"Not just hundreds thousands upon thousands," said the abhuman. "Other bugganes have added to the cache; the process has gone on for centuries. This cavern is now a great source of energy and a meeting place for all those who are skilled in animism magic not only shamans in spirit form, but Romanian witches. At present a coven of seven have temporarily projected their spirits from their distant homeland. They saw you enter the cavern and warned me of your whereabouts."
The seven lights were now dancing high above our heads they must be the witches" spirits, I realized. I remembered reading an entry about such things in the Spook"s Bestiary. They were dangerous: a group like that could suck the life force from a human victim in minutes.
"Come on then! Out with it," demanded the Spook, an edge of impatience in his voice. "What do you want?"
"Revenge," said the abhuman, his cruel face contorting in anger. "I want revenge upon the witch who killed my master, Lord Barrule. I want her destroyed!"
"Aye, we"d also like to put an end to her," said the Spook. "But have you brought us here just to tell us that? If so, it would have been better to let us go on our way."
"I needed to show you this and to give you vital information," Horn went on. "Information that might help you to stop her in her tracks before she rules this whole island. You see, without realizing it, the witch is using my master"s thumb-bones as a conduit and drawing on the power stored here. And it will get worse, much worse. I"m using that same power and trying to resist her. But she is stronger than me, far stronger, and will soon have the buggane in her power. Then this vast reservoir will be at her disposal!
"At the moment she knows nothing of this cache, but once she has made the buggane her creature, she will quickly learn the truth. Then she"ll realize what she"s capable of. And she won"t stop here. Eventually nations beyond our sh.o.r.es will be at risk.
"My master was obsessed by gambling and never bothered to harvest more than a fraction of the magic that is available here; the witch is sure to seize it all and use it against those who cross her. You must act quickly before it"s too late!"
The Spook nodded. "We need to get those bones away from her though that"s easier said than done. How long can you resist her? Just how long can you keep her away from the buggane?"
"It"s impossible to say. All I know is that it"s getting harder with each day that pa.s.ses," Horn replied. "There"s no time to waste. I"ll show you a tunnel which will take you up to the forest above. You needn"t face the witch"s bone-yard."
As the abhuman led us across the darkness of the cavern, our lanterns flared back to their full brilliance. He guided us to a freshly dug tunnel before retreating back into the gloom. It went up at a steep angle, and it was indeed clear; within minutes we had emerged among the trees. It was still dark, but the sky was growing lighter on the eastern horizon and we could see Greeba Keep in the distance, lanterns gleaming on its battlements; the guard would be on full alert.
"That tower"s too close for comfort," said the Spook. "The more distance we can put between it and us, the happier I"ll be."
"Nowhere"s safe now," Adriana said. "I"m heading home to Peel I need to see to my mother. The shock of Father"s death may have been too much for her. You"re welcome to join me."
"We"re strangers to this island, so we"ll be glad to accept your invitation," said the Spook, "but first we"d better retrieve our bags."
They were still where we"d left them. I took the shaman"s notebook from Alice and put it in my bag, which I then picked up, along with my master"s, and we set off west, this time with Adriana leading the way. After a while Alice moved up to walk alongside her and they began to chat.
It was a miserable misty morning, with cold drizzle drifting into our faces out of a grey sky. Our progress was slow because we avoided the main lanes and tracks and cut through woods and along dripping hedgerows. I was soon ready for something to eat and a bit of warmth and shelter.
"Where is Romania?" I asked, picking up my pace to walk with the Spook.
"It"s a forested land to the north-west of your mam"s homeland, Greece, lad. Why? Are you thinking about those seven witches?"
I nodded. "They came a long way to visit the cavern," I said.
"True, lad, but they didn"t come in person or we"d really have been in trouble. What we saw was their spirits projected from their bodies by the power of animism, drawn there by that cache. They were co-operating with that abhuman, so they didn"t pose a threat. But we have a big task on our hands. Even if we deal with Lizzie and the buggane, leaving all that stored power there is dangerous. Some other denizen of the dark might find and use it for their own ends."
