Petronella & the Trogot (9 page)

“It certainly is.” In despair, Mrs Bellamy sat on her flowered sofa.

“I hath another surprise for ye, Mrs Bellamy.”

“Oh, no, I can't take anymore of this. What is it now?”

“Ye cometh and taketh a look at ye that there garden, Mrs Bellamy. I buyeth pigs today. A whole family of them. Sweet animals they be for sure. I be so proud of them.”

Mrs Bellamy couldn't believe her eyes. All her lawn had been dug up and a pig sty had been built there. And, sure enough, there were pigs racing around in HER garden. Two big ones and two little piglets.

“Ye watcheth, Mrs Bellamy, while I goeth and feedeth them. There shall be squealing and grunting so loud that all the neighbours shall heareth them. Neighbours both sides shall be envious of ye and me. Having such healthy looking pigs.”

Now under shock, Mrs Bellamy picked up her phone and rang her husband. He was working overtime. At the police station they were still sorting out skeletons and trying to work out who they belonged to. “Quick,” she shouted down the phone, “come home. Tragedy has hit our house. There are chickens running amok in our kitchen and pigs grunting about in our garden.”

“It's only normal for pigs to grunt,” Constable Bellamy tried to comfort her.

“Look, Clement, you don't understand. You must come home at once. It's that axeman. He's the cause of all this. Our house has never been the same since he planted himself here. The only answer to this is for us to move out. When I say move out, I mean move right out of this village altogether. We need to get as far as possible from him, where he can't find us. Please come home,” she begged.

“But who would we sell it to? The Axeman?” Constable Bellamy said.

“I don't know the answer to that. All I know is that I am packing my case and going to my sister's. You stay on here, if you like. But I am leaving and only coming back when the place is ship-shape like it used to be.”

“I don't think we can get it looking like a ship. You'll just have to go, my dear,” he said, smiling to himself. “I have to stay and work. Don't worry, I'll speak to The Axeman when I get home. Now you go along to your sister's and give her my love.”

Constable Bellamy couldn't believe his luck. He'd much rather live with Alfie, chickens AND pigs than with Mrs Bellamy. At least they wouldn't nag.

That evening when Constable Bellamy got home, his wife was not there. He marched around his house and soon saw the chickens clucking around the kitchen. Alfie came in from the garden through the back door.

“Ah, hello, Mr Bellamy. “Hath ye had a good day at work?” Alfie asked.

“A very good day, my friend. What about you?”

“
I hath had a wonderful day. I hath all these chickens and pigs and they maketh me happy. I must needs buyeth some goats but didst nat see any at the farmers' market this morning.”

“That's strange,” Constable Bellamy said. “I'm sure they had them last time I was there. We were just looking, you know. Couldn't buy any animals while Mrs Bellamy was around.” Then Constable Bellamy lowered his voice and whispered to Alfie: “Are you sure Mrs Bellamy has left? Has she gone to her sister's?”

“Oh, so she hath. Taketh a big case with her an all,” said Alfie. “I showeth her all the animals, but she seemeth nat to liketh them. She sayeth she be going to stayeth with her sister and slammeth the door behind her when she leaveth.”

“Happy day!” said Constable Bellamy. “You are my best friend. You have done what nobody else could have done. You've made my wife leave.”

“I didst nat meaneth to doth that.”

“I know. That's the beauty of it all. You, my friend can stay here as long as you like and you can have as many animals as you want here. You know what? I'll drive round all the farmers' markets in the area with you and maybe we can get a few sheep too, as well as the goats.”

“Ye doth nat mean that for real, sir, doth ye? My word, what a great man ye be, Mr Bellamy. I hath another surprise for ye,” Alfie said.

“What's that then?” asked Constable Bellamy.

“Looketh at that door, sir, and ye shall soon see.”

Constable Bellamy swung around and at the door stood a peasant woman. Rosy-cheeked, fat, and smiling.

“This be myn Gwendolen!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ye be about to entereth The Trogot Caves.

No way back beyond this point.

 

 

Percy had gone to bed and Petronella was sitting and thinking. All sorts of strange ideas whizzed around in her head. But the one that kept coming round again and again was
The Trogot.
She simply could not get that
black monster
out of her mind. As night time was closing in, she got more and more worried. It was already quite dark out there. She was hoping
The Hooded Horseman
would come back so that she could ask him questions about
The Trogot
. She had to find out. She could not see any sign of him, nor hear a horse's hooves. Perhaps later.

Though she certainly did not want to see
The Trogot
, she was drawn to the spare bedroom like a magnet. She climbed the stairs and stood behind the door for a while. Should she go in or not? Maybe if she went to bed and ignored the monster, it would leave her alone. But she couldn't help herself. She had to do it. Slowly she pulled down the door handle. Pushed the door forward a little. Through the thin crack, she could see a strange light. It wasn't an electric light. Too dim for that. Wrong colour. Couldn't be a candle either because the light didn't flicker. What on this earth was it?

As she opened the door wider, she noticed the light was coming in through the window. To get a better view she went into the middle of the room. No, she still couldn't see where it was coming from. She slowly crept up to the window, hoping
The Trogot
wouldn't see her. Soon she was standing right up against the window sill. She finally saw where the light was coming from:
The Black Circle
around the roots of
The Trogot.
It was indeed a hole. The light that shone up from it made that clear. She could make out a black shadow of a man - the figure was digging. Then another shadow, like the first, doing the same thing. And a third. Who were they? One of them looked up. Petronella quickly hid behind the curtain. They must know that someone lives in Charis Cottage. But if these were the shadows, where were the men they belonged to? The only way was to go out, find the men and talk to them. Ask them straight out what they were doing on her land - at that time of night.

