The Eyeball Collector (25 page)

‘Quick! Lord Mandible has been murdered, the killer is on the run and Lady Mandible’s life is in danger from a rampaging hog! You must go immediately to the great dining room!’

The guard at the top of the tower gaped at Hector for a moment before gathering his weapons and clattering down the tower stairs as fast as he was able.

Working rapidly, Hector unlocked the heavy cell door with the key he had taken from the Baron’s room. The prisoner was already waiting on the other side. ‘I knew you wouldn’t forget me.’ He grinned.

‘How could I leave you here?’ asked Hector. ‘I owe you my life! Besides, I have some questions for you. But later. Let’s go.’

Below, the corridors were deserted. As they approached the main doors both Hector and his companion could hear the roars and grunts still emanating from the dining hall. The hog had been locked in and the huntsmen were busy debating how best to capture the beast. News had spread quickly of Bovrik’s fall, and those who had escaped the hog uninjured now rushed outside to look at his broken body. As a result the feeing pair escaped Withypitts without hindrance to head for the stables.

At the edge of the forest Hector pulled up his horse and looked at his companion.

‘Who are you?’ he asked at last. ‘And why have you been following me?’

‘My name,’ the young man replied, ‘is Ludlow Fitch.’

Hector’s mouth fell open. ‘Lottie Fitch’s son?’

Ludlow nodded. ‘And Polly’s friend. She was very concerned for your safety so I promised to follow you, to help you if I could. But I cannot deny I had my own reason for doing so. You know little of my business, Hector, but I thought perhaps you could become my apprentice.’

Hector shook his head ashamedly. ‘You don’t want me,’ he mumbled. ‘Or at least you wouldn’t if you knew what terrible thing I came close to doing.’ He wheeled his horse about to see again the ominous silhouette of Withypitts Hall. ‘I can hardly bear to think on it. In that place . . . I was not myself.’ And he swallowed a huge sob and hunched further into his horse’s saddle.

Ludlow put a hand on his arm. ‘A friend of mine used to say, “You cannot change the past, but every moment is an opportunity to change your future.”’

Hector wiped his nose on his sleeve. ‘He sounds like a good friend.’

‘He was like a father to me.’

‘I had a father. What I did, I did for him. But he would not be proud of me, of what I nearly became.’

‘One day you will tell me what you did,’ said Ludlow softly. ‘And I’ll guard your secret. But for now we should keep moving.’

Hector felt his temple gingerly. His musket wound was stinging in the cold air. ‘I was to go back to the City,’ he said.

‘Come with me,’ urged Ludlow. ‘I know a place in the mountains where we can be safe, the Atrium Arcanorum.’

‘A Hall of Secrets,’ said Hector in surprise.

‘Yes.’ Ludlow nodded. ‘A wondrous place. You have never seen its like. I have a friend there: Juno. She can heal your wound; she is a marvel with herbs. But perhaps you wish to part company. After all, your debt is paid.’

Hector shook his head. ‘Not quite. What about the Landlord’s Pickle?’

Ludlow laughed. ‘Tell me on the way,’ he said, and trotted off.

Hector took one last look at Withypitts Hall then spurred his horse forward. ‘What sort of apprentice?’ he called to Ludlow. Ludlow looked back over his shoulder.

‘That’s a whole other story,’ he said.

Hall of Secrets

Dear Polly,

I have one more story to tell, perhaps the worst of all. We already know the fate of Posset, eaten by a Frenchman, but what of her companion? Poor Percy, he died simply because he walked across the harpsichord keys. Lady Mandible poisoned them (or maybe Gerulphus did it for her) with the same mushroom poison I collected in the forest. Little did Perigoe know how useful ‘Myths and Folklore, Flora and Fauna of the Ancient Oak Forest’ would be!

Lady Mandible knew that her husband was to play at the Feast. What a perfect setting for her fatal drama. He absorbed the poison through his fingers and then through his mouth when he was stuffing himself at the Feast. I suspect that is how she killed Mandible’s father too. And what of her previous husbands? The thought is almost too much to bear! As for her reason: money and power, I reckon. But also, terrible though it is to contemplate, maybe even for her own pleasure.

I told Bovrik as soon as I realized. Having warned him of the toxic butterflies, suddenly I wanted to do everything in my power to save him. I suppose, having come to my senses, I wanted to make up for the fact that I had planned such a dreadful revenge.

In the moments after I told him Bovrik seemed very thoughtful, gazing back down at his precious eyeballs. Then he picked up the box of butterflies.

I held out my hand, thinking he was going to give it to me, but before I could stop him, with a cry of anguish, he ripped it open. Instantly a thick cloud of black-winged butterflies flew forth and swarmed around his head, creating a shadowy, dusty, fluttering fog.

