The Spook's Nightmare (14 page)

She began to sob, so I put my arms round her and hugged her tight. After a while she calmed down, and we sat there, holding hands for comfort.

‘Do you know anything about the spell that controls a bone-yard, Alice?’ I asked at last. ‘Could you find Lizzie’s secret path through it?’

‘Wouldn’t want me to use dark magic, Tom, would you? Can’t be asking me to do that … ?’ There was an edge of sarcasm in Alice’s voice.

For a long time I had avoided using the dark in any way, even when I was fighting for my life. Alice had struggled to persuade me to use the blood jar. But my worries about my recent separation from her had largely been unfounded. She’d been close to Lizzie, and the Fiend couldn’t approach a witch who’d had a child by him.

‘It was just a thought, Alice. I can’t think of any other way of getting out of here. Not unless we risk the tunnels …’

‘We’d be better off doing that than tampering with Lizzie’s yard. It’s true that there’s a path through it, but it’s hard to find. Dangerous things to meddle with, they are. Make one mistake and you’re dead—’

Suddenly we heard a noise outside. Someone had started climbing down the tree. Moments later, Lizzie’s pointy shoes came into view and she dropped down the last few feet to stand before us, clutching something in her left hand.

‘Couldn’t find any rabbits so these will have to do,’ she spat, holding up three dead rats by their tails. She tossed one at our feet.

‘I can spare one but I’ll need the other two. Need to build up my strength for what’s ahead, and rat’s blood is as good as anything. It’ll do until I take your thumbs, boy!’

‘O
ver my dead body!’ Alice shouted, rising angrily to her feet.

Bony Lizzie gave a wicked smile. ‘Let’s hope it don’t come to that, girl. Calm down. I’ve another use for the boy that should allow him to keep breathing a little while longer – that’s if things go well.’

The witch sat down and, setting one rat aside, lifted the other by its long thin tail. She bit its head off and spat it out, then started to suck the blood from its neck; some dribbled out of her mouth and down her chin. She drank noisily, and the unpleasant sounds made me feel sick to my stomach. I shuddered, and Alice reached across and squeezed my hand.

Lizzie looked at our joined hands, lowered the rat and smirked. ‘What a fool you are, girl!’ she told Alice. ‘No man’s worth a second glance. Never get too close to ’em. This boy will bring you down for sure. Be the ruin of you. Many a good witch has gone soft because of a man.’

‘Me and Tom are good friends,’ Alice retorted. ‘That’s something you know nothing about. Eating rats and killing people – that’s all you’re good for. Why did I have to have a mother like you? What did you want with the Fiend? Couldn’t you find a normal man?’

Lizzie’s expression hardened and she glared at Alice. ‘I’ve had men, but none of ’em have lasted long. They liked pretty young things, they did. Know why? Because they’re scared. Scared of a real woman in her prime. They look at me, see what I am and run back to their mothers. Know how old I am, girl?’

Alice shook her head and squeezed my hand again.

‘I turned forty just a week ago, the day after Old Gregory’s house burned and I got out of the pit. A Pendle witch comes into her prime at forty and
inherits her full power. Now I’ve got the strength to deal with anybody. You, daughter, could be even stronger one day.’ Lizzie gave me an evil smile, staring straight into my eyes. ‘Know what Alice is, boy? She’s my gift to the County …’

She smirked meaningfully when she uttered that last bit. It was what Mam had once said about me in a letter to the Spook. Could Lizzie read my mind now? Pluck things out of it as if she were rifling through an open drawer?

‘She’s my special gift to the Pendle clans,’ the witch continued after a pause. ‘One day she’ll unite ’em once and for all, and then the world had better watch out!’

She went back to drinking the rat’s blood. Once it was drained she started on the second, sucking and slurping until there wasn’t a drop left. Seeing that we hadn’t touched the third, she took that one too.

Gradually it began to lighten inside the tree trunk, indicating that the dawn was close.

‘Are you thirsty?’ I asked Alice.

She nodded. ‘My throat’s parched.’

‘It’ll rain soon,’ Lizzie said, with an evil laugh. ‘Have all the water you want then!’

