The Morrow Secrets (25 page)

When Tallitha woke the next morning, her friends were hanging around in that unsettling way before leaving. Tallitha got dressed under the covers, shook Esmeralda awake, and solemnly sat down to drink a mug of steaming black tea.

‘I dreamt the Mowl were chasing me. I found Asenathe, who only stared at me with cold eyes.’
She absentmindedly played with some dried fruit, but had no appetite.
‘Today we must devise a plan to enter the castle,’ said Esmerelda stretching her arms in the air, ‘I didn’t sleep all that well. I’m much too excited.’
Ruker looked miserable. ‘I thought you’d realise we couldn’t go inside the castle. A group of seven strangers would attract too much attention, whereas two or three of you might just pull it off.’
‘She’s right, I’m afraid,’ said Esmerelda, ‘I’ve been dreading this day but I knew we would have to go in alone.’
‘Why didn’t you say something before!’ shouted Tallitha as tears came into her eyes.
She pulled her legs up to her chest and sat back in the chair, turning her head away from the others. Esmerelda touched her lightly on the arm.
‘I have the makings of a plan, with your help,’ she said crouching down next to her cousin. ‘We’ll disguise ourselves as market traders and once we’re in the courtyard we can take our bearings from there.’
‘But where will we stay?’ asked Tyaas.
‘That’s one thing we can help you with,’ said Pester. ‘There’s a tavern by the castle walls and the owner will ask no questions. She’ll know you’re not from these parts, but as long as you pay for your room, no one will bother you. It’s called the Castle Keep and her name is Hester Lym.’
‘I’ve a little money and we can sell things in the marketplace,’ said Esmerelda brightly.
Tallitha’s spirits were as low as they had ever been. Saying farewell was heartbreaking and Tallitha wept and hid in the storeroom until it was time for the others to leave. After breakfast, Ruker and Neeps packed the boat, hugged their friends and sailed away with the Cave-Shroves in the small canoe. As Tallitha waved them off, she wondered if she would ever see her friends again.
‘I will miss them so much,’ she said sadly.
Esmerelda tucked a blanket around Tallitha’s shoulders. ‘Somehow we’ll have to carry on without them,’ she said trying to make the best of things. ‘We can use the old clothes in the storeroom as a disguise, it might be fun.’
Esmerelda began rummaging in the trunks, waving various items in Tallitha’s direction.
‘Look! These traders’ bags are the business. What can we put in them?’
Tyaas and Tallitha sat on the floor, half-heartedly picking clothes out of the trunks.
‘I have grown to love our friends too, but we started this search together. We’ll see them again when all this is over. I promise.’
‘But will we?’ sobbed Tallitha, distraught. ‘First we lost Benedict and that was a terrible shock and now Ruker and the others. I depended on them. How will we do this alone?’
‘Do you want to go home without trying?’ asked Esmerelda.
‘Of course not. It’s just so hard saying goodbye, that’s all,’ said Tyaas brooding about the last time he had seen Benedict.
‘I know and I’m very sorry. We have to believe we’re doing the right thing,’ said Esmerelda. ‘Let’s look for the shabbiest clothes we can find,’ she said trying to make a game out of it.
They began pulling the musty clothes from the trunk and trying them on.
‘Oh no, look at this!’ said Esmerelda trying on a feathered hat.
Tyaas fell about in fits of laughter and by the time Ernelle returned they looked the part, dressed in shabby clothes, resembling poor street hawkers. They packed their belongings and took them down to the canoe.
‘So what you going to sell?’ asked Ernelle.
‘Matches, candles and honey combs,’ said Esmerelda.
‘And these,’ said Tyaas excitedly, holding up a selection of odd looking traps.

*
By the time the canoe reached the shore the Skinks had already left. ‘They couldn’t face any more goodbyes,’ explained Pester, hugging

