The Morrow Secrets (12 page)

‘
Snenathe ne certhe merl can an le ner
Cerna la bernatha ne tor na lam, berche berche ne cer Snenathe ne certhe merl can an le ner.’

Silky, violet-blue vapour trails drifted from the pool of liquid and Tallitha recognised the pungent odour from Esmerelda’s amulet. The heady sweet-foul fumes made her drowsy. She tried to keep focussed but her eyelids drooped and she slumped to the table. Esmerelda lifted her head and stared deep into her sleepy eyes.

‘Listen to me and do exactly what I tell you. Clear your mind of all thoughts. Now imagine you’re a free spirit and there are no constraints on your human form.’

Tallitha felt a popping sensation as she was stretched outside her body. She moved through the coloured whirlpools and ascended the bright tunnel, away from her physical body. Up and up she went and as she looked back she saw the silver cord float in the rush of air behind her. Her will vanished and whoosh‒she glided into another sphere where all was still.

‘You are flying high over Winderling Spires, away over Shivering Water and beyond to the northern lands. Tell me what you see,’ said Esmerelda, her voice sounding distant.

Bright images appeared, flashing before her. When Tallitha spoke, her voice had a flat, hollow sound.
‘There are forests and mountains below me, and the grey expanse of sea and rocks. It’s silvery.’
‘What else can you see, Tallitha?’ asked Esmerelda softly.
‘There’s a dark castle built into jagged rocks. It’s becoming cloudy again. Please let me come home, Essie, let me come home.’
Tallitha was frightened and cold. Her body jerked in the chair as Esmerelda held her.
‘Concentrate, Tallitha, and focus your mind on finding Asenathe. She is waiting for you. Can you see her?’
Tallitha moved through the grey light. She could hear the faint sound of Ennish coming through the fog.

She flew towards the castle. Then through a tower window Tallitha saw the girl sitting alone. She wore a black velvet dress with a high collar and she had a talisman round her neck with a deep earth green and blood-red stone.

‘I can see her,’ said Tallitha in her deadened voice, ‘but the image keeps fading.’
Esmerelda spoke in Ennish, putting the tips of her fingers on each side of Tallitha’s head and pressing down, chanting all the time,

‘Come Tallitha, breathe deeply and stop resisting your power.’ As Esmerelda pressed down, Tallitha felt another enormous surge‒ whoosh and she slipped further into the tower room and stood beside

the girl.
‘What do you see?’ Esmerelda whispered into Tallitha’s ear. ‘She’s pointing at something. But I can’t read the words.’ ‘Reach out and touch her, Tallitha, let her know you’re there,’ insisted