She rushed to fetch her heavy shawl, wrapped it around herself and ran down the stairs. She opened the front door and there, in the doorway, right in front of her stood
The Hooded Horseman.
His horse tied to the usual tree in the distance. Petronella screamed.

“No, Pe...tro...ne...lla,” he said, “doth nat be afraid, ye know I shall nat harm ye.”

“I don't know what to think anymore. What's happening around here? Every night I am terrified to go to bed. That big tree, or
The Trogot
as you call it, haunts me. I really think I should move out.”

“Ye cannat doth that,”
The Hooded Horseman
said.

“Yes, I can. I will look for a house a long way from here.”

“As I sayeth before, ye cannat. The reason be that ye be too drawn to
The Trogot
. Ye must needs find out about it. Ye must needs findeth out about the end of Percy's parents.”

“What about Percy's parents? What happened to them?”

“I be so sorry, I cannat telleth ye now.”

“Look, I am fed up with all this mystery. Why can't you just tell me?”

“Ye shall findeth out when the time cometh. I cannat doth anymore than that, believeth me. I hath come to giveth ye this, Pe...tro...ne...lla.”

The Hooded Horseman
took a small black box from an inside pocket of his cape. Petronella noticed it had a skull painted on its lid in silver.

“Pe...tro...ne...lla, if ye goeth anywhere near
The Trogot
, ye must needs hath this box with ye. It be sealed. Ye cannat open it. But the moment you must needs help, it shall open on its own. This box can save ye in times of trouble. It were giveth to me by an old man -
The Blind Prophet
- I once met who beggeth on a street corner one evening. He sayeth he were a prophet and I were to care for this box until the day TCO were found. Only then were I to part with it to giveth it to
The Chosen One.
Of course, that person be you, Pe...tro...ne...lla.”

“I really do not understand what it is you want from me. All this is wrapped up in secrets, and I am beginning to think that you bring me bad luck,” Petronella said.

“Pe...tro...ne...lla, you hath met my fellow-villagers, The Strincas who lived in Fort Willow centuries ago. Telleth me, what kind of folk be they?”

“I think they are all delightful. They are modest and good. I have never met such nice people. All my life I have been running away from places because everyone was nasty to me. At last, I have found a few people who are fond of me.”

“There you be, Pe...tro...ne...lla. What ye hath sayeth be the truth. Marian, Percy, Miss Primrose and the other teachers, Alfie and Gwendolen, Pepin the Dairyman, and all the peasants with their families, these be indeed good folk. Hath ye asked yeself why only some of the good folk of The Strincas civilisation hath ariseth from the field?”

“To tell you the truth, I hadn't even noticed that there are no bad people among The Strincas. Most of the villagers of Fort Willow today are not good. They are spiteful and full of hate.”

“It hath always been so, Pe...tro...ne...lla. The bad folk of all times hath spread hate in the world. But only good folk like you, Pe...tro...ne...lla, can be happy because their souls be beautiful. Folk with ugly souls liveth a life of misery. If ye soul be ugly ye cannat be happy.”

“I agree with every word you have said. I am much happier than a lot of people I've met in the village. They complain all the time. Always want more than they have. So where are all the evil Strincas?” Petronella asked.

“You shall knoweth that soon enough, Pe...tro...ne...lla. Ye shall seeth where the others hath gone.”

“Maybe we will never know,” replied Petronella.

“Ye shall, Pe...tro...ne...lla.
The Blind Prophet
sayeth so. He be never wrong. He sayeth that TCO was not to leaveth home without
The Metal Disc
and
The Black Box
. Also, he sayeth to be mighty careful. Ye can only useth
The Black Box
seven times. After that, it shall loseth its power. Please keepeth count of the times ye useth it.”

 

 

Percy had been woken up by the talking he heard downstairs.
The Hooded Horseman
had just left and Petronella was shaking.

“What be the matter, Petronella?” the young boy asked.

“Oh, nothing, Percy. You had better go to bed. It's late and you need to rest.”

“No, I cannat rest unless I knoweth ye be well. Ye be very worried now. I can seeth that. What be the matter? Please telleth me. I knoweth about
The Trogot
.”

Petronella couldn't believe what she heard.

“How on earth do you know about
The Trogot
?”

“I didst nat wanteth to frighten ye. But I didst know about it. It be here in the garden all those centuries ago. Me thinketh my parents be killeth by it.”

“Oh, Percy. Only a few minutes ago I wanted to move away from here to get away from all these strange goings-on. How can I go and not find out about what happened to your parents and the other good people of The Strincas civilisation? I will stay. I am determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.”

“No, Petronella, WE shall findeth out. Ye be not alone anymore. I shall cometh with you and together we shall at last solveth the mystery of
The Trogot
.”

“Go where?” Petronella asked.

“Goeth to the ridge of
The Black Circle
around
The Trogot
.”

Petronella looked frightened. “What? You mean go up close to
The Trogot
?”

“Yes, we must needs, if we wanteth to findeth out about what be hidden down there.”

“Well, can
'
t we go tomorrow?” Petronella said.

“No, Petronella. We must needs go now. I hath looked out of the window of the spare bedroom and seeth the shadows digging under the full moon. We must needs goeth now. While the moon still shineth.”

Percy went upstairs to get his coat, boots and cap. Petronella put on her army boots, went to the larder to get
The Metal Disc
and checked that she still had
The Black Box
with her. She then took Percy by the hand. Together they were ready to leave the warmth and safety of Charis Cottage to venture out into the darkness and danger.