The Puzzle Ring

by Kate Forsyth

  ‘Hannah, will you dip the hag-stone in the cup?’ she whispered. ‘It will help heal you.’

  Hannah managed to lean up on one elbow and dangle the hag-stone in the cup, before drawing it out by its cord and letting it hang about her neck once more. She drank down the elderflower tea, and sank back onto the straw. Within seconds she was asleep again, but this time her sleep was sweet. When she woke, the fever had passed.

  ‘Do you know what influenza means?’ Max asked when Hannah told them all something of what she had seen and heard while in her fever. ‘It’s from the Spanish for “influence”. Spanish doctors called it “Influenza de Diablo” because they thought only the Devil could cause such a sickness.’

  ‘The things you know.’ Scarlett shook her head in mock amazement. ‘Where do you get all this stuff from?’

  ‘Books,’ Max said. ‘You know, things made from words printed on paper and bound together. I’m sure you must’ve seen one even if you’ve never opened one.’

  ‘Ha, ha, very funny,’ Scarlett said.

  Hannah found she remembered how to smile.

  Her legs were very wobbly when she got up and walked around. She insisted she was well enough to move on, however, for her anxiety about the passing of time was far sharper than her desire to lie down again.

  ‘I’ll just go and thank that poor girl,’ she said. ‘Angus, do we have any money left? Can’t we give her a coin or something?’

  ‘I think the sweat of our brows is payment enough,’ Angus said grumpily. ‘Me and the lads have worked mighty hard these last few days.’ He fished in his purse, though, and brought out a coin which he gave to Hannah. She went and knocked on the door. It opened a crack, and the young woman looked out suspiciously.

  ‘I just wanted to thank you,’ Hannah said. ‘It was kind of you to let us use your shed. I’m much better now.’

  The young woman grunted and went to shut the door, but Hannah put out her hand and touched her arm. ‘I have a little something for you, to thank you,’ she said.

  To her chagrin the girl screamed and jerked her hand away as if Hannah’s fingers had burnt her. ‘The Devil’s hand!’ she screamed. ‘You touched me wi’ the Devil’s hand!’

  Blushing scarlet, Hannah snatched her left hand away and put it behind her back. ‘I . . . I’m sorry, I didn’t mean . . .’ she stammered, but the young woman slammed the door shut and Hannah could hear her sobbing inside.

  ‘We’d better get out of here,’ Scarlett said with a giggle. ‘Next she’ll be waving ropes of garlic at us, or bringing out her cross.’

  ‘Not unless she wishes to be burnt for a Catholic,’ Angus said dourly. ‘Come on then, let’s go.’

  ‘She’s all alone, and very close to her time,’ Linnet said sadly. ‘She must be afraid of strangers, and we brought sickness and fever into her house. I am not surprised she’s glad to see us go!’

  The path wound away from the little house, heading north. Angus stood on the crest of the hill, shading his eyes and looking east. ‘The fairy mountain is that way,’ he said, pointing. ‘I can just see its peak. The shortest way will be along the loch shore. It’s a fair walk, lassie. I could do it in a day, but you’re looking rather peaky. I think we’d better take it slow.’

  ‘I wonder what day it is,’ Scarlett said, some hours later. ‘It’s so hard to keep track without a calendar.’

  ‘The days are growing longer,’ Linnet said. ‘Soon it shall be the equinox, where the day is as long as the night for the first time in months.’

  ‘The thin day,’ Hannah said.

  Linnet nodded.

  ‘Can we get back to Fairknowe in time?’ Hannah asked.

  Linnet gave an expressive little shrug. ‘I don’t think so,’ she said gently. ‘Not even if we found the missing loop today. It’d take a miracle.’

  ‘A miracle like finding a horse to ride?’ Scarlett asked in an odd tone of voice.

  Hannah looked up. To her surprise and delight, a tall bay horse stood on the shore. It whickered with pleasure at the sight of them and pranced forward a few steps.

  ‘What a beauty!’ Donovan cried. He bent and plucked a handful of grass, and the horse lipped at it delicately. Donovan stroked his curved neck admiringly.

  ‘We could take it in turns to ride,’ Scarlett said. ‘It could fit two of us on its back, surely? Think how much faster we’d get along then!’

