Silver Hill (4 page)

HOWLING HILL

After lunch Nora decided Jack ought to go home. She said he wasn’t to overdo it on his first day out. He hadn’t realised how tired he was until he got back and immediately fell asleep. He’d slept again after supper. When it came to bedtime Jack was wide awake. He lay in bed trying to feel sleepy but his mind was racing. Too many thoughts about dragons were filling his head. He heard the hall clock chime eleven. It wasn’t long before Grandad climbed the stairs and started getting ready for bed. When the house was quiet, Jack reached over to his bedside table for his Book of Shadows, picked up his wand and created a light from the tip so he could see to write to Elan.

Half an hour later, he’d written three pages. He watched the ink disappear and shut his book. He didn’t expect an answer tonight. Before he put his wand away Jack tiptoed over to Orin’s cage.

‘Are you asleep?’ he whispered.

The curtain twitched before Orin poked her head out.

‘I thought you were in bed.’

‘I’ve been watching Timmery.’

‘What’s he doing?’

‘Flying back and forth past the window.’

Jack dimmed his wand, opened the curtains and peered into the darkness.

‘There he is. Did you see him?’

‘What do you think he’s doing?’

‘Maybe Nora asked him to keep a lookout.’

Jack watched as Timmery came over and tried to hover in front of the window. He could do it with ease as a hummingbird, but it didn’t work when he was a bat and it looked as if he was doing a strange kind of jerky dance. Jack waved.

‘Can I come in?’ Timmery squeaked in a muffled high-pitched voice.

Jack opened the window and the little bat flew in and landed on top of Orin’s cage.

‘What’s wrong?’ asked Jack. ‘Isn’t Charkle with you?’

Timmery sighed.

‘Such terrible news, terrible news. Charkle’s with Nora, he knows all about what Saige told you. He’s been crying for so long he’s run out of steam.’

‘Oh dear, I knew he’d be upset.’

‘It didn’t help when Camelin said the two dragonettes might not even be anyone from his family.’

‘Poor Charkle.’

‘Nora sent him to bed.’

‘Charkle?’

‘No, Camelin. She wasn’t pleased with him. He’s been in a lot of trouble lately, which is why I couldn’t ask him to come over tonight.’

‘Come over for what?’

‘We’ve got to do something to help poor Charkle.’

‘I’m sorry Timmery, I know I promised to help, but I can’t until Nora says I’m well enough.’

‘I need you to help me tonight.’

‘But I can’t fly.’

‘You don’t have to go anywhere. I got to thinking, and when I saw your light on I thought I’d talk to you myself, with no one else around. I don’t know why we didn’t think of it before.’

‘Think about what?’

‘Asking the Book of Shadows. I would have suggested it to Nora but I didn’t want to disturb her when she was trying to comfort Charkle, but then I thought if you were awake I could ask you to help. Please Jack, say you will. It would be wonderful if you could.’

‘Of course I’ll help, but ask what?’

‘You know the story we heard in Annwn, The Dragon of Howling Hill?’

‘I do remember, it was brilliant, but what’s that got to do with Charkle’s family?’

‘I want you to ask where Howling Hill is.’

‘But it was only a story, it’s not real.’

‘What if it is real? The storyteller told everyone about the Glasruhen Giant and that’s a true story. It wasn’t quite the same as Nora’s version but we all know a giant used to live on the hill. If we could find Howling Hill it’d be a start and there might be a dragon under it, like it said in the story. I could at least take Charkle to look. It would cheer him up and give him something to do.’

‘I’ll ask but I’m not sure we’ll get an answer.’

‘But you’ll try?’

‘Of course I will.’

Jack put his Book of Shadows on the bed. Orin scampered onto the bedspread and Timmery flitted onto Jack’s shoulder. He concentrated hard and put his hand on the front of the book. He spoke softly so he wouldn’t wake Grandad.

‘Where is Howling Hill?’

Jack removed his hand and they waited expectantly. Nothing happened.

‘Maybe it was the wrong question. I’ll try asking it another way.’

Jack thought again before once more placing his hand on the front of his book.

‘Is there a place called Howling Hill?’

Again they waited and again the book remained firmly shut.

‘I’m sorry Timmery – I don’t know what else to ask.’

‘Maybe it used to be called something else?’ squeaked Orin.

Jack smiled.

‘You might be right. We could ask the question the other way round, not about the hill but about the dragon.’

‘Oh that’s wonderful, Jack. I knew you’d be able to help.’

‘You can thank Orin not me and we haven’t got an answer yet.’

Jack put his hand on the cover.

‘Where should we look for dragons?’

