Katie frowned, for she realized she had not gone around to that side of the tree. No wonder she missed seeing the second entrance into the cellar.
“How do you cross the water?”
“It’s narrower on that side,” Tom said. “You have the keys?”
Katie nodded. She hurried over to the door that led to the sub cellar. “It’s unlocked,” she said as she touched it.
Tom made a face. “Better let me lead, but keep that thunderous weapon of your ready... and please don’t shoot me in the back.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Katie said. “You’re not Durgan.”
“Lucky me,” Tom said in a somber voice. He pushed the sub cellar door open and let the light beam play through the dark. So far, no sign of bogles. He took the passage to the stairs and started down. Katie followed, glancing back to make sure they weren’t being shadowed. She couldn’t shake the eerie sensation of having eyes on her back.
They descended the stairs in silence. Tom let the light run around the room for good measure. Almost everything was as Katie had left it. The lanterns still sat on the desk and the harp was uncovered as well.
“Now, my precious,” Tom said, quickly crossing the room to seize the wooden instrument. He lifted it with a sigh. “Ah, fair one,” he said. “Your soul lacks the warmth it once had, but it shall soon be yours again.”
He cradled the harp like a child as he glanced towards the wooden chest. Katie’s red thread and nails were no longer dressing the lid. It sat open.
“How...” Katie stepped towards the chest, almost afraid of what she would see. The inside was empty, and the stairs descended. “It’s open again,” she said. “We can...”
“No,” Tom said quickly. “That way could be a trap now. Better we use the main gate.”
“Okay, then, let’s go and try this main gate.”
“There are things we must do first,” Tom said.
“Such as?” she asked suspiciously.
“We must restore the magic to my harp,” Tom said. He reached out to shut the chest as he spoke.
“Just tell me how,” she said.
“Not here,” Tom said. “Too risky this close to his lair.”
Katie nodded. Tom started back towards the stairs leading up to the main cellar, and Katie was right behind him. They climbed the steps to the passageway when there was a thump, and a bucket tumbled over with a clatter. Katie swung the shotgun around, passing Tom and aiming at the door. Tom killed the flashlight, leaving them to move forward in shadow.
At the cellar door, Katie paused. She swore she heard hoarse breathing somewhere beyond her realm of view. Carefully, she moved right to the edge, shotgun barrel high.
A shadow was barely visible where someone had lit part of the cellar. It stood just at the end of the row of boxes to her right. Katie crouched, then flung herself out and raised the gun.
“Freeze!” she shouted.
“Don’t shoot!” the intruder cried and fell to the floor in a heap of trembling limbs, head under arms. “Please, don’t shoot me!”
She needed only a moment to recognize the voice. “Bud, what in Sam Hill are you doing down here?”
Bud looked up, peering from under his now disheveled hair. His black bangs could have used a trimming.
“I’m sorry, Miss MacLeod, but I had to find you,” Bud said wearily. “I had to warn you.”
“Warn me?” Katie said. “About what?”
Bud glanced towards the door to the sub cellar, then up towards the main house. “You ain’t gonna believe me,” he said and shook his head in denial.
“I can’t believe you if you don’t tell me anything,” she insisted.
“Oh...” Bud crawled to his feet, shoulders hunched. He cast a timid glance at Tom, only to shift that gaze to the floor. “Hello, Mr. Tom.”
“A good day to you, lad,” Tom said. “Now what is the problem?”
“Mr. Durgan,” Bud said and cast about furtively as though he thought the Director was going to be standing right over them. “He... he ain’t acting right.”
“When was he ever?” Katie muttered before she could stop herself.
“Oh, no, not like his usual self,” Bud said. “He... ain’t been right since he talked to that... man.”
“What man?”
“I dunno,” Bud said. “I never really got a good look at the fellow cos he was staying in the shadows. He had this soft voice, though, like honey, and Mr. Durgan just... swallowed it whole.”
“What did they talk about, Bud?” Katie asked, trying to stay calm.
