http://slurl.com/secondlife/Berthould%20Pass/69/15/28
Featuring: indoors,
- Great Hall with fireplace, cathedral windows, stairs down to Medieval Kitchen and stairs up to Minstrels' Gallery
- Minstrels' gallery, stairs up to Sleeping Chamber
- Sleeping Chamber with fireplace, secret door to balcony, doors to rooftop balcony, stairs up to roof
- Medieval kitchen, secret door to Submarine Chamber
Outdoors
- Entrance accessed from boat dock
- Crenellated walls
- Roof with ample space for helicopter and stairs up to observation tower
- Observation tower
- Dramatic and beautiful location in the snowy mountains of Berthould Pass
Yours for L$1500 a week with 600 prims, other rates available.
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"Call this a Minstrels' Gallery?" Mac's voice echoed in the cavernous Great Hall. "There's room for your complete drum kit up here!"
- And maybe your grand piano too, thought Harry. Best keep that to himself for now.
"What's up this stair ?" Her voice and stilletto-heeled footsteps faded as she turned the corner with a swish of her cocktail dress.
"The, er, sleeping chamber," replied Harry, willing himself not to follow her right away. He allowed himself to loosen his hand-painted silk tie a little as he sat by the log fire, concentrating on the the crackling of the flames and a faint sound in the distance that could be a speedboat.
Eilean Diomhair, perhaps Island of Secrets or Secret Isle. Mac had pronounced the "mh" correctly as "v" and pointed out that the area wasn't really an island, but a peninsula.
As she said the name in her Scottish accent, her final, rhotic "r" had sent him spinning backwards in time to their first evening together, talking through the night in a waterfront bar as the sun set and rose again. In the morning there had still been an illusion of choice. He could let passion unfold in his face like the petals of a rose, or take the sensible course. But by afternoon, the choice had somehow been made, the now-familiar ache of longing uncoiling in his gut like a steel spring.
He stood, planning to go downstairs to the medieval kitchen for the bottle of single malt and a couple of crystal glasses. He would meet her on the battlements as the sun set over the mountains. Harry was convinced that, given a few moments of peace and stillness together, he would sense whether choices could unfold for her too.
The speedboat engine grew louder and stopped close by. The great front doors swung open and, to Harry's horror, Mac's tiresome estranged husband burst into the hall, his perpetual expression of annoyance pegged at 11 on a scale of 0 to 10. Instinctively, Harry followed his 3-part protocol for dealing with unwanted guests - take the initiative, issue instructions, exploit known weaknesses.
"Simon, old chap, how delightful to see you! Have a seat, I insist. I was just going downstairs to fetch up some vintage armagnac, I'll bring an extra glass."
He had pitched his voice loudly enough so that Mac would surely hear him even if she had made it out to one of the two balconies from the bedroom. He waited just long enough to see Simon's annoyance turn to consternation, surprise and anticipation. Then, as Harry had known he would, Simon followed orders and sank into one of the chairs at the fireplace.
How many lies was that in one breath? Harry didn't stop to count as he took the stairs two at a time. He cursed himself for leaving the doors unlocked, but now the immediate priority was escape. Would Mac find the secret exit from the bedchamber to the front balcony? Probably not; but she would surely find the stairs to the roof and the helicopter.
With a regretful glance at the cooking fires he had lit for dinner, Harry raced across the subterranean kitchen to the blank wall on the other side. The secret panel opened with a grinding of stone that Simon would surely hear. Another stair led down to the freezing water-filled chamber where the Terra Dolphin minisub waited, hatch open. He jumped in, started her up, and she sank gracefully away from the castle into the silent, icy depths.
Harry relaxed a little, and considered the options - north east around the peninsula and then overland towards the bottom of the Nakiska ski resort chairlift; north west towards the railway in Smithers Bluff, due west under the mall in Saimaa or south to Shimmer. Choices aplenty, but none of them led to Mac.