She was right. Within the hour it began to rain. First a light pitter-patter against the tree, soon followed by the drumming of a heavy downpour. Hour after hour it went on, and water began to drip into the tree, eventually cascading down the inside of the trunk.

It was running water, and Lizzie didn’t like that, so she moved away from the trunk, but Alice and I caught enough in our cupped hands to slake the worst of our thirst. It must have been early in the afternoon when the rain eased. It was then that we heard the dogs.

Lizzie gave a gloating smile and moved across to lean against the wood once more. ‘Dogs got our scent,’ she said. ‘Not that it’ll do ’em much good. Not when they enter the yard …’

I pictured the dogs running towards the bone-yard, heading towards the tree at its centre. Their speed would carry them close before the pressure crushed them.

‘Claw and her pups …’ I said, looking with dismay at Alice.

‘He won’t be using them, boy, you needn’t fear. He’s another use for those dogs,’ said Lizzie. ‘He’ll want you to fight ’em – and to the death!’

‘How can you know that?’ I asked angrily.

She smirked. ‘Easy to read, he is. That’s what he had planned last night. First you’d fight me, then, if you won, Alice. Finally your own dogs. Sniffed it out, I did. They call that type of bet a treble. Each win is carried forward to the next stage. Gives you a big pay-day if you win all three. Odds were against you, but the shaman liked those odds. Didn’t work out for him, did it? But given half the chance he’ll still pit you against those dogs. Just you wait and see …’

The barking was getting closer, but the sound quickly turned to yelps and whines as the first of them blundered into the bone-yard and started to feel the pressure exerted by Lizzie’s dark magic.

‘Won’t get too close so they won’t know our exact hiding place,’ she said. ‘Wouldn’t help them if they did
though. We’re safe enough here – at least from the likes of them.’

Now I heard men shouting and cursing in the distance, calling their dogs back. Then there was suddenly a louder scream. This time it came from a human throat and Lizzie smiled. It went on for a long time and Alice covered her ears. At last, except for the patter of light rain, there was silence.

The time passed slowly but my mind raced. I was desperately trying to think of a way out of this. I still had my staff and my chain, but even if I could bind Lizzie again, what could Alice and I do against the buggane?

As it started to get dark, we heard a noise emanating from the tunnels. Had the shaman’s men found us? But as the sounds drew closer, they became more disturbing. I’d heard them before.

‘It’s found us at last,’ said Lizzie. ‘Certainly took its time.’

Now I could hear a snuffling: the buggane had
arrived. Lizzie crawled to the centre of the hollow tree, pulled out the stub of her black wax candle and said a word under her breath. It ignited just in time to illuminate the monstrous hairy head of the buggane as it protruded from the mouth of the tunnel. Its big cruel eyes looked at us one by one, finally settling on Bony Lizzie. Rather than retreating, the witch shuffled forward on her knees and slowly stretched out her hand.

The buggane opened its mouth wide and growled, showing its two rows of teeth, but Lizzie’s hand continued to advance.

‘There, there, what a good boy you are,’ she said in a soft, husky voice. ‘What a handsome hairy thing you be, your coat all fine and glossy …’

Her left hand was actually touching the buggane now; she was stroking its hideous head just above its wet snout.

‘There, there, my sweet,’ she crooned. ‘We could help each other …’

With those words, Lizzie raised her left hand and pierced her wrist with the long sharp nail of her right
forefinger. She positioned the wound above the creature, and drops of blood began to fall onto its snout. Suddenly, from between the sharp triangular teeth, a long purple tongue emerged and began to lick up the blood with an unpleasant slurping sound.

She was feeding the buggane, trying to make it her familiar.

‘Good boy! Good boy! Lick it all up. There’s more where that came from. Now go back to your master and tell him exactly where we are. It’s time we had a little chat …’

The buggane slowly backed away into the tunnel and Lizzie turned towards us triumphantly. ‘That’s a good start! Soon we’ll put it to the test. But our next visitor prefers the dark – so let’s oblige him!’

