Deep down she knew that if Oberon had fallen into the hole there was no way he could have survived it, but she could not bear to leave the spot.
Fabian studied the gap in the railings, chewing his lip. "He"s not down there."
Tanya looked up through her tears, sniffing noisily. "You"re just saying that."
"No, I"m not." He knelt beside her. "Think about it. He"s a big dog. The gap is wide enough for him to get through, but only just. If he did come this way, he would have had to slow down to squeeze through it, and so he would have seen the hole in time. Dogs are intelligent animals, especially Dobermans. And the leaves and twigs around the hole are undisturbed. If he"d fallen down it there would be claw marks."
He gave her an encouraging smile.
Tanya gave him a rather watery smile in return, feeling a ray of hope. She scrambled to her feet and wiped her face, leaving a streak of dirt on her cheek.
"Come on, then," she said.
They had been walking a further twenty minutes when Tanya noticed something.
"Listen."
Fabian stopped and c.o.c.ked his head to one side. "I can"t hear anything."
"Exactly. The gunshots have stopped. Warwick must have gone back to the house."
"Good," said Fabian, looking relieved. "That means we can shout as loudly as we want. Oberon!"
They yelled until their voices were hoa.r.s.e and their throats were sore, but still there was no sign of the missing dog. The hope that Tanya had felt earlier was steadily diminishing. She had been certain that they would have found him by now. All she wanted to do was find him and get out the longer they remained in the woods the more the chances of another attack by the fairies increased. Then another alarming thought occurred to her.
"Fabian? Do you know the way out of here?"
"I was hoping you would remember."
They stared at each other dumbly.
"Of course I don"t know the way out," she said at last. "I"ve never been in here before."
"Neither have I," said Fabian.
"So we"re lost then," said Tanya, feeling weak again as the clarity of the situation hit her. She envisaged wandering in the woods all day, then still being trapped at nightfall, and suddenly she was glad she was not alone.
"We"ll follow the stream," said Fabian. "The stream will lead us out at some point."
"At some point? Do you realise how big this forest is? I can"t even remember the last time I saw the stream, it was ages ago!"
"Have you got any better suggestions?" said Fabian tetchily.
Tanya scowled and shook her head.
They set off in search of the stream, ducking under low branches and listening for any sign of running water. As the minutes ticked by, even Fabian was beginning to look worried as the truth finally dawned. They were lost; completely, utterly and hopelessly lost.
"This is impossible," said Tanya, sitting down on a tree stump to examine a bulging blister on her foot. "We"re never going to find our way out." As she spoke, she saw, to her horror, a small mound of gra.s.sy earth scurrying along the ground to reposition itself at the base of a fallen tree. Moments later, a clump of weeds and tuft of wild flowers scuttled across her path to switch places. She stifled a terrified sob. The fairies were deliberately losing them, drawing them further and further into the woods by confusing them. They must have begun doing so the moment she and Fabian had entered the forest.
"We"re lost," she said in a small voice. "We"re not going to find the way out!"
"We will," said Fabian. "It just might take a little longer than we expected."
"You don"t understand," said Tanya. She battled to keep her voice from rising, and failed. "Before you know it there"ll be a search party out looking for us. Then we"ll be in even deeper trouble!"
Fabian sighed and looked at his watch. "We"ve still got plenty of time before it gets dark. Let"s keep going."
Tanya hauled herself to her feet and limped after him. As she did so a glint of silver caught her eye. "Wait."
Fabian paused, looking mildly irritated.
She pointed. "I think it"s another one of the catacombs."
The metal railings came into view as they drew nearer. This hole was significantly smaller than the first and did not look nearly so threatening. Tanya was relieved to see that the railings were intact the whole way round. There were no gaps in this, dog-sized or otherwise.
"How many of these are there, exactly?" Tanya wondered aloud.
"Seven." Fabian craned his neck to peer into the cavern. "I"d love to know how deep this thing goes."
Tanya made a face. "I wouldn"t. Just think of all the-"
"Quiet," said Fabian, holding his finger to his lips. "There"s someone over there. Look in the clearing!"
