Wardstone 7 - The Spook's Nightmare (7 page)

‘Change your mind about what?’ I asked.

‘I want to marry Simon Sulby, a cooper – the one who told me about the barrels – but Lord Barrule wants me for his wife. He’s lived alone for ten years since his first
wife died. He’s never looked at another woman but it seems that I look very like his dead wife – the spitting image, he says. That’s why he wants me. He’s very powerful, and he’s used to getting his way. I refused and kept refusing – until finally he lost his temper and denounced me as a witch.

‘He could still save me if he really wanted – he’s a powerful man. One word from him and they’d let me go. But he’s very proud, and can’t bear being denied anything. He’d rather I was dead than belonged to another. Soon it’ll be too late. They started off doing the testing in the evening, but it attracted large crowds and they became unruly. They’ll roll us down the hill when it’s quiet, just before dawn.’

Following those words, neither Alice nor I spoke for a long time. Things looked really bleak.

I wondered what the Spook would be doing now. He’d be worried about me and wondering why I hadn’t returned. No doubt he’d have realized that Alice had followed me. I just hoped he wouldn’t venture down into the town. He was sure to be captured.

* * *

The long silence was suddenly ended by the harsh metallic grate of a key turning in the lock. Had they come for us already? I wondered. It was still several hours until dawn.

The cell door opened slowly and just one figure stepped inside. It wasn’t a yeoman or a guard. It was Horn, the abhuman. The chains were gone from his ears and he was stripped to the waist, wearing only a pair of breeches and heavy boots. His chest was matted with dark hair, and muscles bunched on his broad shoulders and long arms. He looked strong and dangerous; capable of killing with his bare hands.

As he lumbered into the room, we stood up and, retreated until our backs were against the wall furthest from the door. What did he want? I didn’t like the expression on his face. Even without the horns, it would have been a face with more than a hint of the beast.

He advanced directly towards Alice. When I tried to get between them to protect her, he took a swing at my
shoulder. It was like being struck with a table leg and I was knocked clean off my feet. I fell, but scrambled back up as quickly as I could and moved towards Alice again. The abhuman twisted round to face me, his feral eyes gleaming dangerously; he lowered his head so that his horns were pointing at me. I continued to approach him more warily, but Alice held out her hand to ward me away.

‘No, Tom! Stay back!’ she cried. ‘He’ll kill you. Let me deal with him.’

I obeyed, but readied myself to attack the creature at the first sign of danger to Alice – though without my staff and chain there was very little I could do. I had the gift of being able to slow time, inherited from my mam, but it was extremely difficult to use and I decided to attempt it only if Alice seemed in real danger.

The abhuman turned back towards her. Less than the length of his arms separated them.

‘Sister?’ he said, his voice a low rumble.

‘I ain’t your sister!’ Alice said, shaking her head angrily.

The abhuman put his head on one side and sniffed three times. ‘We have the same father. You must be my half-sister. Do not deny it. I wasn’t sure back in the town but I am now. There’s no doubt about it.’

It was true. Both had different human mothers but the Fiend was father to them both.

Alice suddenly gave him a little smile. ‘Well, if we be brother and sister, you’ll want to help me, won’t you? Won’t want me to die, will you? Big and strong, you are. Can’t you get us out of here?’

‘I can’t do that. Commander Stanton would punish me. He’d have me whipped.’

‘We could run away, escape together,’ Alice suggested.

‘I can’t leave my master, Lord Barrule. He’s been good to me.’

‘Good to you?’ I asked. ‘What about having you dragged through the town with chains strung from your ears? That’s not good.’

The abhuman growled in displeasure. ‘Commander Stanton does that because he’s afraid of me, but Lord
Barrule never hurts me. No, not him. He could have had me killed, but instead he allowed me to serve him. He’s a good master.’

‘So what’s your business?’ demanded Alice. ‘You must want something or you wouldn’t be here.’

‘Just wanted to see you, that’s all,’ he replied. ‘I just wanted to see my little sister.’