With those words she blew out the candle, plunging us into darkness.

It wasn’t long before a luminous shape began to form in front of the tunnel. It was the tall, gaunt figure of the shaman.

‘I’ve found you at last,’ he said, his cruel eyes looking only at Lizzie. ‘I’ll make you pay for leading me such a merry dance!’

‘There’s no need for harsh words between us,’ Lizzie replied, a crafty look coming over her face.

‘No? There’s another good man dead, plus five of my best dogs. I owe you for that!’

‘How about what you done to me?’ the witch accused. ‘You stitched my lips together. No man ever shut me up like that before. I should kill you for that, but if we can settle it another way, I’ll let bygones be bygones—’

‘It’ll be settled all right. Within an hour I’ll show you what I can do. I’ll send the buggane – this time in its spirit form. I’ll start with your pet, the girl. By the end of the night she’ll be as good as dead. Next the boy. I’ll save you until the end so you’ll have time to dwell on what’s going to happen—’

‘Suppose the buggane listens to
me
!’ Lizzie shouted. ‘Suppose it whispers inside
your
head? Maybe then you’ll be ready to talk terms …’

The shaman scowled and his lips curled disdainfully; then his image faded and disappeared altogether.

‘Can you do that?’ Alice asked out of the darkness. She sounded scared.

‘Can’t make it whisper inside his head yet, but he doesn’t know that, does he? I said enough to make him think, though. You needn’t fear, girl. I’ve already done enough to keep it away from us. It won’t be sure what to do for a while yet. When Lord Barrule finds out it won’t do his bidding, he’ll be back, just you mark my words!’ Alice’s hand found mine again in the darkness and I squeezed it in reassurance. After that nobody spoke for a long time. Lizzie’s strength was being put to the test. Could she really keep the buggane away from Alice? I wondered.

After a couple of hours, the image of the shaman began to form again.

‘You’re soon back!’ Lizzie crowed. ‘No whispering inside the girl’s head yet, is there, my sweet?’ she said, turning towards Alice.

‘Ain’t heard a thing,’ Alice said.

‘What do you want, witch?’

‘Our lives and a safe passage from Mona. West to Ireland, across the sea to the Emerald Isle – that’s where we want to go.’

‘What’s in it for me? You mentioned terms. So what do I get?’

‘First you get to keep your power over the buggane. Longer I stay here, more likely it is to be mine. So it’s in
your
interests to get me off this island. Next I’ll give you the boy. Last thing I want travelling with me is a spook’s apprentice. Betting man, aren’t you? So make him fight his own dogs – to the death. That should be interesting!’

‘No!’ Alice cried.

‘I won’t do it!’ I protested.

‘Shut your face, girl! Silence! You can both be quiet!’

And then Lizzie said a word under her breath, something guttural in the Old Tongue. My throat tightened, and for a moment I couldn’t breathe. I managed to draw in a breath, although I still couldn’t speak. I’d
always had some degree of resistance to the dark – being a seventh son of a seventh son had given me that – but I seemed helpless in the face of Lizzie’s dark power. I tried to stand but my limbs didn’t respond. It was as if I were made of stone. I saw Alice start towards me, but then she too was gripped by some dark spell.

‘In return, you pull all your men away from the area around here,’ she continued, turning her attention back to the shaman’s spirit. ‘Call them back into the keep. Once the boy starts to fight, I’ll leave this tree, but only when I’m safely off this island will the buggane do your bidding again. Are we agreed?’

The apparition glared at the witch for quite a while without speaking, then gave just the slightest of nods.

Lizzie smiled. ‘Knew you’d see the sense of it. Rare thing, that. Not many sensible men about. Now send two more sensible men through the tunnels for the boy – that’s if you can find any. If they ain’t sensible, they’ll be dead! So no funny business …’

* * *

It was a matter of minutes before I heard the shaman’s men crawling through the tunnel towards the hollow tree. I was still holding hands with Alice, my left hand in her left hand, gasping for breath.

Lizzie lit her candle again and held it up as the first of the men emerged. He looked scared and stood, uncertain what to do. But the witch instantly took command.