“I have been waiting for you” She answered cryptically “and I would like to listen to you play some music. Would you please?” She said with a smile. What is she, some kind of stalker? But then how would she know I would pass by this field or even stop because I saw the fire?

Chapter One

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I drove down the long country roads on my way home. My name is John Macintyre and I’m 24 years old, bout’ 6 ft tall with short black hair. 'It’s been a long day' I thought to myself. I had been asked by my older sister Jenny to play the bagpipes at her friends wedding. Nothing much is special about that, since I have been playing at weddings since I was a young lad, and the occasional funeral. Good little moneymaker for a teenager I remembered fondly, but now with work taking up so much of my time I only really play if family or friends ask me to.

This wedding had been ‘normal’ as usual, I had arrived at the hotel after a drive of around 3 hours since the wedding was in a beautiful little remote hotel and was tuned up my pipes to play the guests into the hotel. When the white wedding cars rolled up I played a couple of tunes and then waited for the photographer to take his snaps of the bride getting out of the car and some in front of the hotel.

I played the Bride into the main function room she walked down the aisle to the lovely slow air called Highland Cathedral, and as normal I saw the mother of the bride wiping away the tears as she watched her daughter in her dress.

I stayed at the back of the room as normal and had to stand through what seemed like my thousandth wedding ceremony, which to me at least seemed as boring as all of the others I had heard. Alright call me jaded but try going to about a hundred weddings and see how much enthusiasm you can drum up for listening to the registrar or priest drivelling on about the what it means to be married, the sanctity of it and all that mumbo jumbo. You will notice they all seem to say more or less the same things anyway, geez do they just look it up in google and use the first thing they can find?

I came back to myself after the vows had been said and the bride and groom kissed. I waited for the registrar’s signal for the congregation to stand and for them to welcome the new Mr and Mrs McDonald. I blew up my pipes and started to play Mairi’s Wedding as the couple left the room to get their wedding photos taken in the gardens of the hotel, I played the guests out of the room with another couple of songs.

As I walked into the bar I was shouted over to talk by a chubby man in a kilt that was ‘probably the bride’s father’ I thought to myself since he had been standing next to the woman who was crying the most when the bride came up the aisle. Heh, poor man having to pay for most of the wedding.

“Thanks a lot for playing today, it was great that you could get here.” He said as he slapped me on the back.

I laughed and said “No problem mate, even though this hotel seems to be in the arse end of nowhere.” I said smiling.

Robert as I found out his name was looked around to quickly check his wife wasn’t behind him “Aye I know what you mean, I blame my wife she has a thing for the countryside and you can’t really get more ‘country’ than this. Not that it’s cheaper than having the wedding in a really nice hotel close to home.”

I guess the proper term was ‘Under the thumb’ for the poor guy. I chuckled at the thought of his little wife telling him how a wedding in the countryside would be relaxing and the health benefits of the fresh air. I told him this and he just cringed a little “Ain’t nothing relaxing about being stuck all the way out here in the same hotel as the in-laws, but at least the hotel bar is open late!” he grinned.

We joked about for a while and he bought me the piper’s dram. I of course accepted, even if I was driving home tonight one little drink won’t hurt much and its nice to keep the tradition alive. However the person who thought the piper’s dram should be whisky should be strangled I was thinking as my throat was burning. Don’t get me wrong I like a whiskey or two but when Robert went to buy me my whisky at the bar I ended up getting something similar to alcoholic paint stripper.

About twenty minutes later the wedding organiser entered the bar and asked everyone that was not a member of the top table to please move back to the function room. I stuck around with Robert in the bar for a while as the crowd shuffled back into the main room.

“Before I forget …” he said as he rummaged around in his sporran and brought out a slightly crinkled up envelope with my name written on it and handed it to me.

“Ta, I appreciate it” I said smiling and put my pay-envelope into pocket. I made a mental note to remember to check the amount before I left that night on my way home. It wouldn’t do to have the man think I didn’t trust him to pay me the right amount by checking it in front of him.

