As I walked down the hill, I began to feel very uneasy. Even though it was night time everything was too still and too quiet and nothing was moving below. The fences were in a poor state of repair, something that Dad and Jack would never have allowed to happen, and the barn doors were hanging half off their hinges.
The house looked deserted: some of the windows were broken and there were slates missing from the roof. I struggled to open the back door, and when it yielded with the usual jerk, I stepped into a kitchen that looked as though it hadn’t been lived in for years. There was dust everywhere and cobwebs hung from the ceiling. Mam’s rocking chair was right at the centre of the room and on it was a piece of folded paper, which I picked up and carried outside to read by the light of the moon.
Your dad’s, Jack’s Ellie’s and Mary’s graves are up on Hangman’s Hill. You’ll find your mother in the barn.
My heart aching to bursting point, I ran out into the yard. Then I halted outside the barn, listening carefully. Everything was silent. There wasn’t even a breath of wind. I stepped nervously into the gloom, hardly knowing what to expect. Would there be a grave there? Mam’s grave?
There was a hole in the roof almost directly above, and within a shaft of moonlight I could see Mam’s head. She was looking straight at me. Her body was in darkness, but from the position of her face she seemed to be kneeling on the ground.
Why would she do that? And why did she look so unhappy? Wasn’t she pleased to see me?
Suddenly Mam let out a scream of anguish. ‘Don’t look at me, Tom! Don’t look at me! Turn away now!’ she cried as if in torment.
The moment I looked away Mam rose up from the floor, and out of the corner of my eye I glimpsed something that turned my bones to jelly. From the neck down Mam was different. I saw wings and scales and a glint of sharp claws as she flew straight up into the air and smashed her way out through the barn roof, taking half of it with her. I looked up, shielding my face from the pieces of wood and debris that were falling towards me, and saw Mam, a black silhouette against the disc of the full moon as she flew upwards from the wreckage of the barn roof.
‘No! No!’ I shouted. ‘This isn’t true, This isn’t happening!’
In reply, a voice spoke inside my head. It was the low hiss of the Bane.
‘The moon shows the truth of things, boy. You know that already. All you have seen is true or will come to pass. All it takes is time.’
Someone began to shake my shoulder and I woke up in a cold sweat. The Spook was bending over me.
‘Wake up, lad! Wake up!’ he called. ‘It’s just a nightmare. It’s the Bane trying to get into your mind, trying to weaken us.’
I nodded but didn’t tell the Spook what had happened in the dream. It was too painful to talk about. I glanced up at the sky. Rain was still falling but the cloud was patchy and a few stars were visible. It was still dark, but dawn was not far off.
‘Have we slept all night?’
‘We have that,’ replied the Spook, ‘but I didn’t plan it that way.’
He rose stiffly. ‘Better move on while we still can,’ he said anxiously. ‘Can’t you hear ‘em?’
I listened and finally, above the noise of the wind and rain, I heard the distant baying of hounds.
‘Aye, they’re not too far behind,’ the Spook said. ‘Our only hope is to throw them off our scent. We need water to do that but it needs to be shallow enough for us to walk in. Of course, we’ll have to get back on dry land sometime but the dogs will have to be taken up and down the bank to pick up the scent again. And if there’s another stream close by it makes the job a lot easier.’
We scrambled over another wall and walked down a steep slope, moving as fast as we dared across the damp, slippery grass. There was a shepherd’s cottage below us, a faint silhouette against the sky, and next to it an ancient blackthorn tree, bent over towards it by the prevailing winds, its bare branches like claws clutching at the eaves. We kept walking towards the cottage for a few moments but then came to a sudden halt.
There was a wooden pen ahead and to our left. And there was just enough light to see that it contained a small flock of sheep, about twenty or so. And all of them were dead.
‘I don’t like the look of this one little bit, lad.’
I didn’t like the look of it either. But then I realized that he didn’t mean the dead sheep. He was looking at the cottage beyond.