Tallitha and Tyaas and shaking Esmerelda’s hand.
‘Remember the tavern and take care. The castle is a dangerous place.
You’ll need your wits about you.’
Tallitha watched the small figures scramble up the hillside. They
turned to give a final wave and then they were gone.
Now they were all alone, standing by the water’s edge.
Looking down on the three figures tramping by the lakeside it was
easy to imagine they were some poor souls trying to eke out a meagre
living. Their tattered clothes smelled horribly fusty, like someone had
just died in them. Tallitha scratched her arms as the itchy garments
rubbed against her skin. On the journey they spoke little and by the late
afternoon they had made good headway up a narrow gully and out onto
a promontory that provided a panoramic view of Hellstone Tors across
the bay. It was the first time they had ever seen the sea and Tallitha was
amazed at the roaring rushing waves crashing headlong onto the rocks.
Overhead, flocks of seagulls soared way above them, their screeching
haunting cries sounding like a warning on the biting wind. After rounding the headland they came to a settlement of scattered
dwellings that fringed the bay and further along the coastal path was
the Castle Keep. As they sat in the tavern eating supper they overheard
scattered pieces of conversations, uttered in hushed tones. The travellers
sensed the villagers were in awe of Hellstone Tors. Esmerelda went to
the bar and learned from Hester Lym that the market opened early,
so they supped their ale and decided to retire for the night. Tyaas was
exhausted and fell asleep almost immediately which gave Esmerelda and
Tallitha the opportunity they had been waiting for. They crept behind
the painted screen surrounding the wash basin and began whispering. ‘When I was keeping watch, I made contact with Asenathe. Either
that or it was a bad dream, b-but she tried to pull me into her room,’
whispered Tallitha anxiously.
Esmerelda made little of her fears. ‘She’s only trying to reach out to
you. This time, you must go to her, promise me.’
She took the jewelled pendant from her pocket and twisted it back
and forth in the moonlight. It sparkled in the darkened room making
fleeting patterns appear on the walls. Diamond, sapphire and topaz
lights glittered before Tallitha’s eyes. Slowly she began to slide away from
her body, like being stretched, then whoosh she had flown to a different
place.
The towers pointed menacingly into the blue-black skies with the
wind howling fiercely between the turrets, buffeting Tallitha around the
walls. She saw the spluttering candle but this time the girl was waiting
for her at the casement window. Tallitha steeled herself and stepped into
the room. Her cold fingers held Tallitha’s hand as she led her along the
darkened passageways, higher and higher up into the castle with Tallitha
trailing behind her. As the girl climbed the final staircase she turned
towards Tallitha with a strange expression on her face. She looked
triumphant! Tallitha stepped into a vaulted gallery filled with light.
Tallitha knew she had found the Morrow court.
There before her was an ornately carved chair and the girl moved
towards it and indicated that Tallitha should be seated. A strange
unsettling feeling began gnawing away inside her. Again something was
wrong. The girl’s face, once young and pretty, had become much older
and dark seeping shadows prowled and twisted around her body. Now
the face was etched with lines and her hair, once black and vibrant,
was dull and streaked with long grey strands. Her cold dark eyes
looked dead. If this wasn’t the girl then who was she? Tallitha’s stomach
tightened with the old tingling fear. Tallitha hovered for an instant then
vanished from the gallery.
She slipped into the grey mist but the way of the shadow flight
was barred to her. She bumped against something and panicked. The
brilliance of the silver cord had dimmed. Before her was the silvery
timeless face of a woman.
‘Leave this place, Tallitha. Go home to the Spires, this is an evil
kingdom and harm will befall you if you remain here. Do not enter Hellstone Tors but if you do, it must be of your own free will.
Remember these words and heed me, heed me!’ the spirit shrieked. Then the spirit shattered into a thousand pieces and Tallitha felt
herself falling. She cried out as she entered her body.
‘What’s wrong!’ shouted Esmerelda.
Tallitha’s face contorted as her whole body jerked uncontrollably. ‘Tallitha, Tallitha what is it?’ asked Esmerelda, shocked by Tallitha’s
violent reaction.
Her face was ashen and a dark-grey aura crept around her body.
Tallitha’s head flopped and her eyes rolled back into her head as she
moaned and clung on to Esmerelda, gulping for air. At last, Tallitha
opened her eyes and looked wildly round the room, making sure she
was safe.
‘Oh Essie, there’s something desperately wrong. We must go home,
back to the Spires. Let’s leave this dreadful place.’
Esmerelda stepped back from Tallitha as though she had been
scalded. ‘We can’t do that. Not now, not after all we have been through
to get here!’ she cried.
‘Essie, a spirit prevented me returning, she warned me to leave here.
Who could that have been?’
Esmerelda shook her head and bit her lip. Her eyes looked haunted. ‘Essie, you have to listen to me! Asenathe was different, she was older
and her coldness scared me.’
Tallitha gripped hold of Esmerelda’s hand. ‘Please Essie, you have to
believe me!’
A desperate look flitted across Esmerelda’s face, just for a second, then
she brushed it aside.
‘It’s just the way of the spirit-walk. Sometimes the process can elicit
strange emotions.’
‘No Essie, there was something sinister about Asenathe tonight,’ said
Tallitha. ‘The silver spirit tried to warn me.’
‘Your path may have become crossed with another spirit walker, it
sometimes happens.’
‘Essie, I want to go home. Please,’ Tallitha begged and began to sob. ‘Nonsense, you’re over emotional. I’m not going back to the Spires
until I find Asenathe. Please don’t worry,’ said Esmerelda trying to calm
Tallitha, ‘it will all work out tomorrow. Rest now and get some sleep.’ But Tallitha didn’t believe her cousin. Esmerelda hadn’t seen those
cold dark eyes.
She held her breath as the shadows played across her room. What did
it all mean?
In the solitary darkness she wished she had never left the safety of
Winderling Spires. Why had she been so headstrong? She hid her
head beneath the blankets to blot out the frightening images. But her
rapid breathing and her racing heart kept her wide awake, repeatedly
pounding, pounding in her ears.
As the seconds passed into minutes and her heart continued beating
furiously, Tallitha realised she was absolutely terrified.