Esmerelda.
Tallitha tentatively touched the girl’s hair. As she did so, the vision
let out a small cry of recognition and touched Tallitha’s hand, stroking
her fingers. Then her face changed, and she gripped Tallitha’s hand,
dragging her towards a door. All at once Tallitha recoiled as though
she had been scalded. Esmerelda saw Tallitha’s body jolt then whoosh‒
Tallitha tumbled down the long bumpy tunnel and came back into her
body.
‘Tell me what happened!’ demanded Esmerelda.
‘I saw her,’ said Tallitha, breathless, ‘but she tried to keep me there.
There was something strange about her.’
‘What did she look like?’ asked Esmerelda her face wild with
emotion.
‘I couldn’t see her face clearly. She had dark curls hanging down her
back. Is that Asenathe?’
‘Did she have anything round her neck?’ asked Esmerelda excitedly. Tallitha nodded drowsily. ‘A talisman, a blood stone.’
‘Yes, that’s Asenathe. You’ve found her. At last!’ cried Esmerelda and
slumped back into her chair.
‘She seemed strange. Perhaps it wasn’t her.’
‘It’s her, I can sense it. In time you’ll learn how to handle your power.
Only then, will the shadow-flight get easier.’
‘Shadow-flight?’ asked Tallitha.
‘The transition from your physical body to your dream body,’
explained Esmerelda. ‘Soon the flight will be just like breathing and it
will let you travel through time.’
Esmerelda called out to Florré. ‘Show Miss Tallitha back to my
mother’s apartment.’
‘No, not yet Essie, I must know how to read the map. I must know
about the sequence and what happened when you………...’ Esmerelda grabbed Tallitha’s arm, twisting it viciously.
‘How did you get the map? Did Cissie give it to you?’ she shouted
angrily.
Esmerelda pulled Tallitha’s hair, yanking her head back.
‘Ouch that hurts. Get off me, Essie!’ shouted Tallitha as she struggled
to get free. ‘We found the map yesterday. If we’re to find Asenathe we
need to know everything!’
Esmerelda pushed Tallitha away. ‘I will be the one to find her, not
you. Besides you’ll never succeed, even with the Shapeless Map. The
sequence, I’m afraid, is beyond us all.’
Tallitha didn’t know the map had a name. If Esmerelda was going to
be uncooperative then she could play that game too and she certainly
wasn’t leaving without knowing everything. She picked up one of the
crystals, holding it behind her back ready to smash Esmerelda’s cabinets.
Florré moved towards her with a devilish look on his face, waiting for
Esmerelda’s command to strike Tallitha.
‘Put that down, do you hear me!’ shouted Esmerelda.
‘Not until I get some answers, and keep that damned shrove off me,’
she spat the words in Florré’s direction, holding the crystal over his
head.
The shrove hissed and hopped about but kept his distance. ‘Leave us, Florré. Wait outside until I call for you.’
The shrove slunk into one of the shrove holes on the other side of the
curtain.
Esmerelda turned on Tallitha. ‘Why should I tell you anything? You’re
just a meddlesome child!’
‘Because you need me. I’m the one who can see Asenathe. You were
the one who said I have special powers. Besides, someone wants me to
find her, whoever it was left all the clues,’ said Tallitha hoping to elicit a
confession from Esmerelda.
But Esmerelda was silent. She picked up Licks and began stroking her
butterscotch fur. The cat purred loudly and Esmerelda closed her eyes. ‘So tell me about what happened to you, when you first left
Winderling Spires,’ asked Tallitha, sitting next to her cousin. It took Esmerelda a long time to respond. ‘It was such a long time
ago,’ she said sadly. ‘Asenathe left some clues and I left others, in case
something happened to us, so perhaps they are the ones you found. But
whatever you’ve heard is probably a muddle of half-truths and lies.’ She
stopped and bit her lip. ‘It still causes me so much pain to know she’s
out there, alone and lost.’ Esmerelda winced as she uttered the words. ‘But why did you choose me?’ asked Tallitha.
‘You chose yourself,’ she said enigmatically. ‘I suspected you had the
gift of seeing, that you were a channel and could help find Asenathe.
You’re my bloodline and female, so as the only one left in this family, it
was bound to be you. Besides you had the tell-tale sign.’
‘What do you mean? asked Tallitha, suspiciously.
‘That day in my mother’s sitting room, a soft glow surrounded you.
I could only just make it out, but I knew you were ready. A fuzzy
vibration appeared when I began to hypnotise you.’
Tallitha had often sensed when something bad was about to happen,
a warning feeling that started deep inside her.
‘As you develop your abilities, the vibration will become clearer to
me and others like me. You will be able to control it and it will change
colour depending on your mood.’
It was all true then, amazing and unbelievable, but true. ‘Please tell me about what happened when you and Asenathe ran
away,’ begged Tallitha.
Esmerelda knew it was time. She had to tell Tallitha some of her story
if she was to gain the girl’s cooperation.
‘No map existed when we started out. We had no idea where we
were going but we knew we had to make for the lake. The journey to
Shivering Water was easier than we imagined and we managed to outwit
Aunt Agatha, who sent a search party after us,’ she faltered. ‘It’s OK Essie, it’s not your fault,’ said Tallitha.
‘But it is, of course it is! Asenathe was never as strong as me. I should
have saved her. I’ve looked for her for so many years,’ she said sadly. Tallitha took hold of Esmerelda’s hand as she continued. ‘It started to go wrong when we entered the deep caves. I was
separated from Asenathe in Weeping Holes about ten days after we fled. We were tired and frightened and by this time we had certainly taken the wrong path. The caves were dark and slippery underfoot. One minute Asenathe was there and the next... I heard noises and saw something, but I can’t remember anything about it. Then she vanished. She must have got lost in the labyrinth of tunnels and was taken. I searched for days, and became lost myself,’ said Esmerelda looking distraught, ‘I eventually got out with the help of some friendly