‘We’re probably too late,’ he said, his voice hardly more than a whisper. ‘But it’s our duty to go in and see…’
With that he set off towards the cottage, gripping his staff. I followed carrying his bag. As I passed the pen, I glanced sideways at the nearest of the dead sheep. The white wool of its coat was streaked with blood. If that was the work of the Bane it had fed well. How much stronger would it be now?
The front door was wide open so without ceremony we went in, the Spook leading the way. He’d just taken one step over the threshold when he halted and sucked in his breath. He was staring to the left. There was a candle somewhere deeper in the room and by its flickering light I could see what, at first glance, I took to be a shadow of the shepherd. But it was too solid to be just a shadow. He had his back to the wall and the crook of his staff was raised above his head as if to threaten us. It took a while for me to understand what I was looking at, but something set my knees a-trembling and my heart fluttering up into my mouth.
On his face was a mixture of anger and terror. His teeth were showing but some of them were broken and blood was smeared across his mouth. He was upright but he wasn’t standing. He’d been flattened. Pressed back against the wall. Smeared into the stones. It was the work of the Bane.
The Spook took another step into the room. And another. I followed close behind until I could see the whole of the nightmare within. There’d been a baby’s cot in the corner but it had been smashed against the wall and amongst the debris were blankets and a small sheet streaked with blood. Of the child there was no sign. My master approached the blankets and raised them cautiously. What he saw clearly distressed him and he motioned at me not to look before replacing the blankets with a sigh.
By now I had spotted the infant’s mother. A woman’s body was on the floor, partly hidden by a rocking chair. I was grateful that I couldn’t see her face. In her right hand she gripped a knitting needle, and a ball of wool had rolled into the hearth close to the embers, which were fading to grey.
The door to the kitchen was open and I had a sudden sense of dread. I felt certain something was lurking there. No sooner had that thought entered my head than the temperature in the room dropped. The Bane was still here. I could feel it in my bones. In terror I almost fled from that cottage but the Spook stood his ground and while he remained how could I leave him?
At that moment the candle was suddenly extinguished, as if snuffed out by unseen fingers, plunging us into gloom, and a deep voice spoke out of the utter blackness of the kitchen doorway. A voice that resounded through the air and vibrated along the flagged floor of the cottage so that I could feel it in my feet.
‘Hello, Old Bones. At last we meet again. Been looking for you. Knew you were somewhere nearby.’
‘Aye and now you’ve found me,’ said the Spook wearily, resting his staff on the flags and leaning his weight against it.
‘Always were a meddler, weren’t you, Old Bones? But you’ve meddled once too often now. I’ll kill the boy first, while you stand and watch. Then it’ll be your turn.’
An invisible hand picked me up and slammed me back against the wall so hard that all the breath was driven from my body. Then the pressure began, a steady force so strong that my ribs felt about to snap. Worst of all was the terrible weight against my forehead and I remembered the face of the shepherd flattened and smeared into the stones. I was terrified, unable to move or even breathe. A darkness came over my eyes and the last thing I knew was a sense that the Spook had rushed towards the kitchen doorway raising his staff.
Someone was
shaking me gently.
I opened my eyes and saw the Spook bending over me. I was lying on the floor of the cottage. ‘Are you all right, lad?’ he asked anxiously.
I nodded. My ribs felt sore. With every breath I took they hurt. But I was breathing. I was still alive.
‘Come on, let’s see if we can get you to your feet…’
With the Spook supporting me, I managed to stand.
‘Can you walk?’
I nodded and took a step forward. I didn’t feel too steady on my feet but I could walk.
‘Good lad.’
‘Thanks for saving me,’ I said.
