Miss Ellerby and the Ferryman (31 page)

Balligumph nodded, and smiled upon Isabel with approval.
‘Very good. Ye are thinkin’ quickly. Yes, Sophy knows everythin’ I
am tellin’ ye. I keep her well-informed.’

Isabel frowned, as her mind — ever to be relied upon for
worrying ideas — continued to raise disturbing questions. The
return from Torpor of Sir Guntifer and the Ferryman could only be
considered desirable, but if they could be so released, did it not
follow that other, less desirable folk might be released also? What
of those who had been condemned to the Torpor for supporting the
Kostigern — those whose hearts, unlike the Ferryman’s, were truly
black?

‘I
can practically see what ye’re thinkin’,’ Balli said in a grim
tone. ‘Who else are we expectin’ to see poppin’ up out o’ the long
sleep? Tis a worrisome notion. But I ‘ave many fine people keepin’
their eyes well peeled fer trouble, don’t ye worry.

‘Which brings me to the rest o’ my news. That Piper. Did ye
never wonder how the Chronicler kept up wi’ the news across
Aylfenhame, well enough to write it all down an’ save it in that
fancy library o’ his? He had folk such as I do: news-bringers, I
call ‘em. Folk what keep their eyes an’ ears open an’ bring back
anythin’ of interest. But the Chronicler didn’t just record the
happenin’s of Aylfenhame. He spread ‘em about, too — leastwise,
those happenin’s which pleased They Majesties t’ have known. This
Piper what’s loose an’ rattlin’ around in yer merry old England? He
is one o’ the Chronicler’s news-bringers an’ news-bearers. Who
better than a travellin’ musician to collect all the tales, an’
carry new ones about?’

Balligumph sat
back, beaming, his demeanour expectant. Isabel lost no time in
offering the rapture and praise he was waiting for.

‘Why,
Mr. Balligumph! That is wonderful news! For if he does not himself
remember the story of the Ferryman, perhaps he may know of another
who does? We will not need to go anywhere near the
Kostigern!’

Balligumph nodded vigorously. ‘Aye. Thas the way I like to
hear ye talkin’. Forget yer ideas in that direction! Go ye t’ the
Piper an’ see what he can tell ye.’

‘That
is easier said than done,’ observed Eliza. ‘You are a resourceful
fellow, Mr. Balligumph, and this piece of news is encouraging
indeed. We thank you for it! But we have just come from York, where
half the city is agog for a glimpse of the Rade. And so far, they
have been disappointed. Nobody can predict when or where they will
next be seen, and merely showing up at every available ball or
assembly in hopes of encountering them is a strategy which has
benefited few. How are we to find him?’

Balligumph replied with a gusty sneeze, and a watery sniff.
‘Sorry,’ he muttered damply. ‘They’re in the Hills,’ he added
thickly as he groped for his handkerchief.

‘The
what?’

Balli
blew his nose mightily, and took some time about mopping up
afterwards. Isabel averted her gaze, slightly appalled at the sight
of the mess pouring from the troll’s nose. It was iridescent blue,
and looked disturbingly pretty given its provenance.

‘The
Hills,’ Balligumph said when at last he finished cleaning himself
up. ‘The Hollow Hills. Ye both know what I’m sayin’.’

Isabel exchanged a puzzled look with Eliza. ‘Do
we?’

Balligumph blinked at her in horror. ‘Ye don’t?’ He looked up
at the sunny sky in despair, and shook his head. ‘Have the folk of
England forgotten everythin’? Tafferty, I am done. Ye must explain
fer me.’

Tafferty sat up and stretched languorously, her every
movement expressive of disdain. ‘The Hollow Hills,’ she repeated.
‘They was known as the Other, once upon a while. Not England an’
not Aylfenhame. Somethin’ in between, if ye believe the tales. In
truth, I think no one knows where they fall. But if thou wert t’
wander in the right direction, an’ find thyself at just the right
one o’ yer English hills, thou mayst be so fortunate as t’ find a
door. An’ beyond that door, there’s the Other. The Hollows. Where
many sleep, an’ eat, an’ dance, an’ sometimes travel.’ Her tail
twitched and she shook herself. ‘Some folk say that it is pretty
well half an’ half, under there. Fae an’ humans mixin’ themselves
up all higgledy. But I cannot say. I ‘ave ever been into
them.’

