Stranger on the Cliff (ONC 2021)

Sharing Sky

A/N: In which we meet that well-known main character

There was no one outside, though in the distance, disappearing around the side of the building, was the back end of a horse. That was confusing enough that he wanted to follow, but he realised this was his first opportunity to see the place Sam had abandoned him. 

He had to back up, along a gravelled driveway, for quite a way before he could finally see the full scope of the enormous house.

It was square, extremely square, in shape and windows and edges, and made of some yellowish brick. Tav thought that meant it was Georgian, and, really, it looked a lot like he'd always imagined Pemberley in Pride and Prejudice. Beautiful, impressive, imposing. Something about it made him shudder. There was pride inside those walls. Centuries, possibly, of history and expectations. 

It made his heart beat too fast, almost painful. This wasn't some government-owned place being kept together with generous donations. And it wasn't a hotel. It was a private home. Sam might have some royal-type accent that sounded like the queen and amazed Tav's friends back home during video calls, but they weren't rich. They had a scholarship for their degree, and when Tav had met their mom, she'd driven a rattling and very tiny car, barely any newer than Sam's own. So, no. Sam wasn't pulling somewhere like this out of their ass.

Tav could feel sweat forming on his brow as his heart pushed his blood pressure even higher. He needed to get away. He span around to see where the drive went but just saw it disappearing between lush green trees, the end not in sight. There was a lake over to one side and in the far distance he could see someone that looked like a gardener tending to bushes. He could speak to them, try to get more answers than the maid had given, but he didn't think he could have a coherent conversation until he calmed down.

Instead, he looked the other way and saw how the rolling green lawn rose to meet the hazy horizon. He'd go that way, to start with.

The boots the maid had found him were surprisingly comfortable, though a little too big. He couldn't move as fast as he wanted to. Couldn't stride out enough to make his thighs ache distractingly as he battled the slope, which was far steeper than it had looked from the drive, because they slipped down his heel just enough to rub a raw spot in, which was burning by the time he reached the top.

It was worth it though, an unexpected clear view across a stone-wall-framed field. It was nicer, somehow, than the neatly manicured lawn he'd just left behind. Rough and real when his head didn't feel in a very real place at all. There was even a huddle of sheep to one side, gathered together in the shelter offered by a corner of the low stones.

He was confused to still see no other signs of life than that though. It was one thing he'd noticed almost straight away when he'd come over to the university from the hinterlands of his own small American farming town. He was used to space back home, and a dearth of people, but England was tiny. There were people everywhere. On the odd occasion when Sam had some wild need to get out of the city, and driven the pair of them in their rickety red car to places they described as 'the middle of nowhere' so they could traipse over muddy, cowpat strewn fields until Sam got bored and dragged them into a pub, there was still always signs of life. Villages and farmsteads, roads and the accompanying buzz of fast-moving traffic, even at a distance. And people. Always people. Farmers, other walkers, usually clad far more sensibly than them, with walking boots and backpacks and sticks, excitable dogs running twice the distance. But Tav hadn't seen anyone but the distant gardener since he left the house, and the only sound he could hear was the rustling movement and occasional low burr of the sheep.