When the wedding organiser appeared again everyone that was left in the room followed her out to stand outside the door of the function room where all the guests were seated at tables. I quickly looked in to the room to check the layout of the tables so that when I was playing I could concentrate on playing instead of looking to see where to walk next.

Then a half hour later after playing the top-table and then the Bride and Groom into the function room I was finally finished.

Playing an instrument like the bagpipes can be a bit of a sweaty job. ‘Ahhh finally its over at least now I can go home and have a shower’ I thought to myself. On my way out I checked the envelope with today’s pay in it and went to my car to pack everything up.

It was only around 3:30 pm and it would be good to get home while it was still light so I had better get started. I sat down and arranged my kilt making sure that the bit I would be sitting for the next three hours was totally flat as it would be a literal pain in the ass to sit on.

I started the car and turned on my CD player on to listen to some relaxing driving music. Well maybe most people wouldn’t think of it as relaxing but hey what can I say I like rock music, so sue me. After I had started on my way home I started to notice little mist on the road. ‘That’s weird’ I thought to myself, how the hell can it be misty in the middle of the afternoon when it’s not even cold? But I just ignored it since I just wanted to get home.

The mist got heavier until it was actually hard to see, which could be quite a problem on the roads I was driving on since some of them had only a single lane with passing points spaced occasionally so that cars could pass each other on the narrow roads. Eventually I started to get worried as the last street sign I had seen had been for a town I haven’t heard of before. I slowed down a wee bit and decided to look more carefully around me. It looked like I was beside some open fields. I started to see a faint glow in the mist further on to my right, at first I thought I was seeing things but as I got a little closer I was sure I could see a definite orange tinge to the mist.

I spotted a gate to the field, and it was wide open so I decided to check out what was making the light, I drove off the road so that nobody would be accidentally run into the back of my car while it was parked in the middle of the road. I don’t think my insurance company would like me very much if that happened.

I jumped out of the car and I could feel the clammy cold mist around me, this was weird since it had been sunny when I left the hotel and there was no mention on the weather forecast this morning about anything like this. I started walking towards the light and as I got closer I could smell smoke … wood smoke. Is someone having a bonfire out here? Damn this is spooky I thought to myself as I got closer to the fire until I could see the flames and the wood, I looked around quickly but could not see anyone around the fire. The bonfire was built the same height as myself, which means around 6 feet tall and the flames were reaching around half that high again.

“Hello?” I said to the flames thinking myself a little stupid as there was obviously nobody around anymore, did they light the fire to get rid of some scrap wood and then leave it to burn out?

“Hello kind musician” said a feminine voice from the flames. I can tell you that I shit my pants … and yes before you ask I do wear boxer shorts with my kilt. It saves you from having to worry about the wind flipping it up while playing outside and stops any curious kids … or adults for that matter from seeing how big this True Scotsman was.

While I was deciding if I should run back to the car I saw a human outline coming around from the back of the fire. Oh god am I stupid I thought, I had almost thought some kind of fire spirit had been talking to me … idiot!

“Hi what are you doing out here? And how the hell do you know I’m a musician?” I said as she came into view. I had a sharp intake of breath as I saw her, she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. She must have been around 18 to 20 years old, blonde hair flowing around her shoulders, around 5 foot 3 inches in height, her breasts were around a C Cup I guess although I’m no expert. She wore a simple white sleeveless dress that came half way down her thighs. And her face … I don’t think I had ever seen anyone so cute ever! But then again I had always preferred cute women to what most people would call ‘beautiful’ i.e. like glamour models.

I guess she must have noticed me staring with my eyes popping out of my head because she stopped looked at me and then off all things held her arms out and did a twirl on the spot … I blinked and just stood staring dumbly at her. But of all things I also noticed that although the field was full of twigs, stones and thistles, she was walking around in her bare feet.

“I have been waiting for you” She answered cryptically “and I would like to listen to you play some music. Would you please?” She said with a smile. What is she, some kind of stalker? But then how would she know I would pass by this field or even stop because I saw the fire? Then again even if she is I think I can put up with a Bunny Boiler if she is that cute.