Balligumph nodded along as Tafferty spoke, and shrugged when
she reached the end of her speech. ‘Nor ‘ave I. But I’ll wager ye
anythin’ ye like that the Piper an’ his merry musicians are hidin’
themselves in the Hollows. I’ll go further: there’s said t’ be an
entrance somewhere in the Wolds, an’ given how they keeps appearin’
in these parts, I’d say there’s like t’ be some truth t’ that
notion. If ye want t’ find ‘em, there ye must look.’

There
was silence for a moment as Isabel turned this over in her mind,
and her aunt perhaps did the same. They exchanged another long
look, and Isabel saw her own thoughts reflected in her aunt’s face.
‘How would we know if we were wandering in the right direction?’
she said. ‘Or when we arrived at the right hill?’

‘Good
questions both,’ said Balligumph cheerfully. ‘There I cannot help
ye, just at present. Tafferty?’

‘I
‘ave not a blinkin’ notion,’ said the catterdandy.

‘Eh,
well. I am workin’ on it.’

Isabel smiled and thanked him, but absently, for her mind was
busy. An idea had surfaced as he spoke. ‘I think I may know someone
who can help, but it requires a little thought.’

Balligumph looked enquiringly at her, but she shook her head.
‘I will say nothing more at the moment, as I am unsure whether it
will be of any use at all.’

‘Intriguin’,’ said the troll, and grinned. ‘Miss Ellerby has a
secret! I am curiously impressed.’

Isabel blushed, for no reason she could understand. She
looked away, annoyed with herself. Why should Balligumph’s words
make her feel guilty? There was no shame in sometimes keeping
things to herself.

‘I
believe we must be going, my love,’ said Eliza. ‘Your mama has been
expecting us this half-hour at least, I imagine.’

Isabel could not but admit the probability, and immediately
made her curtsey to Balligumph. ‘I will return with a posset for
you,’ she promised. ‘Or if I cannot, I will send another. Pray do
take care of yourself, Mr. Balligumph!’

The
troll smiled genially in response and made her an awkward half-bow,
still clutching the blanket around himself. ‘Ye’re a sweet thing,
Miss. I’ll await yer posset.’

The
carriage conveyed Isabel, Eliza and Tafferty to Ferndeane within
ten minutes, giving Isabel little time to absorb the information
she had lately heard — let alone to prepare herself to meet her
parents. When the carriage came to a stop outside of the front door
of Isabel’s home and the door was opened to permit her egress, she
found she still had not decided what to tell her mother and
father.

She
was not immediately called upon to speak at all beyond the barest
civilities. Eliza, as the guest, naturally dominated the majority
of Mr. and Mrs. Ellerby’s attention, and until she had been settled
in the best guest room and partaken of the tea spread out in the
parlour, there was no occasion for anybody to pay much heed to
Isabel. She took the opportunity to order Balligumph’s posset from
Cook, and to give orders for its delivery to the bridge.

So
occupied was Mrs. Ellerby in her role as hostess to her sister that
she was long in noticing Tafferty. The catterdandy had refused to
be concealed, in spite of Isabel’s attempts to persuade her. She
would not be sent around to the rear door and given her dinner in
the kitchens. Nor would she consent to be wrapped up in Isabel’s
shawl and carried swiftly up to her chamber. She stalked into the
house with her tail and her nose high in the air, and only Eliza’s
swift forethought in entering first prevented her being noticed
immediately.

When
the bustle of arrival was over and Mrs. Ellerby at last had leisure
to look about herself, her eye soon fell upon Tafferty curled up
upon one of the parlour chairs, and her dismay was immediate. ‘Oh,
Isabel! You have not brought that creature in with you! I have seen
nothing of it these past weeks, and quite thought it had taken
itself off.’ She went to shoo the catterdandy off the chair, and
encountered a dark stare from Tafferty together with an utter
refusal to be moved.

Isabel sighed inwardly, her tremulous spirits sinking. ‘Mama,
there is no harm in her!’ she said, in what she hoped was a firm
but respectful tone. ‘She is friendly, and a suitable pet for me. I
have grown fond of her.’ Tafferty’s tail flicked with disdain at
the word pet, but to Isabel’s relief she did not speak.

‘How
can that be, my dear, when you have but just arrived from York?’
said Mrs. Ellerby. ‘Surely you did not take the animal along with
you.’

