Shadows at Stonewylde (43 page)

Several of the Council Elders nodded at this and murmured agreement.

‘My goodwife said everyone’s grumbling like a bunged-up wasps’ nest,’ said old Greenbough. ‘Got to make this, got to make that … she said folk are fed up being told they got to make stuff they used to make for the love of it. ‘Tis no pleasure no more.’

‘Aye, however many bits o’ linen she embroiders, my goodwife says Harold’s list says she must do more and more!’ said Hart indignantly. ‘Every blooming night she’s at it, and my daughters and all, and they’re right fed up.’

‘Everyone’s happy to do what they can,’ said Maizie, ‘and everyone gives o’ their time willingly. But now ‘tis beyond that – the loving care’s gone out of it and ‘tis done grudgingly. Though I’ve tried to smooth things over many a time, when the folk complain about being told what to do by a jumped-up boy who—’

She stopped abruptly, seeing Harold’s ears burning scarlet.

“Tis true there’s grumbling and moaning in the Village,’ agreed Cherry, ‘but I’d rather see them lazy youngsters in the Hall having to work in the evenings making things for Harold than watching television every night and playing their horrible music so loud! And as for that there Internet … all that fiddling about and clicking ‘tis not right and I know I sound old-fashioned but I still don’t like it! The one good thing about Harold’s damn quotas is it keeps them work-shy lazy lot o’ youngsters busy and …’

Yul clapped his hands angrily to call the meeting to order, glaring around at everyone present. Clip was away with the fairies as usual but everyone else looked grim and discontented.

‘Come, where’s your loyalty to Stonewylde and the community?’ he said sharply. ‘You all know why we need these goods – that’s not up for discussion today. As the Council Elders it’s your responsibility to explain to the folk why we need everyone to work extra hard in the next few months, and to quell the complaining. Enough! Edward – what news on the agricultural front?’

‘Very poor,’ said Edward sadly. ‘I wish I had good news to cheer everyone’s hearts but I don’t. One o’ the big tractors broke its axle last week, as many of you’ve already heard, and that’s affected the work badly. We’re way behind and ‘twill be at least another fortnight afore it’s mended, ‘cos the new parts have to be shipped over and all. We had a fire in a hayrick up at Tall Trees Farm and now one o’ the grain silos over at Old Meadows Farm is riddled with rats. There’s a right plague o’ them and the all the grain there’s tainted now. We put in traps and cats and old Feverfew bought his terriers in too, but them rats are everywhere.’

‘Tell ’em about the cows too,’ said Robin sadly.

‘Aye, one o’ the best dairy herds broke through a fence – don’t ask me how ‘cos I don’t rightly know how the silly girls managed it. Several o’ them drowned in the slurry pit afore we could get ’em out.’

Everyone nodded – this was common knowledge and had been very upsetting.

‘Then there’s that horrible mite that’s got into our chickens – we never seen it afore and we called in a new vet now. We could do with our own vet, you know, Yul. We always had the knowledge how to deal with sicknesses – our cunning men could do most o’ the healing and remedies for the livestock – but lately there’s been some strange stuff going around. We found a whole batch o’ prime wheat ready for milling has got the mildew and rotted away. And of course this damn cough and cold has got to many o’ the workers too. I never seen so many grown men take to their beds afore, but ‘tis a genuine ailment and they’re as weak as kittens with it.’

Edward stopped, shaking his great head in dismay.

‘I’m sorry, Yul, that it’s all bad news. As Sylvie says, maybe after Imbolc things’ll pick up a bit. I hope so – couldn’t get much worse.’

The circle of people all sat quietly for a moment reflecting on Edward’s words. Yul scratched around for something positive to raise everyone’s spirits but couldn’t think of anything – he felt horribly gloomy himself.

‘Well, despite Martin’s doom-mongering, the Outsiders’ Dance was very successful,’ he said eventually. ‘I thought everyone did a splendid job of organising it and the feedback from the youngsters is very positive.’

‘Aye, but how long till they’re climbing the Boundary Walls to get into Stonewylde now?’ said Martin hotly. ‘How long till—?’

‘I’ve already told Kestrel – who I must say, Edward, was a real credit to you that evening – that if everyone behaves themselves we’ll have another Outsiders’ Dance at the Midsummer Holiday.’

