But he could picture her now, standing down by the lych-gate that led to the churchyard. He could picture her disappearing into the shadows, could see her face superimposed on that of the unfortunate wretch upon whom they had stumbled, and he could hear her voice within that terrible scream.
Suddenly he was burning inside from the shock of realisation, whilst his skin grew cold and clammy with renewed fear. ‘That woman in there is Virginia Saunders, isn’t she?’ he gasped through dry lips.
Everard’s face betrayed every ounce of his surprise. ‘Ye knows o’ Miss Virginia?’
‘She used to be my girlfriend, many years ago.’
‘Then truly ye be The Chosen One!’
‘What are you going on about, old man? The Chosen One? Chosen for what?’
For a moment, Everard looked cagey, as if fighting some inner struggle to reveal something that he felt Rob should be told, yet at the same time knowing the younger man must not discover the fact.
But then the moment was gone.
‘Ye be the one Miss Virginia mentioned in passing several times, the mysterious man from her past whom she would not elaborate upon.’
Rob stared searchingly at Everard, trying hard to evaluate the honesty of the statement, unsure whether to feel flattered that Virginia had mentioned him whilst she was alive, or whether to feel threatened that this old man had recognised him from Virginia’s apparently guarded comments.
It did not sit well with him that current events were out of his control. They threatened his ordered life and he felt helpless – something he had not felt since before his father’s death. Poor Satan and Virginia – part of his present and part of his past had been murdered, and Jonathan had apparently disappeared: it seemed to Rob that everything he loved was being systematically wiped out without motive
‘Someone in this village is a murderer,’ he mumbled as the bile settled back to his stomach. ‘Someone wants to keep me here for some reason, and clearly thinks that by killing Ginny I’ll stay to try and solve the mystery.’
‘Do ye not mean something, Mister Tyler?’
Rob glowered at Everard almost venomously. ‘No, I do not! Nothing you can say or do will persuade me that this was anything other than a gruesome murder. I don’t know why someone would want me to remain in this village, but their plan worked. I’ll be contacting the police myself, and I’m not leaving until I find out who killed Ginny!’
‘There be something ye do not know about Miss Saunders,’ Everard continued in a quiet voice.
Kinelm touched his arm. ‘Be it wise t’ tell him everything?’
‘Perhaps not, Kinelm, but he has t’ know.’
‘More lies?’ questioned Rob sarcastically. ‘More fanciful tales to try and bewitch me? Perhaps it is you who is trying to keep me here?’
‘Miss Virginia were one o’ The High One’s disciples. Us all knew what’d happen to her once she outgrew her usefulness, didn’t us! But there were no way us could tell her what us knew, ‘cause she were useful to us’n’all. We had hoped she’d lead us t’ The High One.’
‘You’re really serious about all this Black Magic mumbo-jumbo, aren’t you?’ gasped Rob.
Everard responded solemnly. ‘Yes’n the death o’ Miss Saunders has opened a vital opportunity t’ get t’ the very root o’ the evil in our midst.’
In spite of his distress at Virginia’s demise, Rob could not help but be curious. ‘What do you mean, exactly?’
‘Those that follow The High One be a brethren, like a coven o’ witches if ye likes. There has t’ be thirteen o’ them, and each time The High One kills a disciple, another has t’ be swiftly chosen t’ take his place… or in this case, her place. Because it were a woman what were killed, it must be a woman what replaces her.’
‘I shall do it.’
The thin voice, which seemed oddly out of place amongst the Devonian dialect of the trio of men, came wafting towards them on a breeze that offered a hint of honeysuckle. Instinctively every pair of eyes rolled sideways to observe Dr Val Hide-Guest as she approached.
Rob noticed that all the other villagers who had been standing in the doorways of the distant houses had vanished, the doors firmly closed against the night, the lights dimmed behind drawn curtains. Of the dozen men who had come down to investigate the explosion, all but Everard, Kinelm and Barnabas had retreated into the relative safety of their homes.
‘It be dangerous, Val,’ muttered Kinelm, ‘much too dangerous for ye. We cannot allow it!’