Isabel cast about for a sensible response to make to this,
and came up with nothing. How could she explain how she came to
adopt Tafferty, without admitting the full truth — that Tafferty
had, more rightly speaking, adopted her?

‘Isabel was heart-sick at the poor creature’s weariness and
hunger,’ Eliza interjected. ‘You know her tenderness of heart,
Harriet! She could not bear to leave her new friend behind. You may
imagine my surprise when I received not only my niece, but also her
cat, for a visit.’

Mrs.
Ellerby sighed deeply, abandoning her attempts to move Tafferty off
the chair. ‘Is it a cat? I have never seen its like. It looks to me
more like something fae. Now, does it not, Mr. Ellerby? It would be
much more at home with the brownies, in the kitchen.’

Isabel winced, torn between annoyance at her mother’s
insistence on referring to Tafferty as “it” and dismay that she
could relegate the brownies and Tafferty both to the kitchens, as
though all things fae belonged in the servants’
quarters.

‘I
would like Tafferty to stay with me, Mama, please,’ she said,
quietly but firmly. ‘She is my friend.’

Mrs.
Ellerby sighed again, and cast Isabel a look of pure annoyance. But
she sat down, and made no further attempts to oppose her daughter’s
wishes. ‘Truly, I think the whole of the neighbourhood has gone
fae-mad!’ she said instead. ‘Chattering on about the Piper, and the
Fiddler, and the dancers! The Rade, indeed! It is such nonsense. It
had much better all be forgotten.’ She regarded Isabel again, but
her annoyance had given way to something else Isabel could not
identify. Was there a tinge of concern? ‘I have not seen the like
since Miss Landon went away, and Isabel was drawn after. Do you
remember, my dear? The things that befell you in Aylfenhame! I was
never more alarmed. They had better keep to themselves, and stop
pulling good English folk into their nonsense.’ She nodded her head
at her own self at the conclusion of this speech, well satisfied
with her reasoning.

Isabel could not agree, but Eliza spoke first. ‘But Miss
Landon is as happy as can be in Aylfenhame, Harriet! Isabel brings
me the liveliest tales of her. Truly, I think no better fate can
have befallen her.’

Mrs.
Ellerby looked askance at her sister, and clucked her tongue. ‘You
always were a little strange in your notions, Lizzy.’

Eliza smiled
faintly, and said nothing.

‘She
is right, Mama!’ said Isabel. ‘Sophy was never happier in her life
before. It is always a pleasure to visit her.’

‘That
is not saying a great deal, for I am sure she had little to please
her before. I do wish you would stop visiting her, my dear, though
I am sorry to have to say it! To be sure I always liked Sophia very
well, but it gives me the greatest uneasiness to think of you
travelling in such an odd place. It can hardly be safe. But I dare
say you will not be persuaded, not even to please your poor
Mama.’

‘It
would be the shabbiest thing to abandon her, and besides, I should
miss her very much.’

Mrs.
Ellerby eyed Tafferty with displeasure. ‘I dare say you are right,
only do please bring us no more of their odd creatures to
Ferndeane.’

‘I
will do my best, Mama.’

Tafferty laid her tail over her eyes and grumbled something.
Then she said, quite distinctly, ‘Thou’rt a worryish bein’. That
must be where thy daughter comes by ‘er wibblishness.’

Mrs.
Ellerby gaped at Tafferty, but before she could speak Eliza rose
from her chair and set down her tea cup. ‘I find I am tired after
our journey, and I am sure you are likewise, Isabel. You will
excuse us, Harriet? Mr. Ellerby? A little rest before dinner will
refresh both of us marvellously.’

Isabel rose gratefully, and cast a significant look at
Tafferty. The catterdandy refused to budge, however; indeed, her
tail remained stubbornly wrapped over her eyes, and she probably
had not seen Isabel’s attempts to catch her attention.

‘Tafferty, do come upstairs,’ Isabel said, for it was hopeless
now to pretend that she was any ordinary beast. ‘It is much more
comfortable upon the bed, if you are going to sleep.’

Tafferty’s tail twitched upwards, and Isabel encountered a
green stare. ‘I am tired. Go upperty-stairsy I will not, lest
thou’rt offerin’ t’ carry me.’

‘I
shall be happy to do so,’ said Isabel, and scooped the catterdandy
up in her arms. She curtseyed vaguely in her mother and father’s
direction and hastily made her exit.