"So why hasn"t it happened before?"
"Maybe it has, lad, but it takes a lot of skill to control such a cache. Even Lucius Grim didn"t properly understand its power and that ultimately led to his own destruction. Luckily Lord Barrule was too distracted by his gambling to fully benefit from that resource. However, in time someone with great dark strength is bound to make use of it. There are other bugganes on this island who might add to it; like boggarts, they can use ley lines to travel from place to place. Aye, we have to be wary of that. A big task awaits us."
We arrived at Peel Mill early in the afternoon. As we emerged from the woods, we saw ahead of us the huge wheel, slowly turning under the force of the water streaming across a long multi-arched aqueduct. But we soon discovered that no flour was being ground. On hearing of Patrick Lonan"s death, as a mark of respect the mill workers had gone home.
The miller"s large house flanked the wheel: we were made very welcome there. After first attending to her mother, Adriana ordered the servants to prepare baths, hot meals and beds for us all. Her poor father might be dead, but she insisted on business as usual, sending word to the workers to report for duty the following morning.
The abhuman had urged us to attack Lizzie quickly, but we stayed at the mill for two days, resting and gathering our strength, wondering how best to proceed. The Spook was very quiet, and it seemed to me that he had very little hope to offer us.
How could we win now? Lizzie was in control of Greeba Keep and I saw no reason why the whole island should not soon be hers. And if she learned of the full power at her disposal ... well, that didn"t bear thinking about.
However, we knew we couldn"t stay at the mill for long. It would be an obvious place to search: before long the bone witch would send her yeomen after us.
On the morning of our third day there, I awoke at dawn and went for a walk with Alice. It was a bright, cold morning with a light ground frost. Alice seemed very quiet and I sensed that she was troubled.
"What"s wrong?" I asked her. "I can tell something"s bothering you. Is it Lizzie?"
"Lizzie"s bothering all of us."
I said nothing for a while and we walked in silence. But then I decided to question her further. "Lizzie"s your mother, Alice and everyone wants her dead. That must upset you ... Tell me don"t just keep it to yourself."
"Hate her, I do. She"s no mother of mine. A murderer, that"s what Lizzie is. She kills children and takes their bones. I"ll be glad when she"s dead."
"That night I fought her, when you were in the cage, I had her at my mercy. But I couldn"t kill her. It wasn"t just that I couldn"t bring myself to do it in cold blood; it was also because she was your mother. It just didn"t seem right, Alice."
"You listen to me, Tom. Listen well to what I say. Next time you get the chance, kill her. Don"t hesitate. If you"d killed her that night you"d have saved everyone a lot of trouble!"
But no sooner had she said that than Alice started to sob uncontrollably. I put my arms around her and she buried her face in my shoulder. She cried for a long time, but when she was quiet, I squeezed her hand and led her back towards the house.
As we emerged from the trees, I saw Adriana throwing crumbs to a small flock of birds near the front door. When she spotted us, she clapped her hands, and the birds immediately took flight, most of them landing on the roof. She came across the frosted gra.s.s to meet us.
Her face was grave: her mother was still suffering from the effects of her encounter with Bony Lizzie and there was still no news of the whereabouts of Simon Sulby; both he and Captain Baines seemed to have disappeared without trace.
"How"s your mother today?" I asked.
"She seems a little stronger," Adriana replied. "After a little persuasion she managed to sip a few mouthfuls of broth this morning. But she"s still confused and doesn"t seem to know she"s back home. Mercifully, she"s forgotten what happened to my father. I dread having to break the news to her ...
"And I"m afraid I have some bad news for us all," she continued with a frown. "I suppose it"s only what we"ve been expecting since we arrived. One of our millers was riding to work across the fields this morning, and he spied a large party of yeomen a.s.sembling on the road north-west of St John"s. It looked like they were preparing to march in this direction. If so, they could be here soon."