  ‘That’s true,’ Max said. ‘But surely it must belong to someone? I’m sure they have a nasty punishment for horse-stealing these days.’

  ‘Come away, my lambs, you should never try and mount a horse by water.’

  ‘Why on earth not?’ Scarlett demanded. ‘A horse is just what we need! Obviously it’s lost. We’ll ride it into town and they’ll reward us for returning it. I’ll catch it!’

  ‘Scarlett, don’t!’ Linnet called, but Scarlett had caught a handful of mane and commanded Donovan to boost her up. In a moment, she was on the horse’s back.

  ‘Oh, you beauty,’ Scarlett whispered, her face alight. ‘Isn’t he good? He’s tame as a lamb. Come on up, Hannah.’

  ‘Hannah, no!’

  But Hannah had already put her boot in Donovan’s linked hands and let him lift her up to the horse’s back. ‘There’s heaps of room! Come on up, Max.’

  ‘It’s not safe,’ Linnet said urgently. ‘Have you never been taught not to mount a horse near water? It’s not safe.’

  ‘You’re a funny old thing,’ Scarlett said indulgently as Max scrambled up behind Hannah. ‘Whyever not?’

  ‘A horse like that, on the shores of a deserted loch, that grows in length to fit each new passenger, it must be a kelpie!’ Linnet wrung her hands in dismay. ‘Oh, why will you not listen to me?’

  Hannah had, of course, read about kelpies. At once she tried to slip down from the horse’s back but he began to grow and grow, writhing and rippling horribly. His beautiful, proud head sprang teeth as sharp as daggers; his neck turned long and slippery as an eel; his body elongated and grew black and slimy. Whiskers sprang from his chin and flippers from his crooked legs. He screeched, high and shrill, and undulated swiftly towards the water, Hannah, Scarlett and Max screaming in terror upon his sinuous back.

  ‘Iron!’ Linnet screamed. ‘We can only tame him with iron!’

  The words were barely out of her mouth before Donovan whipped off his iron-studded belt and flung it about the monster’s neck. The kelpie screeched and thrashed wildly, flinging Donovan off his feet. Angus seized the two ends of the belt and held the water-horse firm. For one minute, for two minutes, the battle raged, while the muscles in Angus’s arms stood out with the effort and his face grew red. At last the monster succumbed, though, and changed shape once more into a tall bay horse, his satiny neck burnt black from the touch of the iron studs. Donovan stood up shakily, wincing as he put weight on one foot.

  ‘You may as well get up on his back too,’ Angus panted. ‘Since we’ve caught ourselves a water-horse, we may as well use it!’

  The kelpie cantered the rest of the way to Schiehallion, easily carrying the weight of four tall teenagers, his supple back and legs simply stretching to accommodate them. His black mane and tail writhed in the wind, and he flared his blood-red nostrils and tossed his proud head, snorting and neighing ferociously. Angus pounded along beside him, firmly gripping the ends of the iron-studded belt. The kelpie tried many times to jerk him off his feet, or ram him against a rock or a tree, but the old man was surprisingly quick and nimble, and kept the water-horse under tight control.

  Linnet ran behind, never seeming to lose breath or grow tired. She ran as easily and naturally as a gazelle, so lightly that Hannah began to think her feet did not even bend the blades of grass or bruise the early flowers.

  Schiehallion dominated the skyline. Tall, perfectly symmetrical in its proportions, and capped with snow, it arrowed into the blue sky. Hannah could not take her eyes from it. Let us find the last loop of the puzzle ring and then we can just go home, she thought
.

  By early evening it towered above them, set ablaze by the light of the setting sun. It was no longer a perfect isosceles triangle, revealing a long spur of land that ran away to the east, so that it now looked rather more like a stranded whale. Hannah felt a clutch of anxiety in her chest. It no longer looked much like the mountain she had seen through the hag-stone.

  Angus came to a halt, his breath wheezing in his chest, his furrowed face bright red. Linnet was not panting at all. She stepped forward lightly and took the leather end of the belt in both hands. The horse fought her touch, yanking his head back, but she clung on grimly.

  ‘Haven’t . . . run like that . . . in years,’ the old man gasped, bending over, his hands on his knees. ‘Just . . . got to . . . catch my breath.’

  Hannah and her friends slid to the ground, landing in a crumpled heap.