With those words he turned and began to head back towards the door.

‘Hope it makes you happy seeing me,’ cause I’ll be dead soon,’ Alice shouted. ‘Fine brother you are. Brothers and sisters should stick together!’

But he closed the door behind him and we heard the key turning in the lock once more.

‘Well, it was worth a try,’ said Alice. ‘Wonder how many abhumans there are … Wonder if all the rest are like him and Tusk …’

Tusk was the son of Old Mother Malkin, an abhuman with big teeth – too many to fit into his mouth, hence his name. The Spook had killed him with his staff, stabbing him through the forehead.

Just how many abhumans had the Fiend fathered? That was an interesting question. Tusk was evil. He’d helped Mother Malkin kill mothers and their babies – that was how the witch had got her name. She’d run a home for destitute mothers. But lots of them had gone missing, and when the locals had finally summoned the courage to investigate, they’d found a field full of bones. Most of the women had been crushed to death, their ribs cracked and broken – that had been the work of Tusk. Abhumans were incredibly strong and Horn looked very dangerous.

‘No use denying it,’ Alice went on. ‘I shared the same father as Tusk too, but I never considered him my half-brother for a moment.’

‘Horn doesn’t seem anywhere near as bad as Tusk. I think he’s had a hard time,’ I said.

‘That’s certainly true,’ said Adriana. ‘Stanton is cruel to him, but I don’t understand why he remains so loyal to Lord Barrule. Can’t he see that his master permits Stanton to do that? Some people say Horn’s loyal because Barrule lets him be the buggane’s keeper.’

‘His keeper?’ I asked.

‘Horn works with the buggane, they say. He helps it choose its victims …’

The night passed quickly, and long before dawn there were three other prisoners sharing the cell with us: two were refugees from the County, young girls still in their teens; the other was an older local woman.

Adriana wasted no time in explaining how you could wedge yourself in the barrel. The two girls from the County listened to her with interest but the local woman just started to cry. She’d heard too many tales about what she faced. The idea of being fed to the buggane terrified her so much that she almost preferred the prospect of being spiked.

Just before dawn the guards – a couple of dozen of them – came for us and dragged us back down the tower steps and across the village, heading south. Adriana accompanied us – evidently Barrule had run out of patience with her. Then they forced us up a big hill, which must have been Slieau Whallian.
It was a long steep climb. Were they going to roll us down this? If so, we surely had little chance of survival.

To the east the sky was beginning to redden while, low on the horizon, a single bright star was visible. There was no wind and the air was chilly, and we stood there shivering next to a row of big barrels. A line of torches on poles went down the hill, marking the course that the barrels would take, but they weren’t needed – there was already plenty of light to see by. Most of the guards waited with us at the summit. At the bottom, at the edge of a big wood, we could see only six men; one had a sword at his belt, and I guessed it was probably Stanton, the commander of the yeomen who’d arrested us.

‘She’s first!’ cried one of the guards, pointing at the older woman; as they seized her, she began to sob hysterically, her whole body shaking and trembling.

‘Cowards!’ Adriana exclaimed angrily, shaking her fist at the men. ‘How can you do that to a woman – and one of our own islanders too?’

‘Keep your mouth shut or we’ll gag you!’ the largest of the yeomen shouted back. Another seized her by the shoulder, but she shook him off.

The barrel was now in position, ready to be rolled; when they lifted off the lid I saw the sharp spikes within. Immediately I felt that Adriana had been optimistic about our chances of survival. How could you wedge yourself safely into that?

They forced the woman to her knees in front of the barrel. ‘Right! In you get!’

She stared at the spikes, her face twisted in horror, certain that she was looking at her own death.

‘It’ll be all the worse for you if we have to push you in!’ the guard threatened, his voice harsh.

The woman responded by crawling in, crying out as the sharp spikes pierced her flesh. Once she was inside, they put the lid back on and fixed it in place with just two nails.

Rap! Tap!