Chapter 21.
"We need to go into hiding," Alice said. "Or maybe head south down the coast."
"Yes, you should, but I won"t be able to go with you," Adriana said. "My mother"s too ill to move. I"ll have to stay here."
"Let"s see what Mr Gregory thinks," I suggested, and we headed back to the house. But before we reached it, Alice spotted a runner a yeoman in the distance. At that moment the Spook came out of the house to join us; he must have seen the man from a window. He stood beside us, holding his staff diagonally in a defensive position.
The yeoman approached us, but seemed unarmed. He stood there for a few moments, head bowed and hands on his hips, gasping for breath. Then he reached into his pocket and held out an envelope. "It"s for a Tom Ward," he said.
I took it and tore it open, unfolding the letter within and starting to read.
Dear Master Ward,
I have left the employment of the witch. In truth I was lucky to escape with my life. I am now recruiting a force with which to oppose the new ruler of Greeba Keep and we are on the road to Peel. We will meet you at the mill. To help defeat our enemy I need the expertise of you and your master.
Yours,
Daniel Stanton
"Well, lad, don"t keep us waiting," said the Spook. "Read it aloud!"
I did as my master asked. When I"d finished, he scratched at his beard and glared at me. "Do you trust this Daniel Stanton?"
I nodded. "He"s a soldier and probably hasn"t lived a totally blameless life, but that"s true of all of us. Yes, I do trust him."
"Right, then we"ll wait and see what he has to say."
"I wonder how he knew I"d be here at the mill?" I asked.
"Well, it"s not too difficult to work out, lad," replied the Spook. "He knows that we escaped with Adriana and that she"d be desperate to be reunited with her mother."
"Well, if he knows where we are, it"s pretty certain that Lizzie will too."
"Aye, lad, she"ll know for sure. But she"s probably too busy with her new-found power to bother about us for a while. She"s confident she can deal with us easily when the time comes. Right now she"ll be devoting all her energies to seizing control of this island. She"ll come for us eventually you mark my words."
Just over an hour later, Stanton arrived with his men. There were perhaps no more than fifty in all, but they were armed with pikes and clubs and looked formidable.
Adriana, the Spook, Alice and I sat round the kitchen table with him while he explained the situation.
"The witch has got over three hundred men under arms while I"ve barely a sixth of that so far. More will join me and they"re prepared to fight, make no mistake. Two days ago Lizzie led raiding parties against some of the local landowners and farmers those who"d refused outright to pledge their support. Some families men, women and children were murdered in cold blood. But I was already away by then.
"Lizzie"s sent me to St John"s with some of the men you see here now. Our task is to seize the area and prepare for the meeting of the Tynwald in a few days" time. The witch wants to dissolve the Parliament and have power handed over to her. She"s planning to go there herself once I have it under control.
"But I talked to some of the lads and a few Tynwald members too, and we"ve decided to try and tackle her. We"re not standing for it. We"ve never had to answer to anyone before and we never will.
"That"s where you come in," he went on, looking at the Spook and me. "I"ve been close to the witch and she terrified the life out of me. All the strength seemed to drain out of my body. She kills people without even touching them how do we deal with that?"
"It"s something I"m still pondering," said the Spook. "The power she wields killing from a distance with such ease is more potent than anything I"ve encountered before in a single witch. But now we know its source we"ll find a way to stop it eventually, don"t you worry." My master sounded more determined than he had for some time.
"The only problem is that Lizzie has supporters lots of well-armed yeomen bought with bribes of wealth and power and it won"t be so easy to get her on her own again," Stanton told us.
"You said that you were lucky to escape with your life ... What happened?" I asked him.
"That night when the witch killed your father" he nodded towards Adriana "I"d already decided to make an attempt on her life. But I was as helpless and terrified as the rest of that gathering and my blood just turned to water. And she sensed something. It was almost as if she could read my mind.