“They talked about you and Mr. Tom,” Bud said fearfully. “The man, he said you were going to try and stop him, and he said he’d give Mr. Durgan anything he wanted to keep you and Mr. Tom out of the library for the next few days. Something about the solstice...”
“Summer solstice,” Tom said. “Midsummer, the longest day of the year. ’Twill be a full moon this time around.”
“Your prediction,” Katie said.
“Aye,” Tom said. “Keep us away from the gate, and he’ll make it come true.”
“Did Durgan actually agree to this?” Katie asked.
“Well, I ain’t rightly sure he agreed,” Bud said. “I mean, the man was talking, and Mr. Durgan, he looked sorta funny, like he couldn’t believe it and all. But the man insisted he could give Mr. Durgan whatever he desire in exchange for his services. Said he could restore Mr. Durgan to his former glory...”
“And what makes you think Durgan didn’t really agree?”
“Cos... he never said nothing. Just stared like he was a baby bird in a nest facing a cornsnake. I swear, Miss MacLeod, that man was like a devil buying Mr. Durgan’s soul. All Mr. Durgan did was nod, and then I saw this blue hand with black fingernails reach out and touch Mr. Durgan’s face...”
“The Erl-King for certain,” Tom said. “This does not bode well for us, Katie. If the Erl-King has put his glamour on Durgan, he will stop at nothing to keep us out of this place. Time is of the essence.”
“Is Durgan upstairs now?” Katie asked.
Bud swallowed and nodded. “He’s still in his office.”
“What about the blue man?”
“He went back down into the cellars after, and Mr. Durgan went out and made everyone leave and closed the place up,” Bud said. “I was scared, and I hid in the back rooms, and I was hoping to be here when you come so as I could warn you. I’m sorry, Miss MacLeod. You gotta get out of here before Mr. Durgan finds you. That blue man said he wanted you and Mr. Tom stopped, and if Mr. Durgan couldn’t keep you out, he might have to...”
There was a clanking sound from the top of the cellar stairs. Tom seized Katie’s arm and dragged her into the space under the stairs. Too late, Bud froze where he was.
“Mr. Humes?” Durgan’s voice floated down into the cellars. “What are you doing down here?”
“I... I was cleaning, Mr. Durgan, and looking for them leaks,” Bud stammered. “I knowed you’d be mad iffen anything got wet...”
“Oh, come now, Mr. Humes!” Durgan said sharply. “This is no time for nonsense. You’re a very poor liar, you know. I heard voices.”
“That was just me,” Bud said a little more brightly. “I was talking to myself. It... it helps me to think...”
“I see,” Durgan said. “Well, you’d best come up now, because I want to leave, and you do not have a key to lock this place after I am gone, and since Mr. Bales has already left...”
Bud looked like he wanted to refuse.
“Well?” Mr. Durgan insisted.
Bud lowered his head, and shuffled towards the stairs. He tossed a sidewise glance towards the space under them before taking them one at a time, slowly ascending. Katie could hear Durgan moving back to allow the young maintenance man into the main library. The door above closed, and the clatter told her Durgan had locked it as well.
“Well, it’s not like we can’t get out,” Katie said.
“Aye, but we can’t get up there wi
thout breaking the door, and we might have to wait a bit until we’re sure they have left...”
There was a muffled shout. Later, Katie would swear to herself that Bud called her name before she heard the scrabbling of a struggle. Then the door above clattered as the lock was undone.
“Down there, Sheriff!” Durgan said. “I know I heard them...”
“Damn him!” Katie hissed. Tom wasted no time punching the brick and opening the wall. She heard a heavy tread on the stairs. Had to be Cannon.
Tom suddenly snagged her arm and jerked her through the opening, closing it after them. He shone the flashlight forward, allowing them to see as they raced down the narrow tunnel. They emerged through the retaining wall into the graveyard, and started for the stairs.
With a sudden wave of his hand, Tom froze, and Katie threw her back against the wall. She inched up and caught sight of a State Trooper guarding the back door of the library. Tom quickly motioned for them to go back down into the graveyard. There, they skirted tombstones and mausoleums until they were behind the church. Only then did he let them stop.
