The Spook's Mistake by Joseph Delaney

  I rose up onto my knees and glanced about me. I hadn't reached the bottom of the slope but the witch had rolled much further. The mist was thinner now and I could make out my staff. It was out of reach, but four paces would see me armed again. Then I glanced to my right and saw something that made my blood run cold. Grimalkin was standing over the body of a witch she'd slain, but she was rooted to the spot, completely immobile, staring at Morwena, who was moving up the slope towards her, talons extended. I stood up and reached into my pocket for my chain, easing it around my left wrist.

  It was clear that Grimalkin was in thrall to that blood-filled eye. Within moments she would be dead. If I missed, then Morwena would kill Grimalkin and turn her attention to me.

  This was the moment of truth. Would all those months of training in the Spook's garden pay off? This was far more difficult than casting towards the practice post. Nerves and fear played a significant part. I'd sometimes used the chain successfully against witches; but I'd often failed too. The enormity of what depended upon this darkened my mind with doubts. If I missed, it was over. And I would only get one chance!

  The first step was to believe I could do it. Think positively! The Spook had told me that the key to controlling the body was first to control the mind. So I did just that. I raised my left arm, sucked in a deep breath and held it.

  I concentrated, staring hard at my target, Morwena, who was almost within arm's length of Grimalkin now. Time seemed to slow. Everything became utterly silent. Morwena was no longer moving. I wasn't breathing. Even my own heart seemed to have stopped.

  I cracked the silver chain and cast it towards the witch. It formed a perfect spiral in the air, shimmering in the moonlight; it seemed to be the only thing moving. It fell over her, tightening itself against her teeth and arms so that she toppled to her knees. Sound rushed back into my ears. I breathed out and heard Grimalkin let out her own great sigh of relief before easing a long blade from her belt and advancing purposefully towards her enemy.

  Concentrating on casting the silver chain at Morwena, I'd neglected the threat to myself. Suddenly a water witch was beside me, her taloned finger hooking up towards my jaw. Faster than I could ever have believed, my left arm parried the blow, but we locked together and fell hard before rolling further down the hill.

  I was immediately fighting for my life again. Witches are physically strong, and in close combat even a grown man would be in serious trouble. I fought, punched and struggled but she gripped me tightly and began to drag me towards the water. I'd kept my promise to Grimalkin and used my chain against Morwena. But in doing so, I'd lost the chance to retrieve my staff, the only thing that gave me a fighting chance against a witch such as this. The only other weapons at my disposal were salt and iron but my arms were pinned to my sides.

  The next moment we rolled into the water. I just had time to close my mouth and hold my breath and then my head went under. I struggled even harder and we spun round again and my face emerged for a second or so, allowing me to take one more breath. Then the water closed over me again and I felt myself being drawn down. My new swimming skills were useless. The water witch had me in her grip and it was too strong. Down and down I sank, into the depths. I fought to hold my breath but my lungs were bursting and there was a darkness over my eyes.

  How long I fought to be free I don't know but my struggles grew weaker and at last the water rushed into my mouth and up my nose and I began to drown. The final thing I remember is a feeling of resignation. I'd done my best but it was all over now and I was finally dying. Then it grew dark and I stopped struggling.

  But my battle in this world wasn't over. I awoke to find myself on the hillside again, coughing and choking while somebody pressed and pounded my back. I thought I was being sick but it was water, not vomit, that was gushing from my nose and mouth.

  It seemed to go on for a long time, until gradually the pounding stopped and I found myself breathing without choking, although my heart was beating so fast I thought it might burst. Then someone rolled me onto my back and I was looking up into the face of Grimalkin.

  'You'll live, child,' she said, pulling me up into a sitting position. 'But it was a close thing. I only just reached you before the witch dragged you into the really deep water.'

  I realized that I owed my life to a malevolent witch. Whatever the Spook thought, we were on the same side. So I thanked her. It was what my dad would have expected.

  Then I saw that the line of dead bodies lying on the edge of the marsh included the Fiend's daughter. She was still bound by my silver chain.

  'I'm sorry I wasn't more help,' I said. I just got the words out before a coughing fit took me.

  Grimalkin waited patiently until it finished before speaking again. 'You did enough, child. When you cast your chain at Morwena, you ensured our victory. So now come and reclaim it. I can't touch silver.'

  Grimalkin helped me to my feet. I felt weak and began to shiver violently. My clothes were saturated, my body chilled to the bone. As I walked towards the line of supine bodies, I saw what Grimalkin had done and was almost sick. She had cut the heart from each dead witch and placed it near the head. She saw the appalled look on my face and rested her hand on my shoulder.

  'It had to be done, child, to ensure that none of them is able to return. Hasn't your master taught you that?'

