Montana
Something terrible had happened, and I ran to Uncle Albert's study, knocked frantically on the door and without waiting for an answer, burst into the room.
"Mr Earnest, Mr Albert, come quick, "I said. Aunty just fell off her chair and is stretched out unconscious on the floor. I can't rouse her or feel any pulse in her wrist. I fear she might be dying…"
Albert and Earnest ran through the door without a word being said and down the corridor to Aunty's room and found her lying on the floor where I had left her.
"Wake up, Aunty, wake up," said Earnest, desperately, slapping her cheeks.
"She's breathing." My voice was muffled as I pressed the side of my face against her chest, listening to her heart, "I can hear a heartbeat, but it is very faint."
"Give her some air, Albert."
Earnest sounded authoritative, and he bent down and expertly rolled Aunty over into the recovery position.
"Give her a few moments to respond, and if she improves, we will get her into bed.
We waited, watching her comatose body closely as Earnest knelt by her side.
"Earnest took her pulse. "Much stronger now, and her breathing has improved, remarkable constitution for a woman of her age, I must say, she is as tough as an old boot."
"Uncle Earnest!" I said.
"No disrespect intended, Montana, you know how fond of her I am, and I'm sure she would not have been offended if she could have heard what I said.
"I did hear what you said, young Earnest, said Aunty, opening one eye, "and don't think you are too old for a clip around the ear, "old boot", is it now?"
"Not you, Aunty, being tough, is the only similarity you have with an old boot, that someone of your beauty and refinement should also be strong and resilient as such a commonplace object was meant as a compliment."
"Earnest, I swear that you could charm the devil himself, now be off with this nonsense and help me to my feet."
But I beat him to it. "Oh, Aunty, you had me so worried," and then softly so that nobody else could hear, "Is he safe, Aunty? Were you in time?"
My voice was strained, and tears filled my eyes when Aunty murmured, "Yes, don't fret, child, he is well and in a safe place."
Aloud, she said, "Now be off with you all, Montana will take me to my room and help me into my bed, I have the mind to take a short nap."
"Of course," said Albert, "you gave us all a big shock there, Aunty, we couldn't bear to lose you."
"Now, now, Albert, you have gone quite pale. Off you go and get yourself a nice cup of hot tea."
We walked slowly away and down the corridor to Auntie's room. The minute the door shut behind them, I said, "Is he really safe then, Aunty? When you said you were on your way to save him to save him, I thought your body would sleep quietly on your chair, like all the other times when you were called away, but when you fell to the floor unconscious, I didn't know what to think."
I tried hard to stifle a sob, but it came out anyway, and I began to take deep breaths to calm myself.
"Come on now, Montana, not you too, just help me onto the bed, would you and plump those pillows up against my back?
Aunty was no lightweight, but I helped her willingly and eased her into a sitting position.
"There's a good girl, Montana, now don't worry about Peregrine, but I have to say the effort of saving him from drowning and transporting him to a place of safety knocked me clean out. I know you think me old and past it, but believe me, I am a spring chicken compared to some of the old girls in the sisterhood, but the passing centuries take their toll on all of us eventually."
"The sisterhood?" I had never heard Aunty mention it before.
"A group of women got together after the French Revolution and formed La fraternité to try and end this constant warfare and focus on defeating our common enemy. We have bases all over the world now that continually monitor traffic, but the active service division has dwindled over the years.
Peregrine and The Green Door are high priority, and a distress call was automatically diverted for me to action. Peregrine had been left unattended, his protection squad signed out before the next group arrived, resulting in extremely poor scheduling with near-disastrous consequences. Had to put myself into overdrive, which consumes energy at a fantastic rate, and I just managed to save Peregrine from drowning, and left him on the outskirts of the wood before crash landing here. Peregrine has demonstrated his fitness to search for the key, and it is all up to him now. He needs to find the key and lock The Green Door as soon as he can; the enemy armies have assembled at the border and are awaiting the order for the invasion to begin.
"I do hope he will be successful and return home safe," I said, unable to keep the emotion out of my voice.
"Is there something between you two? Asked Aunty, "already knowing the answer.
"I know it sounds crazy; I used to think love at first sight was just a romantic myth, but now I am not so sure. We need some time to find out more about each other, but nothing is going to change, I just know it. I love him and I believe he loves me, that's all I can say."
"What about Cluan Cheap? Every time I go into the office, he seems to be hanging around your desk."
"That creep!" I could not keep the contempt out of my voice.
"He makes my skin crawl, but he is so persistent and won't take no for an answer."
"Mr Cheap has few friends here," said Aunty, "but unaccountably, young Earnest always seems to take his side, and that's a mystery I intend to solve. The quicker the Green Door is locked, the better, then we can deal with Mr Cheap, for the last time. Now let me sleep for a while, Montana, there's a good girl."
I left as quietly as I could after telling Aunty that I would prepare a light tea and bring it in when she awoke. I felt emotionally drained, what with the worry over Peregrine and now Aunty, and I decided to make a cup of tea and take it back to my room for a short rest. I knew nobody would mind. I had been treated very kindly since coming here to live as a frightened girl at the age of eight, when mother and father were both tragically killed in a flying accident, leaving me an orphan with no other family to turn to. They asked me to call them both 'Uncle,' to make it seem more like I was in a proper family and at the age of twelve, Uncle Earnest had made me his legal ward, taking full responsibility for my upbringing, in the role of what the lawyer had described as Paterfamilias. That meant he had the rights of a father over me until I reached the age of twenty-one.
After finishing my tea, I lay down on the top covers of the bed with a couple of pillows under my head and closed my eyes for a few minutes. There was little chance of sleeping, and restless thoughts darted around my mind like tiny luminous fish.
I found out later that Aunty was similarly worried and, like me, was resting on her bed, unable to sleep. But she had a specific concern for Peregrine that, at the time, I knew nothing about. She had left Peregrine on the outskirts of the wood because she knew he would be fairly safe, at least for the moment, but she had just heard that the Ruling Council were about to launch a devastating flood in the area that would destroy everything in it, including Peregrine, if he had not managed to get out in time.