“I fear the Sheriff now knows he’s been deceived,” Tom said, taking deep breaths.
“But how did Durgan know we were down there?” Katie insisted.
“If he’s a minion of the Erl-King now...” Tom paused with a frown. “‘Twill not be safe for us to try again tonight, I fear. We’ll have to wait for a better moment, and I need the magic back in my harp before I can break the Erl-King’s glamour on Durgan. Shall we see if we can get to your truck, and leave town?”
“Where will we go?” Katie insisted. “I mean, if Cannon knows we took the key, he’ll know to look for us at my place as well.”
Tom shrugged. “There’s the hospital, but I fear they might think of that too.”
“Okay,” Katie said. “Then I guess we’ll have to go camping.”
“Camping?” Tom said. “With fae in every nook and cranny of the woods?”
“We can ward ourselves,” she said. “Or sleep in my truck, if worse comes to worse. Besides, the place I’m thinking of is in a grove of mountain ash.”
“Rowan, now that does sound like a good place,” he agreed.
Cautiously, they worked their way around the church to where the town square was in sight. Katie took one look at her truck and frowned. Another State Trooper stood beside it, making notes. The Highway Mounties were everywhere!
“A distraction is in order,” Tom said. “Here, you hold onto the harp. Be ready to bolt for your truck and come get me.”
He thrust the harp into her hands, and hunkering like a sneak thief, he made his way around the church. As Katie watched, Tom worked his way towards the statues. The Trooper had yet to look up from his pad.
She suddenly heard a hoot. Tom made no attempt to hide himself as he clambered atop the concrete-coated stump.
“Aye, constable,” he said cheerfully. “There’s a full moon out!”
The Trooper glanced towards the stump just as Katie did. Tom most ceremoniously turned his back to the man, unhitched his jeans so they slid to his knees, and bowed. She bit her tongue to keep from laughing. The trooper gave a shout. Tom jerked up his jeans and bolted off the stump, running towards the road that lead out of Mercyville and to Katie’s farm with an irate lawman in pursuit.
That was obviously her signal. She ran for her truck, hauling keys from her pocket. Pushing the harp into the middle of the front seat, she gunned the engine and backed out of her space. She was burning rubber just as she saw Sheriff Cannon exit the library. The second trooper came running from behind the building as well. Stop them!” Cannon shouted.
Katie drove down the road. She quickly caught up with the running trooper, blowing her horn at him. The noise startled him so that he dove for the ditch without questioning what was about to descend upon him. She rolled down the window, shouting to Tom. As she passed him, she slowed down long enough for him to seize the far door handle and jerk it open. He bounced into the truck with an enthusiastic whoop, and she geared down, letting the truck shoot forward.
Behind her, she could hear the sirens. Cannon would not give up so easily, she knew. He was no fool. She raced past the MacGreeley mansion and took off on a dirt drive towards one of the farms. Clouds of dust rose behind her as she cut into a cornfield, letting the tall green stalks swallow her and the truck from sight. She drove back and forth, listening for the location of the siren. Cannon had followed her dust trail, but in the depths of acres of corn, it would be impossible for him to locate her with any ease. She continued the erratic path, determined to lose him.
Young ears of corn slapped the sides of the truck and left pale juice on the windshield. She suddenly broke out of the field on the far side, braking and hanging out the window. By the sound of the siren, Cannon was still following her erratic path of destruction. She directed her truck into some trees, driving through a patch of woods that eventually opened onto another dirt road while blessing the creator of four-wheel drive. That route took her back to the main road, and flooring it, she sped towards the Great Smoky Mountains, feeling sure she had lost them.
FIFTEEN
Katie drove past her own property on purpose. Though she didn’t see a patrol car there, she suspected there might be one hidden behind the old cantilever barn when she saw the tire tracks going off the drive and into the grass. Instead, she followed the curve on around the next hill and stopped there, leaving Tom in the truck. She just wanted a few supplies from the house. She made her way through the wooded patch and came up on the backside of the house, going in long enough to grab some food, some warmer clothes and a couple of sleeping bags as well as a second box of shotgun shells and the nails and red thread. She had enough emergency equipment in the truck for the rest of their camping needs. A wise thing to carry all year around in East Tennessee where the weather could only be predicted by looking outside.