The Spook shook his head. ‘I did nothing, lad. The Bane just disappeared suddenly, as if it had been called. I saw it moving up the hill. It looked just like a black cloud blotting out the last of the stars. A terrible thing’s been done here,’ he said, glancing at the horror within the cottage. ‘But we’ve got to get away just as fast as we can. First we must save ourselves. We might be able to escape the Quisitor, but with that girl following us the Bane will always be near and growing more powerful all the time. We need to get to Heysham and find out how we can deal with that foul thing once and for all!’
With the Spook leading the way, we left the cottage and continued down the hill. We crossed two more sections of wall until I could hear the sound of rushing water. My master was moving a lot quicker now, almost as fast as when we’d set out from Chipenden, so I suppose the sleep had done him some good. Whereas I was sore all over and struggling to keep up, his bag heavy in my hand.
We came out onto a steep, narrow path beside a beck, a wide torrent of water rushing headlong downwards over rocks.
‘About a mile further down this empties out into a tarn,’ said the Spook, striding down the path. ‘The land levels and two streams flow out of it. It’s just what we’re looking for.’
I followed as best I could. It seemed to be raining harder than ever and the ground was treacherous underfoot. One slip and you’d end up in the water. I wondered if Alice was nearby and if she could walk down a path like this so close to fast-flowing water. Alice would be in danger too. The dogs might pick up her scent.
Even above the noise of the beck and the rain I could hear the bloodhounds; they seemed to be getting closer and closer. Suddenly I heard something that made me catch my breath.
It was a scream!
Alice! I turned and looked back up the path but the Spook grabbed my arm and pulled me forward. ‘There’s nothing we can do, lad!’ he shouted. ‘Nothing at all! So just keep moving.’
I did as I was told, trying to ignore the sounds that were coming from the fell side behind us. There were shouts and yells and more horrifying screams until gradually everything grew quiet and all I could hear was the water rushing by. The sky was much lighter now and below us, in the first dawn light, I could see the pale waters of the tarn spread out amongst the trees.
My heart ached at the thought of what could have happened to Alice. She didn’t deserve this.
‘Keep moving, lad,’ the Spook repeated.
And then we heard something on the path behind us – but moving closer and closer. It sounded like an animal bounding down towards us. A big dog.
It didn’t seem fair. We were so close to the tarn and its two streams. Just another ten minutes and we’d have been able to throw the hounds off our scent. But to my surprise the Spook wasn’t moving any faster. He even seemed to be slowing down. Finally he stopped altogether and pulled me to the side of the path; I wondered if he’d come to the end of his strength. If so, then it was all over for both of us.
I looked to the Spook, hoping he’d produce something from his bag to save us. But he didn’t. The dog was now running towards us at full pelt. Yet as it got closer I noticed something strange about it. For one thing it was yelping rather than baying like a hound in full cry. And its eyes were fixed ahead rather than upon us. It passed so close that I could have reached out and touched it.
‘If I’m not mistaken, it’s terrified,’ said the Spook. ‘Watch out! Here comes another one!’
The next one passed, yelping like the first, its tail between its legs. Quickly, two more came by. Then, close behind, a fifth hound. All taking no notice of us but running headlong down the muddy path towards the tarn.
‘What’s happened?’ I asked.
‘No doubt we’ll find out soon enough,’ said the Spook. ‘Let’s just keep going.’
Soon the rain stopped and we reached the tarn. It was big and, for the most part, calm. But near us the beck entered it in a fury of white water, hurtling down a steep slope to agitate the surface. We stood staring at the falling water, where twigs, leaves and even the occasional log were being swept down into the tarn.
Suddenly something larger hit the water with a tremendous splash. It was thrust deep under the surface but reappeared about thirty or so paces further on and began to drift towards the western shore of the tarn. It looked like a human body.
I rushed forward to the water’s edge. What if it was Alice? But before I could plunge in, the Spook put his hand on my shoulder and gripped it hard.
‘It’s not Alice,’ he said softly. ‘That body’s too big. Besides, I think she called the Bane. Why else would it have left so suddenly? With the Bane on her side she’ll have won any argument going on back there. We’d best walk round to the far shore and take a closer look.’