Martin shook his head, his thin face pinched with anger.

‘I’m sorry, Martin, but you’ll have to get used to this. Outsiders are going to be a part of Stonewylde in the future. Every young person here needs to look outside the community for their future partner and—’

‘NEVER!’ shouted Martin, and everyone stared at him in shock.

‘We’ve reached a critical point genetically,’ said Hazel quietly. ‘I’m sorry that it goes against our old principles, but Stonewylders are simply too closely linked now. Reproduction could be dangerous, I’m afraid. I’ve spoken about this with Yul at great length and done a lot of research, and bottom line is that we need to bring in new blood.’

‘I don’t want to discuss this right now,’ said Yul, ‘because it’s a tricky and sensitive issue and I appreciate feelings may run high. But be warned, everyone – Outsiders
will
be coming to Stonewylde. We’ve had to introduce the compulsory contraceptive implant to curb the population explosion. The next step may have to be some control over who partners whom within Stonewylde, after extensive DNA tests. The simplest solution to this problem is to encourage our young people to find partners from Outside – which is what I’m attempting to do.’

‘On that note,’ said Dawn, ‘I’d like to bring up the question of Rainbow again. I replied to her e-mail after Samhain and said we were discussing her coming here on sabbatical, but at Imbolc it’ll be three months since she sent her request and I wondered if anyone’s had any more thoughts on it? She’s still very keen to come and stay for a few months and, as I said, more than happy to pay. I thought perhaps if we’re going to start bringing in Outsiders it wouldn’t be such an issue allowing her to come?’

Once again Sylvie felt a sinking of her heart. Rainbow – and with her the memory of all those horrible Hallfolk. The terrible problem of Buzz had yet to be resolved and the thought struck Sylvie – was Rainbow’s request part of a strategy of Buzz’s to get back to Stonewylde? And worse – was Dawn in on it too?

‘I don’t want her coming here,’ said Sylvie abruptly. ‘I don’t like the idea and we should say no to her.’

Everyone stared at her and Yul frowned.

‘We need to discuss it first,’ he said. ‘You can’t just make that decision, Sylvie.’

‘Actually I think I can. I’m sure Clip will back me, if I really don’t want her here. Won’t you, Clip?’

He’d been almost completely silent during the meeting so far, listening to the arguments and complaints going back and forth and longing to be anywhere but here in this meeting. He was dreaming of freedom and had decided not to get involved in anything today. But looking up at his daughter, he saw a woman who was deeply distressed and wondered yet again if he were doing the right thing by leaving this year. He’d already set the ball rolling by making an appointment with a solicitor in the spring, about his will and signing over the estate. Now Sylvie’s haunted wolf-grey eyes met his and he wondered if he should still go ahead. Tomorrow was the Wolf Moon, his special one, and maybe he’d be given an answer when he journeyed.

‘Ultimately of course I’d back you, Sylvie. As everyone’s aware, I’m planning to leave Stonewylde this year and signing over the inheritance to Sylvie. So—’

‘I think you mean to
me
and Sylvie!’ said Yul furiously. ‘And this isn’t a topic up for discussion today so let’s leave it at that, shall we? And as for Rainbow—’

‘I don’t want her here!’ Sylvie cried.

‘As for Rainbow,’ he continued, giving his wife such a venomous look that she visibly recoiled, ‘we’ll discuss her rationally and calmly at our meeting next month and not make illogical decisions without thinking things through properly first. Won’t we, Sylvie?’

Sylvie and Yul were at the very heart of the general malcontent that pervaded Stonewylde. Their relationship was deteriorating steadily, the great reunion that Yul had hoped for after Sylvie’s trip to Bournemouth in ashes around them. He’d been so hopeful after their kiss in the hall as she left, and had spent her night away in a fever of anticipation. He’d driven to the station the next day to meet them himself … but one look at her pale, drawn face as she got off the train had set his misgivings in motion. Although she insisted they’d had a wonderful time, he could see she was tired and depressed – with an edge of something else that he couldn’t place.