Val smiled sweetly. ‘My dear Kinelm, we need someone we can trust, and Everard himself said it must be a woman. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you. This so-called coven does not frighten me.’ She touched his cheek tenderly. ‘I am touched by your concern, but it really is not necessary.’
‘Are ye sure ye wants t’ go ahead with that?’ probed Everard.
Val nodded solemnly. ‘Someone has to, if we are to ever be free of the evil that has plagued our village for so long.’
‘Very true,’ Everard sighed. ‘Very well, I shall allow it.’
‘Thank you.’
Despite the grave circumstances, Rob found himself smirking at the nonsense.
These fools really do believe all the stupid mumbo-jumbo. In spite of the fact that someone – yes, he thought, someone not something – murdered Virginia and blew up Gerry’s car, everything else is perfectly ridiculous.
‘And how will you contact this High One to offer your services if nobody knows what he, she or it looks like?’ he asked, trying to keep the scorn from his voice.
‘My dear chap, one does not contact the High One,’ sighed Val in a condescending tone. ‘The High One shall contact a potential disciple.’
‘So it can read minds as well? It can read minds to find a new willing disciple, but it can’t read all our minds here and now, plotting against it… obviously. Fascinating!’
‘You should not mock that which you do not understand!’ snapped Val. ‘We have to live with this horror every day. We know what we are talking about. We do not make the High One’s rules, you know, any more than we know how the High One’s mind works.’
‘All right, all right,’ sighed Rob, holding up his hands. ‘I’m sorry. Look, it’s obvious I’m not wanted in this village, but I’m not going to be able to leave until tomorrow now, so I’ve no choice but to stay overnight. Does your kind offer of hospitality still stand?’
Val smiled. ‘Of course.’
‘Very gracious of you, Doctor. Thanks. Tomorrow, Gerry and I shall take our leave of you and let you get on with whatever fantasies you want to play. But the fact is that there’s a dead girl in the graveyard, someone blew up Gerry’s car, and this young idiot here tried to kill me, so whether you like it or not, I’m going to the police.’
‘As ye wish,’ responded Everard.
‘Where’s the nearest telephone?’
‘Oh, there are no telephones in the village,’ said Val with a hint of malice.
‘But there must be.’
‘What Val says be true,’ Everard added solemnly, ‘so yer phone call t’ the police, like yer departure, will have t’ wait.’
Insinuating herself between the brothers, Val linked her arms through theirs, glancing first at Gerry and then at Rob with a triumphant grin slashed across her face. ‘Come along you two, you must be desperate for some sleep. You have had a very trying day. I am sure I can find you some pyjamas somewhere.’
Rob disentangled his arm from Val’s. ‘But what about Ginny? We can’t just leave her out here, uncovered all night!’
Val smiled. ‘Do not concern yourself about Virginia. She is not going anywhere tonight. Barnabas will take care of her.’ She looked pointedly at the youngest of the three villagers, who nodded mutely. ‘There, you see, he will make certain no harm comes to Virginia.’
Rob wanted to argue that terminal harm had already befallen Virginia, but from the corner of his eye he saw Gerry shake his head and so remained silen
t. He was unhappy with everything about their situation, and his mounting anger at the doctor’s attitude, coupled with his persistent unease, made him suddenly eager to leave the village. The last thing he wanted now was to spend the night, but there was little he could do about it.
For the moment at least, he and Gerry were stuck in Dorstville, at the mercy of Dr Val Hide-Guest’s hospitality, and he somehow instinctively knew they would be very lucky to make it through the entire night without any further unexplained incidents.
Four
Naghene Hall
Ginny stood at the foot of the bed, staring at Rob as he slumbered peacefully, undisturbed by the watchful intruder. But then she breathed out slowly, deliberately, and as her breath reached his face, Rob slowly opened his eyes. Ginny smiled a deadly smile, a killer smile, a beautiful smile – a smile that brought back to Rob all the aching passion he had once felt towards her.
But how could she be here?
She was dead!
He sat up slowly, wiping the sleep from his eyes. ‘Are you a ghost?’ he whispered, glancing across the unfamiliar room to where Gerry tossed and turned restlessly in a similar bed to that in which he lay.