A girl in a green dress with long, dark hair was walking towards them slowly, bending down every now and then to add a wild flower to the bunch in her arms. For a moment Tanya thought the girl had not yet realised she was no longer alone, but then she looked straight at Tanya, smiling as she approached. Tanya"s initial relief at seeing another human being was short-lived, replaced with suspicion as she recalled the pa.s.sage on glamour in her grandmother"s book. She scrutinised the girl, searching for any clue that this might be some fey disguise but there was nothing about her that suggested anything out of the ordinary.
"Why do you think she"s here all alone?" Tanya whispered, trying not to move her lips in case the girl saw that they were speaking about her.
Fabian did not answer straight away. "I don"t know. She looks like she could be a gypsy she might be a relation of the old gypsy woman. She lives in these woods."
"Mad Morag?"
"That"s right. The one who gave you the compa.s.s. Which, by the way, I looked up in an antique book of Warwick"s. It"s worthless."
Tanya looked towards the girl. "Shall we ask her if she"s seen Oberon?"
Fabian nodded. "Even if she hasn"t she might be able to help us find our way out. She seems to know her way around pretty well." He stepped away from the railings and towards the girl, Tanya behind him.
The girl eyed them and smiled again. She looked to be in her early teens, with creamy skin and thickly lashed dark eyes. "Are you lost?" she asked softly.
"We"re looking for our dog," Fabian said. His voice was quavering and unusually self-conscious. "He ran off and we can"t find him. And now . . . yes, we"re lost," he admitted finally.
The girl nodded. "I saw a dog come this way." Her voice was quiet and well-spoken, somehow sounding older than her years.
"When?" Tanya said urgently.
"Not long ago," the girl replied. "Just a few minutes."
"Was he all right? He didn"t look hurt, did he?"
The girl trained her dark eyes on Tanya. "No, he looked fine. Come with me, I"ll help you look for him. I know these parts well. Once we have the dog I can lead you out of the forest."
Tanya shot a relieved glance at Fabian then they began to follow the girl, who was moving quickly ahead, weaving in and out of the trees. Once or twice Tanya thought she saw faces in the barks of trees, or the limb-like movement of a branch, but no longer felt able to distinguish between that which was fey and her own paranoia. She noticed that this part of the forest was very quiet and the trees seemed bigger and older somehow, the colours richer and the woodland scents heavier. They neared a huge tree, with a hole in its trunk wide enough to walk through.
"I wonder if this is the tree," Fabian said. "It"s st.u.r.dy enough."
"What tree?"
"You know, the tree!" He pulled a ghoulish face. "The one people used to be hanged from. There must be one. How else do you think the forest got its name? Go on, you go through first."
"I don"t want to," Tanya protested, but Fabian"s hand was between her shoulder blades, urging her through. Inside it was dark and smelled musty and damp, and she could hear the scuttling of creatures that were nesting there. In her haste to get out quickly she caught her foot on a root and stumbled back through into the light.
A rough hand grabbed her shoulder.
Tanya yelled and kicked out as hard as she could. There was a horrible thud as her foot made contact and her a.s.sailant gave a low groan. Fabian stumbled through, reaching for her blindly, then stopped dead.
"Warwick," he gasped.
Tanya looked up into Warwick"s face. He was rubbing his shin with his free hand. Sitting meekly behind him was Oberon, a length of thin rope joined to his collar as a makeshift leash.
"That hurt," Warwick told her through gritted teeth. "Don"t do it again." He turned to Fabian, eyes flashing with anger. "And it"s Dad to you."
Tanya wrenched herself free of his grasp and fell upon Oberon. The dog licked her lovingly, not quite sure what all the attention was for but enjoying it all the same. Fabian reached over and patted him, relieved.
"How did you find him?" Tanya asked.
"You"re both in big trouble," Warwick growled, ignoring the question. It was clear he was seething.
Tanya felt a sudden jolt of fear. She had never seen the man so angry.
"How many times have I told you, boy? These woods are dangerous!"
"It"s my fault," said Tanya, before Fabian had the chance to speak. "Oberon ran off, and I panicked. I I asked Fabian to come with me."