“I really have to be going home and if I don’t go now it will be night time before I get back since I seem to be lost. Oh could you tell me how to get back onto the road to …”

“You should really stay for a while” She interrupted “it isn’t safe driving on these roads in this mist. And it should clear up soon so please stay for a while and play for me” Well she did have a point, I could hardly even see my car from where I was standing never mind seeing other cars while I was driving.

I headed back to the car and grabbed a case with my set of Scottish Small Pipes from the boot. Small Pipes are very similar to normal bagpipes except they have one stock (the wooden bit that is attached to the bag so that the drones can be easily attached) with 3 drones of different sizes (a base drone, tenor drone and harmony drone) and can be bought with an arm-operated bellow or with a blow stick like normal bagpipes. I had gone for the bellows option, I carry them around to weddings with me along with my full sized bagpipes as sometimes I would take them into the hotel bars and play a couple of fun tunes for the guests while they wait to go for their dinner. They are a lot quieter than the normal pipes and can be played along with guitars and many other instruments without having to worry about the volume drowning out the other players, which is a problem with normal highland pipes.

I walked back and noticed that there was a tree stump near the fire now. I guess I should sit on that to play I thought to myself … but had it been there before? I gave it a small kick and checked to see if it had been placed there but sure enough it wouldn’t budge. I opened the pipe case and took out my small pipes. First strapping the bellows around my waist and then strapping it to my right arm. I then attached the pipe that goes from the bellows to the bag and started to tune up. The strange girl just kneeled in front of me the whole time watching.

“Out of interest what is your name?” I asked after I had finished tuning the instrument.

“Brá¬ghde” she answered softly.

‘What a weird name’ I thought to myself, however that went out of my mind when I started to play and her face lit up. I played some jigs and reels first and then some sad sounding slow airs. She would occasionally stand and walk around the fire humming along to the tunes, sometimes she would sing along, however if the words meant anything I don’t know as she either made them up or she sang in a language I can’t understand. It was eerie and haunting when she would sing along to the slower songs. To the faster tunes she would dance around the fire like a child, excited by life. As I watched her I became entranced.

I played for what felt like hours, playing the ones she seemed to especially like a couple of times and otherwise going over what seemed every tune I had ever known including ones I hadn’t played for years. Eventually I had played my last as my finger started to hurt. She seemed to already know I wouldn’t be playing any more tonight. She walked over to me with a smile on her face.

“Thank you, your playing has lightened my soul.” She said as she kissed my cheek. “As thanks I would like to ask if you have any wish that I could grant?”

Without really thinking I blurted out “Be with me forever?” I blushed and grinned stupidly at my own forwardness, however I had never met anyone who attracted me like this woman.

She smiled at me sadly “I am sorry but that is one thing I cannot do.” Then she stared off into the mist while thinking as if searching for something. She looked back at me and said, “Actually I may be able to grant your wish after all, in a way at least”. She kissed me again, except this time it was on the lips. I don’t remember anything after that.

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Thump, thump, thump. I blinked wearily as I woke up in the driver’s seat of my car. What the hell was going on, how did I get in my car? Thump, thump, thump. I rolled down the window a little bit to see a policeman standing there. “Excuse me but can you please step out of the car miss.”

I must have looked a fair picture of confusion as I groggily stumbled out of my car. Something was weird here however as I felt slightly off balance. Maybe it was just because I just woke up. “I’m sorry but this car was reported missing three months ago, can I please see your drivers license miss?”

What the hell, why is he calling me ‘miss’ again! I looked down and saw the obvious reason for his confusion … and now mine. Under my kilt jacket and waistcoat was ample and very obvious set of breasts. I blinked a couple of times try and process this new information, failed and I guess my brain decided to just Ctrl-Alt-Delete and reboot itself.

Later on I keep thinking that it would have been funny to have seen the policeman’s face when the woman he is about to take into the station for questioning collapses after staring at her chest for a couple of seconds.

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End of Chapter 01

If anyone has constructive criticism please leave a message below or pm me :-) this is my first effort at writing anything creative since my English class in Secondary School.

Dwi