‘No, Rob, I am as real as you and Gerry.’
Rob would have sworn that Ginny’s lips did not move as he heard her voice, even as he realised with a sharp intake of breath that she floated a couple of feet off the ground, bobbing up and down gently in the air to the uneven beating of his heart. Drawing the sheet up to his neck as if it might offer some protection from what he fervently believed to be a spectre, Rob was ashamed to feel a sudden dampness in his nether region. ‘But… you are dead. I saw your remains. How can you be real?’
‘We are all as real as each other in this place you call your mind, Rob.’
Rob relaxed slightly, still perturbed by Ginny’s appearance yet relieved at the same time when the damp feeling vanished. ‘So this is a dream?’ he whispered, unsure why he was whispering if he was really in his dreamscape: it was not as if his voice was about to awaken Gerry, after all. ‘Will I remember in the morning when I wake up?’
The hovering apparition shook her head solemnly, her smile unwavering yet not reassuring. ‘The others will make certain that you remember nothing, but Rob, I must warn you all the same in the vain hope that you will remember something.’
‘The others?’
‘The disciples of Apollyon. They will almost certainly kill you if you remain in Dorstville, as surely as they killed me. When they do so, it will mean the end of the world, for you are the salvation of us all. If by some miracle you do recall all or part of what I have to tell you, get away from here and stay away. They cannot force your return, for if they do, their plan will fail. I have been trying to shield you against their mighty leader, but it grows more difficult with each passing minute. The High One is very powerful’
In the dreamscape of his slumbering mind, Rob gave Ginny his undivided attention. ‘Who is this High One?’
In the real world, Val entered the room abruptly and threw back the curtains with a theatrical flourish. Brilliant sunshine flooded the room. ‘Come on boys, it is time to get up!’ Gerry groaned and struggled back into the land of the living, but Rob remained dead to the world.
Val came to stand beside Rob’s bed, staring at his peaceful features. Beneath his lids, his eyes flickered rapidly as he dreamed, his lips twitching as they formed silent words that Val could not make out. She pressed her fingertips gently against his closed eyes and slowly closed her own. Her lips formed the same words as Rob’s, and with a gasp, Val’s eyes flew open once again.
‘Wake up, Mr Tyler,’ she commanded loudly in a voice that threatened and comforted at the same time. She shook his shoulder roughly. ‘Come on, wake up!’
With a groan, Rob gradually surfaced from the depths of his dream. His eyes hurt, as though something had been pressed forcibly against them, and as he rubbed them to clear the peculiar sensation, the first thing that swam into focus was Val’s concerned face.
Val smiled as Rob stared up at her. ‘Thank heavens. Are you all right, Rob?’
Rob frowned as he sat up, continuing to rub his eyes as they began to sting. ‘I think so. Why?’
‘You were mumbling incoherently, and tossing and turning. I think you were having a nightmare.’
Rob removed his hands from his face, glancing up pensively into Val’s amber eyes. ‘If I was, then I don’t remember what it was about.’
Val patted his shoulder in a reassuring manner. ‘Probably just as well. Come, breakfast is ready. Get dressed the pair of you and come down to the dining room.’
Rob shivered as he recalled the corpse they had discovered in the graveyard, and the other traumatic events of the previous night. ‘I really think we should call the police,’ he said, struggling not to shed tears for Satan, yet oddly trying hard to find them for Ginny.
‘Why on earth do you want to call the police?’ asked Gerry. ‘Has something happened that I should know about?’
Rob stared across the room at his brother incredulously. ‘What do you mean, has something happened? Don’t you remember the body in the graveyard?’
Val’s mouth popped open in horror. ‘A body in our graveyard? A dead body? Are you quite certain of this?’
Rob nodded. ‘Last night after we left your house the first time, Gerry’s car blew up.’
‘What!’ cried Gerry. ‘You say my car blew up?’
‘Well you were there with me. Come on, surely you remember that?’