Cave-Shroves.’
‘Shroves, but surely they can’t be trusted. Marlin and Florré have been
acting so strangely lately,’ said Tallitha.
‘The Cave-Shroves are different from their distant cousins in
Winderling Spires. They were good to me and without their help I
would have perished.’
‘What about the Shapeless Map?’
‘The map is not like ordinary maps. The places are not in any order.
I put down what I remembered from my travels through the caves, but
you can’t rely on the Shapeless Map. There’s a certain sequence that you
must follow to find your way through the caves, but we didn’t know
that at the time, so we became hopelessly lost. ‘Esmeralda stopped and
poured herself a drink. ‘There are unwritten rules in the underworld,’
she said at last, ‘rules that we don’t understand.’
‘But who makes the rules?’ asked Tallitha.
Esmerelda’s face darkened. ‘They’re made by Frintal Morrow,
the ghastly Thane of Breedoor and Hellstone Tors. His henchmen
and women are the Morrow Swarm, who along with Frintal are the
descendants of Edwyn Morrow. It’s the Morrow Swarm who control
which routes are accessible and the Swarm allow the Murk Mowl and
the Groats to charge tithes to use the tunnels.’
‘The Mowl and Groats, but what are they like?’ asked Tallitha
apprehensively.
‘The vilest creatures and the most heartless, but the Murk Mowl are
the worst,’ she murmured. ‘The map is my creation. I put it together
after the first journey and have added to it since. There must be other
ways through the caves, routes known to the underground creatures
although I never discovered these. Each time I’ve travelled a different
path, all of which have turned out to be dead ends. Unfortunately my
knowledge only extends part of the way under the mountains.’ ‘But how do you know Asenathe survived, and didn’t perish?’ ‘I sensed it from the beginning and when I returned, the
Cave-Shroves told me she was in Hellstone Tors, a captive of the Swarm
and the Thane.’ Esmerelda stopped abruptly. ‘What’s that noise?’ she
shouted, jumping to her feet.
Suddenly Tyaas fell through the curtain and Benedict landed on top
of him with the shrove hanging on to both of them.
‘Get off me!’ shouted Tyaas as he kicked Florré.
‘Goodness, what are you two doing here?’ asked Tallitha. ‘We knew you hadn’t made it to the sisters’ apartment,’ said Benedict
pushing the shrove to one side.
Florré stood snivelling by the curtain, waiting for Esmerelda to call
for reinforcements, but she had other plans. She dismissed the shrove,
sending him with a message to the sisters that she would be teaching
Tallitha that morning. Florré stumped off bad temperedly, muttering to
himself about the fickleness of the Morrow women.
Once he was certain Florré was out of earshot, Benedict continued.
‘We overheard the sisters reporting your absence to Great Aunt Agatha,
so we decided to find you. Somehow we guessed you’d be with Essie so
we pieced together the way. Not bad detective work, eh?’
Tallitha recounted all that Esmerelda had told her. Esmerelda
watched as her excited young cousins lapped up the details of her
adventures. They were so inexperienced, with no understanding of what
lay ahead of them. At that moment Esmerelda was certain she must
return with them.
‘Essie cannot accept we’re going to Hellstone Tors,’ explained Tallitha. ‘Well you’re wrong, Tallitha. I’ve changed my mind about your
intentions. I’ve decided to come with you. I know the mistakes I made
and can guide you.’
‘You can’t be serious. Aren’t you a bit, well, past it?’ exclaimed Tyaas
in amazement.
Esmerelda gave him a quizzical look and snorted. ‘I’m not that old,
Tyaas. I can guess what Cissie has said about me, but don’t listen to
everything she says. She’s a good woman but she’s never made the
journey. Remember that map is all my work. I can also speak Ennish
and some Shroveling.’
‘Wow, how did you learn? Ennish is such a difficult language,’ said
Benedict, impressed.
‘While I was living with the Cave-Shroves. I can smooth the way with them, otherwise they will thwart you at every turn. Cave-Shroves are fickle and mistrustful but once they take to you then you’re their friend
forever. But they don’t take kindly to strangers invading their territory.’ ‘You stayed with the shroves? But for how long?’ asked Benedict. ‘That’s another story, my friend. It was many months on one
occasion. Some other time, perhaps when we are on our travels, I will
tell you. We’ll have plenty of time, particularly at night when the skies
darken and we are huddled together against the northern winds. But
some tales should not be repeated.’
Esmerelda looked distracted. ‘For now we should separate. The sisters
will never countenance our plans. That’s why I sent Florré away. The less
he knows the better. The shroves are a strange lot and their allegiances
are unfathomable. We’ll meet to plan our journey and then we’ll depart
for the Tors.’
With that, Esmerelda swept through a door at the back of the room

*
Later in the tree house they mulled over all they had heard. ‘Can we trust her? We thought she was weird and to be honest, I still

think she is,’ exclaimed Tyaas.
‘But she can hypnotise people. Anyway what choice do we have? If we
don’t let her come, she’ll follow us anyway,’ said Tallitha.
She helped Tyaas pack for their journey.
‘She can speak Ennish too and she knows about the caves. After today
I feel differently about her, don’t you Tallitha?’ asked Benedict. ‘I think so. Cissie will need some persuading though. Come on, let’s
finish packing. No one ever comes up here, not even the shroves, but we
mustn’t attract attention. I’ll make my way to the schoolroom and you
follow in about ten minutes.’
They rolled up their warm clothes and tucked matches and flasks
inside. Tyaas packed penknives, ropes and a compass. Then he pushed
the key to the tunnel deep into his bag and Tallitha packed the
Shapeless Map. Then one by one they climbed down from the tree
house and made their way back to the Spires.
Their adventure was about to begin.