‘What are you doing?’ I screeched. But it was too late. I didn’t dare go near him for fear of the poison. Bovrik slapped wildly at the agitated butterflies, crushing them against his face and neck until his hands were dripping with glutinous guts and then, when I thought it could get no worse, he smeared the toxic slime across his mouth.

‘Tartri flammis!’ I cried, and stepped back. ‘You are a lunatic.’

Bovrik turned to me, his face a grotesque mask of insect innards. ‘How long will it take,’ he said, ‘before I die?’

‘A short while,’ I whispered, ‘and it will be painful.’

‘She has done me in anyway,’ he said cryptically. ‘I thought this might be quicker.’ There was a strange look in his eyes, almost of triumph. ‘No man, or woman, decides my fate,’ he said firmly. Then, before I could stop him, he ran across the room and jumped through the window.

I realize now I have not been myself for some time, even before I came to Withypitts Hall. My father, you and Ludlow were right all along. Revenge is not the answer. If I had followed its soul-destroying path to the end, I would have been nothing less than a coldblooded murderer. That was not what my father had in mind for me. By pretending I was someone I was not, I was no better than Truepin (whatever his real identity was. I wonder if he even knew any more). So blinded was I by my all-consuming anger that I failed to see it was not the Baron I should fear; the riddle was not what he was up to, but what evil plans were being laid by Lady Mandible.

But that is enough of this story. I think finally I can lay down my quill. I am in a different place now, with new friends, and the future, though uncertain, looks bright. And soon, dear Polly, I will be on my way back to you.

Salve,

Your friend,

Hector

Article from

A quality daily newspaper for the discerning reader

Strange Happenings at Withypitts Hall
By
Tarquin Faulkner

The Midwinter Feast has proved to be an unfortunate and rather gruesome occasion for Withypitts Hall this year. A week on and still it is the talk of the town. Not only did Lord Mandible collapse and die at the harpsichord (after an apparently brilliant performance on said instrument), but Baron Bovrik de Vandolin was also found dead at the foot of his tower. It is believed he took his own life to evade trial, having been accused of the murder of Lord Mandible.

And that is not the end of it. The very same evening a Hairy-Back she-hog went on the rampage at the Hall, killing many revellers and wounding others. Most likely she was seeking revenge for the death (and consumption) of her mate. Witnesses report that Lady Mandible was one of the first to die at the pig’s tusks, but to date her body has not been recovered. Others claim that her personal manservant threw himself heroically between her and the hog and saved her life. Whatever the case, neither one has been seen since. Rumour has it that somehow the two of them escaped and have fed the country. A reliable source of mine, recently returned from abroad, swears blind he saw her at the court of a European prince, but unfortunately he has no proof.

And one last puzzle remains: the six dead servants found in various parts of Withypitts in the early hours after the ill-fated Feast. There is no evidence that the hog killed them, but each held in his hand one of the Baron’s famous bejewelled eyes, purloined, no doubt, after his death . . .

I too was puzzled by the dead servants and I wished that I had Hector at hand to help solve the riddle! In his absence I went back through all my papers and documents and eventually I pieced together what I think happened.

Hector admitted to spreading the wings of the black butterflies with poison from the forest mushroom
Stipitis longi
. This is what he was crushing in his pestle and mortar and why he was wearing gloves.

Stipitis longi
is closely related to the Amanita family of mushrooms, containing some of the deadliest fungi in the world. When Lysandra’s ring was dislodged from Hector’s pocket (the ring he picked up in the forest), he realized that she too must have been collecting the mushrooms.

She spread the poison on the harpsichord keys to kill Mandible. Percy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But what Hector didn’t know was that she had also smeared it on Bovrik’s golden eye, the eye he made such a fuss about wearing at the Feast. In fact she left nothing to chance, and tainted all of his eyeballs. That is why they were out of order in the box. Hence the death of the servants too. What a high price all paid for pilfering! But, as we know, Lady Mandible lived by her own rules. And by killing the Baron she also ensured he could not defend himself against her accusations of murder.

When Hector told the Baron his suspicions about the harpsichord, Bovrik realized immediately who had disturbed his eyeballs. And of course his new eye, the seventh, was already irritating him. Knowing he was going to die anyway, Bovrik chose to release the poisoned butterflies, hoping to speed up the process. I imagine he thought eating the poison would move things along more quickly than the gradual absorption his tainted eye promised. I cannot help but think, though, that to be tricked by Lady Mandible must have been too much to bear for the swindler Truepin. Ultimately, faced with such a painful death, he wished to be the master of his own destiny and he jumped.