Gerry stared at Rob, his face a mask that clearly indicated that he thought his brother was mad. ‘I think I’d remember my car blowing up, and I’m pretty sure I’d remember finding a body in a graveyard as well.’ He sighed deeply. ‘Rob, I think Jonathan was right; you’re exhausted; your imagination’s working overtime. I reckon your mind cooked up these events as part of some new novel you’re working on.’
Rob rubbed his eyes wearily. ‘I agree that I needed a break from London, but I’m not going mad, and I’m not imagining things. Your car exploded, and then we heard a scream from the graveyard and we went to investigate with a few men from the village who heard the explosion.’
‘When I found you outside the graveyard last night, Rob, you and your brother were on your own. I came to see why you had stopped, and you said you had changed your mind about leaving. I would certainly have remembered if there had been villagers with you. Who were these mysterious men?’
Rob frowned. What Val said defied his own memory of events. ‘You were there when we all came out of the graveyard, Dr Hide-Guest. You were talking to them, just as you were also talking to Gerry and me. I think one was called Everard, and the other was Kinelm… oh, and a third was definitely called Barnabas. He tried to kill me! The body in the graveyard was that of an old friend of mine, Virginia Saunders.’
‘Well, now I know you’re imagining things,’ said Val with a patronizing smile. ‘Everard and Kinelm died several years ago, and I don’t know anyone called Barnabas. And as for Virginia Saunders… well, she hasn’t lived in the village for a couple of years herself.’
‘What?’ gasped Rob incredulously. He looked across the room to his brother. ‘You don’t believe me, do you?’ When Gerry shook his head, Rob continued. ‘I didn’t imagine the events of last night, and when you see the burnt out wreckage of your car, perhaps you’ll believe me.’
Gerry nodded. ‘And the body. Don’t forget the body!’
‘And Jonathan! He’s missing, remember?’
‘I’m sure if you were to call Jonathan you’ll find that his ‘disappearance’ is all part of your fevered imagination.’
Rob slumped back onto the pillows, emitting a despondent sigh. ‘I suppose you could be right. It must all have been that dream Val said I was having when she came in.’ In a way, he hoped it had all been a terrible dream, because then at least Satan would still be a live.
Val nodded her head. ‘Indeed. Sometimes, dreams can seem all too real
, especially if you are awakened sharply. If that was my fault, then I apologise. If it makes you feel better, once you have had a bite to eat we can go and take a look at Gerry’s car, and maybe also take a look around the graveyard, just to satisfy you that there is no corpse there… well, apart from those in the graves!’ She chuckled at her own macabre joke, but when Rob did not join in, her laughter trailed off into a moment of silence. ‘I can also give you Virginia’s telephone number as well. She used to work in the shop, until her departure a couple of years ago. We kept in touch though… indeed, I spoke to her only last weekend.’
‘How can you keep in touch if there’s no phone in the village?’ demanded Rob.
‘There are two telephones in Dorstville; one in the shop and one in my surgery.’
‘But last night you said…’ Rob’s voice trailed off as confusion set in.
‘Anyway, I’m sure she’s fine,’ added Gerry, climbing from his bed. He started putting on his clothes, ignoring the fact that Val was still in the room. ‘And as for Jonathan, well when I return to London later this morning, I’ll see if I can get hold of him, and if I do then I’ll get him to call you here.’
‘Why are you going back to London? I thought we came down here for a reason, Gerry!’
‘I brought you here for peace and solitude, Rob. You don’t need me hanging around. I’ll be back in six weeks, just as we arranged.’
‘What? I really must be losing my marbles, because I don’t remember that being part of our plan. Where am I going to stay whilst I’m here?’
Val clasped her thin fingers beneath Rob’s chin and tilted his head up until his eyes locked with hers, and try as he might, he could not look away. ‘Have you forgotten that too, Rob? You really are absent minded. I am taking you over to Naghene Hall this afternoon.’
Rob gasped at the mention of the familiar sounding house. He wanted to remove Val’s fingers from his chin; he was not certain if it was merely his imagination, but her fingers felt as though they burned, as her breath close to his face seemed to scald his eyes. ‘Naghene Hall? Isn’t that the house about half a mile down the road? The large, ugly house stuck out in the middle of nowhere?’
The Five Tors Page 9