  I nodded. Strong witches such as these could be reborn again or might be powerful enough to walk the earth while dead and do untold harm. To prevent this you had to cut out the heart; it then had to be eaten.

  Grimalkin lifted the body of the Fiend's daughter by the hair while I removed my chain. It was covered in blood. There was a faint noise in the distance and Grimalkin looked up. It was repeated – the bark of a hunting dog. Claw was on her way. If the Fiend had kept his word, the normal progress of time would now be restored to the mill.

  'I no longer have the stomach for such things, so make sure the dog eats the hearts – all of them,' Grimalkin said. 'I'll go now before the others come. But one last thing – how old are you, child?'

  'Fourteen. I'll be fifteen next August. On the third of that month.'

  Grimalkin smiled. 'Life is hard in Pendle and consequently children must grow up quickly. On the Walpurgis Night sabbath following his fourteenth birthday, the boy child of a witch clan is considered to have become a man. Go to Pendle soon after that feast and seek me out. I guarantee your safety and I will give you a gift. It will be well worth having.'

  It was a strange thing for her to say. Walpurgis Night was the last day of April. I couldn't imagine myself visiting Pendle to receive a gift from Grimalkin. I knew what the Spook would think of that!

  With that, the witch turned swiftly on her heel, ran back up the hill, leaped over the low wall and was lost to view.

  Within five minutes Claw arrived. I watched as she began to devour the hearts of the witches. She was ravenous, and by the time the Spook, Arkwright and Alice arrived she'd almost finished the last one.

  I remember Alice offering to wash the blood from my silver chain. Then the world grew suddenly dark and the Spook was helping me to my feet. Shivering violently, I was taken back to the mill and put to bed. Whether from swallowing stagnant marsh water or from the scratches on my throat, probably caused by the water witch's talons, I quickly developed a dangerous fever.

  CHAPTER 29

  Where I belong

  Ilearned afterwards that Alice tried to help with one of her potions but that the Spook forbade it. Instead, the local doctor visited the house again and gave me medicines that made me vomit until I thought my stomach would tear. It was almost five days before I was able to leave my sick bed. Had I known at the time that Alice wasn't being allowed to treat me, I would have protested.

  The Spook recognized her skills with potions, but it was only after I'd recovered that I found out why he'd kept her away from my bedside. It was a blow to my heart. The worst possible news.

  As soon as I was on my feet, we had a long discuss
ion in the upstairs sitting room. The coffins of Bill Arkwright's mam and dad were no longer there – they'd been buried on the edge of a local churchyard where he could visit them. The Fiend had kept his word and their spirits had gone to the light. Now that the unquiet dead no longer haunted the mill, it had a new atmosphere of tranquillity.

  Arkwright was very grateful for what I'd done. He began the discussion by thanking me to the point where it became embarrassing. Next, it was my turn to speak but I had little to tell the gathering, other than to describe how the fight on the marsh had unfolded. They knew the rest already. And the Spook knew too much. Far too much.

  His face stern and tinged with anger, he explained that, although their bodies had been frozen in time, their minds had been free and they had somehow been able to see what I saw and listen to the discussion between the Fiend and me. They knew the task I'd been set and the bargain I'd made both for their lives and the release of Arkwright's parents. That was terrible enough as they feared the outcome on the marsh and were aware of the imminence of their own deaths. But, cheated of that, the Fiend had later maliciously told them other things – facts designed to drive a wedge between the Spook and me and, even worse, create a gulf between us and Alice that could never be crossed.

  'I was already saddened and worried by the fact that you used the mirror to talk to the girl. It showed me the bad influence she's had on you. Far worse than I'd expected . . .' lamented the Spook.

  I opened my mouth to protest but he gestured angrily for silence. 'But now there's more. That sly and deceitful girl has been in contact with Grimalkin for nearly a month.'

  I looked across at Alice. Tears were streaming down her face. I suspected that the Spook had already told her what was going to happen as a consequence.

  'And don't try to tell me that good came from it,' the Spook continued. 'I know that Grimalkin saved your life – saved all our lives – by fighting alongside you on the marsh, but she's evil, lad. She belongs to the dark and we can't compromise, otherwise we'll end up no better ourselves and we might as well be dead as suffer that. Alice belongs in a pit, and as soon as we get back to Chipenden, that's where she'll go!'

  'Alice doesn't deserve that!' I protested. 'Think of all the times she's helped us in the past – she saved your life when you were seriously hurt by that boggart near Anglezarke. You would have died but for Alice.'

  I stared hard at him but his expression was unrelenting and a torrent of words poured from my mouth before I could stop them.