"Later she questioned me. Wanted to know how loyal I was. She said she was starting to have doubts about me and ordered me to tell her the truth. I could feel her right inside my head, twisting and prodding. I began to shake and sweat, and it took all my will power not to admit that I"d planned to kill her. It was close very close."
"Well, it seems to me that a lot will depend on just how much support you can muster," said the Spook. "With enough men you could attack when the Tynwald meet. In the confusion we might be able to put an end to her. If Lizzie was distracted, she could still be bound with a silver chain."
"Or I could put my sword through her heart," Stanton said. "I"m going to send runners to the nearest towns and villages to drum up support. Anyone who can carry a weapon and wants to fight for the freedom of our land will do."
Although word had already been spread to the surrounding villages, by noon only about a dozen new men had rallied to Stanton"s cause. Most were farm labourers who had brought nothing better than clubs though three boasted pikes and one had brought a spear. These latter had once been yeomen, but they were no longer young and their weapons were rusty. Despite that, Stanton had greeted each man warmly and accepted his pledge of loyalty.
And then another arrival brought a delighted smile to Adriana"s face: a young man carrying a stout stick. It was Simon Sulby.
"Any news of Captain Baines?" the Spook asked him when he could finally extract himself from Adriana"s embrace.
"I"m afraid he was arrested at St John"s," Simon replied. "He wasn"t supposed to leave Douglas, so they took him back to his ship under guard. And there he"ll stay until they need him to return those refugees to the County."
Early evening brought a fresh band of about twenty armed yeomen, which swelled our supporters to over eighty along with several women who had followed their menfolk. They in turn had brought a number of children, including at least three babes in arms.
The sun sank rapidly, as if time itself was moving faster and faster. Soon a dozen fires were lit by the mill; fires that grew brighter as the dusk thickened into night. One of the yeomen hung a flag, with its emblem of three legs, from the roof of the mill. It fluttered in the breeze, and the makeshift camp echoed with laughter, the talk filled with optimism. Someone produced a fiddle, and the women kicked off their shoes and the gra.s.s was suddenly awhirl with dancers, Simon and Adriana quickly joining in. Some of the locals arrived and watched from a distance. They were clearly afraid of getting involved.
Stanton now prepared to march his men east towards St John"s under cover of darkness. He planned to hide them in the forest at the foot of Slieau Whallian and attack at noon, when the Parliament a.s.sembled. Scouts had already reported that the route was clear, so we would take the main road for the majority of the way.
The Spook, Alice, Stanton and I followed behind the yeomanry, but the women and children were staying at the mill. Adriana reluctantly remained to care for her mother. After the doctor"s medicine had failed to bring about any improvement, Alice had treated her with herbs and potions, but to little effect.
The Spook handed me his bag to carry. "The odds are certainly stacked against us," he said to Stanton, shaking his head. "A witch like Lizzie can sniff out approaching danger. More than likely she"ll know that we"re coming and use dread the spell that terrifies her enemies. If she does that, brave as your men are, they"ll take to their heels."
But Stanton refused to be daunted by the Spook"s words. "I"ve seen what she"s capable of but we have to try. If we don"t make a fight of it, she"s won," he told us.
Some hours before dawn we were hidden deep in the forest but within easy range of St John"s. Stanton posted guards, and the rest of us grabbed the chance to rest.
Dawn brought drizzle and grey skies, but we couldn"t risk lighting fires so had to make do with a cold breakfast; for the Spook and me that meant cheese, and he grumbled as he ate a small portion. He liked to fast before facing the dark but always kept up his physical strength with a little cheese.
"This isn"t a patch on our County cheese, lad," he commented. "I prefer it yellow and very crumbly!"
I had no appet.i.te and ate little. I was nervous and my stomach was in knots. I"d a very bad feeling about what we were about to attempt. Lizzie"s new-found powers were so strong, and she had too many men. We had no hope of getting near her. If we weren"t killed in the attack, we"d be taken prisoner again. If that happened, I dreaded to think what Lizzie would have in store for us all especially the Spook.
Chapter 22.