She did take a quick peek out the front windows, and sure enough, there was a Highway Patrol vehicle parked under the eaves of the barn. Just waiting for me to come flying up the drive, she mused. Well, he’d have a long wait. She just hoped the man was smart enough to stay inside his vehicle when the faery started to prowl. Cannon must have wasted no time sending the Highway Patrol here.
Tom was looking anxious by the time she returned. Afternoon sun was still bright, but in the mountains, longer days didn’t necessarily mean the shadows were safe. There were lots of places between high ridges where sun never hit the ground more than a short while at noon. Megan’s Hollow where Katie planned to set up camp was such a place. Katie drove to the end of the road where Tom got out and opened the gate with the sign telling them they were entering federal property. He closed it again once the truck was through, and Katie eased her way along a gravel road that wound between the ridges, eventually becoming a narrow dirt pass barely wide enough for the truck to maneuver at anything faster than a crawl. She pulled the mirrors in to keep from scraping them off on some of the old trees.
“Isn’t this place named for a witch?” Tom asked.
Katie grinned. “Yes, but as long as you’ve been around these parts, I’d think you’d already know that. I bet you knew her personally.”
“No, he said with a shake of his head. “There are some tales and folks I try to avoid,” he said.
“Megan Stark,” Katie said cheerfully. “She was an old spae woman who lived in the hollow with a passel of cats, and a whole herd of pigs. She was said to possess the evil eye, which she kept in the head of a gnarly blackthorn staff. According to the old lore, she had an ongoing argument with a neighbor concerning the grazing habits of her pigs, which some folks claimed were more wild than domestic. Those pigs themselves were something of a local legend, for they were said to crave the flesh of young children.”
“Well, pigs are omnivorous,” Tom agreed, looking just a little worried as he glanced about at the thick, dark forest.
“The story ran that Farmer Biggs got tired of them pigs coming on
to his property and running his own livestock away from their feed, so one day he went up into Megan’s Hollow to have it out with the old woman. She didn’t take too kindly to his ranting on her doorstep, and she told him straight out if he didn’t leave, she’d put her eye to him and fix him good with a curse. But Biggs was too angry to care about the threat. Instead, when Megan raised the staff, Biggs pulled his gun and shot her. As she fell, he swore that off in the woods, he could hear the pigs squealing and screaming at the smell of the witch’s blood, so he set the cabin on fire, hopped back on his horse, and rode out of the hollow like the devil was on his heels.”
“If it looked like this then,” Tom said, “I can truly appreciate the sentiment.”
Katie grinned. “Biggs rode home as fast as the horse could carry him. He didn’t tell a soul what he’d done because murder is still murder, even if you kill a witch in these parts. But killing a witch is never wise without invoking the Almighty’s help. That night, Biggs was in his house when he heard the awful sound of pigs thundering about his barnyard. He got his gun and went outside. The moon was full, and under it’s baleful light, he made out a thousand squinty red eyes just glaring at him...”
“How much farther is this place we’re going to camp?” Tom asked rather suddenly.
“Don’t you want to know what happened to Biggs?” she asked.
“If it’s all the same,” Tom said, “I’ve more than my share of imagination too, and the thought of flesh-eating wild pigs roaming the hollow seeking foolish campers listening to someone telling gruesome tales, while another wanders out into the brush to make porcine noises so they can frighten their less knowledgeable companions, is not one I wish to carry with me on a night such as this.”
“Oh, so you know that story,” she said. The trail curved and crossed a creek, and there it entered a small clear hollow where Katie stopped the truck. The blackened ruins of an old cabin sat up against a hillside. “Mom used to love to tell it to me when we camped up here a lot. Quite frankly, there are wild boars around these mountains, but I’ve never seen signs of them in this hollow.”
Angels of Mercy Page 15