One push, and the barrel set off, rolling down the hill. The yeomen had worked really fast, I reflected,
worried now. You’d have only a few seconds to wedge yourself into position.

Three terrible shrieks issued from the barrel before it reached the bottom and came to rest hard against a tree trunk. Two men approached it, one carrying a crowbar. There was a grating, crunching sound as he prised off the lid.

We were too far away to see clearly, but when they pulled the woman out of the barrel, she didn’t seem to be moving. They threw her body aside like a sack of potatoes.

‘This one’s dead! Send down the next!’ Commander Stanton called up the hill.

The two County girls were weeping and trembling; they’d been holding hands, but now, as the guards approached, they clung tightly to each other and had to be dragged apart.

I watched, horrified, as the first of them received the same treatment, the poor girl shrieking and struggling as she was thrust inside. This time the barrel hit a rock on the way down and left the ground briefly, coming
down again with a crash. When it came to a stop, the guards pulled the girl’s body out and threw it down next to the other one.

I was appalled by what had just happened and my heart was pounding with fear. Was it really possible to wedge yourself in and survive?

But the third woman to be ‘tested’ was still alive when she reached the bottom of the hill. As two of the yeomen led her away, I could hear her sobbing and gasping. She was clearly hurt, but at least she had survived. So it
was
possible …

Adriana turned back to face Alice and me. Her bottom lip was trembling and her former courage had suddenly deserted her; she looked terrified. ‘Can you sense when you’re about to die?’ she asked. ‘Because that’s how I feel now – as if I don’t have long for this world …’

‘My master doesn’t believe in that,’ I told her. ‘He doesn’t think anyone can foretell their own death.’

‘But I feel it so strongly,’ she sobbed. ‘I sense that it’s coming very soon!’

I leaned forward and whispered in her ear. ‘You’ll be all right,’ I reassured her. ‘Just wedge yourself into the barrel like you told us.’

Before she could reply, the guards came for her. She gave us a nervous smile, then went over to the barrel and crawled inside without a word.

Rap! Tap!

Now the barrel was on its way down. It was a smooth descent with no bumps. Had she survived? Again there was a sound of splintering wood as they prised off the lid.

‘Another live one here! This one’s a witch for sure!’ shouted Stanton.

As soon as Adriana crawled out of the barrel, she was hauled to her feet and marched away by a further two guards. I noticed that she was limping, but she too had survived the descent. I suddenly felt more optimistic. We could worry about the buggane later.

Alice gave me a little smile as they dragged her away. It seemed that I would be the last to be tested. Alice crawled into the barrel quickly, like Adriana. As soon
as they tapped on the lid, she’d wedge herself into position.

This time the descent was rough, the barrel bouncing twice – though at least it didn’t hit a tree. When it reached the bottom, my heart was in my mouth. Had Alice managed to position herself properly? The remaining guard took off the lid and I waited expectantly for her to emerge. Instead there was a pause before he dragged her out of the barrel.

‘Another dead one!’ shouted the commander. ‘Send down the little warlock. Let’s get it over with! I’m ready for my breakfast!’

My throat constricted and a huge sob built up in my chest. Down below, they were laying Alice’s body out alongside the other two corpses.

I
couldn’t believe she was dead. We’d gone through so much together, survived so many dangers … As my eyes filled with tears, I was seized and pushed to my knees in front of an open barrel.

‘In you get, lad. Stop blubbing and make it easier on yourself!’

Blinded by tears, I started to crawl into the barrel, the spikes jabbing painfully into my hands and knees as I did so. No sooner was I in than the lid was clamped on top, plunging me into darkness.

Rap! Tap!

The barrel began to move and, just in time, I used my elbows and knees to brace my body against the inner
curve of the wood, somehow managing to find gaps amongst the murderous spikes. The barrel began to spin faster and faster, the force pressing me harder against the points. There was a jolt, and I was almost shaken onto the barbs. Then I slowed and finally came to a halt. I didn’t move until the lid was forced off, filling the inside of the barrel with light.