As soon as Jack removed his hand, the book flew open and the pages turned rapidly. When they eventually stopped they were looking at two blank pages. Just as Jack was beginning to think the book had made a mistake, the faint outline of a map slowly appeared. He watched in fascination as a river, trees and hills gradually took shape. It was the strangest looking map Jack had ever seen, and there was something vital missing: there wasn’t any writing. He looked sadly at Timmery.

‘I’m sorry, this map’s not going to be any help at all. It could be anywhere.’

‘Ask about the wood,’ suggested Timmery.

Jack put the tip of his wand on the small wood in the middle of the map.

‘Where is this wood?’

No writing appeared, but instead, much to Jack’s surprise, the map began to rise from the page and the pictures began to grow. A long narrow hilltop rose rapidly, its stony ridge was covered in strange rock formations. Two large wooded hills popped up out of the farmland that lay between two rivers. Colour flooded the landscape. Jack was speechless. It all looked so real. He reached over and touched the top of the larger hill but his finger went straight through the image. As he looked closer at the valley and the wider of the two rivers, he got the strangest feeling.

‘I think I’ve been here before.’

‘Can you remember where it is?’ asked Timmery excitedly.

‘I think it’s Westwood.’

Jack got his magnifying glass out of his drawer and examined the landscape more closely.

‘Look! There’s the cave where we found Finnola Fytche. It
is
Westwood.’

Timmery looked really disappointed.

‘But we already know Charkle’s family aren’t there any more.’

‘But that’s only one small part of this map. They could be anywhere, it’s a big area and we didn’t get a chance to have a good look around last time we were there.’

‘You’re right,’ piped Timmery. ‘What are those two hills called?’

‘The one behind Westwood is Silver Hill and the other one is Winberry Hill. I don’t know what the long ridge is called. I’ve only been there once. But there’s the Gelston River; Camelin and I followed it on my first long flight.’

‘Oooh! I’m so excited,’ Timmery squeaked as he flittered around the room. ‘I can’t wait to get started.’

‘There’s no guarantee we’ll find any dragons. I think we need to speak to Nora before we start getting excited.’

A creak on the landing sent Orin scampering back to her cage. Jack doused the light from the tip of his wand and was in bed pretending to be asleep by the time his bedroom door opened a fraction. In their excitement they must have been making more noise than Jack had realised. Jack lay very still and it wasn’t long before his bedroom door closed again and Grandad went back to bed.

‘Timmery,’ whispered Jack, but there was no reply. He hoped the little bat wasn’t going to raise Charkle’s hopes too high.

It was late when Jack woke. He couldn’t stop yawning as he dressed. He was about to go downstairs when his Book of Shadows began vibrating. It seemed ages since he’d had a message. Jack doubted it was from Camelin, he couldn’t see Nora letting him have his wand back so soon. He hoped it was from Elan, he was dying to hear all the news from Annwn. He grabbed his own wand and opened to the first page. The words, faint at first, began to darken as the message appeared. He was slightly disappointed when he saw that it was from Nora.

I’ve got something important to attend to today

and I’m not sure

what time I’m going to be back.

Before I go, I’ll call in and ask your grandad if

you can spend the afternoon at Ewell House doing an

important job for me.

I’ll leave instructions for you on the kitchen table.

Gerda, Medric and Camelin will need feeding too if I’m

not back by teatime.

He wanted to know where Nora was going but he knew it was pointless to ask. If she’d wanted him to know she’d have told him. Jack hadn’t seen much of Medric or Gerda since they’d returned from Annwn and now he’d got a good excuse to row over to the island and say hello. He wondered what job Nora wanted him to do, maybe she was just giving him an excuse to spend the afternoon with Camelin. Either way it meant he’d be able to go out. He got his wand and wrote back.

I’ll be there.

‘I had a visitor this morning,’ Grandad told Jack as they ate lunch. ‘Nora came to see me.’

Jack tried to look surprised, as Grandad spoke.

‘She’s had to go and see Elan and doesn’t know how long she’ll be gone.’

At this news Jack nearly choked on his sausage.

‘Is Elan ill? Has she got chickenpox too?’

‘Nora didn’t say, she just said it was important and asked if you’d be able to do a job for her in the herborium. She said she’d leave you instructions on the kitchen table. Now, if you don’t feel up to it I can go or I’ll come with you if you don’t want to go on your own.’

‘I’ll be fine,’ Jack assured Grandad.

‘Are you sure?’

Jack nodded.

‘Off you go then and get yourself ready, I’ll see to the washing up.’

Once Jack was back in his room he checked his Book of Shadows. There were no new messages and still no reply from Elan. He wondered if Nora really had gone to see her. If she had she’d be in Annwn by now. Jack sighed. It was going to be a long wait until he was allowed to go back, October was three months away.