  'If you do that, if you bind Alice in a pit, I'll leave. I won't be your apprentice any more! I couldn't work with you after that!'

  One part of me meant every word; the other was horrified. What would Mam think of the threat I'd just made?

  'That's your choice, lad,' said the Spook sadly. 'No apprentice of mine is forced to complete his time. You wouldn't be the first to walk away. But you'd certainly be the last. I won't take on another apprentice if you go.'

  I tried one more time. 'You do realize that the Fiend told you those things about Alice deliberately? That he wants you to put her in a pit? That it serves his purpose because without Alice we'll be weakened?'

  'Don't you think I haven't gone over all this in my mind already, lad? This is no easy decision and I don't make it lightly. And I do remember that your mam believed in the girl too, so you don't need to remind me of that. Well, anybody can be wrong. But my conscience tells me what to do. I know what's right.'

  'You could be making a big mistake,' I told him bitterly, feeling that nothing I said would change his mind; 'the biggest mistake you've ever made.'

  There was a long silence then but for the sound of Alice weeping. Then Arkwright spoke up.

  'It seems to me that there's another way,' he said quietly. 'There's clearly a strong bond between Master Ward and this girl. And I'll say this to you, Mr Gregory: if you carry out your threat, you'll lose an apprentice. Perhaps the best you've ever had. We'll all lose someone who could be a dangerous foe to the Fiend. Because without our training and protection Tom will be seriously vulnerable and might never reach his full potential.

  'And there's something else very close to my own heart. The lad made a bargain with the Fiend that freed my mam and dad's spirits from over fifteen years of suffering. But without the help of Grimalkin he wouldn't have been able to win. And without Alice summoning her, the witch assassin wouldn't have stood at Master Ward's side. So even I owe the girl something.'

  I was astonished by Arkwright's defence of Alice. I'd never heard him talk with such eloquence and passion. Suddenly I was filled with hope.

  'From what I've been told, the girl had a bad upbringing, a training in witchcraft that very few people of even the strongest character would have been able to recover from. That she did recover and has contributed so much shows you her mettle. I don't think we're dealing with a witch here. And certainly not a malevolent one. But maybe, like all of us, she's both good and bad inside, and you know only too well that light and dark fight a war within each of our hearts. I should know: at times my thoughts have been darker than most people's. And I've had to struggle long and hard to limit my drinking. So let Alice go free. You wouldn't be releasing a witch into the world. You'd be releasing a girl who I think will prove to be a strong-minded woman; she'll still be on our side whatever the methods she may sometimes choose to employ. As I said, there's a middle way,' he continued. 'Don't put her in a pit. Instead, why don't you just send her away to make her own way in the world? Just banish her. Do that for us all. It's a way out of this mess.'

  There was a long silence, then the Spook looked at me. 'Would that be lenient enough for you, lad? Could you live with that? If I did that, would you continue as my apprentice?'

  The thought of not seeing Alice again was more than I could bear but it was far better than her being condemned to spend the rest of her life in a pit. I also wanted to continue as the Spook's apprentice. It was my duty to fight the dark. I knew that my mam would want me to carry on.

  'Yes,' I said softly, and the moment I spoke Alice stopped sobbing. I felt so bad, I couldn't even look at her.

  'Right, girl,' said the Spook. 'Collect your things and get you gone. Keep well away from the lad and don't ever come within five miles of Chipenden again! Return and you'll know exactly what to expect.'

  Alice didn't reply and I suddenly realized that she'd been silent throughout and hadn't uttered even one word in her own defence. That wasn't like Alice! Now, silently, her face grim, she left the room.

  I looked at the Spook. 'I need to say goodbye to her,' I told him. 'It's something I've got to do!'

  He nodded. 'If you must. But make it short, lad. Don't linger . . .'

  I waited for Alice at the edge of the garden. She smiled sadly as she approached through the drooping willows, carrying her few belongings in a bundle. It was starting to rain; a cold drizzle, the kind that soaks you to the bone.

  'Thanks for coming to say goodbye, Tom,' she said, wading through the moat. Once across, she held my hand very tightly, her left hand squeezing mine in such a grip that I thought my bones would break as well as my heart.

  'I don't know what to say,' I started.

  She silenced me. 'Ain't nothing you can say. We both done what we thought was best – and I always knew what Old Gregory thought about me using the dark. It was a risk worth taking to protect you. I don't regret it for a minute – though it breaks my heart to think I'll never see you again.'

  We walked in silence until we reached the canal bank. Then she released my hand, pulled something from the pocket of her coat and held it out towards me. It was the blood jar.

  'Take it, Tom. Fiend can't touch you if you keep this close. It's got Morwena's blood in it. Keep you safe, it will!'