Esmerelda was too excited to eat her breakfast so Tyaas finished it for her. He was too busy wolfing down the eggs and sausage to notice the dark circles under his sister’s eyes. Tallitha played with her food, lost in the agony of the night before.

‘Do I have to eat yours as well?’ he asked as Tallitha pushed her plate to one side.
‘If you want to, go ahead,’ she said listlessly.
Tyaas polished off the leftovers in a succession of ravenous mouthfuls.
‘You OK, sis?’ he asked, ‘you seem a bit quiet this morning.’
‘I’m scared,’ she confided, leaning across the table. ‘Will we get away with this? I had an awful premonition last night.’ Then she stopped abruptly. Esmerelda put her finger to her lips.
‘She’s fine, Tyass. She just had a bad dream, that’s all. Now let’s get into that castle,’ she insisted taking Tallitha’s hand and leading her away.

As the travellers climbed the steep incline in the shadow of the great castle, the sheer enormity of Hellstone Tors began to unfold before their eyes. The fortification erupted out from the jagged tors like an angry monster, ominous and threatening. Hellstone Tors was an immense edifice, assembled by hundreds of stonemasons over years of back-breaking toil. The dark spiky fingers towered above them, blocking out the sunlight like a twisted crown. Tallitha stumbled, awestruck by the fearsome sight and by the thought of what lurked inside the sombre, impenetrable walls.

