By: Hugin
The castle stood on the edge of the cliff. For centuries it had stood there, and it was as strong and majestic in ruins as it had been in its glory days. Instead of the hustle and bustle of busy servants, and the dancing and feasting of the earls and their guests, there was the constant to-ing and fro-ing of the sea birds who nested high on the ruined tower.
Standing alone on the cliff edge, she was reminded of how few centuries had passed between that time and now. It seemed only a breath away to her. She could imagine it all as though she was witnessing it there and then, and the busy and inexhaustible chattering of the birds simply made it more real.
But it was an eerie place to wait for someone. There were dark, long evening shadows everywhere that she looked and, whenever a bird flew overhead, the shadow seemed to block out the light for a moment. Why had she arranged to meet him there? And why was he so late?
She glanced up at the sun and then tried to blink away the bright lights that hovered in front of her vision. He wasn’t going to turn up, she decided, listening to the silky sea song below her that rippled its merry music as it brushed into the cove. He wasn’t going to turn up. She would have to keep waiting.
The shadows grew longer and longer, and she began to think of the many troubling things that the evening could bring with it. Where there had once been fires, there were now just patches of darkness that led up to blocked chimneys. Where there had been dancing and merriment, there were now only long grasses waltzing in the wind.
She knew in her heart that she had waited long enough for him. And she knew, deep down, that he was not coming. But she would give him just a short while longer. After all, she thought to herself as the chill wind picked up around her, she had waited five hundred years – another day in eternity would make no difference.