  ‘Ow! I hurt all over!’ Max got up stiffly and took a few painful steps. ‘That horse’s spine was bony!’

  ‘I think I’ve got saddle sores,’ Donovan said. ‘Max, you do know the cure for saddle sores, don’t you?’

  ‘No more horseriding!’ Max said, one hand on his bottom.

  ‘We’ll have to ride again,’ Hannah said. ‘We have to get back to Fairknowe by the spring equinox, remember, if we want to get home again. The water-horse can carry us much faster than we can walk!’

  ‘Well, I suppose we’d better start searching for the loop,’ Scarlett said, getting to her feet and trying to pretend she did not hurt as much as the other three. ‘We’re looking for a tall, split rock that looks like praying hands, right?’

  But although all six companions split up and fanned around the base of the mountain, they could find nothing that looked like the rock Hannah had seen through the hag-stone. Hannah looked through it once more, but saw only the vision she had had before, and when she asked it which way, the little twitch it gave was so slight that Hannah could not tell what way it meant.

  ‘It must be close,’ she said in frustration. ‘Let’s keep on looking.’

  Angus had tethered the water-horse to a tree, and as darkness fell, everyone made their way back there, all looking very downcast. The water-horse had once again tried to escape, and the ground was dug up all around where it had reared and trampled. Its neck was scarred with black.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ Donovan murmured, stroking its shoulder. ‘We don’t want to hurt you. Won’t you settle down now, and stop hurting yourself, and we’ll promise we’ll let you go just as soon as we can.’

  The water-horse hurrumphed as if in disbelief.

  Angus built a fire, while the children cut bracken for their beds and then morosely they ate their brose, wrapped themselves in their grubby plaids and lay down.

  It was a clear starry night, and the icy peak of the fairy mountain shone faintly in the starlight. Although Hannah was exhausted, she could not sleep. She hurt too much. She lay and stared at Schiehallion, worrying about what to do if she could not find the last loop of the puzzle ring. They had been back in the year 1567 for weeks now. If they failed to return to Fairknowe by the spring equinox, they would be trapped until the next thin day, which was May Day.

  Pale green fire flickered over the white peak. Hannah stared, then rubbed her eyes. The green fire rippled and wavered.

  ‘It is the merry dancers,’ Linnet said softly. She was sitting up by the fire, her plaid drawn close about her face. ‘The northern lights. It is a sign that the spring equinox is near.’

  ‘How near?’ Hannah asked.

  ‘Tomorrow, I think,’ Linnet answered.

  Hannah’s shoulders slumped.

  ‘It may not matter,’ Linnet said. ‘Schiehallion is a gateway too, you know. If we find the ring tomorrow, perhaps you could go through it instead of the gate at Fairknowe.’

  ‘You mean we can travel back to our own time from here, instead of travelling all the way back to Fairknowe?’ Hannah sat up straight. ‘Really? That would be fantastic! I mean, we’d still be miles from home but at least we could catch a bus back, or ring Mum to come and pick us up. Oh, what a good idea!’

  Linnet was silent a moment. ‘My only fear is who—or what—will be guarding the gateway.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Fairknowe is only a small gateway, rather like a back door. Schiehallion is like the front door. It will not be easy to sneak through. And my lady’s cousin, that black-hearted murderess, will be watching.’

  ‘But why? Why does she care what we do?’

  ‘She wants to be queen of the fairy realm.’

  ‘But . . .’ began Hannah, who thought Irata already ruled the fairy realm. Then she remembered that they were in 1567, and it was only a few months since Eglantyne had died. Irata had not yet stolen the throne.

  ‘Already she has caused the death of my lady through her wickedness,’ Linnet said. ‘I do not doubt that she means to kill the king too, and my lady’s sisters.’

  ‘That’s right. I forgot Eglantyne had sisters.’

  ‘Two. She was the eldest, and then there was Maeve and Morgana. The black one can inherit only if the princesses are all dead. I have had a dreadful fear in me ever since I realised what she was plotting. I tried to get a message to the king, but I have had no answer. All these months, since my lady was tricked and betrayed, I’ve dreaded what may be happening in my homeland. Mayhap the king is already dead. Mayhap the little princesses too. Already I can see signs of her influence in this land: the spy in Edinburgh who plucked your hair, the Blue Men of the Minch travelling so far to challenge us, the water-horse waiting for us on the shores of the loch.’