‘Come on you two! Stop dawdling,’ shouted Esmerelda racing ahead of them.
Between each Tor, the main castle had been forged deep within the bedrock. Carved mullioned windows and fancy iron balustrades covered the grey stone towers, culminating in a spectacle of burnished turrets. The towers coiled upwards to the sky, making the menacing structure look even more nightmarish. Just like witches’ fingers, thought Tallitha and shuddered.
The path up to the castle drawbridge was covered in mist, a haunting, damp sea fret sent to unnerve them. Tallitha stepped over the threshold of the castle and the others followed.
The courtyard was a bustling world of hawkers shouting about their wares, haggling for the next deal and trying to entice the passing trade to buy their merchandise. Pots and pans, loaves of bread, linen and silks, musical instruments, herbs, remedies and cures, all these could be bought in the busy marketplace. The quadrangle was thronging with bright, colourful awnings, the smell of freshly baked cakes and the aroma of exotic spices. Tallitha gazed in wonder at the bewildering array of purveyors selling delightful and unusual things as Esmerelda and Tyaas found a small space in the courtyard to spread out their goods.
New sights and smells flooded Tallitha’s senses. She wanted to taste the salted nuts and lick the oozing chocolate fondants, listen to the flutes tootling in harmony and touch the velvets and silks draped in splendour over the stalls. The deep array of colours was breathtaking. Shades of crimson-reds, simmering blues, violets and greens hummed vibrantly in the morning sunlight, the silks gently flapping in the sea breeze. Entranced, Tallitha wandered over to the fabric stalls and watched as skeins of cotton and silky yarns changed hands, while the women barked orders and heckled one another to make a sale. There were stalls with buttons, bric-a-brac, belts and cotton, and long hanks of wool in so many shades it made her head spin.
In the middle of the courtyard was a round metal grate where the slops and debris of the morning’s trade trickled deep under the stained flagstones. Tallitha peered down into the blackened hole. As her eyes became accustomed to the darkness she could make out a narrow stinking passageway and hear wailing voices coming up from the miserable, dank midden.
‘What you after then?’ came a rough voice sharply behind her.
‘Nothing. Errrh, I was just looking down t-there,’ she replied nervously, edging backwards.
A fat groveller stood with her hands on her hips, smoking a pipe and squinting at Tallitha in the brilliant sunshine. Her grey apron was stained with grease and blood and, as she lifted her large arms to shield her eyes from the sun, Tallitha could see her hairy armpits and smell the stench of stale sweat. Tallitha’s eyes flickered nervously at the ill humoured old crone.
‘Get out of ’ere, if you know what’s good for yer, cos them’s the Bleak Rooms down there. You don’t want to join them do yer?’ cackled the groveller, picking her brown teeth with a stick and spitting phlegm on the ground.
Tallitha stared at the specimen that lurched uneasily before her, smelling of beer.
‘Are there people down there?’ she asked peering into the depressing hole.
‘Course! Where else would we keep ’em but in a wet nasty place, to rot and die. Thieving rascals most of ‘em,’ she sneered eyeing Tallitha curiously. ‘What’s it to you, anyways?’ she barked.
Tallitha made to leave but something caught her eye. Someone was staring up at her from the pit. There was a flash of mad eyes as three spindly fingers with blackened broken nails poked up through the grate grasping at freedom. Tallitha stepped out of the creature’s sight. She could hear the woman moaning in the middens, calling out to her.
‘Help me, help me, please kind lady.’
The old groveller pushed Tallitha out of the way and stamped on the frail fingers.
‘Shut up vermin, or I’ll pour a bucket of slops over ya head. Haaaa! That’ll teach ’er.’
The bedraggled wretch cried out and shrank from view, back into the miserable hole. Maybe that woman, Cremola Burn, was somewhere down there. What had she done to meet such a punishment? Tallitha slunk backwards from the grate and out of sight of the groveller.
The marketplace was full of the nasty shroves, shabbily dressed but remarkably adept at selling, ingratiating themselves with their customers, scampering from one stall to another and counting every last filthy coin into their mean little hands. They reminded Tallitha of Marlin, fawning obsequiously and pretending to be obedient to the grovellers, who were in charge of all the takings, whilst secretly spying on all the goings-on.
The stall owners got their name from the villages round about; Much Grovell, Small Grovell and Grovell-by-the-Water. Tallitha watched the scene unfold as the grovellers grabbed their feral children, roughly stuffing doughy food into their ever-open mouths or wiping their runny noses. The horde of dirty bairns ran like a pack of rats across the quadrangle, thieving scraps of food, deftly escaping a clip from their parents to hide, panting beneath one of the stalls. The grovellers were fatter than they should have been, much louder than was necessary, drunker than was good for them and extremely dirty. They were a scheming lot, motivated by where the next penny was coming from. It was a hideous circus.
Suddenly one of the grovellers lashed out at a spindly shrove, sending him flying across the flagstones, squeaking and howling.
‘Take that you little runt,’ she screamed at the hapless shrove.
The grovellers stood in a menacing pack laughing at the shrove’s miserable plight. Then the groveller who had spoken sharply to Tallitha caught her watching the spectacle.
‘What you lookin’ at?’ she yelled, baring her teeth.
Tallitha hurriedly averted her eyes hoping to deflect the groveller’s interest. Esmerelda noticed what was happening and dragged Tallitha back to their pitch.
‘Come here girl!’ she shouted. ‘Take that!’ and she slapped Tallitha hard on the side of her face.
‘Sorry ma’m. We didn’t mean no offence’, said Esmerelda, dipping her hat.
The grovellers jeered and spat at the strangers in their midst, deciding whether any sport was to be had at their expense. One of the young grovellers stepped forward aggressively but the older groveller held her back.
‘You from these parts then?’ asked the ring leader.
‘We’re travellers, just here for a few days. Then we’ll be on our way,’ said Esmerelda meekly.
‘Keep that girl under control. We don’t like strangers, particularly thems that nose about and stare. Thems that think too much of themselves all high and mighty ain’t ya?’ The grovellers laughed at the wary trio.
‘Sorry. Right you are,’ said Esmerelda lowering her eyes.
She pulled Tallitha close. ‘Don’t annoy them. They’ll have us thrown out.’
‘Sorry,’ answered Tallitha meekly, rubbing her cheek. ‘You didn’t need to hit me.’
‘We don’t want to attract attention, now try and fit in,’ snapped Esmerelda pushing Tallitha roughly to one side.