We followed the curved shore until, after a few minutes, we were standing on the western bank under the branches of a large sycamore tree, inches deep in fallen leaves. The thing in the water was some distance away but getting closer. I hoped the Spook was right, that the body was too big to be Alice’s, but it was still too dark to be sure. And if it wasn’t her, whose body was it?
I began to feel afraid but there was nothing I could do but wait as the sky grew lighter and the body drifted closer towards us.
Slowly the clouds broke up and soon the sky was light enough for us to identify the body beyond all doubt.
It was the Quisitor.
I looked at the floating body. It was on its back and only the face was clear of the water. The mouth was open and so were the eyes. There was terror on the pale dead face. It was as if there wasn’t a drop of blood left in his body.
‘He’s swum a lot of innocents in his time,’ said the Spook. The poor, the old and the lonely. Many who’d worked hard all their lives and just deserved a bit of peace and quiet in their old age, and a bit of respect too. And now it’s his turn. He’s got exactly what he deserves.’
I knew that swimming a witch was just superstitious nonsense, but I couldn’t get out of my head the fact that he was floating. The innocent sank; the guilty floated. Innocents like Alice’s aunt, who’d died of shock.
‘Alice did this, didn’t she?’ I said.
The Spook nodded. ‘Aye, lad. Some would say she did. But it was the Bane really. Twice she’s called him now. Its power over her will be growing and what she sees it can see also.’
‘Shouldn’t we be on our way?’ I asked nervously, looking back across the lake to where the tarn rushed headlong into it. Beside it was the path. ‘Won’t his men come down here?’
‘They might eventually, lad. That’s if they’ve still got breath in their bodies. But I’ve a feeling that they won’t be in a fit state to do much for a while. No, I’m expecting somebody else, and if I’m not much mistaken, here she comes now…’
I followed the Spook’s gaze towards the beck, where a small figure walked down the path and stood for a moment watching the falling water. Then Alice’s gaze turned towards us and she began to walk along the bank in our direction.
‘Remember,’ the Spook warned, ‘the Bane sees through her eyes now. It’s building its strength and power, learning our weaknesses. Be very careful what you say or do.’
One part of me wanted to shout out and warn Alice to run away while she still could. There was no knowing what the Spook might do to her now. Another part of me was suddenly desp
erately afraid of her. But what could I do? Deep down, I knew that the Spook was her only hope. Who else could free her from the Bane now?
Alice walked up to stand at the edge of the water, keeping me between her and the Spook. She was staring towards the body of the Quisitor. There was a mixture of terror and triumph on her face.
‘You might as well take a good look, girl,’ said the Spook. ‘Examine your handiwork close up. Was it worth it?’
Alice nodded. ‘He got what was coming to him,’ she said firmly.
‘Aye, but at what cost?’ asked the Spook. ‘You belong more and more to the dark. Call the Bane once more and you’ll be lost for ever.’
Alice didn’t reply and we stood there for a long time in silence, just staring at the water.
‘Well, lad,’ said the Spook, ‘we’d best be on our way. Someone else will have to deal with the body because we’ve got work to do. As for you, girl, you’ll come with us if you know what’s good for you. And now you’d better listen and you’d better listen carefully because what I’m proposing is your only hope. The only chance you’ll ever have to break free of that creature.’
Alice looked up, her eyes very wide.
‘You do know the danger you’re in? You do want to be free?’ he asked.
Alice nodded.
‘Then come here!’ he commanded sternly.
Alice walked obediently to his side.
‘Wherever you are the Bane won’t be far behind so for now you’d better come with me and the lad. I’d rather know roughly where that creature is than have it roaming anywhere it likes through the County, terrorizing decent folks. So listen to me and listen good. For now it’s important that you see and hear nothing – that way the Bane will learn nothing from you. But you have to do it willingly, mind. If you cheat in the slightest way, it’ll go hard with all of us.’
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