  ‘So Ira—I mean, the black witch . . . she wants to stop me joining the puzzle ring to stop the prophecy being fulfilled? To make sure the child of true blood is not found?’

  Linnet nodded. ‘I fear so. It’s the only reason why she would’ve called upon the Blue Men. They’re fairies of this world, not the Otherworld. They are not constrained by its boundaries. The black witch lives in the Otherworld, and can only enter this world on the thin days, or sometimes, if her will is strong, at dawn or dusk or midnight, when the moon is dark or full, or when her name is called . . .’

  ‘And that is why she killed my father,’ Hannah said passionately. ‘Or did whatever it was she did to him. Do you think he could still be alive, Linnet? A captive in the Otherworld, perhaps?’

  ‘It’s possible. It is not unknown for humans to be taken captive, as punishment or even just for amusement. Although I think she took him, or killed him, to stop him rescuing my lady. We thought she was safe. It was a bitter day when we heard your father had failed.’ Grief thickened Linnet’s voice.

  They sat in silence for a while, watching the faint flicker of the northern lights dance across the clear sky.

  ‘So how will we cross through the gateway without her seeing us?’ Hannah asked.

  ‘I will find some fern seed and make you a spell of invisibility,’ Linnet answered. She sounded sad. ‘I know the secret recipe.’

  ‘I really, really want to go home, Linnet.’

  ‘Aye. I long for home too. Well, the sooner we find that last loop and join the puzzle ring together, the sooner we can all go home.’

  The Girl From Under The Hill

  But the last loop of the puzzle ring could not be found.

  ‘We’ll have to ask someone,’ Donovan said. ‘There must be someone who knows where the praying hands are.’

  ‘Fortingall is not so very far from here, if I remember rightly,’ Angus said. ‘A matter of five miles or so.’

  ‘Maybe we could see the praying hands if we climbed Schiehallion,’ Scarlett suggested. ‘You can see half of Scotland from up there.’

  ‘Great,’ groaned Max. ‘How about you climb the mountain and I’ll see if I can catch us a fish for dinner. I am so sick of porridge!’

  ‘I’ll ride to Fortingall,’ Angus said. ‘The less folk see of your strange ways, the better.’

  ‘I’ll climb the mountain,’ Linnet said
. She was carefully making a thick, brown, unpleasant-smelling paste from fern spores and spring water, adding the golden pollen of some newly opened poppies and some other herbs that Hannah did not recognise. ‘Hannah should rest some more. She’s still very weak after her fever.’

  ‘I’ll stay and keep her company,’ Max offered.

  ‘Well, one of you lads should stay with Linnet and keep her safe,’ Angus said.

  ‘I guess that means me,’ Donovan said and got up, tossing Hannah a rueful smile. ‘At least this means I can add Schiehallion to my list of Munros.’

  ‘To your list of what?’ Hannah asked.

  ‘Munros are mountains in Scotland over nine hundred and fourteen metres,’ Donovan explained. ‘There are two hundred and eighty-four of them. I aim to be the first teenager to bag them all.’

  ‘I’ll go too,’ Scarlett said. ‘Not that I care about bagging Munros, but I hate fishing even more than climbing mountains.’

  Linnet scraped the gritty brown paste into a pot, pushed the cork back in, and gave it to Hannah. ‘This should do the trick,’ she said. ‘You rub it between your eyes and say, “Things seen and things not seen, let me walk between.” Keep it safe because I harvested the seeds of all the ferns I could find, and so I cannot make any more.’

  Angus stumped towards the water-horse, which rolled a panicked eye towards him and began again to try to slip his tether. Angus seized the belt and drew it tight about the horse’s neck. ‘I’ll see if I can’t buy us a bridle while I’m in Fortingall.’

  ‘Oh, don’t buy a bridle!’ Linnet protested. ‘It’d be so cruel to put iron in his mouth when iron hurts him so much. He’s a fairy creature, remember.’

  ‘If he behaves on the ride in, I’ll see about buying just a halter, but if he gives me any trouble, it’s a bridle with the heaviest iron bit I can find!’ Angus gave the water-horse a stern glance, and he at once looked meek and biddable. With a grunt, Angus mounted, waved his hand in farewell, and rode off.