Warwick eyed her coldly. "You should have waited for me. This forest is no place to be if you don"t know your way around."
"I"m sorry," she replied, hanging her head, which seemed to placate him a little.
"It"s lucky you were wearing that," he said, jerking his head towards her red T-shirt. He gave Fabian a scathing onceover. "If you were wearing green like this idiot I wouldn"t have spotted you so easily even though you were making enough noise to wake the dead."
"Oh," Tanya muttered. For a moment she had thought Warwick had known the real reason she had chosen to wear red not that it had done her much good in the end. Fabian looked down at his brown and green clothes uncomfortably.
"Best be getting back," said Warwick, although his tone was marginally less angry now. He turned and began to walk briskly.
She exchanged glances with Fabian behind Warwick"s back. He was looking glum, and although she was glad he had been with her, she was sorry that he was going to get into trouble.
"Hang on a minute," said Fabian suddenly. He turned back to look the way they had just come. "Where did that girl go?"
Warwick spun round. "What girl?"
"There was a girl," said Tanya. "She saw Oberon a few minutes ago she offered to help us find him."
"She can"t have seen him," said Warwick. "He"s been with me for the best part of an hour." He scanned the trees. "Where is she?"
"I don"t know," Tanya replied. "She must have not realised we stopped, and carried on walking."
"What did she look like?"
"Pretty," Fabian said, a hazy look in his eyes. "Really pretty."
Warwick said no more. Instead he turned and continued to stomp through the woods. Tanya and Fabian ploughed after him in silence. Tanya watched as a tiny fairy, much like the one she had buried, landed gently on Warwick"s back and collected a downy feather caught in his hair, then flew back up into the trees to make its nest. Tanya stayed close to him, feeling safer but her dislike of Warwick leaving her confused and a little resentful of the feeling.
The journey back to Elvesden Manor was long and weary, but thankfully the fairies troubled them no more. For the second time in as many days, Tanya was glad to see her grandmother"s house.
7.
S SOON AS WARWICK HAD CLOSED the garden gate behind them Tanya untied the rope from Oberon"s collar, and then the four of them battled through the overgrown weeds towards the house.
"I suppose you"re going to have to tell my grandmother about this," Tanya muttered as they trudged into the kitchen. Its familiar smell was oddly comforting.
Warwick turned to face her, his expression grim. "Under normal circ.u.mstances I would. But I understand you only went into the forest to find your dog, not out of disobedience, so the matter can stay between us."
Tanya stared at him in surprise. Fabian looked equally as flabbergasted.
"There"s one condition." Warwick"s eyes bored into them. "You promise me now, both of you, that you"ll never set foot in those woods again."
They both promised readily. Neither harboured any desire to repeat the experience. Apparently satisfied, Warwick turned up the volume on a small portable radio on the windowsill.
"Other news now. Reports are coming in of a suspected child abduction from the maternity ward of an Ess.e.x hospital. CCTV checks have so far proved futile, with evidence that the cameras had been tampered with prior to the incident. It"s been confirmed that the child in question a boy thought to be little more than a week old had been abandoned near to the hospital shortly after birth and was being cared for by staff there. Police are appealing for the mother to come forward and have also issued a description of a teenage girl who was seen acting suspiciously in the reception area prior to the incident. She is now wanted for questioning. An eyewitness described the girl as-"
Warwick turned the radio off and rubbed a hand over his bristly chin.
"I hate the news," he said softly, then turned and left, leaving Tanya and Fabian alone.
"Oh, no," Fabian said in an exasperated voice. He was craning his neck to view his sleeve. "My best T-shirt. It"s ripped! Look at it." He sighed in annoyance, then looked at her hopefully. "Are you any good at sewing?"
"Terrible," she answered.
"I"ll leave it here later on," he said thoughtfully. "Maybe Florence will mend it."
"Thanks for coming with me," she said, after Warwick"s footsteps had faded away.
Fabian shrugged. "It was partly my fault anyway. If I hadn"t scared the rabbit it might not have happened."