far
as his notes go. Presumably there are other papers somewhere, prepared in case
of an emergency, but I've been unable to find them,. No doubt Dad would have got
around to telling me where they were, just in case… but who would ever have
thought he'd die so suddenly…'
Jamie stopped abruptly as his voice broke. Holly rose quickly from her seat and
moved forward to hug her brother's arm protectively.
'Is that why the servants left?' said Hawk. 'Because the Secret got out?'
Jamie shook his head. 'Not long after Dad died, the servants began seeing
things. A dark figure, padding through the corridors late at night, or in the
early hours of the morning. It always disappeared when challenged. I had the
Tower searched from top to bottom by my security people, but they never found
anyone. Then, things started to be broken. Vases, glasses, crockery. A chair was
found smashed to pieces. Noises were heard at night; something that might have
been screams, or laughter. My people began to leave, despite all I could offer
them in the way of money or reassurances.
'Even my security people wouldn't stay. They all thought it was the ghost of my
father, come back to haunt the Tower. Only I knew better. After all these years,
the creature had finally got out. Obviously some part of the Secret dealt with
how to keep it confined, and since I didn't know what to do… So far, it hasn't
been able to leave Tower MacNeil; the Tower's protective wards see to that.'
'Why haven't you called in the city Guard?' asked Fisher. 'Maybe their experts
could find the creature…'
'No!' said Jamie sharply. 'This is Family business, and it has to stay within
the Family. If the Secret ever gets out, the whole world will know the MacNeil
Family is based on a lie. That all of us are descended from a second son. The
Quality would declare that we had betrayed our bloodline and inheritance, and
the MacNeils would be disgraced. Already there are rumors. That's why so few
Family have come to declare their fealty to me.'
'Apart from us, who else knows the Secret?' said Hawk.
'Just Greaves, my immediate Family, and my other guests, so far.'
'This… creature,' said Fisher slowly. 'Has it tried to hurt anyone?'
'Not so far,' said Jamie. 'But it is getting more destructive. Why? Do you want
to leave?'
Hawk smiled slightly. 'I don't think so. Isobel and I don't scare easily.'
Katrina stirred in her chair. 'I can't believe Duncan kept the Secret so long. I
had no idea… You're quite right, of course, Jamie. The Secret must never get
out. We would be ostracized in High Society. Now then, the creature undoubtedly
hides by day in the room that used to be its cell. Are you still unable to
locate it?'
'I'm afraid so.' Jamie's brow furrowed, and he ran a hand through his hair. 'The
Tower is riddled with secret passages and sliding panels. I know some of them,
and Dad's papers revealed a few more, but I still haven't been able to find
where the creature is hiding. Presumably the room's location was part of the
Secret.'
'This is crazy,' said Fisher. 'If this creature was walled up for centuries,
what kept it alive? Everything feeds on something…'