The passionate night together he’d dreamt of was a complete failure. He’d been loving and patient with her and she’d tried so hard to respond to him with the joy and eagerness he longed for, but it was no good. She’d flinched as he touched her, no excuses able to negate that involuntary movement of denial. After a while he’d withdrawn from their mechanical love-making and stumbled downstairs in a haze of grief to spend yet another night on the sofa bed with a bottle of mead. Sylvie had cried herself to sleep, too wrung out to care whether Magus haunted her that night or not. Just knowing that Outside, Buzz was plotting and waiting for an opportunity to get his revenge on Yul and that inside somebody – she still had no idea who – had turned traitor, was more than she could cope with. The worst thing was that she felt unable to share any of it with Yul or indeed with anyone. She felt totally alone.

One of the few positive things in this difficult time was Magpie’s rehabilitation. He’d moved into Marigold and Cherry’s cottage tucked in by the kitchen gardens in the lee of the Hall and next door to Martin’s home. The sisters were shocked when Magpie automatically took his food to a corner of the room and crouched on the floor to eat it messily with spoon and fingers. He didn’t know how to wash himself, brush his hair or clean his teeth, and every night would make a nest of blankets on his bedroom floor. All his old clothing was burnt including the horrible coat, but he hated having to change his new clothing every day, feeling comfortable only in soiled and dirty clothes. The two women were patient and kind with the poor boy who’d been treated as an animal all his life, and their loving care was a revelation to him.

Leveret was a welcome visitor after school every day. She’d take his hand and smile at him, then look into his eyes and speak – and he appeared to respond. She was a strange one, the two women agreed, cocking her head as if she were listening to him, answering him when he hadn’t said a word. She tried to explain that over their years of friendship they’d found a way to communicate with thoughts and images instead of words. That made no sense to them but they appreciated her help – she’d more influence on him than they could hope for and she was useful in interpreting his thoughts.

Magpie was in his final school year when non-academic pupils mostly engaged in practical training, so he spent every morning working in the huge kitchen gardens which he loved. Instructions must be precise and unambiguous – it was no good telling him to pick some sprouts; he’d meticulously pick every single one. He liked the protection of the high walls and knowing his cottage was tucked safely inside. One side of the kitchen wing overlooked the gardens with a wide door leading out to a cobbled courtyard, and Marigold kept a constant eye on him. Magpie would look up from his weeding or planting and glance towards the kitchens and there she’d be, smiling and waving. He still refused to touch meat and after Leveret’s explanation, Marigold embraced his vegetarianism with enthusiasm. He put on weight steadily and grew taller almost by the day. At sixteen he was undernourished and lanky but at this rate he’d be fit and healthy by the summer.

Magpie’s afternoons were spent in the art room with the new teacher David, and he was given his own corner and a range of materials to work with. Before, he’d sat silently during all his lessons and drawn tiny images which he refused to show, never listening to the teacher and taking no interest in what was being taught. But Magpie was a naturally gifted artist and now David was able to show him techniques and materials he’d never encountered before. Magpie loved to sketch, rapidly filling pads with beautiful pencil and charcoal drawings, but he also loved to paint and was introduced to oils, watercolours and acrylics. He quickly produced an amazing semi-abstract painting of a sky filled with swallows and David was very excited at his raw talent. Magpie’s subject was always nature and he loved to roam outside with a sketch pad, gaining inspiration from what he observed with his artist’s eye.

His evenings were spent in the cottage by the fire with Marigold and Cherry, looking at picture books from the Village school or listening to stories. Whilst they read to him he made tiny animal figures from a great lump of clay David had given him from the clay beds by the river. Although he’d attended school in the past, Magpie had shut himself off into his private world; he knew none of the fairy stories or folk tales that the children heard daily. He was enthralled now when one of the women read to him and showed him the pictures, and would get excited as the stories drew to their conclusion. The women reckoned he had the mind of a four-year-old and he was a pleasure to have around. His dancing turquoise eyes gave them all the reward they needed for their devotion to his welfare.

Leveret was delighted with his blossoming, her only remaining worry being Jay and the Death Cap mushroom. She’d stowed hers away safely in Mother Heggy’s cottage, but thought often of Jay and his threat to Magpie. She told him constantly that if ever Jay gave him a mushroom he must never put it in his mouth – he must save it and give it to her. She was worried he’d remember her giving him mushrooms at Quarrycleave and think it was alright. She warned Marigold and Cherry too.